“It’s never been done before. And it’s called, ‘The Biles.’” pic.twitter.com/5uoyYQPzWB
— Lindsay Crouse (@lindsaycrouse) June 7, 2021
Jen Psaki on CNN: I have "a responsibility not to allow the briefing room to become a forum for propaganda or for pushing forward falsehoods or inaccurate information."
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 6, 2021
We’re getting America back on track. pic.twitter.com/mb8gZl7v8W
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 6, 2021
Biden mtgs on overseas trip:
-UK's Boris Johnson June 10
-other G7 leaders (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan) June 11-13
-Queen Elizabeth June 13
-Turkey's Erdogan June 14
-Belgium's Alexander De Croo, King Philippe June 15
-Switzerland's Guy Parmelin June 16
-Putin June 16— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) June 3, 2021
The Justice Department is stepping up its enforcement of hate crimes and other bias-related incidents, furthering a promise by Attorney General Merrick Garland to focus on civil rights violations. https://t.co/9ZzVskK5fb
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 3, 2021
‘The authoritarian mullet’…
Does it matter if Trump actually believes those outrageous QAnon conspiracy theories? NBC's Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) tells @NBCJoshua no, and that the real focus should be on what he calls the “authoritarian mullet: culture war in the front, democracy erosion in the back.” pic.twitter.com/xCGDs3F6Vr
— The Week with Joshua Johnson (@TheWeekMSNBC) June 7, 2021
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone???
rikyrah
?????
Michelle B. Young ?? (@MichelleBYoung1) tweeted at 10:34 PM on Sun, Jun 06, 2021:
I watched the Kennedy Center Honors. It was enough to see Ms. Debbie Allen honored along with Dick Van Dyke (who looks like my Dad) & Midori the violinist, & Joan Baez, but Gladys Knight singing to Garth Brooks & making him cry, and I’m done for the night. ? #KennedyCenterHonors
(https://twitter.com/MichelleBYoung1/status/1401744390251503620?s=02)
OzarkHillbilly
Blech.
rikyrah
Christopher Constantine, Esq. (@ChrisAlbertoLaw) tweeted at 1:03 AM on Mon, Jun 07, 2021:
“Whether Biden is ready, willing and able to take the steps necessary to forge and fight for that consensus will determine not only the success of his presidency but, quite likely, the future of democracy around the world.”
https://t.co/IFqN04ee23 via @thedailybeast
(https://twitter.com/ChrisAlbertoLaw/status/1401781872460447745?s=02)
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Morning Ozark?
rikyrah
Jon Cooper ?? (@joncoopertweets) tweeted at 5:42 AM on Mon, Jun 07, 2021:
Republican State Legislatures Are Winning Their War On American Democracy https://t.co/pbokX2VmQ0
(https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1401852073302544386?s=02)
Nicole
I read Manchin’s op-ed, and watched the clip of him on Wallace’s show, and while I continue to stand by how a politician actually votes is more important than what comes out of their mouth, holy cow, Manchin comes across as dumber than a bucket of hair in both pieces.
Also, good morning everyone!
debbie
@rikyrah:
Consensus on which issue? There seem to be so many. ??♀️
BlueGuitarist
Good morning
Mullet: short in the front, long in the back
so wouldn’t the authoritarian mullet be
cutting democracy in the front, long on phony culture grievance in the back?
Hair styles and attitudes, how do they relate?
OzarkHillbilly
Change of plans. My wife was going to get Baby Girl this AM but was up way too late, so now I am going to get her.
Bye bye.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Enjoy!
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: Have fun
Mo MacArbie
@BlueGuitarist: Then there’s the rattail for enthusiasts of, uh, rat tail.
Raven
We’re off on a low country trip. We’ve owned this Kia hybrid for 3 years and have never really taken it anywhere because the pups would not fit.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Elizabelle
@Raven: Have some she crab soup for me! Enjoy!
@OzarkHillbilly: Have fun with Baby Girl.
Good morning rikyrah, and jackals.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@rikyrah:
Republican Legislatures: “What do you mean, unconstitutional and unfair? We’re simply comporting with that part of the Constitution that requires that each state have a Republican form of government, which means unrepresentative, heavily weighted toward to the social prejudices of the Herrenvolk, and unresponsive to the economic or health needs of everyone except those who are already wealthy or connected…”
Baud
NBC going to be pushing border crisis this week, according to Today show.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Raven:
Mmmm – peel and eat shrimp by the bucket….
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
What crisis?
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
The one that NBC will be reporting on.
ETA: MVP is in Central America this week.
Cameron
@Baud: Reporting on or inventing?
Skepticat
We’ve absolutely fallen down the rabbit hole or have brought The Onion to real life. The current rampant bizarre conspiracies, people, and wackaloon political positions are almost beyond belief. People in my family die fairly young, and the only solace I’m finding is that at 75, I don’t expect to live long enough to see the complete destruction of democracy and the United States—but I’ve already seen much, much more than I want to. We couldn’t have written a movie script this unbelievable. I’m thoroughly discouraged and feel helpless, but Balloon Juice is keeping part of my optimism alive. Fight on, jackals.
Baud
@Cameron:
Haven’t watched it and don’t plan to.
@Skepticat:
OMG.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: Good morning, OH!
raven
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: And my poor bride can’t eat em!
NotMax
Oh, those wacky French.
:)
Danielx
@raven:
all the more for you.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Yep. By the time Republicans take over Congress in 2022, we can kiss democracy goodbye. Thank you, Senators Manchin and Sinema for espousing meaningless platitudes about bipartisanship in the face of hyper partisan voter suppression laws.
Suzanne
I am feeling utterly crazy. After a year of being in PA, I am really, really missing AZ. To the point that, if it could happen right now, I would start packing back up today and move back. That isn’t going to happen, and we will be here for another year, at least. I don’t get why I am feeling this way. I really was done with AZ, and there was much that I didn’t like about it (heat, Republicans, Sinema, commuting). And financially, PA is better, COL-wise. And it really is lovely here. I like the city and the landscape is awesome.
I can’t tell if I am just coming out of the pandemic and what I am really missing is 2019, or if this is really just normal shit to push through, or if I should just finish my contract and then go back.
MomSense
Biles is amazing. I can’t watch her live, though. The technical difficulty is astounding and terrifying.
mrmoshpotato
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Sand castle size or 5 gallon?
MomSense
@Suzanne:
I didn’t switch locations but I still feel like crap about everything. Having death hang over you for a year and a half has a way of making you feel dissatisfied with the way things are.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: The commentary on the postcards is hilarious.
Cameron
@Suzanne: I left PA about five years ago for FL, but you’ll never hear me say a bad word about the Keystone State. Hope it grows on you – it has a lot to offer.
Spanky
@Suzanne: #1 and #2 both. I would bet if you went with #3 you would immediately be reminded why you left.
What the pandemic deprived you of is experiencing the people in Pgh. I think you’ll be happier once everyone feels freer to socializ
Eta: I left for a job, so there’s one less asshole to deal with.
rikyrah
Jennifer ‘pro-voting’ Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) tweeted at 6:58 AM on Mon, Jun 07, 2021:
Manchin’s excuse-mongering must end. It is time to demonstrate his bipartisan notions are more than fantasy. And if he cannot, he needs to choose his legacy: He either ushers in democracy’s demise or refuses to allow Republicans to dismantle democracy
https://t.co/q2grKJrPn0
(https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1401871174481629184?s=03)
rikyrah
@MomSense:
Stunning ?
Suzanne
@MomSense: I feel like that has a lot to do with my thinking right now. Like, I was thinking back to when we moved into our AZ house where we lived for ten years. Obama was halfway through his first term, I had just gotten married and was pregnant, just finished graduate school, and I was so excited and hopeful. This time, I was terrified and rushed and I don’t know if I’m missing AZ, or if I’m missing the untraumatized person I used to be.
rikyrah
Team USA (@TeamUSA) tweeted at 6:33 PM on Sun, Jun 06, 2021:
Could it get any better than @Simone_Biles using the Tokyo Drift music in her floor routine? The answer is no. #USGymChamps https://t.co/og9upJ7UZS
(https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1401683815626534917?s=03)
Betty Cracker
@BlueGuitarist: I think the “authoritarian mullet” analogy is apt because the short cut in the front of the mullet is a presentation to the world (business in the front) while the long hair in the back (party in the back) is an expression of the wearer’s true nature. At least that’s how I always interpreted the mullet motto.
