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Belated follow-up with a happy ending: I did wind up finding a roommate through this site in the end. Sometimes local is best! Thanks all.

For anyone else who is looking, although craigslist does get responses, I had the best "almosts" through two sites - spareroom.com and roomies.com. (Roommates.com was not worth the $, and you can do very little with a free account.)

It was an enormous amount of time, effort and cost. I think that First Nights in general were victims of their own success. Performers found they could charge top dollar for NYE, and they did, pricing smaller FNs out of contention. 

I was on the Maplewood South Orange board for many years--secretary, entertainment chair, president... The amount of time it took was ridiculous. We ended in January and started in February. First, monthly meetings of the board (and meetings of the committees more often); then more as the date drew closer. It was unsustainable. Its time had come. 

There was an attempt to revive it about 10(?) years ago, but it didn't go anywhere because without public funding--which is for the following year--it couldn't succeed.

It was great while it lasted though. A lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

I know no one ever promised the world was anything approaching just, but it's still disappointing for what it says about our country and humanity in general that this is even a close election.

Morganna said:

PVW said:

I know no one ever promised the world was anything approaching just, but it's still disappointing for what it says about our country and humanity in general that this is even a close election.

Perhaps it's the result of having only two Parties to choose from. I doubt everyone falls in line on either of their platforms. Many people who vote on economic issues do not agree on reproductive rights. Immigration will rank higher among those living in border states, but they may have concerns about climate change.

When Trump ran in the last two elections, I found people who voted for Trump but were for a woman's right to choose. Some knew little about the issue.

Do I think a third Party would solve anything? Perhaps it's time is nearing. I am definitely Green Party material but it has been light years since I've flirted with third Party voting.

I'm not offering this as anything other than a bit of comfort that not all of those willing to continue to vote Republican buy into the whole platform. Add to that where does one find forums, preferably in person, where serious, polite exchanges can occur that could influence voters?

I certainly understand that not all 70 million+ Trump voters are on board with all his promises and so-called policies.

But it is depressing that his fascism, misogyny, racism, appeals to violence, lying, swindling, narcissism, and the entire laundry list of his expansive awfulness isn't a deal breaker for more voters. The fact that anyone would vote for this man at all is depressing, but the fact that 45% of voters will choose him is downright horrifying.

jeffl said:

It's all well and good to criticize polls and ignore them, and to say that oddsmakers don't predict outcomes, but I'd rather the polls showed Harris with a lead and the oddsmakers gave her the better odds of winning.  If both of those things were true, it would be more likely she's going to win in November.  It's all just probabilities and statistics.  Sure, polls and oddsmakers can be wrong, but most times they aren't.  If Harris were polling 3 points ahead of Trump in PA, I would be a hell of a lot happier.

agreed. I kind of think Joe Biden should be spending every weekend in Pennsylvania at all kinds of small community gatherings. And as I’ve said before, they need to be spending a ton of money to get people registered and get them out to vote. Driving voters, especially in the large cities is a huge factor in winning the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 

Here's a bird I painted a few years ago. 

It was fun to have multiple venues, but there were a couple of bad weather years if I remember. Snow once, rain another or something like that. Some of the spaces were a little more spread out (like Prospect Presbyterian church) so that added a driving/parking angle. 

We went to First Night at the high school a couple of times. I thought it was fun and well done. But Karen’s point is the big one. It’s a huge amount of work and needs a lot of volunteers. You have to pay performers and there are considerations like security and insurance. And the funds have to come from somewhere beyond ticket sales if you don’t want to price it out of range for a lot of people. 

Theoldtimer said:

Donald Trump's claim to Wharton credentials is proven false with his complete misunderstanding of Tariffs. He calls it a tax on foreign governments when it is actually a tax on his supporters, and will do terrible things to the economy. I have family members who are trump supporters, and I always want to ask them what policy of his attracts them to him because I have not seen even one policy that makes any sense to me. However you really cannot talk logically with my family members who are Trump supporters, they think everything you say about why Trump's policy are bad is a lie. Which I find as pretty ironic.

I would love someone to leak his Wharton transcripts.

mtierney said:

Googling the man “set free” after 29 years behind bars..

“Jaime A. Davidson — President Trump commuted the sentence of Jaime A. Davidson. This commutation is supported by Mr. Davidson’s family and friends, Alice Johnson, and numerous others. In 1993, Mr. Davidson was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in relation to the murder of an undercover officer. Notably, witnesses who testified against Mr. Davidson later recanted their testimony in sworn affidavits and further attested that Mr. Davidson had no involvement.

“Although Mr. Davidson has been incarcerated for nearly 29 years, the admitted shooter has already been released from prison. Following the commutation of his sentence, Mr. Davidson will continue legal efforts to clear his name. 

“In addition, while incarcerated, Mr. Davidson mentored and tutored over 1,000 prisoners to help them achieve their GED certificates. Mr. Davidson has earned praise from prison officials for his dedication to helping others.”

BTW, spending 29 years in the clink for a crime he didn’t commit might have been a factor — but, certainly not an excuse….maybe the latest charge is phony, too? In what universe does a man get three months for “strangling” a woman? 

I don't disagree with any of this.

But if this was a person set free by a Democrat I doubt you'd spend 30 seconds trying to understand the circumstances of the case.

You gotta hear the word salad he spews in response to a question about child care!