Franktuary is unveiling a new dog this week, the G-20 Plummet:

In honor of this debacle, Franktuary has created the G-20 Plummet.  During the Plummet the restaurant will offer its Pittsburgh frank, buried under 20 additional condiments.  Franktuary publicist Frida Marquetza states, “The extra condiments represent the insensitive visitors who disrupted Pittsburgh’s tranquil and prosperous everyday life.  The suffocated pierogie symbolizes our city’s immobilized economy.”

I have a hard time thinking of 20 appropriate condiments to go on one hot dog, let alone how I would even eat it.  However, everything that I’ve ever tasted from Franktuary has been amazing, so I’m sure if anyone can pull it off, they can.

They are doing an online scavenger hunt all this week to commemorate the launch.  Check out their blog and twitter feed for more info and for more clues.

I don’t live in the city limits, I don’t get to vote for the mayor, but for many in the same situation, his (and city council’s) actions affect me.  I work in the city, I love this city, if I could spend more time in it (current road/sidewalk conditions notwithstanding) I would.  And I have generally supported the Mayor, probably from my empowerment of youth philosophy, he may be 30, but that’s still young, if not a youth per se.

I can look past some of this flaws, attribute them to his youth, as well as (from an outsider who doesn’t pay as much attention as I should) the inability for City Council to work with the Mayor on just about anything (hello, microcosm!).

However, recent shenanigans anger me.  And there are many, and many obvious ones, although I am more prone to look at the two broken promises, that sadly, should not have had to be promised.

1. That the snow removal that was promised to be overhauled, in 2008 (h/t to PG+).  Full disclosure, I really haven’t had any problems on my short commute/walk, but I gather I’m pretty much the exception.
2. An overhaul of the 911 system, which from what we can gather, Luke was working on today, even though it failed the city once again.

But even more than any of that, the lack of transparency is what bugs me.  Yes, Luke is oftentimes immature, and yes, City Council will sometimes egg him on, and not help the situation.  But honest communication and transparency would do a world of good.  For everybody.

So in the meantime, I’ll direct you to the actual required reading (I have no affront to think that I am in any way required, respected or regularly read as a writer about Pittsburgh, let alone a writer about Pittsburgh politics), over at That’s Church.  Check out the comments as well, where I felt some were spookily like my own sentiments.  Here’s a taste of what you’ll find:

You had that power.  The power was in YOUR hands this entire time to put a stop to the questions of your whereabouts.  It is because of YOUR actions that it got as bad as it did.  It was your decisions.  Your silence. You. All you.

Conflict Kitchen, the discussion-starting cafe run by The Waffle Shop is working to open their next incarnation, Bolani Pazi, featuring Afghan take out.  I love the Waffle Shop, and love the premise of Conflict Kitchen:

It is easy to forget that behind all of the government conflicts there are people and a culture. When this personal connection is lost, things become dangerous. Conflict Kitchen creates a public forum and space for discussions that might not normally take place, mediated by food.

And previously-unknown to me, Conflict Kitchen ran some awesome programs, just like Waffle Shop does:

Conflict Kitchen also programs public events to more directly connect everyday Americans with everyday people from the country of focus. For example, Kubideh Kitchen brought together members of the public for a live Skype meal between Tehran and Pittsburgh, during which groups in both countries shared the same meal on a virtually connected table: an inter-continental dinner party.

That Skype meal with a citizen of the country Conflict Kitchen is featuring sounds really cool, right?  Well, now’s your chance.  Conflict Kitchen has a campaign going on on Kickstarter, and depending on how much you give, you could have your very own Skype meal.  Even if you can’t give at that level, every little bit helps.

Please consider giving to Conflict Kitchen, and don’t forget to stop by!

The title of this blog post was going to be very, very different.  Here’s what happened.  I caught a different bus since mine was a bit late, and I didn’t feel like waiting outside any longer.  I transferred at the Park ‘n Ride, my bus was right behind us by the time we got there, so it was pretty awesome.

However, as I got on the bus, the driver said he wasn’t going into our plan, instead he was going to drop us all off (I think six of us by the time we got to our neighborhood) at he gas station about a mile away from the Park ‘n Ride in our neighborhood, where (I think) most people get on the bus.  Well, that was pretty crappy, but it was better than being at a further lot, and I had my boots on and even a pair of Yax Trax I could lend out.

To be fair, the roads through Wilkinsburg were pretty awful, and so was most of 22 through Wilkins and Monroeville, but as we got into Monroeville, the roads improved, a lot.  And thankfully, as we drove past the gas station (Sunoco, fyi, although as I found out, people from out of state sometimes pronounce it “Son-a-ca”), the driver announced he was going to try our road!