Kind of on topic: many years ago, my kiddo and I were having lunch at a restaurant, and we saw an entire family of mullet-wearers dining at a nearby table. Grandma, grandpa, parents and several children, all with very pronounced mullets. I was dying to surreptitiously take a photo, but the kiddo threatened to disown me if I did.
Suzanne
It didn’t help that my photo memories popped up with the photos I took at my daughter’s friend’s birthday party…. and that young friend died tragically last year and my husband attended the funeral over Zoom.
JML
Is Simone Biles an alien? Has she developed anti-grav technology?
Just an unbelievable competitor. I barely understand what she’s doing, but dang if I won’t watch it every single time. She’s awesome.
mrmoshpotato
@Spanky:
Totally agree. Exploring our surroundings and being around other people was denied to us for over a year.
I discovered a nature park recently that’s off of a main, busy street, and it’s awesome. Not super big, but a good walk around the place.
rikyrah
The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) tweeted at 6:58 AM on Mon, Jun 07, 2021:
Another reason Manchin’s position stresses the hell out of me: Any day now, the Supreme Court could overturn the Affordable Care Act and throw tens of millions of lives into chaos. If he needs Republicans to support a new law, people will die.
(https://twitter.com/rudepundit/status/1401871176117456896?s=03)
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne:
That sounds like a really good insight.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: If we can’t embarrass our children, what are we here for?
@Suzanne: I hear you. I’m wondering if I’ll ever be able to start writing a new book again. I feel like all my enthusiasm went somewhere else. And I’m embarrassed to feel that way. You can’t be in a more comfortable living situation than I am. I feel like I’m whining.
rikyrah
The Hill (@thehill) tweeted at 6:58 AM on Mon, Jun 07, 2021:
NEW POLL: 78 of unvaccinated Americans unlikely to change their minds https://t.co/t5FPW9H9eS https://t.co/9o8jxewkKN
(https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1401871075185680385?s=03)
rikyrah
???
Jon Cooper ?? (@joncoopertweets) tweeted at 6:54 AM on Mon, Jun 07, 2021:
Christian Billionaires Are Funding a Push to Kill the Equality Act https://t.co/wSZYacME0Q
(https://twitter.com/joncoopertweets/status/1401870180695916547?s=03)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@mrmoshpotato:
Five gallon. Is there any other way?
rikyrah
Entertainment Weekly (@EW) tweeted at 5:35 PM on Sun, Jun 06, 2021:
One of the first Black actors to lead a TV series, ‘The Mod Squad’ star Clarence Williams III died of colon cancer in Los Angeles on Friday. https://t.co/UDUYYgT5Q6
(https://twitter.com/EW/status/1401669014640857090?s=03)
rikyrah
Trust Black women *We tried to tell you* (@NicolasEdny) tweeted at 7:22 AM on Mon, Jun 07, 2021:
Good morning!
Please check your voter registration & make sure you register to vote.
Check your State elections schedule
& commit to vote in every election
Local, State, government etc…
We must vote!
Elections have consequences!
VOTE.
(https://twitter.com/NicolasEdny/status/1401877334609760266?s=03)
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah:
Feels like The Hill forgot the % sign.
Anyway, I hope the kids who had no say in this past shitshow of a bastard presidency come down in these fuckers like a ton of bricks in the coming years.
Suzanne
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Like, it’s the dumbest thing, I was SO READY to leave.
And now, all I can think of is going back.
And now, if we went back, it would be even more expensive to return. WTF is wrong with me?!
I have a great WFH gig, a nice (and paid off) house, a walkable neighborhood, nicer weather, trees. And I want to return to the “comfort” of sand and rocks in the front yard and ludicrous heat and scorpions?!
I’m not even a big socializer.
Thinking about it in rational terms makes me feel even crazier.
mrmoshpotato
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Cement truckful? ?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Betty Cracker:
Hungary/Franco, then.
Tdjr
@mrmoshpotato: That’s one of the things I love about it here. You can be driving in a city neighborhood and all of a sudden you’re surrounded by woods. Benton avenue, north side.
Barbara
@JML: Biles is amazing, and she seems like a really wonderful person, but I have stopped enjoying women’s gymnastics at the Olympic level. Watching it at the collegiate level is totally different. At the Olympic level the routines all look the same to me (save for the falls) and I don’t have the knowledge to distinguish subtle differences in difficulty at the highest level. Plus, the tv packaging has become incredibly tedious, with relatively little time devoted to actual events.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Conservative Mullet; Free Belarus News (Eng.) put it best I think
Suzanne
@mrmoshpotato: To be a pedantic asshole, it’s a concrete truck/mixer, not a cement truck. Cement doesn’t need mixing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Suzanne: Under the circumstances, it has to have been difficult to integrate much into the community in PA. I don’t necessarily mean socializing, though some of that is probably good. But even things like a usual coffee shop or gym.
@Barbara: I’m so glad to hear you say that about the TV packaging. I loathe it. It’s filled with jolly trivia.
Barbara
@Suzanne: It sounds pretty normal. When you are leaving one place you are maximizing its deficits while tending to maximize the benefits of the place you are going to. After a year, it’s totally understandable that the pluses and minuses might seem to be more closely matched than you had anticipated. My SIL and her husband left a midwestern state where he was a poorly paid professor for a much better paying job in California and realized within a short time that they liked the trade-offs of the place they had left better than where they had ended up.
ETA: And, oh yeah, the pandemic . . . my daughter left NC because she just couldn’t stand the isolation of being in a new place and totally unable to make connections.
BlueGuitarist
@Betty Cracker:
Thanks!
Your word picture substitutes well for (admirably restrained) lack of a photo of the multi-generation mullet family portrait.
Timbuk3’s 1986 song “Hair Styles and Attitudes” doesn’t mention mullets, but includes, among others:
“bankers in bangs/presidents in pompous pompadours….
can you judge a crook by his coverup?”
Barbara
@Dorothy A. Winsor: At one point I was able to subscribe to the “universal feed” that nations get when they don’t have the resources to send their own crews and whatnot. Basically, it just plows straight through with minimal commentary. When you watch diving so that you see EVERY dive you actually “get it” — what separates a good from a bad dive. There is a lot more coverage now, and you can get that kind of coverage for many different events, but Olympic gymnastics is always being treated like a diamond ring that someone wrapped up in five different boxes that takes you forever to unwrap — to make certain you realize how special it is. I just can’t take it.
mrmoshpotato
@Suzanne: In this case it’s a shrimp truck/mixer! ?
Soprano2
It doesn’t sounds like it’s the place you’re missing. Seeing that pic probably stirred up a lot of stuff. That happens to me with FB and my sister every now and then. It’s a longing for the way things used to be, feeling that they were better then and are worse now.
Mo MacArbie
@Suzanne: First they came for my rising fastball, and now you’re taking away my cement mixer slider.
Zinsky
Simone Biles is an amazing athlete! She rocks!
Did anyone else see the pictures of the orange imbecile with his pants on backwards on Saturday night?
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-north-carolina-2653252825/
I predict Donald Trump is so senile and demented by 2024 that even his minions will be ashamed to vote for him.
Kathleen
@MomSense: I saw her in person at a workplace event (kicking myself for not getting picture with her). She is so incredibly tiny in person. Tinier even than in her pictures
Ken
@Suzanne: Slim Gaillard disagrees with you.
(Lyrics begin around the 4 minute mark, but you’ll want to watch the whole thing.)
Betty Cracker
@Zinsky: Both Snopes and Daniel Dale have convincingly debunked the backwards pant theory, but I’m pleased the story got so much attention that fact checks were necessary. Here’s hoping everyone in TFG’s orbit, including his worthless self, is stewing over it. He deserves every possible humiliation.
Anne Laurie
@rikyrah: Keep in mind, a lot of those Repubs who swear they’ll never get vaxxed are lying. Some of them, like TFG, have already quietly taken advantage of modern technology. Others will eventually succumb, either for positive incentives (lottery tickets, free beer) or for negative ones (threatened job loss or access to family members).
