From Birmingham to Pittsburgh

Osama bin Laden dead

2011-05-02T00:07:00.000-04:00

Wow! Just wow!

Has blogging peaked?

2011-04-24T16:30:00.000-04:00

Has blogging peaked? is an excellent article which describes why I don't post on here very often.

Super Bowl 2011

2011-01-23T23:27:00.000-05:00

The Steelers are going to the Super Bowl!

That's generally a good thing, but it's not all that it's cracked up to be. I'm certainly glad that the Steelers are going, but this will be my third Super Bowl in six years and I'm not looking forward to the two week run-up to the event. The entire city becomes overwhelmed with talk of the Super Bowl including all the news outlets, advertisements, daycare, co-workers, etc. A bit is enjoyable--two weeks worth is two much!

Of course, given the alternative, I'd much rather that we'd be going to the Super Bowl than not!

Rowing update

2010-10-09T01:57:00.000-04:00

I know I had said at the beginning of the year that I was going to take up rowing. That went nowhere fast (pun intended!) I had stopped by the end of January.

Fortunately for me, a new YMCA opened up in downtown Pittsburgh, across the street from where I work. This is perfect for me as it's a very short walk to get over and back during my lunch break.

I've been going since May and have rotated through swimming, using the elliptical machine, and using the weight machines. Since May, I've lost over 20 lbs and only have 10 lbs to go to reach my target weight.

Amtrak Adventure

2010-03-15T21:42:00.000-04:00

So, a poster on the Travel Plan Idea Blog asked about Amtrak. I was responding to their post and decided it would be fun to share my response on my own blog as well. Here you go!
-------------

A trip from DC to Chicago getting off in Toledo would have only touched one city in WV. Most of those mining towns would have been in Pennsylvania.

Nevertheless, I took Amtrak round trip from my home in Pittsburgh to Washington, DC in 2008. I took a coach seat down and a roomette back so I could get both experiences.

In coach, the seats were wide and roomy and I always felt like I had a lot of room. I didn't have a seat mate, so I was able to stretch out a bit (like everyone else was doing). There was at least some freedom to walk around, but there wasn't too much to actually do. You could sit in the lounge car with the overhead windows, but I got bored there after a while. Downstairs from the lounge car was the snack car which was empty, save for the lone employee working the counter.

Lunch was merely ok, but was a bit overpriced if you had to pay out of pocket (it's included if you get a room). Service was slow, which is fine if you have no where to go and have interesting table mates, but can be painful if you have no interest in the others at your table.

The train from Pittsburgh to DC was about two hours late arriving into Pittsburgh and about four hours late arriving into Washington. I had checked luggage at the Pittsburgh station and it took them forever to get it to us at baggage claim in DC.

For the trip back, I was able to wait in the first class lounge at Union Station in DC because I had booked a room. The lounge was fine, but very crowded. Boarding went off without a hitch and I was soon led to my roomette.

The roomette is comfortable, not too big, but not really cramped either (until the beds are down). It was very spacious for one, probably just right for two. The big drawback here is that you can feel really isolated from the rest of the train once you're in your cabin. Many people left their doors open to seem sociable, but I thought it was pretty rude to interrupt someone sitting in a private cabin. However, on a long haul journey of more than a day, I'd bet things are different. Coach passengers aren't allowed into the cars with cabins.

Honestly, the trip wasn't long enough for me to get much out of the roomette, about eight hours or so. I would have been fine in coach. Compared to the four hour delay earlier, my train was only five minutes late arriving into Pittsburgh.

I'd probably take Amtrak again, but it has to be at a good price. Once you factor the cost of the room into the overall price, it's frequently much cheaper to fly.

Too much snow!

2010-02-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

21 inches of snow in about 18 hours. It took me more than two hours to clear trenches out in our sidewalks and I haven't even started on the driveway!

Rowing in the New Year

2010-01-08T00:46:00.000-05:00

So, with the start of the New Year, Heather and I have decided to get into better shape. Heather's weapon of choice is our treadmill coupled with a workout video she had. I've decided to break out my rowing machine.

Why rowing? When I worked at Boy Scout camp as a teenager, I worked as a lifeguard at the waterfront. One of our requirements as a lifeguard was to row a quarter mile in under 5 minutes. When I first started, it took me 10 minutes or so to get it done but with practice and work, I was able to row a quarter mile in about 4 minutes or so.

I haven't rowed a real boat since, but the feeling of rowing is so comfortable to me that it's an exercise that I can truly enjoy. That's important because I tend to get bored while exercising very easily. I don't know how I survived the hundreds of 90 minute swim practices while in high school. You can't even hear a radio under the water!

Anyway, so my goal is to vigorously row about 15 minutes every weekday. Once my body gets into better shape, I'll look at either upping my rowing time or branching out into other exercises. Wish me luck!

Congratulations

2009-06-12T23:14:00.001-04:00

First the Steelers, now the Penguins! Congratulations Pittsburgh!

Announcing Henry

2008-08-24T11:20:00.001-04:00

My wife and I are pleased to announce the birth of our son, Henry Clark. Henry was born on June 27, 2008. Everyone is doing fine; big sister Abigail is quite concerned...

The Light of Other Days

2007-10-16T23:10:00.001-04:00

Well, my blog has turned into something of a book review. I was in the middle of reading The Elves of Cintra when I came across a reference to the Arthur C. Clarke book, The Light of Other Days. I ordered it from a local library and quickly devoured the book.

In summary, the book is focused on the events following the creation of a remote viewing technology which can be used anywhere at any time. As the technology becomes widespread, everyone can see what everyone else is doing whenever they want, even going back in time.

The premise is great. The plot sucked. The characters were rather boring and unsympathetic. I never really connected with them and didn't care what happened to him. In a big "revelation" towards the denouement I found that I just didn't care.

The interesting parts to me were the changes that the invention brings to humanity. Some chapters have nothing to do with the books characters, but merely serve as background to how the invention causes fundamental shifts in the way our society perceives itself. That's what was interesting to me; that's why I tore through the book so quickly.

Interested in science fiction? Does the premise interest you? Go check it out at the library and give it a read. Don't concern yourself too much with the plot; it's just a bunch of people talking on the stage. It's the changes in the sets behind the actors which are most interesting...

The Undercover Economist

2007-06-30T23:37:00.000-04:00

From my reading list in January, I forgot to mention The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. Harford writes "The Undercover Economist" column for the Financial Times in London; this book is an extension of that column.

I thought the book was quite good. It sounds like a boring topic, but its not... It's basically a look at how the world is set up in the mind of an economist. Harford covers topics ranging from poverty in Africa (why are poor countries still poor?) to the difficulty in buying a used car (the dealer knows whether its a lemon). Each topic is covered from the point of view of an economist.

That may be the books shortcoming however. I have a bachelor's degree in economics. Therefore, when he was explaining topics like scarcity, marginal costs, and market efficiencies, I knew exactly what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I don't think the layman would be able to follow along with the ideas in his book. Don't get me wrong, Harford does a good job in explaining what he's talking about. But when half of the population doesn't understand the basic concept of supply and demand, it's unlikely that they are going to understand that a producer produces where the marginal costs equals the marginal benefit.

So, having said that, if you're interested in economics, this is a great book. If you want a more street level book which is much easier to understand, I'd recommend "Freakonomics", the best-seller from 2006. It's focus seems to be much more on the consequences of peoples actions from the drug trade to the name that parent's choose for their children. It's quite an interesting read and I'd recommend it as well.

Pittsburgh rated 'most livable' city

2007-04-26T05:01:00.000-04:00

Whatever "most livable" means.

Stopping to smell the roses

2007-04-07T13:33:00.000-04:00

Surely you've heard that you need to frequently take time to stop and smell the roses. Do you do this? Do you take the time out of your busy schedule to enjoy all that life has to offer?

Have you ever considered that roses aren't always flowers?

The Aquariums of Pyongyang - reviewed

2007-04-01T21:05:00.000-04:00

Back in January, I noted that I had received several books over Christmas and I was looking forward to reading them. The second book that I ended up reading was The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan.

The author of the book was born in raised in Pyongyang, North Korea. At the age of nine, he and his family were placed in a "re-education" camp to atone for the "wrongs" committed by a relative. This is his story.

I actually finished reading the book a few weeks ago, but it had such a profound impact on me that I wanted to wait a bit before writing about it. If you've ever read Night by Elie Wiesel (an excellent book, by the way) you know exactly what to expect. The re-education camp is a gulag; a modern day concentration camp. Life was brutal and short, and when death came it wasn't always unwelcome.

The difference between Night and Aquariums is actually somewhat profound: the events of Night took place in the 1940s. The events of Aquariums took place in the 70s and 80s. Yet, although the German concentration camps were closed in 1945, the gulags in North Korea are open today. That's right, the disgusting human abuse depicted in this book is happening today. Right now, as we speak.There are thousands and thousands of innocent people enduring starvation, torture, extreme working conditions, and other brutalities as you sit here reading this. That, my friends, is what struck me about this book.

And when I say other brutalities, I mean it. There are some wicked people in this world; this book exposes you to some of the worst. If you have a weak stomach and choose to read this book, I'd highly recommend that you skip the chapter on executions. Just trust me on this one. The other chapters are definitely adequate to describe the absolutely abominable conditions in these camps.

However, I do highly recommend the book. The average American knows far too little about North Korea. There are those who question whether the Korean War was a wasted and senseless conflict. It was not. Reading this book, learning about the savage cruelties brought about by the North Korean government, one will finally understand and appreciate why we had to fight that war and why we stand ready to protect South Korea in the future.

Siberia Mine Blast Kills 78; 50 Trapped

2007-03-19T23:06:00.000-04:00

It's sad... This is obviously a terrible tragedy, but you won't hear anything about it in the news because it's in Siberia.

I remember back in July 2002 at the Quecreek Mine when the nation was waiting with baited breath for days, waiting to get word on the recovery of nine miners buried underground. Then, the more recent Sago Mine disaster that killed 12 miners with only one survivor. The stories were all over the news.

Why is it that the media only cares about such tragedies if it happens in the United States? These are human beings; trapped underground and/or dead. It shouldn't matter whether they're Americans or not...

On Commuting

2007-03-18T00:02:00.000-04:00

I recently read this Washington Post blog entry about the benefits of a longer commute. In this world where people moan and groan about having to deal with traffic, there are those who use the time to wind down from work and relax a bit before returning home. A bit of "me time" if you will.

I never thought I would feel that way, but I found that I do. Until very recently, my commute consisted of a 10 minute (half mile) walk from our house to the local light rail station (called the "T" in Pittsburgh). I would then board and ride for about 25-30 minutes into downtown. The Wood Street T Station is across the street from my building, so it was a quick walk on the other side and I was at work. In the morning, I would commute with my wife Heather. This gave us some quality time together where we could talk about various things going on in our lives. She gets off of the T one stop before I do. It's treasured time together that I enjoy very much.

In the evening, it was a simple trip backwards. Heather works later then I do on most days, so I would be alone. However, I found that it was a great time to catch up on my reading or listen to my headphones. Sometimes, I could even take a 20 minute nap if I wanted. Again, it was treasured "me time" that I valued greatly. Plus, with two ten minute walks per day, I got at least one mile of walking in each day.

