Multiply 365 Day 148 - Not quite a 3 hour tour

The problem with running my mouth about things is that then I have to go do them.  So when I said something about pictures and a blog yesterday, then I guess I have to do that too.  Luckily I just fetched me another of those awesome Cuban sandwiches from around the corner to help fuel me through another blog post.  If that can't get me through an entry here, well then nothing can.

Not that I made a big journey today, just a little walk around the neighborhood, enough to break a sweat without being all sweaty.  But if I hadn't made a venture outside on a day like today, where I am off work and it is almost 90 degrees outside I know I would have been kicking myself for the next week at the missed opportunity. Of course in order for this to happen, some preplanning was called for, recharging the batteries on my camera which had been sitting on my desk since the last time I took pictures, and I also had to recharge the MP3 player, since I made the wise decision to leave it on after I got home from work on Friday.  When I got headed out the door for breakfast and work yesterday, I grabbed it and went to click it on for the bike ride and nothing.  I don't mind riding my bike, but it is more enjoyable when I have music to listen to when I do it.  I wasn't going to make the same mistake today, even though I would be sans bike, if I am traipsing around than music would definitely be called for. 

So out the door I went to grab a couple of pictures of the area around me, and the first place I get to is right at the end of my street, Groceria Merante.  This is the little Italian store I brag so much about, they have a small but kick ass deli counter in the back, lots of Boar's Head meat products (I highly reccommend the Buffalo Chicken and the Cracked Black Pepper Turkey, and don't forget the deli mustard), and I also purchase my premade meatballs there.  Some of the stuff is a little pricier than if you go to your local grocery store, like the sauces and pastas, but they aren't buying the cheapie generic or store brand box of pasta either, it is some really good stuff, and for a pasta eater like me that is always a plus.  As it turns out I had left my apartment around 12:30pm today and they usually close at noon on Sunday, but today they had a vendor in doing a sidewalk display/tasting so they were still open.  I would have stopped to try some things, but I had a tastier treat in mind later on.

Next stop was nearby, this little old semi ratty looking buiding.  What is the significance of this you might ask?  Well this is where I had my first ever solo apartment, in fact at one point I had the second floor window in the front.  The building was small, two apartments on each side on the first floor and 3 each on the second and third floors, a total of 16 units in all, plus a laundry facility in the basement.  The apartments were just little one room efficiencies and each floor had one bathroom that had to be shared, but it was me, out from under the clutches of roommates or parental supervision, so it served as a good enough home for me.  This would also be the place I met Hope, someone I have blogged about in the past and possibly the most special person of the female persuasion I had ever had the chance to encounter.  I lived on the second floor on the left side of the building, she lived on the second floor of the right hand side.  I can't even recall what caused us to bump into each other in the building in the first place (though I am leaning towards a lack of space), but whatever it was, while we weren't inseparable, we didn't actually date or anything or even have a relationship, there was something about being in her presence that made that place more like home than it had any right to be. 

Okay, enough with the sappy sentimentality stuff, people will think I am getting soft in my old age.  Rather, because I can't do anything healthy without ruining it somehow (as evidenced by my biking to save cigarette money), one can't go walking without figuring ice cream into the equation.  I know I have taken a picture of Dave and Andy's before, but usually that was to see the line outside the shop when it was really warm and sunny.  Being 12:30 or so, it is still too early for most college kids to even be out of bed, so there was no line outside the shop.  That means the homemade ice cream and waffle cones could be mine, all mine (insert evil laugh, or a hearty 'I am Mojo Jojo) to get some homemade deliciousness.

I opted for this, a rather bad mixture of ice creams, but I was pressed at the counter and couldn't make up my mind a second time.  I was going to get the cinnamon french toast ice cream, but they didn't have enough to call it a full scoop (this cone was a small btw), so they asked if I would like something else on top of it.  I quickly scanned the bins and for some unknown reason I said "birthday cake", which would be the whiter ice cream on the top with all of the sprinkles in it.  They were both good ice creams separately, but just not something that should ever have been put in the same cone.  My bad.