It’s like any other ostentatiously ‘abstentious’ cult. Everyone’s a virgin until they marry, but there’s plenty of extremely hasty weddings, many of them featuring maternity wedding gowns…
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Anne Laurie: One of Mr DAW’s bridge partners got the first shot last week because he wanted to go back to playing in person and vaccination was required. He grumbled about “freedom” but he went.
Yet another lurker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: De-lurking to say that I sincerely hope you write more. I am reading The Trickster now and love your characters and their world.
Ohio Mom
Suzanne:
I think a certain amount of homesickness is part of the human condition. Life can seem like one goodbye after another, and it is natural to miss and grieve what can no longer be.
I think that is why the expulsion from Eden is at the start of the Bible (in case you don’t finish the whole thing). It’s a metaphorical explanation of why missing the past is baked into us.
Part of me is always missing New York City and wondering why as a young person I was sure I had to flee. I’ve been sorting old photographs and how I miss baby Ohio Son, when everything appeared possible for him.
Steve in the ATL
@Suzanne: other posters have offered actual sage advice, but I’ll throw in concerns about the medium- to long-term viability of Phoenix as a big city because of water. How much longer can it last?
I always loved visiting—visiting, not living—there, and used to have a place in Scottsdale. Sold it a few years ago, and can’t see getting another. YMMV.
Ken
@Steve in the ATL: The Arizona water problem has been solved. The legislature is planning to pump water from the Mississippi River to the state.
Eunicecycle
@Zinsky: but how do you even zip up your pants if they’re on backwards? Someone had to zip them up for him.
ETA: I see Betty Cracker noted the debunking.
Barbara
@Zinsky: Nope. The crazier, more incompetent the better, the better to highlight that ANY white man is preferable to any other alternative.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken: You forgot a ! after “solved.”
Arizona: Hi, Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico! Don’t mind us! Just gonna drop a pipeline here. You won’t even notice it!
Another Scott
(via darth)
Cheers,
Scott.
Suzanne
@Ohio Mom: Yes.
But another part of me is like: why are you torturing yourself if you don’t want to? I tend to be one of those people who tries to Make Sensible Decisions, and sometimes I later realize that I hate it, and that life is for living, even if it isn’t strictly rational to do what I want to do. It’s taken me a long time to realize that I am allowed to want things. I know that sounds silly, because other people appear to do what they want without guilt. Like, I grew up with a sense of responsibility and prudence, and I am still learning to give myself permission for things.
A chunk of my mind is like…. you are allowed to live where you want to live, even if it doesn’t “pencil out”.
Mr. Suzanne has been recommending to me that I get some professional help in dealing with the Trump presidency/pandemic, and I agree…. but only to a point. I don’t know if I want to be talked into learning to cope with that which is terrible. I remember my grandfather, who was a deeply unhappy person and also fairly a IGMFY person, saying “I live in the world in which I find myself”. And I get it….but I also am reminding myself that it’s also good to muster up the strength to change your circumstances if you want it, and that not being able to cope with a madman and his plague is also possibly a sign that I AM OKAY and the WORLD IS NOT.
rikyrah
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
That was exactly the question that came out of my mouth when I read that.
smith
The last winter Olympics I used my VPN to reach the online programming of CBC via Montreal. It was immensely better than what you can see on American TV. Complete events, relatively little intrusive chatter, and none of those soppy Hallmark moments about the tragedy some athlete has overcome to get to the games. Don’t know if that will work this time, but I plan to try it.
Jinchi
I think the key takeaway is that “Trump wore his pants backwards” is a thing that had to be debunked, because it’s completely believable.
I mean, the man is obsessed with his image, wealthy enough to afford a tailor and yet he always looks like he randomly grabbed clothes from the Salvation Army business surplus rack.
Jackie
@Anne Laurie: Heh My Dad used to joke about the “premature” babies weighing 9lbs seven months after the wedding.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: “That tweet is unavailable.”
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Suzanne: Everyone gets nostalgic for places they’ve lived before, and the longer or more significant the time spent there the more nostalgic one is. E.g. I went to college in Springfield, OH and it is by pretty much every measure not a desirable place to live but I have fond memories of it. I also lived in Champaign, IL for a couple years and was a little sentimental when I left. Champaign, while much nicer and more prosperous than Springfield, is still in downstate IL, where one has to search long and hard to find a hill, much less a mountain.
When I first moved to the DC area I longed to move back to my home town of Grand Rapids, MI, which, of the three cities is objectively the nicest, most prosperous, and in closest proximity to natural amenities (Lakes, including a half hour to Lake Michigan’s sandy, dune lined shore). I still sometimes want to move back but it’s mostly because I’d prefer a smaller city with fewer traffic snarl ups and less crowded natural amenities more than anything else. The longing for the place as a place is not so intense over time.
Being in a big city like DC, given our lack of investment in infrastructure over the past half century…you’re kind of trapped by traffic congestion. You can try to get out to the mountains for a day hike, but you have to resign yourself to the fact that even if you play hooky on a week day and leave after rush hour is supposed to be over, you’re going to spend a half hour minimum sitting in stop and go traffic on the way out of town, and the same on the way back. On the weekend it’s worse because too many people are gunning to get to the same places. So, it takes an hour longer to get to places round trip, at minimum, than it should, which is a significant disincentive to actually making the attempt. I like mid-sized cities better because they offer enough of what DC offers – museums, culture, good food – without having to deal with a lot of the disutilities that come along with being in a real metropolis. At this point I still would not at all mind moving back to GR but would consider other nice small to mid-sized cities like, e.g. Burlington, VT, Portland, ME, Asheville, NC etc. Even some of the rust belt cities like Cleveland and Buffalo have pretty modest traffic by DC standards and could provide enough quality of life to be options. But, I’m probably here until retirement and I like the city fine and no longer feel the pull of “home” so strongly anymore.
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: In AZ and anywhere else you’ve ever lived, you had the run of the place.
In PA, because of the pandemic, you have essentially been grounded for over a year. Ask any teenager how happy they would be if they were grounded for a year.
How are you supposed to have developed warm fuzzies for PA, and a new life, when you haven’t had anything resembling normal in all that time?
If you start thinking of leaving now, you will never put down roots in PA – PA will not stand a chance. My advice would be for you to decide now that you are going to put down roots in PA and give it a couple of years.
They say you shouldn’t make big decisions in the year that a parent has died, or when a major relationship has ended. When you are going through a crisis, you can’t trust your instincts and decisions in the way that you normally would.
If after a more normal couple of years or really giving AZ a try, you still miss AZ, then you will have an answer you can trust.
My two cents. But you know we love you and will support you no matter where you live.
Ken
Don’t be silly, the Arizona legislature isn’t stupid. They’ve already worked out that the shortest route is from the Mississippi near St. Louis. The pipeline will run roughly along the line of Interstate 70 through Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado, and over the Continental Divide. Then the water can be dumped into the Colorado or one of its tributaries, and gravity will take it to Arizona.
Obviously there will be some ongoing operational energy requirements to pump millions of gallons of water up approximately one mile, but I expect the Federal government will pick up that part of the cost. I’m sure that’s the Arizona legislature’s plan, anyway.
Suzanne
@WaterGirl: Mr. Suzanne and I decided to reevaluate next spring. Hopefully the situation will be clearer then.
Zinsky
@Betty Cracker: Thanks Betty. I hadn’t heard that the fact-checkers had debunked it, but you are probably more plugged in than me. Still, it is a REAL bad look and makes him like the pathetic old dolt that he is. And the media is trying to portray Joe Biden as the doddering old fool???
mrmoshpotato
@Ken:
I wasn’t even thinking about the geography, just the distance.
Steve in the ATL
@mrmoshpotato: and let’s completely ignore the billions of dollars in cargo moved down the Mississippi on barges. Keeping the golf courses at Camelback lush and green is far more important!
Betty
@rikyrah: indeed!
mrmoshpotato
@Steve in the ATL: Sounds like someone’s concerned about tugboats running aground! There are no tugboats on the links!
