August 28, 2007
So you’ve decided to move to Mount Rainier, Maryland?
Congratulations on finding the best, undiscovered city outside of Washington D.C. Housing prices are reasonable (for DC), there’s a metro within walking distance (17 minutes to Chinatown), it’s a friendly walkable neighborhood where you get to know your neighbors, and there’s no real mountain. Takoma Park at half the price and twice the diversity…
This guide should help you in finding your way (and if anyone has suggestions, make a comment below and I’ll incorporate it)…
Statistics
Even with all the single family homes, apparently Mount Rainier has the highest population density in Maryland, over 12,000 people per square mile (of course the total area is only 0.65 square miles).
Basics
- Government
- Utilities
- Water - Washington Sanitation District
- Electricity - Pepco (cheapest default supplier) or Pepco Energy (green electricity, roughly 3 cents/kWh more than coal/nuclear)
- Natural gas - Washington Gas (cheapest default supplier)
- Curbside Pickup (city)
- Compost on Monday (yard waste)
- Trash on Wednesday
- Recycling on Friday (paper/cardboard, #1/#2 plastic, aluminum, metal; don’t separate)
Community
Outside
Other Links
Want to live here? Find a home in Mount Rainier.
2 Comments | 
Arts, Music, Culture, Food, Money, Mount Rainier (MD), Washington DC | 
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Posted by solarkismet
August 22, 2007
Is James Blunt, singer songwriter and celebrity babe magnet, masquerading as Jon Heder, Napoleon Dynamite and Mormon Figure Skater? You be the judge.
No Comments » | Amusing, Arts, Music, Culture, Washington DC | Permalink
Posted by solarkismet
June 8, 2007
Rotten Tomatoes is a movie review site, and a quite good one at that. I love to buy tickets online but HATE the service fees (kind of like concert service fees). But I’ll tell you what’s a little rotten. For every movie ticket they sell through Rotten Tomatoes, they’re pocketing 50 cents from MovieTickets.com and not telling you about the little kickback. How do I know?
When I went to buy a ticket to “Knocked Up” through Rotten Tomatoes, I was charged $1.50 (click to enlarge):
But when I went to buy it straight from Consolidated Theaters (the owners), I was only charged $1.00 (click to enlarge):
Maybe it matters. Maybe it doesn’t. But now you know…
1 Comment | Arts, Music, Culture, Money, Washington DC | Permalink
Posted by solarkismet
February 28, 2007
The Artmosphere Cafe, located on the first level of the Mount Rainier Artist Lofts (part of the Gateway Arts District), is located in Mount Rainier on Rhode Island Avenue, just past Eastern Avenue (at the traffic circle).
Artmosphere is more than a coffee shop. Check out the menu of sandwiches and salads (cous cous and curry lentil caught my eye) but stay for Friday and Saturday night concerts, Live Jazz brunch on Saturday, Monday Night Football, or open mic Wednesday poetry. Tonight is drum circle jam, Friday is a vocalist, and Saturday is hip-hop - something is always going on…Lounge away on the full length couches.
No Comments » | Arts, Music, Culture, Food, Mount Rainier (MD), Washington DC | Permalink
Posted by solarkismet
February 22, 2007
No one has heard of Mount Rainier, even though it borders DC on the northeast side (Eastern and Rhode Island) - it’s the traffic circle town as you’re driving out Rhode Island (and incidentally was at one point the only U.S. city with a majority gay city council, as well as majority non-caucasian). But little Mount Rainier is becoming a little arts haven for a variety of unique projects under the auspices of the Gateway Arts District (also see this article “Building a Gateway“)
- Mount Rainier Artists Lofts - 44 affordable new housing units for artists with commercial space and studio space, including energy efficient design considerations
- HIP’s Artist Housing - 12 affordable renovated housing units for artists with studio space, including environmental design considerations
- Artmosphere Cafe - a coffee shop and artist exhibition space within the artist lofts, including regular music and arts on display
- Joe’s Movement Emporium - brand new dance studio space with classes, shows, and events
- Latin American Folk Institute - promotes the arts, music, and folklore of Latin America
- Jackson-Jarvis Studios - a well-known private artist featuring public, nature, and client based art
So, if you’re coming out this way, stop for a couple of hours and see the next up-and-coming artist enclave…
1 Comment | Arts, Music, Culture, Mount Rainier (MD), Washington DC | Permalink
Posted by solarkismet
February 14, 2007
What is a relationship if it can’t be defined by an equation? Nothing! Let’s go…
- Self (S) = emotional (E) + spiritual (Sp) + sexual (Sx) + physical (P)
- Partner (Pt) = E + Sp + Sx + P
- Relationship (S + Pt) = E^2 + 2ESp + 2ESx + 2EP + Sp^2 + 2SpSx + 2SpP + Sx^2 + 2SxP + P^2
No wonder relationships are so confusing!
You can also try to formalize your relationship through a committment:
- Committment (C) = personal (P) + legal (L) + religious (R) + spiritual (Sp)
- Committment (C) = your decision + approval of gov’t + approval of religion + metaphysical symbiosis
Let’s review some of the different commitment equations, which have changed over the years as different political and socio-economic changes have occurred:
- Traditional = personal + legal + spiritual + religious
- Hollywood = 0
- GLBT (in the U.S.) = personal + (spiritual) (optional)
- Atheist = personal + legal
- Arranged Marriage = legal + (religious) (by culture)
- Green Card Marriage = legal
- Shotgun = legal + religious
- Others?
Now, here’s what I find interesting. My girlfriend and I have been together for 3 years and own a house together (an obvious financial, and defacto personal, committment). We haven’t formally had an official committment, be it a party with friends, a civil union, or a marriage.
When we visit relatives, some of them make moral objections to us sleeping in the same bed because we’re not married, which we do every night at home, and which I find oddly inconsistent given our likely formal committment equation:
- Traditional = personal + legal + spiritual + religious
- Us = personal + legal
Under no known circumstances would we adopt a traditional committment equation which included religion as a component. But I would bet that the “legal” addition to the equation would miraculously make it okay for them, even though they object on a religious basis. Why is that different? Shouldn’t their moral outrage stay the same since we wouldn’t have a religious or spiritual component to our committment?
Our relationship would have a legally binding committment but nothing more. Their concern isn’t with our legal rights and frankly, that addition is a formality to making the personal decision, which is much more binding in my opinion.
And when they come visit, they don’t have a problem staying at our house, where we’re being immoral. Shouldn’t moral indignation trascend location and ownership?
2 Comments | Arts, Music, Culture, Data, Relationships, Religion, Washington DC | Permalink
Posted by solarkismet
February 13, 2007
Hey! Corporate TV heads! We need more cookie cutter “fat guy with hot wife” TV shows. It’s great. Working stiff, drinking beer, making jokes, ha ha. Never seen that before. Loving it! So original!
Maybe that’s why cable and the internet is kicking you to the curb…that coveted young male demographic really goes for the rehashed formula. Snore.
Apparently I’m a little late to this observation…
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Posted by solarkismet
