I’ve posted before about an awesome local blog called 101 Achievements, but I need to post this one as well, seeing as I busted out laughing:

And then Michael decided we would play a game called 'baby Jessica stuck in the well.' Except that baby Jessica's well wasn't freaking HAUNTED.

Love it.  Check out the blog for more Pittsburgh awesomeness.

Former senator from Penn Hills (when it suited him at least) Rick Santorum is slated to begin his bid for the Republican nomination June 6, from a local coal field.

While I don’t expect the campaign to last, seeing as he has been in the low single-digits in most recent Republican polls (but if your name isn’t out there, you don’t get the FOX news contracts after the race), it will certainly be shameful to once again watch this man in the national media.

Miley Cyrus, of all people blasted Santorum and Urban Outfitter’s support of his campaign.  Now this will be a dumb question, but wasn’t there some Pittsburgh/Miley Cyrus connection a year or so ago?  Someone marrying a Penguin player?  Or am I totally mixing things up in my head?

It is like an obstacle course every night coming down from The Hill.

I saw Quantum Theatre’s production of “Twelfth Night,” and really enjoyed it.  However, I learned a lot of other random things that night.  In no particular order, here’s what else I gleamed from my trip to an unused building on a dead-end street in Bloomfield:

I recently got a new camera, and have no idea how to use it apparently.  However, I did manage to capture this really awesome shot, somehow.  And one, which I’ll never be able to do again, even if I tried.

As a whole, I think the audience had a hard time with the Shakespearean English.  The guy next to me, had no idea what was going on.  I know, because he told his wife that, multiple times during the first act (they left during intermission).  Now, it might have been all the wine he drank before coming to the show (again, I know, because he wreaked).

I found myself laughing a lot more than the rest of the audience.  Maybe I was just picking up more of the jokes.  Maybe I’m just the right mix of intelligent and immature, but this play has a lot of dark, adult humor in it.  So I of course, loved it!

I got bit by a mosquito.  Anyone who has camped with me, will not find this to be a surprise at all.  I’m a mosquito magnet.  But, I guess that’s a hazard (one that I’m willing to withstand) of seeing a play outside.

Which, aside from the interference from the trains, the actors also have to deal with car alarms, racing motors, police sirens, helicopters and what sounded like a table saw.  Good for them for being able to block it all out.

I had read about this production before going to see it, so I was prepared for the train stoppages (and kind of looking forward to seeing them), but I don’t think many of the audience members were.  Which, of course, combined with their apparent lack of understanding, made me laugh even more at their confusion.  Because I’m a horrible person.

I did find it extra amusing, what appeared to be the performance’s third train stoppage, which was announced with the train whistle after a very climactic moment…then to be called off.  I’m still amazed at how the actors and crew coordinate it all.

Again though, go see this show, you won’t be disappointed!

The county government is considering selling naming rights, advertising space and sponsorship rights (whatever that means) to bridges.

The plan also allows for the same type of naming rights at the county parks and the airport.

Bridges already named for famous citizens (such as the three sisters bridges of Clemente, Carson and Warhol) are “unlikely” to be renamed.  The “unlikely” part has me worried.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’d probably look at whatever banner is above the bridge I’m going over, we already see them for community and ethnic festivals.  And hanging them off the sides (hopefully better than the protesters did at G20), wouldn’t be too bad.  But renaming bridges I don’t think will work.

It’s been, what, nine years since the Homestead High-Level bridge was renamed.  And even though I love that it was named for the Grays, we all know that ‘Burghers give directions by what used to be there, not what currently resides in any location.

I doubt we’ll be calling the West End Bridge anything other that just that, at least anytime soon.  Just ask Star Lake.

Monday is the season two second half of the first season premier of The Baristas, one of my favorite web series, shot and set here in Pittsburgh.

I won’t be able to watch until Tuesday, but I wanted to pass the word along to anyone looking for a new series to get into.

If I had the money, I would totally buy Affogato, and I do love that not only is it in upheaval in the show, but also up for sale in real life.

As Ginny’s Bandwagon finds itself with more and more seats, the Pirates continue their losing streak.  But don’t lose faith, instead, watch this awesome video from Benstonium (which I”m not sure if it will show up embedded below):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY1Vs-KmWNQ&feature=youtube_gdata[/youtube]

A crew testing a new Boeing plane flew from Seattle to Pittsburgh…to get Primanti’s.  Not that I blame them, of course.

Shank told the paper: “Everybody loved it. They were all like, ‘Who would have thought to put fries and cole slaw on a sandwich?’ It was comfort food for me, something that reminded me of home.”

The test director is from the Ligonier area, but didn’t get coleslaw on his sandwich.  Sacrilege!

I recently headed down to CMU.  I was getting the beta version of Tiramisu installed on my Android phone.  The team behind the app hopes to have it available in the next few weeks.  I was away for work, but I’ll be testing it some more and recording trips all this week and next to help them out (I ran out of things to test without actually riding a bus or watching them go past me, so I became useless for a few days).

Anyway, here are some observations from my trip, again, in no particular order.

I might have out-geeked some of the CMU students.  I have the R2D2 phone, which makes noises like it’s namesake when I get e-mails.  Which perked up some of the engineers from their coding work (it also plays sounds from Myst when I get a text, but that didn’t happen.  Yes, I have serious nerd/dork-cred)

There was a coffee pot sitting on a bench outside of Dougherty when I walked to the office.  It was still there when I walked back to my car.

I totally parked in the wrong spot.

But in doing so, I got to see a lot of campus.  I’ve been to their campus numerous times, I was the adviser for a conference held there a few years ago, which was nice, since most of the meetings were at night, I got to park for free, which sadly, does not translate on a Friday afternoon.

Campus is really, really big.  I went to Saint Vincent, which is a pretty compact campus (also, must smaller enrollment), surrounded by corn fields.  CMU seems to go on forever in all directions, and is surrounded by concrete and Oakland traffic.

I did not see Batman, the Batmobile or Catwoman, even though I was secretly hoping to stumble into Gotham City and need saving.

Couple fun things coming up.  First up, later this week, Quantum Theatre invited me out to see “Twelfth Night,” so once more, I”m going on an adventure!  I always look forward to trips to Quantum, as it lets me explore Pittsburgh a little bit more (even though I get a little nervous about finding a legal place to park), and this time is no exception.  I’ll have more about that later this week.

Also, I’m helping out CMU (when will I ever be able to type those words again?!) with the beta test of their new Tiramisu Transit app for Android (already released for iOS).  I’ll be making my way to Oakland later this week, as I try to avoid the Batman filming, to get it installed on my phone.  But I’m really excited to try out a new transit app, esepcially one that utilizes crowdsourcing.  RouteShout doesn’t always like to work, and of course, is based entirely on the time tables, not actual conditions.

I have a couple other things in the works as well, so keep an eye out as I ramp back up after my light summer schedule.