Pittsburgh
Is the weather a joke?
Jan 16th
Let’s see which news station came the closest to predicting the weather this week.
If I keep track week by week what the actual temps were maybe I can decide which news station has the best predictions. Cause the big joke around the city is that we should all get paid to be a newscaster considering it seems they just guess.
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I love that KDKA says bitter cold on Thursday and I am so looking forward to that.
I wish they would all do the same 5 days, KDKA chooses to include today. I already know what the weather is like today I want to know the next 5 days!
If anything the week looks like shit.
Nadines
Dec 29th
I finally got to eat at Nadines Bar and Restaurant in the Southside. I pass by it on my way home from work everyday. I keep telling myself, “Self, you need to go there and eat one of these days.” It especially peaked my interest when I found out Diners, Drive In’s and Dives filmed there.
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From the outside it looks like a small dive bar. Guess what? From the inside it’s a small dive bar and I love it.
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Passing by many days there is an older man in one of those power chairs, sometimes it’s just the chair. Sometimes the chair is covered with a small tarp or umbrella. Sometimes it’s in the snow. Most days you can count on it being there. When I go by and it’s not there I wonder about the strange man who occupies it. Where might he be? If I don’t see him for days I hope he is okay. I don’t even know him, never met him and have no idea what his name is. My trip to eat there the chair was outside and he was perched on a stool at the bar, eating food.
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It seems like that kind of place. Where regulars go. They probably go to talk to the same people. Watch the same stuff on tv. Drink the same drinks. I bet you can count on them being there. I bet they consider each other friends if not family in a way.
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When I walked in i wasn’t sure where to sit. There is a bar going much of the length of the building with stools around it. The outer walls had tables with 2-4 chairs. I sat at a table in the corner and my sister asked for menu’s. The man running the bar was incredibly nice and went over all the specials. We decided on the roast beef special. In the episode of Diners, Drive In’s and Dives it states the specials are $4.50 with tax and drink. They are currently $6.35 with tax and drink which to me is still a steal. 10 mintues after ordering he set the plate in front of me.
It looks just like the plate Guy ate. The smell made me even hungrier.
The meat was so juicy and tender it melted in your mouth. I have had some great home cooking but this tops my list of roast beef. The mashed potatoes had some skin in it and were lumpy. If your me thats a treat!
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It was so good I cleaned my plate.
I will be sure to go back and try some of their other specials and menu items. I bet they make a great breakfast.
If your looking for good home cookin and some all around nice people a visit to Nadines is a must!
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All in one
Nov 24th
I have been busy. Probably not really the busy your thinking. Sure I have had busy days such as shopping Saturday for myself for once and grocery shopping Sunday. I have been busy being a worn down, pissed off, PITA. Re-doing the living room is wearing on me. It has been torn apart for about two weeks now and it’s barley been touched since we started. We have the TV, love seat and a chair left in that room kinda squashed in the middle so we could work around it. The dining room is full of what was in the dining room and what used to be in the living room. It’s just not getting done and new furniture is going to be delivered early December. I am getting pissed. Things I can’t even talk about online are going on and I am just tired of life getting screwed up. I am tired of not being able to talk about it. I am tired of feeling like “This is my life and it won’t ever get better.”
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One of the problems we did run into is the wiring after pulling the paneling off. Check this beautiful work out………
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I was going up this hill one day last week and it was a beautiful yellow. The tree’s, sidewalks, everything was a blanket of yellow. I wish I had taken a picture that day but didn’t get my camera out in time. I figured the next day it would still be there. Of coarse that night we had a wind storm that took most of the fall leaves off the tree’s. It was still yellow, just no where near as much as the day before. Use your imagination to add more to the picture….
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I didn’t know cats and dogs could get along so well until we put our two together. We have had the cat since he was a kitten and the dog we got this year. They are around the same age, about 15 months old. You should see them play with each other. At first we thought they were hurting each other but they roll all over the floor every morning. Here you can see them sharing a food bowl.
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I went to Light Up Night in Downtown Pittsburgh last Friday.
It was crowded. So crowded you couldn’t really do anything. You could barely walk around.
I managed to get a pic of the tree at the ice rink.
