Tag Archives: twitter

Two Thrilling Tweets

Posted on by Standard 1

Well, maybe not thrilling… but pretty damn cool.

  1. pnutfreeworld pnutfreeworld

    State urges food allergy safety in restaurants – The Boston Globe http://shar.es/mnumS via @sharethis #foodallergy #peanutallergy about 16 hours ago from web

  2. pnutfreeworld pnutfreeworld

    wbur.org: State Proposes New Food Allergy Rules For Restaurants http://www.wbur.org/2010/02/11/allergy @WBUR #foodallergy #legislation about 16 hours ago from web

What’s so thrilling?  Well, people in the US are being made more aware of allergies.  Of course it has to start in Massachusetts, not Pennsylvania.  I’m also fully aware that proposed laws aren’t actual laws… but there is some hope some more awareness being raised in public kitchens.  Sadly for me, they keep citing peanuts, soy, wheat, milk, & fish.  What about us shellfish people?  Ha ha ha.  I guess ‘fish’ is supposed to cover that.

Thanks to pnutfreeworld!  If you’re on twitter, and have allergies… check out this list.

The venerated Yinzer parking chair.

Posted on by Standard 13

If you live or work in the ‘Burgh, I’m sure you’ve seen it; The lonely lawn chair sitting in the middle of a parking space.  I always thought this was a phenomenon used most heavily on the South Side… but as time goes on, I realize that it’s all over the city… Especially when we have ridiculously snowy weather.  I’m sure other cities have this phenomenon… but I’m just talking about Pittsburgh.

Looks like they even have a Wikipedia entry, and a Google search pulls up a lot of seemingly relevant links.

As you can see from andybotpgh on Twitter, the “parking chair” can be anything that takes up a space that you labored to liberate from piles of snow.  By the way, the #parkingchair hashtag is genius.

While the parking chair is certainly visible throughout the year, my focus will be in the winter months, and well, really during the last couple of days… during the Snowpocalypse 2010 storm.

Like most of you, my wife & I labored for many hours on Saturday & Sunday to clear our sidewalk, steps, and to dig out our cars from the mess that is on-street parking in Dormont.  We cleared the sidewalk, only to have a place to put the snow from on top of & around our cars, then to shovel the sidewalk again… lifting snow on to the now approximately six foot high pile of frozen white pain in the ass from above in our tiny front yard.

To appreciate the insanity that surrounded or cars…

Snowpocalypse 2010 Car Un-Burial

It was chaos.  If you’re interested, check out the more photos of the surrounding neighborhood & nearby park here.

To put the ensuing rant in perspective… I fully realize that this is not a life-threatening problem, and that I’m not the only one with storm related issues.  There were and are a bunch of people in Southwestern PA without power for extended amounts of time.  They have problems.  This is just a slightly more than mild annoyance.

It was about three hours of work shoveling the cars out on Sunday.  It was quite labor intensive… but if it wasn’t done, the cars were obviously not going anywhere.  Well, mine might have broken out thanks to the AWD… but I risked damaging those around me, so I decided to shovel.

Of course, work was to be attended on Monday.  I had stuff that needed to leave that day, so I needed to be there.  I drove Bethany to work, & then went on to my job.  After normal working hours, I drove to pick up Bethany who had made it to the nearby Giant Eagle to do some grocery shopping.  After we rounded out the last few items, checked out, and headed home… we arrived to find a white Toyota SUV parked in the spot that took about an hour and a half of hard manual labor to clear.

As you can imagine, I was angry.  I don’t get angry all that often.  I’m generally a pretty mellow guy.  I was quiet angry.  Quiet angry isn’t good… just ask my wife.

After circling the block, it was evident that there was nowhere else safe to park.  Of the spots that had been shoveled-out, they were all filled.  Some spots hadn’t been shoveled, but they were filled with about 3 feet of snow, in a pile about as big as a small car… or with the car still under the pile.  Apparently not everyone had to be somewhere yesterday.

