The Price of Shade

The borough that I live in has a shade tree identification program, to promote the planting and care of shade trees particularly those near the sidewalk belt. I am proud to say that our residence figures in this local database, with several Norway Maples that overhang the sidewalk. We also have three Maples of indeterminate variety, in our side yard. All of the trees tower over our three-storey house, providing ample shade, helping to keep our house cooler in the summer.

This afternoon I paid the price of this lovely added benefit to our house. I spent six hours, blowing, raking (until the rake handle broke) and kicking the leaves to the curb. The pile of red leaves between the cars are from our side yard. The pile of yellow leaves behind Mrs. Bobs PT Cruiser are from the maples that overhang the sidewalk.

The good news is that the borough workers come along during the week with a giant leaf sucker and suck them up from the curbside. Then they take them off to be mulched. I raked all of the leaves today, because according to the borough web site, this coming week is the last week of leaf-sucking before the borough trucks get fitted for their plows for the winter.

Whew! That was some invigorating physical activity. Where's the couch?

Good, fast, or CHEAP?

You may remember from a previous post that I went to the eye doctor, and got a new prescription. I even tried on a couple of pairs of glasses at that eye doctor's office. Now, as I am getting older, my glasses needs are more specific, and therefore more expensive. And you could see from my comparative photos, that I wanted to get e new look.

The news was, even with my optical insurance reimbursement, those pairs of glasses I was looking at were going to be $420 or $480. I was gulping and remembering that the last time I bought glasses it was nearly $400. Even though I was not happy about it, I was prepared to shell out, all in the name of better vision.

Then Mrs. Bob runs into an ophthalmologist friend of ours who tells her about this on-line place she buys glasses from. Glasses on-line you say? You need to learn a little more about the specifics of ordering glasses, taking a few measurements with a metric ruler (which you can print off the internet by the way), and you need to be very familiar with the specifics of your prescription. But these things are not really hard to learn, in my experience.

Ever the comparison shopper (Mrs Bob is rubbing off on me), I research a ton of on-line discount eyewear companies, and find myself right back at the place that our friend recommended. My journey took me about 5-6 weeks to shop around at local retailers, including Costco, comparison shop on-line and finally place the order. Then the usual 2-week shipping time from the place that I bought them from got extended a little because to quote the customer service person "a large order of glasses was held up longer than usual at customs." Qua? Whatever. They were on the way and I got them within a few days.

So for $78 I got these rimless progressive focus, glare coated glasses, with not one, but three pairs of magnetic clip-on matching sunglasses. You know, those things go missing frequently.

So what do you think?
I got them at a place called Zenni Optical

Tourist Sites of Minneapolis

Last weekend I was in Minneapolis for the Production Manager's Forum fall meeting. This was the first tourist sight I stopped to look at. Actually I was just walking by, and there it was. I couldn't resist taking a photograph.

Is my sense of humor somehow warped? I didn't bother to go in. I wasn't sure where I was supposed to put my feet and I didn't want to chance it.

Serously, in a couple of days I will take a few minutes to leave a post about the PMF meeting.

Kids today...

Every once in a while, I practice for becoming an old man by scrunching up my face, shaking my fist in the air and grumping "Hey you kids, get off my lawn!" I was reminded of this when I came to work this morning. First I had to get over this sight sitting smack in the middle of the parking lot entrance.

Once I calmed down a little and stopped worrying about the implications of the Bomb Squad sitting in the parking lot, I got to thinking "Not again!" See, this is the third or fourth time that we've had a bomb scare on campus this semester. Apparently this is a trend on campuses this fall. I don't remember a bomb threat in the past four years, and now three or four this semester.

In this post 9/11, homeland security era, I can't believe anyone is stupid enough to try this. Not only are they stupid enough to make a bomb threat, the threats have been e-mailed in. Not only are they stupid enough to e-mail the threats, in two cases they e-mailed them to a "general administration account" late on a Friday. In one case this was on a long weekend, so the e-mail wasn't even retrieved until the following Tuesday afternoon.

And when I think to myself: "Kids today..." I wonder how old I really am.

Oy!

Sometimes you win some..

Wal-Mart gives up on Kilbuck development. WOO HOO!

For the past several years Fall-Mart as the locals affectionately refer to it has been trying to develop a site in a quiet little part of town into a Super Wal-mart. There had been the usual local uproar against the behemoth coming in to blight the small neighboring communities, which would be forever altered due to Wal-mart's presence. However, Kilbuck township officials approved the plan anyway a little over two years ago. Since then, accusations of kickbacks to those officials have arisen. It has gotten ugly.

Last fall, in the second such event that earned the Fall-Mart moniker, a landslide from the construction site closed down 4 lanes of traffic on this major north south route. It even continued on down the hill and closed down rail traffic along the riverbank. While the railroad traffic resumed within a week, the automobile traffic was out for a full week. Now approximately a year later, after struggling to keep on to their plans, Wal-Mart has apparently decided to cut their losses, and move on. WOO HOO (did I say that already?)

If you are interested in learning more, with some fun visuals, check out these links:

June 7, 2007: DEP Fears Another Rt. 65 Slide
March 23, 2007: Wal-Mart Assumes Control Of Route 65 Landslide Site
January 18, 2007: Kilbuck Properties Denies DEP Allegations
October 11, 2006: Hillside Shifts Again Along Rt. 65
September 25, 2006: PennDOT Opens HOV Lanes During Rt. 65 Cleanup
September 22, 2006: Rt. 65 Landslide Impacts Traffic, Trains
September 20, 2006: Landslide Closes Route 65 In Kilbuck
April 27, 2006: Rt. 65 Reopens After Rockslide
April 27, 2006: Rockslide Closes Section Of Rt. 65

A local newspaper writer even penned lyrics to the famous woody Guthrie son in honor of the landslide: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06296/732189-152.stm

Let's all go dahn to Sunny Jims and hoist one in honor of the end of the Wal-Mart spectre!