I called some guy an asshole. I apologize to all the children that had to hear me. He still was an asshole.
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I haven’t gone down to see the holiday windows in many years and it was Kaufman’s then. I remember the displays being of Christmas nature. I have some pictures on my phone but am unsuccessful at the moment emailing them to myself to show you. Someone put alot of work into them, they are paper scenes. They are not Christmas or holiday themed at all! Was a huge disappointment.
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There was a shooting right as we were leaving. Police cars just started pouring into town. I knew something had to have happened but didn’t know what until later that night at home. I don’t think I will be taking my children down there for an evening event again. It’s just not worth it. All we did was try to get through the crowd. That’s it. My mom wasn’t thrilled to hear I called some guy an asshole. She warned me that I could get shot.
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We walked to Station Square where we watched fireworks.
Where did Halloween go?
Nov 3rd
For me it came and went. I have bins of Halloween goodies that stayed in the bins. I let my youngest daughter and her friend decorate 2 weeks prior and I did some myself a few days later. Nothing was put up outside. I didn’t care. Now it’s all over and I have Halloween crap everywhere that needs put away. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays but something this year wasn’t right.
I have a great way to make things right. A kids Halloween party at a local neighborhood municipal building. I took my youngest with my sister and her kids. The kids had a great time tho it was very crowded. It gets worse each year. They give the kids bags with candy, an Eat N Park Cookie, and drink box. They get a pumpkin to take home and a room full of games and activities to do. The fireman were outside letting this kids explore the trucks this year.
Here is a pic of her I took on the firetruck. Amazing!
Then I took this one:
I took the pics with my oldest daughters camera. The camera I bought her. As soon as I can I am upgrading my camera and buying myself the same one. I will blog about it because you will want one 
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We went trick or treating in the neighborhood we grew up in. It was so weird seeing my moms old house. Almost everyone is different. I guess they all moved on and my parents were probably one of the last ones to do so. It hasn’t changed in the fact that most houses give out candy and there are kids everywhere on Halloween. Where I live almost no one gives out candy and kids are wandering but many aren’t trick or treating.
The hills tired us all out but the houses are closer together in the city so the kids are able to get tons of treats.
Here is a treat we always got as kids and my kids got when they were younger.
It’s the famous candy apple. They still have them Yummy!
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So one of these days, hopefully this week, I will put away all the decorations. I will put away the things I couldn’t help but purchase half off last night.
Before you know it I will be pulling out the gigantic tree, ornaments, santa’s, etc. Thats even more of a task so I better start getting in the mood.
Day on the Farm
Oct 4th
We all know I hate any season that isn’t summer. I spend much of my time letting everyone know that. I have to take it back though. I love, love, love summer and the heat. I can tolerate and find great things about other seasons as well.
Fall is here. I haven’t been able to smell the wet leaves yet but a trip to Simmons Farm was a great way to get into the fall fever. Simmons is about 30 minutes south of Pittsburgh. Over the years I have visited many different farms that have hay rides and pumpkin picking but this is my favorite one of them all.
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For $10.75 per person you get:
Hayride to the field
one pumpkin
one ear of indian corn
an apple
small cup of apple cider
100 ft slide
3 acre corn maze
hay maze and smaller corn maze for younger kids
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Depending on weather and how many people are there is also:
concessions
petting zoo
pony rides
apple sling shot
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We choose a great day to go. It was definitely a chilly fall morning which kept many away until later in the afternoon.
Once you pay you walk through a greenhouse like structure where there are pumpking carving examples,
a corn playbox,
and concessions.
At the end of that you will find the area to wait for a tractor to come and pick you up. We didn’t wait long at all before we were on our way. The girls enjoyed the extra leg room.
It’s nice that adults can be just as silly as the kids.
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Once we got to the field the girls wanted to shoot straight for the pumpkins. I reminded them that if we do that first they would have to carry the pumpkins around while they do the activities. I sure wasn’t carrying it. So they headed straight for the 100 ft slide where there was no line. I would have gone on myself but I knew I didn’t want to walk back up the hill and have to walk the pumpkin fields too.
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We had to stop and pose for our pictures. A friend that came on the trip suggested I should be the witch. Hmmmm I didn’t have anything nice to say so I became the scarecrow. Maybe I should have went with the witch?