Next stop, well okay not a stop but a quick pause to take a picture would be the IGA Supermarket on Forbes Avenue.  I took a picture only because I used to work there when it wasn't a grocery store, but rather a bar/restaurant called The Attic.  Some of you people from way, way back will remember the old "Big P butters the roll" story, well it originated with co workers in that very building.  Now it is a bunch of apartments, a tanning salon and a grocery store, though I have never shopped there, even if it is just a couple of blocks from my apartment.  I can't shop in a grocery store where I have to climb steps to get in, I think it violates one of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition or something.  I will take a city bus 20 minutes to a grocery store, but I will not climb a flight of steps for the same goods. 

Here would be the Oakland version of Pamela's, where I sometimes have breakfast if it isn't at Deluca's in the Strip District.  They do make some killer choclate chip and banana pancakes, and it was the first place where I had chorizo, which is now one of my favorite breakfast meats.  Deluca's makes better chorizo, but I have to give credit to Pamela's for first introducing me to that very good spicy sausage.   

Dumpster divers unite!!!!  I didn't find this here, but I set it there so I could get a good picture of it.  It is hard to take pictures of things you find when one hand is holding and ice cream cone and the other the camera.  For those unaware, that is the wrapper off of a 24 pack of Coke cans, and on the back of those are codes, usually inside a black square on the bottom.  This is the gold standard of free Coke points, the highest value they issue on any product, 20 points.  The going rates are; caps (12 oz, 20 oz, 2 liter) are 3, 12 packs of cans are 10 and 24 packs of cans are 20.  There is a limit of how many points you may redeem in a given week (120), and while I haven't hit that limit in a while, I just found 1/6 of it right here.

Next up would be my first ever home away from home, Litchfield Towers on the University of Pittsburgh campus.    This dorms would have made my efficiency apartment look palatial by comparison.  Little wedge type rooms that sleep two people and have room for maybe one. Entertainment was supposed to be provided by the lounges every third floor, where there was a TV in a room about the size of three of the wedges, but I got more entertainment looking out my window, as room 712 in Tower B looked directly across into Holland Hall, an all girls dorm.  I plan on going back some day to get my masters degree in pervishness.

Next up would be this nice little fountain right here, one of those special type places because Hope and I would come over here when it was nice and just sit outside and read.  Usually very little words would be spoken, but that didn't make the company any less enjoyable.  I believe this is where I first read Gibran's "The Prophet" as well as many issues of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. 

And lastly on this particular journey we come to Forbes Field, or what is left of it anyway.  As the marker states, this was the former home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and host to one of the most memorable games in World Series history (1960 World Series, Game 7 which was won in the ninth inning on a Bill Mazeroski homerun, giving the Pirates the World Series, 4 games to 3).  Now all that is left of the ballpark is this little segment of wall, which is still more than what is left of the next home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Three Rivers Stadium, which was imploded about a decade ago.  And really, what better way to close a blog than to blow some stuff up.

 

 

Multiply 365 Day 99 - Back from the dead, The Walking Tour

Who all here remembers that?  Yeah it has been quite a while for a good walking tour blog, but as I was sitting here watching a hockey game today I realized that it would be in my best interest to venture outside, with this being the warmest day of the year so far and all.  I would say that the weatherman said we were going to get near our record high of 82 for this date, but then I realized it was indeed a weatherman, and they have as much credibility as Colin Powell at the U.N.  So instead I scurried over to the window, and really everyone should have one if for no other reason that to check the actual weather, and saw that it was indeed nice outside, so after sitting through a pretty good hockey game (Detroit-Chicago), I decided I had best venture out before this opportunity is lost on me and I end up regretting not making something of the day.  But where to go?   Well on a beautiful day like this probably the best place to go is the park, just to see how many others were taking in the warm temps like I had planned on doing.

So we start right here, on Blvd of the Allies leading into Schenley Park.  All was pretty and truth be told I could have made a walking tour blog of just the number of fine backsides that went jogging by me through the course of today's stroll, but that would have been creepy for all involved.  Or to paraphrase Julie Bologna, "Not just creepy, hyper creepy."  Yes, I am the only guy who reads this blog that will get that joke.  Entertainment for an audience of one indeed.

 

Before I go on, let me just say that Multiply needs to fix this whole dragging photos thing.  I don't know why, it used to be easy to just go over to the scroll on the right and carry the picture down.  Now it is some kind of Twister like game, left photo - blue and all that jazz, that makes putting together a blog like this much harder than it used to be.  Anyway, at the end of the bridge and after passing a couple of fine joggers who shall remain nameless, if for no other reason than I don't know their names, we come upon the lower part of Schenley Park, where the largest of the pavillions are, as well as the largest playground,  Again I opted for a wider shot rather than run up on the playground and starting to snap pictures of little kids, because if there is one thing hyper creepier than snapping pics of girl's backsides, it would be a strange man snapping photos of little kids.  I might have been mistaken for a Catholic or something.

