With every week that goes by, I get so excited to see what Pittsburgh is going to look like in 2 years, or in 5 years, or even in 10 years.  There’s just so much going on, and I love to think about where my house is situated in all of it.

Point Park University is now the second largest realestate holder in the city, right after the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.  There have been tons of performance arts graduates that have gone on to Hollywood.  They most recently purchased the Honus Wagner sports store to keep in line with their plans to bring down the playhouse from Forbes Avenue in Oakland to their downtown campus.  They have so much going on at that school.  They’re converting the YMCA to a student center, they’re planning on building a new sports arena, and multiple theatres for shows.  What a site downtown will be when it’s tied all together with the market square development.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09041/948106-53.stm

I had mentioned the New Granada renovation plan in a previous post.  Shortly after that, they had 2 huge dumpsters lined up outside, lighting wired up inside, and they’re gutting the place pretty good it seems.  One night they had left the lights on, and I could see inside the large room just enough to be excited about one day being able to go in there.  They’ve also lined up all the financing they’ll need for the Kuhn’s super market too.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some movement on that land in the next month or so.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09041/948030-52.stm

Another project recently in the news was the Forbes and Fifth Avenue corridor that connects downtown and Oakland.  The new Consol Energy Arena is showing a lot of progress.  They have about 1/4 of the steel frames in place, and sections for the seating can be seen as well as the tubing for the glass framework side.  here’s a webcam link:  http://penguins.nhl.com/ext/html/webcam4.html   A local family owns a lot of property all around the area, and have been making waves since they’re just using it for parking lots.  they seem to be cooperating now, but they apparently have a history with the mob… http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09032/946197-52.stm 

The Pittsburgh housing authority has approved a sale of land to Pitt for new athletic facilities.  The property is right next to the Oak Hill apartments.  The land left over will be sold to Beacon developers to more than double the number of housing units of Oak Hill.  This is great stuff for 2 reasons.  The obvious reason would be so many new houses in an otherwise undeveloped section of the Hill.  More houses mean more residents.  More residents mean demand for more restaurants, stores, etc.  More development also bridges the shady gaps of the Hill district and makes it a more aesthetically pleasing place to live.  All of that leading to higher property values.

The second good thing to come from this is having pitt’s footprint spread beyond Oakland.  The further into the Hill District that Pitt goes, the more student foot traffic the Hill will see.  Eventually, they’ll see Centre avenue as a great route to downtown.  Pitt creeping into the Hill district really fills in the blanks around the area and all just becomes a well blended section of the City.  So when you’re driving down Centre Avenue, you don’t have that obvious unsettling feeling of, "oh, we must be in the Hill District now."  It’ll be seamless, just like going from shadyside to squirrel Hill.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08207/899398-53.stm?cmpid=news.xml

I guess it’s time for one of these.  I didn’t post anything in may, so let’s see…

New job…is rough at times.  No the work itself, but the people I work with.  There’s some serious tension in the group, and I don’t see it getting any better until *something* gives.  It’s a little ridiculous and unprofessional at times.  Not to mention I didn’t get the raise I was looking for.  It’s work though, and it’s a good place to be to make a move when I decide the time is right.

I’ve decided to make a summer goal of getting in shape for the urbanathlon in new york on september 27th.  andy vargo did it last year in chicago, and it really piqued my interest.  It’s a 7.2 mile race, but throughout the course, there are obstacles like jumping over taxi hoods, and median barriers, and park walls and such, and then at the end you have to run up 52 flights of stairs at world trade tower 7, so it works out to some 8.5 miles.  Pretty intense, right?  I think it will be awesome.  I’m not trying to compete, just finish it.  If I can get myself in shape for this thing, I’m really curious to see how I’ll look and feel.  I really will be in the best shape I’ve ever been in.

I’ve also picked up fencing lessons in the past few weeks.  Chris Olivieri asked me how much of a geek I was when he called me one day, and I said high to moderate levels of geekiness were seen, and then he asked me if i wanted to take fencing lessons.  I busted out laughing.  It’s actually pretty intense and fun.  I do feel like I’m learning a new skill, and I’m definitely getting a leg work out.  I could definitely see myself keeping a set of foils and masks in my closet for some outdoors fencing with friends.  I’ve done 2 out of 8 classes, so next time I should have a better idea of how good I am.

As far as music goes, nothing formal done with the penguins games going on.  I’ll pick up some open mic shows next week and keep those going and I’d like to just have some jam sessions with redfield and see where things go from there.  We were asked to play the cornerstone kick off on sunday august 24th, and that will be awesome if everyone works out.  It would be right in the bellefield parking lot, right across from the towers in oakland, and our music would permeate all the dorms and such.  I’m hoping everything goes well.

Nothing too much planned for the summer, have some vacation time, but I don’t think I’ll go anywhere.  It’s time to save money, and I traveled way too much last year.  Time to work on the homestead and read some books and such.

i was sitting in a store, that was right across the street from where i used to catch the bus in oakland, by the public health building. a friend was there with me, and she had to leave for class. we were both parked right outside. so she gets into this black car that she had just bought. it was like an elentra or something. she gets in, and make a left at that intersection (i am remembering now that’s one way, the opposite way, but it was the opposite way in the dream). I stopped looking when she made the turn, but i looked back up a few seconds later, and see her running to the curb holding some girls hand, abandoning her car in the middle of the road. then her car peels off. she run back to the store, and tells me that some guy stole her car. and i stood up and said, “should we chase him??!” then i said lets go. we jump in my car and take off for it. I am jumping curbs, bluring past red lights, driving through bushes and lawns, and then we get on this divided highway thing, and i see flashing lights in my mirror. we had been driving for like 2 minutes, and never caught up to the car. i slammed on my brakes so fast when i pulled over, that the cops ended up stopping far in front of me. the get out, ask me for license and registration and all that, and i am crying saying that her car was just stollen and we were chasing him down just so we’d know where it went. a few minutes later, they come back to the car with this like dark green sticker, about 2 inches square and tell me to have a nice day. it has black text on it, and i start reading it, and it a lot of legal jargon, but basically it says, Joshua hall will not be permitted to drive or own a car again until 2079.

what a crazy week. and it isnt even over yet. working from 4- midnight does a number on you. Monday i woke up at 9 and went down to Wheeling to get my teeth inspected by “Dr. Dan.” No cavatities here. i havent seen a dentist in like 6 or 7 years. i was surprised. then Dan’s boss took us both out to lunch with his wife, really nice people, and Dan seems to be very happy there. I would be too. so when i got done there, it was time for work.

then tuesday i woke up, did some cleaning, then back to work. And ofcourse, when you get off work, you can’t just go to bed, you have to stay up to 3 am. especially when bob calls you from D.C. at 2 am and tells you he is bored.

So i woke up at 7 today, did some work on NSSLife’s email server, met up with Adam for some basketball in Oakland, then some grocery shopping:) i am always making the best out of situation then back here for work!!! still 2 more days of 4-12 too.

one thing i have been doing at work is working on the dragon game. i got like 50+ people playing, and i am just writing and adding mods for the game like crazy. getting a lot of positive feedback for it! definitely my new hobby.

been feeling pretty good too. the doc has me on something called lexapro. good stuff:) and i leave you tonight with some nostalgia.