I never really thought I would miss commuting until I was staying home with Abigail during FMLA leave. I missed the time with Heather, the exercise, and simply leaving the house. It was quite cold and snowy for many weeks this winter and I simply wasn't willing to take Abigail out in it just so I could get out of the house. Now that I've started back to work, I've found that I appreciate the time outside even more.

Of course, the day that I start back to work, all hell breaks loose with the T service. A large bridge near the city, the "Palm Garden Bridge" is in pretty bad shape. So they've closed the bridge for a six month renovation. Instead of taking the T straight north into town, we have to take the T south, away from town, transfer to the other T line, and then catch the ride back north. This adds probably 10-20 minutes of commuting time in each direction, which sucks. What's worse is that can't always sit next to Heather once we're on the second T line. I've experimented with some of the buses that service our area. They're as fast as the T is as long as the weather is somewhat perfect. (Pittsburgh drivers can't drive in rainy, snowy, foggy, windy, cloudy, cold, or hot weather). I have a 50% chance of cutting 10 minutes off the T trip, but a 50% chance of making the trip 30 minutes longer then it would have been.

But things like this are only temporary; we'll be back to normal after a few short months. Then, I can go back to simply enjoying the ride, reading my book, listening to my music, preparing for my life at home.

Some thoughts on writing book series

2007-03-17T14:33:00.000-04:00

Actually, after reviewing Armageddon's Children, I remember a conversation I had with Heather. I am a fan of Terry Brooks and have read almost all of his books. The conversation was on the dilemma that authors face in writing a book series.

Say an author writes a book, Book 1. That book is popular and the public clamors for more. The author writes Book 2 as a sequel. Then maybe the author writes Book 3 as another sequel. Book 2 and Book 3 will never make as much in sales as Book 1. Why? Most people will want to read Book 1 before reading Books 2 or 3. A few people won't like Book 1 and not bother to buy Books 2 and 3. Therefore, the returns on the books are smaller.

An author like Terry Brooks knows this. In his Shannara series, he has tried to renew interest by having new sub-series. The first of these after the original Shannara series was quite successful. The trilogy after that (the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara) was somewhat less so. The most recent trilogy (the High Druid of Shannara) was rather boring. Again, he's writing towards a diminishing audience. There are definitely people who may want to read the later books, but I would think that it actually pushes up sales towards the first book, the Sword of Shannara as well.

So Brooks, and other authors, try to expand their repertoire. Brooks wrote a prequel to the Sword of Shannara (Book 0 if you will). But then he wrote the Kingdom of Landover series, a separate grouping of 5 books completely unrelated to Shannara. As aside, previously we knew that they were completely related. However, the main character in the Landover books arrives through a portal from Earth and the characters have in the past traveled to and from Earth. Could it be that they are interconnected after all? Only time will tell.

Anyway, Brooks then wrote the Word and Void series, based here on earth in the 1990s. Again, this was (at the time) different from the Shannara series. Thus, it provided a new entry point for potential readers to pick up and read a Terry Brooks book. Armageddon's Children was supposed to be a similar entry point as well; if you read my previous review, you'll see that I disagree with that assessment.

So Terry Brooks has published 25 books. Two of these, Hook and Star Wars, The Phantom Menace, were novelizations from movies, so I really don't think they count. Of the remaining 23 books, five are in the standalone Kingdom of Landover series, which has an entry book, "Magic Kingdom For Sale -- SOLD!". For the remaining 18 books, there are only three "entry points" to the series: The Sword of Shannara (Book 1 of my example), First King of Shannara (Book 0 of my example; as a prequel it could be used to introduce the entire series), and Running with the Demon, the first of the Word and Void series.

I think you can easily see the difficulty here. Out of 23 books, there are only four entry points. Even worse would be Harry Potter; of seven books there is only one entry point. Compare this to an author who publishes more stand alone books, such as John Grisham, John Irving, or Steven King. Each book is self-contained. Any of them can be picked up by anyone at any time, with no reason to read them in the order published. Potentially, a lot more money can be made by writing like that. However, each story set would be much smaller. If you've gone through all of the trouble creating an imaginary world, you want to use it as much as possible.

Having said all of this, I am pleased with the effort of Terry Brooks to introduce Armageddon's Children as a new starting off point (even if it isn't). More readers equal more profits meaning more books. I just wonder about the economics of writing series versus stand alone books.

Quick thoughts to wrap this; compare this to movies or computer games. It seems that half of the new releases out there are sequels to previously released material. Maybe it's just harder to constantly invent new worlds? Maybe audiences are more comfortable with stuff that they know they will like? I guess I just have difficulty understand why there are so many sequels when you're constantly battling diminishing returns...

Armegeddon's Children - reviewed

2007-03-17T12:22:00.000-04:00

Back in January, I noted that I had received several books over Christmas and I was looking forward to reading them. The first book on the list was Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks.

In truth, I didn't receive this book for Christmas, but I bought it last September. When I bought it, it was billed as a new series for those who had never read Terry Brooks. Ahh, just the thing, I thought. I've read Brooks' Shannara series and enjoyed them. I never got around to reading his "Word and Void" series though. But here was something new. I sat down to read.

About a quarter of the way into the prologue, the text mentions a "Knight of the Word". My heart drops. A Knight of the Word was the second book in the "Word and Void" series. I absolutely hate reading books out of order as it spoils so much of the previous story. Therefore I endeavored to read the other three books before continuing to this one.

So, a week after Abigail was born last September, I read the first book, Running with the Demon. I read it mainly during my commute to and from work, as well as over lunch breaks. Because I also ready several magazines and papers, it took me the better part of the month to read it. I then continued on to A Knight of the Word in October, finishing up in November. I didn't start on the final book, Angel Fire East, until December. By then, I was taking care of Abigail full time and my reading time evaporated. I was able to plow through the whole thing over our Christmas vacation and finished up in early January.

Finally, I was able to start on Armegeddon's Children. Set approximately 100 years after the end of Angel Fire East, the plot is definitely different then the previous three and it is not as interconnected as the previous books were. That's where they get the "new series for new people" line from. However, if I had not read the previous series, I would not have had nearly the appreciation for the world of Armegeddon's Children. Thus, reading the Word and the Void series first is optional, but actually highly recommended.

Anyway, the book was a very pleasant read-the beginning of a series of books linking the Word and the Void series to the later Shannara series. Those who have read both series will appreciate the references to both worlds. Those who haven't may quite well get lost.

There are four storylines in Armageddon's Children. The main story line seems to revolve around a group of children in Seattle. This storyline provides the most detailed view of the destruction which has spread throughout the landscape. Two other storylines deal with two Knights of the Word and their struggles to save humanity. A knowledge of the "Word and the Void" series is particularly helpful in figuring on the what and why things are happening in these storylines.

The final story line is about the Elves. In the Shannara series, there were many hints that the Four Lands were actually Earth in the far distant future. The presence of Elves (in present day Oregon no less) confirms these hints and begins the bridge that will connect the "Word and Void" series with the Shannara series.

Actually, the plot lines of Shannara had gotten old, quite frankly. In fact, I was rather disappointed with the "High Druid of Shannara" series. The "Word and Void" series was therefore a refreshing change from the stale Shannara plotlines. Armegeddon's Children continues more on the path of the "Word and Void" series, and as such, was interesting to read.
However, this is what troubles me about the introduction of the Elves. There have previously been two books centered around the Elves, magical elfstones, and their sacred tree, the Ellcrys. (The Elfstones of Shannara and the Elf Queen of Shannara). When the "quest" is finally introduced for the Elves, I saw that it was remarkable similar to the two Shannara books. I just hope that new ideas are introduced that don't rewrite the old material.

Anyway, I felt that this was a much better book then his later Shannara works, and was quite an interesting read. If you're a Terry Brooks fan, I'd say go for it. If you're new to the Terry Brooks world, I'd suggest that you start with the "Word and Void" series before reading Armageddon's Children. All in all, I'm looking forward to the next installment!

Mummified body at home; TV still playing

2007-02-18T22:19:00.000-05:00

Mummified body at home; TV still playing

Sunday, February 18, 2007
By The Associated Press

HAMPTON BAYS, N.Y. -- The partially mummified body of a man dead for more than a year has been found in a chair in front of his television, which was still on, authorities said.
Vincenzo Ricardo, 70, apparently died of natural causes, said Dr. Stuart Dawson, Suffolk County's deputy chief medical examiner.
Police found Mr. Ricardo's body last week when they investigated a report of burst pipes.
The home's dry air had preserved his features, morgue assistant Jeff Bacchus said.
Mr. Ricardo's wife died years ago, and he lived alone, Dr. Dawson said.Neighbors said they had thought Mr. Ricardo was in a hospital or nursing home.

Unanswered question: Why did the electic company not cut off his service for non-payment of bills?

New Abigail Pictures

2007-02-17T01:04:00.001-05:00

New Abigail pictures are online!

The Uncivil Litigator: Bob Jones University

2007-02-03T14:03:00.000-05:00

The Uncivil Litigator: Bob Jones University

Taking things to the extreme, I bet. ..

Traffic congestion

2007-02-01T19:00:00.000-05:00

Hey, I was quoted in another blog. Well, not exactly quoted. I send an interesting article on traffic congestion to another blogger to post in his blog. Thanks!

More on the Port Authority cuts

2007-01-28T05:08:00.000-05:00

In this week's "Getting Around" column, Joe Grata points out:

In 1975, John T. Mauro, the executive director of the Port Authority wrote:

"By this stage of the 20th century, with a lengthy history of transit failures to look back on, it would seem that our community and political leaders would have come to understand this one universal fact: The long-term answer to financial problems of public transportation cannot and will not be found in cutbacks in service and in the work force, nor in fare increases.
"These stopgap measures have been tried repeatedly in the past, and they have proved to be regressive and self-defeating. Such steps, if tried again, will certainly lead to the complete downfall of this and other public transport systems."

So why is the Port Authority working to eliminate 124 of 213 routes in the system? Make the routes smarter, yes. But don't eliminate them altogether!

Next for Pennsylvania: Putting Its Cards on the Table

2007-01-25T13:38:00.000-05:00

Stupid slippery slope... They said that it would only be slot machines. Then why is everyone calling them "casinos" instead of "slots parlors"?

Read the article.

Unfortunately, I know people like this...

2007-01-24T12:57:00.000-05:00

You Look Like You Could Use Someone To Talk To On This 5-Hour Bus Ride

Do you mind if I move your coat? This happens to be my third-favorite seat on the bus. Numbers one and two are already taken. Those are...

Unfortunately, I know people like this...

What I'm reading

2007-01-17T00:17:00.000-05:00

I received a bunch of books for Christmas and I'm looking forward to reading them this year. Here are the books that I'm planning on reading:

Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks

A fiction book from one of my favorite authors

Big Dead Place by Nicholas Johnson

A book about Antarctica

1776 by David McCullough

History of the Declaration of Independence

John Adams by David McCullough

The well-known biography of John Adams

The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan

This odd book is written by a man who survived the North Korean gulags and escaped to South Korea.

The Day the Universe Changed by James Burke

James Burke was the host of several PBS documentaries, including "Connections". This book explores the way inventions influence history.

Does anyone have any books that they would suggest? Please post your suggestions in the comments!

