My friend and social media expert at The Motley Fool, Katrina, showed me an page on the White House site where you could submit your request for an invitation to a day of tweeting at The White House. There ... [ more ]]]> I was at The White House this week for their holiday Tweetup.

My friend and social media expert at The Motley Fool, Katrina, showed me an page on the White House site where you could submit your request for an invitation to a day of tweeting at The White House. There was a series of speakers in the morning who’s roles covered a huge spectrum from the National Economic Counsel advisor discussing policy topics such as jobs to the official White House Pastry Chef revealing how long it takes to make the official White House gingerbread house (3 months). It was a full morning and really interesting to get all these perspectives of people who work so close to the President and his staff. (It made me want to re-watch The West Wing).

Only one real hiccup with the White House Tweetup, was that the conference room was in the basement of the EEOB next to the White House and there was no Wi-Fi signal in there so no one was able to get onto Twitter. The irony was not lost on the positive and upbeat organizers of the event from the White House Digital Strategy department.

After a lunch (on our own), we were able to tour the White House. it was the same self-guided tour that Selena and I had taken a few years ago, only this time, being that they had just decorated everything for Christmas they welcomed taking photos.

I got whole lot of pictures, including finding the hidden Bo (the dog) that was hand-crafted each room – one was paper-mache, one was made of candies, one was made of buttons – that are displayed below and in the Flickr set here.

The morning briefings

The first of 73 White House Christmas Trees

George says "Check out this tree."

Decorative ornaments at the White House

Greg in the Blue Room of the White House

Bo made of Buttons

Lincoln thinking about Christmas

The White House Gingerbread replica

A choir in the lobby singing carols

Greg at the White House

It never occurred to me there ... [ more ]]]> I purchased a boat cruise up the Potomac. The description made it sound like a luxury trip sitting at a table, sipping wine and enjoying delicious tapas while looking out at the monuments lighting up the evening sky. Sounded like a great date night.

It never occurred to me there was reason to by skeptic about the deals on Groupon. Here’s the actual luxury Potomac tour experience:

• There were no tables, just inline seating along the sides of the boat. About 15 seats for about 25 people.
• The wine included was just two small plastic cups of whatever they were pouring. All other drinks, including water, cost extra.
• The tapas were a small buffet of tin trays that included wings, macaroni and eggrolls as well as a side tray of fruit.
• There were no monuments, when we got upriver from our starting point at National Harbor, we veered right up the Anacostia instead of keeping on the Potomac. So we did see the new ballpark and the destroyer at the Navy Yard but no Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and Washington Monument.

This is what I had envisioned we'd see. Not so much.

• The serenity of the upriver trip was challenged by a very loud audio track of the captain providing trivia about what was in view. The prelude to this taped monologue was the actual captain saying “I’m going to play this recording now and I don’t remember what I recorded so don’t ask me about it.”
• It didn’t occur to me to question safety when signing up, but the rest of the captain’s crew gave me the vibe that they could just have easily have been pirates.
• On the return trip downriver, the trivia track was turned off, the lights were turned down and they cranked up the club music.

Not my vision of what I was purchasing, but we didn’t let that deter two new parents who needed a good night out without the kid and pup. Once we reset our expectations from luxury cruise to pirate cruise, we had a great time and it made for quite a memorable evening.

I never knew a soccer game involved so much singing and dancing. As I stood in the rain among the Barra Brava crowd at my first DC United game, I found myself less able to pay attention to the on-field action because I was getting more swept ... [ more ]]]>

DC United

I never knew a soccer game involved so much singing and dancing. As I stood in the rain among the Barra Brava crowd at my first DC United game, I found myself less able to pay attention to the on-field action because I was getting more swept up in chanting along in broken Spanish and bouncing up and down on the unstable cantilevered stands.

In front of me peering over a sea of black jerseys are three or four leaders of the cheering, waving their arms feverishly to make the chanting louder. They stood on chairs with their back to the game the entire duration. (I learned that they TiVo the game and watch it at home later, while live they are bringing the noise). These are true cheerleaders and the cheering does not stop the entire game. I almost pity the mascot eagle that came out at one point. In most other sports the mascot rallies the crowd, at DC United it was completely unnecessary because the crowd was rallying the rest of the crowd.

Barra Brava was crazy

Another contrast, from any other sporting event I’ve been to, was how lax the security was. They were visible, and I am sure if there were any real disturbances they would have been right there. But they led the Barra Brava crowd bring in drums and beat them through the game. They accepted people standing in seats not their own, in aisles, on the stairs and on chairs shouting to the rest of the crowd for the entire game. They were okay with setting off what were either fireworks or road flares that set plumes of colored smoke over the crowd. And they appeared to have no problem, when a goal was scored, at the amount of full cups of beer that were flying in the air like caps at a graduation.

It was such a remarkable and unique experience. When I got home after the United’s 2-0 victory, I told Selena how much I enjoyed it and that I want to go back with her (this trip was a Foolish outing,). I told her that I think she’d love it. She responded “I KNOW!” and then reminded me that she suggested two years ago that we go to a DC United game and experience the whole Barra Brava club section. I guess I had forgotten that she wanted to do that. Well, I’m on board now, so hopefully, we will both get out to experience another game later this season.

Any blog readers here big DC United fans? Share your thoughts or stories of the game experience in the comments below.

The whole Hunt was done on foot in a section of DC that was mapped out ... [ more ]]]> This past Sunday I was running around downtown DC with about 10,000 other people trying to solve riddles and piece together clues to win a $2000 prize. It was the second annual Post Hunt.

The whole Hunt was done on foot in a section of DC that was mapped out in the Washington Post Magazine. Solving some initial trivia told you where on the map to go to find the five clues. At each of these five points were Post Hunt volunteers providing the clues in brilliantly creative manners, such as:

House Bill 98999

Two faux members of the House debating the merits of the text of bill 98999 and stating that it lacked accountability. Nowhere in the text of the bill could you find one word of accountability.

