Facie’s Ramblings

Last night, Jordan and I attended the third of three public meetings related to Kate and Peter's Treehouse. When we arrived at the tent at the Frick Environmental Center, Jordan and I were greeted by Marijke Hecht, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy director of education. She asked Jordan if she saw her picture on a recent Conservancy email, to which Jordan happily (and slightly embarrassed) replied yes. (A few days ago, I received an email about this night's meeting, and when I opened it, there was Jordan's picture, messy hair and all, larger than life. Cool.) But on to the important stuff. At this latest meeting, once we arrived at the actual site, we were greeted by large posters about the project. Here are a few pictures. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing, and my phone takes crappy pictures, but it will give you some sense. The posters also included some photos from the previous meetings as well as some of the comments that people wrote at the meetings. Here are a...

There is no one thing at the top of my noodle, so here are some random ramblings about things I should probably know more about than I do. I keep vacillating about privatizing the state liquor stores . PA is one of the few (maybe two?) states that operates this way. The prices are high. The selection is minimal, though for someone like me whose buying consists of one box/cube of margaritas every month, I don't notice it as much (well, I have noticed that my usual brand has been MIA the last two times). And the service I have received at my local store is rather lacking. For those reasons, I have supported privatization for years. Yet now that it seems as if we are getting closer, I can't help but think that a year or two after the state gets the initial windfall from selling off the licenses (which you just know will be spent ASAP), PA will be in really bad shape. Won't the state be missing that revenue that comes for all the sales? I don't think the sales tax will b...

I wish I could do this post the justice it deserves, but I have big to-do list in front of me and not a lot of time. But here goes anyway. Two nights ago, I attended a town hall meeting that Raja , who is running for Allegheny County Executive, hosted. Two days prior, I received a recorded phone from Raja briefly explaining this event. Since I voted for the man in the primary, I had nothing else going on, and free refreshments were part of the evening, how could I say no?! Raja started off the event by asking the small group what they liked, what they did not like, and what they would change about Allegheny County. The answers were generally not surprising. Parks, sports, theaters, education (universities), hospitals, and people were among the likes. Taxes, road construction, transportation (specifically the Port Authority), and many municipalities/governments were among the dislikes. Raja shared with us some of his findings (surprisingly to me, young people in the area listed effi...

So another Steeler is in trouble. Sheesh. Unfortunately, this time the offender happens to be my favorite player, Hines Ward. He whom I voted for on "Dancing with the Stars" many, many times. He of the only Steelers jersey I have ever owned. He whom I waited in line for an hour or so back in 2002 to have him sign said jersey. [Note: I generally disdain the whole autograph thing, but I made an exception because I owned his jersey, he was making an appearance 10 minutes from my house, and PSU was losing the football game I was watching at the time.] But back to issue at hand. A few nights (well, early mornings) ago, Hines was pulled over for driving erratically. When the story first came out, his agent/manager said Hines was not impaired while driving. But according to the police report, his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, he failed some field sobriety tests (alphabet, walking and turning, standing on one leg), and he registered a .128 on a portable breathing test (he refused...

When I worked at my last (almost full-time) job, I did not go out a lot without the kid for the mostly obvious reasons: I felt guilty missing the few waking hours I had with her, and I really just missed her. That is why while at my last job, I often talked coworker friends into two-hour lunches or leaving at 3 p.m. for early happy hour; I hardly missed any evening hours with J and I still got to have grownup fun. One would think when you have not worked regularly for over two years, the guilt of being away from your kid would lessen. But if you know me and how my mind works, you would know it really has not and it goes beyond money. At swim lessons last week, two moms and I were talking about how when our husbands spend time with the kids (or kid, in my case), although we are grateful to have that time alone, we often find ourselves missing our kids, wishing they would hurry home, or in my case, often joining in on whatever Bri and Jordan are doing. Fortunately (for lack of a bett...

Today's question is brought to you by some (of whom I consider) stupid parents. Maybe I am just being overprotective, but these things, in general, seem like a bad idea. Agree or disagree? Letting kids ride a bike without a helmet A couple of kids in my neighborhood regularly ride their bikes helmet-less. I know "when we were kids" we did not do this, but the law states if you are under 12, you must wear a helmet when riding a bike. I don't know if it is parents (or kids) being lazy, feeling goofy, or not wanting to spend the money,  but when you consider the statistics and how much more expensive it will be to pay for a hospital visit, why not just do it? What is worse is for a week I watched a dad let his two kids, a girl who looked about 10 and a boy who was probably between 12 and 15, ride a motorbike without a helmet. Not only is it extremely dangerous, especially considering the boy was popping wheelies(!), but it is also illegal for an unlicensed motorbike...

I hope all of you had a nice 4th of July. I took some time to look over the Declaration of Independence, to remind myself of what the holiday is about. But let's face it, fireworks, cooking out, and spending time with family and friends are a nice part of the day too. Here are a couple pics of some of the fireworks going off. We went to Monroeville this year to see them. I just can't bring myself to drive downtown with all the Regatta traffic. Turns out my tendency towards oldness was a good thing this year since everyone who went down early got drenched. On the other hand, we drove right into a store's parking lot about 20 minutes before the bombs were bursting in air, had a great view, spent some time together as a family, and were home about 15, maybe 20 minutes after the light display ended. I will not dwell on the jagoffs two streets over who were setting off fireworks until after 1 a.m. this morning. I won't think about the state of the union right now. I wi...