Soprano2
Oh this is not silly AT ALL. When I was a teenager my dad told me I should do the things I am supposed to do first, and then I could do the things I want to do. Even then my reply was “But then I’ll never have time to do the things I want to do!”. Even now, at the age of 60, I have a hard time taking a weekend day and just doing whatever I want to do. There are ALWAYS things that need to be done that I feel I should be doing.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@BlueGuitarist: all i know is, we need to get that mullet off our skull. go to the barbershop & tell the barber, “we’re sick of looking like an asshole”.
rock over london
rock on balloon-juice
applebee’s: eatin’ good in the neighborhood
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Jinchi: as sisqo explained in pieces of april, “those are quality men’s clothes”.
mrmoshpotato
@MontyTheClipArtMongoose:
Only one Applebee’s within Chicago city limits, and it’s nowhere close. ?
Downtown Quizno’s would be closer.
Ken
@Steve in the ATL: @mrmoshpotato: This sort of defeatist thinking is why neither of you are suitable for election to the Arizona legislature. Do they allow mere engineering, economic, or sociological issues deter them? No! Do they consider the wider impact of their plan? No! They keep their focus on the core issue. The golf courses must be green!
mrmoshpotato
@Jinchi: You mean Dump looks like he couldn’t even be bothered to spend a few minutes in a Joseph A. Bank?
Ken
Did you accidentally drop an adjective before “quality”?
mrmoshpotato
@Ken:
Well, I guess I’ll be crossing that idea off my list!
Soprano2
My husband & I have always been puzzled by this, because his clothes always look bad no matter what he’s doing. A good tailor can make a person look good no matter their size. It’s strange that he cares so much about how his hair looks, but nothing at all about how his clothes look on him.
frosty
@Raven: Have a low country boil for me! Had one in SC in January. What a feast!
mrmoshpotato
@Soprano2:
Evidence exists to the contrary. See Piss-colored cotton candy.
frosty
@Suzanne: I remember your comments prior to the move – you were really done with AZ. My only suggestion for your mixed feelings is to ask what climate you grew up in. I was in SoCal for college and after and it was missing the Piedmont where I grew up that pulled me back. Plus wanting to be closer to my family.
Nicole
@Suzanne:
That would be a bad therapist, then. A good therapist gives you a set of tools to use in your life, and it’s entirely possible one of the tools might be, “Moving back to Arizona.” But with a good therapist, you’ll find your way through to those answers yourself.
I am in the “give PA a chance now that it’s opening back up” as I gather you’re in the Pittsburgh area and I think it’s a pretty wonderful city (my brother and his wife and kid live there; I grew up in South Central PA. Pittsburgh is better). And if, with it opened back up, it’s still not for you, well, at least you know.
But that’s also likely highly influenced by the fact that I hate moving.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Yet another lurker: Wow. Thank you. You made my day and possibly my week
Ken
By the way, a semi-amusing historical tidbit: The reason the Arizona legislature (and every other state with water rights) refers to “shortages” on the Colorado River is because the compact allocating water was negotiated during a brief period of unusually high precipitation, so over-estimated the average annual flow. The result is that something like 120% of the annual average is allocated.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Soprano2: That’s up there with Trump wearing those high heels, even though it makes him look like he needs walker.
Cameron
@Ken: Was it over when the Germans bombed the Grand Canyon?
dnfree
@Suzanne: plus you have been through a Pennsylvania winter, right? I don’t know where you grew up, but that could have affected your outlook. I grew up in northern Illinois and still live there, so I’m used to seasons like that, but if you aren’t, that may have had an affect. Even so, the older I get the longer the winters seem.
prostratedragon
@Soprano2: The persistence of that hair style past the late 80s is what made me realize that he was unusually resistant to the suggestions of others. LIkewise leaving his coat open even though he doesn’t need ready access to a weapon.
Suzanne
@frosty: I spent the early part of life (until 3rd grade) living on Long Island. Then we moved to AZ, and I lived there for 32 years, possibly to the exact day. So much of my life happened there. Adolescence, college and graduate school, getting married and divorced and then-really-married, having kids, growing a career, hobbies, etc. You are correct: I was really fucking DONE and I remember vividly how done I was. That’s what makes this confusing.
@Nicole: We are in PGH, and honestly it’s wonderful. By every objective measure, it is a better place to be. Again….that is why I find this really hard to cope with. I should be thrilled and yet I’m not. I feel like younger Suzanne would have been happier and maybe I was just too fucken old to do this. Or maybe once the pandemic started, I should have called the whole fucken thing off.
Suzanne
@dnfree: The winter doesn’t bother me too much here. The AZ summers are worse than the PA winters.
Jerzy Russian
@Ken: In addition to the unusually wet time period over which the “study” was done, wasn’t there some kind of analysis error that resulted in a higher flow rate?
Raven
Got almost to Augusta and got a nail in a tire. Unfixable so we get a new one!! Love the 18” tires on a Kia!
Nicole
@Suzanne: I think the advice from everyone not to make any huge decisions in the wake of the pandemic is probably wise. I know I’ve been feeling a lot of sadness lately, which, to the logical side of my brain, makes no sense, as things are getting better, but I think I’m finally finding the space to grieve 2020 and the emotional part of my brain couldn’t care less if the logical part thinks the statute of limitations has expired.
We all have PTSD from what we’ve been through. It’s going to affect all of us in different ways. Maybe what we need is to give ourselves permission to feel bad for awhile. America (or some parts of it) has a bit of a culture of toxic positivity, and I think the sense that we’re not “supposed” to feel bad or sad, therefore we must be doing something wrong and should take steps to “fix” it, can sneak up on the best of us. Fuck that; we just all came through a pandemic. Of COURSE we should be feeling bad and sad.
Emma from Miami
@Dorothy A. Winsor: This is late and you might not see it but… ARE YOU NUTS, WOMAN? Good books makes the world bearable. Get in there and slave away!
Ken
@Jerzy Russian: There may have been additional errors. I just had a vague memory of the weather-related error, from a book about the construction of Hoover Dam, and found it also mentioned in the wikipedia article on the Colorado River Compact.
Soprano2
@mrmoshpotato: Except that I’ve heard that he spends a lot of time on it. Rumor was he had a guy who carried hair spray for him, and he’s terrified to go out in the rain because of it, so he obviously cares and thinks it looks good (it doesn’t).
Suzanne
@Nicole:
I’m sadder now than I was even during the really big winter wave. Then, I was so concentrated on surviving it and keeping the family safe that I wasn’t really focused on anything else. That consumed all of my thoughts. Then I was all in on getting everyone vaccinated. And now I’m finally sitting back with less immediate crisis and wanting to get back to “normal” and it doesn’t feel like there’s a normal to get back to.
Matt McIrvin
@Suzanne: I am feeling stir crazy to the point that my instinct to be belt-and-suspenders cautious about COVID pandemic controls is being overridden by the emotional need to get out and do stuff.
The heat wave makes it hard to go around outside right now, and my daughter technically won’t be fully vaccinated for another week and a half of immune ramp-up. But we’re probably just going to end up trusting in our vaccinations and giving up on isolation otherwise, for a while at least; I can see the writing on the wall.
Under the circumstances it’s not crazy–New England’s infection rates are getting impressively low, all the numbers are lower than they were even last summer (except for hospitalizations–the aftermath of the spring wave is still on us there).
Matt McIrvin
@Suzanne: …The other thing for me was that, on top of the pandemic, I spent the past few months recovering from a knee replacement in mid-February that required me to learn to walk again. So for a while, I was off work concentrating on just taking care of my body, and the reentry from that turned out to be mentally/emotionally harder than I expected, even though everyone was working from home anyway. Even though I have better physical function now than I had for years before the surgery.
I do feel like there’s a lot from the past year and a half that I haven’t fully processed.
debbie
@Suzanne:
I was around 40 when I moved from NYC to Ohio. Believe me, I’ve had many moments of regret, but I also remember that at the time, moving back was pretty much my best choice. Picking up and moving isn’t the simple thing it was back in my 20s. After you’ve given it more time, think really, really carefully about whether you want to expend the amount of energy it will take to get your family back to AZ.
Barbara
@smith: It will probably work for some events but not all. I watched the world curling championships (don’t judge) via live streaming and many matches were blocked if the U.S. was playing. Which was okay, because I wanted to watch a few of the other teams as well, but NBC has the ability to enforce limits on streaming from other sources, I assume through its contract with the original source, e.g., the IOC.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin:
Yup.
Like, honestly, my mental health during the pandemic was pretty good and I was able to enjoy life, even as proscribed as it was. But for the last four weeks or so, I’m, like, FUUUUUUUUUUUCK. I want to jump in a goddamn swimming pool so bad.
