A Breath of Fresh Air in Ballston

The list of nightspots in Clarendon that are smoke-free (or have a dedicated smoke-free bar) keeps growing: Clarendon Grill, Eleventh, Liberty Tavern, Tallula's EatBar.

By contrast, until recently, the list in Ballston has been short. In fact ... nonexistent.

While Ballston has some smoke-free restaurants like Pinzimini, Sangam, Ted's Montana Grill and Willow, there's been nowhere I'd go for a drink on a Saturday night. (As always, if I'm missing a place, feel free to correct me in comments.)

As someone who lives near Ballston, it's especially frustrating for two reasons:

• Bailey's, Front Page and Rock Bottom are all already set up with two separate bars. Why not make one smoke-free? Front Page and Rock Bottom even have outdoor patios they could reserve for smokers. Pretty ridiculous that they refuse to make any accomodation whatsoever for the 75 percent of us who are non-smokers.
  
  
• An unusually cold autumn. Do I bundle up and walk an extra 20 minutes in the bitter cold to Clarendon? Or put up with the smoke in Ballston?

Fortunately, I have a new option with the opening of Union Jack's in the Ballston Common Mall in the space formerly occupied by Romano's Macaroni Grill. I stopped by for the first time this week not knowing it was smoke-free and noticed it still had that new restaurant smell.

Sure enough, I got an email the very next morning from Union Jack's responding to an email I'd sent a few weeks back saying that yes, they are totally smoke-free!

To find more smoke-free establishments near you, check out FitArlington's Smoke-Free Restaurants Guide. (One warning -- some restaurants are listed in the guide even if they allow smoking at the bar.)

Happy Hours Are Always For A Good Cause

... but this one could have a big impact in the struggle to find a cure for Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

Come out this Thursday night to Front Page in Ballston to have a good time and support the cause. This fundraiser was organized by Lisa Dorsey, an active CRM member who is living with Crohn's Disease and training for a half marathon through the Team Challenge. To learn more about Team Challenge please go to Lisa's Blog.

How you can help you ask?
Attend the Happy Hour and do either or all of the following:

* Purchase a wrist band: $10 for the wrist band gets you 2 free raffle tickets and drink specials from 5pm to 9pm. All of the $10 will go straight to CCFA!

- $2 Miller Lite Bottles
- $3 Corona Bottles
- $3 SoCo and Lime Shots
- Half price bottles of wine
- Half price appetizers

* Purchase raffle tickets: $2 per ticket
I will be raffling off various prizes throughout the evening so the sooner you get there the greater your chances are of winning something. Some Prizes include:

- $100 GC to Sette Bello in Clarendon
- $ 75 GC to Harry's Tap Room in Arlington
- $50 GC to Hard Times Cafe
- $35 GC to Crystal City Sports Pub
- Several Free Manicures to Mystique Nails in Falls Church

All entry fee and ticket raffle proceeds go directly to CCFA.

Review: Cafe Scientifque & Electric Cars

I embraced my inner geek and it was so much fun!

Sometimes events greatly exceed your expectations. And, although I confess to being a little nervous about this event, it was fantastic.

Some background: Cafe Scientifique is a monthly event sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The events generally take place at Front Page, so you can eat/drink, listen to quick chat and then ask some questions. This month's topic was electric cars. It's supposed to be low key and not super scientific.

So, last night had several highlights

1) They had several electric cars on display including a solar powered one - kind of cool

2) The two main presenters were hilarious, they were like Penn and Teller, OK, maybe not that funny, but really for two guys giving a science lecture they were a riot. They were interesting and made the subject interesting.

3) There was a ton of people there, which was just kind of fun.

4) You can order drinks and food from Front Page during the presentation.

5) There's some basic free appetizers.

The one drawback was that the sound was absolutely horrific in that space. There was a huge echo that made it difficult to hear everything the speakers said. I'm hoping that's something they can fix next time and not something totally part of the space.

I haven't said this in a while, but really, sometimes you've just got to get out and do things you're not so sure about. You may get a lemon once in a while, but more often than not I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

As for Cafe Scientifique, if there's another topic that I find remotely interesting, I will definitely go again.

FYI - Sorry about the lousy picture. I didn't think to take a camera and this one is from my phone.

Cafe Scientique at Front Page

I just found out about this regular event and thought it sounded potentially interesting for the science geek in all of us.

Cafe Scientifque flourished first in the U.K. (see http://www.cafescientifique.org/) as a way for the public and scientists to mingle and discuss science issues in an informal setting. At least 35 cafés now exist in the U.S. The National Science Foundation initiated Café Scientifique (Arlington) and its occasional cousin in Washington D.C. in April 2006 to make science more accessible and accountable by featuring speakers whose expertise spans the sciences - and who can talk in plain English. Generally held on first Tuesdays at the Front Page.

Previous topics include A Brief History of the Earth and Moon, Are We All Martians?, Before the Big Bang, and the Science Behind Climate Change.

Cafe's seem to generally begin at 6:00 with light hors d'oeuvres and then a short presentation and dicussion at 6:30. Free and open to the public. No science background required.

Unfortunately, I just missed this month's presentation, but you can sign-up to be on their listserve at the National Science Foundation website, and get information about future events.

I'm interested to see what future topics are and to try to check one out. I'm not a huge science geek, but I like learning new things.