I can’t take all the credit for the work involved in this one.  There are 9 32 x 32 stud plates (which makes this 30 inches by 30 inches!) that I divvied up to the 9 kids in my class this year.  I used software to break a standard image down to 96 x 96 pixels.  Each pixel then corresponds to 1 lego stud, of which there are 9,216.  I then took an output of colors in each of the 96 rows and imported them into Excel, where I could manipulate cell sizes to match up to 32 x 32 cells per sheet.  Each student just had a print off to work from and mark which studs they filled.  The print outs were just black and white, so they had no idea what they were making.  I really liked the concept of using excel as instructions to make large scale mosaics, so I’ll definitely keep that in my bag of tricks for future works.

There are about 5,000 pieces in the mosaic.  The kids had no idea what they were building collectively until the center plate was done and put next to 2 other finished plates.  I did end up having to throw in a bit of time since 2 kids missed class and I wanted to make sure they would be able to finish it in the last class.  Total labor hours is somewhere in the 20+ hour range.

click on the images for larger views. 

I was coming home from my uncle’s last night and was day-dreaming and ended up missing my exit and wound up on the North Shore.  I decided to take this as an opportunity to check out all the development going on over there.  The casino garage looks just about done and the casino itself seems to have all the walls up from the outside.  there’s at least 1 hotel in the works by PNC park, and I think another building in construction as well.  They razed the sportsworks complex to make way for the northshore T connector already.  One thing I couldnt explain, is the construction around the the Manchester Bridge Pier near Heinz Field.  It looks like they cut a hole in it or something.  So I went to research mode.

Turns out, it’s going to be the new Mr. Rogers monument.  It was supposed to be completed in Fall 2008, but I guess they hit some major delays.  I found a few articles that said the 10 foot scultpure of him is already done and sitting in a warehouse somewhere since may 2008.  That’s a long time.  This looks like a pretty cool place though.  I’m almost concerned that the northshore is going to become something like washington DC with all the monuments along the Mall.  Either way, I’m happy to see new stuff, especially for Mr. Rogers.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07144/788654-53.stm

Over the summer, I was on the North Shore looking at Mt. Washington and I thought it’d be great to have a building that stretches from the top all the way down to carson street.  You could still put plants and stuff on the roof, but it’d be great to have another way to connect Grandview Avenue with the city below.  Some new business men want to do just that.  They’ll take Edge Restaurant, which has been closed for 20 years, and turn it into condos, a hotel, and spa.  The wow factor comes in with a staircase along the whole mountain side though.  That will be the landmark that sets pittsburgh apart from anywhere else.  I’m seeing it at a place for fitness events like the urbanathlon.  Swim down the allegheny, run from PNC Park to Station Square, then up the stairs.  It’ll take a while for sure, but they threw out 2011 for a date.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08263/913415-53.stm?cmpid=news.xml

I walked over to the North Side yesterday to play basketball at the Allegheny Center Alliance Church and I walked through the Allegheny Center mall…That place is like walking through the set of 28 days later.  There’s no one there.  Stores are empty.  THIS IS A MALL.  I felt like I was walking through some sort of quarantined area, and it’s 4 o’clock in the afternoon!  The whole area is just dead and creepy.  It’s totally wild to see such a big area completely abandoned.  Even the old Carnegie Free Library has a sign on it that says "Closed indefinitely."  That’s nuts!  What happened here???  It’s almost like this area has a dark secret in it’s past and no one is talking about it.

Maybe all the development on the North Shore will revive that place.  The Steelers are in talks with a west coast developer to bring in some sort of venue/entertainment complex next to Heinz Field.  You’ve got Don Barden’s casino going in.  Another hotel going in by PNC Park.  The North Shore connection with the T to be finished in 2011.  If I were to make a prediction, I’d say that once the river front of the North Side is developed in the next 5 years, the West End/Station square side is going to BOOM.  When I say BOOM, I mean it.  The attraction of that side of the river(s) is that there’s nothing there right now.  Developers will be able to plan huge buildings, not worry about closing roads and such, and have a clean canvas to work with.  I haven’t heard anything about that Pittsburgh maglev project for a while either…

wow, what an effing blow to the ribs on the casino license announcement. Personally it stings because i don’t have the guaranteed boom in property value that i did with Isle of Capris (IoC). And the city/fans aren’t guarranteed an NHL team like they were with IoC. If the Pens leave, that’s going to hurt the city big time. Problem with the gaming board is they don’t know the city. The mayor, the casino task force, locals, pens fans, Mario, radio personalities, newspapers, anyone who meant anything were saying IoC. wtf. PITG doesnt even have a temp casino plan, so we won’t see any profits until march 2008. IoC and Forest City had already spent money to acquire the space for their casinos and temp casinos to maximize profits. PITG is also a much smaller operation than IoC. bleh. I’m done. Nothing we can do now. effing polidicks.

on a new topic, 2008 is going to be quite the year for the city. here’s all the things coming in 2008 that i can think of right now off the top of my head:

• obviously you got the opening of the first gambling establishment on the north shore
• The Maglev Project has hearing in spring 2007, may have ground breaking in 2008 or so.
• Hot Metal Street bike trail connecting the south side bike trail with the allegheny trail to be completed in 2008.
• North Shore Connector to connect the T under the allegheny river to PNC park. (would be nice to coincide with casino.)
• ongoing downtown housing projects will have nearly 1000 apartments by 2008.
• the mellon merger will be underway, could mean more jobs
• could be the first season without an NHL team
• It’s Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary
• Point State Park renovations will be done in 2008
• Bassmasters to return in 2008.

and these are all things that are planned already, who knows what 2007 planning will bring. Also consider all the other events like marathons, arts, musicals, other performances, movie filmings, etc that occur regularly anyway. Despite the BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER with the casino, da burgh still has a bright future in my opinion.

and for me, i should be down with my degree, and ready to get promoted, post-out, or fired with the merger, so new job either way. And if the property values are up enough by then, maybe a move…