I went to go walk my dog Midnight for my dad while the rest of my family was out of town. He finally conquered his years long fear of this giant blow up Halloween cat - I think it was the pouncing position that scared him.

On the way back I went to the new taco place in Kenmore to get some for (e:terry) to try. It's called La Divina. They were very cheap and fast, but unfortunately no vegetarian options. Terry seemed to enjoy them at least. The store itself was not much to see - almost all candy, fried snacks, and Jesus-y candles.

On the block over, there is now a Vasilli's. This block is almost looking like something you'd find in Elmwood now - I always wondered if Delaware Avenue was going to turn into something like that.

I have Fridays off again! Thanks to my new job on the Web Marketing team, I now can do four day weeks and take off Friday. I like this a lot more because I can choose whether I want to work, or do something else. Instead of my old position, where I would end up working extra time because I have to be in the office 5 days a week for no real reason.

We went to Grindhaus cafe for lunch with (e:xandra). I got a tofu caprese sandwich and a Lebanese mujaddara bowl with rice, lentils and cucumber. We all got the chia pudding which is definitely the best thing there.




On the way home (e:paul) and I noticed the Hill Hotel neighbor added a "mission statement" sign. Seriously Sinatra www.sinatraandcompany.com ? How is boarding up a house, paving the front yard, and leaving it to rot making a "positive impact in our community"? So lame.



Friday night was bike party. The ride was just alright, due to an influx of slow rollers and confusion in directions cutting it short. But the end party at Hot Mama's was fun. Lots of fried food and beer.


Saturday was spent doing some errands, a lot of bouncing around the house. (e:paul,60267) and I went to the Clinton Bailey market, and got a bunch of food, including the apples. (e:terry) made a chili with the peppers and tomatoes we got.

We also dropped off a bunch of my old clothes to Goodwill. I'm anti-hoarder as it gets, and most of them I never wore anymore - but even I was a little nostalgic about shirts I used to wear the fuck out of. Mostly free college ones and all the fraternity things.


Later we all rode over to Guercio's to get a few baking goods like olive oil and baking soda. I kind of want to know who is buying these giant chocolate bars.



On the way back we stopped at (e:mike) and (e:libertad)'s.



Later that night, (e:terry) and I went out to (e:keith)'s house for a party. (e:paul) was home sick ;(. Their attic is awesome. It has a ton of seating, a loft sitting area, a dance floor, and this time, a giant inflatable dragon.


The house is also full of weird things such as this dog painting.


Here is (e:terry) talking to this girl named Felicity and her friend Ana. Felicity was running around speaking a few German words. We tried to practice but one or more of us was too drunk to keep it up too long.

(e:flacidness) - realness

I want to move here. It's a million times cooler and put together than Buffalo.

ON the way out (e:Paul) bought his fancy almond cakes. You know they're bougie because they're on the same block as an Apple store.

On Friday we walked around and checked out the Pittsburgh downtown. The weather was pretty good. We ended up at Fort Pitt state park, which is a huge park right downtown where the Ohio starts from the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers. It was a French, then British fort. You can still walk into a blockhouse where they shot from.


An old pay phone booth gives no information


The bridge between downtown and the park. A highway runs on top, but you would barely know it.



A detailed map of old Fort Duquesne. They helpfully labeled the toilets, where the sewage ran into the river, and the music chamber. Not the same rooms btw.


Cute boys.

Across the river is the Duquesne incline. It's an old rail car that goes up and down the hill - the view of downtown is amazing at the top. Sadly we didn't get to go ride it.





The historical flood levels inside the blockhouse. I can't image how downtown wasn't submerged from these.

I booked an Airbnb for our trip since hotels were ridiculous. We were able to get a whole apartment nesr downtown for less than a fifth per night than a downtown hotel.

Unfortunately (e:Paul) was allergic to some mold there. So he called the next morning and had the money refunded. It turns out the next night, a cancellation happened at the super fancy omni hotel we booked before (Pittsburgh's former Statler). With Priceline we were able to book it for almost the exact price of the Airbnb. Look at Paul in all his bougie comfort.

Despite the mold I would still book an apartment rental again. In Germany you can book new apartments in the city centers for almost $30 a night. Its insane.

On Thursday we headed down to Pittsburgh for the Little Green Cars concert at Thunderbird Café. For only $10 it was of the best concerts of my life. The venue was smalm and had only about 40 people. The band was better than the album, and even played songs that haven't been relased. All of the band harmonized well and the girls voice was crazy.
At the end of the show, we all went outside so they could serenade a girl who came to see them, and didn't have her passport to get in.

At work they replaced the old vending machine with a new one that takes cards and NFC payments, including Android Pay. for some reason its called healthy vend even though it vends nothing healthy. The idea is kind of cool but you also get charged 15% more for it using cash.

The system itself is connected using either WiFi or a cellular connection, and the payment computer is running some version of before Android 4.x (looks like 2.x). I wonder what vulnerabilities are left open by running such an outdated OS.