A long day filled with absolutely nothing at all.

Blogged under Libraries, Life, the Universe, and Everything, Pittsburgh by libcat on Tuesday 20 December 2005 at 4:51 pm

so i’m at work today, because, well, I wasn’t doing anything else, and hey, $50 to sit on my ass all day. sure, whatthefuck, why not?

i’ll tell you why not: mutherfucking library is boring during interim. aside from a few people returning books, i’ve seen two patrons today, professors looking for a journal and a book, respectively, that both turned out to be at storage (edit: and some crazy russian lady who couldn’t believe she’d have to go to the medschool library to find a physics article—that was published in a general science (not physics) journal that we don’t carry.). my supervisor is out taking care of a window that got broken out of her car, so i’m here all alone listening to the air conditioning (apparently all the labs are on vacation, too, so i don’t even get to listen to the freaky noises some of the equipment makes. . .). i don’t even hardly feel like doing stuff online right now, or even reading. . . i just want to sleep.

And I’m not even that tired.

Yesterday was truly adventurous, and we had some adventures. I got a haircut, at a real salon, and then we went to an apparently-inauthentic, though not-all-that-bad, Thai restaurant in Craig Street (see Kat’s review here). Then we went home briefly, and then we went down to the Greyhound station. We went down on the 67H, a strange little route that, if you look at the map, bears a strong resemblance to a deformed ballpeen hammer. . . .

Apparently Greyhound counterfolken aren’t well trained in end-of-shift and start-of-shift procedures—one guy who was finishing his shift must have gone between the counter and the office between it five times between taking his drawer out and the time we left—each time moving about as quickly as a tweaker snail. When we got there at first, there were two men working the counter, while two women stood behind them talking and doing not much else. then the two women disappeared. . . then the two men reached the end of their shift, and left. . . . then one of the men came out, did something at the counter, and returned to the office. . . . then the other guy (in a wheelchair) came out to the station he’d left. . . and immediately returned to the office, followed a moment later by a limping maintenance man (which [info]nineteenfishes said looked like something out of a David Lynch movie). . . . this went on for a while. then one of the women came out. . . without a drawer, so she couldn’t do anything involving cash. fortunately, i’d already paid for my ticket online, so at this point—45 minutes or so after we’d gotten there—i was finally able to pick up my ticket back to ann arbor the night of the 27th. then i had to wait another 15 or 25 minutes for someone who wasn’t a trainee to (a) emerge from the office and (b) stop doing other things long enough to answer my question about my ticket back to pgh on the 31st. (I had a ticket from August that was AA->DET->PGH; I wanted to switch to one that was Toledo->PGH. Turns out I can still use a DET->PGH ticket but just get on in Toledo. . . . . For this (and a newly printed ticket) I stood in line for an extra 20 minutes. . . .

after that, we went to target (where we also spent what seemed like a somewhat absurd amount of time), then to PetCo to look at kitties and buy food for the Beasts; then we met [info]jillontherocks and went *back* to Target (to get Jill a broom), then to Giant Eagle, and then we went home. And then we picked up [info]lillyv, and went to help [info]jillontherocks clean up her apartment, and then we went to the Goat, and then we went home. Again.

The end.


In other news. . . .

  • In England, someone has invented a way to get small amounts (for traffic lights, say) of power from passing cars themselves.
  • More importantly, however, producers of the new Superman movie have apparently not been too happy with the actor playing him: his package is too big.
  • I have found my soul and it is deep fried pork.â€?
  • The Governor’s Transportation Funding and Reform Commission will meet in Pittsburgh on Jan 26 to examine “options to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public transit, highways and bridges, and their underlying funding.” You can go! (Though if you want to talk, sign up in advance by writing tfrc@state.pa.us or the street address in the article.)
  • And, finally, with a little ($48M) help from their friends and yours, PNC Bank will plant another ass-ugly building on their property downtown, on Fifth Ave near Wood St. It’ll be 25–30 stories high and feature massive amounts of office space as well as a 150-room “luxury hotel” and 30 top-floor condos. Another project, announced last week, will go up across the street with 28 condos and 19 “rooftop townhouses”. All the poor people, of course, can just stay down on ground level, where they belong. . . . .

Thanksgiving week forecast.

Blogged under Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh by libcat on Monday 21 November 2005 at 8:55 am

Too bad I won’t be around for most of this…

Tonight
Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain showers. Lows in the mid 30s.
Tuesday
A chance of rain showers in the morning. Cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Little or no snow accumulation. Morning highs in the upper 30s… Chance of precipitation 50 percent.
Tuesday Night
Cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow showers. Lows in the mid 20s.
Wednesday
Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow showers. Highs in the mid 30s.
Wednesday Night
Mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of snow showers. Lows in the upper 20s.
Thanksgiving Day
Cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow showers. Highs in the mid 30s.
Thursday Night and Friday
Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow showers. Lows in the lower 20s. Highs in the lower 30s.
Friday Night and Saturday
Partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of snow showers. Lows in the lower 20s. Highs in the lower 30s.