There were some other factors that added to my anger.  If the Toyota who had parked in my space backed up about 3 feet (which there was plenty of room to do), we could have pulled Bethany’s car up, and had plenty of room to park my car.  In my house, we call this (excuse the language) “asshole-parking”.  Really, there is no more apt a description.  There are no lines on the road, so your only hope is to park relative to the other vehicles.  Some people ignore this, and park with a half a space in front of and behind their vehicle.  Perhaps this is because they’re not good at parallel parking, or perhaps it’s becuase they don’t want anyone bumping into their precious automobile.  Either way, they’re still an asshole.  A typical conversation would go like this… after I walk in the door visibly winded…

Bethany, “Wow, were you running?  Do you have to pee or something?”

Me: “No, they’re all asshole-parked out there.  I had to go to the bottom of the hill & park.”

The bottom of the hill?  What’s this, you ask?  Well, there’s a little parking lot on the cross street at the bottom of our block that belongs to the park.  People use it for overflow parking in the neighborhood… because there never seems to be enough space to park.

Why not just park there last night?  Well, for one, it wasn’t plowed out properly… and by “not … properly”, I mean not at all.  It wasn’t even attempted.  The people parked there are in their own separate snow bunkers, not near any of the other cars at all, and one winner even parked in the entrance lane to the parking lot… effectively stranding everyone in the second row of the normally 3-row lot.

I dropped Bethany & the groceries off at the house, then circled the block a few more times… fuming the entire time.  I finally settled into a space on the cross-street at the bottom of the hill that no one had bothered to shovel.  There was about a car-length of snow about a foot high, so I went for it.  The Subaru handled it without a problem, and I got a little rush from driving in the snow.

I didn’t like parking where I finally ended up, because I was the first object on the side of the road road after coming down a poorly plowed and salted hill.  I might as well have painted a bulls-eye on the back & side of the wagon.

But, my thoughts were focused on that damn white Toyota SUV that was asshole-parked in the spot in which I spent hours clearing.  I wanted to write a passive aggressive note.  Something to the effect of…  “I’m glad you were able to use the space that it took three hours of shoveling to clear”.  I even thought of typing it, and including a photo above.  Seriously.  These thoughts went through my head.  I thought of piling snow on the car, buckets of water… all the tricks.  Bethany posted her frustrations on Facebook, and it was instantly echoed by many sharing in our anger and frustration, suggesting what we ought to do to the offender… and even to the extent of  my friend Dave saying he’d come over and take care of the problem.

I noticed a bunch of parking chairs stools, and even a saw-horse on the next street over as I circled the block.  Why hadn’t I thought of that?  Again, Facebook being a great tool for the need at hand, I asked for some thoughts.

The problem is that we don’t own the street in front of the house (and neither does the landlord).  I understand this.  It’s public on-street parking, and even we need a permit to park there during certain hours, and we have a visitor’s parking pass.  This is the other problem… the Toyota had said pass for our zone, so technically, they had just as much right to that space as I do… even if it is directly in front of my residence, and we spent time maintaining it due to weather issues.

Still, on a karma level, it’s a bitch.  The general consensus is that it’s not a nice thing to do… but still, it happens.  Some people out there are only concerned with themselves.  They needed a spot, they took it… end of thought process.  Perhaps they didn’t consider that it was hand-shoveled and that I was coming home from a long day with a car full of groceries?  Perhaps they did, and still didn’t care.

Here’s where the “what about me” kicks in…  Why didn’t I put out a parking chair?  Other people do it.  It’s a known and oddly respected practice in neighborhoods all around the ‘Burgh, and apparently even on the next street over.  Or is it respected?  I don’t think I’d park in a chaired space… simply for fear of what may happen to my vehicle.  Surely though, if a situation escalated to the point where a chair was removed, the space occupied, and there was some sort of retaliation… the chair placing retaliator would surely be at fault.

Do you respect the chair?  Do you use one?  Do you move them and park in the space knowing the law is on your side?

Photo from the Pens game last night…

Posted on by Standard 2

Got a good shot from my cell phone last night at the start of the 3rd period.  tumblr treats your photos a lot better than Facebook…

Buffalo Sabres @ Pittsburgh Penguins - 02/01/2010 (Mellon Arena)

We were sitting in section D23.  Not bad for a cell phone camera, eh?

Oh yeah, the Pens won.

Posterous?