Soprano2
@Ken: I know a woman who wrote a paper in college about the mistakes made when the Colorado River was divvied up among the states, and she told me there were multiple factors but the main one was the overestimation of the average amount of water in the river because they used an unusually wet year to make the calculations.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: Yeah, I am coming to realize that this pandemic and really the entire Trump presidency messed me up more than I thought. I feel so much more scared and anxious than I used to, even though my circumstances are certainly better. Everything feels tenuous and fragile.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Emma from Miami: LOL. Yes, Ma’am
Barbara
@Suzanne: You are not alone — you will not be surprised to hear that there is a huge surge in demand for in-ground backyard pools. There is also a shortage of chlorine (due to a catastrophic fire at a major chlorine supplier) — leading to a shortage of chemicals and equipment for non-chlorine alternatives. Our high school public swimming sessions have resumed but they are by reservation only at this point. I hope your local pool alternatives open up soon.
Soprano2
@Suzanne: If you’re fully vaccinated go ahead and do it! I listened to Fauci on Maddow’s Friday show this morning, and he said vaccinated people should feel pretty safe doing almost anything they want to.
Kelly
I have similar feelings. Give yourself something good. Mrs Kelly convinced me to get a therapeutic massage because she could see the tension from politics, plague, crazy right wing neighbors, Oregon’s Labor Day fires and aftermath stiffening me up. It was great! My shoulders and hips work so much better. Going in for another today and I’ll keep going back every week or two for awhile.
Matt McIrvin
@Suzanne: I got to go in a swimming pool (family friend’s house) yesterday! It was so good.
I want to go to an amusement park and ride roller coasters and play pinball. Going to restaurants is one thing but I think I won’t really feel like I’m done with this until I get some of that in.
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
To be honest, I think we should step back and just wait to see how this Summer goes. That’s what I am doing. I am not going anywhere. I am not even thinking about doing anything until I see how the Summer has gone with the’ full reopening.’
I know my choices aren’t for everyone.
I’m not kidding when I say that we need to protect ourselves from the lying unvaccinated.
Cameron
@Suzanne: I’m originally from Pittsburgh area and (after growing up overseas) lived most of my adult life in the Philly area. If you don’t mind a suggestion, check out this website: https://uncoveringpa.com/. And then, of course, start doing such field trips as our current plague society allows……
WaterGirl
@Suzanne: This will get better, Suzanne. For all of us.
When we move from survival mode back toward life, there’s a lot to process about what happened.
We hold it together in a crisis because there’s not much room to do otherwise. Just like when someone close to us dies – in normal times – we are devastated, but we have people to call, and arrangements to make, and a wake or a funeral or a memorial.
Once that is over, that’s when processing the loss really starts.
It will get better. It’s particularly hard because we are back under siege politically, so it’s exponentially more stressful.
We all just need to hang in there. Grief is like a river, we just have to go where it takes us, and if we stop fighting it, we will end up on the other side of it
edit: shorter: what you’re feeling is unsettling, but you’re not crazy, and it doesn’t meant that something is wrong.
Soprano2
I’m fully vaccinated, and I have no vulnerable family members or children who can’t get vaccinated, so honestly I’m not worried about them anymore. We can’t force them to get vaccinated, and I’m not willing to spend the whole summer staying home away from people because of them (and I work with some of them so I can’t avoid them anyway!). I understand that some people have to be concerned about others who they live with or are close to who cannot yet get vaccinated, but I don’t have to do that. I’ve done the best thing I can to do protect others by getting vaccinated!
debbie
@rikyrah:
I’m with you. I’m hanging back and waiting to see how people get through the summer. Most of my friends are too.
Suzanne
@rikyrah: I can’t not do stuff anymore. I have been doing some of the things I enjoy, slowly adding them back in. I will get my younger two kids vaccinated ASAP and I am still limiting their activities, but I am vaccinated and Allegheny County is crushing it, vaccine-wise.
Kelly
@Matt McIrvin: Last week three days were warm enough to swim in our river. Our swimming hole is lovely and my skin likes river water better than pools. Enough current in the middle to swim in place ;-)
ALurkSupreme
Hey, Raven: Call a neighbor, maybe? Parts of Athens were hit with a pretty bad storm last night. My own neighborhood is a mess.
MisterForkbeard
@rikyrah: What really bugs me about this is that these people are and have always been freeloaders.
They’re banking on the vaccination status of everyone else to keep them safe. They did the same during COVID, where they refused to mask up or stay home. To the extent they were able to break those rules safely, it was because everyone else was doing the work and keeping the infection rate down.
And it’s a pattern. Red states take more in federal aid than they give. Agrarian areas require a lot of federal and state assistance. White people get by on unearned privilege and have benefitted from the underpaid work done by minorities, etc. It’s consistent, just as consistent as these same freeloaders proclaiming that they’re the independent, responsible ones.
Just gaslighting, all the way down.
scav
@Suzanne: Another thread to pull on is trying not to confuse where with when. You’ve already essentially aware of the issues. The AZ you’re missing may not be the AZ that’s there now— the PA you’ve experienced isn’t the usual PA. Plus all the personal age aspects.
Then again, there are other attributes you may be missing, with a place just being the mental bucket holding them. Might help to stop wondering about the seeming absurdity of the where and tease out the underlying issues.
MisterForkbeard
@Soprano2: Right. I’d mostly be with you, except I have unvaccinated young kids. As does my extended family.
At this point, I’m not as concerned about the unvaccinated-by-choice directly. Most of them can go fuck themselves, especially since they’re freeloading on the safety provided by the rest of the vaccinated. But they’re also fucking up everything for the kids.
For example: a month ago my county was down to 5-15 people infected per day (and trending downward), in a county of 500k people. This week we’re averaging about 30 people per day. Because things opened up and the unvaccinated still aren’t taking things seriously. And now I have to re-evaluate my plans to let the girls play at the park outdoors, take swimming lessons, etc.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Suzanne: me too, I was oddly enough doing all right until about six weeks ago, post-vaccination. A big part of that is I hate summer, the long days and the heat throw off my circadian rhythms (if those are a thing, what I mean is my sleep is reduced, my schedule’s all out of whack– that happens every year from late May to about mid-August). People keep changing get-together/reunion plans in ways that grate on me, but I can’t say anything because they mean well, and people have those “feelings” things. Also a couple of un-plague related projects that require me to coordinate various un-cooperative individuals…..
Spanky
@Suzanne: Yep! That’s Trump/pandemic PTSD.
You, young lady, are not alone.
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
Then, go slow.
Pick outside stuff to do.
rikyrah
@MisterForkbeard:
They are phuckin moochers. You’ve got that right.
Barbara
@rikyrah: This is where I am. I expect that any place I could or would want to go is going to be crushed, and from everything I have read, you will need reservations for most sites or events or even restaurants. In short, not a relaxing time.
@Suzanne: I hear you. I am guessing all the things that I would usually recommend, like Ohiopyle, will be mobbed even more than usual (and they usually are) and I think at least one of your kids is too young even for the guided rafting. My husband and son biked from Pittsburgh to DC on the GAP and C&O trails last year, and they had a blast. GAP trail is really, really nice, and I know a place in Confluence where you can camp by the side of the river. I am not sure about the swimming possibilities.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
If you click on the first of the three links you get the actual story, which the tweet was just a link to anyway.
Nicole
@Suzanne:
Al Gore said something really interesting about his time serving in Vietnam- I’m paraphrasing what he said all over, but essentially it was that being in war creates a kind of constant heightened level of existence, because you’re afraid 24/7 you’re going to die, and while that’s bad, it’s also a kind of a high. He thought a lot of soldiers have trouble coming back to everyday life, even if they didn’t see actual combat, because it’s hard to adjust back to a life that isn’t lived on high alert- it can be pretty depressing, even though things are objectively better. I think maybe a lot of us are going through something similar.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: Did being able to get a haircut set things off??
:-)
I haven’t had a haircut since October, when the woman who has been cutting my hair for decades did it in her kitchen. She moved away, so I’ve got to find someone else. :-( It’s made getting the gumption to get it done that much worse, even then I’ve been good-to-go for more than 2 weeks.
