The Pittsburgh List

I happen to be in Pittsburgh for the second time in two weeks. The first was for a job interview, this time for orientation and training for what is now my new job. I saw nothing the first time but my dinner and a crummy hotel room. This time, I'm here for several days so I've been able to see more than a single river view and the gross pube in the hotel's bathroom sink. (Yes, gag!)

Tonight I went adventuring for the first time. Mapquest's GPS whore took me through areas I probably had no business being so I got to see more than I bargained for. The following list is my initial impression of Steel City and contains both facts and opinions. Some of my opinions are actual facts.

1. Pittsburgh has the highest bridge count in the world, even more than Venice, the so-called City of Bridges. I don't know how many I've gone over so far. Some are over the rivers, some are over railroad tracks, others are over nothing.

2. Mr. Rogers lived here. There is a statue of him somewhere in the city but I haven't seen it yet.

3. My favoritest guilty pleasure movie was filmed here. Partly. I might try to find some of the locations tomorrow.

4. Pittsburgh has some of the most gorgeous, beautiful, old homes and it's heartbreaking that many of them are completely neglected and rotting into the ground. I think some of the poorest people in the city live in what were once very glamorous houses.

5. There is an Andy Warhol museum here. I won't see it because it closes as I'm getting off of work. Boo.

6. The smiley emoticon was invented here.

7. The Big Mac was born here. I'm still not going to eat one.

8. It's cleaner here than I thought except for the skeezy neighborhoods. I think they're still covered in coal dust.

9. There is no sales tax here on clothes. But I bought books.

10. They have boroughs here. It's so east-coast.

11. There are things called green belts and blue belts and red belts but I don't know what they are yet.

12. It is very, very difficult to get around here and nearly impossible to get from one side of town to another without going down side streets, often in skeezy areas.

13. The parks are beautiful. So are the cemeteries. And the churches.

14. There is a dinosaur skeleton in the airport.

15. I need to see more.