I’m sure you probably heard by now, but Pittsburgh was ranked on of the best places of the world by National Geographic.  I, too, am a little skeptic and possibly embarrassed.  Sonoma Valley, Ca was the only other US location selected.  I mean, Pittsburgh’s great n’@, but I don’t think it’s worthy of the 7 world wonders or anything.

here’s the complete article:  http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/best-trips-2012/#/botw-main-gallery-pittsburgh_41334_600x450.jpg

If your problems are found to be geographic, leave.

I’ll probably take some judgment here.  I’ve always struggled with hungry people in 3rd world countries.  Why are we taking the food and supplies directly to them?  If school buildings, water wells, or something else enables the people to start caring for themselves, then great, but I view anything else as unsustainable.  WHY ARE PEOPLE CHOOSING TO STAY THERE?  I’m willing to bet it’s because 1) they don’t know any better and 2)We’re enabling them to stay there.

There’s a lot more content to unpack there, but I’ll change direction and hit closer to home.  If Detroit doesn’t have any jobs for you — wait for it — MOVE TO SOMEWHERE THAT DOES.  The expression “time to get out of Dodge” isn’t a quote from a fairytale.  If you’re in trouble where you are, go somewhere else.

I’m all for protecting culture, or reducing stress on a family, but where’s the line?  At some point, you’re just hurting yourself.

We all grow up, but some of us never leave home.  Some of us will always remain close to where we grew up.  It’s not a bad thing either way, sometimes it’s born out of necessity.  I know a lot of people who moved so far away from home, but they ended up moving back.

First off, if you have never seen a Cirque De Soleil show, right off the bat you’re obligated.  It will be the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen.

If you’re in Pittsburgh, you have until June 5th to see Totem.  http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/totem/default.aspx

I saw Quidam twice, O in vegas, Alegria, and now Totem.  Each time I’m left awestruck by what the performers just did.  I think the general public has an impression that Cirque Du Soleil is just some acrobatics and flexible people.  As if you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it all.  Cirque is not that show. What any Cirque Show is though:

1. Absolutely beautiful - from the costumes, to the tent, to the dance, to the interaction between the performers.  No detail is left untouched and no corners are cut.  Everything is exact and precise, and it shows.
2. Engaging – from the all live music, to changing stage and scenery, to all the movement on the stage that is supplementary to the actual performers.  You simply can’t look away.
3. Entertaining for everyone - There are clowns, love stories, danger, skill, feats of strength, and examples of dedication to their talents.

One of the other things I love about Cirque is that it’s not some big greedy corporation trying to make a bottom line.  They are  environmentally aware and raise money for clean drinking water around the world.

If you do go see them, don’t feel the need to buy the most expensive tickets for right up front.  It’s actually worse in my opinion.  You want to sit back a little higher than the stage so you can see everything going on, because believe me, there’s a lot going on.

You might be asking why I went to see Quidam twice.  The answer to that is that a performance includes about 10 acts, but there are more like 15 acts for each show.  Sometimes it’s just in case they need to make changes to the lineup, but they do keep rotating performers and acts, so what you saw one night could be different by a couple acts from the next night.  Basically, never think you’ve seen it all.  After my 4th Cirque show, I’m still wanting to see more.

As for highlights specifically in Totem, the stage is a lot more “active” than previous traveling shows I’ve seen.  When I saw O, I actually said that the stage itself is one of the main acts.  That was true for Totem too.  To pick out one act seems unfair, but the most mind blowing for me were the two twirling girls.  I want to see you lay on your couch, stick your foot in the air, throw a dish towel on it, then start spinning it.  Then do the same thing on the other foot at the same time.  RIDICULOUS.  The things done with hula hoops is amazing as well.

Go.  See it.

Back to the discussion about reclining chairs when you’re on a plane, how do you normally handle the situation?  I’m thinking that most people usually avoid conflict, so they either don’t put their chair back at all, or they just do it and don’t say anything because it shouldn’t have anything to do with the person behind them.

More reading: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/12/09/reclining.seat.rant/index.html?hpt=C2

Travels take me far from here.
But for some reason, my mind stays home.
not that it’s lost or forgotten,
It just decides not to come.

It’s been a while since I posted a personal update.  Things in married life go well.  New job goes well.  Thinking about going back to school in the fall.  That might be the level of detail you get in the updates going forward…not really sure.  I don’t really want to write about my life with Kallie without her involvement.  What you might see this category turn into would be a opening of the way I think or the way I act, or who I am despite my surroundings.  We’ll see how that works.

