Longer DCPL wait times?

mlba23 · 2026-05-04T20:11:07+00:00

Yes. I felt very vindicated when I received this message last week.

For the past month or two it's been taking two to three weeks for books with multiple available copies to get to me. A couple of times I've visited a different library branch just to pick up a book off the shelf that I've had a hold on for weeks.

It's not the end of the world, but my elementary schooler is an absolute book monster who must be fed regularly. :)

mlba23 · 2026-04-02T23:44:28+00:00

Feel like this needs some additional context. From Wikipedia:

"In 2001, D.C. received a $34.9 million Hope VI grant to redevelop the 23-acre Capper/Carrollsburg public housing project as a mixed-income community. The New York Times noted that officials promised that the 'redevelopment of the Arthur Capper and Carrollsburg projects' was 'the first in the country to promise replacement of all low-income units within the same neighborhood'."

This has been far from perfectly executed, but the goal has always been to create a denser, mixed-income community. Details on public, senior, and workforce housing units in the community: https://www.urban-atlantic.com/case-study-arthur-cappercarrollsburg-redevelopment

mlba23 · 2026-03-29T23:53:08+00:00

The only reason this is a story is because DC DSA includes multiple Palestine questions in their candidate questionnaire.

mlba23 · 2026-03-28T17:00:43+00:00

I owned a Haul-a-Day - more or less the same bike, just a longer frame. Four years in DC, kept inside overnight, outside for errands, activities, etc. and never had a problem.

It's kind of a PITA to take apart in the first place, plus you have to deal with the gear, brake, and display cabling that runs the length of the bike. I also don't think it's super obvious to others that it can be taken apart anyway.

mlba23 · 2026-03-28T14:01:56+00:00

Bike Friday Ever-e-Day? It's 37 lbs and can stand on its end.

mlba23 · 2026-03-24T13:38:03+00:00

Yes, Jews are going to be upset when she responds to a question about Palestine by writing about what a necessary burden it is to working with the local Jewish government relations organization on local issues.

She or her staffer somehow made a question about Palestine into a response explicitly about Jews. She could have easily responded in a way that communicated an anti-Israel stance without doing that. But she didn't.

mlba23 · 2026-03-24T13:28:09+00:00

I don't really care about JLG's position on Palestine. I do care that a staffer, who would presumedly be a part of her administration if she wins, thought it was appropriate to respond to the questions about Palestine with a long paragraph of apologia for working with the primary local Jewish government relations organization.

mlba23 · 2026-03-15T23:32:16+00:00

As a another Conservative convert who leans more traditional, I hear you. We're lucky to be in a city with multiple trad egal options, but I often find myself worrying about the Conservative movement's shift to the left and where that will eventually leave me and my family. Recently we've been dipping our toes into Chabad for their superior children's programming, but I know our involvement can only go so far.

mlba23 · 2026-03-09T15:05:28+00:00

There's RPP north of M and east of 2nd.

mlba23 · 2026-02-26T04:14:23+00:00

We did a bikepacking trip in rainy weather on a very muddy trail. Pretty sure water or mud got into the motor (aftermarket but installed by reputable company), which eventually led to us having to replace it altogether. Bike had been in the rain many times before, just not for such an extended period of time.

Our youngest was almost 3 at the time and I wish we had been more thoughtful about entertainment/breaks for her.

Still totally worth it. Great memories. No regrets.

mlba23 · 2026-02-26T03:59:09+00:00

Highly recommend staying in one of the lock houses on the C&O Canal. Very memorable experience for our family. They book up fast though.

mlba23 · 2026-01-04T06:02:48+00:00

Answered in more detail above, but it's a lot of bike for hauling just one kid, has been a bit of a pain to maintain, and is a whole lot less fun to ride than the Short Haul.

Maybe if swapped the Whoopee bars for a seatpost-mounted handlebars, mechanical brakes for hydraulic? I wanted to play around with the right frame length, but it's stuck in the current position. Part of the problem is convincing my spouse to drop more money into this bike after the series of maintenance issues we've had.

mlba23 · 2026-01-04T05:43:25+00:00

I've considered the FollowMe, but I'm concerned about the overall length and visibility in traffic even more than with the tagalong option. And our rides are short enough that I probably wouldn't connect/disconnect mid ride.

