The City of Pittsburgh - November 28th, 2007

I'm thinking about making an impromptu, bonzai trip to NYC on December 8th. Leaving Pittsburgh ~2pm Saturday, returning Sunday evening, time TBD. I'm happy to do all of the driving, just looking for passengers to share gas/tolls/conversation/sense-of-adventure.

References that I'm not evil, insane, or otherwise a bad person provided upon request.

So, what's your opinion of waffles and pancakes at Eat'n Park?

Are they good?

Are they decently priced?

Any specific recommendations or warnings about them?

I've never been inside an Eat'n Park during my five months here in P'burgh, but I keep walking past the one on Murray Avenue, looking inside at something reminiscent of an Edward Hopper painting, circa 1935, and thinking about going in. Besides, my 12 year-old son loves pancakes and waffles, so I'm always on the lookout for a good source.

I'm sure some of you have opinions.

The wind blew in our third floor window last night, and my roommate thinks her cat may have jumped out.  It would be easy for it to get down to our kitchen roof, then down to the ground from up there.  I figured I'd post here just in case this helps.

The cat would be around the Troy Hill area (uphill from Penn Brewery.)  Here's a pic just in case someone sees it.



We could easily give a small reward of $30 to the finder.  :)

Thanks, Pittsburgh!

I love the pittsburgh community, by the way.

So, now I have another completely different kind of question for you.

Have any of you worked as a substitute teacher at private schools in Pittsburgh? If so, which schools, and how was your experience there? In other words, was it tolerable? And if you've also worked as a sub at public schools (which I'd like to avoid), how did the experiences compare?

Anyone got a hip piano teacher that they can recommend for a self-taught (although somewhat shy) 12-year old who has been playing for two years and is into classical and perhaps jazz?

South hills or Elizabeth areas preferred but not required.

Behind the cut you will find my e-mail to the co-op's general manager regarding the increasing costs in products, as well as other disturbing changes. Following that is his response, as well as an explanatory document he included. This is FYI if you are a co-op member/shopper. It's a lot of reading, but well worth it.

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Edit: My original issue was that they were charging $14-$16 for packages of Emergen-C that could be had at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods for $9-10. There were similar price disparities on some cereals my family uses. These are pretty dramatic differences, and you'd think that by banding together to enhance their purchasing power, co-ops would be able to at least be a bit more competitive with WF and TJ. I don't mind paying a little premium to keep the co-op locally owned and healthy, but I'm sure not going to pay that much more!

Fact is, someone needs to go to the co-op and make a list of prices for all of the items they share in commmon with WF and TJ and see just how dramatic the price differences are. (I'm just the idea guy, by the way!) :-p

So, what's the deal with recycling on the Southside? Is there a deal?

I've been hoarding up cans, glass, and plastic at my boyfriend's apartment and keep intending to bring them to my place to recycle, but now we have three garbage bags full and being able to recycle them somewhere in the neighborhood would be way helpful.

Thanks!
-Lindsay

I have an acquaintance with a large family dog that hasn't been registerred with the city in several years. Recently this dog has become quite sick (as well as having the general problems of age like arthritis and lethargy), to the point where it would probably be the kindest thing to put it down rather than have it suffer any more, but this acquaintance is worried about dealing with a vet lest they be fined lots of money and get in legal trouble for having gone years with an illegal dog.

You'll have to bear with me as I have a cat and know nothing about registerring dogs, but if you can answer any of these questions I would greatly appreciate it.

1. Is it possible to register a lapsed dog without getting in trouble or paying hundreds of dollars? If so, how?

2. Are there any vets in the area that you know of that will do a housecall to put a sick animal down?

3. Of these vets, are there any who are really good and able to see that this is a dog that got very sick very suddenly rather than thinking the animal has been abused? I know the owner well and know they would never hurt or neglect an animal, but the dog looks pretty bad because of its illnesses and this person is worried they might be wrongfully accused of neglect.

If you have any other ideas of what can be done for this poor dog, please feel free to leave them in the comments. I really don't know much about dogs at all other than that (in my opinion) they smell weird and most of the small ones yap, so please don't leave out any info that you assume I already know.

Thank you!

Hello! I'm about to welcome you all to the most pitiful cautionary tale of misfortune to grace our fair community. I'm taking a shot in the dark that there will be some direction found here because I am really at wit's end.

Saturday morning, around 11 am, I was at K-Mart in McIntyre Square, in the North Hills. I paid for my items, a few bags of small gift items and some toys I scored good deals on to give to Toys for Tots. At the door, I stopped and gave the Salvation Army guy just a few bucks. I loaded up my car, brought the cart to the corral (which I never do, oh the irony!) and drove a few stores down to Gabriel Bros.. Only to discover my wallet was missing. I drove back through, looked for "my cart," went in and checked allover the walkway and left my information at the desk. Last time I called K-Mart, still no wallet. Its funny because I'm not normally so careless, nor do I shop alone. I was just in a great mood, having a good time, getting swept up in the season. The gentleman in my life is insistant that its every reason not to contribute to charity anymore. I think he's joking.

And so, I'm offering this simple phrase, to kids from 1 to 92, though its been said many times, many ways....Did anybody find a wallet? In that region and timeframe? I'd alerted the lady at K-Mart in a later phone call that the debit card was immediately shut off, my license is up for renewal at the end of Dec., my museum membership expired: there is nothing of any use to anyone but me in it and I'd happily give up the potential $30 to $50 bucks or so that was/is inside to a finder. And, if no potential finders, aside from getting all cards deactivated and watching my bank account for odd purchases, are there any other steps I should take as the, uh, loser? I thought about reporting it to the local police, in case it got too far away to associate back to one of the stores anymore or something. And one lady I work with is sure I was pick-pocketed, not absent-minded, even. Everything is easily replaced, but its a little dirty/creepy feeling knowing your personal stuff is out there in someone's hands.

Thanks guys and, be careful.