This Is Our Minutiae Thread: For Those Pesky Job/Housing/Money/Geography Details

[Violetgoblin6]

On 10/22/2018 at 2:43 AM, bros402 said:

They could've picked Cherry Hill, or Rumson, or Mantoloking, or a bunch of other upscale areas

Or Moorestown. Similar to Alpine (Eagles coach Doug Perderson, Carson Wentz and tons of other Eagles live there, big homes) or equally tony Vorhees. Perhaps even Princeton or Lawrenceville. All closer to Philly and also people commute to Manhattan from there. 

On 10/3/2018 at 12:35 PM, Empress1 said:

 

I grew up in Philly and this has always driven me nuts. Pittsburgh is like six hours from Philly. It's closer to Ohio than Philly, and very different culturally. You literally have to go across PA to go between them. Alpine, NJ, where Randall lives, is essentially a NYC suburb. We know Randall worked in NYC before he quit his job. NYC and Philly are about two hours apart (half my family is from Philly, the other half is from NYC, and I've lived in both cities - I've spent literally my entire life going between them). You can do day driving, bus, or train trips from Alpine to Philly. I've had coworkers who lived in Philly and worked in NYC because the cost of living is lower. You can't do them from Pittsburgh to Alpine/NYC unless you fly. And Doylestown is a Philly suburb. I had a friend in high school whose boyfriend lived out there (he went to another school). It has nothing to do with Pittsburgh.

Yeah. Lived in Doylestown for ten years. Moved closer to Northampton Co. in 2017. However I grew up 10 miles south of D-town (Washington Crossing) and yes, my dad did commute to Manhattan. Many neighbors did as well. Much loss in 911, there is a memorial a few miles away from where my childhood home was. 

Edited October 24, 2018 by Violetgoblin6

[Julia67]

On 10/23/2018 at 3:51 AM, methodwriter85 said:

bowing to the King of Prussia Mall.

I grew up in Berks County and spent MANY Saturdays at the KOP mall.  It's unreal.  I haven't been there in a while, but my family who still lives in the area tells me it's quite the place.  Hope you get to visit.

For the record, I grew up with Wawa and Turkey Hill, lived in Baltimore with Royal Farms and, now, Sheetz.  We now live in Charlotte, which is sorely bereft of any decent places like these. (QT doesn't even hold a candle to the giants up north.)  I feel a bit disloyal, but I have to say Sheetz is the BEST, far and away.  Sorry!

[methodwriter85]

King Of Prussia recently did a massive renovation that connected the two sides of the mall and made it one, which just tickles my fancy.

[topanga]

3 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

King Of Prussia recently did a massive renovation that connected the two sides of the mall and made it one, which just tickles my fancy.

I remember in the ‘90s when one side was considered the rich side and the other side was considered the side for commoners. 

[Violetgoblin6]

4 hours ago, topanga said:

I remember in the ‘90s when one side was considered the rich side and the other side was considered the side for commoners. 

I remember that. I have gone a handful of times since renovation. Just way too tempting to blow every cent. It used to be the only place around in the 90s for a MAC counter, so that's why I went. I used to go to Willow Grove Park more. Hate malls now. 

[voiceover]

*Ahem*

I'd like to revisit ancient Girl Scout history, and recall the time when cookie sales centered around a file-folder flyer that featured pics, descrips, and a place to sign your name & mark off the number of boxes/types you wanted next to it.

Of course, it could be taken to Dad's work, or Mom's office; but mostly it was a miserable door-to-door, traveling salesman-in-a-green polyester-uni, experience.

Then you sent in the troop orders, waited 4-12 weeks, til boxes upon boxes showed up at your house, because your mom was cookie chairman that year.  So you sorted Scout orders, then your orders, then trotted around to collect the money (cash or checks only) & leave the cookies.

No tables outside Safeway, for all that easy cash flow; no swiping of Visa cards.

And my first year, the boxes were narrow things containing one row of cookies that cost 50 cents.