Harry Potter

2006-12-22T00:29:00.000-05:00

Well, I know that Heather likes Harry Potter. I've read the books as well. They're a fun and easy read; great for children. Anyway, the big news today in the Harry Potter world is that the title of the new book will be "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Sounds spooky, doesn't it?

Pedestrians say city gives them 'don't walk' signals

2006-12-10T00:22:00.000-05:00

Pedestrians say city gives them 'don't walk' signal

I'd have to agree with almost every assertion made in this article. Living in Mt. Lebanon, I walk to the T Station every day, a 1/2 mile in each direction. Sometime's its a real challenge getting safely there, with the cars not paying attention, running stop lights, running stop signs, etc. When I get off the T at the Wood Street station, I only have to cross one street, Sixth Avenue at Liberty Avenue. However, it can take several minutes to cross the street here with the cars turning right on red, etc. Considering that both Pittsburgh and Mt. Lebanon have a vested interest in keeping pedestrians safe, I hope that some workable solutions come out of this.

Real time Light Rail information

2006-12-09T18:43:00.000-05:00

Real time information is currently offered for riders of the Washington, DC metro system. Why can't we add it here in Pittsburgh? Our system is much less complex then DC and we already have the signage in place at all of the high level stops. Port Authority?

PA lacks paper backup to voting electronically

2006-11-28T19:46:00.000-05:00

Seriously, Pennsylvania should have fixed this long ago. If I recall correctly, Pennsylvania actually has a law that forbits the use of paper backup systems.

Really, how hard can this be? I grew up in Alabama. In Alabama, we used the scan-tron type fill in the bubble ballot. It was pretty straight forward. I don't recall it ever being a problem. Here's the way things should work:

You have an electronic voting machine. Just like the ones we use now, it handles your vote for each election, making sure you didn't miss any elections, etc. Then, instead of simply recording your vote, have the machine print out a scan-tron type ballot. Then, the voter can take the ballot, look over it to make sure that everything is correct, and then feed it to the scan-tron machine and walk out. Something wrong on the ballot? Simply tell a poll worker who will cancel the old ballot and let you start the process over.

This way, you get to vote electronically (which everyone seems to like), yet you have a voter verified paper trail. Because the computer printed the ballot, there are no problems of hanging chads or other such nonsense.

It seems like such a simple concept; can this really be that difficult?

Bridge work to reroute South Hills transit

2006-11-25T11:15:00.000-05:00

When the Pittsburgh LRT (known locally as the "T") was closed for recent repairs to the South Hills Tunnel, I noticed that they were doing additional work on the bridge over Highway 51. It didn't appear to be a part of the original project, but it looks now like they were evaluating the bridge's condition.

It appears (like many of Pennsylvania's other bridges) that the bridge is in very poor condition. As such, it will be closed for nine months, beginning in March for repairs. It's actually noticable when you're riding the "T" as the condition of the rails goes from very smooth to very rough in the matter of seconds near the Dawn station.

As a commuter on the "T", I take this route to work every day. We'll be inconvenienced by about 10 minutes per trip; instead of going north to work, we'll go south and move to the Overbrook line. But even with this inconvenience, I'm glad that they are addressing the situation. It show's the Port Authority's support for the LRT system going into the future.

Wish list

2006-11-22T23:24:00.000-05:00

Every year, people ask me what I want for Christmas. For your convenience, I have a wish list at Amazon.com. You can see it by clicking here.

Even more Abigail Pictures

2006-11-18T11:16:00.000-05:00

Getting track of each week after she was born was getting a little tedious, so for now I'm going to twice per month, starting with "Early November". I'm sure I'll get a system down eventually!

Dick Cheney on occupying Baghdad

2006-11-14T23:17:00.000-05:00

"It would be dangerous. We’d get mired down inside

Iraq

in a conflict that’s been raging for generations in the interests of trying to dictate who’s going to govern in

Iraq

. That is not something that we are prepared to see American forces do." - Dick Cheney

"For the US to get involved militarily in determining the outcome of the struggle over whose going to govern in Iraq strikes me as a classic definition of a quagmire." - Dick Cheney

Huh? These words were spoken by Cheney in a 1991 NPR interview. Check out this NPR report.

More on Abigail

2006-11-13T21:45:00.000-05:00

Hi all! It's been a busy few months since Abigail was born, so I've been out of the loop, but she's been doing wonderfully! Heather has been taking her maternity leave from work since she was born, but she is due to return at the beginning of December. That's when I'll begin my FMLA leave from work. From what I've been told, its one of the best experiences that a dad can have and I'm greatly looking forward to it.

Also, I've updated my main web page at http://www.clarkbhm.com to include two new feeds; the first feed is entries from this very blog. The second feed is of articles that I found to be interesting or amusing. Let me know what you think!
Matthew

Abigail Pictures

2006-11-02T00:14:00.000-05:00

Abigail Pictures are available online at http://www.abigailclark.com. Enjoy!

Abigail Clark

2006-09-10T02:38:00.000-04:00

Hello all,
For those of you who don't already know, Heather and I are proud to announce the birth of our first child, Abigail Clark. Abigail was born on Wednesday September 6. Mother and baby are doing well!
Matthew

First Penguins game

2006-03-25T10:18:00.000-05:00

Heather and I went to our first Penguins game last night. We won! You can see a recap of the game here.

Steelers win the Super Bowl

2006-02-07T19:44:00.000-05:00

In case you were living in a cave in Afghanistan last weekend, you missed our very own Pittsburgh Steelers winning Super Bowl XL, their first Super bowl win since January of 1980. Heather and I were able to catch the game despite being in Charlotte for my grandmother's funeral.

On Tuesday, February 7, an estimated 250,000 people crowded downtown streets to catch the Super Bowl victory parade. You can see my pictures from the parade.

Grandmother's Funeral

2006-02-06T20:41:00.000-05:00

If you didn't know, my grandmother passed away last November in Charlotte. On February 4, we had a memorial service in Charlotte. This memorial service also acted as a family reunion as this was the first time I had seen several of my cousins in fifteen years. Pictures of the reunion are available online here.

Commuting in Pittsburgh

2006-01-15T16:51:00.000-05:00

See this article in the Post Gazette for a great report on "Commuting in Pittsburgh".

Steelers win!

2006-01-15T16:50:00.000-05:00

In a game for the ages, the Steelers upset the Colts in Indianapolis. You had to see it to appreciate it. We're off to Denver!

New Whole Foods Market

2006-01-07T01:00:00.000-05:00

Wow! I'm excited that they will soon be opening a 68,000 sq. ft. Whole Foods Market in the South Hills of Pittsburgh somewhat close to where we now live. It'll be at I-79 and Steen Road which is in nearby Bridgeville. This means that Heather and I won't have to make the trek all the way into Shadyside in order to pick up some of the hard-to-find things that we enjoy.

No spur for the spur - part of the T expansion "postponed"

2005-12-23T20:32:00.000-05:00

If you've read previous posts of mine, you'll see that I had opposed the expansion of the T to the new convention center from downtown. The entirity of the line would be wihthin the downtown zone and there would be no way for that project to make money. It turns out that the government agreed with me, at least for the time being. See http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05357/627162.stm for more on the postponement...

More on Pittsburgh mass transit

2005-10-09T02:39:00.000-04:00

An interesting article appeared in "City Paper" on the T system and expansion efforts to Oakland, the North Shore, and beyond. Check it out at http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/archive.cfm?type=Main%20Feature&action=getComplete&ref=4944

Hurricane Katrina

2005-09-08T00:29:00.000-04:00

I know its a bit late for me to be commenting on Katrina, but I can't believe the utter devastation that it has caused on the gulf coast. I know several people who live on the Mississippi and Alabama coastline, but they are out of contact at the moment and I have no idea how they fared.

The local, state, and federal governments all managed to drop the ball on the whole New Orleans situation. Since there was a mandatory evacuation of the city BEFORE the hurricane came, did it not occur to government officials that not everyone would have an easy way out? What about the hundreds of school buses that were in the city? What about the hundreds of city buses? Could these not have been utilized to take as many people out of the city as possible? Set up a special lane on the highway for buses or something.

The other thing that I've noticed is that the media has subtly shifted its focus from the suffering of the people at the Superdome to the suffering of left-behind pets. I think a completely unexpected reaction of the New Orleans public was their devotion to their pets. People were staying behind to make sure their pets were safe. The pets weren't allowed into the shelters and so people put their lives at risk to save their pets. I was just amazed!

The one gaudy aspect of this love for pets was the Hispanic lady who was the maid/housekeeper at a wealthy New Orleans mansion. The family evacuated in their big Lexus SUV and left the poor women behind to take care of the animals. What callous bastards!

It's been awhile!

2005-09-08T00:25:00.000-04:00

Wow! I didn't realize that it had been so long since I last wrote! I'll have to play a bit of catch-up.

In July, Heather and I did a LOT of work on the house, finishing up a lot of the improvements that we were working on. I went to St. Louis, MO over the last weekend for the 2005 Theta Tau Leadership Academy.

In August, our exchange student, Franzi, arrived from Germany. Like most exchange students, she's had a little bit of trouble adapting to life in America, but I think she'll make it. She's a bright kid and is really a pleasure to have around. Unfortunately, our schedules dictated that she had to remain home alone for the better part of the day for several weeks. Now that school has started, I think she'll have an easier time of things and be able to enjoy herself more.

That leads us to September...

Finally moved in!

2005-07-02T00:11:00.000-04:00

Well, we've finally moved in and get to spend the 4th of July weekend unpacking. Fun, fun!

The move continues

2005-06-23T21:47:00.000-04:00

Well, we're still getting ready to move. The date is set for Sunday, June 26th. Heather and I have been packing like crazy for the last week or so. We think we'll be done, but we're always a little worried that we won't be...

We bought a new washer, dryer, and deep freezer this past week which were delivered today. The painter finished up today. Tomorrow, we're having cleaning people come in and clean up the kitchens and bathrooms while we're having air duct specialists clean all the dirt out the air ducts. We felt that this was particularly important because of Heather's allergies and all of the dust created when we refinished the hard wood floors.

On Saturday, we'll have a little bit of leeway to make sure that everything is packed and ready to go for both houses. Sunday is the big move in day. We're really looking forward to it!

House selling on Kamin

2005-05-23T00:15:00.000-04:00

Before I forget, we are in the process of selling our old house. However, as we are currently in negotiations with the new buyers, I'm not planning on elaborating on the process. If you want to know, ask me!

House update

2005-05-23T00:07:00.000-04:00

Well, it's official. On April 25th, Heather and I closed on our new house in Mt. Lebanon. Lately, we've been coordinating work with a roofer, a painter, a general contractor, a hardwood floor specialist, and an electrician to get the house ready for us to move in.

There were several projects which we were wanting to have done before we moved in. Many people have told us that it is much easier on everyone involved if the work is done on an empty house. Thus, we're actually getting more work done then we had anticipated, but we think it will be well worth it.

An example of what we are getting done is in the living room. The living room had two built in bookshelves. (See a picture here) Although the bookshelves looked ok, neither one kept the Victorian style of the house very well. What's worse is that the bookshelf on the left was actually installed over a window. That's right, someone had removed the framing of the window and installed a bookshelf flush with the wall. This was unfortunate as the room didn't really get much light in it at all. The one window at the front of the room was shaded due to a tree and the front porch. The rest of the light in the room was coming in from the dining room.

