Garden report and goodbye Ferko

I see four tomato seedlings poking up in the market pack -- that's more than I need for my little backyard. They're on a windowsill and reaching toward the light. I think I better move some coleus to a windowsill and clear space under the lights for the tomatoes.

The first parsley seedling is also coming up. The hippeastrum seedpods are swelling energetically.

It's wet and warm so the little bay tree is getting some filtered light and rainwater; the three pots of rosemary will probably go out in a little while.

Ferko's quality of life is poor. She's mostly doing two things now -- sleeping or wailing in terror. She wails if I leave the room and then cries herself to sleep. Yesterday she became disoriented and cut loose yowling while I was on a conference call, something I absolutely cannot tolerate. She's leaving messes on the floor. She's 17. I can't stand it any more and have made an appointment with the vet for Monday.

Tea is the New Coffee?

Screw this. When I finish up my current pound of Earl Grey / Darjeeling blend, I'm going back to Tetley.

Philadelphia Metro: Economic Powerhouse

We're the NINTH LARGEST metropolitan economy in the WORLD! Who knew?

According to Stephen Mullin, VP and Principal at Econsult (That's the former Wharton Econometric Forecasting:

His vision for the regional economy 10 years from now:

Let me start with what its size will be. PricewaterhouseCoopers and City Mayors [an international think tank] looked at metropolitan regions' economies, and the Philadelphia metropolitan area is considered to have the ninth-largest economy of all the metropolitan areas in the world. I think it's one of the things that Philadelphians consistently understate.

Basically, it's Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, London, Osaka, Mexico City and then Philadelphia. Everybody's reaction is 'Which one of these cities doesn't fit?' But it is at roughly $320 billion - that order of magnitude. We have a huge regional economy.

They also forecast out to 2020. I figured, well, here comes Shanghai and all the rest of these guys, and we'll get buried. They're forecasting Philadelphia to be the eighth-largest - in other words: Up.

So, a couple of things to note: One is that we are a big behemoth in the world. And we have a lot of dough here. So the forecast is, in the big picture: We're big players.

I'm feeling robust and muscular at the moment. I am PhillyWoman -- hear me stomp on Shanghai and a bunch of other wannabees.

More at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/35847154.html

"Nice bank you got there. Be a shame if something was to happen to it."

"My administration is the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks."

( I'm pretty pissed off so here's a cut tag to spare some folks' political sensibilities because I have a thing or two to say about Mr. Obama. )