It is! Bode was an absolute brat this season tho!

My husband wasn’t feeling any of the horror movies we saw (he’s not really a fan of horror in general), so we binged the second half of the second season of Netflix’s Locke and Key. Pretty good!

Now I’m parkouring and killing zombies in Dying Light 2.

Tomorrow night, I think I’ll watch Halloween Ends. I hear it’s “different.”

Just got done with my work and post-work networking event. Now for seasonal horror movies, our fireplace, a big ass bowl of spaghetti, some pot, and after all that, video games until I fall asleep!

My husband and I started watching it a few months ago and it's great. (Well, at least as of the fifth season.)

Gloria is—by far—my favorite character in the show. I love her. Meanwhile, Cam and Mitchell are me and my husband.

The region and country is quickly returning to pre-pandemic travel. Additionally, deferred maintenance projects, new funding for infrastructure projects (and new roads in general), and temporary detours will all complicate matters.

The only way we'll get out of a transportation nightmare is by incentivizing and providing non-personal vehicle transportation options to the general public. Trains, busses, bike paths (preferably protected paths at that) are the only way out of this road-based hellscape.

So you got your ballot in the mail, read the instructions, managed to find and read the law on LIS, and already know you need a witness to sign it when you posted this.

When you vote in person, multiple election workers are there to confirm you're there by taking your ID, having you repeat what's on your ID to confirm your voter registration and your ID match*, they then repeat that back to you when checking you into the system and handing back your ID. Then, you get a receipt to hand to another election worker who hands you a ballot and keeps the receipt to be scanned, and then that ballot is scanned in and stored until Election Day when the vote is recorded. Everything is linked up for that vote against your voter registration with a chain of custody.

They can't do that when you do a mail-in ballot, so the witness is standing in for the election workers. Basically, you and your witness (who can literally be anyone) are attesting to the fact that someone else did not vote for you through an honor-based system of illegible signatures that generally mean nothing but can absolutely be challenged by poll watchers (not election workers).

Your most reliable bet is to vote in person and leave the witnessing to the election workers.

So, what's the question again?

*If none of this matches or they can't find your registration for any reason, you're provided a provisional ballot that requires additional reviews and possibly additional verifications you absolutely must do during the "curing" process. A curing process also exists for mail-in ballots if they're challenged by a poll watcher and extra reviews are needed. If you don't follow those extra steps in time, your vote isn't counted.

Edit: grammar and context

I can hear the races from my neighborhood where Lewis Ginter Garden is. So, if I can hear it from here…

This is the correct take, IMHO.

Whatever damage the review-bombing did was quickly canceled out automatically once Yelp and FB and other review sites detected brigading.

Ajay and Brewer's Cafe's business wasn't "canceled" over Ajay's pro-life views or conservative leanings. Richmond City didn't revoke any licenses or threaten eviction—at least not as far as I know.

But that incident months ago did cause people to become keenly aware of Ajay's troubling past posts and how he reacts to legitimate feedback and concerns: by blaming everyone but himself while essentially calling himself GOAT. His staff's resignations immediately and shortly after, including allegations by a past employee over inappropriate remarks by an employer, absolutely didn't help matters.

Ultimately, all of that is what caused people to reconsider whether Ajay and Brewer's Cafe was worth supporting and patronizing. It turned out they'd rather go somewhere else.

Welcome in advance to RVA!

Generally, the city and suburbs are safe. You likely won't be staying or visiting places where crime is typically concentrated, e.g., public housing or the edges of the city/suburbia where things are more challenging for residents. You probably won't be visiting suburban-rural areas where folk don't often see much diversity (if at all), either. As long as you're in/around the VCU campus and student housing, you should be OK!

Just know that Richmond and the RVA region is a pretty large place—there are 1.3 million people in the metropolitan area. We have some racist folk and we have crime, just like any other city and state in the country, but that definitely doesn't make up a majority of the folk here.

Your perspective is (understandably) focused when you come to one single place (like this subreddit) and read scaremongering stories in a single, concentrated feed in such a short time.

Good luck and safe travels!

That was my first thought. In the whole thing, the not-customer never sounded like they even tried to get someone to realize they hadn't been helped. They just sat there quietly while internalizing what they thought was happening and left without saying anything.

I mean, I've seen people of all colors have bad service there regardless of how busy or empty it was. I've also seen people of all colors have great service there regardless of how busy or empty it was. (I've had both good and bad experiences myself there and I'm white.)

A customer review about having a poor experience (without including blatantly racist actions by the staff) isn't going to do much. Dude had a bad experience and the review sounds like they're inferring the staff was racist.

But, yeah, unless Joe Innskeeper (who doesn't exist, OG owner's name is Nick) makes a public social media post that objectively riles people up and doubles/triples down on it without apologizing or toning it down, while currently owning and repping for Joe's Inn, it's definitely not the same thing as Ajay Brewer and Brewer's Cafe.

Edit: grammar and context

Please be very careful with this.

If you must have the plant, keep it potted in a container well away from ground soil; Japanese knotweed is highly invasive, threatens native species, quickly spreads underground well beyond the actual visible portion of the plant, and is hard to control.

From USDA APHIS, emphasis is mine:

>Invasive knotweeds were introduced into North America from Japan during the late 19th century. Japanese, giant, and bohemian knotweeds are large herbaceous perennials, which have spread throughout much of North America. The greatest infestations are located in the Pacific Northwest, the Northeastern United States, and eastern Canada. Knotweeds have become especially problematic along the banks and floodplains of rivers and streams, where they crowd out native plants and potentially affect stream nutrients and disrupt local ecosystems.

Basically, if you plant it at the edge of your property, it will be crossing that border into neighbors' yards or unmanaged/unmonitored woodlands and will continue to spread.