The bookshelves were removed last week. What a difference the window makes! We walked in on Saturday morning and the room was brightly lit with the morning sun. It made quite a difference on the room and we think that it will be a change for the better.

Of course, now we have to go fix the walls behind the bookshelves, but that's a different story for a different time!

Hopefully, everything will be done in about three to four weeks and we'll be able to move into our new house!

New job!

2005-05-23T00:04:00.000-04:00

Where have I been lately? Well, I've been rather busy. I started work at a new job on Friday April 29th. My new job is working in the centralized administration group at PNC Advisors. The new job allows me the opportunity to use my legal training in reviewing trust documents to ensure that the provisions of those documents are being followed.

So far I enjoy the job and I expect that it will be a good fit for me. But, as you can guess, my new job has taken a way a huge chunk of my free time, and thus I don't have as much time to write in my blog lately. :-)

Squirrel Hill Library re-opens

2005-04-21T08:35:00.000-04:00

See Architecture review: Firm's renovation plan writes new chapter for Squirrel Hill library

Heather and I are leaving right when the Squirrel Hill library is reopening after having closed for renovations for more than a year!

Another Downtown-Oakland transit link proposed

2005-04-20T01:46:00.000-04:00

See http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05110/491030.stm

It seems like Dan Onorato wants to revitalize the Downtown to Oakland link up (among other things). The keys to this plan which makes it different from the Spine Line is that it goes above the ground (like the monorail system as Disney World or Las Vegas) and that it goes along the 2nd Avenue corridor instead of going along Fifth and Forbes.

What do I think about this? I actually think it might have a chance. One of the biggest problems that I had about the previous Spine Line plan is that they wanted to extend the T system out to Oakland using an underground tunnel. Tunnels are not cheap to build, especially one which would be several miles long. In this proposal, no tunnel is required.

The second avenue corridor currently is a busy one, but one with plenty of room for such a project. It has a bunch of transportation facilities on several different layers: Second Avenue on the bottom, I-376 (known locally as the Parkway East) in the middle) and the Boulevard of the Allies on top. Additionally, the Eliza Furnace Trail runs through the area. However, the big advantage is that there are no buildings in the way! No houses to acquire through emminant domain. Thus, again, the project would be cheaper.

The proposed project runs from the First Avenue T station (thus linking up with the entire T network) passing by the Pittsburgh Technology Center in South Oakland (on second avenue) and going into Oakland. How would it enter Oakland? Although the article didn't specify, it could easily make its way into Oakland using the virtually unused Panther Hollow/Junction Hollow area, a former slag area which has been quasi-restored and now features the small Panther Hollow Trail and a few sports fields. The advantage here is that Panther Hollow ends up on the underside of Oakland near Joncaire and Boundary Streets underneath the Schenley Bridge. Incidentely, this area was made popular by local author Michael Chabon. This area, generally used as parking lots and access for the B&O railroad to tunnel under Oakland, would make a perfect area for a transit station. You can connect the link directly to the Carnegie Library and Museum providing convenient access to the south campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Additionally, a link to the Carnegie Museum provides access to Forbes Avenue at this point. Finally, the stop could be right at the ground floor of the new Collaborative Innovation Center that is being built by CMU. One station could provide access to three different destinations!

Onorato also envisions that such an overland route could eventually link up with the old LTV mill site in Hazelwood and Carrie Furnace in Rankin. I'm not as enthusiastic about these destinations except that it could be build along the northern bank of the Monogahela River following the path of the Duck Hollow Trail. From there, its a short jaunt over the river to the Waterfront area in Homestead, a rather popular destination for students. Access to the Waterfront would allow people to be able to easily take mass transit from Oakland and Downtown to a large commercial district including a movie theatre, grocery store, lots of restaurants and other shopping.

In fact there's been talk of (re)establishing a river shuttle service from Homestead to the downtown area. This proposed service would take 30 minutes to travel from one to the other. If an elevated train system were used, you could probably get from Homestead to Oakland in 10 minutes or less and to downtown in 20 minutes or less.

Yes, this is similar to the previous Spine-Line project. However, it has a few things in its favor. First, its not underground which makes it a lot cheaper to implement. Second, by going along Second Avenue and Junction/Panther Hollow you don't have to acquire houses through emminant domain. Third, its destination in Oakland is easily accessible by a large majority of those in Oakland (with connecting access to Forbes Avenue to Squirrel Hill). Fourth, it provides easy transportation from both downtown and Oakland to the very popular Waterfront area. Additionally, a large park and ride lot could be built near the Waterfront and the Rankin bridge providing access for hundreds of commuters. This lot could be espcially useful if the Mon-Fayette Expressway is built as it should go through the area.

So, what do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment!

Today is my birthday!

2005-04-13T07:47:00.000-04:00

Today is my birthday, but I don't feel 29...

Pittsburgh Talks Forum

2005-04-08T17:43:00.000-04:00

After watching all of the endless bickering and debate on the usenet groups pgh.general and pgh.opinion, I decided to set up a bulletin board to discuss issues which confront Pittsburgh.

The board is called "Pittsburgh Talks" and can be found online at http://pittsburgh.coconia.net. The website is temporary; I'll move it if there is sufficient interest. Check it out and let me know what you think!

New name for blog

2005-04-06T02:55:00.000-04:00

Incidentely, if you haven't already noticed, I've renamed the blog from "ClarkBHM's Blog" to "From Birmingham to Pittsburgh". Why the change? Well, I wanted to try to find something distinctive. Something that would tell my blog apart from the rest of the world. I looked through some stuff and found that a great many blogs out there are titled things like "Jim's blog" or whatever. Unless you know Jim personally, there's really no reason to read his blog.

I tried to take a different approach. I wanted to convey both a sense of who I am and a sense of what I'd like to talk about. After considering several choices, I settled on "From Birmingham to Pittsburgh" because it meets both descriptions. I am a Birmingham, Alabama native who moved to Pittsburgh in 2000. Even as this tells literally who I am, it also gives an idea of what I wanted to focus on in the future: Pittsburgh as the city in which I live. I wanted to be able to include the name "Pittsburgh" in the title as well so that if people will searching for Blogs on Pittsburgh it would come up. I, of course, must now endeavor to write more about Pittsburgh.

Thus, my new sense of purpose for this blog is to write about Pittsburgh and my thoughts and experiences surrounding it. This will give me a chance to analyze some of the things going on in the Pittsburgh area while at the same time sharing some of my life as a "Pittsburgher". Any thoughts? Leave a comment!

Americans may need passports to re-enter U.S. from Canada, Mexico

2005-04-06T02:54:00.000-04:00

Check out Americans may need passports to re-enter U.S. from Canada, Mexico

It looks like the days of travelling out of the US without a passport are over. Passports will be required to go anywhere outside of the US. Go ahead and read the article and I'll make some comments...

However, I think that the article is really overstating matters. Once you get a passport, it's good for ten years. All of these people suddenly won't be able to take last minute trips? They'll only need to get a passport once! Renewal is incredibly easy as long as you plan for it in advance. I renewed my passport last year with no difficulty.

On top of this, it might actually speed things up a bit. Passports are designed to be quickly processed with all sorts of bar codes and stuff built into them. If EVERYONE crossing the border is presenting a passport instead of drivers license/birth certificates as they do now, the system can be standardized and streamlined. You won't get border guards in Buffalo trying to figure out whether or not the New Mexico driver's license in front of them is legit. Either the passport is valid or its not.

The border between the US and Mexico is a mess nowadays anyways with so called "Minutemen" so fed up with the situation that they've decided to patrol the border with Mexico themselves. The border with Canada is wide open for most of its length as it is. Anyone with false identification papers such as a drivers license, etc. can make it through US customs coming in from Canada. If Canada cannot stop terrorists from entering Canada on false documentation, the US must take action. If Mexico cannot stop people from illegally crossing the border, the US must take action.

One other person has strong points of view on this: Bill O'Reilly. Now you may or may not like him, but on this I think he has the right idea. The federal government should allow our military to patrol the border with Mexico. If that's what it takes to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the country, then I'm all for it...

Fixing the Dinosaurs of the Carnegie Museum

2005-04-04T23:34:00.000-04:00

NPR : Carnegie's Famed Dinosaurs Get a Makeover is an NPR report on the dinosaurs at the Carnegie Museum in Oakland.

Good news for Pittsburgh

2005-03-30T12:37:00.000-05:00

Apparantly, the convention center IS getting more business then previously thought. Check out City to host 2 new large conventions. I'm still not sure whether or not we should build a hotel at the convention center though... It seems we're doing well enough attracting conventions without it.

Pittsburgh Spine Line

2005-03-29T18:42:00.000-05:00

A while ago, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette asked several different people what they think should be done to improve traffic between Oakland and Downtown. SeePittsburgh Post-Gazette - Benchmarks. Apparently, an idea that was abandoned in 1996 was to have the Downtown "T" system connected to Oakland, either by an underground light rail line acting as a subway, or as an above ground line. The cost for this expansion that was floated around was around 1$ billion dollars. My guess is that this cost was for an underground line and that it was likely to be much less if it took an above ground route.

Anyway, let's think about this idea logically. Oakland is one of the biggest employment areas in the entire state. The downtown to Oakland corridor is one of the most heavily traveled corridors in the state as well. But lets think about the people who are making that trip...

Two obvious groups come to mind: students and workers. The students making that trip are going downtown for various reasons. However, from my experience as a student at the University of Pittsburgh Law School is that the only students who went downtown for any reason at all was to go to jobs in downtown firms. No one went downtown for any other reason. If people needed to go downtown, they typically would drive instead of taking the buses.

Ah, the buses! That's the current method of getting from Oakland to downtown on mass-transit. The heavily traveled "Fifth and Forbes" corridor takes buses down both of those streets in both downtown and Oakland. This is the spine of the "spine line" idea. The trip doesn't take that long. Additionally, the trip in reverse (downtown to Oakland) has the additional advantage of continuing onwards to points east of Oakland. Oakland is a major stop on the way for most of these buses, conveniently located between downtown and points east. Thus, there is a pretty good bus system already in place between downtown and points east.

That brings us to employment. Workers are the main people who use the "T" system as it is. Workers would probably be the primary ones to use the "T" system east of downtown. So, people who live in Oakland could take the T into downtown. Alternatively, they could take the already existing bus system into downtown. Additionally, the "T" system wouldn't be much of a benefit to Shadyside. Shadyside already has a direct route into downtown via the east busway. In fact, so does East Liberty, Homewood, Wilkinsburg, Edgewood, Swissvale and Rankin. All of these are points east of Oakland and Squirrel Hill which are served by the "T". Additionally, the EBO route serves the busway and connects directly into Oakland itself. Thus, Oakland is already connected to those commuters in "points east". Commuters in "points east" are connected to both Oakland and downtown via the east busway.

Because these commuters are already serviced by the east busway, you have to think that an extension past Oakland could service Squirrel Hill and ... well, and not much else. It could turn south maybe and head towards Homestead and the Waterfront development down that way. However, if the primary focuses is commuters into Oakland and downtown, serving a shopping area doesn't meet that goal.

