Coming to you from Canada, which always adds an extra layer of contentment to my life.

It was really cold this morning, especially after a short sleeves kind of day on Monday. Breakfast in Pittsburgh was followed by a relatively uneventful drive to visit my friend Sarah outside Buffalo. I’ve known Sarah for more than sixteen years now. It’s kind of cool that I’ve been doing this long enough that new friends I mentioned meeting via the site way back when have now become old friends I’ve now known on both ends of the country. It was great seeing Sarah; we had hot dogs at an incredible joint and just sort of hung out, if not for long enough.

Then came Canada. I’m always mildly tense at the border due to my strange immigration status, but there were no big issues other that a friendly warning that my residency obligations will become an issue soon if I’m to retain that status.

I’m staying in Burlington tonight and tomorrow so I can explore Hamllton and some of the other surrounding cities and towns. Upon checking into the hotel, I found myself acting as translator between the desk clerk (who spoke no French) and the couple in front of me (who spoke no English). That was kind of surreal and not really something I expected to be doing. I hope I didn’t misunderstand and that they really did want a double room with prostitute and a large order of fries.

Gonna read my paper and go to bed now.

Pittsburgh just gives me the warm fuzzies. It feels strangely like home and it makes me happy being here. I was worried a one point that this might not be the case anymore and I’m very relieved that I didn’t turn out that way. It’s such a great and wonderful place, full of personality and wonder and actual nice people. Plus the cutest boys in the world go to Pitt; it must be an entrance requirement.

Today brought breakfast at Barb’s and lunch at Lindo’s, picture-taking in South Side and book purchases in Oakland. I didn’t sleep well last night so I’m being horizontal in my room for a while before heading to Squirrel Hill of dinner and my obligatory visit to the kosher Giant Eagle. I’ll probably drive around a bit more tonight and then hit the bed fairly early so I can get up, have breakfast at Ritter’s and head north to see Sarah in time for a late lunch. And then…Canada.

I envision a longer trip to Da Burgh soon.

And I’m pissed that I missed the giant rubber duck.

I fucking love this city.

After checking the weather, I decided to leave today rather than tomorrow so I’d have a sunny day in Pittsburgh. That meant I left at 4:00 and rolled into the Red Roof Inn just before 11:00. The drive, which I can still pretty much do in my sleep, was extra exhausting tonight and I’m actually a little sore. But the particularly dark part between Summersville and Clarksburg was made bearable by a really good set on CBC Radio 3 (streaming Canadian indie rock to the world).

I miss Pittsburgh. It always seemed really homey to me despite the baggage that came to be associated with it. I love the newspaper and the food and just the whole feel of the place. In many ways, it’s the antithesis of San Francisco. I’m excited to actually be spending some time here again.

Tomorrow will bring:

• Breakfast at Barb’s Country Kitchen or Ritter’s.
• Lunch or dinner at Smallman Street.
• Maybe a stroll through South Side and Squirrel Hill.
• A bookstore or two.

I’ll probably leave Tuesday morning for Buffalo and the border. Unless I don’t.

I’m off. Next week. At some point.

I’m intentionally leaving my schedule a little open on this trip for purposes of spontaneity. I have a nucleus of (nonrefundable) days reserved in Toronto but nothing else, which will alllow me to decide on the fly whether to spend more time there or venture toward, say, Montréal for a few days. I may land in New England somewhere along the way and knock three more states off the list. I haven’t really even decided what day to leave.

Should be fun.

Completely unrelated: Why is Google serving up ads for Japanese porn sites here? I’ve never been to a Japanese porn site and I don’t think I’ve really ever discussed them on the site either.