The road was just wet, much, much better than it was today, when our normal driver, fearless as always, drove us home.  So thanks to the drivers, regular, or the never-ended cast of subs we have every Monday, for letting me nap while you navigate the (sometimes awful) roads.

Hey look, there’s a giant, international event going on and I don’t have to cover it!  It’s like some weird kind of G-20 withdrawal….just kidding.

Anyway, the crew over at Vancouver Metblogs is covering the 2010 Olympic games (as I watch it on TV obsessively).  Check it out, and good luck to everyone in Vancouver!

And by the way, does anyone have a good schedule I could print out showing what is when on TV?  I can’t find a good one online, and the official site only shows one day at a time, and really isn’t very useful.

Here’s a bit of a story for you.  Back during all the snow, our heater broke.  So my brother graciously allowed me to crash on his couch.  His house is very close to a park ‘n ride lot, so after getting ready that morning I drove down the hill and had my first ever experience with a park ‘n ride.

And I can say that they are weird.

I’m probably just used to getting the neighborhood bus on the street, although this lot served flyers and some of the local neighborhood lines that came through.

So I parked and went over to the little shelter, which is very small, especially for how active this lot is.  A few other people were there, waiting for other buses to go to Oakland and after their bus came and went, I was left alone, jamming out to music on my headphones.  Eventually, a few other people joined me in the shelter, and soon the line stretched out into the parking lot.

The strange thing with the line is that I’ve seen it go into the parking lot some days, and into the street on other days.  I can’t figure out which is the “normal” way.

So back to the story, as the bus was coming towards the shelter, herds of people flooded out of their parked cars and shuffled and ran over the line.  I got on, and headed into town no problem.

But I’m still confused, which way should the line go?  How many people should get on each bus?  What if I need to get on a bus to get into town by a certain time, but the line doesn’t get me on, can I skip ahead the people waiting for the next bus?  Why do people wait for the really nice coach buses (ok, that one is easy to answer, but I always feel like our neighborhood bus isn’t good enough when no one gets on)?  What does it all mean?

I’ll have to use the park ‘n ride lot come June (we think, if rumors are to be believed), so I’m already feeling somewhat anxious!  Park ‘n rides are weird!

In other PAT news, they are looking for input in updating their website (general consensus, work more with Google Maps. make it user friendly and make it fast to find schedules.  Also, real-time bus locations would be awesome, but PAT doesn’t have the money for it yet) and the first wave of TDP changes start April 4, I’ll be reporting more on it then, as well as looking at the new schedules!

A lot has been going on lately, but I would like to call your attention to a really cool charity event going on: Make Room for Crazy.

It works like this, two local bloggers are betting on the Pirates.  Michelle from Burgh Baby is betting that the Pirates will not break .500 this year, and Ginny from That’s Church is betting they will.  Prizes are being collected as we speak, and the winning blogger will donate 75% of the money to their charity, the other 25% going to the other (Either Make Room for Kids or Christmas Crazy for Kids).

Here’s more detailed information, as well as links to donate to either side (pick one, and enter as many times as you want, $5 gets you an entry).

I voted No by the way, not that I’m trying to influence you at all, I’m just going off of, you know, history.

Penn Station reopened yesterday!  Thank freaking goodness.  The opening was delayed, which all things considered, was not unexpected or too terrible of an inconvenience (it is construction after all).  However, it seems to have (knocking on wood here), reset the bus schedules and brought things back on track.

I say this after one day of having the right bus at the right time.  Which, should not be something to celebrate…but, well, you know…

Since July, my bus has rarely showed up on time (normally one of the three I can catch home doesn’t show up, causing a snowball affect), or so terribly overcrowded that I physically don’t have room to stand.  And again, I have to praise the two hardest working people at PAT that I know of, the two who run @pghtransit, they have helped me out so many times I really should buy them a coffee or something at the very least (I hope their bosses appreciate them…hint hint).

A couple things to praise PAT though, the station looks awesome.  There wasn’t really anything done that I could tell to the two long sidewalks, except new handicap access with the bumpy strips, but the road itself looks pretty awesome.  Over next to the post office/federal court building, the sidewalk was completely redone and looks nice, although I haven’t walked on it yet.

One really nice thing was that there was a crossing guard yesterday.  The pedestrians have this “free for all” mentality at Penn Station, so whoever had that guard there to help direct traffic, I can’t promise that those behaviors will stick, but it was nice.

Once again, I’m thrilled that things are going back to normal, we’ll see how the rest of the week pans out.  We shouldn’t have had to wait four months for a fix, but I’ll chalk it up to a win nonetheless.