One thing that bothers me sometimes is that Kallie will get bunches of people reply to facebook status updates for her.  Sometimes, it’s people that she’s connected through me, but I don’t even talk to on facebook.  It’s not that I want the attention, it’s that I don’t understand why people are compelled to post to her messages in such volumes and so quickly too.  It lead me to believe it’s her.  Some how, people are connecting with her through her update.  She’s reaching them in a way that I’m not.

So we give science a try.  I put the blinking cursor in my status update field and told Kallie to post something as me.  Post something that she would say, if she were me in that moment.  She wasn’t allowed to reveal it was her.  We’d test if it was the content of the status updates or Kallie’s "aura" that people were drawn to.  Within seconds, we had a reply to "mmm, my house smells like freshly baked bread.  I love my wife."  Then another.  Then another from a person I barely know.  I think we found our answer.

It’s me.  I don’t know how to connect with people, or I don’t give them a clear path to understanding me to be more precise.  I wrap things in metaphor, vague allusions, or esoteric references.  Recently, my mom replied to one of my facebook status updates saying she didn’t understand my messages, and she wanted to know if it was her or even her age.  I’m fairly certain it’s actually me.  With this post though, perhaps I can shed some light on to how my mind works and even give some examples to help you better understand what I mean when I say or do something.

We’ll take it back to the days when I first started to post away messages on AIM.  I constantly got asked what they meant.  Well, I’ll tell you now and perhaps it will help you to predict my behavior.

Most of my messages were drawn from lyrics –

"I dream that she aims to be the bloom upon my misery." – This comes from a Soul Coughing song called "I Miss the Girl".  That’s basically what I was saying.

"I feel as if i’m looking at the world from the bottom of a well." – This comes from a Mike Doughty song.  It just meant that I was sad, or I felt trapped, away from the world.

"Getting lost in the fall, glimmer, sparkle, and fade." – This came from Everclear’s album, Sparkle and Fade.   I thought it was a pretty sentiment to describe moods where I felt like a life of a star; people were lucky to catch a glimpse of a falling star, marveled at it’s glimmer and sparkle, and then it fades away.  I used it to express that I had just done something I enjoyed but probably won’t do again.

  "True dreams of Wichita." – More Soul Coughing.  Meant I wanted to travel or that I had a weird dream.

"I’ll be your best kept secret and your biggest mistake." – lines that follow "can I lay in your bed all day?" by Fallout Boy.  Usually meant I liked a new girl.

"Need more friends with wings, all the angels I know put concrete in my veins." – Billy Talent lyrics.  Means I missed people or felt crappy without friends.

"Looking at the man in the mirror and telling him to change his ways." – Michael Jackson, but taken quite literally when used.

"the world through a windshield is callous and cheap.  i toss and i turn but i can’t get to sleep.  counting the hours the days that turn into weeks" – The New Amsterdams lyrics.  Usually meant that I felt like I was just waiting for life to happen.

"Some times, it causes me to tremble."  – My favorite hymn, "Were You There?".  Usually an Easter away message.

"I’m shoulder high in crap and my water wings are flat." – President of the United States of America lyrics.  Usually meant I was stressed about something.

"I remind myself of some body else’s song." – Lifehouse lyrics.  Tongue and cheek mostly.

"Awake and dreaming." – Finger Eleven lyrics.  I was being reflective.

"This is the part where we start to feel better." – Gratitude lyrics.  something was making me sad.

A lot of my messages were my own creation –

"I’m allergic to the sun.  It makes my skin change color."  – This message was usually used when I didn’t want to go outside.

"I’m a pretty shallow guy deep down."  - It’s true.

"Warning:  This aoler may be potentially unstable.  Proceed to message with caution." – I was probably livid about something.  "Livid" was also used as an away message.

"projectiling a bee of fris across a botanical plane in attempts to approach and ultimately arrive at the X axis’ limits, while not offending the Y axis’ limits, at which point those efforts are reciprocated by an opposing force." –   I was playing ultimate frisbee.

"Let’s go get stoned.  Just like how they did in the Bible." – Just thought it was funny.

Some were direct quotes from movies or literature–

"The moments we shared are lost in time, like tears in a rain storm."  -This comes from the movie "Blade Runner".  I found it profound and quite beautiful.  It’s deep, thinking that there’s no use to cry when it’s raining.

"Closing my eyes and opening my mind in the clarity of passion."  – I’m not certain which source this came from, but it may have been from the movie "Atonement".  I usually used this one when I was falling asleep content to ponder life’s questions.