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Kids aren’t the only ones who behave like kids here. This coming from the same jackass that suggested I be the witch
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After he was done goofing off we went to the corn maze to play hide and seek with the kids. What the kids didn’t know is that they were playing hide and seek with us. We were running around the maze trying to get out all the while trying to keep them in. What we didn’t know is they were cheating by cutting through the corn instead of going through the path. Guess the joke was on all of us.
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There was a beautiful tree I had to get a picture of. If I wasn’t so tired I might have walked up there to sit under it.
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We walked through the pumpkin patches for what seemed like forever. My shoes were getting wet and muddy and honestly I don’t want to know what else was on my shoes. It was fun chasing the girls all over. They were excited to find the biggest pumpkin they could. Mind you my rule was you had to be able to carry it yourself. I didn’t think kids were that strong but I guess I was wrong.
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At the petting zoo were a few very cute animals. They were relatively young and small enough that they weren’t frighting. Well unless they try to eat your purse, which they did to my friend. Then you have a few who turn around and have the nastiest dingle berries hanging from you know where. Yuck. Lucky for you I don’t have any pictures of that to share with you. Instead we have a goat chewing on another goat.
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We had a great day at Simmons Farm. If your in the Pittsburgh area I recommend going out for a visit. They also have apple picking that I would like to go back and do sometime.
Pittsburgh Public Market
Sep 27th
This past Saturday I was very happy to be able to take another trip down the Strip District to shop in the new Pittsburgh Public Market since my last visit during the preview. This trip I planned on making some purchases and brought my own bags for that purpose. I find the concept of the public market wonderful. It will especially come in handy when the Burgh is freezing and outdoor farmers markets won’t be possible. This trip I had hubby by my side to get him excited about shopping there. Why do I want him excited? I want to go as often as I can and since I don’t drive I kind of need his assistance
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We started by walking around to see what vendors had and grabbed a cup of coffee from La Prima Espresso. They have very strong but very good coffee. I wanted to buy many of the products I saw but I had to be realistic about what I could purchase. It is pretty overwhelming as there are so many different items available. Besides food there are handmade items. This trip my focus was on food.
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My first purchase was from Goose Creek Gardens. Not only do they have fresh herbs and greens they have honey from their own hives. It’s getting colder out and this is the time of year I love to have a cup of warm tea at night to which I add honey to it. The herbs and greens looked wonderful. I will have to try them another time as I had already purchased those items and didn’t need any.
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Considering we have a new puppy in the house I had to hit up the Four Paws Bakery. They don’t have a website that I can locate but they provide all natural homemade treats as well as Steelers gear for your puppy. They had so many different types of treats. I glared over them all many times thinking what on earth my Baby would enjoy. Hubby suggested we get the plain biscuits since they were tiny enough for our tiny puppy to eat. If she likes those we can get something else next time. I think the price was pretty deacent too at $2.75 for the bag. Hubby later told me a few of the cheese ones had mold on it so please keep your eye out. He said the guy did remove them when he pointed it out.
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European Desserts also does not have a website but they are on Urbanspoon. Apparently they have a store in Bridgeville. Hubby was engrossed in the strudels. I was engrossed in the tiny little mice.
We went home with an Apple Strudel. Warming it up in the microwave led to a yummy dessert to share. Well, I got about two bites he ate the rest.
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After looking at and buying food we were both starving. There was a place called Sito’s, a Mediterranean cafe, handing out free samples of a wrap they serve. After one bite I was in love. I stared at the menu for awhile and after looking at the ingredients I wasn’t too sure I wanted to brave it. Could it really be that good? I told the girl I wanted the wrap they were offering as a sample. She was already making one and asked what I wanted on it. I told her whatever was in the sample just don’t tell me what’s in it! Hubby liked it but said it was just too much for him to eat as a meal. It was delicious. I couldn’t eat all of it so I wrapped it up to take home. Unfortunately the amount of oil they put on it made it pretty soggy later so it’s defiantly something to eat there or share.