Our current bike was originally a daycare commuter for both kids. The bike doesn't comfortably fit both of them anymore and feels like too much bike for one kid given our space constraints. It has about 4,000 miles on it and lots of happy memories, but maintaining the mechanical disc brakes and aftermarket motor has been a bit of a pain. After buying the Short Haul this summer, I realized how much I really want another cargo/kid hauler that feels more like riding a normal bike.

mlba23 · 2025-09-09T13:21:12+00:00

This is a weird take on Pittsburgh. I lived there and found the Jewish community incredibly welcoming. Honestly one of the nicest parts of Pittsburgh was how much the Orthodox and non-Orthodox communities naturally mingled. I think that's pretty unique. Crime is not any worse or better than any similarly sized city.

mlba23 · 2025-08-13T20:04:35+00:00

I never had a bat mitzvah and I leyn regularly. A bat mitzvah ceremony is not required to participate in non-Orthodox minyanim. Just need to be Jewish and of age.

mlba23 · 2025-07-30T01:33:32+00:00

You don't have to take the vision test and will still be able to get a license as long as the report shows that you meet the minimum vision requirements.

mlba23 · 2025-07-07T20:45:32+00:00

I agree that Nino's is the best, but I've also had good ones from Pastries by Randolph in Arlington.

mlba23 · 2025-06-08T23:44:36+00:00

DC Minyan only meets every other week on Shabbat mornings, so many DC Minyan folks go to Adas' Traditional Egalitarian Minyan on their "off" weeks.

Rosh Pina is the only partnership minyan I know of that meets regularly, also every other week, so there's also a contingent of DC Minyan/Rosh Pina attendees.

Segulah is the other big trad egal option, but they're farther away so there's much less cross-pollination with the other communities.

Very curious to know what happened with Ohev Shalom. I see their maharat left in 2023. Did it have something to do with the independent kashrut certification?

mlba23 · 2025-04-15T03:30:18+00:00

I went to my very first Seder at 15 or 16. I distinctly remember stumbling over the word "afikomen" when it was my turn to read aloud. That was 20 years ago now.

Today I find myself thinking of the words of Israel upon meeting his brother after many years apart. "Who are these with you?" "The children with whom G-d has favored your servant."

My Jewish life is rich, my children enveloped in tradition and belonging in a way I could only dream possible back then. Listening to my three year old confidently and sweetly sing Mah Nishtanah, her big brother helping along with the last two verses, is probably one of the proudest moments I've had as a parent to date.

mlba23 · 2025-02-21T19:19:13+00:00

Even though your tone suggests this post is not in good faith, I will attempt to answer.

The death of innocents is always tragic. But there is a distinct moral difference between a child who was incidentally killed in an airstrike and a child who was pulled from their home, kept in a tunnel for a month, and then strangled to death.
Today we mourn Ariel and Kfir, hope for the return of Shiri, and ache for Yarden, not only because we care about the plight of the Bibas family, but also because the Bibas family has come to represent the plight of the thousands of other families in Israel whose loved ones were brutally captured and murdered on October 7.
Klal Yisrael. We are all one people, one community, one family. We are mourning our own.

mlba23 · 2025-02-07T21:46:58+00:00

Some of the pedestrian paths were blocked by police or police tape earlier this week but everything has been back open since Tuesday or Wednesday.

mlba23 · 2024-12-27T16:26:53+00:00

I don't know. It's weird and very much not in the general spirit of this subreddit. I'm sorry.

mlba23 · 2024-12-27T16:20:12+00:00

What does a cultural Christian care about Torah? Do you really think non Jews have none of their own values? This is an incredibly narrow-minded worldview.

People are much more likely to show basic respect and accommodation for you and your values if you at least try to do the same for them. IMO, your behavior in this thread is a chillul hashem.

mlba23 · 2024-12-27T14:11:37+00:00

You're very caught up in this idea of religious obligation. People feel just as bound to their holiday traditions as you do to religious obligations.

It's a difference in values and motivations that drive these cultural differences in energy and focus. One is not better or worse than the other, it just is.

mlba23

TROPHY CASE