Swearing with style

Before I launch into some random thoughts, I first wanted to make a push for the latest Calamityware project on Kickstarter, the Classy Curse Kit. Each element of the Classy Curse Kit includes a colorful and typographically refined, all-purpose curse in a socially acceptable form—the euphemism graphic ($%*?&!, which starts off with a lightening bolt). The kit contains 2 mugs, 2 decals, 12 note cards, and 12 calling cards with customizable Banner-Hulk scale. I really hope it funds, because I look forward to raising my coffee mug during boring meetings where someone says something annoying. I especially want to place the decal on the back of my car with all the jagoff drivers in and around the Burgh. And it would be pretty nice to slip a calling card with a personal, pointed note underneath the windshield of a car that parked stupidly. If you are like some of my friends and most of my coworkers, $48 may be a bit steep. But I encourage you to talk to a friend and split the kit. What do you need two mugs for anyway?! :-)

Now on to a few other random things:

I still don't know whom I am voting for. If I had to do it today, I would vote for Gary Johnson, who appeals to my libertarian side. I could and probably will change my mind by November. In the first presidential election I was able to vote, I voted for Ross Perot. Not for very good reasons, but I did not like the other choices. In all seriousness, I am scared for this country no matter who gets elected (but, for the record, I am much more scared of what happens if the Donald gets the nod)
In a few weeks, I will be the parent of a teen. Some days are really challenging now. I can only imagine how much harder it will be in a couple of years.
I have developed a bit of a negative attitude over both local and national events. But I still am trying to make the world a better place, in whatever small way I can. Locally, I pick up litter, just about every single day. And, as often, I get frustrated. I am almost ashamed to admit, as I pick up my 10th cigarette butt during my daily dog walk, I often mutter something like "I hope your lungs turn black." Or, when I pick up my second McD's bag of the week, I say something equally as awful as "I hope your arteries clog." A part of me wonders if I should not just stop picking up the trash, if that is going to be my attitude. But seeing litter lie on the road makes me even more frustrated.
I hate that I live in a slight and "odd" fear about some things. I am not really concerned about my driving through one of the most violent neighborhoods in the city every weekday, a neighborhood that has had shootings in broad daylight, yet I would not drive there in the later evening. Similarly, there are places I go to only in daylight, such as the movie theater and the mall. I won't stop going to some places that have had shootings, but I am trying to minimize my risk, I guess. I am sad, however, that I was too afraid to go to a "dance with/for Orlando" event a couple of weeks ago. It came on the heels of police/civilian shootings, and I was just too afraid to be a part of that, even though it was in the middle of downtown, in broad daylight.
The Pens are still the Stanley Cup champs. :-)

Let's build something together!

That is one of my favorite slogan's (Or is that a tagline? Over a year removed from a design firm, and I can no longer remember). It belongs to Lowe's, although I am more of a Home Depot gal. But suffice it to say if someone handed me a $5,000 gift card to Home Depot (or Lowe's), I would be ecstatic. If I had $10,000 to spend, you could hear my shouts of joy from miles away. The things I could do with that money. Well, the things I could have Brian do with that money anyway. I love walking around Home Depot and admiring the fancy bathroom sinks and tubs. I look at the lighting and think about where I would put each fixture. I touch textured and colorful tiles and wistfully look at the fancy kitchen cabinets. I admire the various carpet styles and blinds. I look at the fancy front-loading washer and wonder what it must be like to have a steam dryer. I even look longingly at the vacuum cleaners because I can no longer buy a replacement filter for my eight year old mo...

If only I had taken pictures of my detoured drive

When I moved to the Burgh just over 14 years ago, I had a lot of anxiety about getting from "here" to "there." I found the city, which is triangular, and even some of the suburbs quite confusing. On top of that, a lot of the signs were of little help. Clearly they were put up by either natives who had no need for directions or people with a sick sense of humor who thought it would be funny to put signs in random places, leaving off important roads. At some point, I got over that fear of driving to a new building downtown. I don't recall when it happened, but eventually I just figured most of the city out; and when I had to head to a new place, I just drove around, no longer with a feeling of dread, knowing I would eventually get there. But on Sunday morning, that awful, long-ago feeling returned, thanks to the closure of the outbound Fort Pitt Tunnels. I had to pick my mother up from the airport, so there was no avoiding it. (For some reason, my family think...

Summer in review

This summer I made it a point to try to take at least one pic of Jordan whenever we went somewhere, which most often was a park. I wanted to capture all the great, fun things we did this summer, knowing that it was probably going to be my last summer not working for quite some time. So here goes. I have expressed my love of Frick Park, particularly Blue Slide Park, in other posts ; it really is one of our favorites. And this summer marked the first one I did not feel the need to follow J around like a little puppy dog. I actually let her run around and explore, though, admittedly, I would panic if more than three minutes went by and I had not seen her. In the pics above, J is at the end of the blue slide, and then hanging several feet above concrete (which scared the crap out of me). We also visited another section of Frick Park, the area on the corner of Braddock and Forbes, a few times. There is not as much to do as Blue Slide, but we go there to mix things up a bit. In the p...

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