So. Get off my lawn, ya damn kids.

[Dowel Jones]

9 hours ago, voiceover said:

Then you sent in the troop orders, waited 4-12 weeks, til boxes upon boxes showed up at your house, because your mom was cookie chairman that year.

My sister was chairwoman in SF one year, and they filled their entire garage up with boxes.

[Mrs. DuRona]

Also, it is NOT cookie season!  Girl Scout cookies are a rare commodity only sold in Jan/Feb.  (Although, I looked it up just now and it did say that some troops start as early as September, which I have never seen - that's insane.  Like Christmas decorations going up in September.  Grumble, grumble....).  They really should have come up with some other reason for Beth to have her meltdown with the kids.

[ChromaKelly]

5 hours ago, Mrs. DuRona said:

Also, it is NOT cookie season!  Girl Scout cookies are a rare commodity only sold in Jan/Feb.  (Although, I looked it up just now and it did say that some troops start as early as September, which I have never seen - that's insane.  Like Christmas decorations going up in September.  Grumble, grumble....).  They really should have come up with some other reason for Beth to have her meltdown with the kids.

Girl Scouts of Central Maryland does their cookie sales starting in September for pre-orders. Our booths are usually Nov-Jan. Which sucks standing out in the cold. The reason we do them early (this is what I've been told) is because a troop cannot do any other fundraisers before they do their cookie sales, so they get the cookie sales out of the way first.

[chitowngirl]

I believe New Jersey also does their sale in the Fall and the Candy/nut sale in the Winter/spring. The sales are staggered  so the cookie bakers aren’t doing all the baking in one season. There are only two bakers that make all the cookies (that’s why the names of cookies are different in different areas, i.e. Caramel deLites vs Samoas. The baker owns some of the names). 

Edited November 1, 2018 by chitowngirl

[PRgal]

2 hours ago, ChromaKelly said:

Girl Scouts of Central Maryland does their cookie sales starting in September for pre-orders. Our booths are usually Nov-Jan. Which sucks standing out in the cold. The reason we do them early (this is what I've been told) is because a troop cannot do any other fundraisers before they do their cookie sales, so they get the cookie sales out of the way first.

Canadian girls have two drives a year.  Our mint ones are in the fall and the "traditional" (i.e. vanilla/chocolate sandwich cookies) are in the spring.  We don't have nearly as many flavours as you guys, though.   

[Good Queen Jane]

So when do they hold council elections in Philadelphia? Randall is campaigning on Thanksgiving, which is several weeks after the normal election date. Plus local elections are usually in odd numbered years so they don't conflict with the national elections. I could understand if this was a special election, but he's running against a 20 year incumbent, so it makes no sense. Did they ever explain how Randall could run when he's not even a resident of the state, much less the city?

[PRgal]

40 minutes ago, Good Queen Jane said:

So when do they hold council elections in Philadelphia? Randall is campaigning on Thanksgiving, which is several weeks after the normal election date. Plus local elections are usually in odd numbered years so they don't conflict with the national elections. I could understand if this was a special election, but he's running against a 20 year incumbent, so it makes no sense. Did they ever explain how Randall could run when he's not even a resident of the state, much less the city?

He's campaigning for next year.  But is he ALLOWED to campaign one year in advance?

[Lady Calypso]

43 minutes ago, Good Queen Jane said:

So when do they hold council elections in Philadelphia? Randall is campaigning on Thanksgiving, which is several weeks after the normal election date. Plus local elections are usually in odd numbered years so they don't conflict with the national elections. I could understand if this was a special election, but he's running against a 20 year incumbent, so it makes no sense. Did they ever explain how Randall could run when he's not even a resident of the state, much less the city?

They explained that, because his name is on William's lease from his apartment, he can run.

[Good Queen Jane]

Thanks. I missed an episode so I missed all the explanations. So we are going to have to put up with campaign until next year? Ugh!

[ChromaKelly]

50 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

They explained that, because his name is on William's lease from his apartment, he can run.

