PGH CHEAP: Spending Little to Stay Cool

My. It's been hot, huh? As has been the case in most places across the U.S., Pittsburgh has been riding a heat wave. I'm writing this on Sunday, and our high is only expected to be 89 degrees. As Eric said while we walked back toward our apartment building this morning, "I never thought I'd be excited about temps in the high 80s."

I try not to complain about the heat. But Saturday it was brutal. I spent as much time as I could tolerate in my apartment reading and writing, but eventually I needed to seek out ways to beat the heat. So I made a list of inexpensive ways to cool off around town and set off by bike to the Carnegie Museum.

If this heat keeps up throughout July and August, I think I'll be using my Museum membership more and more for quick spells in air conditioning. I only had an hour to kill before I was expected at the pool, so I decided to check out the coolest exhibits I could think of.

First I spent a good chunk of time walking around in the cool darkness of the Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems.

Glow in the dark rocks!

As might be expected, the orange gems and minerals were my favorite.

Gemstone dino!

The second stop on my visit was the most obvious choice of all:

Yes. To beat the heat, I spent some time pretending I was in the Arctic. Genius, I know.

On a day when it feels like it's over 100 degrees outside, it was easy to feel incredible jealousy of this scene.

Just in case on one of my wintertime Canada journeys I need to know how to build a shelter out of snow, I watched this video about building snowhouses.

Jealous of how cool these dogs must be feeling in the snow.

After the museum I pedaled over to the Highland Park pool for a few hours of swimming and sunning. Entry also free; Pittsburgh pool passes are a beautiful thing. I passed out on my couch for a couple hours before meeting up with Ross to walk down to 36th and Butler for a pop-up beer garden, Tapped. We had a whiskey drink from Wigle Whiskey and an IPA from Full Pint. Cost $10. I had a hot dog from the Franktuary. Cost $3. It was all the money I'd spent all day, and I felt good about staying cool while keeping costs low. 

These pop-up beer gardens will be going on throughout the summer, and I will be making an effort to go to many of them. Such a nice (and relatively cheap) way to spend a hot summer night.

PGH Beautiful: Dinos, June 2012

In the weeks leading up to my bike trip, I went on bunches of little rides around town. One evening, Corey and I went dino-hunting by bike. I'm always keeping a mental list of the dinos I need to document, and to check these three off was a nice activity for a nice night.

Piggybank Dino, corner of Penn and South Braddock.

Backyard Dino, in someone's backyard. (Hence the crappy picture.)

Fred Rogers dino! Outside of the WQED building in Oakland on Fifth.

Now, last time we checked out dinos on EverythingBetterPGH, a graffitied one sent to me by my friend Andy was featured. As a thank you, I put together a "dino-finder"treat, which you can check out below.

Now, if you find a dino around town and want to share it on EverythingBetterPGH, send me the photo and details about where you found it to everythingbetterpgh @ gmail . com. As a thank you, you'll receive a "dino-finder" treat of your own. I only have eleven dino heads left, so act fast if you want one of these awesome treasures.

My First Motorcycle Ride: Seeing the City a New Way

You may recall that I was going to make a concerted effort in April to do new things, and then keep a list of them so I wouldn't forget them at the end of the month. I wasn't wholly successful in meeting my goal, as I often wimped out and just went to new restaurants. But a wonderfully willing and motorcycle- owner friend name John helped me close out the month of April doing a new thing that I never actually thought I'd want to do.

I'm the sort that considers a motorcycle a death machine, but I've been trying to do more things that scare me or make me nervous lately. I trusted John to take good care of me and not let my last moments be the seconds before my head splattered on the pavement. And we made an adventure out of it. I picked four different outlooks in the North, West, South, and East and we figured out our routes on the go.

John wasted no time in getting me acclimated to going fast. We zipped down the 40th Street hill and across the bridge and onto 28. It was scary, but awesome. And I was immediately hooked. Our first outlook was the Troy Hill cemetery. Going up Troy Hill Road I could watch the skyline in the reflection of John's shiny helmet. The cemetery probably wasn't the best place we could have chosen, but if I have the opportunity to rope a cemetery visit into an adventure, I will.

From Troy Hill we got back onto a numbered road (here's the thing about not owning a car: I don't know anything about our highways - I just know they are numbered and fast and not safe for me to bike on) and flew across the West End Bridge to the West End Elliott Overlook. I don't think John had ever been there, so I was really excited to share of one my favorite outlooks.

Back down a hill we went, and then up Mount Washington we climbed. At the outlook we stopped at on Grandview Ave, we could already tell we were in for a amazing sunset. The PPG building was glowing and orange. The weather was so temperate and clear. We got back on the motorcycle and headed to our last destination.

I've only recently found out about this gem in Schenley Park, and it was a spectacular sunset to end our adventure with. We sat in the grass and watched the orange sky turn slowly into night.

We were nearly back in Bloomfield when I shouted to John and asked if we could go down Bigelow into the city. He obliged and that little addition to the end of the ride was definitely the most thrilling. I won't tell you how fast we were going, but know that the city was coming at us very very quickly. From the city we took Liberty back up to Winebiddle and hit nearly every greenlight until we got to Bloomfield proper.

I survived my first motorcycle ride. We celebrated at Brillobox.

