Leave a comment and I’ll give you a letter. Post ten things you LOVE that begin with that letter.  Then give a letter to anyone who leaves a comment for you… and the cycle will continue.

I decided to participate too and he gave me the letter M, but switched up the rules: I had to name 10 things I love about Pittsburgh that start with the letter M, not just things in general. So, without further ado, my list.

1.       Marginal Designs: Yet more shameless self-promotion. But I seriously love the fact that two people can put the face of a local celebrity on a t-shirt in the style of the Che Guevara shirts and people will totally support it. Yinzers rock.

2.       Masloff, Sophie: The first (and so far, only) female mayor of Pittsburgh and a revered local icon. On a related note, I love the WearPittsburgh t-shirts that support a potential Masloff run for President. I’d vote for her!

3.       Mount Washington: A gorgeous view of our gorgeous city. I love bringing visitors up to Mt. Washington. It’s a visual rebuttal to the “Pittsburgh is dirty and smoky and gross” stereotype that somehow persists even in 2008:

(Picture from DeathByBokeh)

4.       Most Livable City: I totally agree, Pittsburgh is the Most Livable City in the United States. We have great museums, a low cost of living, and friendly neighbors. What more could you ask for?

5.       Mario Lemieux: I belong to a Facebook group called “Mario Lemieux Just Might Be God.” And it’s not an exaggeration AT ALL. Mario was an amazing hockey player despite all his setbacks and contributes meaningfully to our community.

6.       Monongahela River:  Together with the Allegheny, it forms the Ohio River at Point State Park. Without it, national sports broadcasters wouldn’t be able to say that Pittsburgh lies at the confluence of three rivers, and then how would they show off their extensive vocabularies?

7.       Miller, Heath: A solid football player and reliable tight end on the Steelers. He rarely misses any of Ben’s passes, which is more than I can say for some of the other players on the team. (cough, Santonio Holmes, cough)

8.       Mr. Rogers : I cried the day Mr. Rogers died. He was an integral part of my childhood and he lived right here in Pittsburgh. My favorite Mr. Rogers story: When he was baby-sitting his grandson, his car was stolen. The news stations reported the theft and the next day, or maybe a few days later, the thief returned the car to Mr. Rogers. That story really speaks to the good he brought out in people.

9.       Myron Cope: A Pittsburgh original, creator of the Terrible Towel, award-winning journalist, and owner of perhaps the most distinctive voice ever. Myron, we miss you.

10.   Mary Cassatt: I love her paintings. Anything that places value on the often unseen lives of women is awesome in my book. And she’s from Pittsburgh, too!

Leave a comment if you want to write your top ten list with a Pittsburgh twist!

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Last night, the boyf and I went to an event in the Pop City CityLive! series called “Getting There … From Here” about public transit in Pittsburgh. The speakers were Steve Bland, CEO of the Port Authority of Allegheny County; State Representative Chelsa Wagner, who serves on the transportation committee in the PA House, among other committees; and Sanjeev Shah, a consultant who works on public transit issues.

I must admit, I was not expecting much from Mr. Bland, he of the boring name and anti-union website, but I was pleasantly surprised. One thing I really liked was that he talked about making transit more accessible to people ‘on the ground,’ so to speak, like being able to download bus schedules to your cell phone, which would be teh awesome in my opinion. This morning I was, once again, pushing the limit of how long I could stay in bed and still make the bus, and I couldn’t remember when the bus was supposed to arrive at my stop. Was it 8:24? Or 8:10? When does the next bus come - is it every twenty minutes or every half hour? If I had had the bus schedule downloaded to my cell phone, which is also my alarm clock, I would have known and could definitely have snuggled with my cat a little longer. Someone in the audience also suggested the service they have in DC, which is that every bus stop has an ID number, and you can call this toll-free 800 number, enter the ID number, and know exactly how far away your bus is from your stop. I used that a few times when I lived in that swampy hellplace and (grudgingly) thought it was pretty cool.

Mr. Shah was interesting in a putting-things-into-context way, but can I just say how much I love Rep. Wagner? She was elected to the House in 2006 and was one of two women from the city of Pittsburgh EVER ELECTED TO THE STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Wow. Holy shit. Much ado is being made this year over it being Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary, and I must say, it’s a little sad that it took 248 years for my beloved yinzers to elect any women whatsoever to the State House. (Okay, I know it’s actually less than that, since Pittsburgh existed before the state legislature did, but still. The point stands.) Rep. Wagner told the audience, among many other things (like that her ultimate, far-into-the-future goal is for Pittsburgh’s public transit to be completely free - awesomeness) that she had to fight incredibly hard to get onto the transportation committee. In preparing all her reasons why she wanted to be on it, one of her political advisers happened to mention that no female Democrat had been on the committee in the last session, and she threw that fact in there as a last reason why she should be on it, and now half the time what she hears in that committee is, “Look, you told us there were no female Democrats on this committee, so we put you on it. Deal.” Charming.

Anyway, this is all a longwinded way of saying that the folks from CityLive and PopCity and other places as well have debuted an online project called CitiWiki to encourage citizens of Pittsburgh to collaborate and share ideas for how to improve the city. It’s not only focused on transportation - they are also welcoming ideas about education, immigration, and economic growth. It seems like it’s going to be really cool and hopefully influence people to start thinking creatively about how we can improve the region in innovative way. It reminds me a bit of my old website, the Blurgh, in that it’s something hopeful rather than mired in the politics and bureaucracy that so often defeat people who want to try to make a difference.

So, wonderful, imaginative, creative readers, let’s all head over there and make our ideas heard, shall we?