Yes, this photo dragging thing really blows, especially when I am trying to be all left/right creative.  At least if I center them it is easier to copy and paste, I just have to remember to delete the photo that I copied.  Anyway, also in the lower portion of the park is the swimming pool, which obviously isn't open for business yet.  They normally open somewhere around Memorial Day, so for now the pool remains empty, but in about a month or so it will return to it's full glory of being the little kiddie pee pond that we have come to grow and love.

Apparently I didn't get the memo, because before I could begin the ascent to the Schenley Oval Overlook, I ran into these gamers all dressed in D&D garb, either mock fighting each other or preparing to defend the park from an onslaught of orcs, I am not sure which.  Thankfully they did not ask me to join them, otherwise I would have been forced to run home and get my 20 sided die and see if I could make a saving throw versus suck.  Okay, I know I am the only guy who got the Julie Bologna joke, but please tell me at least one other person got that one.

 About halway to the top I pass some people just playing Frisbee in one of the open green areas, as well as some people who are taking advantage of the Frisbee golf course that is in the park.  I will not even begin to start a rant on how much of a non sport Frisbee golf is, hell golf itself is barely a sport but at least it has some soap opera type charm, like Tiger Woods' wife attacking him with a golf club, though that never really happened, wink, wink or Fuzzy Zoeller going all Michael Richards with his fried chicken and collard greens comments a few years back.  If a Frisbee golfer were to cheat on his girlfriend it would be a non issue, because the minute she found out he played Frisbee golf I am quite sure she would have packed her bags and went all Leonard Nimoy "In Search Of.....A Non Geek".  A piece of advice to said female, don't go down the hill, because these guys look like Charles Atlas compared to the basement dwellers that are fending off the orcs down the road.

We stop with the comedy for just a second (well I think it is comedy, but laughter is in the eye of the beholder) and instead opt for a shot of the Cathedral of Learning from about two thirds of the way up the road to the overlook.  See, it is nice outside, but I still refuse to give the weatherman credit because the moment I do I am sure it will starting snowing again. 

 

 

Okay, almost at the overlook now and thankfully it is not even warmer tahn it currently is.  Not that warmer temps would have been bad mind you, I like hot weather myself because then it means it isn't snowing, but there would have been even more people laying out today and they would have been in bikinis most likely, trying hard to get a jump on the tanning season.  For a guy that is trying hard to behave himself and not take pictures of backsides, bikinis might have been a bit much.  Not that I am a prude, I like the female form as much as the next guy that isn't a figure skater, but I refuse to sign any waiver of accountability if girls in bikinis walk by while I have a camera in my hands.

Okay, we have reached the top of the overlook, as evidenced by the fact I can actually get an unobstructed shot of downtown Pittsburgh from up here.  If I would have taken a shot of downtown earlier it would have been through a tangle of tree branches, unless I climbed to the top of one of the trees, in which case I most assuredly would have fallen out, probably broken my back, which would mean no walking tour blog.  So far better to keep my feet planted firmly on the ground.

 

 

At the overlook there is a sign, this sign in fact, and there is information on three different sides of it regarding the park, its history, its green initiatives and blah, blah, blah because as we all know, when someone is outside enjoying physical activity the thing they want to do most of all is read.  Not biking, or rollerblading, or skating or fending off the orc invasion, but read.  I don't have anything against reading, I do quite a bit of it myself, I just choose not to do it while doing I am out being all exercisical. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the things that can be done at the top of the overlook include soccer, an activity that makings reading look pleasureable by comparison, or tennis, or even jogging around the track that encompasses both the tennis courts and soccer field.  When the weather gets better more consistently there is sometimes also a volleyball court up here, but since this was the first real warm day the nets weren't set up yet.  Tis a shame, I could have used a good game of volleyball to work off some of my fat, as opposed to just walking around taking pictures.