I Think About You Nightly: Ra Ra Riot at the Carnegie Lecture Hall

This past weekend, my old radio station mentor and mischief-making-buddy Zack and I went to the Ra Ra Riot show that was supposed to happen earlier this year, but had to be rescheduled. The show was at the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland. We met up at Hemingway's before the show (wanted to hit up Panther Hollow Inn, but they were closed for a private party, WHAT?!) and so we were properly sauced before evening stepping foot into the Carnegie. We missed the openers (local band 1, 2, 3) but had plenty of time to get another drink and explore the lobby area. (Protip: When alcohol and weird stuff is around, Zack and I will make good times out of it.)

This photo is a very accurate depiction of how I have felt for 99.5% of 2011.

2011: The year I wanted to own an owl as a pet.

Eventually we found this skunk skull. Because of course we did.

Ra Ra Riot is great. I'm sure I have a crush on 75% of the members of this band. Ladies included.

They played my favorite song. I was a happy camper.
"Can You Tell"

Gender Roles - OR - Finding Quiet Time in the Cathedral of Learning

The other day, I needed some major me-time. I had a lot going on up there in my brain. In college, whenever that happened, I would head right for the Cathedral of Learing and tuck myself away in a corner and figure out whatever it was I needed to figure out. And now, ten years later, I found myself instinctively heading for the good ol' "drunk compass" thinking I could get the necessary thinking done and take some photos of the Cathedral and its rooms all decked out for Christmas. However, the Commons room was blocked off for an event and the Nationality Rooms were being used in some seemingly weird scavenger hunt organized by the Boy Scouts? I don't really know!

So, before I found myself a corner to hide in for a while, I saw these windows, and knew they needed to be shared.

Girls like: birds, tennis and gardening.

Boys like flying kites, running, playing baseball, and fishing.

Hidden PGH: Panther Hollow

One of the things that charms me most about Pittsburgh are the hidden places that are easy to get to, lovely to visit, and beautiful to explore. In college I used to wander down into Panther Hollow at night (somewhat unwisely, I'm sure) and take in the quiet around me while cars sped across the Panther Hollow Bridge above me. Panther Hollow is one of my favorite hidden Pittsburgh places - one that I wanted to share with my friend Carrie, so we took a bike ride from Bloomfield to Oakland and ventured down the steps through the woods to get into the Hollows below.

The Panther Hollow Bridge and Panther Hollow Lake.

Reflection of the Panther Hollow Bridge in the murky, swampy lake below.

Why, if it isn't a quaggle of ducks!

As much as the hills can be killer around the city, they do make for some great hidden spots like Panther Hollow. What are some of your favorite hidden Pittsburgh gems?

Holy, Batman, Batman! - Pittsburgh as Gotham City

I get crazy passionate or obsessed with bits of pop culture, places, or people. Sometimes, things in my life work out, and these things I get crazy passionate and obsessed about join together to make an Uber-Allison Explosion of Awesome. (I should probably trademark that.) For example: Owen covers the Velvet Underground song "Femme Fatale," supposedly about Edie Sedgwick.

Right now, Batman (Christian Bale) is filming in the best place (Pittsburgh). Batman! Christian Bale! Pittsburgh! This is Uber-Allison Explosion of Awesome times about a billion.

They've finished filming in Oakland, though before they did, Corey and I took a bike ride down to the Mellon Institute, a.k.a. Gotham City Hall, to see what we could see. We didn't see too too much, but there was fake snow and we know we saw at least one shot. One thing we were sure we saw was Anne Hathaway being driven off set in a shiny black SUV. She had on sunglasses and was trying to hide her face. It was so very Hollywood. But in Pittsburgh. It's kinda cool.

But wait: there's more! My friends Corey, Carrie, Cunningham and I signed up to be extras for the Heinz Field scene, which required us to get there at 6:15 a.m. and stay in the hot sun until 7:30 p.m. In winter jackets. Yikes. But, a stroke of luck came our way when my dad, who works for Chrysler, was able to hook us and my brother up with VIP access to filming during the day. Basically, our deal was getting there at 8:15 a.m., sitting in an air-conditioned press box to watch filming, getting a free lunch, and being out of there by 2 p.m. On the surface, that was too good to pass up. But then, we got to do and see so so so much more.

Cunningham, me, Carrie, Corey, and my brother Jeff (can you see the family resemblance?).

Oh, yeah, we were nerds and made themed t-shirts.

(And another note: I never look short in photos. This is great!!)

We weren't allowed to keep these awesome passes after the day was over, but it was pretty great to receive one with my name on it. Why Magnus Rex? Apparently, Christopher Nolan gives his movies codenames based on his kid's names. His youngest son, Magnus, loves dinosaurs. Hopefully Mr. Nolan brought Magnus with him to Pittsburgh, because we love our dinosaurs too!

We technically weren't supposed to take any pictures, but these are way less harmful than anything they've shown on the local news.

After lunch, we went to check out the Chrysler cars on display and were going to catch a shuttle back to Market Square, but then we decided to take a chance and see if our handler from Warner Bros. could get us onto the field. Glad we asked, cause he could! He had a friend of his get us right onto the field, right as they were setting up the explosions all over the field and filming the crown reaction sequences. We were on Heinz Field! Never really thought I'd have the opportunity to do that.

Oh, and there is one awesome bit of info I should share: I WAS TEN FEET AWAY FROM CHRISTIAN BALE FOR 15 MINUTES. Granted, we were separated by a pane of glass (he was in one press box, I was in another), but he looked my way once and now that means we're married. (Right? That's what that means, right?) Afterward, I was shaking and giddy, because I am a person who gets crazy passionate and obsessed with bits of pop culture, places and people. In front of me was Christian Bale. In Pittsburgh. At Heinz Field. Batman. Patrick Bateman. Jack Kelly. Uber-Allison Explosion of Awesome times a billion. Indeed.