Keeping the PARS away

I work at a university. We are starting our 5th week of school, and people are dropping like flies. Students, faculty, you name it. It is a giant petri dish around here, and everyone is passing around one of several colds. We sometimes refer to this phenomenon as PARS (Purnell Acute Respiratory Syndrome - I work at the Purnell Center for the Arts).

The other night, I started to feel the beginnings of a backed up sinus. It was time to spring into action. I started to use a remedy that I have previously only used to get rid of a cold. So far it is doing a good job of keeping the cold from taking hold.

As a bonus, it's fun to gross out Mrs. Bob. She can't usually look in my direction when I use my neti pot. Aren't you lucky that she relented to take the video?

Enjoy. Yours in health.

Worth the trip

Mrs. Bob and I have lived in a number of places in this country, and have grown up with a love of good Mexican food. You can imagine our disappointment on moving to Pittsburgh at the lack of good Mexican restaurants. Sure there’s Taco Bell, but that doesn’t count. There used to be a few Chi Chi’s, before they killed three people in Pittsburgh, and then they all closed. But then they didn’t count anyway either. There’s El Campesino which isn’t bad, but isn’t particularly satisfying either. And there is Mad Mex, which we do like. But they are really boutique specialty restaurants, which have great burritos, but not a wide variety of Mexican offerings. So, nine years later, we had pretty much given up on the Mexican food we yearned for IN Pittsburgh.

Well, I am happy to report that we have found a Mexican restaurant that we actually like. It comes in the most unlikely of places, with the most unlikely of names: The Franklin Inn. The picture of the restaurant on their web page makes it look like what you might expect to be a Mexican restaurant. However in two visits we have never seen the cactus nor the lone burro rider pictured. And the sign depicted in the drawing with an indistinguishable image on it, has when you see it in person, a line drawing of Benjamin Franklin on it. A curious image for a Mexican restaurant. I am sure the name comes from being in the borough of Franklin Park. It was apparently a restaurant specializing in colonial American cuisine (whatever that is) before being bought by a local couple in 1978, and turned into a Mexican restaurant. Apparently it was also featured as one of the filming locations in the 1999 film Dogma. Have to go back and look at that one again. But I digress (what else is new).

It is a homey little place, way off the beaten path, unless you live in the northern boroughs. Both times we have been there, it has been packed, with the colorful locals, which I guess includes us by now. It is friendly, and homey in a uniquely Pittsburgh way. The bar is small, with an oversized flat panel screen. But then that’s all the better to watch the local sports heroes do their thing (this IS Pittsburgh after all). They serve their delicious margaritas, mixed or blended, in mason jars, which we find charming. The menu has a good variety of tex-mex standards, alongside more traditional Southwest and Mexican offerings. We’ve only been there twice, so we can’t recommend the entire menu. Most of what we have sampled has been quite good. In our second trip, the chicken in the burrito was rather flavorless, but everything else was delicious. I have been hankering for a good chile relleno since leaving West Liberty Iowa, where we lived in a town of 3,000, that had 3 amazing Mexican restaurants. Chiles relleno are as individual as the restaurants that serve them, and I am happy to report that theirs are tasty. All in all, we are happy with our new find. It is not haute cuisine, but we will happily return.

Rimless?

It was time for my annual visit to the eye doctor today. This is becoming a somewhat depressing ritual. My vision continues to worsen, of course. After the news of my vision, came the opportunity for some shopping to cheer me up. Choices, choices, choices. I have these rounded rectangular shaped wire rimmed glasses now. Thinking it was time for a change, I tried on some new options. I was stumped. So, I thought I would take advantage of the technology that resides regularly on my hip. I took these (oh so high quality) pictures of myself, so that I could consult others for their opinions. Who knew the tiny little mirror next to the camera lens on my phone would come in so handy? Plus, it's hard to see yourself clearly with sample glasses on that do not have your prescription in them.

So, what do you think? Rimless? Semi-rimless? Keep the old ones?

Customer Appreciation, Seattle style?

So, I have a Starbucks card. I know, I know: Starbucks is the devil. But I actually like their soy latte (can't stand their brewed coffees - they taste burnt to me). I was tired of reloading my card in line at the store when it ran low. Half the time the employees couldn't figure out how to do it quickly. I visited their web site, and discovered that I could set my card to autoreload, once it dips below a certain level. Convenient for a frequenter of Starbucks, no? Seemed to be an expedient customer option.

Of course to set the card this way, I have to register with Starbucks. This means that Starbucks knows who I am and where I live. I don't mind this too much, because really, what kind of privacy do we have anyway.

Just before our vacation in mid August, I got this package from Starbucks, and I thought: "I didn't order anything." Then I noticed the label proclaimed it to be "A Gift From Starbucks!" All I could figure was that they sent me some little token of appreciation for becoming a registered customer. I thought "well that's nice. I guess it wasn't all bad to register with Starbucks."

Then I opened the envelope. The second picture is exactly what was inside. Is this what passes for customer appreciation in Seattle?


hmmm. More of a tease really.