When I was in college at Pitt, I used to love this one bus driver who drove the 71A. He was an elderly black man who wore Ray Charles-esque sunglasses and a gold lamé bowtie and annouced the main attractions at every bus stop we came to. “Next stop, Fifth and Bigelow - Cathedral of Learning, Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, William Pitt Union, Hillman Library.”

Well, this morning, my bus driver was doing the same thing. He wasn’t the same driver from my Oakland days - the guy today was a middle-aged white man with a goatee wearing a tan Port Authority polo shirt. I noticed it soon after I got on the bus - “Next stop, Liberty and Ella - Shur Save, Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, Del’s Restaurant” - but quickly became engrossed in the book I was reading and tuned him out.

Until we got close to Downtown, that is, and I put the book away and began really listening to the driver. “Folks, our next stop will be Liberty PAST 10th - Cultural District, David Lawrence Convention Center, Pennsylvania Culinary Institute. Now, when you get off the bus, please mind the traffic signals and cross the street ONLY when it’s safe to walk. Let’s be careful out there, folks, okay?”

We turned right at the Original Fish Market and he continued talking. “Once again, folks, the next stop is Liberty PAST 10th. I hope you have a great day and an even more terrific weekend. Weather’s ‘posed to be beautiful the next few days, and I hope you’re lucky enough to get out and enjoy it.”

He paused as we inched closer to the bus stop, then started up again. “Oh, and by the way, folks, I’ll be on vacation all next week, so don’t miss me too much! Ha ha! But I’ll be back again the week after that. See you all then. Next stop, Smithfield and 6th Avenue - Burlington Coat Factory, Mellon Square…”

I just loved it so much. He was sitting in his driver’s seat, rambling on about this city and all the things it offered. Part of what made it so awesome was his Pittsburgh accent - it wasn’t overwhelming, but you could definitely hear it in the lilt of his words, the “let’s be careful aht ‘air, folks” or “weather’s ‘posed to be beautiful.” Even though in DC the Metro was a smoother, nicer ride, I still prefer public transportation in Pittsburgh because of the personality of everyone involved in it - the passengers, the drivers. It’s as if everyone has collectively decided that, yeah, taking the bus is usually crappy, especially when it’s overcrowded during rush hour, but, hey, we’re here! Might as well make the best of it! Sometimes I think that could be the city of Pittsburgh’s logo: “We’re here, let’s make the best out of it.”

So, anyway, thank you, Mr. Bus Driver, for a very pleasant bus experience this morning. I hope I do see you again sometime after you get back from that vacation.

Undeterred, she found a new job and moved to a nicer neighborhood. The job was good. The neighborhood was charming. But she never quite warmed to her new city. She found that many of the people she met enjoyed talking only about how important they were working as interns in obscure House members’ offices, drafting legislation on horse slaughtering or mailing flags to constituents, and weren’t interested in talking to her once they realized they had nothing career-wise to gain from her. The hourlong commute got to her. The one hundred degree temperatures coupled with one hundred percent humidity every single August day wilted her. The studio condominiums selling at over three hundred thousand dollars shocked her. The general “just as soon spit on you as look at you” attitude of her fellow citizens dismayed her.

In short, she was unhappy. And her boyfriend was, too.

So they began looking for ways to get back to the fair city in which they met. They planned and schemed for several months, squirreling away savings, looking for jobs, thinking about the future. Soon, her boyfriend had a job offer in hand and they moved back to Pittsburgh during its most beautiful month: February. Amidst the slush and ice and blackened snow, they settled with their two cats into an apartment where the rent was less than half their rent in DC and they were happy.

Soon after this, they decided to get married. And soon after that, they applied for a mortgage and began seriously looking for a house. Three days ago, they made an offer on a lovely house in Greenfield that seemed as though it was built for them: great backyard, plenty of space, large kitchen, creative vibe. Two days ago, they learned that their offer was accepted. They laughed and hugged and talked about new paint colors for the bedrooms and generally felt very happy but also very strange at the idea of owning a house. Because that is something grown-ups do.

Nevertheless, they will hopefully soon be homeowners and spouses in the city that they love very dearly. Because sometimes dreams do come true. If you know what your dream is and you work very, very hard at achieving it, that is.

But there’s something disconcerting about heading out for the day on May 19 and pulling on your winter wool coat, buttoning it up to the top button. By this time of the year, I feel like I shouldn’t be worried about making sure I have clean work socks, but I do. I’ve never been a big fan of spring, mostly due to the overabundant mud and the nauseating smell of freshly cut grass and the ricocheting temperatures (forty in the morning, seventy at noon makes me a cranky blogger), but I am so ready for this coldness to be done.

Andy Warhol’s over it, too.

“Hey, Abby!” she says. Abby looks up. “What’s the past tense of ‘sneak?’”

Abby thinks for a minute, adjusts the sleeve of her hot pink jacket. “Snuck,” she declares.

A triumphant grin spreads across Lily’s face. “Nuh-uh!” she crows. “It’s ‘sneaked!’”

“No one ever says ‘sneaked,’” Abby grumbles, turning back to her book.

“I sneak, I sneaked, I have sneaked,” Lily intones. Abby looks up, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“You know, when I was growing up, I was always taught to use the word ‘a’ before a word that started with a consonant, and the word ‘an’ before a word that began with a vowel,” she says. “Now, people are using them any which way they want.”

“Someone in my department asked me to relate information to another person today,” Lily replies, her face very serious. “And I says, ‘You mean relay information? You can’t relate information to a person. You have to relay it, I says.’”

I love weird old Pittsburgh houses that have been converted into weird old Pittsburgh apartments.

“Oh, honey,” she says wisely, “elope.”