I still feel like that's BS. Don't you have to prove you are actually a resident, not just own/rent property somewhere? What's to prevent anyone from just renting a cheap studio in a district and then running?
I hate this storyline so much. 

[Runningwild]

I hope he wins and then gets removed from office for lying about his residency. 

[ShadowFacts]

39 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

I still feel like that's BS. Don't you have to prove you are actually a resident, not just own/rent property somewhere? What's to prevent anyone from just renting a cheap studio in a district and then running?
I hate this storyline so much. 

Residency rules probably vary widely from place to place.  In our locality, having your name on a lease is considered one of the ways to prove residency for voting purposes.  Maybe being a resident for voting purposes is what Randall is hanging his hat on.  I don't know, but it's no secret he doesn't live there, so wouldn't his opponent have already tried to disqualify him on that basis?  I agree it's a weak storyline and I can't imagine him winning.  I wish the writers had him doing something else with his time and passion for wanting to better other peoples' lives. 

[bros402]

On 11/21/2018 at 10:56 AM, ChromaKelly said:

I still feel like that's BS. Don't you have to prove you are actually a resident, not just own/rent property somewhere? What's to prevent anyone from just renting a cheap studio in a district and then running?
I hate this storyline so much. 

I looked this up earlier in this topic, or in another topic on here, but in Philly, you have to be a resident for 12 months, and it has been a little over a year since he met William, I beleive

[Blakeston]

3 hours ago, bros402 said:

I looked this up earlier in this topic, or in another topic on here, but in Philly, you have to be a resident for 12 months, and it has been a little over a year since he met William, I beleive

Aside from the issue of whether his name being on William's lease would override his failure to actually live there, do we know why he immediately put his name on William's lease?

[doodlebug]

42 minutes ago, Blakeston said:

Aside from the issue of whether his name being on William's lease would override his failure to actually live there, do we know why he immediately put his name on William's lease?

Because TPTB needed to find a reason for him to run for office in Philly?  We never heard about it until he decided to run.  There’s no logical reason why he would’ve put his name on William’s lease, even if he was paying the rent.

[drafan]

On 11/21/2018 at 10:56 AM, ChromaKelly said:

I still feel like that's BS. Don't you have to prove you are actually a resident, not just own/rent property somewhere? What's to prevent anyone from just renting a cheap studio in a district and then running?
I hate this storyline so much. 

Just wait.....he will lose, then start a school, then a daughter will turn gay, Kate's baby will be diagnosed with Asperger's,  then another person will get cancer and go through chemo.......aaaannnd we have Parenthood #2.

These ghosty people (Jack, William) have been done in Thirtysomething (Gary) and Brothers and Sisters (William). Killing someone off never removes them.

[bros402]

20 hours ago, Blakeston said:

Aside from the issue of whether his name being on William's lease would override his failure to actually live there, do we know why he immediately put his name on William's lease?

He implied he put his name on William's lease when William started being with him full time - that was like, by Thanksgiving, right?

Edited November 24, 2018 by bros402

[ShadowFacts]

On 11/23/2018 at 5:22 AM, Blakeston said:

Aside from the issue of whether his name being on William's lease would override his failure to actually live there, do we know why he immediately put his name on William's lease?

Nothing has been mentioned, but one possibility is that once William's health was clearly declining, Randall took over some financial responsibilities for him.  Though it would probably have made more sense to just end the lease. 

[bros402]

19 hours ago, ShadowFacts said:

Nothing has been mentioned, but one possibility is that once William's health was clearly declining, Randall took over some financial responsibilities for him.  Though it would probably have made more sense to just end the lease. 

Maybe he preferred to pay for a lease instead of a much cheaper storage unit because he wanted things kept exactly like William kept thing or some weird Pearson-y thing

[CrystalBlue]

16 hours ago, bros402 said:

Maybe he preferred to pay for a lease instead of a much cheaper storage unit because he wanted things kept exactly like William kept thing or some weird Pearson-y thing

Yep, because in an area where there may be an affordable housing shortage, it's wise to keep an apartment unoccupied as a shrine to a deceased person even though no one is in said shrine to "enjoy" it.  Ugh.

