Refenestration Daily.
I’m on my way to Pittsburgh for the week, so updates may be a bit sparse until I return. Mike gave me a ride to the airport and we got here in plenty of time (there was no line at the e-ticket check-in and I got to the gate an hour before boarding).
As you may have guessed, I’m typing this entry from the gate — via my PowerBook’s WiFi connected through Wayport. It’s $6.95 for the day, but I don’t mind paying that if it means I can read Slashdot while I wait :).
I found a reasonable fare (and non-stop flights, no less), and I’m going back to Pittsburgh next weekend (July 18-20).
To Pittsburgh:
- Flight: US Airways flight 842
- Depart: Dallas/Ft Worth, TX (DFW) - Terminal B
- - Fri, Jul 18 at 11:10am
- Arrive: Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
- - Fri, Jul 18 at 2:56pm
Back to Dallas:
- Flight: US Airways flight 903
- Depart: Pittsburgh, PA (PIT)
- - Sun, Jul 20 at 11:45am
- Arrive: Dallas/Ft Worth, TX (DFW) - Terminal B
- - Sun, Jul 20 at 1:35pm
Anyhow, would anyone be able to give a ride to or from the airport? I’d probably need to get to the airport around 10am next Friday, which would mean leaving my apartment around 9:15am.
I’m on the Penguins newsletter mailing list and I learned that they’ve lowered ticket prices (so often, it seems that sports teams just want to raise ticket prices).
In the D level, which includes 2,399 seats, the price per game for a full season ticket plan drops $9 — from $39 last season to $30 in 2003-04, a reduction of 23.1 percent.
In the F level balcony, which includes 1,112 seats, the price per game for a full season ticket falls $8 — from $28 to $20, a reduction of 28.6 percent.
The result is that more than 6,900 seats — 40 percent of the Arena’s capacity — are now available for $30 or less on a full season ticket basis. […]
Of course, most of the article talks about the reductions for season ticket buyers, but it also mentions that individual ticket prices will be lowered and that the new individual ticket prices will be announced over the summer.
It’s not often that I go to Penguins games, but that’s mostly because I’m so far away from Pittsburgh most of the year. All the same, perhaps I’ll try to fit in a Penguins game next time I’m in town.
As a Pittsburgher, I looked forward to the Steelers/Browns game this afternoon. And, throughout most of the game, it wasn’t looking good for the Steelers (they still trailed 33-21 with just over 10 minutes remaining). But, they managed to score two touchdowns within the last three minutes to pull it off:
The Cleveland Browns never have gotten over The Drive by John Elway. Now they’ve got to live with The Comeback by the quarterback who was once supposed to be the next Elway.
Tommy Maddox, the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year, led one of Pittsburgh's greatest comebacks by throwing three touchdown passes in the final 19 minutes as the Steelers rallied from a 17-point deficit to stun the Browns 36-33 Sunday in an AFC wild-card game. […]
Next, they play Tennessee on Saturday (4:30/3:30c). If that game interests you, you're welcome to join me on Saturday.
Men’s Fitness Magazine has released its yearly Fattest Cities list. Though the city was 5th last year, Dallas has dropped to 9th-fattest this year (which is a good thing, I suppose). Houston retains its most-fat status from last year.
Men’s Fitness evaluated the nation's 50 largest cities between July and September 2002, looking at 16 criteria that the magazine considers “indicators, risk factors or relevant environmental factors affecting fitness, obesity and health.”
The criteria included fruit and vegetable consumption, sports participation, smoking, drinking, air and water quality, length of commute, availability of parks and open spaces and percentage of overweight and sedentary residents. […]
I’m a little surprised that Pittsburgh isn’t among the top 25 fattest cities (the list cuts off at 25). Don’t get me wrong — the city can be quaint in a rustic/industrial kind of way — but its citizens are not known for their great shape :-/.
These days, I seem to be the only one around here without a digital camera (though not for a lack of trying). Anyhow, I’ve found that many Dallas-ites have little idea about what Pittsburgh looks like (not that I blame them), and I would have liked to taken some pictures while I was here visiting.
Dave Farber, CMU professor and maintainer of the interesting-people mailing list has placed some of his Christmastime photos of Pittsburgh on his website.
They’re not glamorizing Pittsburgh, and nor are there that many pictures there. But, they give a good idea of the city.
My flights are booked for visiting Pittsburgh over Christmas, Sunday through Sunday (Dec 22 - 29). Would anyone be able to give me a ride to or from the airport on either of those days?
To Pittsburgh:
- Northwest Airlines flight 698
- Depart: Dallas/Ft Worth, TX (DFW) - Terminal E, Sun, Dec 22 at 12:30 pm
- Arrive: Detroit, MI (DTW), Sun, Dec 22 at 4:01 pm
- Northwest Airlines flight 1914
- Depart: Detroit, MI (DTW) , Sun, Dec 22 at 4:55 pm
- Arrive: Pittsburgh, PA (PIT), Sun, Dec 22 at 5:55 pm
Back to Dallas:
- Northwest Airlines flight 3489
- Depart: Pittsburgh, PA (PIT), Sun, Dec 29 at 12:00 pm
- Arrive: Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (MSP), Sun, Dec 29 at 1:26 pm
- Northwest Airlines flight 405
- Depart: Minneapolis/St Paul, MN (MSP), Sun, Dec 29 at 3:27 pm
- Arrive: Dallas/Ft Worth, TX (DFW) - Terminal E, Sun, Dec 29 at 6:02 pm
Update: Katie has offered to give me a ride to the airport on Sunday, and Gary may be able to give me a ride back on the following Sunday.
I’ll be in the Dallas and Pittsburgh airports over the next few days, so I was curious if either of those airports had 802.11b access. I had a hard time finding information on this, but I eventually crafted the the right search terms to come up with these sites:
Via the American Dialect Society’s mailing list, I discovered this CMU site on Pittsburgh Speech & Language.
The site is similar to Pittsburghese.com, but this one includes the etymology for each word as well. For instance:
Jag (as in jag off or jagging around)
Definition: Various forms involving jag have to do with annoying, irritating, teasing, or playing tricks on. To jag someone or jag someone off means to irritate or tease. To jag around means to fool around, goof off. A jagoff is a person who is irritating because of being inept or stupid.
Text example: “I don't know why she keeps jagging me all the time”
—Dictionary of American Regional English, 1968.Origin: The exact origin of this word is unknown, but the source language is probably Scotch-Irish English. “To jag” means to turn sharply.
And, yes, people really do talk like that in Pittsburgh :-)