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We couldn’t let hubby starve now could we? Last stop Gosia’s Pierogies. The man would eat pierogies any day if I let him. That and cereal. He stood in line and ordered 6 pierogies for himself. I could barely get a bite from him he hoarded them all like he wouldn’t eat again. He said he knew when they didn’t speak very good english they would taste great. Next time we are getting some frozen to take home. I do regret not doing that.
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If you have not been to the Pittsburgh Public Market you really should go at least once! There is great food, the vendors are very friendly and once you go you will want to return.
What are they thinking?
Sep 22nd
According to a KDKA report city parking rates are going to go up if this lease goes through. They aren’t just going to go up they are going to the moon. What kind of city do they think we are? We are not NY where downtown is the place to be at all times.
Apparently the mayor was able to set the rates with the sale of the parking garage lease. So what did smarty pants do? Some of the rates will triple! $15 an hour for one garage, you have got to be kidding me. Yeah, I will want to do a little shopping downtown. Forget the issues with bus fares supposed to be going up that’s minimal compared to these rates. Parking meters will be hit up as well with the highest one reported at $4.50 an hour.
I sure hope they find another solution. I am not paying $30 to go to a function at my kid’s school. I am not paying $4.50 to pick up a book or pizza. This is far from any good idea to try and get the city more business; they are doing a damn good job of driving it away.
I spent years on a major war against living here and started to finally find the love. This is the wrong time to do this. Year by year the city is driving people away.
Pod Camp Day 2 #pcpgh5
Sep 20th
PodCamp weekend is officially over. I spent the weekend with a couple hundred people I don’t know, some of which I talk to on twitter and read their blog. I’ve been to many events in my life time considering I have volunteered for a few organizations and have even ran some events. I have never learned so much in one weekend nor had such a good time with strangers before.
Thank you to all the organizers and volunteers!
Sunday’s attendance was lower but it left me the ability to talk to people that just the day before had people flocking to talk to them.
My first session was Our Burgh Story Through Blogging by Joe and Betsy.
They went over the phases of their personal blog since 2006 and were a joy to watch interact with each other. I think Joe looks a bit like Justin from Brothers & Sisters
The next session I attended was Advance your Career with Marketing 2.0 with Nicole Crimaldi.
She gave some great advice to stay on top of industry trends by reading blogs. Make relationships and understand your prospects.
She also shared 8 ways to be great on Linkedin.
1. Complete your profile (in the 1st person)
2. Update it often
3. Groups: join and participate in them
4. Start a group
5. Check status updates
6. Think about keywords
7. Always connect with people you meet in person.
8. Get recommendations.
Lunch yesterday included chicken and of coarse another visit from The Goodie Truck. I got my peanut butter cookie fix and purchased extra. Guess what I am having with my lunch today at work?
My last session was 10 Things I learned on my journey with Girlhack.
The best advice she gave in my opinion was to be passionate. When your passionate you will be authentic. Great advice and that can apply to anything you do in life. Something else that struck with me is her discussion on low blog/video views. We all worry about it at some point and wonder if people really read our blog regularly. Even if you have 20 views consistently to your posts imagine if they were all in one room to hear you speak. You would be thrilled at having those 20. Your always going to want more.
Who did I get to meet yesterday?
Wormy of BitchBurgh! We talked a bit before lunch as well as after lunch out front where she let me take a pic of her. She is really down to earth, funny as hell and easy to talk to. She is someone you wanna hang out and drink with.
I had lunch with YinzerParty gal. Well, I had lunch then she sat down. Some other guy sat down pitching stuff to her. I butted in to give her my business card and tell her that she took my pic at a bar one night last year. That’s all I got in but still cool in my book.
I also got to talk to Hutch of Burghseyeview. Hutch and his son do a webcast together. I talk to his wife on twitter LOL I love watching the two of them have twitter conversations to each other.
To end the day before I went home I found out they had extra Swag Bags. Gotta love goodies.
Until next year, I will see you all on Twitter
Pod Camp Day 1 #pcpgh5
Sep 18th
What a day. It was a long and early day but for once I sat in classrooms and learned useful information. If you have never heard of Pod Camp it is an unconfernce for people interested in social media, blogging, podcasting, stuff like that. I attended a day full of great sessions at Pod Camp Pittsburgh 5 at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. There is another day of sessions tomorrow and they are free! So head down even if you didn’t pre-register. You can also watch the sessions live online at their website. Today’s sessions are up at The Tech Buzz.