Seriously, it’s good to vent. Take it easy, one day at a time.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Barbara
@Nicole: The movie Plenty is about this subject exactly. In that case, it was an English woman who participated in the French resistance. If you have ever read Walker Percy, one of his most amusing books is called Lost in the Cosmos. He is, if you know him, always trying (usually in a very subtle way) to get you to see things from a religious point of view, but along the way he writes hilariously about the existential woes of modern life, and he would call this phenomenon a “Reentry Crisis,” like a rocket ship returning from space exploration burning up as it meets earth’s usual atmospheric conditions.
Ken
Ah, yes, waking with the dawn, which is at @#!%$ five in the morning. I have the same problem. I have tried shutting the drapes but it doesn’t help.
Suzanne
@Barbara: One of the things that I did do, dipping my toes back into the water, so to speak, is a family membership to the YMCA. They have two indoor pools, and you have to sign up for a time slot because they are limiting the number of users so every family can be distant, blah blah blah. So far, I haven’t done the pool, just working out.
But I can’t get fucked up or swim naked at the YMCA pool.
catclub
@Suzanne:
I bet you could…once.
Spanky
@Suzanne:
Ask Baud about this before making such a blanket declaration.
ETA: There were Allegheny County outdoor pools where this occurred on occasion. Usually after midnight.
Just sayin’.
laura
@Suzanne: you may find it helpful to start a list, or journal your thoughts and your feelings about the move. A running pro/con of AZ v PA over time might help, and journaling may provide insights into the emotional aspect of having a baby, accepting a job, moving a family against the backdrop of the struggle between facism and democracy. The pandemic lockdown may be interfering with the ability to find your people. Just a suggestion- please feel free to ignore.
Barbara
@Suzanne: Well, you can’t do that anywhere that isn’t your own or your friend’s pool. Although people do it when they think the chances of getting discovered are low. A couple of years ago (pre-pandemic), we did an overnight camping trip on the James River and rented a campsite from the outfitter. In the next campsite over there was a group of 7 guys from a dodge ball club and as soon as they hit the campsite they were in the water, in the buff. None of our group could see them from the site, but I thought it was a little cheeky of them to do when people were still canoeing past. James River site is too far for you to travel, but there are closer places I am sure.
Just Chuck
@Nicole: Probably the best portrayal of that post-combat state of mind has to be the grocery store scene in The Hurt Locker. Overwhelmed with meaninglessness.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Suzanne: You may miss the light and good Mexican food
eclare
@Just Chuck:
That scene is what I thought of too.
Matt McIrvin
@WaterGirl:
Once I’d gotten to the point where I could walk without a walker, my orthopedic surgeon gave me orders to go on walks as frequently as I could. So since about the end of March I’ve been walking all around this town where I’ve lived for the past 14 years, and it’s something I actually could not do that much before now, first because I had a small child to take care of, and later because my knee was increasingly wrecked.
It’s been a great counter to pandemic stir-crazy, but also I’ve come to appreciate this place in ways I haven’t been able to, ever. I take photos that I post on Facebook. I think the photos actually make this post-industrial blue-collar mill town look wilder and prettier than it is. But it’s not a bad place.
Spanky
@Barbara:
Well, if she’s north of PGH she could head up towards Morraine SP and the surrounding lakes. If she’s south she could head east up the Yough, or head west towards Bethany WV. Tubing au naturel on Buffalo Creek past Cole’s place.
Suzanne
@laura: I am going to do my best to not think about it too much until next spring. We have a trip back to PHX planned (going to a concert that we bought tickets for pre-pandemic). If I am always thinking about going back, I worry that it will keep me from giving PGH a fair shake. And I really do like it here. It just doesn’t feel like mine.
I just needed to get it off my chest. I know these feelings are all interlaced with pandemic and TFG. Everyone’s suggestions are good. It’s just difficult to miss things.
Suzanne
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Oh Lord yes.
The Mexican food situation here is reprehensible.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Ken:
How else would one expect to see manicured green lawns and golf courses in the Arizona desert?
Naturalized landscaping is for commies.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
I’ve done that, moved for work, COL was lower, good wages, everything seemed great. I lasted about 5 yrs before I had to leave and another 6 before I actually could. There is someplace for everyone and often it’s a hidden reason that even you don’t know, why it doesn’t work one place and does another. I’ve also traveled around most of the country so some things became clearer but I also realized that no place is 100% nirvana, some are just better than others. Some are a lot better. Good luck figuring it out. If you do, let me know how….
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Suzanne:
Plus, you’ve got those godforesakenly sweet Primanti sandwiches.
Coulda been a contender with a sour slaw, but no, they had to put sweet slaw on top of completely useless french fries (which really detracted from the meat).
Suzanne
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I tried a Primanti’s sandwich. It was gross, I thought.
I am not really happy with the food scene here. Too much grease, haven’t found too many of my type of places yet.
Soprano2
That’s happening here, as I knew it would, because we only have 43% with even one shot. Our cases and hospitalizations have gone way up in the past 4 weeks, which tracks with all the towns and cities around here getting rid of their restrictions in the middle of April. My city only took theirs off at the end of May, which is why most of the people in the hospital now are from surrounding towns and counties. That’s why I always explicitly say that I understand that others have different circumstances than I do, and may have to do things differently. What I don’t like is the idea that even people who are fully vaccinated and don’t have any other considerations need to continue wearing face masks and distancing just because it makes some people feel better. I think taking that position hinders some people from getting vaccinated. I realize that some people like the reassurance of the visual face mask, but anyone who is around me is already protected from Covid; me wearing a face mask doesn’t add any value to that (and yes I know you can’t tell if a person is vaccinated, but I’m not going to continue wearing a face mask because of that!)
Cameron
@Suzanne: IIRC, Primanti’s was designed for truckers who wanted an all-in-one meal. So fine dining it ain’t.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Suzanne:
Whenever I think of Pittsburgh, I figure that the ratio of kielbasa afficianados is much higher than the rest of the country.
Ruckus
@BlueGuitarist:
I’m not sure they always do. I had long hair because I liked it and could, now I have very short because I went bald. I could have it long in back and sides or a mullet but I’d still be bald on top and have a lot more work involved. It only took me about 3 yrs to accept the bald part and just trim everything short. How many people couldn’t get their hair done for a long time and went gray? (I didn’t need the pandemic for that one) We are what we are, mullet family must be a, what’s that world, a hoot.
Suzanne
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: E V E R Y W H E R E I look, it’s pizza, wings, and hoagies. FUUUUUCK.
smith
@Steeplejack: The encouraging thing is, the majority of adults — 63.5% — have had at least one shot (and we can hope most of those will end up fully vaxxed), leaving 36.5% unvaxxed. Calculating 78% of 36.5 gives you 28.47 (awfully close to 27%, hmmm…). Some of those will change their minds, or will be forced by employment requirements to get vaxxed, or are lying about being unvaccinated, so we will in the end have a substantial majority of adults vaccinated.
These are adults only, but school requirements and the eventual approval of shots for kids under 12 should boost the number of younger vaccinated people considerably — and almost 50% of our 12+ population is fully vaxxed now. I’m guessing that by sometime next Fall we will have at least 60%+ of the whole population fully vaxxed.
That may very well be enough. Israel is the only country so far that has convincingly vaxxed its way out of the pandemic, and they have a little less than 60% of their population fully vaxxed. The rate of new vaccinations there tailed off dramatically when they reached about 54% of the population fully vaxxed about 2 months ago, but their cases have continued to decline. It’s a much smaller country, of course, and probably more homogeneous, so our trajectory may be messier, but it suggests that with the vaccines we have we may be able to keep covid suppressed even with a vaccination rate of around 60%.
Barbara
@Suzanne: I still feel like Pgh is mine in a way that the place I have lived for 30 years is not. Maybe it’s the fact that I learned to drive there and my mother knew every shortcut and offbeat neighborhood and place to find a stellar view that wasn’t known beyond the immediate neighborhoods — the silly crazy things you could do , like sledding or joyriding, in places that were not obvious unless you had lived there for a long time.
laura
@Suzanne: it took me a long, long time to feel at home in Sacramento. Ten solid years of feeling like I had no home in my new town or my home town. It was emotionally disorienting even though the distance between the two is only about 100 miles. Today I cannot imagine being anywhere else (not withstanding winning the lotto). But not having access to the sensual and gustatory pleasures of mexican food is as good a reason to consider pulling up stakes as any. I hope that you have an opportunity for naked swimmin’ this summer!
prostratedragon
@Ken: I’ve begun daydreaming about places where I could spend June through August, like maybe Capetown or Mar del Plata. It’s partly the length of the days, but also those early Chicago sunrises. Was easier on Michigan time, when they came at 6, so I could get thoroughly to sleep beforehand.
