Miss out on some of our blog posts from this week? Worry not—we're here to fill you in on what the most popular blog posts were from the past seven days. See below for our top five.

The more Missed Connections you read, the more you discover the strange things people are attracted to, like public nose-picking (not kidding) and bizarre notes left on a car windshield. All that and tons of angst are on the menu this week.

Tangled - w4m (NoVa)
Reply to: pers-897915868@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2008-10-29, 10:36AM EDT

Every morning I contemplate the words that I’ll say to you over the course of the day. And every day I get so tangled up inside that I never say half of what I want to say. The back and forth between us is endless, but it’s only a distraction for you, I know that. I’m just a pen pal, a way to make the day go by quicker. Other than that, I’m not really that important to you. You moved on some time ago. And I have not. You still consume my thoughts from morning till night. I still hang on to a stupid sliver of hope, knowing that I’m destroying my chances of ever meeting someone who will actually care for me.

Maybe it’s time I started untangling myself.
        * Location: NoVa

Yikes, this is heartbreaking!

Photograph by Chris Leaman.

Sally Colson Cline, 26.

Lives in: DC.

Makes a living: Doing intellectual property work for the federal government.

Background: I’m a Southern belle from North Carolina. I’m the eldest of three girls. I got recruited out of college and moved to DC. I’m into fashion, running, and reality television.

Dating history: I went to an all-girls boarding school for high school. I met my first girlfriend there at 16. I came out to my parents at 18. My parents figured me out before I told them—they asked me if this one girl was more than a friend. I told them yes. They just want me to be happy. I’ve been fully out since then. I was in a four-year monogamous relationship until June. I tend to be in a serial monogamist with not a lot of dating in between. If I’m going to be single, I want to be single. I definitely enjoy the time I spend out of a relationship. I’m not going to settle down this time.

Your type: I like brunettes. I like more masculine women. Smart, educated women. They have to be funny. That’s more important than anything else.

Famous-person crush: Tyra Banks (call me!), Meryl Streep (marry me!), Johnny Depp (let’s get pirate-drunk and find some loose women!).

Patty Stonesifer —The new chair of the Smithsonian regents is taking the helm during a trying time in the institution’s history.

Franklin Raines —The former Fannie Mae chief executive probably today wishes he’d never heard of the company.

Annette Nazareth —Talk about a well-timed hire: The former SEC commissioner said she was joining the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell just as the markets tanked.

George Parker —The head of the DC teachers union has a lot to say about how Michelle Rhee is doing turning around DC’s school system.

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin —The popular South Dakota congresswoman, who is expecting her first son in December, is one of the top “red state” Democrats.

Joe Persichini —So was Bruce Ivins responsible for the 2001 anthrax attacks? The head of the Washington FBI office knows more than he’s saying.

Mary Brown —The head of Life Pieces to Masterpieces, which focuses on at-risk youth, won an Exponent Award, one of the region’s top honors for nonprofits.

Stephen Ayers —The acting architect of the Capitol is the man behind the December opening of the long-overdue Capitol Visitors Center as well as one of the lead planners for January’s inauguration.

This article first appeared in the November 2008 issue of The Washingtonian. For more articles from that issue, click here.  

Photo from our pumpkin carving slideshow. Send yours in!

It's here, Washington! Halloween madness. If you're still searching for plans/costumes/etc, our Halloween guide is where you need to go.  And remember, you can use SoberRide if you've been drinking for a free ride.

National Airport, a fan favorite? Apparently so. It's the fourth-favorite airport in the US, according to this report. 

Are DC markets amongst some of the ones likely to rebound first? Forbes says so. 

While doing a cleanup of the Anacostia River, high school students found a body. 

Eric Nuzum doesn’t find himself in unsettling situations—like spending a night locked in a hotel suite with a ghost or trying to meet up with a self-declared vampire at a deserted park in the middle of the night—by chance. It’s his choice. He actively engages in questionable behavior, full throttle, never stopping to second-guess himself—and his stories (if not always he himself) are all the better for it.

For his latest book, The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires From Nosferatu to Count Chocula, Nuzum sought to experience vampirism to its fullest extent—even if it meant drinking his own blood (and then vomiting all over his kitchen). His quest also led him to work at a haunted house and, later, take a Dracula-themed tour of Transylvania. At his bravest, Nuzum decided to plow through the entire Anne Rice vampire collection. Talk about a lapse in judgment.

When not putting his life, sanity, and physical health in jeopardy, Nuzum works as director of programming and acquisitions at NPR. He also guest-writes for the local blog Prince of Petworth. Nuzum is already working on his next book, a memoir about how his phobia for ghosts developed, but he’ll be reading from The Dead Travel Fast at the Barnes & Noble in Georgetown tonight at 7:30. Make sure to check the event out—free vampire-protection kits will be handed out—and read our interview with the local author below.

Photo by Flickr user Bethany L. King 

Stephanie Caccomo asks: “What is the story behind the fish market barges on the Southwest waterfront? I think I’ve heard that they have been around for a while, but I’d love more info on their history.”

To get the facts on the fish market, we hunkered down with a stack of books and called in favors to two local historians. Read on to find out what we uncovered.