On 11/24/2018 at 4:30 AM, ShadowFacts said:

Nothing has been mentioned, but one possibility is that once William's health was clearly declining, Randall took over some financial responsibilities for him.  Though it would probably have made more sense to just end the lease. 

Could the lease have been a long-term lease which William signed up for because the rent was reasonable and it wouldn't go up while under the lease, but then he died, and the apartment is still under the lease with William and Randall's names so it's better to just keep the lease going unoccupied instead of trying to break a lease, which might be difficult, thus destiny paving the way for Randall to be eligible to run for office in another state from where he really lives?  (Long run-on sentence done intentionally.)

[doodlebug]

3 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Yep, because in an area where there may be an affordable housing shortage, it's wise to keep an apartment unoccupied as a shrine to a deceased person even though no one is in said shrine to "enjoy" it.  Ugh.

Could the lease have been a long-term lease which William signed up for because the rent was reasonable and it wouldn't go up while under the lease, but then he died, and the apartment is still under the lease with William and Randall's names so it's better to just keep the lease going unoccupied instead of trying to break a lease, which might be difficult, thus destiny paving the way for Randall to be eligible to run for office in another state from where he really lives?  (Long run-on sentence done intentionally.)

But, if William died and his was the only name on the lease; the lease would be terminated, no matter how long it was. Randall would not be responsible for William's debts nor would he be expected to pay William's rent for the length of the lease. Why would Randall keep William's apartment intact after he died?  William moved out and never lived there again practically from the moment he met Randall. Once it was clear William was dying and would never return, real people would contact the landlord and arrange to clear the place out so it could be rented by someone else. Randall put his name on it for no other reason but so TPTB could use the dumb 'Randall runs for city council in Philadelphia' plotline.

Edited November 26, 2018 by doodlebug

[chocolatine]

Wasn't there an episode last season when Randall goes looking for "the lady" in William's poems that we saw someone else living in William's old apartment? So even if Randall put his name on the lease while William was alive, at some point after his death he must have terminated it.

Edited November 26, 2018 by chocolatine

[bros402]

7 hours ago, CrystalBlue said:

Yep, because in an area where there may be an affordable housing shortage, it's wise to keep an apartment unoccupied as a shrine to a deceased person even though no one is in said shrine to "enjoy" it.  Ugh.

Could the lease have been a long-term lease which William signed up for because the rent was reasonable and it wouldn't go up while under the lease, but then he died, and the apartment is still under the lease with William and Randall's names so it's better to just keep the lease going unoccupied instead of trying to break a lease, which might be difficult, thus destiny paving the way for Randall to be eligible to run for office in another state from where he really lives?  (Long run-on sentence done intentionally.)

I bet he was in affordable housing too.

Let's go with the nicest option - it was rent controlled and Randall wanted to keep it in case the kids wanted to go to Drexel.

My great-grandparents had a rent controlled apartment in NYC. My grandfather sold it after they died in the 80s. It was like $5 a month (They had had it since 1935 or so). Now it rents for something like $3000 a month. It was something like an 80 or 90 year term on the rent control. I had a few cousins who went to college in the city, they could've benefited from a very low price apartment :P

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Randall's name isn't on the lease. Randall and Beth own the entire building in the district in question. Is that sufficient to allow him to run for local office? Does he have to have owned the building for a certain amount of time?

Btw, managing an entire apartment building could be a full-time job. I don't know that Beth would want to do it, but if neither her nor Randall, they would have to be paying someone to do the job. I hope the rent they collect equals their mortgage and other expenses for the building,  but I doubt  it. Can anyone see Randall taking legal action against someone who stops paying rent? Not without doing a deep, deep investigation to figure out why.

[Pallas]

Quote

Randall's name isn't on the lease.

