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.
I built this site years ago when I was still doing freelance work. It was never one I was especially proud of but at least it used to work. It’s been on a death spiral in the years since I gave it up and has finally degraded to the level you see here. It amazes me that a large company like Fox Broadcasting (which purchased the station earlier this year) would let something like this remain active as the station’s only web presence. Why not just shut it down completely?
I’ve half a mind to call them and offer to log in (I’m sure my old password still works) and at least pull the plug since they obviously either don’t know or don’t care how to do it themselves. For a fee, of course…
And the cat that I do not have is quite adorable.
The Go-go’s
Vacation (1984)
I. Am. On. Vacation.
Two and a half years after splitting up, I’m still finding annoying little pieces of paperwork that need taking care of in order to fully dissolve my former relationship. This time it was the insurance. I’m wondering if he process would have be been more or less streamlined if there had been an actual marriage certificate and divorce decree involved.
<facebook rant>The aggravating thing is that marriage confers a whole slew of rights and protections with the stroke of a pen. Same-sex couples have to negotiate, sign multiple legal documents, and jump through any number of other hoops in order to get a FRACTION of the same rights and protections. If the relationship ends, we then have to go through the whole process in reverse. All this to preserve the “sanctity” of an institution that any male-female couple in the country can enter or exit pretty much on a whim, relatively speaking.</facebook rant>
Fortunately, it ceased being traumatic for me quite some time ago. Now it’s just fucking annoying.
Great day otherwise, though. Had a meeting with my colleagues around the state about contributing to the Digital Public Library of America, followed by a software experience where everything actually behaved as expected (and as planned). That was a nice change of pace.
And I have a surprisingly open calendar tomorrow so I may be able to get some actual work done before my vacation.
Mmmm. Canada…
Thoughts while doing laundry and eating surprisingly good low-carb butter pecan ice cream:
- We’ve documented that I’ve become something of a neat freak and a much more attentive housekeeper over the past several years but I’ve also become a much better (and somewhat more creative) cook. If I were ever going to get married again (ain’t gonna happen BTW) I might make someone a really good wife.
- I am beat. I didn’t sleep well last night; I had really weird dreams all night, probably brought on by the death metal show I was at earlier in the evening. And I moved another load of stuff this afternoon. Thus the long and introspective post I’d planned is on hold. Fuck introspection; I’m going to sit on my ass and watch a movie.
- I may actually get to see one of my favorite Canadian power pop bands while I’m in Toronto in a couple of weeks. That would be nice.
- Did I mention that I’m beat?
Pictures after the jump, if you care…
Three reasons I’d rather have an outdoor cat than a boyfriend:
- Outdoor cats never snore or otherwise disrupt your sleep.
- Outdoor cats never argue about where to have dinner.
- Outdoor cats are (usually) much better at chasing mice.
…since i’ve had a cute boy stare longingly at me. Does it detract from the experience that he’s only doing it because he wants food? No, not really.
Now it’s my turn. Maybe I’ll go stare longingly a waiter somewhere and see if he’ll feed me. My guess is that I’ll probably still have to pay…