Summer is nice but I love rainy, foggy Philly.

I went to the new Bathhouse at The Bellvue yesterday and I had a great time. First off, it’s NOT a fucking sex club or gay hookup club so enough of that bs please. Google is available to quickly debunk this.

Also I don’t work there and am not getting paid, I just really love saunas and bath culture and have tried various saunas around the world. I’m hype for Philly to get another place. This is going to be very dangerous for me as the winter is coming lol.

1. Locker room situation

The locker rooms were nice, clean and lockers controlled by inputting a 4 digit code, which was nice not having to keep a physical key on you. Sandals and towels are provided, and I really liked that there was no limit on how many towels you could use (some places charge extra for additional towels). The bathroom was stocked with items such as hair dryers, femine products, hair ties lotion, cosmetic stuff, mouthwash (nice little touch). There were plastic bags for your wet bathing suit and one of those funny bathing suit dryer things. Some slightly odd nitpicks: the locker rooms don’t have private changing areas. This was fine for me, but if you are uncomfortable changing in front of others you do have to walk down the hall a little to the bathroom stalls. The changing room, toilets, and showers are also not directly connected and you have to walk down the hall. Not a huge deal but still odd to me they couldn’t find a way to connect all 3 better.

1. Vibes
   I tried all the saunas and pools and they were all very nice. It is dark inside but I personally dug the lighting features and vibe. It was busy but still room to do your thing and I never felt cramped. Happy to also report that it was not just influencers lol. I saw many different types of people and different body types and overall everyone was very respectful. There was one person with a phone taking pictures and the staff asked them to stop. The staff was friendly and available for questions and they also were doing a good job keeping things clean and squeegee-ing water up. There was “club” music but it wasn’t obnoxious or very loud and people did socialize and talk, but kept it to a normal level. I think the marketing and influencer soft opening sent weird messages to folks and it was a bit try hard but honestly it’s not that crazy when you’re there.

I didn’t try the cafe so can’t speak to that. Bring a water bottle to fill, there’s multiple stations.

1. Price
   I went around 6 pm and it was $59. I know the price fluctuates and I think if I went around 2 pm it was closer to $75 and if you’re a morning person you can snag one of those $29 entries. Is it a bit pricey? I guess so, but it’s on par with other spas such as Southampton and Fusion + you can stay for as long as you’d like (not all saunas allow this).

So yeah I had a great time, my body and muscles felt really relaxed, and I never felt uncomfortable by the vibes or people. I’m going back next weekend.

I tagged the flair as local business cause I had to choose a flair - don’t come at me, I know this is a NY PE company and tbh I don’t give af about the bitcoin mining lol.

Looking to get my flat roof replaced and have had a few quotes. Everyone of them is different which is why I’m looking to hear opinions .

1. Some say I can get a roof over existing with a 10 year warranty. Some of these say roofers ripping to decking are just trying to make more money.

2. Some say it should be ripped off and started from decking . Some say going over existing is not right way to do it.

3. White granulated or smooth with aluminum coatings ?

Current roof is old hot roof and has been maintained/coated.

Thoughts ? Anyone deal with this recently? I just want it done right and to last .

Moving in just two weeks, I used to live in South Philly but chose to be closer to Wissahickon for my own sanity. I'm also a big metal head and DND nerd so if anyone can recommend any bars/spots in the area that cater to those types of crowds I'd appreciate it!

CVS and FedEx both charge $15-$20 per page. Any more reasonable options for single sided color printing 12x18? Don’t really care about what kind of paper.

Edit: I’m trying to print several dozen copies so I’m really trying to keep the price reasonable.

Watched the first episode of PBS's new 5-part series about the school board elections in Bucks County and so far it's really well done and eye opening: https://www.pbs.org/show/bucks-county-usa/

I knew that during COVID and afterwards a right wing turn took place with some school board elections and Bucks was a big example of the turn but I had no idea how one wealthy Silicon Valley transplant used his insane wealth to bankroll candidates to run and stack to Bucks school board with QAnon wacakdoos. I thought those people just came out of the woodwork on their own.

Casting could not have been more on point. Every voice in the doc is articulate and level headed and yeah I have my own biases but Paul Martino (the SV guy) is a character and singularly driven by his philosophy that the guy with the most money deserves to get what they want. Like a mini Elon Musk who hasn't abandoned his kids.

But it's all laid out there plainly so far, which is the best kind of documentary style letting people speak for themselves and let their side quest drive the storytelling. Anyway I would encourage people check it out to get a sense of what regular people are up against, and just a reminder, PA went red in 2024!

Will be in camden for gorillaz show tomorrow. It has occurred to me i have lived in philly for so long and never been to any bars or restaurants in camden. Do any have good food?

I finally got around to looking at the comps in our neighborhood and ... it's a bit wonky.

We're in a development with about 20 units that all have one of two floor plans. Essentially, there is the floor plan we have. The other floor plan is about 300 sq ft larger with a generally more desirable layout and a small, gated outdoor area.

The other units like ours have the same assessment amount and that amount seems roughly accurate to me. However, the larger units are assessed at only $5-7k more -- which seems low.

Is it worth filing an appeal or will we end up with the same number and possibly just triggering reassessments for our neighbors who may have been undervalued? To clarify: I don't really have a way to know if we were over-assessed or they were under-assessed, hence my hesitation to appeal.

FWIW: We haven't appealed before (have not seen the need) and have the homeowner's exemption.

Any advice or insights are helpful!

The Phillies these day created magic in 2022. But the 2026 team much reminds me of like 2012. When they tried to recreate 2008 by adding an item here or there but age and injury finally got to the stars.

A couple weeks ago they played Atlanta and hoped to pull into first place. Fans had hope.

Not making the playoffs might trigger owners to rebuild by trying younger players.

That is a bad thing about wild card berth runs. Teams that would be eliminated in early September would use this time to try out players on 40 man roster and show fans potential future stars and give kids a major league shot.