Monica

The interview "meme" returns. Here are my answers to five questions from loosecanon.

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If you want to participate, post a comment asking to be interviewed and I'll ask you questions, which you'll then answer in your own journal.

Tuesday Pittsburgh is having a special (off-cycle) election for mayor. The incumbent, Luke Ravenstahl, was the president of city council and stepped in after Mayor O'Connor died a little more than a year ago, so this election is for the rest of the term. Now, Pittsburgh has been suffering one-party rule for decades, with five times as many Democrats as Republicans registered, so usually the contest is in the Democratic primary, not the real election. But this year, for the first time in a long while, there's a credible Republican challenger, Mark DeSantis.

I was surprised to read this week that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which leans pretty far to the left, endorsed DeSantis. So did the police union. (So did the more-conservative newspaper, but that's not a surprise.) DeSantis doesn't have as much money in his campaign fund as Ravenstahl, but he's got a decent war chest, and his contributions have been outpacing Ravenstahl's for the last few months.

The election is probably still Ravenstahl's to lose, so I'm a little surprised that he's gone in for negative campaigning (and pretty stupid negative campaigning at that), and that he doesn't seem to demonstrate the political acumen to deal with the public blunders he's made while in office. Yes, elected officials misuse public property and blow off their obligations all the time, but he got caught and, instead of apologizing, tried to justify it.

DeSantis has credible ideas for getting the city back on its feet financially, he seems to know that he's accountable to the public, and he's not part of the "same old, same old" club that's been running the city into the ground for years. Is he perfect? No, of course not -- but he's better than maintaining the status quo. And he's got momentum, which the third-party candidates I would otherwise pay closer attention to do not.

I know it will be hard for DeSantis to accomplish all that much directly if elected. I have no illusion that the Post-Gazette's endorsement is sincere; I think they hope to dispose of the current mayor, use city council to prevent the new mayor from doing anything, and then come back strong in two years with whomever the Dems have groomed while out of the spotlight. But even so, all that said, I'd like to see what DeSantis can do, both directly (fixing some of the city's problems) and indirectly (breaking the one-party mindset). I plan to vote for him on Tuesday, and I hope enough others will step out of the "I vote for my party" pattern to give the guy a chance to improve things.

I'll de-snark this before actually sending it, but right now I just have to get this out of my system.

Dear Mayor Ravenstahl,

I write concerning the annual disturbance of the peace known as the Great Race.

As you will see from my address, I live on the starting line for this event. This means that crowds begin to gather at 7:00AM and the sound system is fired up soon thereafter. I understand the need to give instructions to the racers, but the primary use of the sound system is to play high-decibel music. I do not understand the logistical need for that.

I work hard all week, and Sunday is the one day when I can sleep in a little -- except when this great ruckus occurs outside my bedroom window. (There is, in fact, no room in my house where this is not a problem, so I can't just sleep on the couch that night.) I understand that you consider the Great Race to be a great community-building event, so I would like to suggest that some other neighborhood become the beneficiary of this community-building starting next year. It's time for the race to move. If you can't change its location, please change its time by several hours; the end of September is late enough that the mid-day heat is not a concern for runners (and late afternoon would certainly not be a problem).

Regardless of when and where the race is, I urge you to eliminate the unnecessary noise; residents are more likely to tolerate the necessary noise if we do not feel abused by gratuitious disregard of our Sunday mornings.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I would appreciate the courtesy of a resolution before election day.

Dear Pittsburgh water authority: could you arrange for me to have more than a trickle of water by tomorrow morning when I'm going to want to take a shower? Thanks. (A water main broke in Oakland this afternoon -- about ten hours ago, so I would have thought we'd have water pressure by now. I wonder if they're having trouble finding the shut-off valves again.)

I got my torah-reading assignment for the high holy days today. I'm reading on the second day of Rosh Hashana. The Reform movement reads the Akeidah on the first day, while traditional congregations read it on the second day. So what do we read on the second day? Creation, because Rosh Hashana is the birthday of the world. I like that. I'm reading the first three days of creation. If I can learn the high-holy-day trope in time I'll do that (it's pretty and I'd like to do it); if I can't, I can fall back to regular trope and maybe I can use that knowledge again in a few weeks for Simchat Torah. Either way works. And I can be certain that I won't have any trouble finding the beginning of the portion. :-)

Today when we studied my rabbi asked if I wanted to do something seasonal. (Sure!) So we studied the first mishna in tractate Rosh Hashana, the Rashi, and some of the gemara (more next time). He read and translated the mishna and Rashi (with occasional kibbitzing from me), and then he had me read the gemara (though he had to do a lot of the translation). That is, he had me read Aramaic without vowels. I got a lot of words wrong, but I also got a lot right; I'm starting to get the right instincts. Neat!