"Cheyne Stoking." – This comes from an excellent movie called "Dead Man Shoes".  At one point in the movie, the main character paints those words on an apartment wall of some "bad guys" while they’re not there.  It’s a medical term to describe periods of irregular breathing; most commonly the last grasps for breath.  I liked the phrase, so i put it up.  Possibly meant that I thought I was going to die sometime/eventually/inevitably.

"In the room the women come and go talking of Michelangelo." – This is from T.S. Elliot’s poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.  I just used it to say I was talking to my smart wiminz.  Another away message I used, partly inspired from Keren’s song and the poem, was "Measuring out my life with a coffee spoon."

When I’m with you, %n, we stay up all night, and when you’re gone, I can’t get to sleep.  Thank God for these insomnias, and the differences between them."  – Remember, %n was replaced with the viewer’s screen name.  That was fun.  Anyway, I saw a performance at Heinz Hall of the Pittsburgh Symphony, and in between pieces, they would have readings and this was one of them.  I have no idea of the origin, and can’t seem to find anything through google.  It means I was in love or at least infatuated.

"James 4:8 " – The verse is "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."  This was my personal motto.  Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.  Life is that simple.  When I was searching for why I felt so disconnected from Christ, I simply have to [go to church, volunteer, call a friend to talk, pray] etc.  I needed this scripture during that time of my life.

"Super perfundo on the early eve of your day." – This comes from my favorite movie, Waking Life.  It’s a phrase that one of the characters has said to him in one of his dreams, but even he doesn’t know what it means.  It’s basically used as just a greeting/farewell.

"Perhaps I am a man of exceptional moods.  I do not know how far my experience is common.  At times I suffer from the strangest sense of detachment from myself and the world about me; I seem to watch it all from the outside, from somewhere inconceivably remote, out of time, out of space, out of the stress and tragedy of it all.  – H. G. Wells" – Pretty much the only good line from War of the Worlds.  I resonated with this deeply.

The rest were either weird, boring, or a mix of the above categories –

"He’s a maniac, maniac, on the floor, and he’s cleaning like he’s never cleaned before." – This meant I was cleaning.  Taken from the Flash Dance theme song.

"This away message is fleeting human contact.  both of us lost, but for a moment we’re lost together.  I wonder who you are." – I believe this to be an internet meme, but I can’t nail the true source.  It may have been that simply substituted "away message" in for grafitti.  see XKCD.

"Falto Algo." – Spanish for "Something is missing".  My boss used to say this. 

"Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house I go." – I was visiting my grandmother.

"Home again, home again, jiggity jig." – I went home.

Ofcourse, there are the ones that meant I was sleeping…

"Dead.  At least to the untrained eye."

"Sleep with all the lights on." – Dashboard Confessional lyrics.  Most appropriately used when sleeping during the day  ie: night shift.

"some where between the sacred silence and sleep." – System of a Down lyrics.  Usually meant it was really late and I was still up for some reason.

"Under the Tahitian moon." – Porno for Pyros lyrics. 

"Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan" (SLEEP)" – own of my originals.  Paired with:

"Stress Induced Narcoleptic Seizures (S.I.N.S.)" – another original that I still use.

So, I hope this provides you with a little bit of a road map on being able to predict what I may be trying to convey in my own mysterious way.  Default to it being lyrics for something.  Then think that I just saw/read something that imbued me.  I’m not all that hard to figure out or predict.  I think.  Did this help?

A nice little write-up on all the different neighborhoods and spots in Pittsburgh:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07142009/entertainment/travel/pitt_stop_179068.htm

If there’s one thing that I hate most, it’s when people tell me things have to be a certain way, "just because."  This post is not directed at any 1 person, but at 1 particular thought.  When someone says that gift cards are cheating or call me lazy for giving gift cards, what they are not realizing is that their own actions are offensive to me.  I’ll try to keep my defense of the gift card in a bulleted list.

• What if I really want to give you a gift card?  A spa treatment, a favorite restaurant, a specialty store, wherever.  Are you going to say that my gift is not good enough?  I didn’t just reach my hand in a bag and pull out a gift card to toys r’ us, I put thought into where I thought you’d want to spend money.  How dare you call me unthoughtful.
• Maybe I can’t afford what I really want to get you, but I want to contribute.  Maybe when I give it to you, I’ll say, "maybe it’ll help you get that new flatscreen TV you want."  Or maybe, if enough people give you gift cards, there will be enough to get you that flatscreen you wanted, free of charge.
• Maybe I want you to have freedom.  We’ve all received gifts we didn’t want.  Maybe I know you’re a tightwad and you won’t spend you own money on something you like, so here, go on a shopping spree on me.  Sometimes I feel like I’m imposing my thoughts of the person on them when I buy them a gift.  I don’t want to be a control freak, I want you to enjoy something.
• It’s convenient.  I’m not going to lie, that’s a major appeal to gift cards.  You know where they are, where you want to go, how much you want to spend, and you’re in and out of where ever it is, avoiding all the crazy shoppers.  Gift cards are easily shipped if you need to get something online so that opens up options tremendously.  It’s also easy to travel with gift cards for 20 people than it is with 20 wrapped gifts.