You do you, obviously, but if I were you, I'd look to get capsules or tinctures through a medicinal or holistic supplier.

Looks like I need to check out Haunted Hunt Club Farm then! (I can deal with poorly-timed line management as long as it wasn't the negligent line management at last night's Ashland Berry Farm's Booger Woods.)

Other than Terror on the Woods (at ABF) and Red Vein (at HVF), I generally stick to Kings Dominion's Halloween Haunt and Busch Gardens' Howl-o-Scream events. Both are very serviceable outings with variably-acceptable levels of enjoyment. Run of the mill mazes with dueling levels of tragically-few actors in a maze or quality scares from experienced actors.

I'd been meaning to look into Creepy Hollow Scream Park near Hanover Vegetable Farm, though.

Thanks for the links!

I've never been to a rave/warehouse party before and have always been curious. I'm not a partier with anything more than pot and have lost a few friends to accidental overdoses when I was in my late teens/early 20s. But, now that pot is legal and edibles are perfect substitute for not being able to smoke in public, I'm considering checking one out. Mostly for the music and lights and glow sticks 😍

Maybe I'll finally get started on a homemade OLED/LED helmet that reacts to the music and pretend I'm Daft Punk.

Yes! They're hosted by Hanover Vegetable Farm at 13580 Ashland Rd.

They do a great job at managing the parking lot, check-in/ticket purchasing, and keeping the lines compartmentalized. This year, they're doing timed groups where they hold people who arrive earlier than the next available (or pre-purchased) window back at the main waiting area where there is live music and food trucks and seating. Then the short walk to the Red Vein experience queue is pretty orderly and the staff stays on top of monitoring it for line skippers; they say they won't hesitate to toss line skippers but I haven't seen anyone try to do it because the queue moves pretty smoothly.

The VIP (basically fast pass upgrade) for Red Vein isn't necessarily something you need to do to enjoy it. At most, you might be waiting 30-45 minutes in the main queue before you enter. From there, it's a pretty straightforward walk with one mid-experience queuing point where they break people up into smaller groups before they enter the church portion of the experience.

It's kinda sad... I've done Ashland Berry Farm annually (usually 2-3 trips with different friends) each October—except for 2020 and 2021—and this year was just shockingly poorly managed and maintained... the condition of the mazes are clearly showing they're in desperate need of a complete rebuild. I'm glad I wore gloves because several plywood/particle board panels and railings at Ashland Berry Farm were splintery and some had exposed nail/screw heads. Also, their unexpected ramps up and down in pitch black portions are pretty damned hazardous!

Recovering from a lousy experience at Ashland Berry Farm’s Terror on the Farm last night. It absofuckinglutely sucked and I think it’s the last time I’ll be going.

The online sales ticket line was longer and seemingly-slower than their ultra-slow credit card line and slow cash line. For people who purchased tickets in advance and are just showing a QR code, it shouldn’t take that long to check in.

I wouldn’t say it was understaffed because you could see staff everywhere… but the staff was largely useless. They were negligent on managing the lines and didn’t do anything about line skippers despite people calling for them at each maze—and I’m talking about groups of people all skipping lines.

Booger Woods was essentially a complete stand-still from the point of being dropped off at the hayride stop to about 60% through the woods… all because of that awful bottleneck part where people have to crawl through that tunnel. Then you get people who are “too scared” and stop walking in the mazes just to scream and say how scared they are and they’re not removed by staff. Seriously, we stood inside one of the houses with dozens of people unable to move forward or move backward for maybe 10 minutes. If someone lit a match or tried to smoke and something caught fire, there would have been dozens of us burnt to a crisp in today’s news. It took us an hour and a half to just get through the whole thing and back to the hayride to take us back.

I’ve been there for years on end with it as busy as it was last night and never had issues like that. It’s like the staff just gave up and let teenagers run the place.

One thing they’re deadly serious about there? No ReFUnDs!

Red Vein [eta: at Hanover Vegetable Farm], on the other hand, was a 10/10 experience and they get better each year. Easily worth the same price as Ashland Berry Farm. We were in and out of the whole thing in 15 minutes.

Yeah, I'd go with a vape (if one absolutely must, which is unlikely) or edible here. OP might be able to get away with smoking inside the National, but if there's somebody nearby that doesn't like it and knows who's smoking, they're going to rat OP out real quick.

> No, you go to a sketchy recycler who knows he’s recycling stolen stuff.

Gotta love an abitious fence!

Pretty sure the building at Carytown Exchange that it’s going to be in is still under construction. Once that’s done, then the tenants can work on finalizing their storefronts.

Henrico is giving them out for free now that the supply is starting to build, so I got it from one of their free clinics. Not sure if they’re still prioritizing the LGBTQ community (I’m gay, FWIW) or if it is available to anyone who signs up for a shot.

Reported cases are steadily declining but it still felt like it was common sense to get the shot.

I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. Get better soon!

Congrats in advance!!

My husband got the revised Moderna booster last weekend and it knocked him out for a day. Then he felt back to normal the next morning once he woke up.

I got Covid a few weeks ago—days before I was planning on getting the booster—so I’ll wait 2-3 months before I get the booster and hopefully get a longer period of immunity.

Got the first Monkeypox shot this month, though, and am getting the second in 2 weeks!

Feel better!

Ah, that’s right, HVF does their fall festival in addition to Red Vein haunt nights! I never see it in action because I only show up after they’ve closed the event and I just see empty bounce houses and tents and that strange spider thing they have.

Have fun with the goats and good luck with the game and shift!

It would be even more unfortunate if her name was Parham Powhite. Might even need to take a billboard out to help folk pronounce it.