DAILY MUESLI: Not Going to Edsall Road

Good morning.

1.) Unbeknownst to me, I've been named "Washington Examiner editor" according to The Hill newspaper (hat tip to Kanishka). As a former Roll Caller, I should be able to come up with some snarky comment about my former competitor, but I'll resist the temptation. The article is about Garrett Graff, founder of FishbowlDC and newly appointed editor at large at Washingtonian and I’m mentioned toward the bottom of the article. (For the record, I have not left Express and I don't think I'd enjoy the commute out to the Examiner's offices on Edsall Road.)

According to The Hill, Graff was "a former rival in the cutthroat college press." I guess that's sort-of correct. I was a news editor at The Michigan Daily at the same time that Graff was at the Crimson during the whole Harvard presidential search saga of 2000. One interesting side note is how the Harvard Independent, then-edited by now-blogger Matthew Yglesias, claimed that the Independent was working "in collaboration with the Michigan Daily" and then said that Lee Bollinger (above) would be leaving the Michigan presidency and heading to Cambridge. The Independent’s claim pissed off essentially everyone at the Daily because there wasn't any "collaboration" formal or informal to speak of, besides someone from the Independent trying to fish for information, if I recall the Daily's complaints correctly. (Oh the days of collegiate journalism ...)

2.) One of my favorite dark beers comes from Louisiana's Abita brewery. While there may be other places that serve it in D.C., Afterwords Cafe and DC9 offer Abita Turbodog. It goes excellent with Afterwords' Fettucini New Orleans. Abita Springs was spared by Katrina, and they're now crafting a Katrina-relief Fleur-de-lis Restoration Ale. If you see it, I recommend you try it.


3.) In unrelated beer news, Amanda over at Metrocurean notes the invasion of Iceland's Viking beer in D.C.

4.) Check out the design for this platypus habitat at the Healesville Sanctuary near Melbourne, Australia. It puts the National Zoo's panda habitat to shame. (via Daily Dose of Architecture)

5.) I made a surf-and-turf dinner for my great aunt on Saturday, with plenty of green vegetables. Word to the wise: When using a grill that hasn't been used for a while, be wary of crusted fat globulets that can explode in your face when you turn the propane on and press ignite.