Thus, an evaluation of the spine line extension of the T system must focus on servicing Oakland and Squirrel Hill. Could these two places use a T system? Maybe. Are these two places adequately serviced by buses? I'd have to say yes. The Oakland area is serviced by bus routes 100, 28K, 28X, 44U, 500, 501, 53F, 53H, 54C, 56U, 59U, 61A, 61B, 61C, 67A, 67C, 67E, 67F, 67H, 67J, 69A, 71A, 71C, 71D, 74B, 77U, 81A, 81B, 84A, 84B, EBO. That's 31 bus routes serving the area. Many of the bus routes (those with a U designation, are direct routes to Oakland and don't go downtown. Many of them do go downtown (the 61s, the 71s, the 67s). Squirrel Hill is serviced by 501, 56U, 59U, 61A, 61B, 61C, 64A, 67H, 69A, 74A, W, with the first 5 routes travelling directly from the universities to the heart of Squirrel Hill. 67H is a direct route from Squirrel Hill to downtown. 64A and 74A service other areas then Oakland and downtown.

My point being is that at present, there are many opportunities to commute by bus from both Squirrel Hill and Oakland. Commuters aren't going to want to walk the extra distance to the Squirrel Hill T station if they can just walk to the corner to take the bus. Thus, unless there are drastic cut-backs in the number of bus lines which service either Squirrel Hill or Oakland, people are going to go for what is convenient to them.

In the end, if it were built, I think it will end up to be the unfortunate case of an expensive system being built to service a rather small number of people. Any projected estimates are likely to be off by many many people per day. Alas, this is the norm for projects in the southwestern Pennsylvania area. Other examples include the recently opened Wabash Tunnel, the HOV lane north of the city, the Beaver Valley Expressway, the Greensburg Bypass, and the Mon-Fayette Expressway, not to mention the famous "Bridge to Nowhere" which is now the Ft. Duquesne Bridge.

Building an extension of the T system to Oakland and beyond would end up being a waste of money. A giant project that politicians can point to with pride...until the actual ridership numbers come in. Then, they'll find someone else to blame; they'll blame us, the citizens for not riding the public transit system.

After all, when was the last time you saw the mayor of Pittsburgh on the bus?

North Shore Connector Project

2005-03-27T17:01:00.000-05:00

My current interest has to do with the North Shore Connector Project, a proposal by the Port Authority of Allegheny County to extend Pittsburgh's tiny subway system (Part of the 25-mile long "T" system) to service the two stadiums on the north side of the Allegheny River by tunneling under the river. A second project would extend the subway to reach the renovated convention center. Are these projects worth it?

The convention center probably isn't. This part of the project adds a .3 mile extension to the system to reach the convention center for all of the convention guests that Pittsburgh supposedly has. For what purpose? First, if convention center guests want to walk to the T station at Steel Plaza, the distance is only .3 miles. That's prety close if you ask me. I used to walk further then that from my bus stop at Forbes and Wightman in Squirrel Hill. Besides, this particular route is in the downtown "free" zone meaning that no one using this extension would be a paying customer. Visitors would ride the T to Steel Plaza for free. Then they would probably have to get off and change trains to go anywhere else. Thus, they save the inconvenience of having to walk .3 miles, but the time waiting for the train to arive would probably be longer then it would be to simply walk the distance. Additionally, where would they go? The only probably place of interest of convention center visitors is to go to Station Square on the south side of the Monongahela River. Station Square features a bit of night life and shopping that the rest of downtown doesn't have. However, even the Station Square "T" shop isn't very convenient (being across the highway from the entrance to the area, and I just don't see it as a major draw for tons of convention visitors. Further south on the "T" lines, there is nothing to appeal to the convention visitor to Pittsburgh. Not to say that there isn't anything; the line services places like the South Hills Mall and Mt. Lebanon. However, I think that the service is more of a commuter route than it is a route for visitors.

Additionally, the convention center itself hasn't had the kind of visitors that were promised to the city when it was built. We have a fine facility. However, there are no hotels at the site and no one wants to build a hotel there. "Build a hotel!" the developers cry. However, I just don't think that there is the demand for a hotel there. It's a catch-22 situation. Without a hotel, there is no demand for the convention center. No one wants to build a hotel unless people are using the convention center. Either way, I just don't see many events happening there and to spend x number of dollars to extend a subway line to the convention center is a waste of money.

On the other hand, I think the extension to the stadia is a good idea---maybe. The Gateway center station, the last station on the T line would have to be rebuilt in order to accomodate the additional traffic as currently it only has one platform for both arrivals and departures. The route would go north from there and tunnel under the Allegheny River where it would make a stop near the parking lots between PNC Park, where the Pittsburgh Pirates play, and Heinz Field, where the Pittsburgh Steelers play. Why service a park? Why not service PNC Park directly (the route goes right by the park). Well, I think there is a three part goal here. The first is an effort to get more commuters to use the parking lot between the two stadia in an effort to reduce traffic downtown. The second is that supposedly the land between the two stadiums is supposed to be developed with shops and an ampitheater. Third is that the station would be near the Community College of Allegheny County. I'd rather move the station to be closer to PNC Park personally. They have the room for it but I have no idea why they're not doing it.

The second stop at the stadiums is on the northwest corner of Heinz Field. This stop services the stadium pretty well and ensures that people will use the entrance on that corner (currently the "main entrance" is on the south side of the stadium by the river).

Why service places that will only be used a few times a year? Because as opposed to the expansion to the convention center, we know that these lines will be used. Currently, thousands of people ride the Gateway Clipper ships from Station Square to the stadium. It would be much more convenient for these thousands of people to take a quick subway trip to the same place. Additionally, we're talking about 60,000+ people for a Steelers game and probably 20,000+ for a Pirates game (of which there are many more games through the year). This will definitely reduce traffic around the stadiums as more people will be able to park downtown and at station square to go to the games. Additionally, people on the south side of Allegheny County can use the Park and Ride lots and take the T system all the way in to the city and provide them with direct access to the stadiums. This will further reduce traffic in the area. After all, isn't the reduction of traffic a desireable goal for everyone?

On that last sentence, there are people out there who never use the "T" or ride a bus and they can't stand the idea that some of their tax money is going to subsidize those service. Here is my argument... If 50,000 people commute by bus each day, aren't you benefiting? Can you imagine what the traffic would be like if there were 50,000 additional cars downtown? Can you imagine the backup through Pittsburgh's various tunnel systems if we didn't have projects like the West End Connector to allow buses to use their own tunnels to access the city? Public transportation benefits everyone, even those who don't use it.

Next time, more on public transportation and the proposed "Spine Line" to Oakland.

pittsburgh webloggers | Write here in Pittsburgh...

2005-03-27T16:37:00.000-05:00

pittsburgh webloggers has a link to many blogs that are written by Pittsburghers. I don't know why I'm not listed, but I guess it's because I don't write on Pittsburgh often enough. I'll have to keep my eye out on Pittsburgh things about which to write. My next entries will thus be about the Port Authority and the "T" system.

Receive updates by email

2005-03-24T11:02:00.000-05:00

I installed a new mechanism that can allow you to receive updates by email whenever I change my blog. It's called "ChangeDetection". I use the service myself to keep track of various websites.

In the box on the right, under the Archives section, there's a place to input your email address. You'll be taken to a different screen to confirm your enrollment for this particular page. Click next. You'll need to confirm your email address to make sure that others don't sign up on your behalf. Then, it's done. You'll get an email when I update my blog.

The emails look like this:

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Little Shop of Horrors

2005-03-23T22:31:00.000-05:00

Heather and I went to see "Little Shop of Horrors" tonight at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh. Neither of us really cared for the stage production. I felt that the movie version was far superior, in quality if nothing else. Heather felt that the songs were neither memorable nor moving. We both felt that the plot was so basic and simple that it left a lot to be desired. Needless to say, we were disappointed.

On top of that, Heinz Hall is probably the worst place to see a production. The accoustics sounded muffled which is really odd considering that Heinz Hall is where the Pittsburgh Symphony plays.

PS - The Post-Gazette wasn't nearly as harsh. See http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05083/476553.stm

Updated "States Visited" map

2005-03-23T11:17:00.000-05:00

Click to create your own personalized map of the USA

Mt. Lebanon House

2005-03-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

Mt. Lebanon House
Today, Heather and I put an offer on a house which was accepted. The house is in Mt. Lebanon, PA, about 5.5 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. We're really excited about it as it was a really good value and will give us a place which we can call home for the long term. We love our current house, but it really isn't big enough for the two of us as it is now, much less if we have children running around. Anyway, you can see some of the pictures I took today on my website here. Let me know what you think!

U2 Tour in Pittsburgh

2005-03-19T12:23:00.000-05:00

U2.com | Tours

Heather and I were among the lucky few to get tickets to the U2 concert to be held this October here in Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. We paid an arm and a leg for the tickets, but it's something we're really excited about. I last saw U2 in concert when they came to Birmingham in Fall 1992. Heather has never seen them in concert.

This will only be the fourth concert I've ever been to. The first was the U2 concert in 1992. The second was a Hootie & the Blowfish concert in 1996. The third was a Simon & Garfunkel concert with Heather last year in Cleveland. Four times a charm!

Radio Information Service

2005-03-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

I have recently started volunteering with the Radio Information Service here in Pittsburgh. The RIS is a reading service that broadcasts the reading of print material for people who are blind, visually impaired, or have difficulty holding standard print material. If you are eligible, you can receive a special radio receiver which allows you to receive the broadcasts. Among other things, the service gives print impaired persons the means to "read" daily newspapers, magazines, and books of interest.

I had volunteered for the Radio Reading Service in Birmingham, Alabama for two or three years in high school, until I left for college. In Birmingham, I was a substitute reader for the Birmingham News, the afternoon paper.

Here in Pittsburgh, I started as a substitute reader. I started substituting for a program called "Heritage". Last week, I was asked if I would continue on as the normal reader for "Heritage". I'm excited about the opportunity!

Heritage is a one hour program featuring historical news and notes, profiles of people and places, personal accounts of historical events, restoration, historical culture. Basically, I choose several articles to read from magazines such as The History Channel, American Heritage, and Smithsonian on these topics, cobble together a one hour program, and record it at the RIS studio. My program airs twice a week, Thursdays at 5 PM and Sundays at 11 PM.

Do you want to hear what I sound like on the radio? It's pretty easy! Go to http://www.readingservice.org. Then, click on "Listeners" at the top. Next, click on "Web Archives and Live Stream" on the left. Choose a media player appropriate to your computer, either WinAmp, Windows Media Player, or Real Player (I like WinAmp). Scroll down to "Heritage" and click it. The last five or six programs will start playing in your player with the most recent one playing first. If you do decide to listen in, send me an email with your thoughts! I'm always interested in ways of improving the program.

Davis and Sacramento, California

2005-03-13T01:52:00.000-05:00

I recently posted pictures on my website of my recent trip to Davis, California to help out with the installation of the University of California-Davis Colony of Theta Tau. The pictures include a meeting with the colony, hanging out after installation, a formal dinner, and a day trip to the state capitol building in Sacramento. Check it out at http://media.clarkbhm.com/pages/2005/Davis-California.htm

Trip to Virginia

2005-02-23T09:46:00.000-05:00

Part of my responsibilities as a member of the Theta Tau Executive Council is to visit at least one chapter per semester. Last semester, I was able to visit two of our chapters in New York, one at Binghamton University and the other at the University of Buffalo.