Do you get it?

For this clue you had to pull out your phone and “text” the word “accountability” to the number 98999. You immediately got a response that “The solution is a simple majority”. Being that this was a faux bill in the House of Representatives, which has 435 members, the majority would be 218. That was the answer: 218.

All the answers were numbers and corresponded with clues in that same Post Magazine. Once you had all five clues you were prepared to hear the final puzzle, which would be a race to finish, first one to solve it wins the whole Hunt.

We did ace all five clues, but sadly, we took a wrong turn in the third or fourth step of the final puzzle and ended up not finishing. Still, it wasn’t about winning or prize money, it was about you and your team having that eureka moment when you suddenly discovered a right answer.

I am really glad I joined a team to play this year and familiarized myself with the event, and hope I can get a lot of you all out next year to join me on the Hunt.

Thank you so much for changing my life on March 24, 2009. It was the most phenomenal thing I had ever seen in my life that more than made up for the fact that I was Tweet-blocked the whole time. Of course, I was only desperately seeking Twitter ... [ more ]]]> Dear Ms. Spears,

Thank you so much for changing my life on March 24, 2009. It was the most phenomenal thing I had ever seen in my life that more than made up for the fact that I was Tweet-blocked the whole time. Of course, I was only desperately seeking Twitter because it would have made it less awkward, the fact that I, a 30-year-old single ticket buyer through a shady craigslist transaction with a 21-year-old who was celebrating her birthday, was the lucky “single ticket” there at your concert in between two crowds of girls I didn’t know, all a generation younger.

Despite all this, I was there purely for the spectacle and the awesome lip-synced tunes, both of which you delivered full force. Granted, I was made more comfortable after 50-year-old-pretend-dad-but-really-loner showed up a row in front of me and beat me on the creepy single award.

Were there dancers that flew in cirque du soliel style after acrobats, jugglers, clowns and Pussycat Dolls opened the show? Check.

Did strippers dance on floating furniture while there was choreographed S&M happening? Was there a bollywood dance remix? Did you slow it down by singing in a giant umbrella? Check, check and check.

Was there a tower of fireworks?

Did you indeed deliver when you assured us that “I gotch your crazy” when you wished us all a Merry Christmas (50 second mark)? Was I a little gay for you by the end? Check on all accounts.

Aside from perhaps catching up at RFD afterwards and having you realize that you are actually my celebrity BFF, I think you’ve covered everything I expected from the night. I only wish I had more than just my camera phone.

Continue spreading the magic,

Selena

Last night was a rare treat. The Shakespeare Theatre hosted an event for the new Obama administration to introduce them to the performing arts in DC. Nine theatre’s brought a sampler-size version of their current or upcoming works. Sprinkled in were ... [ more ]]]>

Guest of Honor - Michelle Obama

Last night was a rare treat. The Shakespeare Theatre hosted an event for the new Obama administration to introduce them to the performing arts in DC. Nine theatre’s brought a sampler-size version of their current or upcoming works. Sprinkled in were a number of short speeches advocating for the arts. In attendance were first lady, Michelle Obama, Mayor Fenty, a couple senators, at least three Supreme Court justices, and Selena and I.

Here are a few thoughts coming away from that event:

• Signature Theatre gambled by singing classics from Les Miz and Showboat and they delivered. Those guys really are the tops of local musical theatre.
• Nobody uses movement as stage craft like Synetic. They really have quickly become an elite DC theatre.
• And you are? Neither Harolyn Blackwell or the Washington Bach Consort introduced themselves. I hope it was inadvertent and not ego.
• Quote from Kareen Dale, the new Special Assistant to the President on Disability Policy “The Arts are back .” Advocating for both disabilities and the arts, I was inspired. I would go work for him, y’know if I decided to go into public service.
• Great job Michael Kahn and Floyd King putting numbers behind the stats about how the arts are thriving in DC. Loved Floyd’s observance that more people fill the seats to watch theatre in DC in a year than the Redskins, Wizards and Capitals combined. Ha!
• Avery Brooks and Patrick Page performing a scene from Othello? Yes please. Those two were magnificent a few years back when this show won Helen Hayes awards and were just as good tonight. Thanks STC for the encore performance.
  

  Bringing Down the House - Step Afrika

• More Avery Brooks – he was one of the first of nearly a hundred actors out for bows, and planted himself front and center and made everyone move around him. Classy.
• The Washington Ballet could have made things a bit sleepy, but instead performed a series of Celtic jigs that were toe-tappingly awesome.
• But the performance of the night was Step Afrika!. I had never heard of that group before, but they brought the house down. Just fantastic.

Want more on the event? Here’s articles Selena found from The Washingtonian, The Examiner and Women’s Wear Daily.

Selena enjoys getting to hear classical music performed live. I enjoy getting to see women that make People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People live. So I knew we would both enjoy the concert at the Swarthmore by the Ahn Trio.

These three Korean-American women are as ... [ more ]]]>

The Ahn Trio

Selena enjoys getting to hear classical music performed live. I enjoy getting to see women that make People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People live. So I knew we would both enjoy the concert at the Swarthmore by the Ahn Trio.

These three Korean-American women are as gifted on the piano, cello and violin as they are beautiful. They played two sets of amazing modern day classical music (which seems like an oxymoron, but apparently is not.)

We bought their CD after the performance, partially just to have something to sign since I wanted to get autographs and this picture…

Greg and Selena and the Ahn Trio

(Side note: I was amused as I observed the makeup of the line in which we waited. For at least 20 people in front or behind us, it was only Asian women or white men waiting in line.)