Posted on by Standard 3

I’m posting to everything via email thanks to Posterous… just checking it out to see what it’s all about.  Apparently, you can throw anything at it via email attachments, and it deals with it on its own… and I’ve set it up to post to Twitter, tumblr, Facebook, WordPress, YouTube, and Flickr on its own.It’s really easy.  all I’m looking for is some consolidation.  I’d ask for MySpace support if anyone used that any more… but Photobucket support would be cool… as well as importing UrbanSpoon reviews – although, that may be there and I just haven’t found it yet.

Perhaps this out to be the way that Fast Food Fail is handled?

I’m going to attach some totally unrelated stuff, just to see what happens with it.

I wonder if it handles formatted text better than WordPress?

It will apparently even embed video from YouTube if you just provide the URL…


…and all kinds of other crazy stuff.

.seitilibasid gninrael fo nuf ekam ot ynnuf ton yllaer s’tI

Two Of A Kind by Gasoline Dion
Download now or listen on posterous

02 – Two of a Kind.mp3 (3522 KB)

Posted via email from AiXeLsyD13

This tiny sign made my day…

Posted on by Standard 2

It’s simple, really.  It’s a small, simple act that’s a symbolic gesture, and may be complete and total BS in all practicality or reality… but it made me feel comfortable today.  I have discussed my shellfish issues before, and have been ridiculed for suggesting that the food service industry take any more action on allergy issues, awareness, and cross-contamination than they already are.  I can’t explain why or how, but this one little sign put me at ease.  Why?  Because it was simply acknowledgment, I guess.  Maybe that’s all I want or need.  At any rate, kudos to you, Market District Cafe in Robinson!  What am I making such a big fuss about?  Not much really, just this…

Photobucket

That’s all.  No biggie.  But, to me, it means so much.  I did happen to ask the guy behind the counter about what all was cooked on the grill that I can see, and he was happy to inform me that there is indeed no shellfish that touches said grill surface.  It’s not a big deal to you most likely, but it is to me.  So I blogged about it.

In a related note…  The Market District in Robinson is ridiculously awesome… the grocery store and the restaurant side.  I popped up a review on UrbanSpoon.com, here it is…

photo prime

“It’s like a food amusement park…” by ERiC AiXeLsyD (100 reviews)

January 16, 2010 – Really likes it – I really never thought I’d be this excited about a grocery store. The team at Giant Eagle/Market District that put this place together are geniuses. It’s not the first time I’ve been to the store, but today was the first time eating in their cafe. Floor layout plan and traffic flow not withstanding, this is a great place to eat! It’s almost a cross between a food court and hospital cafeteria… with really really good food. You can choose form a bunch of little islands or counters of food… Pizza, Crepes, Rosti, Salad Bars, Hot Bar, Grill/Rotisserie station, and more that I haven’t really looked into yet.

My wife went for a really nice-looking Italian panini with the thickest slice of mozzarella, I’ve ever seen and a nice little side salad with assorted greens, and dropped it off with a Market District brand peach oolong iced tea. She really thought the sandwich was fresh and filling, and is looking forward to trying of the other options. (They had some nice-looking reubens there too!)

I went right to the rotisserie/grill/BBQ area (of course) and my eyes were drawn to the brisket. I got a combo which included the brisket & side… I chose the grilled vegetables… normally for $6, but I got $1 off with my Giant Eagle advantage card. I also snagged a roll (gotta get those carbs!) and a Boylan’s Birch Beer. I chose a St. Louis Style BBQ sauce with the brisket that was a perfect compliment t the juicy beef, and the grilled veggies were perfect. They were just vegetables, the taset wasn’t hidden with a sauce or too many spices. We got an excellent meal IMHO for just over $14.

The thing that impressed me the most was when I was asking the chef/cook behind the counter about what all was cooked on the grill due to my shellfish allergies, he was very patient, kind, and even double-checked with another employee. Then, when I got to the edge of the counter, I spied a sign noting possible cross-contamination listing all the major allergens, and how one should be sure to ask the staff about any cross-contamination. It’s an odd and very small gesture, but it means the world to someone like me who’s generally in a constantly worrisome state when dining out. I applaud their taking note, and to me it says a lot about the company & the people.