In Ann Arbor, meanwhile…

Wednesday
Cloudy with snow likely. Minor accumulations possible. Highs 32 to 36… Chance of snow 60 percent.
Wednesday Night
Cloudy with snow likely. Minor accumulations possible. Lows 21 to 25. Chance of snow 60 percent.
Thanksgiving Day
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers. Highs 29 to 33. Chance of snow 40 percent.
Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy with scattered snow showers. Lows 18 to 22. Chance of snow 40 percent.
Friday
Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Highs 28 to 32. Chance of snow 30 percent.
Friday Night
Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Lows 17 to 21. Chance of snow 30 percent.
Saturday
Mostly cloudy with a chance of snow showers. Highs 30 to 34. Chance of snow 30 percent.

I can’t wait. It’s about bloody time it snowed. (I can’t believe a week ago I was walking around DC in just a light jacket, or less…)
[forecasts from wunderground.com]

Fox Chapel High: Where it’s OK to dress as an alien(ator)

Blogged under El Web Mundial, Pittsburgh, School by libcat on Saturday 19 November 2005 at 3:31 pm

On the Friday morning before Halloween, 10 to 15 students, all of whom are residents of the Fox Chapel area’s most affluent neighborhoods, marched into school dressed as students from Sharpsburg, a less wealthy neighborhood [in] which a minority of Fox Chapel Area High School students live.

… And it was tolerated by the administration.

Fox Chapel High: Where it’s OK to dress as an alien(ator)

A Plea for a Pittsburgh printer

Blogged under Pittsburgh by libcat on Tuesday 8 November 2005 at 1:05 am

anyone know a good screenprinter in Pittsburgh?

Tomorrow’s PG headline: Penguins still winless. Nobody shocked.

Blogged under Pittsburgh by libcat on Tuesday 25 October 2005 at 10:11 pm

despite leading 3-2 at one point for a good chunk of the third period, the Penguins just lost in overtime.

again.

is anyone else not at all surprised? I’m sure not.

Torn, but not Rip. Whoever he is.

Blogged under Life, the Universe, and Everything, Pittsburgh, School by libcat on Wednesday 17 August 2005 at 3:56 pm

In a rather difficult place. I’m starting to get rather excited about the prospect of going back to school (in two weeks! eep!), and at the same time, trying not to. I haven’t heard yet about Financial Aid, without which it’s pretty much not gonna happen (and don’t expect to for another day or two).

Today I got myself enrolled in an Arabic I class. I want to be really excited about it—I really want to learn this language—but I can’t. I don’t know if I’m even going to be there to take it.

GRRR. Soon.


Kat’ll be here on Friday night. That’ll make quite a few things better.

Tribulations. But no Tribbles, at least. Just one damned fat cat.

Blogged under Life, the Universe, and Everything, Pittsburgh by libcat on Tuesday 9 August 2005 at 1:37 pm

Reinstatement: A Farce in Entirely Too Many Acts

Student Records:
Your reinstatement has been approved and processed. Go find your advisor and register.
Dean’s Office:
The soonest appointment for you to get your financial aid letter is Thursday morning
Advisor:
The system won’t let me in to register you. It keeps saying “206-1″ is an invalid term for you. Oh, and all four sections of Arabic 1 are closed.
Computing Services:
Something hasn’t been processed properly, your account is still deactivated.
Student Records:
Everything’s been processed for you, and there are no holds on your account. Go back to your advisor (on the 28th floor of the Cathedral…) and do a paper registration form. Computing accounts always take longer, don’t worry about that. (thank god for Crazy Mocha Oakland, I guess…)
Registrar:
No, I can’t just check what’s up with your account for you. I can’t do anything without a form. Go see your advisor first and get a registration form signed, then we’ll see.

Bah!!


Apostropher has a question.

He also has a link to some amazing highspeed photography (about half of which has captions translated (from Dutch) into English). The non-highspeed photography is pretty damn awesome, too, though less of it seems to be translated.

Assorted bits. Pieces, too.

Blogged under Ann Arbor, Life, the Universe, and Everything, Pittsburgh, Politics by libcat on Monday 8 August 2005 at 1:57 pm

Orientation campus tours make me wish I could wear earplugs at work.

Thomas L Friedman actually has something interesting to say, for once.

Apparently, at least according to Google Maps, the bridge we all know and love as the Swinburne Bridge is not, in fact, Swinburne St. Mapquest agrees, although not as prettily.

Partially Pittsburgh

Blogged under Humor, Life, the Universe, and Everything, Pittsburgh, Quotations by libcat on Sunday 7 August 2005 at 4:41 pm

I’ll admit Mr Jeepers is fuzzy and adorable. But in my opinion, a beanie baby crawled up his ass and died.

Language Loggers have posted about Partially Clips quite a number of times. I’ve finally taken the plunge and started reading the archives. . .


In other news, I’ll be in Pittsburgh for a few days this week, attempting to get financial aid, a job, housing, and so forth so I can be back at Pitt in the fall. Those of you who read my companion livejournal can find my phone number here; others should email me for the number (which is the same as it’s been since last summer). Also, if anybody knows of well-paying jobs or cheap housing in Pittsburgh, please let me know.

Blogged under Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh by libcat on Wednesday 27 July 2005 at 3:02 pm

Good news! Pittsburgh is no longer the worst city in the US to be single!

(Greetings from the Salem-South Lyon District Library, just over 11 miles from the house. Nice day for a bike ride.)

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