Jesse O’Connell

My dad abhors any negative comments about immigrants. Asked him recently why he’s so strong on it: ‘Because we’re always happy to take the rich and clever ones. Which means it’s not about disliking immigrants. It’s about disliking the poor and vulnerable. And that’s a bad human instinct.’

Indiana was the worst team in college football for 150 years and then they let you start paying players and they immediately became No. 1 and the only conclusion one can draw is they were the only ones who didn’t realize you could pay players under the table for the first 150 years.

I’m at the Taco Bell

I’m at the urgent care

I’m at the combination Taco Bell and urgent care

Hey! Relax! ACDB:ARC only comes quarterly!!

It’s our first seasonal can art, as well as the leader in the clubhouse for most metal can art. It’s a hazy ipa with a “hint of a Christmas fear”… no doubt a reference to the 7.9% abv, because I am most certainly fearing this shit.

For a big hoppy IPA… it’s fine (but a reminder why I quit these).

A can of beer wrapped in tan tissue paper.

A can of Citra Claws from Mason Aleworks.

SIX.

#ALXbeercember.

Reporter: I interviewed this person for the story
Me: what’s their name
Reporter: says here ‘Richard Johnson’
Me:

Charles Dickens, narrating the best Christmas story there is.

And Tiny Tim, who did *not* die.

A pickleball ornament that my wife is extremely enthusiastic about and doesn’t resent at all, not even a little bit.

Most important ornament is on the tree, I can knock off for the night.

And don’t get me started on how SportsEngine was seemingly designed by someone who had only ever had the concept of a user profile described to them from a written text in a book.

I like how TeamSnap just unashamedly uses mafia tactics and is like “real nice team schedule you’ve got here, if you want to be able to see past these 700 ads and actually view it, you’d better cough up $5 a month.”

I’m so excited for her to learn about the complex political nuances of gas mining colony administration.

En dashes: They’re here to serve.

PHRASING.

I’m generally of the mind that there is no such thing as a bad Mexican lager and that theory is borne out here. Very crushable, two thumbs up.

You’re spider-man! And I’m spider-man! And we’re pointing!

A beer wrapped in yellow tissue paper.

A can of Where the Sun Rests from Everywhere Brewing.

FIVE.

#ALXbeercember

The FIFA Peace Prize (don’t worry I’m doing air quotes) with some tacky ass Trophy Depot plastic engraving plates at the bottom.

Everyone is talking about the unhinged design of the actual trophy itself, but for my money the best part of this *by far* is the stick-on 79 cent engraving plates from Trophy Depot on the base.

This is the most horrific trophy I’ve ever seen. It looks like a cursed object found in a desert crypt.

Snow falls outside a window as a dog naps in a chair in front of bookcases.

Pretty damn serene, not gonna lie. May not leave this room all day.

I’ve found it’s more visually appealing to just paste in his head at the inflection points

Demanding a jury of your peers establish that rhyming “Parkmobile” with “Batmobile” is punishable by a term of no less than two days in the stocks.

Suing to make the use of “AVA” instead of “ALX” defamatory and libelous.

Washington Post email: Get your first year for US99cents

What an utterly bizarre way of saying this to people in the U.S., from a paper based in Washington

Our Money Doesn’t Fold, It Jingle Jingles It’s the start of the festive season in Alexandria, a signature period of the year for the city that manages to highlight all of the things that make us charming (parades! tree lightings! holiday mark...

Happy snowy Friday, Alexandria! @oconnell.bsky.social and I have a new issue of ALXtra for you to read while you drink your hot cocoa, including thoughts on the local economy, an excessive number of jokes about Arlington, and a very special gift guide:

Come on haha

Clown show. Genuinely embarrassing. Wait and make your choice at 5am and announce it on AM radio like god intended.

I fully understand that ales and lagers are different things that are made differently, but I’m reasonably confident I couldn’t pick between a dry hopped lager and an American pale ale in a blind tasting. Anyway, this is good.

A beer can wrapped in red tissue paper.

A can of Borreal dry hopped lager from Old Nation brewing

FOUR.

#ALXbeercember

In one sequence the robots are claymation. In another sequence they’re both Bill Murray in different color face paint.