Fleeting Pages is a pop-up indy book store.  It opened yesterday in the former Borders in East Liberty (a short walk from the Busway), the idea behind the project is to take a former big-box book store, and create, for a month, a place where independently published books, magazine and works of art can flourish.

Their calendar is quickly filling up with free workshops and open mic nights, and it’s staffed by a slew of volunteers.

I’m really sad that this isn’t happening in November, this would be an awesome place to have NaNoWriMo write-ins, but I’ll be sure to go visit before their lease is up.  I’ll post some pictures from my trip, I just need to find the time.

Find out more information about Fleeting Pages here.

Cool article from Slog about an actual conversation from a bus operator (original emphasis left intact):

“I hope you have the best day you can possibly imagine, and I hope you can’t possibly imagine the limits of your imagination. The fare is $2.50.”

I certainly have a couple operators I can imagine saying the same thing.

You’ve probably heard about this story already.  And no, I’m not talking about the next Batman movie, although I will be discussing that later this week.  McDain’s in Monroeville has banned children under six from coming to their restaurant.

It’s been really funny watching my Facebook feed (I don’t have enough friends yet on Google+) explode with reactions to this.  Some praise it, others want to storm McDain’s with torches and pitchforks.  And as you can imagine, the reactions are drawn along lines of those with and without children.

For the sake of argument, here’s my reaction.  When I was younger, my parent’s were considerate (not to say that they aren’t now, because they are, but they were then as well).  If we could not behave in a mature enough fashion for a venue they wanted to go to, they either got a sitter and went out, just the two of them, or we didn’t go.

Now, if we went to a place like Chuck E. Cheese or the Ground Round, where you expect to have a “family” atmosphere, and, especially those two, entertainment geared towards children, that is another story.  Chances are, all the kids in the restaurant aren’t mature enough to go to nicer restaurants: that’s why we were where we were.

So, I guess I agree with McDain’s.  And here’s a radical idea.  If you’re not happy with their decision, don’t go there.  You don’t have to storm the place and riot.  You aren’t losing your rights as a person.  For goodness sake, it’s a restaurant at a driving range…in Monroeville.  There are plenty of other options you can go to.  Heck, walk across the street and get an MTO.  I highly recommend the mint chocolate smoothie thing.

Head on down to the Cultural District for tonight’s gallery crawl: Cosmopolitan Pittsburgh.  Afterward, starting at 9 at the Bally’s Building is the part, including live entertainment, dancing and drinks.

I have a friend who is down there as we speak, and his Facebook updates have been pretty awesome, so head on down to Liberty Ave and collect your passport stamps as you see some awesome art!

I’m at the waterfront to see Harry Potter, and Barnes and Noble has a special cafe pairing for each house.  Pictured here, is the Hufflepuff, my house.  Although the Ravenclaw sounded good too!

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!

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.

If you turn into KDKA (and probably the other news stations as well), you’ll be seeing shots of Fifth Avenue Place which comes from Ken Rice (@kenricekdka):

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.

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.