This past weekend, I drove from Pittsburgh to Richmond, VA to visit with our chapter at Virginia Commonwealth University. I spent an enjoyable weekend with the chapter which included eating dinner with the officers on Friday night, a cookout/football game on Saturday afternoon and a chapter meeting on Saturday evening. It was good to see the chapter doing well. I enjoyed the football game, although it was rather cold out and the out-of-shape Matthew was in no condition to play. Nevertheless, I ran and ran until I could run no more. I ended up with a bruised rib, but I enjoyed the game.

On Sunday, I drove to Charlottesville, VA with David McCall to visit our chapter at the University of Virginia. After a pleasant two hour meeting with them, I left Charlottesville at around 4:30 to try to make it home by 10:00 PM.

It wasn't meant to be. I actually had a good trip and was making decent time until I hit the Pennsylvania turnpike. Evil road that it is, if you haven't driven it, I would rate it as one of the worst interstates in the nation. The road is so old that it wasn't built up to modern standards. So state officials have to reduce the speed limit on the highway because it just can handle traffic going 65 mph. Yep, that's right! A good portion of the interstate is at the old 55 mph speed limit. Furthermore, there are parts of the road where you can't even see the lines on the highway and thus can't tell what lane you're supposed to be in. An added benefit, of course, is that you get to pay for the "privilege" of driving on it.

Anyway, I'm driving down the interstate and it starts raining. Well, it looks like rain but its actually freezing rain. However, in the car, I can't tell that its freezing rain so I assume that its raining. I've already slowed down quite a bit, partially because of the rain and partially because of the lack of lane lines as I had previously mentioned. Anyway, I'm headed up a hill at around 50 mph and see some cars ahead on the side of the road, about two cars per side. Being cautious, I slow down to make sure everything is alright. I hit the brakes gently, but I'm in trouble.

There must have been a patch of black ice on the highway. When I hit the brakes, the car angles about 20 degrees to the right, but continues straight forward. I turn the wheel to the left to compensate. The car lurches sharply to the left so I'm not headed about 45 degrees to the left. I turn the wheel sharply to the right and end up doing a 360 right in the middle of the interstate (at 50 mph!). The car comes all the way around and I end up driving off the highway on the right hand side. Luckily, this was a good place to drive off the road as the only thing there was an embankment. (Ever notice that not every place to drive off the interstate is safe? Some of them would involve quite a long fall and there is no guard rail to protect you!) The car slid into and up on to the embankment and stalled out.

Obviously shaken I was worried that other cars might hit that stretch of road and careen out of control and into my car. I drove up onto the embankment and got out of the car. I looked all around the car to take a visual survey of any damage. Luckily, there appeared to be none. I got back into the car, took a few minutes to calm down, and slowly drove off of the embankment. I pulled back into the traffic on the interstate which was crawling along by this point. I passed by several cars which were on the side of the road for various reasons. Then, the line of traffic I was in started weaving its way through the wreck area.

In the space of 1/4 mile, there were five different cars damaged from what looked like three different wrecks. Some of these cars were damaged quite extensively also, as in there was nothing left of the car in front of the windshield, or there was no trunk, only back seat. A policeman arrived as we were weaving through, but luckily no one appeared to be seriously hurt. I didn't hear of any deaths or serious injuries from these accidents on the turnpike, so I can assume that everyone made it ok.

The Somerset travel plaza was only a mile or so up the road so I made the decision to pull over, get out, and calm down. I got out of the car and had some dinner. (Burger King; blech!) Well, I got back into the car and started down the road. What's that noise? I get out and check. Ah yes, I have a flat tire. Great. Without too much difficulty, I made it to the Sunoco station at the travel plaza. I had two options. I could put the spare tire on the car and try to drive it all the way to Pittsburgh (in the crappy weather) or I could see if I could get the tire fixed or the car towed into Pittsburgh with AAA. After discussing it with Heather I chose the latter option. I called AAA and waited.

In the meantime, I used the air pumps at the gas station to refill the tire. By the time that AAA had arrived however, the tire had gone flat again. The AAA guy took the tire off and tried inspecting it for holes. He did this by overinflating the tire to 50 PSI and looking for leaks. He didn't find anything. He looked for fifteen minutes or so out in the cold and freezing rain and didn't find anything at all. He said that he thought I could make it to Pittsburgh on the spare, but I was to drive slowly and I might not make it over Ligonier Mountain.

I had thought about driving in, but since I had already narrowly avoided an accident with four good tires, I didn't feel that much more confident in driving in that weather with a spare tire on the car. After consulting with Heather again, I decided to just stop and spend the night there in Somerset. I had him put the spare tire on the car and drove two miles to the Somerset exit.

I opted to stay at the Knight's Inn in Somerset, mainly because the sign was advertising a "1-person 1-bed" rate at $35/night. I pulled into the Knight's Inn, got a room, unloaded the car, and got some sleep. By this time it was 11:00 PM.

I awoke the next morning at around 6:30 thanks to garbage trucks servicing the hotel. I tried to get some more shut-eye, but was unsuccessful. I gathered my stuff, packed the car, checked out of the hotel and drove to the wal-mart in Somerset. I figured that I needed a new tire and that I might as well get a cheap one to get me back to Pittsburgh. After all, the tire that had gone flat was virtually new with nice deep treads and was still under warranty.

At the wal-mart, the mechanic looked at the tire and declared that he couldn't find a hole in the tire. In fact, the tire had held a charge of 50 PSI since the previous night. I explained what had happened the night before and he had an idea. Apparently, when I had his the embankment, the force of the car had been sufficient to push some dirt in between the tire and the rim. This allowed enough of a gap to let the tire go flat. Once the AAA guy had put 50 PSI in the tire, there was enough pressure to seal the gap that the dirt had created. That's why he couldn't find a leak.

A simple enough procedure, all the wal-mart guy did was unmount the tire, clean off the rim and the tire, and remount and rebalance it. It was done in 10 minutes for $6.50. The guy could have sold me a new tire and I would have been none the wiser. Kudos to the Somerset wal-mart for their honesty!

With my tire fixed and the weather cleared up, I headed back to Pittsburgh. I finally made it in at 11:00 AM, a mere 18 1/2 hours after I left. Of the many trips that Heather and I have taken back and forth from Charlottesville, this one definitely qualifies as the longest one! We are both happy and thankful that I was able to make it back without any serious injury.

Wow! That took me about 45 minutes to write! I hope you enjoy the post...

Opinion Column from PC Magazine: Free Porn Magic for You!

2005-02-12T03:14:00.000-05:00

Opinion Column from PC Magazine: Free Porn Magic for You!

John C. Dvorak has written a interesting column which tells a lot about the needs and wants of the internet public. Just by putting certain words into an article such as "Free", "Porn" or "Magic", the ratings on a particular article will jump up and stay up. Take a read if you're at all interested...

Betterfinger!

2005-02-06T01:55:00.000-05:00

Well, I'd prefer a butterfinger, but a better finger will work nicely as well.

I did get my stiches off a week ago and have been healing nicely. However, I'm somewhat concerned that I've lost a great deal of sensativity in that area of my thumb. I wonder if it will ever recover?

Otherwise, things are going just dandy for me. I'll watch the Super Bowl later this evening in the hopes that Philadelphia will win. All this talk about the Patriots' "dynasty" is getting a bit annoying and I hope that the Eagles will be able to shut them up.

Stupidity and a cut finger

2005-01-21T13:43:00.000-05:00

Actually stupidity isn't exactly the right word. Maybe carelessness is a better term. Yesterday I was chopping onions for a recipe. I had just finished cutting up a large steak and was still using the large knife for cutting. (Click here for a picture.) Anyway, chop, chop, chop go the onions. Then, my left thumb got to close to the blade and CHOP! The blade hit the side of my thumb, creating a gash about a 1/2 inch deep.

After calling Heather, we took a trip to the hospital for sutures. My reward was five stiches across the inside part of my thumb towards the tip. I'll have stiches until next Friday.

I guess I got lucky. It definitely could have been a lot worse. I didn't cut a tendon. I didn't cut it off. However, it still hurts like hell!

Les Miserables in Pittsburgh

2005-01-17T05:00:00.000-05:00

BTW, I wanted to mention that Heather and I had the chance to see the musical Les Miserables last Tuesday when it came to Pittsburgh. Although I've seen the musical at least three other times before, it had been quite some time since I last saw it (1995?).

We really enjoyed it. I know the music by heart and actually own multiple versions of the soundtracks, in several languages. Nevertheless, most of the acting and singing was superb. My only gripe is that some of the lyrics were changed. Not really changed as much as having some select snippets of particular songs removed. I guess the writers felt that they didn't add as much to the score as they distracted. Anyway, some of those snippets were my favorites!

Nevertheless, I'd highly recommend that you take the effort to see it!

Go Steelers go!

2005-01-16T04:51:00.000-05:00

It was "Two miracles in two minutes" at Heinz Field on Saturday. If you missed the game, Pittsburgh had every chance to lose the game, and I really think they were working for it. Game tied 17-17, the Jets marched down field and lined up for a field goal with 2 minutes left. Boom goes the kick..........CLANG! The ball bounces off the crossbar. No goal.

Pittsburgh takes over the ball and promptly throws an interception on the next play. The Jets have the ball in perfect field position to win the game. With two seconds left on the game clock they line up for another field goal. Boom goes the kick...........MISS! The ball sailed wide left. Thousands of Steelers fans worldwide yell out simultaneously. Ironically, the game started with the "world's largest terrible towel wave". Instead, they got the world's largest sigh of relief and cry of joy.

In overtime, the Jets win the coin toss. They end up doing nothing with the ball and punt. The Steelers are able to take the ball, march down field, and kick the winning field goal.

This was definitely a game that the Steelers had lost, but amazingly they won. Up next? The AFC Championship game here in Pittsburgh against the New England Patriots. This is a rematch of the Halloween game that I attended with Heather's dad earlier this year. All I can say is "Go Steelers!"

New webpage

2005-01-15T10:52:00.000-05:00

I have finally registered my own domain and have a new website. You can check it out at http://www.clarkbhm.com. I get more space for a lower price then my previous page. Plus, it's a heck of a lot easier to find then http://home.earthlink.net/~clarkbhm, which makes my wife happy. Anyway, please feel free to check it out. I've merged it with my other picture page at http://mysite.verizon.net/matthewclark/index.htm. As you can see, my web page was spread out across two or more servers. Now it's almost completely in one place!

BTW, sorry it's been so long since I've written anything substantial. I guess I just don't feel like I have much to say!

What a surprising election!

2004-11-03T13:36:00.000-05:00

Wow! What can I say? This electionwas surprising in several ways. First the voter turnout was incredible. There were a record number of voters. Also, a higher percentage of those eligible to vote actually voted, the highest percentage since 1968. It really goes against the conventional wisdom that if voter turnout is high then the Democrats will win...

In addition to winning the electoral college, Bush won the popular vote by over 3 million votes. Maybe Democrats will finally put to rest all of their complaining after the 2000 election that Bush was not the legitimate president.

Kerry will be conceding the vote later on today... I'll have to watch and see what he says.

Steelers beat the Patriots

2004-11-01T19:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Heather's father and I went to go see the Steelers take on the the Patriots at Heinz Field here in Pittsburgh. What an incredible game! New England had had a 21 game winning streak going into the game and were the defending Super Bowl champions. The Steelers dominated almost every aspect of the game and were victorious.