We started with the keynote address by Norm & Bill Peduto.
Bill had many videos to share but one stuck with me the rest of the day and had the most impact. I am very interested in social media already. I utilize what I can, when I can. I was amazed by the facts in this video all about Social Media Revolution. Company’s really need to watch it and see the impact social media really plays today.
The first session I attended was 10 Ways to Create Social Media That Matters with Justin Kownacki.
Not only was this session informative he is a really funny guy. He easily engaged the audience with humor. I had to stand in the back, it was hot, and I wasn’t leaving. One of the things he shared with us was that there are 3 reasons to create.
#1 Educate
#2 Entertain
#3 Engage
My next session was Blogging 201: Finding Fodder 52 weeks a Year with Michelle of BurghBaby.com.
I started reading her blog some time ago and came out of lurker world and started commenting here and there and talking to her on twitter. She is incredibly nice and keeps me wondering what her daughter did each day. Her session helped understand that you need to know why you blog. She gave many questions that a blogger should ask themselves such as; how often should you blog? is this topic ok? and should i have ads?
Lunch was provided to us after that session and yay I finally got to eat from The Goodie Truck! I found out about them on Facebook or Twitter one day and thought it was such a neat concept I started following them. They drive to local events and sell homemade treats such as cookies and brownies. Sorry to my lunch mates who I dashed out on to get me something yummy!
After lunch I attended Friend Me? No, Friend You! – Creating Real Relationships with the internet with Justin Burdett
He talked about listening to people out there before blogging and figure out who your trying to reach. Who is that one person you want to impress the most.
Then I went to Living Out Loud: Real Life Effects of Living Online by BitchBurgh
The room was packed. So packed there was no where to sit, the room just wasn’t set up for more people than there were chairs for. I went into the overflow room to watch the live feed and the audio wasn’t working well. It got so bad that everyone left, including me. It is unfortunate I missed out on it. I love reading their blog. From what I was there for they talked about expecting your readers not to always agree with you and pissing off your loved ones, which they have. I write a blog where I do a bit of bitching so I really wanted to hear this session.
I wound up going to another room for that session since the audio wasn’t working.
I went to Memo From Your Blog’s Legal Department by Cris Hoel who is a lawyer. He had some great info! He shared many things to be careful about sharing and copyrights.
Things he said to stay away from:
1. Accusing someone of criminal conduct.
2. Accuse someone of loathsome and communicable disease.
3. Direct effect on someones livelyhood. It could affect ability to earn a living.
4. Don’t accuse a female of being un chased or a male he is impotent. However you can accuse a male of being un chased or a female impotent LOL
A website he gave that has good information is the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The last session I attended was SWF Seeks… The Birth of a Blog: How I evolved from Lurker to Creator by Tara of Stylish White Female.
She talked about how she started on the internet on ICQ and the like, gave up Myspace and got to where she is today. She talked about how our online converstations are very real and finding your social voice. She was very informative.
My one big issue was I didn’t socialize much in person. I shook Chachi’s hand on his way out a door. I talk to him via Twitter and read his blog. I also met a few people at lunch that I had a good conversation with. Part was I was into the presentations I was there for, the other is I am shy. I mean hundreds of people where there I had never met. I talk to many on Twitter through the week but I couldn’t just go up and say hi to them. Ugh, WTF. Once I know someone I don’t shut up, but I just can’t seem to always be that outgoing person around so many new people. I also had made business cards. I failed at giving them out. I probably only gave out 5 of them the entire day.
I still had a great day and learned a lot. It was organized better than most events I have attended and the Twitter was going insane with Pod Camp talk. My Twitter friends who don’t live here or weren’t there were probably annoyed. My feed was full of Pod Camp. You can find all the Pod Camp talk with the hash tag #pcpgh5. People tweeted about the sessions they were in, some one liners the presenter had said they thought were great. They also had a live feed of the Twitter hash tag in one of the rooms. Thank you Pod Camp Pittsburgh!
Now I have to decide if I can handle another day and what sessions I will attend if I go