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
I find it hard to believe that there aren’t Latinos where you are. Maybe not as many, but, come on…you can find the good restaurants.
Cameron
@Suzanne: My cousin recommends this place, but I can’t personally vouch for it: http://www.turkishgrille.com/
frosty
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My enthusiasm for music disappeared. I packed a guitar on this road trip and picked it up just once in four months.
Ksmiami
@Suzanne: there isn’t any Mexican food east of Michigan…
Ruckus
@Zinsky:
Will they ever really be ready to not vote for shame and stupid?
I think not, after all who doesn’t vote for what they know?
Barbara
@rikyrah: Well, in fairness, I don’t think Suzanne lives in the part of town that is most likely to have a wide range of cuisine. My mom’s office was on top of one of the best middle eastern restaurants I ever sampled, just really, really good, but it’s in one of the restaurant havens in the area because of the preponderance of students and medical institutions. The restaurants basically radiate out from this area. By the time you get to where I grew up — pizza, pizza, pizza. I am not even sure we have wings and barbecue. There used to be great independent bakeries, but I only know of one that remains, and it’s a fair drive.
Geminid
@Suzanne: Well, you are at least getting a visit to your recent home. Have you thought of a longer vacation there? You would probably enjoy it, and you still might be happy to get back to Pittsburgh, and have a better understanding of how and why you are homesick.
Matt McIrvin
@smith: The later variants just get more contagious to the point that they can spread among smaller and smaller fractions of unvaccinated, which increases the amount of vaccination you really need to quash this–and the vaccines probably get less effective against them, too, though so far they’re not useless. At some point we might need a specially tailored booster which will put us back where we started. But I hope the infrastructure and public education that are in place will help carry us through, if it comes to that.
I recall one of Frank Luntz’s focus groups of vaccine-resistant people were saying that if people wanted to convince them, we needed to never mention boosters. It seemed very strange to me–shouldn’t the need for boosters be objectively determined? We don’t know that we’ll need them, don’t know we won’t, but data are going to have to determine that.
geg6
@Suzanne:
Give us a chance, my friend! You haven’t had half a chance to experience Western PA and you will regret it if you leave before you have. The Arts Festival is happening downtown right now and it’s a great outdoor event in the city. Go and experience it! I’m not sure if Fallingwater has opened up yet, but an architect really should see that up close. And, if you’re open to it, maybe we could have a one-on-one meetup and have lunch one day soon. Lots of places have outdoor dining and we could talk about things to make you feel better about being here. It really is a wonderful place and such a great place to bring up a family.
Suzanne
@rikyrah: We actually moved to the most Latino neighborhood in PGH. Thr Latino population here is small but growing. There is one good restaurant/grocery store, and it is known around the city. We go there for street tacos often. But PHX has a lot more options, of course, and food from the different regions of Mexico.
Suzanne
@geg6: I have tickets to Fallingwater this weekend! I am incredibly excited about it. It is the #1 thing I have wanted to do since moving here.
MisterForkbeard
@Suzanne: My brother moved to PA from California in his early twenties. He came back a year later telling me horror stories like “Did you know they put turkey into burritos there?” :)
SFAW
@Suzanne:
In case no one has yet said this — yeah, I’m too lazy to go through all 180-plus comments — feel free to relo to the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. It’s not exactly a food desert here, and I bet there is enough large-project management work (if I’m remembering correctly) here to keep you happy (if that’s what you want). And as far as I know, the Lege is not trying to prevent non-whites from voting. And although it’s in the 90s today, that’s atypical. Plus, Maine is a stone’s-throw away.
On top of that, we have Anne Laurie, Imma, schrodinger’s_cat, Gin & Tonic (OK, so he lives in a renegade MA province), and a host of others. And Senator Professor Warren.
Barbara
@Suzanne: It’s so cool. If you get the chance, there is another, less well-known FLW property nearby called Kentuck Knob. And even if you don’t do the rafting, you can visit Ohiopyle State Park and visit some of the swimming areas there. I am not sure about any restrictions at this point.
Ruckus
@Jinchi:
To me he looks like someone who has someone who works for him buy/steal his clothing and that person actually hates him with the heat of the sun.
MisterForkbeard
@Soprano2: We’re in California, so things don’t officially “open up and no masks for vaccinated” until June 15th, and we’re already hitting the upswing.
I’m worried about it. The good vaccination rate here (60+ for first shot) is going to make sure it isn’t as severe as it could be, but…
MisterForkbeard
@Soprano2: We’re in California, so things don’t officially “open up and no masks for vaccinated” until June 15th, and we’re already hitting the upswing.
I’m worried about it. The good vaccination rate here (60+ for first shot) is going to make sure it isn’t as severe as it could be, but…
SFAW
@Zinsky:
You would be wrong.
Suzanne
@MisterForkbeard: They put PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE in the tacos.
Lord.
SFAW
@Suzanne:
Glad I was sitting down when I read that.
Another Scott
@smith: I’m not sure Israel’s real numbers are as good as the headline numbers suggest. TimesofIsrael: (from May 7):
Citing the Oslo Accords as being the reason they’re not doing anything is rich. Israel gutted the Oslo process.
Israel controls much of what the PA and Hamas can do (via controlling the borders, the sea, etc.) They effectively control who can get vaccinated in those areas, and they’re doing almost nothing there.
I’m kinda surprised that my gut feeling from April about the pace of vaccinations once we in the US got to about 50% has been kinda accurate. No great insight, but it’s good to see that people are trying a kitchen sink approach to get everyone possible in the US vaccinated even with those difficulties.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
geg6
@Suzanne:
You need to go into the city. There are fabulous restaurants downtown, the Southside, the North Side and Oakland. Various price points and ethnicities/styles available everywhere.
But yes, we do love our fried food and carbs here. Local fish fries and pierogi sales are where our hearts are.
MisterForkbeard
@Suzanne: WHY
ETA: Hopefully they replace any sour cream with this? It’s still an abomination and an affront to all that’s good in the world, but maybe we’re talking “2nd degree murder” instead of “Donald Trump, POTUS”.
smith
@Matt McIrvin: I agree that variants are a wild card in this, and we will have to adjust on the fly. So far the vaccines we have are holding their own, but we only have a few months’ experience. Still, I think it’s not necessary to to despair over the fraction of a fraction of people who say they won’t get vaxxed. Getting a substantial majority vaxxed is a reasonable expectation, and unlike the resistors, that majority may have no issue with getting boosters.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@geg6:
Are you talking about Pittsburgh? If so, I agree. They have great resturants. It’s a great city
geg6
@Suzanne:
That’s fabulous! You are going to love it. You should see if you can get into Kentuck Knob, too. We have all the FLW riches around here.
Suzanne
@geg6: I’ve been getting out there, restaurants-wise. I’d love to do lunch, you can name the place!
Matt McIrvin
@SFAW: Wouldn’t solve the Mexican-food problem, though. We have many Latinos in Massachusetts but they predominantly come from places with entirely different cuisines. I do have a couple of local Mexican places I like, but it’s nothing like out West.
If you like Italian food, though… Man, there’s a lot.
And there are some top-drawer Sichuan and Vietnamese places though not in my town. Brazilian too.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Suzanne:
I’m walking on a public plaza on the Ohio River right now so I can’t publicly express emotion, but just know I’m sobbing inside at that absence of joy…
Suzanne
@MisterForkbeard: I think they do it because white people cannot handle spices.
geg6
@Suzanne:
I have never heard of such a thing and I’ve been here all my life. What godforsaken place does that?
I admit that it’s not easy to find good Mexican around here. But the places DO exist. Just don’t go looking for Tex-Mex or anything southwestern style. Those don’t exist.
MisterForkbeard
@Suzanne: We white folks ruin everything. Empirically.
