"LIVE" Blogging Sebak: Things That Aren't There Anymore

((I was recently approached by a producer at WQED to do an on-camera interview for a special they are airing about Rick Sebak in the fall, celebrating his 25 years with the station. The interview took place last week, but the special won't air until the fall. Hopefully I don't land completely on the cutting room floor. To even be in this thing for a minute or two will be such an honor, and something of a dream for a Pittsburgh-loving kid like me. It'll surely be a surreal moment to catch myself on WQED now and then for years to come.))

It's currently Sunday afternoon. It's a little rainy and kinda cool. Most people are off with their moms today, but I'm here, keeping myself company with a little black cat curled up in my lap and a new Rick Sebak DVD to watch. I've decided to "live" blog it, or write this post as it goes a long. Enjoy...Things That Aren't There Anymore:

- This starts out in South Park at the Allegheny County Fair, and Sebak notes that he lived only a mile away, off of 88. He doesn't say it outwardly, but he lived in Bethel Park. Where I spent the first eighteen years of my life.

- South Park had the THIRD drive-in in the world?! Speaking of watching movies outside: Movies in the Park 2012!

- Pittsburgh word! "Nickelodeon" I am so proud right now!

- "The perfect movie generation. We believed everything we saw."

- Isaly's s something I always heard my mom talk about, but never got to experience for myself. And now that I'm watching this, I am so upset I never did.

- KLONDIKES. I might need to get some of those to share with friends tonight.

- Chipped ham. Oh, to relocate to New England and realize that not everyone in the world gets their deli meat chipped. That was a strange moment for me. "Thank God for the man that invented the chipper." Adorable.

- We're back on the county fair. Is there still a county fair? I don't think there is, which is a shame because I always had fun at the Topsfield Fair in Boston.

- ROLLING. PIN. THROWING. COMPETITION. Ok. New idea: We have our own East End Pittsburgh Fair. We can definitely come up with some excellent competitions of our own. Proximity Brick anyone?!

- "At one time there was more rollercoaster track in Western Pennsylvania than any other place in the world." (Sometimes I learn things about Pittsburgh and go, yup - that's where I must get it from.)

- I don't think I can think of a sadder thing than this man explaining where everything in Westview Park used to be where there is now a strip mall with a Kmart and a Dunkin Donuts.

- Burlesque clubs and nightclubs. Here. We. Go. Pittsburgh at its finest.

[[Ruh....roh.... Something terrible happened to this DVD. Moment for technical difficulty...]]

[[OK. We are back!]]

- I want to appreciate baseball more. I really do. But I can't watch it and enjoy it. I have to play it. And that is why I'm joining a softball team this summer.

- Bill Mazeroski :)

- Watching this footage of people on the last day of Forbes Field is incredibly sad. And I'm not ashamed to say I'm tearing up.