And to debunk the nay-sayers:

• Gift cards are impersonal – well, personalize your gift cards then.
• Gift cards are not thoughtful enough – A valid concern and risk.  Let’s look at ourselves before we accuse others though.  Is there a way you can make it easier for someone to get you a gift?  Maybe drop them hints.  Sometimes, they don’t know you enough to get you something, and sometimes, you’re too rigid for them to risk getting you something that you might not like…like a gift card.
• It’s cheating – Really?  Since when did giving and receiving gifts become a competition?  Maybe you should be glad that the person stuck it to the man and didn’t spend have to spend a dime on you because their credit card points paid for your $100 gift card.  Sure, they could have used it themselves, but they chose to give it to you.  Ungrateful.  In these tough economic times, maybe a little cheating by buying gift certificates at grocery stores like Giant Eagle for all sorts of places is in order since it gives the buyer credit card rewards as well as gas points.  That’s a smart shopper if you ask me.
• It’s such a waste since gift cards often go unused – True Story.  Whose fault is that though?  Maybe the receiver was too lazy or caught up in their own arrogance and distaste for gift cards that they didn’t use it.  If I give a gift card to someone, I ask them later on how they spent it, to make sure they did enjoy it, and also next year, maybe i’ll have an idea of something to give them.

The neutralizers, or reasons I can understand:

• It’s not pretty.  You’re right.  You can dress it up and go over the top if you really want to though.  Wrapping paper is such a waste though.  Not only does all that cost ridiculous amounts of money for all the fixings, but you just tear it up and throw it away.  Let’s stop the waste before we even get to recycling by reducing our output.  There’s just something sentimental about unwrapping a nice present though.
• It can be last minute.  It doesn’t have to be though.  I don’t think gift cards should be someone’s bread and butter every christmas and for everyone.  But the generalized statement shouldn’t ruin the good that can come from gift cards.
• Gift cards are mass produced.  Definitely something to consider.  I’m all for supporting local businesses and small shops and artists when possible.  You walk a thin line to consumer whoring, but with a little tact, you should be fine.

I’m a little frustrated with group think, I think you can tell.  When email first came around, do you think people said, "oh my, don’t email me, write me a letter, that’s how it should be done."  You bet your arse they did.  Does that mean they were wrong?  No, but it doesn’t mean it was right either.  People have opinions, and people have feelings.  Sometimes the two collide.  You can either learn to love people for their difference of opinions, or try and change them.  How about you work on the gift of understanding, K?

My how the time flies.  I was originally going to title this post “Wake me up, when September ends”  but we’re way past that point already.  The alarm has been ringing all month long for me to wake from my slumber, but I’ve been dreaming and watching everything move at the speed of life.

First off, the race went very well. I did it in just under 2 hours and andy did it in just over 80 minutes. I learned that I do not have the mind of a competitive runner that day. I definitely want to keep working and pushing my physical abilities though. I’m hoping for an 80 minute run next year. I was able to clear the taxi at the end though, something that I guess no one else was able to do. Here’s a picture of that.

Things with Kallie continue to grow. She got a job here in the ER at Children’s Hospital and starts November 10^th. She’s also got a nice place a few blocks from my house in the Bedford hill apartments. We’ve been traveling since she’s come here, so we haven’t had a chance to find a church together yet, but it’s certainly a top priority. She still has a lot of logistics on her plate, and I’m sure she misses everyone from Philly, so I’m trying to stay supportive, encouraging, and respectful. I am finding that I can suck at all 3 of those.

How about 4 people I know got engaged 2 weekends ago? Tis the season? Keren was one of them. They’re planning their big fat greek wedding already. Sounds…interesting.

I’ve just been so jammed packed with activity and travel that I haven’t had much time for music or for trying for my MBA. Work has been stressful as well with the market in the shape it’s in. More updates to come as they are revealed.

Birthday is coming up…turning 26…I was telling Kallie the other day, I’m actually feeling good about this birthday, and that’s highly uncharacteristic of me. I’m seeing 26 as a point of distinguished and responsible status and I’m happy to reach that level. No definite plans though, usually I take the week off and travel somewhere, but I don’t think I have money for that this year, with that $1500 truck bill I had last month. I really have to track down those holes in my pockets…