At work I've been trying to get some more resources for my project, and my project manager has had limited success. To my surprise, two other project managers have come to me recently to ask what I need so they can help. I'm happy for the help (especially if they can deliver), but I have the impression this isn't how it usually works. (But hey -- it's just possible I might actually get some QA! Score!)

I've been listening to the latest Ruach CD, a compilation/sampler of new Jewish music that comes out every two years. The big winner on this album for me is L'Chu N'rananah by a group called Mah Tovu. I would definitely like to hear more of their work.

Links:

Geek to geek communications, a write-up of what sounds like an interesting talk. (I'd not previously heard of either the speaker or the conference.)

Sometimes eBay is just a venue for good stories, with sales being secondary. That said, I'm impressed that she got that much -- stories do seem to sell stuff better than conventional listings. (A friend recently reported moving a piece of furniture on Craigslist by casting it as a pet-looking-for-new-home ad.)

My congregation recently started selling gift cards for the local grocery chain. You know the deal: you pay face value for the card and they get a cut -- everyone wins. (Well, except the taxpayers who cover the amount the store gets to deduct as a charitable contribution.) I figured the congregation must get 1%, maybe 2% out of this deal. I learned today that they get 5%. I didn't think grocery stores even had 5% margins... Sure, their prices are probably inflated to cover this, the discounts for the affinity card, and the "fuel perks" (10 cents a gallon off one fill-up for each $50 spent; I assume they share that cost with the gas chain), but their prices still don't seem that high compared to other local options. I guess they're gambling on people not getting the affinity cards, not using up the gift cards, and not cashing in the fuel perks.

Locals who rent: where are the good landlords, properties, or listings for Squirrel Hill and Shadyside? I know what shows up in Google, but if you've got recommendations or anti-recommendations, please send 'em along. I'm trying to help out a friend of a friend who'll be moving here soon (for one year), but I've been out of the renting scene for quite a while now.

As long as I'm doing the "dear lazyweb" thing... this one's for me: can you tell me anything interesting about synagogues in Newton Center, MA, within walking distance of Hebrew College? Names, addresses, and affiliations I've got, and some of them have web sites, but reports from people who've actually visited any of them are more interesting.

Cheese update, for those who asked: I took the remaining paneer, sliced it, and fried it in butter. This was quite yummy, and the cheese held up just fine (did not get gooey and melty). The thinnest slice I tried was about a quarter inch; somewhere between that and half an inch seemed to give the best performance.

Dear City of Pittsburgh,

I'm not unreasonable; I don't expect pristine roads while snow is actually falling. But you've known this was coming for days, and it's not off hours, and Forbes Avenue is kind of a major road (to say nothing of the lesser roads). I really expected to see some evidence of plowing or salting this morning.

No love,
Monica

Dear driver from Ohio,

You should be familiar with the white fluffy stuff from back home. No one else on the highway is having difficulty maintaining the posted minimum speed of 40mph. If you really think that's twice what's safe, could you at least have the decency to stop swerving between lanes and slamming on your brakes at every little twitter of fear? And maybe consider getting off at the next exit and taking local roads?

But hey, at least I know my horn works now.

What is the law (and etiquette, for that matter) concerning stopping for accidents you witness but aren't in? Ever since I was run down by someone speeding through a red light, and not one of the several witnesses stopped to support my story (or see if I was ok -- I was thrown several feet), I've tried to stop if I actually see the accident and I can. I always stop if I see clear fault (and especially if I think the underdog is going to take the hit unfairly, like when the bicyclist or pedestrian really was being stupid), or if anyone seems to be injured. (Well, unless police or an ambulance just happen to be there...) But I didn't stop for either of the two fender-benders I saw on my way to work today, because they looked minor and what would be the point? It got me wondering about what my obligations are in all of these cases, from fender-benders up to major squishings, in light of my observation that no one else ever seems to stop. Does everyone just assume that the insurance companies, police, and ambulance crew will work it out, and your testimony or other help is irrelevant?

