Blog of Josh Hall

In the summer of 1996, my family took a trip around the country in a Winnebago.  Along the way, we stopped at Mount Rushmore.  In the middle of the night.

I was asleep as we rolled into the parking lot.  I’m not a quick one to rise, so by the time everyone was heading out to see how close they could get, I was just coming to.  In order to catch up, I had to go as I was;  in my underwear.  I was a newly converted boxer man, and I wasn’t afraid to show it.  We all strolled up in pajamas and such, right up through the main souvenir concourse and gazed at the giant faces carved into the mountain.

Although technology can help you simplify your life, it can make it a whole lot more complicated and open the gates to wasting a lot more time.  The key is to get technology working for you, not you working with technology.

I was staying in a hotel with Kallie’s family, and I went over to the other room where everyone was.  As soon as I walked through the door, Wally prompted me to answer this question.  I paused, half defeated.  I thought I was in an unfair position due to my freshman dorm experience at Pitt.  You see, in Lothrop Hall, it’s all singles, and each room has a sink in it.  Being an introvert, prone to a crazy sleep schedule, and just general laziness, it’s only a matter of time before you cave and pee in the sink.  It’s straight up behaviorism psychology.  So yes, I’ve urinated in a sink, and I bet at least 90% of men who lived in Lothrop did as well.

Feel free to tell your stories or reasons below!

Here’s an update on some Hill District projects:

YMCA: This is going in 2 blocks from my house on Centre Avenue. It is currently slated for an early 2012 completion. Should be awesome to have an indoor basketball court and pool so close! Also, it’ll be one of the city’s largest green certified buildings. Post-Gazette

Grocery Store: Shop ‘n Save has committed to putting in a full service store (FINALLY!). It is scheduled to be completed in November of 2011. This is going to be 3 blocks from my house. Post-Gazette

Consol Energy Center: The new home of the Pens will be opening with Paul McCartney on August 15th. On my walk to work, it’s looking just about done from the outside. still some paint, shrubs, and lights to finish though. It’s on its way to being the highest LEED certified sports center in the nation. http://www.consolenergycenter.com/

Connelley School: At the upper corner of the Mellon Arena’s top parking lot, there’s this old school that has been closed due to asbestos. Now, there’s money to convert it into a place for green start ups and research facility for Pittsburgh Green Innovators. Seems like a pretty cool thing.Post-Gazette

Pharmacy: Duquesne has announced they’d open a pharmacy in the Hill. I’m not sure exactly which store front it’s going in, perhaps the old Carnegie Library Space? That might be too large though. It is slated for later this year. >Post-Gazette

Cambria suites Hotel: The hotel in between the Washington Plaza apartments and Consol Energy Center is close to being structurally done. It has all the blocks in place, now just time to brick it up and put some windows in and finish the interior. Looks like it will open in December 2010. More & pictures

Kaufmann Auditorium: Right next to the Hill House, they’re making a bunch of modernizations and upgrades to this auditorium. Plans also include an outdoor amphitheater. link

Dinwiddie Street: Not sure what all is included here, but they are tearing down a bunch of abandoned houses and blight. I think they plan to build new houses, but maybe it will be apartments. I’m watching the HDCG for updates.

Life should be lived simply.  That means that it should not become too complex, too extravagant, or too forced.  Otherwise, you risk losing focus, losing touch, or simply losing.

Have you heard about the Bloom Box yet?  Probably not.  It’s been featured on 60 minutes earlier this year, but still is a pretty quiet technology.  It’s a clean energy source that can power the average american home in the size of a gallon of milk.

First off, this thing is legit.  This isn’t just some guy doing crazy things that work on paper or theory in his garage, but aren’t financially feasible.  This is NASA technology.  Or, at least, it was, until K.R. Sridhar spun off from his research there to pursue this.  This isn’t just some new start up firm looking for funding to complete it’s work.  Google, eBay, and WalMart are all using their fuel cells.  This just got real.

This is the future of energy.  Small, cheap, clean, and reliable.  Did I mention it runs on oxygen?

Read more:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/22/the-bloom-box-a-power-plant-for-the-home-video/

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/0222/Bloom-Box-What-60-Minutes-left-out