Clean Energy for America - Strip District

Here are some of the Shepard Fairey posters in the Strip District. I have others from other places in town, including the big installation across the street from the Andy Warhol museum, bu they're all trapped on my computer at home (shhh...I'm throwing this post up from work right now). I'll post those later.

Car-free Friday and the start of Bike Fest in Pittsburgh

It was a wonderful morning to be out on the bike today. It wasn't too hot. It was nice and sunny, but there was a bit of fog hanging around to give some sense of distance as the sunlight filtered through it.


Pittsburgh (and other places) has an ongoing group of folks promoting the concept of car-free Fridays. The biking, public transit, and environmental (for lack of a better all-encompassing term) communities are trying to get the idea out there that there are a lot of reasons to avoid use of a personal motor vehicle when it's unnecessary. If we take one day a week and use some alternative form of transportation, it can help reduce traffic congestion, pollution, energy use, stress, and other bad things. I don't mean to leave out the other forms of transportation by talking about bikes and buses. The in-line skating and kayak/canoe communities are represented in groups promoting friendlier forms of commuting.

Anyway, today's a Friday, but it's also the start of Bike Fest! Bike Fest is an annual cycling celebration in Pittsburgh that sees a wide array of celebratory events around the city for about 10 days. The events are grass-rootsy in that most are organized by various groups, clubs, or companies. However the overall coordination and some of the events are done by the local bike advocacy group, Bike Pittsburgh. This morning, the Neighbors in the Strip business association sponsored a car-free breakfast event outside the office of the advertising company, Mullen. From the Bike Fest description of the event:

There will also be a host of businesses attending as well including Enrico Biscotti Co. (with free biscotti samples), Right by Nature (with Give Water and Streaz drink samples and bike raffle), Schoolhouse Yoga(with free yoga breathing sessions) and Three Rivers Inline Club (info on inline skating as a commuting option), just to name a few.

Pittsburgh Pedicabs was present, letting folks try out the bike.

Four of us in our office rode in today. Our count is between 2 and 8, depending on weather and what's going on at work. There are only three of us who ride regularly year-round. Below is a picture of the new location of our bike rack. The HVAC testing area caused the first move of the rack to the larger research bay. But then, the building envelope/thermal enclosure mock-up took up that space, and the bike rack got moved to the area outside the former BuildIQ cubicle area. I'm happy the company has continued to try to keep the rack indoors.

Two parting shots of cyclists I encountered on my way into town this morning. Both on Penn Ave. Note the correct name, Becky. :)

More on the sharrows in the Strip

The sharrows are indeed on Penn Ave between 31st St and 26th St. The 23rd St to 16th St is a very crucial section that still needs to be painted. Evidently, the plan is to go all the way into downtown.

Of course, they're no silver bullet. We all still need to try to get along. The problem cyclists and motorists are still going to be out there, but this helps validate cycling as a serious mode of transportation and hopefully helps garner a greater feeling of safety for those riders who are unsure about riding in traffic.

Sharrows in the Strip!

According to the Bike Pittsburgh blog, the city painted sharrows in the Strip District today. This will link the bike lane on Liberty Ave to Penn Ave and head into downtown. My office is in the Strip District, but I don't think they'd made it down to 21st St by the time I took my lunchtime stroll at 11:30 today. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow.

More at: http://bike-pgh.org/2009/08/06/fresh-sharrows-on-penn-ave-in-the-strip/

Turkeys in Pittsburgh

I ran across turkeys again on my way to work today. My office is just past the bridge in the lower picture and about a mile to a mile and half from the downtown buildings off in the background. I think they're usually more commonly seen in the spring and autumn. This is the same meadowy area (to the right) that sees many families of killdeer spawn every year. It's fun to watch the young run around. It's also fascinating, but sort of disturbing, to see the adults do the injured bird gig to try to draw you away from the nest.

Recent Pittsburgh shots

Here are some random photos of recent strolls around Pittsburgh. The mural above is in Shadyside. The next one is of Cappy's Cafe, where we ate for the first time a week ago. It was good. It's always stood out to me, because my childish brain reads it as "Crappy's" every time I see it. We have almost always eaten breakfast at Pamela's when we go to Shadyside for breakfast or brunch. It was a nice change to try somewhere new. Plus, there was no line.

The picture below is of Bloomfield from the 4th floor of West Penn Hospital. I had a checkup regarding my hernia repair (still solid). I always like looking at the neighborhood from above. You can actually see our house's roof and chimneys in this picture (or at least the larger original).

This is in the Strip District.

Salt and draftstopping

In general, our sidewalks at work are more dangerous due to the piles of salt than any snow or ice that may or could possibly accumulate. The driveway in the picture above has not been salted for a couple of days and has been pulverized pretty well by the cars. However, the sidewalk continues to be pretty treacherous.

I picked up some bread at Pennsylvania Macaroni Company today. Dave and I were admiring their draftstopping measures on their exit door. They've filled some of the gap with tape, then used fender washers and screws to attach a strip of clear hard plastic to the door on the right of the picture in order to block the airflow. Pretty crafty.

Thursday at work

Oh yeah, cold mornings now - I love it! Or at least so far. A little bit of snow and some wind made for a fun ride in. It was sunny and really pretty today, despite the temperature.

Bethany and Silas came to work for a short visit as well. Silas slept for most of it in his double thumbs-up pose.

Less than a penny

Yes, more of my pedantic behaviors. I don't remember when I took this, but it's from Stan's Market in the Strip District. With these cheap prices, who wouldn't shop down here? And why would you buy regular potatoes when you can get yams and red potatoes for 1/100th of the price?

Strip District outing with Bethany and Silas

We were continuing on the wild goose chase for mason jars. Evidently, so few people or so many do canning here that they have a city-wide shortage. A manager at Giant Eagle yesterday told me that they marked them down a few weeks ago to sell them all off. Evidently, they don't sell enough during the non-harvest parts of the year to pay to keep them in stock. Even the co-op's cupboards were bare. I think that sucks and is not a great message. Bethany told me that Maya had the same problem last week. Who knew? Are other cities like this?

Bethany always complains I don't bring her down to the Strip. Well, I'm here all the time, as I walk down this street almost every day during lunch at work (my office is ~2 blocks away). Plus, the weekends are nuts in the Strip. People clogging the sidewalks and stores. I take the Strip for granted, of course. I understand why it's fun. I am just used to relatively short lines.

We ate at Chicken Latino, a nice little Peruvian restaurant that replaced a crappy bar/restaurant that I suffered through one meal at three years ago. I tend to get their 1/4 chicken, black beans, and fries lunch special and add a side of fried plantains. Today, I tried the pork. Good stuff. Check out Bethany's blog for another picture. You can find that here.

Silas and Bethany visiting at work

Twice last week, Bethany brought Silas by the office for a visit. It was nice. I think I already posted something about the first time, but we went to Pamela's Diner for lunch the second time. Tasty in general, but I don't recommend the buffalo chicken wrap. It was a pathetic couple of pieces of chicken and a few scraps of lettuce sort of sidled into a folder over pita. Not really a wrap in my book, or even maybe by definition. Nonetheless, their food is typically really good.

Silas decided he was hungry too. We all left with full bellies.

New Mural in the Strip

One of the asian food stores in the Strip District is getting a new mural. This city is great with its murals. I'm particularly fond of this one. I was wandering around with some coworkers hungry for lunch, I would have stopped and talked to the artist.