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.

I found these both via PG+ and I wanted to post them here.

I love Arrested Development, football not so much (I’d much rather watch hockey), although I do root for the Steelers, that goes without saying.  This video brings those two things together:

If you can see this, then you might need a Flash Player upgrade or you need to install Flash Player if it’s missing. Get Flash Player from Adobe.

And this has been making its rounds, the students at Plum Senior High put this together as a tribute to the Pens:

If you can see this, then you might need a Flash Player upgrade or you need to install Flash Player if it’s missing. Get Flash Player from Adobe.

0406001712.jpg, originally uploaded by Mike @ pittsburgh.metblogs.com.

This will be more of an open thread.  We’re on the third day of new routes, and bus operators changed as well.  How’s everything out there?  My routes haven’t been affected yet, but what was the 33X is now G1, West Busway (Green – West Busway, go west young ma- it’s a pun!).  Let me know in the comments!