The game has been widely cited as one of the best Steelers games in years. I'm glad that Hunter and I were able to go!

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!

From 'Rust Belt' to 'Arts Mecca'

2004-10-21T19:57:00.000-04:00

From Rust Belt to arts mecca | csmonitor.com

This is another interesting article about "reinventing" Pittsburgh...

This land is your land

2004-09-30T20:13:00.000-04:00

JibJab.com

If you haven't seen this yet, go see it now... Just click on "This land" to play...

Bar Exam Results

2004-09-28T23:24:00.000-04:00

I'm pleased to announce that the Pennsylvania Bar Exam results were released this morning. I passed the bar! I was actually pretty worried about whether or not I would pass and was dreading the possibility of having to retake the bar again in February. You can see the officials lists at
http://www.pabarexam.org/Bar_Examination/Results/Result_Information.htm

I was amused that my neighbors congratulated me this afternoon... They had looked me up at work!

Ivan Part II

2004-09-16T15:25:00.000-04:00

Hurricane Ivan has finally come ashore in the United States with a direct hit on Gulf Shores, Alabama. I know that area very well as my family vacations there frequently and my sister owns a condo in Orange Beach, Alabama, a few miles away. They have "storm shutters" installed on their condo unit and it is well above the storm surge line, but judging from some of the damage on other buildings, it's possible they suffered severe damage. They won't know for some time how their unit fared as the roads into Gulf Shores are closed for at least 48 hours.

Nearby Pensacola appears to have suffered extensive damage as well. Probably the most impressive is a section of the interstate over the water way which has collapsed from the storm damage. That's some pretty powerful stuff!

There's been some discussion in the media as to whether or not these people deserve to receive federal disaster relief; they keep building in the same locations after each storm. My argument in response is whether or not we should offer relief to California after earthquakes or Oklahoma after tornados. Each region of the country has its own inherant natural risks involved with living there. It's up to those people to decide whether or not they want to put up with the risks. The deciding factor for most is whether or not they can get insurance for their property. If they can, they'll live there. If not, they probably won't. I realize that this is probably over simplified, but I guess people should just be allowed to live where they want to. Can you imagine visiting Florida without any residences or hotels near the coasts?

I'm glad that New Orleans was spared though... There was a worry that if it had been hit directly by the storm, the resulting flooding of the city would have taken three to six months to drain out...

Maglev and the expansion of the T-line

2004-09-14T19:17:00.000-04:00

Pittsburgh is faced with two different projects. One, the Maglev project, is supposed to run from the airport, through downtown, out to Monroeville and Greensburg using a maglev train. A different project is an extension of the T line under the Allegheny River to connect with the two stadiums.

Which one to do? Probably neither. There is definitely not the demand for a high speed Maglev here in Pittsburgh, especially considering that USAir may be gone by the time groundbreaking occurs. A better option there would probably be to build a Las Vegas/Los Angeles line. You'd actually have demand on both ends of the line; ultimately it'd probably end up paying for itself.

Digging a tunnel under the Allegheny River? Not really necessary either. Who's going to take it? It's pretty easy to walk to the stadiums from downtown on game days, so it's not going to service downtown traffic. People who park at station square are probably going to continue to take the ferry boats across the river on game days. That leaves everyone south of town with access to the T who is willing to take the T to the game, not very many people.

If the money's going to be spent to dig something, a better use would definitely be to run a line out to Oakland, allowing commuters who ride the T to be able to take it all the way to Oakland without having to get out and take the bus. Students would also be able to take the T to Station Square, a popular destination. In essence, build a line that will be used daily, not a line that will only be used during game days in the summer and fall and not at all in the winter and spring.

Ideally, the money should be used to support the above ground services of the Port Authority (the bus system) which continually raises prices and cuts back on services. When will the government learn that the more people take the bus, the less problems they have with traffic congestion and pollution?

This really should be a moot point. Does the city government not realize that Pittsburgh is almost bankrupt as it is? Do we really need to be spending any more money expanding the T or building a maglev when we can barely cover police and fire services?

Hurricane Ivan

2004-09-11T14:15:00.000-04:00

It was with a heavy heart that I searched the internet for news on the devistation that Hurricane Ivan wrought on Grenada in recent days. As you may know from our website, Heather and I went to Grenada last March to sail on the Yankee Clipper, a Windjammer boat. We spent our first day and a half in Grenada, touring around and becoming familiar with St. George's, the capital of Grenada.

This from the CDERA news report was particularly disturbing:

"Nine of every ten buildings are damaged or destroyed. Virtually every school and church in the Capital St Georges as well as the police headquarters has been destroyed. The only two buildings in reasonable condition are the Grenada General Hospital and Government Headquarters."

We visited the Anglican church while in St. George's and took several pictures. Now, the roof is missing and the church is gutted. Also, the soccer stadium outside of the capital was heavily damaged (see http://stormcarib.com/reports/2004/jpg00469.jpg for a picture.)

The ship that we were on took refuge in Trinidad. The crew appears to be ok, but at least one crew member's house is completely destroyed, although his family is safe. With 90% of the buildings destroyed, well over 80% of the islands 100,000 population are assumed to be homeless. Electricity isn't expected to be restored for three to six months. The prison was destroyed and all of the prisoners escaped. There was looting in the streets. There no food and no fresh water, not to mention no shelter. The islands two largest industries, tourism and nutmeg production are gone. These people are in desparate need of help and the situation is likely to be bad for quite some time.

Although I feel bad for the Floridians who lost property during their recent hurricanes, at least most of them had insurance. They have food to eat and a place to sleep, even if it is in a temporary shelter. I think the worst thing I saw was a lady the day after Hurricane Frances struck standing outside some store. She was pointing at the store complaining that it wasn't open for business. I wanted to yell "They evacuated, you idiot! You should have too! Why are you still here?" Even though Florida is a mess, it's nothing compared to the devistation that Ivan inflicted on Grenada.

Thoughts on the election

2004-09-09T01:41:00.000-04:00

Wow! It's been a long time sense I've posted anything. I guess It's not exactly the first thing to cross my mind every day. I'm sure that you, the faithful reader, would prefer I post more often. We'll see how things go.

So my wife and I have been having an ongoing discussion on who we think will win the election. She's already made up her mind and I'm considered one of those rare undecided votes that they keep trying to persuade. Anyway, I've found that your location reflects a lot on who you think will win. For example, when I was in Mississippi for the 1996 election, it seemed like Dole would simply overwhelm Clinton. Reality was far from it. In 2000 in Pennsylvania, it felt like Gore was going to win. This year, here in Pennsylvania it seems like Kerry will win also, but all of the national polls appear to be going the other direction. I'm sure some of this is a function of one state leaning the opposite direction then the rest of the nation. Pennsylvania is definitely more of a swing state then Mississippi was. However, to me, it just makes it more difficult for me to objectively predict the outcome of the election.

Some people have said that it would be poetic justice for Kerry to lose the popular election and win the electoral college. I'd have to agree. I'd also argue, however, that if this happens, then it's obvious that the electoral college system should be scrapped. I'm not exactly sure why it wasn't last time, but I think a second "special" election would do the trick.

While I'm on it, there has been some commentary about the unfairness of the candidate selection process. A good article on the subject is from BusinessWeek's June 14, 2004 article titled "No Way to Pick a Nominee". Each state's primaries are getting earlier and earlier in an attempt to out-do each other and actually have an input in who the candidate is. However, in this years election, Kerry was selected in 29 days by states with just 22% of the total population. Kerry effectively won with the February 17th Wisconsin primary, after only 16 states had held their primary elections. The four most populated states, California, New York, Texas, and Florida has no say at all, even though they had pushed their primaries up to March 2nd (for CA and NY) and March 9th (for TX and FL). To see the dates for various states, here is a list.

To this end, I've never had a vote which mattered in the nomination process. In Alabama in 1996 and 2000, we didn't hold the primary until June, one of the last of the states. In Pennsylvania this year, the primary was in late April, after everything was said and done. I imagine that there is a large percentage of the voting population who have never had a vote that mattered in regards to the presidential nomination process.

I see three possible solutions to this. The first two were suggested by the BusinessWeek article. The first proposed that the calendar start with the 13 smallest states in March, the next 12 largest in April and the 12 largest in June. With 60% of the delegates available in the final round, a candidate couldn't get a lock on the election until Memorial Day.

The next, also suggested by BusinessWeek is to use a lottery to assign dates. The 25 smallest states would be allowed to draw for 10 slots in March. All other states would draw for a primary date in April, May, and June. The goal of this would be to return to the pattern of 1960 through 1976, when states accounting for half of the population held their contests in mid-May or later.

My idea is to have ten dates set, two a month for five months. States in groups of five, in contiguous areas would vote on the same day. Then, another region of the country would vote on the next primary date. The nation would proceed though the ten different days giving the candidates two weeks to visit five states. States in each region would be close together to allow the candidates to travel easily among the states. Thus, the first group could be ME, NH, VT, MA, RI, the next group could be CT, NY, PA, NJ, DE, the next group could be MD, VA, NC, SC, GA and so on... There are two keys to this plan... The first is that the state grouping should be relatively stable and not change this is important because the second key is to rotate the dates among all of the states. Thus, in 2004, the first set of states would vote on the first primary date. In 2008, the first set has to vote last in June and everyone else gets bumped up a slot so that the previous second set would get to vote first. This system allows that no state continually dominates the nomination process. New Hampshire? You have to vote last the next time. Virginia? Michigan? Pennsylvania? Your day will come. Every 40 years or so, a state would get a chance to vote first. That translates to an average person will get to have a vote which counts to the nomination process at least once in their life (unless they move at the wrong time). Considering that it's quite possible that some people have never had a counting vote in the nomination process, I think once in a lifetime is a definite improvement.

This plan would also work with one date per month and ten states on each election date. This would allow the rotation to come around every 20 years or so and an average citizen would get to vote first three or four times in his lifetime. However, the point remains the same; every state should get a chance to have its citizens' votes count.

What do you think? Should the system be changed? Are there obvious flaws in any of these three methods? Are any of these methods workable? Do you prefer one over the other, or do you prefer that things remain the way they are? Post a comment and let everyone know!

Another Gmail giveaway

2004-08-31T13:58:00.000-04:00

I have another Gmail account I'm willing to give away... First email to clarkbhm@gmail.com gets it...

Back from Las Vegas

2004-08-31T09:59:00.000-04:00

Heather and I just returned (three hours ago!) from a last minute trip to Las Vegas. We wanted to use up some of our accumulated USAir miles, and have been intending to go to Las Vegas for awhile so we decided last Tuesday to leave Thursday.

Overall, we had a great time! We stayed at the Monte Carlo casino on the strip. It was nice, but not very flashy. One of the things we enjoyed doing is walking around in the other hotels to see their various free attractions and determine where we would like to stay the next time. We visited New York, New York, the Luxor, Excalibur, Monteray Bay, the Mirage, the Venesian, MGM Grand, Circus Circus, and the Las Vegas Hilton. We also got to see the different shows in front of Treasure Island, the Mirage, and the Bellagio, walking down the west side of the strip. Next time, we'll have to walk down the east side of the strip!