It's not my imagination; I really am from a different planet than those folks.

Today's mail brought a pitch for a high-school reunion (round-number year, so presumably special). Now even if I wanted to go this one starts out with two fatal flaws (a Friday night, and Thanksgiving weekend), but... no, let me just share the list of highlights for the weekend:

Friday:
- WPIAL high-school football finals
- dinner with cash bar

Saturday:
- family get-together at "FunFest" (whatever that is)
- flag football game (playing, not watching)
- Pitt football game
- "hanging out for the evening at a local establishment...suggestions welcome"

Sunday:
- Steeler party

No, I really don't think so!

(This is a test of posting by email. LJ is blocked at work.)

Pittsburgh's mayor, Bob O'Connor, has been fighting brain cancer for a couple months. (It seemed to come on suddenly.) The news is now reporting that the end is nearing. That's a real pity; he's a good person and seems to be a good mayor. I wasn't happy about him becoming mayor, figuring that he would just continue the abuses and incompetencies of his predecessor Tom Murphy (who probably belongs in jail), but his short time in office has brought pleasant surprises.

I was surprised to read that when Mayor O'Connor dies the president of city council will become mayor. We have a deputy mayor; I always assumed that was like a vice-mayor. I'm curious about how this system came about. (Also curious about how our past deputy mayors have fared. Do they ever go on to get elected mayor? Is it perhaps indicative that I can't name a single one other than the current one?)

The winner of today's election wasn't really in doubt; the only question was how wide the margin would be. I'm disappointed to see that Bob O'Connor got 67% of the vote; he's going to see that as a mandate for more of the government that drive this city to ruin in the first place. I was hoping that Joe Weinroth would get more of the protest vote, because he actually had good things to say in the campaign and wasn't just running on a "not part of the old boys' network" platform.

Bob O'Connor 39,416
Joseph Weinroth 16,269
Titus North 2,374
David Tessitor 618
Jay M. Ressler 476

(Yes, I actually voted for a Republican. At the city level, fiscal conservatism is much more of factor than the fear of social conservatism. There's not much a mayor can do to screw up the latter; we're not talking Congress here.)

As I approached the polling place this morning I wondered if they'd moved it without telling me -- there was that little signage. Yeah, it's a primary, but I still thought there'd be more campaigning, especially with one hot race for US Senate.

As I was voting I heard one of the workers say "that's the first Independent of the day". I'm not actually an Independent; I'm a registered Libertarian. To them it's the same thing: disable everything except the ballot initiative. The bundle of cards from which they pulled my registration seemed to represent about 10% of all cards, based on what I saw in the bin. (No, it didn't include Republicans.) Interesting. I wonder if the set of people registered in minor parties has a higher turn-out rate than the Republicans and Democrats. I suspect that people who register in minor parties are more likely to be politically active, but I don't know where to find the data on turn-out by party.

I considered temporarily changing my registration to Republican so I could influence that hot Senate race, but decided against. It feels wrong even though it's legal, and that race may already be messed up because the Democrats were encouraging their people to do that very thing and I suspect a bunch of them did. (The incumbent is mostly a Democrat in Republican's clothing; the challenger is a more traditional Republican. The Dems want to knock the challenger out early.) Besides, I couldn't decide which is less evil.

A friend once asked me why I choose to sit out the "real election" for local mayor -- that is, the Democratic primary. (This city is something like 75% or 80% Democrat; no one else need apply for local office.) Registering as a Libertarian, in addition to matching my beliefs more closely, also helps that party get onto the ballot and onto the registration form, and ultimately I think that's more important. You can actually check "Libertarian" on the voter-registration form now (you couldn't 15 years ago), because we passed a threshold with write-ins. Now we have to maintain it. If even a few people look at that option on the form and say "hey, whazzat?" before checking Democrat or Republican, we might increase awareness that there are other options. And maybe eventually that'll mean Libertarians in local offices. (Forget the national races; win local offices first and then focus on Congress, IMO.) I'm not active with the party itself, but at least my registration helps out a little.

Oh, in case you're wondering: I didn't live here during the last mayoral primary; Mayor Murphy is not my fault. I might have actually changed party registration for that vote becuase Murphy was so clearly a destructive force even then. To paraphrase a current anti-Bush campaign: I'd rather vote for a rabid weasel than Tom Murphy.