Pictures

It appears that Blogger has problems with larger pictures. This is especially a problem with some recent posts. Therefore, all pictures (starting with my last post) are links to my photos on PicasaWeb. I'm trying to figure out how to log a bug with Blogger. The size limit on the photos seems really small.

(I'd like to point out that I'm not using only Google products because Saul happens to work there. I actually switched to Picasa from Photobucket a while back because PB has a small size limit and doesn't have very good features. I also had to show Saul some of the way cool things I can do with Google Maps. But more about Google Maps in future posts...)

The 837/885 Junction

Saul and I went to the Century III Mall on Saturday. For the first time ever, we didn't get lost on the way. I wondered, why is it we always get lost on the way there?

To get there from the CMU area, you take 837 (in this stretch of road, the Blue Belt) to 885 S.

Here's the junction of 837 and 885, courtesy of Google Maps. I dare you to get from the upper right corner to the lower right corner with out getting lost. BTW, for scale, the top to bottom of the map is approximately 1000 yards. (Counted with my fingers pressed up to the monitor.)

The O is really gross

I knew better than to go to the O. But my parents are in town, and everyone keeps asking them if they've been. So we went.

As usual, the interior of my hot dog was crunchy. I'm cool if the casing has some bite, but the interior should not be burnt. That is just gross and inedible. It is possible to grill a hot dog without burning the interior. It's called making them after we order (not before), and moving them around on the grill so they don't burn through. Concept. That was a waste of $3.

Fries were inferior. My mother said that she thought McDonalds makes better fries. And yeah, there were a lot of fries. We also paid a lot for them. Big deal.

Phipps Conservatory

The Phipps Conservatory has an amazing exhibit right now. They have Chihuly glasswork in nearly every room, and it was designed beautifully. The plants and the glass look stunning together, and a lot of the glass forms were inspired by plants. It's worth seeing, especially since CMU students get in free.

I've also heard it's spectacular at night. You can't go at dusk and expect to hang around though. Apparently they shoo everyone out at sunset and then make you pay for a separate ticket if you want to see it lit up in the evening. But hey, that's just another $0.00 ticket for us.

The glass is around until November, but go in summer so you can see the glass in the outdoor rooms as well. The Japanese garden was particularly well done.

Added bonus is the butterfly room (daytime only to see the butterflies hatching) and the Thailand exhibit.

Forbes

I swore I'd find something to blog about other than driving, but it's like Pittsburgh is just begging me to do so.

We all know that Forbes and Fifth are two way at CMU and eastward, but at Bigelow they change to one way streets. Forbes goes away from downtown, and Fifth goes to downtown.

So, if one were in downtown and wanted to leave, one would take Forbes out.

Now refer to picture.




...my parents wondered how I got us lost downtown.

Beechwood Boulevard

A month after moving to Pittsburgh, we were getting furniture on Craigslist. The people we were getting our couch from said they lived on Beechwood Boulevard and provided an address. "Great!" I think. "I know where Beechwood is! I don't need to get directions!" So we drive to Beechwood (a few blocks away) and start looking at numbers. I didn't get directions because:

1) I believed this was either the fastest way or fairly close to it.
2) I believed this to be the simplest way to get to their house without getting us lost.

Both were false.

1) Fastest path.
Here's my starting location (green), and the location where I knew Beechwood to be at (blue). Presumably, the fastest way to get to our destination would be to drive to the known spot on Beechwood and turn the car in the appropriate direction, as indicated by the house numbers.



Here's the map of Pittsburgh with Beechwood highlighted. WTF. I bet you can guess where my ending location was.



Here's the actual shortest path to the destination, as provided by Google Maps.




2) Simplest path.

Ok, so maybe it's easiest though to get on Beechwood and go, so we don't get lost. Let's zoom in on the map.



That's right. That's TWO intersections with a street that turns 90 degrees. Guess how easy it is to miss those turns....Actual path taken by me and Saul:



It's hard to see, but that is us backtracking three times.

And finally, some sample directions provided by Google Maps, to help you navigate this #!&*#@! street.

Special Kitty

Puppy the Cat has been diagnosed with "anxiety induced petite mal seizures". Basically, every time something upsets him, his little brain fires off a few random neurons and causes him to become lost in our house. Literally, he walks in circles downstairs. So he meows loudly until we find him. At 2 am. And 4 am. And 7 am...

So our vet prescribed Paxil so that he won't get anxious over stupid things (like a leaf falling from a tree). Kid you not, my cat is now on anti-depressants. He even has an account at Rite-Aid now for his prescriptions. I have to cut this itty-bitty pill into fourths. He eats his 1/4 pill with some kitty food off a spoon every night before dinner. He actually really likes "spoon food" now and comes running over when he sees the spoon.

On the plus side, we've been able to sleep every night this week because he actually goes to sleep at night now. Sleep is good.

Bunny the Cat, however, is now upset because Puppy won't chase her through the house 8 times a day. Now that he sleeps, the chasing-clawing-knocking-over-of-vases was cut back to 4 times a day. Darn