sanpaku_backup | SoHo's got the boots, NoHo's got the crack

Been enjoying ourselves in Pittsburgh pretty well. Got to see

cellio and

mamarama in the real life; went to Phipps, the Aviary, the train exhibit at Buhl (I'm sorry, I do not know the words "Science Center," though I do know the words "fourteen fricking dollars a person?"), the trolley museum in Washington, Pa., my favorite hometown biscotti factory in the Strip District, Gullifty's, and Grandview Avenue. Also drove around a lot. We drove up to Allegheny Observatory, which I can't believe I never went to in all the time I lived here. And just in general drove up and down and around forty-degree inclines until I felt I was at home.

The little one entertained the (grand-)parental units, so much so that I almost felt bad that I didn't talk to them about much of anything except her. (Of course, as they tell me often now, it is nice to see me, but it is really her they need to visit with.) That was until I remembered that I don't really want to talk to them, or anyone, about the whole academic failure thing. I'm beginning to see it as something that will just atrophy from me, because it's painful even to think about. (Too bad I have an AHA convention this week, argh.)

My mother doesn't fail to say something about moving a few hundred miles closer. Paulie Naft bought a house right down the street from my old house (and her parents' old house), so it comes up. (Paulie Naft, like Carolyn Kelson, was at my fourth birthday party, as was revealed by an aside in the baby book. Me and this place go way back.) So I don't really want to tell her that we can't come here without talking about it all the time. I mean, just that it's so goddam cheap here. There are zero affordable houses in New England, especially for one-income families. And though renting is fine, we will need to buy somewhere and think about good schools and all that boozhie shite one of these days.

I dunno, I had a long post planned out in my mind about the pros and the cons. The main pros would be living where good houses would be affordable, where there's a sense of place and some neat things to explore, near my folks. The main con would be living near a large number of beefy guys with mullet haircuts with just a little hint of spikes on the top. And the Post-Gazette and the Tribune-Review. And the Letters to the Editor page of the Post-Gazette, especially, with letters mostly written by guys with spiky mullet hairdos. Okay, that's the snobbishness showing through -- something that is cultivated during one's entire existence in Pittsburgh. But when I say it's neat to be somewhere that has a "sense of place," I mean Pittsburgh has a sense of place. A stifling, confining sense of place.

So there's that. In the meantime, the Mrs. likes Dormont. If a perfect house fell into our laps, we'd probably find a way to do it.

Well, anyway, it is more pleasant than thinking about academic failure, so it's a fun game to play.

We're going back tomorrow, a long, wet drive on the Turnpike and northeastern PA. Wow, now there's a sense of place. We stopped at the Midway Diner in Grimes, PA, and when you opened the car door you were met with the unmistakable stench of pig shit. The diner was filled of David Greenberg type oldies in checked shirts. Remarkable. There was nothing ironic about the place at all.