Jarnsaxa Rising

I'm so excited that my hands are shaking. 

EDITED TO ADD: 

YOO GISE WE AR 2 PURSENT FUNDIP OH MAH GAAAAD 

It feels like Halley's Comet! This script better be good. 

(Dives back into research) 

OK Philly, it's Primary Election Day! I'm voting for:

MAYOR: Jim Kenney. Not much of a surprise. Broad support for him. He's an honest guy, rooted in the community and highly intelligent. He's taught local government at Fels for years. I prefer his labor connections to Anthony Williams' charter school dollars. I think Kenney is our next consensus Mayor.

CITY COUNCIL AT LARGE:

Helen Gym: forced the Parking Authority to cough up their profits to the schools like they are required to. Saved the last public school in Nicetown.

Paul Steinke: successfully led the Reading Terminal Market in complex times.

Jenne Ayers: wonky in the right ways. Interested in data-driven do-gooding like the STRIVE partnerships in Cincinnati. A milliennial, for a change.

Tom Wyatt: the local community gardeners like him. (Hey, that's important in our household.)

Sherrie Cohen: key issues for her include libraries and public pools. Widely endorsed.

DISTRICT 1 CITY COUNCIL: Squilla's decent. Nobody's running against him. Zzzz.

HELL NO: Wilson Goode, Jr: a little bird tells me he "can't read a spreadsheet." Frank Rizzo, Jr.: accepted a DROP retirement plan the first time around; these were never meant for City Council. Blondell Reynolds-Brown: in hot water for ethics reasons in 2013.

NAH: Allan Domb is running a straight "I am good at the business things" campaign with no interesting ideas on what he'd do on council. We could do worse, but we could do better.

CITY COMMISSIONER: not excited about any of the Democrats, and I'm one. But in the general election I plan to vote for Al Schmidt, a Republican. He's got a deep resume and has been doing the job well for a while.

JUDGE OF THE ANYTHING: THIS SHOULD NOT BE AN ELECTED POSITION. WHAT. THE. FRICK. So, let the Philly Bar Association's website tell you who is at least a competent lawyer, and vote accordingly. See the comments.

BALLOT QUESTIONS

"Abolish the SRC and return control of schools to the City:" no. The state's not great, but we had corruption problems on our own, remember?

"Commission for women:" yes.

"City agencies to prepare plans for participation of those with limited English skills:" yes. Anything to anger Joey Vento's ghost.

"Commission on universal pre-kindergarten:" DEFINITELY.

See below for useful links for making up your own mind. (What, you're just going to vote my slate? Um, I mean, sure. Do that, thousands of you.)

Download a sample ballot:

In all earnest, this tee is not at all an inappropriate gift from my ex. Yes, it is a funny funny life I lead. 

Our air conditioner isn't working. 

I called the AC guys to schedule an appointment. They made one. I texted Vince to tell him. 

Vince wrote back, "Maybe I should get an HVAC certification. I could be the next Harry Tuttle."

I think it'd be the perfect job for him. 

Chris Herdt graduated on Saturday. I believe he earned a Masters' of Engineering from The University of Pennsylvania. 

As (he is) a member of OPW, I recommend that he receive the special duckspensation to post more than once in a 24-hour period. 

Muthafuckin' PENN, y'all. 

Roadie Wife is tired. 

I'm sick of people getting killed by police. 

I'm sick of income inequality. 

I'm sick of police having inadequate resources and responding to conflicts with inexplicable and unjustified violence. 

I'm of the systems that cause poor people to have shitty options, commit crimes and/or have children they can't afford to raise. 

I'm sick of people feeling bad because they feel different. 

I'm sick of girls in Lily Pulitzer dresses on green lawns and bankers getting rich while there's drought and poverty. 

I'm sick of religions that claim there's only one set of answers and only one path to goodness. 

When you consider the fact that in 30 years, most of the most expensive coastal property in the country will be under water, while a significant portion of our nation will be drying to dust, why are we worrying about race, gender, preference or interest rates? 

I'm ready for the Vogons to eradicate us. Build a new space highway, fuckers. Write your horrible poetry. 

All day I've felt a feathery feeling in my spine because of what happened to Freddie Gray. 

At the gym today, I was working out on a chest press machine, and, as you do, in between sets, was looking around. I watched a woman collect her toddler daughter from the gym daycare.

This tiny creature, her smooshy plump cheeks red, her light brown hair awry (I imagine she'd just woken from a nap), one hand held by her mother (who was bending over a lot to accommodate their height difference), spotted a Very Large Man, muscled bare arms totally inked, working out hard on a lat pull-down machine by the door to the daycare. 

And then rays of sunshine and rainbows and unicorns burst out of her face, and she enthusiastically waved her free tiny chubby hand at him, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

He turned his head to look at her, smiling. Her delight made me laugh out loud. After a moment, her mother carefully guided her down the steps toward me. The girl concentrated hard on those steps. To one so small, they were an ocean to cross. Her mother easily could have just picked her up and carried her out, but instead was giving her the opportunity to navigate those steps on her own.

I started working out again, and as they grew slowly near, I couldn't help but turn my head to watch her pass.

And she spotted me. And she unleashed those rays of sunshine, rainbows and unicorns, full force.  And I got the royal wave. 

Yesterday I spent $6 on a vintage 1936 cookbook I already have a copy of: "All About Home Baking", by the General Foods Corp.

But I couldn't resist this one. It's full of the previous owners handwritten recipes (Daffodil Cake, Crazy Choc Cake, for example), and also has newspaper recipes and recipes typed on onion skin paper pasted inside. 

Such evidence of a cookbook that was well-loved and used is irresistible.

Plus I always feel sorry for these orphan books, their previous owners dead and gone. They need homes, and I am apparently the sap to give them one.

Anyway, here's one of the recipes. I love the WW II aspect of this cake, as it places it so well in a specific time and place. I love how, apparently, putting the word "Victory" in front of a recipe automatically makes it patriotic and American and...good and noble and assuring of doing one's part. 

Wish I could post more than one picture here--pasted underneath this is another article with recipes, which talks about how "sugar rationing is daily closer to becoming a reality". Maybe I'll post that one tomorrow.

And damn, but doesn't this banana cake sound good? I'm actually thinking of trying to make it.

A most fantastic lunch with Kat at Oddfellows in Seattle. Baked egg dish. With potatoes? Spinach? I think? I don't know, it was just so good.