Hot, Hot Heat (And some new places...)

You may remember Jimmy McMillan from last fall. I saw this picture online last week, and could not help but laughing:

Amen.

Yes, Pittsburgh is part of the many cities on the East Coast that is affected by this ridiculous heat wave. More things to note about this: Sweaty Walls. Gross. Sticky Furniture. Gross Gross.

If you are a Honda Civic driver (Jamie!) you may have received a notice that there is a recall on the air bags in Honda Civics from 2001-2008 (or something like that). I received one of these notices, and took my car in to the service shop on Friday. When I dropped it off, the car was not in 100% tip-top shape. The Maintenance light was one (I have a feeling that the oil change people did something to it). The front, passenger head light was out. And the Mini Spaceship was dirty. I told the guy there, that I knew about the head light, and that he should not worry about it, and I told him about the maintenance light and asked if he could look at it. I also asked about how long it would take. He told me 2-4 hours. So I headed out for breakfast (more about that later). I was then walking to a coffee place to hang out, when I got a call from them. My car was done. And it was only 45 minutes after I walked out of the shop. Nice! Then when I got back to the shop, he told me that the air bag was good to go, the light was nothing to worry about and reset, and that the head light was replaced. This last point I rolled my eyes ( not actually, but in my head), as I had expected they would try to do this, and had attempted to clarify that I didn't want them to do it. The mechanic then told me that it would be $20, and that he knew that I asked them not to fix it, and if it was a problem, that he would take it off my bill. Turns out headlights for my car run around $15-$20 and the headlight assembly on the passenger's side requires you to take the battery out to replace it. So it was a deal for me in the end. They also washed my car. I was highly impressed, and rather happy as I went about my friday.

So this weekend was a great weekend for new food for me. It started with Friday morning brunch/breakfast while waiting for the car. I walked down to Ritter's Diner, a dinner noted by Pittsburghers for being an always open, greasy, sketch place, that was well worth visiting. And turns out all of the above were correct. Well, it was not that sketchy... but it was really solid diner food. I enjoyed a mushroom Omelet. It was a great way to start a Friday.

That night, the YadGrad group went to Presbyterian Night At PNC park! I was kind of expecting it to be a bigger deal than it was, there was not really any acknowledgement at all... but it was still a lot of fun. I finally brought my Jolly Roger to a game. Next time I am bringing a stick to tie it to, as to aid in waving it. Our seats were in the outfield box, all the way in the back. It was perfect. We were out of the rain (which it did the whole game), but we still had a good view, and the food was right behind us. Chicken Nachos are becoming my favorite baseball food. To rally for support, as we were entering the 9th inning, and behind by two, they played this (paraphrased) clip from Pirates of the Caribbean:



Man, what an epic way to enter the end of a game. The crowd went nuts. It was great. And then we lost. So no amount of Keira Knightley and epic overture will save a baseball game But it was still a lot of fun. And I got a free shirt!

Saturday, in the food realm, I had dinner with Jackie at La Feria an amazing Peruvian restaurant. I think it was my first 'Peruvian' experience, I don't really know... but it was great! I would certainly go there again. I had some Pollo dish, a pile of homemade cheese (resembled cottage cheese, but not as lumpy) with a super tasty grilled chicken breast, covered in a pesto-like sauce with rice and house salad (which was amazing). All of it was very good. And the company was wonderful as well.

Then after church on Sunday, Gwyn, Jackie and myself went to Pittsburgh Deli Company, a sandwich shop in Shadyside (aka where I will be living in a month or so). Jackie called it the land of $8 sandwiches. Basically all of their menu items are $8. And what I had (a jerk chicken pannini) was amazing. I am certainly going back there with Skanda to finally break him in to Reuben land.

We also happened to break in Gwyn's new Carcassone... she got the newer 10th anniversary edition (like the one my parents have). It was a great afternoon, lots of laughing. Lots of Sandwiches. Lots of Diet Pepsi.

Other than that, I have been working hard on the Bohnanza game. Yesterday I think I finished the Host/Client game set up negotiation. I am now a socket master, and have started to work on my SwingWorker.doInBackground skills. All of it is going well, and I am learning a ton!