Randall's name is on the lease, said Randall a few eps ago, expositing to us Beth that this enabled him to run for District City Council in Philadelphia. For that office, the in-district residency requirement is one year. While an apartment lease would seem better proof of residency than his title to the building, I'm not in the least certain that it would paper over his legal residency in another town (and state). But at least Randall's been on the lease since the fall of 2016; he bought the building in 2018. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

7 hours ago, Pallas said:

Randall's name is on the lease, said Randall a few eps ago, expositing to us Beth that this enabled him to run for District City Council in Philadelphia. For that office, the in-district residency requirement is one year. While an apartment lease would seem better proof of residency than his title to the building, I'm not in the least certain that it would paper over his legal residency in another town (and state). But at least Randall's been on the lease since the fall of 2016; he bought the building in 2018. 

I believe you.  It does seem odd though that he is still on the lease when someone unrelated is residing in the apartment. If there is an accident in the apartment, he'll be sued as the tenant of record, apart from being the landlord.

Edited November 26, 2018 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Pallas]

9 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

It does seem odd though that he is still on the lease when someone unrelated is residing in the apartment.

That's certainly true. The apartment was still empty in January of last year, when Randall came to explore William's past. Clooney found a new home, but in a neighboring apartment. Have we seen that someone is living there now? It makes sense, of course; I'm just not sure we know. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

10 minutes ago, Pallas said:

That's certainly true. The apartment was still empty in January of last year, when Randall came to explore William's past. Clooney found a new home, but in a neighboring apartment. Have we seen that someone is living there now? It makes sense, of course; I'm just not sure we know. 

Now I'm not sure.  As others have said, it would be wasteful to hold onto it if no one is living there.  Preserving the rent-control price is not an issue if he owns the building.

[ChromaKelly]

Where do Rebecca and Miguel live? I thought they were still in the Pittsburgh area.

[BuckeyeLou]

46 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

Where do Rebecca and Miguel live? I thought they were still in the Pittsburgh area.

I got the impression in the Thanksgiving episode that Rebecca&Miguel live near Randall in NJ, because when they were driving to Miguel's son's house they said they could make it back to Randall's house for dessert in an hour. 

[ChromaKelly]

36 minutes ago, BuckeyeLou said:

I got the impression in the Thanksgiving episode that Rebecca&Miguel live near Randall in NJ, because when they were driving to Miguel's son's house they said they could make it back to Randall's house for dessert in an hour. 

I thought that was because the son lived in Scarsdale. Maybe they have moved. Who knows.

[chocolatine]

14 hours ago, ChromaKelly said:

Where do Rebecca and Miguel live? I thought they were still in the Pittsburgh area.

 

13 hours ago, BuckeyeLou said:

I got the impression in the Thanksgiving episode that Rebecca&Miguel live near Randall in NJ

I got that impression too, simply because there was no reason for them to be in Pittsburgh. Miguel was living in Texas (or was it Arizona?) when he reconnected with Rebecca on FB in the episode when Tess was born. Rebecca didn't have a very close relationship with Kate or Kevin (and Kevin wasn't living in Pittsburgh either), so she probably said she wanted to live close to her favorite son and new granddaughter, and Miguel obliged her because that's the kind of guy he is.

There was a scene in S1 when Rebecca and Miguel stopped by Randall's on their way to a Broadway show, and another in S2 when Kate was staying with Rebecca, and they went to see a doctor in Manhattan together, so all of those signs point to Rebecca and Miguel living close to Randall and NYC.

[Pallas]

Rebecca and Miguel definitely lived near Randall and Beth by 2016. In 2008, when Tess was born, Kevin was already divorced and in California; Kate was still near Pittsburgh but living on her own while waiting tables and about to follow Kevin to LA. Now, wherever Rebecca is, she's nearish to both Newark (where Tess works, at the Essex County Child Services Agency), and Beth's workplace. 

[ChromaKelly]

Thanks! I feel like I need a map to keep track of where everyone is sometimes.
 

