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Oh man, this weekend was really busy, but really fun. Those of you around Pittsburgh know that the weather was unbearably nice, and everyone was outside with their dogs and gardens and iced coffees and whathaveyous.

Friday night I joined some Pitt students who were celebrating the end of their semester. Thanks to the weather, a normal party turned into a porch party, which was quite a bit of fun. Only problem? I didn't get home until like two, even though...

The next morning I woke up at 9 or so for the 11am Urban Hike. It was the first one of the season! We were in the Mt. Oliver/Allentown area. That's sort of in between the south side slopes and Mt. Washington. It was really nice mostly due to the weather, but there was a good crowd, a couple people brought their dogs, and we even discovered a new park, Grandview Park, with great elevated views of downtown.

Than night, a Sick Ridiculous concert! We played at a party for our friend Cortney's birthday. The sound was really good for a party, and the fact that we had an extremely audience resulted in a large amount of fun being had by me and Tom. Thanks to those of you who were there. We wrote a new song about universal heath care and time traveling robots called, "Come with me if you want to live."

Today, we had another Sick Ridiculous show, this time at Lawrenceville's Art All Night. While the crowd wasn't quite what I heard it was the night before, it was surprisingly good for 10:30am. I did think our playing suffered a bit. I think we need more warmup or something, but it took about 15 minutes before we were clicking and sounding decent. Thanks DOUBLE if you made it out this am.

Then, lunch of Dim Sum, afternoon backyard sitting and dinner at the Grand Concourse in Station Square. I will go pass out now!

Every year Urban Hike holds their anual scavenger hunt. This year is no different! But what is different is the location (downtown) and the fact that we're doing it at night, concurrently with the quarterly gallery crawl. It's a little different, but I think it will be fun. Here's the full "press release."

We are in the process of planning our annual scavenger hunt, which typically rounds our hike season. Please mark your calendars for Friday, October 3rd. The scavenger hunt will run 6-8 pm, with our awards ceremony following from 8 till around 9. We will start at a yet-to-be-determined spot in Market Square downtown. Start assembling your team (3-6 people) and we'll fill you in on more details soon!

Just wanted to let you guys know that next weekend (not this weekend) we'll be hiking around Crafton, PA. Here's the info!



Join us for the inaugural Urban Hike of 2008!

We're starting the season in Crafton, the boyhood home of Bill Cowher and the current home of a 24-hour donut shop and much more. Spend a few hours exploring the area with us on Saturday, April 26th beginning at 1:30 pm. We'll park at the Sharp Edge Creekhouse, 288 W. Steuben Street. Check out their web site to see a map and get a taste for what we'll be tasting after the hike.

Our hike will last 2-3 hours. As always, we recommend that you wear comfortable shoes, and bring water, sunscreen, and a sunny disposition. If you haven't hiked with us before, no RSVP needed-but if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail us at info@urbanhike.org. See you there!

I was waiting to post this entry until I got my pictures from the hike onto my computer. I lost my USB cable, but replaced it with something better; a compact flash adapter card (PCMCIA styles) for my laptop.

Anyway, last Sunday was my first Urban Hike since I've been back in Pittsburgh. Washington, PA is in Washington county, the center of the whiskey rebellion for you history buffs. It was a fantastic hike, and the weather was amazing. It was such a quaint little town, and it made the 30 minute drive from Pittsburgh totally worth it. We finished the whole thing off with a Washington Wild Things baseball game. This is an independent minor league baseball team (outside of the whole A through AAA system), but they had a great park and nice fans.

Anyway, I started a Flickr photo pool, so if you guys went along and took pictures, you ought to go ahead and add yours to the mix!

So as some of you know, I help to organize Urban Hike, a monthly (in the summer) hike around Pittsburgh. Our first one is coming up this Saturday, so come on out and enjoy the weather. Here are the full details:

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Where do exotic birds, cannons and circular backyard entertainment
collide? (Not literally, thankfully.) Why, it’s Brookline! Urban
Hike opens the 2007 season with a walk through Brookline Saturday,
April 28th at noon. We’ll meet at Brookline Memorial Park on Brookline
Boulevard. We’ll walk for about three hours and end at a place that
has tasty vittles with mysterious names.

Directions:
From the north/east:
Take 579 south (Liberty Bridge) and continue on West Liberty Avenue.
Turn left on Brookline Boulevard. After you pass through the business
district, Brookline Memorial Park will be on your right.
(If you like 51 better than West Liberty Avenue, you can take that too.
See below.)

From the west:
Go east on 279 (Parkway West) and take the exit for 51 south just before
the Fort Pitt Tunnel.
Continue on 51 south, then take a right on Whited Street.
Turn left on Jacob Street.
Follow Jacob Street to the right, and you’ll be on Brookline Boulevard.
The park will be on your left.

From the south:
Go north on Washington Road/West Liberty Avenue.
Turn right on Brookline Boulevard. After you pass through the business
district, Brookline Memorial Park will be on your right.
Or:
Go north on 51.
Turn left on Whited Street.
Turn left on Jacob Street.
Follow Jacob Street to the right, and you’ll be on Brookline Boulevard.
The park will be on your left.

Or, how about the bus?
41D, 41G

Questions? Email info@urbanhike.org.

Guys, as you may or may not know, I am helping to organize Urban Hike Pittsburgh. This Sunday is the Scavenger Hunt, and the first event that I have helped to organize. It should be a ton of fun, so come on out to Schenley Plaza (right across Forbes from the Cathedral of Learning) this Sunday! Here is the official info:

Join us for early tricks and treats in Oakland. Urban Hike is holding
its annual scavenger hunt this Sunday, October 29th at 12:30 pm (don’t
worry, da Stillers aren’t playing till 4:15). Find three or four
friends, or come on your own and we’ll put you on a team.

Be prepared to see Oakland like you’ve never seen it before. Make sure
at least one of your team members has a digital camera and a cord to
connect it to a computer. And if you have any, ahem, personal photos
on those cameras, you might want to dump them somewhere else before you
arrive.

Meet us at the benches lining the Forbes Avenue side of Schenley Plaza
(across Forbes from the Cathedral of Learning). The hunting portion
will last until 3 pm; the post-hunt awards extravaganza should wrap up
around 4 pm.