Protest outside the Federal Building, taken from the bus.  “Big Brother is Watching” was the only sign I could read as we went past, although some people were clapping, so apparently someone was speaking.

There are just a few days left to help Conflict Kitchen reach their goal to open Bolani Pazi.  It’s a great project, one that I wish I could write more eloquently about.  But since I can’t, I’ll let Kristen take it:

Yet, that’s just what we do. We demonize the citizens of countries the United States is in conflict with.

We act as if people don’t have families they love, jobs to go to, hobbies and interests just the way we do.

We act as if the Russians-Iranians-Syrians-Afghanis, (and the list goes on,) DON’T love their children, too.

…

And think about doing something to change the world we live in today. In a small way. By acknowledging the humanity of someone you’ve never met. By tasting the world they live in.

…

World Peace isn’t some amorphous, impossible thing. World Peace is all of us, doing something, even something small, to make it happen.

Find out more about Conflict Kitchen here, and chip in a few bucks over at Kickstarter here.

Update: Thanks for everyone’s help, Conflict Kitchen reached it’s goal and will be funded!  You can still chip in some money (and get some cool gifts in return).

Time seems to really fly, and I was too busy to go this year, but if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, it’s your last chance to check out the Ren Fest until next year.

Cast in bronze is an awesome performance, and the Washing Wenches were a lot of fun (and strangely not too bad for children while still entertaining enough for the adults).  If you see the joust, either see all the performances throughout the day, or just go to the last one.  Just seeing the middle joust was disappointing.  I didn’t get to see Flourish and Fool last year, but their act looks really good.

And of course, the food.  Soup in a breadbowl is awesome, especially if there is a chill in the air.  Turkey legs are also awesome, and last year and ate in a Pirates Pub area, a new addition since I had been there about eight years before.

So check it out, parking is free, it’s easy to get to, and is a lot of fun.  There might even still be discount ticket coupons available at some 7-11’s.

I’m hearing reports that thre is a fire downtown.

A coworker walked by and said she thinks the Mellon building was being evacuated, and I just read on twitter that the fire is spreading and the county courthouse is being evacuated as well.

The Post-Gazette reports on it here, from their reporting it is just the county courthouse.

Conflicting reports, but I’ll keep looking to see what I can find.

Update: What I gather is the fire was limited to the county courthouse, and smoke travelled through the HVAC system mostly.  The building remains closed the rest of the day, and I’ve heard of no injuries.  Buses are no longer being detoured and service has been restored to Grant Street, but Port Authority warns of residual delays

When you only have one open window (even though workers are at all the others) and a line of about twenty people, commenting loud enough for me to hear

The line keeps getting longer and longer, but it is their own fault.

Your customers get mad.

And I post it online.

Thought it was a fun sign.

Just a friendly reminder that today is election day.  Make sure to stop by your polling location to vote, as well as (hopefully) pick up some awesome baked goods at a sale.  It’s your civic duty.  You know, the eating.

• Need some help with election day, Lifehacker has you covered. 
• Here is a handy guide to candidates (just put in your address), although I think it only does national candiates, I even found out about a third party candidate who I really like! 
• It apparantly is getting hit with a lot of traffic, but this site is saying it will pull you up a sample ballot ahead of time.  Which is nice, I usually do the interactive one from the Post-Gazette, but they didn’t do it this year (at least, not the one that lets you see the issue of each candidate, then choose one, then at the end print out a ballot to take with you a reference). 
• Need to find out where to vote?  Click here. 
• And find out if you’re registered here. 
• And finally, check out voting machine demos and other information from the State here.

Update: Adding another link and made it a bullet list.

Did not include a bake sale, for the first time I can remember (in response to the comment thread yesterday).

Instead, there was a gift basket auction.

Couple items for everyone today.  Urbanophile profiled Pittsburgh.  We’ve heard it all before (the Steel bust, our revival, rest of the country claims we don’t matter that much, check the comments for that one), so it’s becoming a bit cliche.  I was alerted to it from The Daily Dish (a British blog that mostly talks about American politics), so it’s getting some traction.  Anyway, take a look, and make sure to check out the comments.

Waffle Shop is looking for a manager.  If you have experience in restaurant management and want to work in one of the most unique restaurants in the country, check it out.

And finally today, writing has been a bit slow on the site due to my annual, crazy dive into National Novel Writing Month.  Pittsburgh has an awesome group writing this year, and you’re more than welcome to join in.  If you’re not up for writing the book that’s been bouncing around you head this year, you can still help out. 

We’re collecting books (new or used) in support of creative writing programs that The Office of Letters and Light (NaNoWriMo’s parent organization) offers free in schools around the world.  You can drop off books at any of the events listed on our forum (or just see what we’re talking about), and learn more about the book drive here.

Leave a comment if you need help finding a time/place to donate books, I’ll make sure you get hooked up with someone in your area.

I think I have some awesome posts in the works, and maybe even a give-away, so stay tuned!