Suzanne
@geg6: I will probably do Kentuck Knob another day. We’ve gone out to Ohiopyle three times since being here, it’s awesome.
geg6
@Suzanne:
Absolutely yes! Let me check my calendar and I’ll check in with you later to see when we can hook up. It will be fun!
Suzanne
@geg6: Two places I went to had cream-cheesy tacos. Just so so so gross. Both places came recommended!
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Suzanne: When I left the southwest, I learned to make my own Mexican food. It was the only way. For a while, I’d get homesick. I don’t anymore. I enjoy visiting, but my life there is in the past.
rikyrah
@SFAW:
Me too.
DA PHUQ?
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
I think I see one of the keys in this saga. 32 yrs. One gets used to what they know and sometimes good things happen and that affects everything. Is it possible that even if you didn’t like the heat, you were more comfortable, more used to being in AZ than you realized, especially before you left? I’ve started over, twice, both involving major moves, one not so successful over all and one I truly enjoyed, but life still intervened. I know where I want to live, but my age doesn’t allow me to emigrate. So I live where ever I am. And as many have pointed out, the last 15 months has made that dramatically harder.
geg6
@Suzanne: OMG, I can’t imagine that! Even the little taco shack I go to here sometimes (which is definitely not the authentic stuff) does tasty tacos with Monterray Jack, if not cotija.
ETA: There is a good South American place locally here in Beaver County. They make awesome tacos.
The Thin Black Duke
@SFAW: Hey, no love for Dorchester?
Matt McIrvin
@MisterForkbeard: In northern Massachusetts and southern NH, everything is basically already opened–some businesses still mandate face coverings, but many have modified that to say you don’t need them if you’re vaccinated.
And we aren’t really seeing an uptick yet, though it may not be soon enough to tell. Mass. and NH are at 67% and 60% of the whole population with one shot, respectively; 55% and 50% fully vaccinated. But right around here it’s probably lower than the Mass. average.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@rikyrah: You have to understand, ethnic restuarants tailor their food to what sells the most, even if what they eat at home is quite different. So, you can go to a Mexican restuarant owned and exclusively staffed by Mexican immigrants and you will get the local version of American Mexican food, not Mexican food.
Ruckus
@Soprano2:
There is a reason I call him shitforbrains (SFB). There isn’t one decent firing synapsis inside that blob that he thinks is his head. It’s a mess of self aggrandizement, self loathing disguised as severe emotional distress, racism, total disregard for other beings, and greed, all mixed in a totally random fashion that ends up with massive stupidity.
Suzanne
@Ruckus: Yeah, maybe I was too rooted to thrive anywhere else.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
I think there are different styles of Mexican (or Tex-Mex) food, just as with other cuisines. I grew up with San Antonio-style Tex-Mex, so that’s my bias. A lot of West Coasters prefer a California or New Mexico style. And people can be pretty adamant! “That other stuff isn’t real Mexican food.”
Here in D.C. the Mexican restaurants tend to be Mexican/something else—Salvadoran, Honduran, Peruvian, etc. They do the mainstream Mexican stuff pretty well, but there are odd gaps and “old country” detours on the menu.
It’s like “I like Italian food,” when one person means Sicilian and another means northern Italian.
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
100000% this. And I’d bet that is for everyone of us. There is nothing normal about the last year or actually the last 4 yrs. Those of us not living in lala land are still trying to figure out WTF is going on inside the brains of over a third of this country.
Skepticat
That hasn’t bothered them so far. It seems to be a feature rather than a bug.
Brachiator
@Suzanne:
Oh, the horror! The horror!
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
No, it just takes time to adjust. You had a long run in one place, you got accustomed to it. Even if you were ready to leave, you had adjusted to living there. You’ve moved to an entirely different environment and it takes time to adjust. I wasn’t saying you belong in AZ, only that you spent a lot of time there. I’ve never lived 32 yrs in one place, often in my life never spent more than 3 or 4 yrs living in any one place. Hell I lived for two yrs in a tiny city that floated and moved thousands of miles in a few days. In the last 20 yrs I’ve lived in 6 different places, 2 states, with and without room mates. I’m used to this, others might not adjust as much as I have learned to do. I’m just saying it’s different for every one, but most get used to long term stuff and even if ready to change, change is not what they are used to.
J R in WV
@Suzanne:
I’ve always preferred winter to summer — you can always put on one more layer of down insulation in the wintertime, but in the summer you can only get so naked, and while you’re even partly naked you will burn up in the sun.
Steve in the ATL
@Barbara:
Seriously? I thought it was just a Ben Stiller movie.
@prostratedragon: Capetown is awesome year round.
Steve in the ATL
@Ksmiami: drive down Buford Highway in Atlanta.
Ruckus
@Nicole:
PTSD? Let’s see, Trump, pandemic, republican bullshit, TV news….
Sounds more and more plausible as I think about it. All of our lives have been shaken to their cores, hundreds of thousands have died, nearly half the population seems to have a touch of insanity/racism/whatever……
Brachiator
@Steeplejack:
Yep. And what you often get in a Mexican restaurant is not quite the same thing you might be served if you ate at someone’s home. And of course the Mexican food of Mexico varies from what you get in the US.
I love Salvadoran and Peruvian food. There used to be a great little Peruvian place in the heart of the Los Angeles garment district. I hope it has survived the pandemic.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Steve in the ATL: remember adult kickball leagues? Seems to me that was a thing a while back. Either two years ago or twenty. I’ve lost all perspective, except I’ve always been too old for just about everything. Except Medicare.
J R in WV
@Suzanne:
When we went to Falllingwater we were pleased to discover there’s an equally interesting Wright home quite nearby called Kentuck Knob. While Fallingwater was intended to be a vacation and weekend party home, Kentuck Knob was intended to be a full time residence for a well to do dairy owner.
When we were there it was open to visitors, and is (was anyway) owned by a uber-wealthy British Lord who collects architecture.
The home is built with no 90 degree angles, but for one in the bathroom shower, the plumber told Frank there are no plumbing fixtures with a 120 or 60 degree angle, which was no doubt true back then, although I bet you can get them today.
Great views, on top of the ridge, as opposed to Fallingwater being down on the creek. Much like our home, which is down by the creek in a cove, while we sold the ridge-top site to best friends for $10 years ago. They do have the view, while we have the moss covered boulders and waterfalls.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
Ever been to a nude beach? I have, once and in the Los Angeles area.
Don’t really care to go again, or not, but it wasn’t worth the effort. Had fun, talked to, well one person, but there were more people on the cliff with binoculars than on the nude beach.
Nicole
@Suzanne: I don’t know if anyone mentioned it upthread, but Pamela’s Diner is great. My sister-in-law, a Republican*, took me there when I and my son visited Pittsburgh in 2019, but she made sure to tell me Obama visited Pamela’s in 2008, and liked it so much he invited the owners to the White House. :)
*She voted for Biden in 2020
Steve in the ATL
@J R in WV:
One of my family lives in FLW home like this. I assume the builders all ended up with PTSD.
frosty
@Suzanne: Ohiopyle is one of my favorite PA state parks. The campground is on the hill above the Yough and after watching RVs come down I decided Ohiopyle is native for “Land of Smoking Brakes”.
Ksmiami
@Ruckus: near Abalone Cove possibly?
Barbara
@Nicole: Let me suggest Hough’s Taproom & Brewpub — which I go to for brunch when I visit my nephew in Greenfield. Definitely family friendly too.
Barbara
@frosty: We stayed in a cabin/camping operation in Confluence that lets people camp overnight on their grounds, right next to the river. There are other B&Bs in Confluence as well. It’s definitely a town that time has passed by.
Nicole
@Barbara: We’ll have to check that one out next time we swing by the ‘burgh.
J R in WV
@Steve in the ATL:
So… I thought it was a unique idea the owners of Kentuck Knob benefited from.
I guess it was instead a trick pony FLW used repeatedly. Even the silverware drawers were trapezoids as opposed to rectangular boxes. So much custom work for no real benefit, in my view.
But the house and it’s location are beautiful. The grounds have become a sculpture garden, perhaps executed by the British Lord who owns it now? Don’t think the art would have been attractive to the Dairy company owners who paid for the house to be built.
All the wood is cypress, then local native stone, sheet copper and glass.
NotMax
@J R in WV
Better than fair bet the roof leaks.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Steeplejack: now i am missing la chapala in burtonsville.