Met two each of my aunts and uncles in the Strip District for lunch at Primanti’s and some shopping for questionably-licensed Steelers memorabilia. My uncle Tom was just in town after winning his battle with leukemia and everyone was in a mood to celebrate. Emily and I showed my relatives the new Pittsburgh Public Market and we sort of lost each other in a party store.
This evening my aunt (A different aunt from the two mentioned above. I have lots of them.) threw a party for my uncle. There was way too much food and lots of toasts both happy and sentimental. It’s always nice to get the family together to celebrate a happy occasion like this.
Up early; collected my stuff and headed to the office for half a day’s work.
Said goodbyes to my coworkers and caught another shuttle to the airport.
Short flight back to Pittsburgh, where I was met by an approaching storm. Unlike last time this happened, they were able to get our bags off the plane and I got to my car ahead of the storm.
Driving home was a bit of a challenge, as I was arriving during rush hour and there was a Pirates game this evening. I had to take a roundabout route through McKees Rocks and the North Side to get home in any reasonable amount of time. I barely beat the storm which was stalking me all the way home.
Home. Very happy to see Emily and the cats again. We ordered some sushi and hibachi and settled in for the evening.
Having accomplished most of our goals, and the customers needing to catch a plane we bade them goodbye. It was a very productive sprint and the rest of the project will likely go much smoother for it.
With the evening to myself I decided to set out to finally find a book store. Google Maps, having failed me twice before actually came through for me. There is a Barnes and Noble about 2.4 miles from the hotel. Having been on the Sprint Diet™ (mostly pizza, sandwiches, and Fritos) all week I felt I had a duty to my body to walk there. Even at night it was 85°F with over 90% humidity so it was a challenge. Drenched in sweat and having skirted a few jaywalking ordinances I finally made it and collected my prize: a copy of A Clash of Kings, the sequel to A Game of Thrones, which I finished reading a few weeks ago.
Armed with something to read on the plane ride back I set off back to the hotel to take a cold shower and go to sleep.
After work we took the customers out for dinner and drinks at the Foundry on Elm in Somerville. On the way we drove through Cambridge and I got a good look at Harvard and MIT. Harvard looks exactly like Harvard looks in every movie you’ve ever seen about it. MIT has some really funky architecture. I wish we’d had more time to stop and walk around.
After much less revelry than a typical UDS night it was back to the hotel for more Daily Show and more sleep.
Up early; caught a shuttle to the office. Sprint with customer.
Accomplished quite a bit and also got my hands on the super seekret hardware for this project. This thing is going to be super sweet when it hits the market.
After work I went with some of the guys on my team for a steak dinner at the Capital Grille, which was both highly recommended and highly expensive. My steak was downright delicious and all of us ate in silence as we focused on savoring every bite.
After dinner it was back to the hotel to watch The Daily Show and go to sleep.
Flew to Boston for a developer sprint in the Canonical office. Flew to Boston in a tiny plane, then rode to the hotel in a swanky limo.
The sprint starts tomorrow, so I had some time to kill. I walked all over the neighborhood around my hotel looking for a decent restaurant or a book store. I found neither, and came back covered in sweat for my trouble. On the bright side, I felt justified in ordering a pizza from the brochure in my room. Turned out to be a good decision. Tasty pizza.
Moved more files and stuff up to the new office. I feel like I’m building a fort of file cabinets in there.
We walked to Tutti Frutti where we had to get 8 dollars’ worth of frozen yogurt to satisfy the demands of Emily’s Groupon. I believe I sweated out the whole of my yogurt on the walk back.
Watched Gran Torino from Netflix. Really great film. Who knew Clint Eastwood could do such a good grizzled old man? The “get off my lawn” line was delivered perfectly.
Took our first “real” shopping trip to Costco to prepare for our party. We got a great deal on snack foods and Mexican Coke, but I don’t see it being very useful for our everyday grocery shopping needs.
Party time! Lots of great conversation with friends. It seems a good time was had by all, especially Mike, whom I’ve never heard laugh louder.
I debuted my homebrew and got some useful notes and criticism, but overall it was well-received. I have a good idea of where I can improve things next time.
Internet connection was dead most of the morning. It’s really hard to telecommute when the tele- part goes belly-up. Luckily it came back before lunchtime.
Took a bus downtown for the gallery crawl. First time I’ve paid bus fare since… forever I think. I miss my Pitt ID.
Met up with Emily and some friends and toured some exhibits. There was some art being created live at SPACE by artists and by onlookers. Pretty neat. Wood St. Galleries had an Icelandic exhibit which was… weird. There was one room where they lock you in the dark for five minutes. Another where they had a candle being magnified against the four walls of the room by magnifying lenses, but one of them was out of focus. I must admit I didn’t “get” most of it (like the guitar player guy with the buzz saw lowering into his head and retracting) but then I don’t really get Bjork either.
A couple of our companions had a Groupon for Olive or Twist, so we stopped by there for drinks and a bite to eat. The main bar area was full so we headed up to the very swanky upstairs lounge. I was pleasantly surprised to see East End Fat Gary on tap. Emily got some godawful drink with olives and vodka (yes even Boyd & Blair can be ruined by adding olives).
Headed out to Dormont for the screening of the 48 Hour Film Project. My buddy Ted was in one of the films, and he killed as a fence (the criminal type) on the streets of the South Side. Some of the other films were great, others not so much, but that’s a pretty good result for a slew of films made within 48 hours.
Emily and I hit up Tom’s Diner for dinner. They make a pretty decent burger and Emily seemed to enjoy her club sandwich. I’d like to catch them for breakfast some time but that’ll more likely happen at the South Side location.
