Mural

I had to stop and take a picture of this mural on my ride Sunday. It's somewhere along Frankstown Rd in either Penn Hills or (more likely) Lincoln-Larimer or possibly Homewood North. I don't really know the area well enough to guess any better than that.

I think the message is true, though it really saddens me. So many of the folks here in this city, and really, across the country, are stuck with their lots in life. Some of it is by their own choice, but there is so much inertia and so many barriers to overcome for people to break out of the vicious cycle of violence, drug/alcohol abuse, crime, and despair.

Privileged. That's how I feel for being born into the life I have. I fear I wouldn't have been strong enough to get here without the tools and expectations I was born into.

Sunday Ride

It's been challenging to get away for a longer ride these days, understandably. On Sunday morning, Bethany saw me itching to get out and convinced me it was ok to head out for a bit of a ride. I was out about 1 hour 35 minutes and got some sightseeing and 21.8 miles behind me. It wasn't a good time, as I kept stopping to take pictures, but it felt good anyway, as always.

I started out through East Liberty when I got distracted early on (1.5 miles from the house) by the East Liberty Presbyterian Church shown in the next few pictures. It was built in the 1930's. Evidently, I usually scream through there on the bike earlier on Sundays than this week, as the doors were open this time. I couldn't pass up a chance to check it out. It's a beautiful building. The sunlight playing through the stained glass onto the opposite wall was breathtaking. The picture turned out great, but incomparable to standing there.

The sunlight playing through the stained glass onto the opposite wall was breathtaking. The picture turned out great, but incomparable to standing there. I've worked (in a naive and immature fashion) with stained glass before and really appreciate the temporal aspect of its beauty: constantly in flux due to the changing sun or the moving shadows of a breeze-blown tree limb. Sadly, I was tethered to reality by the fact that my bike was propped up against the church outside unlocked.

Nearby are the offices of Navarro Design Associates. I'm fond of their door pull.
After pittering around East Liberty, I dropped down Negley Run Blvd to Washington and rode over to the Washington Boulevard Cycling Track aka Washington Oval. I hadn't ridden on it previously. It's a 1/2 mile banked-turn, cycling track. I took a few quick laps for fun, but wasn't warmed up enough to really ride hard. My 1.5 miles on the track averaged 22 mph with a max speed of something over 27 mpg. Not too exciting. I'll hit it another day when I'm ready and see what I can crank out.

Did I mention how wonderfully beautiful they day was? Man, it was great to be out on the bike.

After pulling out of the loop, I rode upriver alonside the Allegheny, finding some guy's wallet along the way (mailed back to him today). When I reached Verona, I circled back south and west through Penn Hills back toward East Liberty and home (with a slight detour through Shadyside).

Bethany was happy I finally did a ride in less time than I said I would before leaving. Typically, I blast off into adventure mode and turn an hour ride into two and a two hour ride into four... Nonetheless, she was ready for some breakfast. What could I do but comply after such a great ride? I fried up some potatoes, bacon, and eggs for the fam...

Inspiring

This little video advertisement from Pearl Izumi has stuck with me over the last year or so since I first watched it. I love it. I find it inspiring and centering. Sometimes I think about it when I'm looking at that crazy little body that is Silas and wonder about what is going to stick with him: bikes, running, hiking, canoeing, climbing, math... Whatever it is, I hope he loves it and appreciates every second.

Late to work

Today was a day that I could care less about being late to work. I got up late, so Silas and Bethany were waking up as well. I just couldn't pass up a little morning time with the family, so I dawdled. Then I jumped on the bike and found myself awash in a gorgeous morning. Of course, that called for a detour to the river for a longer route to work. This picture is looking across the river in the direction of where my office is, where I was supposed to be sitting in front of a computer in a cubicle an hour and half earlier. I'll still get my 40 hours in. I had a couple of long days this week.

I'm such a clock-puncher in the summer....

Congrats to Ryder!

Last week we heard that Ryder was chosen to do a mural project in one of the neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. His proposal isn't on the site, but some of his other work is, including some murals:

http://www.ryderhenry.com/Site/Home.html

I'll try to swing by when it gets started and post some pictures.

Bethany started a blog for Silas

Bethany's jumped into this game. Now, I have competition for cute pictures of Silas! :)

Here was the text from the email she sent out:

Hi everyone -

So, a number of people around me have recently started blogs and, especially after seeing Zen's blog for his son Laz, I couldn't stop myself. I have started a simple photo blog for Silas. Nothing deep or profound, just an attempt to take at least one picture of him a day so that our family and friends can watch him grow. There are posts from day 1 through today (day 30).

http://lifeofsilas.blogspot.com/

Love,
-Bethany

Building science blog posts

So, it's not likely to do much good, but I'm going to link to my recent posts on my work blog. The search browsers pick up when things are linked to in other websites... Sorry for the gratuitous advertisement of my own work. It sucks, and I'm lame, but it's the way it goes. :) Feel free to flame me in the comments section.

Tour de France power meter comparison
Back from the hiatus of Silas
Intelligent HVAC controls
Building Science, my complex friend
Bathrooms and Building Science
Home-Run Plumbing
Americans Love their DVRs!

All of this is on the HGTVPro blog pages, found here.

Cupcakes

Becky (and Tim?) made us some awesome carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting a while back. Yum!

We've also been the happy recipients of some great food from Maya and Ryder as well. Maybe Bethany has the pictures on her computer, but I can't find any on our two cameras. Alas. The zucchini casserole and bread were superb.

Banana Stand ice cream

I'm trying to catch up after not having posted for so long... Here are a few pics from our walk up to the Banana Stand ice cream shop with Maya and Ryder a week or two ago. I only had my cell phone with me, so the pictures aren't any good. I can blame poor composition on that, right? Ryder is the only one I ended up getting a picture of with ice cream.

Grandma Kathi's Labor Day visit

My mom came for a nice visit over the long Labor Day weekend. I'm happy Silas is getting at some good grandma-time, despite the distances involved. At times, it's difficult to not be living near family.

We did a lot of touring around the city admiring the old architecture. She's a huge fan of architecture. Becky and Tim joined us for dinner one night, as evidenced by the picture below. Maya and Ryder came over on Monday for brunch. It really happened, despite no pictures being taken. Funny how it seems that a picture validates an experience when blogging. You'll just have to trust me that they really did come over for brunch, bringing some great zucchini bread and cookies.

The last pictures were taken eating at the Church Brew Works and at Pamela's diner (the Milvale location).