[Pallas]

Quote

 I feel like I need a map to keep track of where everyone is sometimes.

There Is Them. 

No. 

There They Are.
 

[Violetgoblin6]

On 11/23/2018 at 7:16 PM, drafan said:

Just wait.....he will lose, then start a school, then a daughter will turn gay, Kate's baby will be diagnosed with Asperger's,  then another person will get cancer and go through chemo.......aaaannnd we have Parenthood #2.

These ghosty people (Jack, William) have been done in Thirtysomething (Gary) and Brothers and Sisters (William). Killing someone off never removes them.

Called it. 

[Good Queen Jane]

Blueberry pie in December/January? There's a diner I go to all the time that's known for its pies and I've never seen blueberry pies there except in the summer.

[CrystalBlue]

3 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

Blueberry pie in December/January? There's a diner I go to all the time that's known for its pies and I've never seen blueberry pies there except in the summer.

Another TIU screw up:  Thanks to Google, I learned that blueberries are in season July 10 - August 10 in Pennsylvania.  I've not known blueberry pies to be popular in the Christmas/New Year season either.

Edited January 16, 2019 by CrystalBlue

[Nancybeth]

How did Kate's football stadium not survive the fire, but Kevin had photos of the football stadium that did survive the fire? And while I'm at it, Kevin had a box of his dad's stuff that also made it through the fire, but Kate has nothing??

Edited January 17, 2019 by Nancybeth

[CrystalBlue]

1 hour ago, Nancybeth said:

How did Kate's football stadium not survive the fire, but Kevin had photos of the football stadium that did survive the fire? And while I'm at it, Kevin had a box of his dad's stuff that also made it through the fire, but Kate has nothing??

What survived The Big House Fire has been up for debate and discussion since the beginning.  Some of us have fanwanked that some of the surviving possessions were at the cabin, and not inside the house when it burned down.  Other people have opined that just by sheer luck, depending on the location in the house, the fire could have not touched or destroyed something that has popped up since the fire.

[chocolatine]

2 hours ago, Nancybeth said:

How did Kate's football stadium not survive the fire, but Kevin had photos of the football stadium that did survive the fire? And while I'm at it, Kevin had a box of his dad's stuff that also made it through the fire, but Kate has nothing??

I'm sure Sophie had many football pictures of Kevin - not only because she was his girlfriend, but also because she was a cheerleader and must have been in a lot of the pictures as well - and she gave them back or had copies made after the fire.

[Nancybeth]

17 hours ago, chocolatine said:

I'm sure Sophie had many football pictures of Kevin - not only because she was his girlfriend, but also because she was a cheerleader and must have been in a lot of the pictures as well - and she gave them back or had copies made after the fire.

The football stadium that Jack built Kate was a replica was whatever stadium the Steelers play in, though.  It had Steelers players on the field.  It wasn't Kevin's stadium.

CrystalBlue, I suppose you're right that stuff could have been at the cabin, or just untouched.  If so, it seems weird that Kate doesn't have any of it?  But we probably shouldn't think too hard about these things.

[chocolatine]

27 minutes ago, Nancybeth said:

The football stadium that Jack built Kate was a replica was whatever stadium the Steelers play in, though.  It had Steelers players on the field.  It wasn't Kevin's stadium.

I never said that it was. I was just replying to the comment that said it's peculiar that Kate's football stadium didn't survive, but photos of Kevin playing football did, with the possible explanation that Sophie had those photos at her house at the time of the fire. I didn't say anything about any stadium.

[Nancybeth]

4 minutes ago, chocolatine said:

I never said that it was. I was just replying to the comment that said it's peculiar that Kate's football stadium didn't survive, but photos of Kevin playing football did, with the possible explanation that Sophie had those photos at her house at the time of the fire. I didn't say anything about any stadium.

But I was.  My point was that Toby said he contacted Kevin, who had photos of the stadium that Jack made for Kate, and that's how he had it recreated.  I didn't say anything about Kevin's football photos.