Started Typing: 4:02 PM ET
Clicked Reply: 5:29 PM ET
It was legit cold here this morning! Woot! Right now it’s a lovely 77°F and sunny, with low humidity and a breeze. We’re officially in DC’s “you’ll need a coat in the morning but shorts in the afternoon” season, which I don’t really mind.
As for good stuff, at the moment I’m focused on next week’s staycation. I think I have the right balance of plans and no plans (much more of the latter), and the two Lego sets I’ll be assembling got delivered on Friday. I’m also mostly done rearranging/reorganizing the house (an album holder gets delivered tomorrow, for placement next to the turntable; I think that’ll be the last tweak), so that background process should stop running in my brain by the weekend.
I just have to get through this week… 
It should be alright, if a little on the busy side: in addition to the day job, tomorrow evening I have a personal training session, Wednesday morning I’m dropping my car off for some overdue but routine maintenance (hooray for shuttle services!), Thursday afternoon I have a virtual voice lesson, and Friday at 5pm I’ll be kicking off my staycation by going to my local CVS for flu + COVID shots.
Today’s mail brought my very first jury questionnaire. I’ve only ever received one jury duty summons, ~25 years ago (shortly after I moved to Virginia), but back then I didn’t get any kind of questionnaire first. I also didn’t have to show up, after calling the number on the summons the night before. This questionnaire – which I filled out online – puts me in a pool of possible candidates for jury duty in 2025. I wouldn’t mind doing it once. I guess it’s good to know that I haven’t been forgotten about…? 
I’m in!
Hmm…do you think that would be Brandywine-ish?
Yeah, they’re bumping up the number of election officers here, too – including having two provisional ballot specialists per precinct instead of the usual one, which is a great idea. Our March and June primaries were low-turnout, but I think November will be kind of nuts. It’ll be my second presidential election, but the last one was only 8 months into the pandemic and a lot of folks voted early and/or by mail. Early and absentee voting numbers have remained elevated, but I do think there will be a lot of in-person voting this fall.
(BTW: I think your user name is a city in Italy, but I’m a jazz singer and it makes me think of the Jobim song “Triste”…which means I’ll wind up with a nice earworm every time I see you post. 
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Awww, that’s so awesome! Secretly, my favorite voters are always the first-time teens and new citizens (who each get hearty rounds of applause) and the very elderly. A few elections ago I was able to help a 101-year-old woman vote; she had also voted in every election she was allowed to. That was pretty darn cool.
Don’t make me send a Life Alert to your house!!1!
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My Amazon Echo Pop arrived today; I’ll set it up after dinner (which I’m thinking might be pizza and a pickle*). I expect to use it as often as I used the Google Nest Mini – i.e., hardly ever – but I’ll like knowing it’s there. And listening…always listening… 
*not a euphemism
I think this is the “good” to beat… 
Boooo!
I’m blaming the temp change for the fact that I’ve been kinda snotty and sinus-y all day. I also refuse to turn the heat on yet, so the last two mornings the house was pretty cold…which prolly doesn’t help the ol’ mucous membranes. Ah, well.