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Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe a definite place to visit in Washington DC

I have been distracted from writing about my experiences at restaurants I visit and I have missed writing about them. It is time to get back to that and I want to start with my visit this evening to Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe.
Kramerbooks is becoming a place I need to visit whenever I am in D.C. Their selection of books is something that you don’t usually find in the chain stores.  I always find something different to take with me and read.

I had eaten at Afterwords Cafe before and enjoyed it, so I thought I might as well combine the two and find something and then grab dinner.

Well I checked out the books and nothing jumped out at me.  They seemed to have a lot of books about the election and I am quite tired of that. So I grabbed the new “The Atlantic” magazine. Sometimes that is almost like a book.

With reading material secured, I walked through the store and to the cafe.  I got settled in my seat and was soon enjoying a Peak Organic Ale from Maine. Quite tasty. (If you go to their website, they have several ales, just don’t know which one I had.)

For dinner I started with a mescaline salad that included apples, mushrooms, walnuts and a wonderful vinaigrette.  I had to have every last bit. For the main dish I had the crab cake platter. It was delicious.

The crab cake is served on top of fresh pasta topped with roasted corn, tomato, sweet peppers & scallions. It has the right about of spice. It all flows together for a wonderful taste.

The service was good and being a Sunday night they were training new waitstaff, but that was not a problem. Both were quite attentive.

If are in DC and find yourself in the Dupont Circle area, find Kramerbooks & the Afterwords Cafe for a wonderful read and nice meal.

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RMN: Borderline Calls leave Broncos steamed

Denver Broncos – Borderline Calls Leave Broncos Steamed.
I think Dre Bly said it best,

“But, hey, the first couple games, I guess they’ve been evaluating us and said, you know, we won games we shouldn’t have won so I guess they’re going to get a call against us.”

On the long third down, which the Broncos had stopped the Jaguars, Bly had the perfect outside position and Jaguars receiver Reggie Williams ran him over. Williams made the contact, not Bly.

Then on a crucial play on the Jaguars last drive, Manual was called for pass interference by an official who was blocked by the play. He couldn’t see if there was contact or not.

But he made the call anyway.  There was an official in front of him who didn’t throw the flag and probably had a better angle on it.

Oh well. The Broncos benefitted from some calls earlier this year. I guess this is a way for the NFL and the officials to make up those calls to the rest of the league.

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Official Blows Call in Rapids Game, Red Cards Casey

Dynamo top Rapids.
I just want to say that referee Mark Geiger blew the call on the second yellow for Conor Casey of the Colorado Rapids.

Casey had the position and Dynamo player Eddie Robinson came over the top of Casey initiating the contact.  When the referee came over with a yellow, I thought he was going to card Robinson, but no.

I hope FIFA seriously looks at this referee and how he called the game, he had something out for the Rapids.  He made several bad calls and this is one of them.

It probably didn’t make a difference in the final score, but one questionable call led to a goal for Houston.

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A great op-ed piece from David Gergen, A Deepening Leadership Crisis

A Deepening Leadership Crisis – David Gergen
This is a really insightful post of the lack of trust amongst the leadership of our country today.  Not only a trust in our President, but trust in the leadership of all levels of government and most of the private sector.

Where will our next great leader come from?  Is it one of the candidates running for President? Is there someone else out there?

We need a great leader to come forward.  I hope they come soon, because we definitely need it.

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I support the University of Idaho

I am getting tired of all the naysayers out there that say the University of Idaho football and athletics should move back to Division I-AA, also known as FCS.  Idaho is in the right conference and the right division.
Has the football team struggled the last 10 years? Yes!

Has the basketball team struggled? Yes!

But there are signs of improvement in the football program. I think Rob Akey is the right person to lead the turnaround.  He came in and had to deal with a disaster of a team, one that Dennis Erickson tore apart in one year.

Akey had to let go 18-20 players who were dealing drugs, stealing from teammates, and couldn’t handle the academics of college.  They are now playing mostly freshman and sophomores.  While they are getting experience, they are making mistakes and it is costing wins, but the future is quite bright.

There are signs are getting brighter for Idaho’s basketball program.  They have a good coach who can guide them.  I am also hearing that they are getting commits from some good recruits.  Face it, the basketball program can only get better.

Now I am a person that thinks that Idaho needs to build an outdoor football stadium, but I wouldn’t get rid of the Dome.  It is too heavily used by the student body for intramurals and workouts.  It would also make a great practice area for various sports.

Having an outdoor stadium would add so much.  Also when Idaho played their home games at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Idaho averaged higher attendance than the Kibbie Dome holds.

Basketball needs a new arena for basketball and volleyball.  The Kibbie Dome does not cut it for those sports.  The new arena could even be used for the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival where good jazz gets lost in the vastness of the Dome.

I am a supporter of Vandal athletics and the University of Idaho as a whole. They are going through a transition in their athletic program, but the academic program is growing. The enrollment is up, they are getting more grants and research dollars (over $100 million since 2003), and is consistently rated as one of the best values in education.

The search for a new President is on and it will be nice to get that settled and the new person into the position.

Everyone just needs to be patient with the football and basketball programs.  They will come around.  The future is bright for the University of Idaho.

Go Vandals!

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Hochuli to fans: “I failed miserably”

Hochuli to fans: “I failed miserably” – The Denver Post
The San Diego Charger fans need to leave it alone. Ed Hochuli has admitted he made a mistake and has moved on.

The rantings of Charger fans are not going to change the call or the outcome of the game. The Denver Broncos won the game.

I think the Charger fans should be more upset at their defense who failed to stop the Broncos on two attempts to get a touchdown and who failed to stop them when they went for two.

Hochuli is showing a lot of class in responding to emails that he is receiving from Charger fans. It is time to see some class from the Charger fans.

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Major League Baseball does a disservice to the Houston Astros

I just want to say that Major League Baseball has done a disservice to the Houston Astros, the hottest team in baseball.
Why do you ask?

Well they sent the Astros to play the Chicago Cubs to play a game in Milwaukee when they were supposed to play in Houston.

Now they couldn’t play in Houston because of Hurricane Ike.  But they could have played the game somewhere else.  Maybe Arlington, anywhere else besides Milwaukee.

Milwaukee is an hour from Chicago.  So who do you think the crowd was rooting for? Not the Astros.  The Cubs dominated them in the first game through a no-hitter by Carlos Zambrano.  They were then one-hit by Lilly the next evening.

Major League Baseball did a disservice to the Astros. They could have handled it a lot better.

Update:  Here is an article from the Denver Post discussing the situation with the Houston Astros, “Bad brew for Astros’ home”.