 

One of the things you can't do however is skating, at least not at this time of year.  When it is colder the rink is usually pretty busy, maybe it has to do with the popularity of ice hockey around these parts, or maybe figure skating has greater appeal than I would imagine, but in any event as long as it is warm outside then skating is not an option.  And that pretty much concludes everything that can be done up at the overlook.  Now I could go and venture to the far side of the park, I have only covered about half of it to this point, and there is still a golf course to check out and what not, but that will be saved for another day.  Instead it is time to head home.  That doesn't mean it is the end of picture taking however, I still have about a 20-30 minute walk to get back to my friendly confines after all.

 

That little dot in the middle of the picture is a robin, a sure sign of spring.  Certainly moreso than a bunch of drunks gathering around Punxsutawney to see whether or not an overweight rodent does or does not see its shadow.  Not that the rodent can speak mind you, rather it is some local assclown who apparently speaks groundhog and interprets it for the rest of us.  So the skill set of being able to speak groundhog means you have one day of employment during the course of the year, because really, when was the last time anyone filled out a job application and was hired based on their ability to speak groundhog?  For the other 364 days of the year however, he is just a yokel with no other discernable skill set, much like the groundhog itself.  Then again, given the relative innaccuracy of the groundhog's prediction, maybe he should be hired as a weatherman, he couldn't be any worse than the people that currently do it and they don't speak groundhog at all.

You can tell that we are getting close to the end of our trip, because I am able to take a snapshot of the Oakland skyline.  Not that their is anything significant about the Oakland skyline, it is pretty much all owned by two entities, either the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.  Save for the Cathedral of Learning, there is no great piece of architecure, so instead you get this. 

 

 

Thankfully if I turn around and look off the other side of the bridge I can see this, one of the many trails that wind throughout the park and one of the things in Oakland not owned by the University of Pittsburgh.  At least not yet, but give them time.  After all, it was the University of Pittsburgh that managed to buy out the Syria Mosque, one of Pittsburgh's classic concert venues, just so they could put in a parking lot, a process that they repeated years later when they managed to kick both the State Store and the Post Office off of the same block.  In Pennsyvania, State Stores are where you have to go to buy wines and spirits, as the selling of alcohol beyond that of beer is handled by the state.  So in one fell swoop, Pitt had managed to kick both the state of PA (the State Store) and the federal government (the Post Office) off of the same block for, yes, another parking lot.

 

 

And I am just about out of the park now, though I thought I would stop and take a picture of Phipp's Conservatory.  Some of you may remember that I had taken pictures here in the past, a previous incarnation of the walking tour, but since the entrance to Phipps has been remodeled, I thought I would go ahead and snap a new photo.   I was hoping to get some pictures of the outdoor ponds as well, they have a couple of fountain like structures along the one side of the building, but they haven't been filled with water yet.  When they are, they are filled with different aquatic plants and sometimes they will have fish in them as well.  But for not they are just dry cement, and who wants to take pictures of that?

Across the street from Phipps is Flagstaff Hill.  This is another fine spot to watch people laying out come summer, usually the hillside will be covered with sun bathers, perhaps because there are times when the sun can be a rare occurrence around these parts.  What is also cool about Flagstaff Hill is that during the summer movies are shown in the pak, usually on Sunday and Wednesday nights on a screen which is set up right about where the group of people is located in almost the middle of the picture.  then everyone is welcome to sit on the hillside above the screen and watch a movie for free.  Usually the offerings in the "Cinema in the Park" series aren't too bad, not that they are first run pictures, but at least they are pretty recent.  They don't have the list of this years movies yet, maybe when they get around to it I will see if I can fit a few into my schedule since I am off most nights.

Lastly there is this little parklet, it is at the entrance of Schenely Park, just across the street from the Cathedral of Learning.  This is another fine achievement of the folks at the University of Pittsburgh, since after knocking stuff down to build parking lots, they took a parking lot and turned it into a park, even though there is a much larger park literally a block away.  This is for those people who like the park experience but don't actually want to walk to a park. 

 

Having escaped the park, and the parklet without getting into trouble with snapping pictures of women's better parts, I was all content to stop for some homemade ice cream on the way home, a treat to help kill off the healthy effects of walking for about an hour, but apparently some other people had the same idea that I did, and since I hate standing in line, I just took one last photo of the line outside of Dave and Andy's and went home. 

 

This is the part where I would say something clever about the trip, but I can't think of anything clever to say, so I will just say "The End".