We had the chance to see the Star Trek exhibit at the Las Vegas Hilton, ride the roller coaster at New York, New York, see the aquarium at Monteray Bay, see the trapeze at Circus Circus, see the white tiger at the Mirage, see the lions at the MGM grand, and take the new Las Vegas Monorail.

Of course, you can't really go to Las Vegas without gambling. Heather and I had a good time, once we figured out what we did and didn't like to play. Heather tried out the slots, but ended up burning up money pretty quickly. She had more luck on the video poker, but still wasn't that successful overall. Nothing against Heather's skill of course; I think that the machines are pretty tight when it comes to money. I had a bit of better luck playing craps. I've never played craps before and just picked up the game last Tuesday when we figured we were going to Vegas. Heather and I really enjoyed the game and the comradarie around the tables so we ended up spending a good deal of time there, about 11 hours total over the four days. In 11 hours, we only lost $100 dollars. Considering that this translates to about $4.54 per hour for each of us, a bit more than the house commission, I thought it was worth it. Heck, we drank more than $4.54 an hour!

Although we were busy, we had a good deal of time to relax. We enjoyed seeing the other hotels and figuring out where we would stay if we visited again (probably the Venetian, the Mirage, MGM Grand, or Monteray Bay). Overall, Las Vegas was great, and we're looking forward to returning in the future.

Where have I been?

2004-08-20T05:07:00.000-04:00

Well, now that the bar is finished, I haven't really been anywhere. I'm trying to avoid the computer for long periods of time so that my neck and back can heal up. They both get really bad when I'm sitting at my desk all day. Instead, I've been running errands and doing work around the house. This week, I installed a shelf in our kitchen (which desparately needed it), and a set of bookshelves in my "office". There's some touch-up work I'd like to get done in the kitchen before I handle anything else. Heather's considering having me repaint the entire bathroom which I wouldn't mind doing, it would just take a while.
I am still looking for jobs, sending out my resumes to firms as postings become available and trying to network with people in the legal industry. A lot of employers won't look at you until they are assured that you've passed the bar though. I won't find that out until October so, until then, it's a big waiting game.
There are two other things I've been keeping busy with. The first is cooking dinner. Since Heather is working and I'm at home, there's no reason for her to have to cook when she comes home. So we've been going through some of our cookbooks specifically looking for recipes which take a long time to make. Since I have several hours to prepare food (without it being served at 9 or 10 PM) I've really enjoyed it.
The other big thing I've been keeping busy with is my new position with Theta Tau. I've already helped in several ways, and I'm planning on visiting some chapters this fall, probably both in New York.
Finally, the Olympics takes up a decent amount of my time. I've been watching these games much more than I watched the games in Sydney. The time differences are annoying, as well as NBC's coverage of the games, but since I'm usually up until the wee hours of the morning anyway, I frequently get to see events "live" at 2 AM.
So, that's what's been keeping me busy as of late. I'm still here!

Phil Collins in Pittsburgh? Ha!

2004-08-10T19:40:00.000-04:00

So, Phil Collins has decided to cancel his visit to Pittsburgh. Heather and I have had tickets for awhile and were somewhat disappointed. I received this email from Ticketmaster:

From: MW Events (Charleston) [mailto:MWE@Ticketmaster.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 5:39 PM
Subject: Phil Collins at the Mellon Arena Cancellation Notification

THIS IS AN INFORMATION ONLY EMAIL - PLEASE DO NOT REPLY!

Reference: Cancelled Show

Hello, this is TicketMaster Customer Service with an important alert regarding your upcoming event. Phil Collins, scheduled at The Mellon Arena on Sunday, September 26th, 2004 at 8:00pm has been cancelled. Your account has been issued a credit in the full amount of the ticket price and service charges. The $3.50 per order processing fee and any UPS or TicketFast delivery charges are non-refundable.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us via our website at www.ticketmaster.com.

Thank you for using TicketMaster!

Then, two days later, they have the audacity to send me this email:

From: Clear Channel Entertainment [mailto:newsletters@velocity.clearchannel.com]
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 2:53 PM
To: CLARKBHM@ZEBRA.NET
Subject: ROAD TRIP TO CLEVELAND, See PHIL COLLINS @ Gund Arena Sept 11

Take a road trip to Cleveland!
Catch Phil Collins Saturday, September 11th at the Gund Arena! Stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown across the street and walk to the show. Call 216-658-6400 to reserve your room and mention the discount code PC11 for a special rate!

Click Here To Buy Tickets!
Terms and Conditions of Use © 2004 Clear Channel Entertainment, All rights reserved.

How disappointing! We'll cancel the show in town for no reason at all (none was announced) yet we'll invite you to drive two hours away to Cleveland to see the show. This is a rather poor business practice and Heather and I will definitely NOT be going to Cleveland to see the show.

Visit to Minneapolis

2004-08-10T19:33:00.000-04:00

Heather and I just returned from the Theta Tau National Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Theta Tau is a professional engineering fraternity of which I am an alumnus. The purpose of Theta Tau is to develop and maintain a high standard of professional interest among its members, and to unite them in a strong bond of fraternal fellowship.

While we were in Minneapolis, Heather got the chance to spend time with one of her friends from undergraduate school while I was attending meetings all day. The highlight of the trip was my election to the fraternity's executive council on Saturday. My new position is "Grand Outer Guard".

Anyway, along with my new position, I will have the opportunity to visit several of our chapters. I'm already planning on a visit to the University of Buffalo and Binghampton University in New York. I'd also like to visit my home chapter in Mississippi for homecoming. Heather and I are already planning a visit!

Here we go Steelers, here we go!

2004-08-03T14:02:00.000-04:00

Our 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers tickets have finally arrived, and we got some pretty good games. Game tickets are made available to non-season ticket holders who are on the season ticket waiting list (estimated to be about 10 years long). Heather and I put our names on the list in 2002.

Each year, you are given an opportunity to go to two games through a lottery type system. You rank the games you want to go to and hope for the best. Last year, we ranked Steelers v. Browns as our top pick. We got the game, but to go with it, we also got some pre-season tickets. Nobody wants pre-season tickets! I wanted to go to the game, but Heather was going out of town for work. We tried selling them. No takers. We tried finding someone to go with me for free. No takers! Finally, Heather sent an email out to her office and finally found someone whose brother loves the Steelers, but can never afford the tickets. We gave him the tickets and he had a great time. However, we were out $100 for the two tickets, and were determined to not lost our money again.

I am of the opinion that if you get a "top game" like the Browns or the Ravens then you get a stinker of a game to go along with it, so this year I wasn't hoping for much. We avoided all of the pre-season games in our lottery choices, as well as the game after Thanksgiving, the game after Christmas, and an additional game in December, mainly because we didn't know if we would be in town for those games. That left five other games. We got our top pick again this year though, Pittsburgh v. Patriots on October 31, as well as our third pick, Pittsburgh v. Raiders on September 12. Both should be good games, and hopefully, Pittsburgh will be much better this year than last year!

I'm especially excited about the games this year as Heather's dad may be able to go to one of the games. He is a big Steelers fan, having grown up in Steubenville, Ohio, just 45 minutes away. However, he lives in North Carolina and has never had the chance to go to a game. We're going to let him pick which game he'd like to go to and I'll accompany him to the game. I'm looking forward to it!
Talk to you later!

2004-07-30T18:49:00.000-04:00

Is Saudi Arabia running out of oil?

2004-07-30T12:13:00.000-04:00

Is Saudi Arabia running out of oil? - An interesting read!

Chelsea defeats Roma at Heinz Field

2004-07-30T07:30:00.000-04:00

Heather and I were able to attend the big Chelsea-Roma soccer match at Heinz Field here in Pittsburgh last night as they continued their tour through the US. Chelsea won 3-0. See also Top-caliber soccer a kick for 25,000 at Heinz Field.

Heather and I enjoyed going to see soccer games in Columbus, where the Columbus Crew have a nice soccer stadium and tickets for MLS games are only 20-22$ each. The ticket prices for the Chelsea-Roma game were much more expensive, at 60$ each. Although we enjoyed the matchup, we kindof felt that it wasn't worth the $60 price to watch the game. The cheapest tickets to this game were $37.50, still almost twice what it would cost to see a Columbus Crew game!

Nevertheless, we DID enjoy watching the game and would be interested in attending other soccer games here in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh does have a soccer team called the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. We've yet to see them play because it's really inconvenient for us to go to the games. They moved their games to Moon Area High School's stadium which is out near the airport, a good 30 minute drive away. In the meantime, Heinz Field is mostly empty for the entire summer. I realize that additional costs come with running an event at Heinz Field, but I would rather have the Riverhounds play there and generate SOME income for the city, no matter how minute, then let the thing not be used at all...

Messenger to Mercury - A new NASA adventure

2004-07-29T05:57:00.000-04:00

See The long and winding road to a hot planet

The Bar Exam is over!

2004-07-28T18:58:00.000-04:00

It's done! I just finished the Pennsylvania bar exam. If you're not familiar with the bar exam, in Pennsylvania it's a two day exam, half multiple choice and half essays. The first day is six essays and a "performance test" over six hours. The second day is a 200-question multiple choice exam concentrating on Contracts, Criminal, Constitutional, Property, Torts, and Evidence. On the essay exams you have to learn to spot issues and argue both sides to a particular topic. The multiple choice is the opposite, where you have to spot minutiae and apply it conclusively to determine the outcome. It's kindof a "both sides of the brain" affair if you ask me, and it is extremely tiring. My classmates and I have been studying for the last two months for the exam. However, I think waiting is the worst part as we won't find out the results until mid-October!

Anyway, I feel like sleeping for a week...

Gmail account taken

2004-07-28T18:55:00.000-04:00

Congtratulations to Jay Knight, the winner of my gmail "contest". He narrowly beat out another entrant by mere hours! Even though Jay attends Ole Miss (at least he has an olemiss.edu address), this MSU bulldog fan sent him his free gmail invitation.

If/When I get another gmail invite to give away, I'll post it on here. Stay tuned!

Email filters and spam

2004-07-24T20:44:00.000-04:00

Ok, I don't understand spammers. I really don't! If I go through the trouble of setting up an email filter which blocks the word mortgage or loan or viagra, etc. then I think it's obvious that I don't want to see the email. But spammers come up with m0rtgage and L0an and V1GRA, or m.or.tga.ge or other stupid stuff which convey's their message quite clearly. BUT I DON'T WANT IT! If I went though the trouble of setting up a filter, then I'm not going to buy the spam's products (or even read it) when it comes in the mailbox. I'm going to delete it immediately.

I understand that the spammers are trying to sell their products. I don't see why they don't get the clue that I shouldn't have to deal with their emails. Besides... Selling something like vîåg®ä just makes you look stupid to the point of me not possibly wanting to do business with you...

Free Google gmail account

2004-07-22T10:16:00.000-04:00

I have no idea who's reading my blog, so I'm going to try a test. I have a google "gmail" invitation which I'm ready to give away to the first person who writes me and asks for it. I'm serious here! If you're not familiar with google gmail, it's the new email service which boasts 1 GB of email storage space. Essentially, your mailbox should never fill up again! You can find out more about gmail at http://gmail.google.com.

Anyway, the first person to write me at clarkbhm@gmail.com and request the gmail account will get it. Good luck!