Photos of the sign & both our meals have been uploaded to the photo section.

And oh yeah… they have BEER! In a Grocery Store! in PENNSYLVANIA! Genius. I didn’t get any this time, but I saw 6-packs of Straub Special Dark for $6.97 and the wife was eying up the extra large bottles of Raspberry Lambic for only $12.99. We will be back to get some beer!

We’ll definitely be back when we’re in the area!

1 person likes this review Recommend

And, here are the photos I mentioned…

Giant Eagle Market District Restaurant

Giant Eagle Market District Restaurant

A close to all the food rants… maybe.

Posted on by Standard 8

I’m sure this isn’t the last you’ll hear from me on the subject, but this is just to close out my recent rants about the bad habits of restaurant employees out there everywhere.

If you need a recap, here’s how it panned out on my end…

Admittedly, I was just “going off” in reaction to the mentioned articles, but it doesn’t excuse any of the deplorable actions described within.  I really appreciate the blog hits, feedback, & discussion on the issue… whether it was here on this blog, or via Facebook, Twitter, Pittsburgh Beat, or whatever venue a link was pimped upon.

In the last blog, I was tagged and deemed it by an entertaining blogger  named Charity that sits on the server side of the fence, and some things were explained to me.  She was one of the ones quoted in my rants, although she wasn’t confessing to disgusting behavior, just complaining about customers (which she has every right to do).  Apparently I’m adorable in a “oh my, isn’t he so naive” kind of way.  I commented there, really saying all I have to say on the subject for now.  I even saw a few encouraging words from another commenter, teleburst, who provided some cool links to his blog on being more accommodating to customers with special dietary needs.  Let’s hope he does eventually blog about allergies!

I love the blogs about how to be a better customer that are out there… I wouldn’t imagine that people would actually do some things like share drinks with free refills or leave a mess after their kid makes one…  But I guess it’s happening out there everywhere.

I know I mentioned discussing tips, but the mood has passed for now… I’m sure I’ll dive into it someday.  I need to do another goofy W(aL)D post soon.  Hits have been skyrocketing for my Sprint Short Codes post, there’s apparently still a problem that Sprint refuses to admit!  Oh well, until next time… Remember to tip your servers at least 20% for good service, unless they slip you some regular instead of decaf or beef stock when they tell you it’s vegetable stock.

tumblr

Posted on by Standard 4

A lot more people are using tumblr.  I’ve had an account for a while, but haven’t really used it much.  I don’t know if I’m completely comfortable with the concept yet.  I feel like I’m not using it to its full potential, but I haven’t really put that much time & effort into it.

In the mean time, I’m using it to regurgitate my tweets, some other stuff,  and now this blog.  I think I have it posting to Facebook if I create original content there, too.

I actually have two tumblr accounts rolled into one.  One for me… AiXeLsyD13; and one tied to this blog, WorldAndLunarDomination.  I’d be flattered if you would like to follow me or just the blog (or both) via tumblr if you’re an avid user.  Maybe I can get some tips/advice from you.

You can get me here…

Thanks!

Stats

Posted on by Standard 5

Heh.  Stats are amusing to me.  I love relatively useless information, and I love that they’re built in to WordPress.  I don’t even have to do anything.  They’re just… there.

First off, thanks to all the readers, posters, and all 3 or 4 people brave enough to comment here on the blog.  I really dig comments.

You can see over the weeks, the views have been up & down each day, generally according to whatever was posted that day… but steadily over the weeks, the number of views has climbed.  (That last drop is because it’s meed-week, I believe…)

W(aL)D,graph,World (and Lunar) Domination,views,readers,clicks,days

W(aL)D,graph,World (and Lunar) Domination,views,readers,clicks,weeks

Apparently, the goofy emails go over better than the other stuff.  I’ll have to try some more of that… but this is really my only outlet for anything, so it may stay a mixed bag for a while.

