Saturday walkabout

Good morning kids. Actually it is a pretty good morning here in Pittsburgh, all things considered. I managed to drag myself out of bed at a reasonable hour, 8:30 am. This is unusual for me on a Saturday, I tend to spend a large portion of them in bed recovering from the week that was and then getting up in time to go to work at Subway for what has become my normal 5-close shift Saturday nights. Apparently it rained last night, though I wouldn't know it, when my head hit the pillow I was out like a light. I turned on my Internet Radio Recorder last night and tuned in a station in Loretto, Pa which airs Sporting News radio, not that I paid much attention to the internet stream, I think I was awake for all of 5-10 minutes from the time I climbed into bed until I fell asleep.

I had the chance to make money a couple of times last night and passed on both. The radio station needed someone to work one of the high school football games, I passed on the opportunity. Like I said in previous blogs, I just have no desire to be at the station all day, getting in at 5am and leaving there at 11pm, just for an extra $50. Subway also called and wanted me to close last night, I told them I couldn't because I may be working Doug's show later that day, which is a half truth to be generous. Don't get me wrong, Doug last week officially made me his on call guest on his Friday show, pending my availability and his need for another member of his Doug and the Group Friday show, but I knew that I wasn't needed when I got the call from Subway. I was just being greedy and wanted an entire evening to myself.

First Friday went off without a hitch yesterday and lo and behold it wasn't pizza. Instead it was burgers and fried chicken and some really yummy pasta salad and potato salad. The burgers were actually pretty good, given the whole menu was catered by Attache Cafe. Usually when we have stuff like that catered, it becomes hit or miss whether the stuff that should be warm remains so by the time e are ready to eat. No such problem yesterday and the potato salad was particularly good, , which I didn't expect when I first saw it with shaved carrot in it, but damn if it didn't work. The only problem with the pasta salad was that it had black olives in it, but at least it was whole olives so they were easier to pick out than the usual sliced ones.

I opted instead last night to do the bar thing. I tried calling Rich earlier in the day, but couldn't reach him, though he did call me back after I had went out for one reason or another and missed his return call. That being said, I did head out to my favorite dive for dollar domestic bottles at Uncle Jimmy's from 10-12. The bar was busy but not too packed, so maybe the college kids haven't caught on to that special yet, which is fine with me, the fewer interactions I have with them during the school year the better. Jimmy's is very much the older guy/regulars type dive that I like for that very reason. It is nice going into a place where I know the bartenders and their schedule and can name a decent portion of the patrons. It is also the bar that serves host to our football league, as we have had a fantasy league there for better than a decade, with some changes in the structure along the way, and some changes in commissionership, going from one of the former bartenders who got married and is now almost never around to me who has held the mantle for a good 6-7 years.

The reason I got up so early this morning was that I needed to pay my internet and electric bills. I could have just put them in the mail, but I like to send in the payments electronically, where I get credit for them sooner, and there is a newsstand downtown where I can pay both at the same place, and me feeling refreshed from my sleep (and eats as I order mucho food last night after the whole bar thing) I figured a venture downtown would be a good walkabout Saturday morning thing to do. I don't know why, but I sleep a thousand times better when it is raining, even when it is storming. There is just something about the rain that relaxes me even more than normal, as I am prone most nights to wake up every couple of hours or so, when it rains that just isn't a problem. Couple that with a full belly, compliments of Larry & Carol's which was running a large one topping pizza, whole hoagie and 5 whole wings (as opposed to the half wings most places serve) for 16.99 and I was more than content last night. For the record, I didn't eat everything, I had some pizza and half of the hoagie, the rest I will put away for the Sunday night football game, that way I don't have to venture out for anything. Anyway, I got to roam the street of downtown for a little while, I actually got there before the newsstand opened, so I fetched me a coffee from 7-11. Sorry, but you will never get me in a Starbucks, far too trendy and expensive for my tastes. I am more of the Foamy the Squirrel type person on such places. Far be it from me to do what an animated squirrel does so well........

http://www.illwillpress.com/sml.html

Anyway, there was some good news in the paper today, we briefly mentioned it on the show yesterday, but the Pittsburgh Pirates have fired their GM Dave Littlefield. To think it only took 15 consecutive years of losing baseball to come to that conclusion. I guess the team's marketing slogan for this season "We Will" will now need to be modified to "We Will Be Hiring A New General Manager". Far better than the one I used for the team all year, "We Will Suck". Then again, they are 62-79 on the year and the only reason they are only 9.5 games back is because their entire division is bad. Figure this, the Cubs and the Brewers are tied for the division lead, and both teams have identical 71-69 records, so if the Pirates could have even fielded a team that could play .500 baseball, they would only be a game out right now. I get that with payroll considerations, the Pirates will not be a team that wins 100 games in any season, but is playing .500 really too much to ask? Thank god it is football season, and soon to be hockey season as well.

Well, think I will scoot now. I could blather on about our illustrious president and his verbal gaffes in Australia this week, referring to the APEC summit as the OPEC summit, even though the United States isn't even a member of OPEC and praising prime minister John Howard and the Austrian troops for their efforts in Iraq, but really, what is the point. One starts to think that growing up, George Bush was the kid you didn't want to take anywhere as a parent. He would be the one talking in the movie theater during the picture, or doing something embarrassing while trying to accomplish the simple tasks of the day like grocery shopping, or out playing in the mud after putting on his Sunday dress clothes to go to church. I think I would rather play Pogo than open that can of worms this morning.