I’ve mentioned before on here about my involvement with National Novel Writing Month.  One of the cool things about it, is how writers across Pittsburgh get together for write-ins.  These, along with our kick-off and Thank God It’s Over parties are put together by our Municipal Liaison, Jenn.

She has an awesome blog which I wanted to spotlight, called 101 Achievements.  The idea is her and her husband working on accomplishing 101 different tasks, many of which revolve around cultural and food events in Pittsburgh.  Be sure to check out, and you can track their progress by seeing which achievements have been linked on the sidebar.

My favorite achievement they’ve done?  Number 86: Celebrate something imaginary in a nice restaurant.  They get tons of points for the props they used:

Michael Andres

This is Michael Andres, missing since Thursday night from his home in Beaver.

I worked with his brother, Alex, who Michael lives with.  Police have not had any luck finding him in Beaver or any of the surrounding areas.

Come on Pittsburgh, don’t fail me now.

Description: White male, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 215 pounds, dark hair. Last seen wearing a green military parka, blue shorts and athletic shoes.

If seen: Contact Beaver police on (724) 775-1550.

Nerve is reporting on a new “study” by FourSquare about the rudest cities, and Pittsburgh comes in forth.  I put study in quotation marks because it is not clear how this was measured:

So really it reads more like a list of the cities with the most expletive-worthy locations — positive, negative or otherwise.

Well, at least we’re not $&#@ing Manchester.

Dan Shaughnessy from Sports Illustrated wrote an article, complaining about Pittsburgh being the host city for the 2011 Winter Classic.  Deadspin is all over it, make sure to read the whole thing:

It’s not that Pittsburgh is not a metropolis WE associate with hockey. It’s that Pittsburgh is not a metropolis YOU associate with hockey. Because you are from Boston, and Boston is the metropolis people from Boston associate with fucking EVERYTHING.

May I suggest that you follow the Pittsburgh Zoo on Twitter:

This also allowed me to use the “Charlie Sheen” tag.  I feel fulfilled.

What you’re looking at is the screen that greets the user when you open up iBurgh.  I’ve tried to use it before, but without success, however this morning, I successfully submitted unsafe sidewalk conditions.

It’s an extension of the city’s 311 service,  I’ve called that before to report a nasty pothole, and to their credit, a few days later, it was taken care of, so I’m hoping this has the same affect, although with the coming snow, I’m not sure.

Like I said, I’ve tried to use this app once before, but it seems to take the GPS a long while to find itself, so I hope that in a future release that gets worked out, or better yet, users are able to add pictures from their album.  Right now, you have to take a live picture and then upload it, or lose the picture.  That could potentially be unsafe.

The developer, YinzCam, also has apps for Heinz Field (you have to be inside to use it on game day) and the Penguins (news, videos and extra cameras if you’re inside the Consol Center).  They do really awesome work, make sure to check them out in the Android Marketplace or the iTunes App Store.

And I love it!

Whoever is in their social media department deserves a raise:

See the rest of the series here and my post about their awesome Twitter feed here.

Sadly, it looks like someone in a legal department had a hissy fit.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

The new manager (at least I think she’s a manger) working here tonight is really, really loud.  She’s at the far end and I can hear her around the corner and through my headphones.  Also, four of the five of you wearing jerseys are wearing 43, and that’s pretty awesome!

Remember when I posted about Conflict Kitchen and how they needed our help on Kickstarter?  I like to think I really helped.  That story got passed around by a bunch of people, even Bill Peduto (Thanks, Bill!), and they made their goal.

Now here’s the deal.  I gave money because it’s a really awesome project that I wanted to support.  I don’t want to sound ungrateful, that’s what charity is for, to help others.  However, I gave a specific amount because of what the backer gifts were.  I love music, and am interested as to what contemporary Iranian music is.  I also really wanted to read the facts and see the layout of the food wrappers, since I wasn’t able to get down during Kubideh Kitchen.

But still, I have not seen any of those.  I’ve tried contacting both Conflict Kitchen and Waffle Shop, but to no avail.  Maybe they’ll read this and maybe I’ll get my stuff.  I sure do hope this is resolved.

More cuts are coming, in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the chart.  No specific details yet, so we’re left to wonder what “Service Reduced” means for each of the 50 or so routes.  And to be fair, some will actually see “Service Increased,” so there is still reworking of the TDP going on (which from my perspective can only be a good thing).

We were told before, and I wrote about the fact (and at the time, I was optimistic that these cuts would not happen), that PAT loves to play the victim: but who they point the finger at has changed.  It used to be the State.  PAT wrote on their blog:

It is the most responsible option available at this time — short of resolving the statewide gap in transportation funding.Port Authority, along with other stakeholders in the Commonwealth’s road, bridge, mass transportation and overall transportation network, continues to seek a meaningful discussion with the new State Administration and Legislature starting in January about long-term transportation funding.

But if you read the FAQs about these cuts, we get a different version of the story:

The State Legislature took a bold step in 2007 by creating a dedicated transportation funding source in Act 44. Unfortunately, the federal government denied the state’s plan to toll Interstate 80, which has created this statewide shortfall.

I guess at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter which government you blame, as long as you blame government.

But I think what saddens me the most, is this overlooked (and in my opinion, buried: it wasn’t even mentioned in their blog post) fact:

The buses I usually take come from Harmar Garage, and except for two, all the drivers I’ve met are awesome, kind and go out of their way for the riders.  There will be many that I will miss, not to mention the mechanics, traffic coordinators and office staff at Harmar.  I think this is the biggest shame of the whole situation.

More information will be released here as PAT makes it available.