Not only are the graphs funny to look at, but I can tell what people have been reading…

Sprint,shortcode,short,code,short code,W(aL)D,World (and Lunar) Domination,Yuengling,Yeungling,Sauce,Kmart,Kmart Feedback,Store,manager,Mrs. Santa Claus,Quiznos,West Liberty

Apparently the shortcodes are still a problem with Sprint. Wonder why this isn’t a news story yet?  Others are wondering why they can’t get Yeungling Lager Sauce any more.  Me too.  People are still inquisitive about Quiznos, Kmart, Wendy’s, and apparently a naked Asian Mrs. Claus.  I hope any of you that landed here randomly were amused, apologies for the lack of naked Asian Santa’s wife.

This is what you’ve been reading recently…

C-3PO,Data,Star Wars,Star Trek,Mrs. Clause,Creepy,Quiznos,Toasty Torpedo,Stuffing

So, the Data vs. C-3PO thing was read (or at least clicked on) a lot… No real interest, or just nothing to say about it?  Subway is still apparently amusing.  Still haven’t heard anything further from Quiznos once I let them know that I had a blog, and the allergy amigos must not find alliteration amusing.

Here are the URL’s if you missed any of the stuff the 1st time and want to read it now…

Today

Title Views
Data vs. C-3PO? 6 More stats
Sprint, Shortcodes, SMS, Service, & 4 More stats
Wendy’s in Dormont (Pittsburgh, PA) – W. 2 More stats
Allergies, Alliteration, and Annoyance. 2 More stats
Think of the Kmart employees this holida 1 More stats
So, we have a response from Subway! 1 More stats
Stuffing Recipe – Thanksgiving 2009 1 More stats
The Yuengling Sauce and the LaChoy Teriy 1 More stats
If we’re keeping score, that’s Subway 1 1 More stats
Mellon Arena – Customer Service WIN. 1 More stats

Yesterday

Title Views
Data vs. C-3PO? 40 More stats
The Creepy Mrs. Claus 3 More stats
The Yuengling Sauce and the LaChoy Teriy 2 More stats
If we’re keeping score, that’s Subway 1 2 More stats
Mellon Arena – Customer Service WIN. 1 More stats
The Quiznos Toasty Torpedo™ and the dimi 1 More stats
Stuffing Recipe – Thanksgiving 2009 1 More stats
Impressive. 1 More stats
Think of the Kmart employees this holida 1 More stats
Sprint, Shortcodes, SMS, Service, & 1 More stats

At any rate, thanks for reading!

Data vs. C-3PO?

Posted on by Standard 6

Nerd alert.  We’ve all seen the “vs.” threads on message boards, and I believe there’s even whole sites dedicated to them… be it comic book characters, TV show casts, movie characters, or sci-fi icons.  A lot of geeks like to argue about completely hypothetical situations for fictional characters for no apparent reason other than because we can.

I noticed that I’m following both Brent Spiner and Anthony Daniels on twitter… and is struck me that they’re in the same category as a golden-hued “tin man” of sorts in their respective powerhouse franchises. 

This is a vs. that I’d love to see.  Has this been done?  Probably.  I didn’t Google it yet… I’m almost afraid to.  I don’t want the discussion to be biased from my point of view anyway.

Why not Data vs. C-3PO?  I started a hashtag just to see what would happen:  #datavsc3po.  It will be interesting to see if it takes off at all.  A few people are on to it.  On twitter?  Please throw in your 2¢!  Or, you can comment on this blog with your thoughts.  I’d love to see all out stories…  perhaps I may write up a scenario myself.

It was brought to my attention rather quickly that R2-D2 must accompany C-3PO… they are after all, a set.  Then, it was suggested that if C-3PO gets a sidekick, then Data must be able to utilize Geordi La Forge.  (Oddly enough, I’m also following Levar Burton on twitter, and it was brought to my attention that R2-D2 does indeed tweet – to make this “legit” though, does Kenny Baker tweet?)

I’ll digress here by saying that yes, I do realize that the actors are not the characters that they play, and that they have had other rolls in life… and I realize that they might be mildly annoyed by such discussions.

Oh well, this is what geeks do.  So, please join me and the people who have already started discussing this so far.

Data | Star Trek: The Next GenerationC-3PO | STAR WARS

P.S. – Did an image search for “C-3PO Data” and this came up.  So, someone has paired them before, albeit in a completely different manner.