Digging Out

Penelope Pooping

This is what I was greeted with when I attempted to watch a march headed downtown. Shortly there after the peaceful gathering was ruled an “unlawful assembly” and the police used intimidation techniques including an LRAD to chase the demonstrators away.

These law enforcement officers were here to protect and to serve their fellow citizens, but instead they intimidated and arrested people who were simply expressing their discontent with the G20.

This was happening on the other side of the police line I was behind after the police confronted the march.

I don’t know what would have happened had they allowed the march to continue, but this show of police intimidation continued through the night as a result. What started as a peaceful march escalated to students being arrested in Oakland, again for unlawful assembly and refusal to disperse.

Once back in the office I felt nauseated and thought I was just dehydrated. After some discussion with co-workers I believe that my nasea was caused by the LRAD device. The voice is terrifyingly calm and devoid of any emotion. I hope I never hear it again.

Later on that evening on my commute home I had a choice to make. I could either attempt to ride my normal route home which was blocked off by the police or ride through downtown. I chose to ride through downtown.

I headed towards downtown on Penn and talked with another cyclist on the way who was headed back to the South Hills. The detour required I cross the 16th street bridge and ride the trail to the 6th street bridge into downtown. The National Guard officers along the way were friendly and helpful.

Once downtown I was greeted with a ghost town.

I chatted with Ross for a few minutes at Liberty and Forbes where there was a line of busses held up because of the motorcades planning on leaving the city. He compared the police state in Pittsburgh to what it must be like in Iraq or Afghanistan.

A bus driver I talked with briefly said she had no idea how long she would be there. The busses on Boulevard of the Allies were stacked two across as far down as I could see.

The rest of my ride home was nice and calmly paced. Later that night I went to see Drugdealer at Howlers in Bloomfield, where only a couple hours earlier the protesters were being told to disperse by the police.

What I experienced that day was like nothing else I have ever experienced.

I found this video on Jeff’s blog and found it to be really inspiring. It is especially relevant since I was just reading about the Flip Mino HD camera he used to shoot it with.

He proves you can do a lot with a little, he cleverly glued a wide angle lens to his Mino camera, and still create something meaningful and beautiful.

After graduating college I had quite a nice debt. I had private loans from my two semesters at Penn State Erie, credit cards, and various private and government loans from my two years at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

It didn’t stop there though. I wasn’t smart with my money after graduating and spent more than I could afford. While I could technically afford to purchase that new camera, I would put it on the credit card and “pay it off later” all the while paying just a little more than the minimum amounts on all the debt, not just the credit card.

When I made the decision to get out of debt I started with the credit card. I would take out a 0% interest card and pay as much as I could on it each pay check and paid a little over the minimum on the school loans. Once the credit card was paid off I took that payment and rolled it to the loan that had the highest interest rate. I just kept rolling over my payments until the end where my payments were $600-700 a pay period.

The only debt I have now is the house I share with Monica (currently in her name.) My car is paid off. School is paid off. And if I buy something I make sure I can pay for it within a month.

I waited until all of this was taken care of before I proposed to Monica. We will have our honeymoon paid up before we leave.

I had my 2004 Toyota Matrix inspected today and the only things it needed was a wiper blade and a pair of tires to replace the flat I had. I have a feeling I will own this car for a long time to come. It has never given me a single problem outside of standard wear and tear on the brakes, it gets good gas mileage and I can jam all if my stuff into the back of it.

Monica and I came across this pug receiving a blessing from St. Francis of Assisi at a church we are considering for our wedding. I am not a religious person or one who believes in fate, but this seems all to perfect.

Dear Rich Lord,

I am responding to your article found at… Linking to the Bike Pittsburgh post rather than the article itself…

I commute to work on a bike three days a week and drive the other two so I see both sides of the story that you didn’t present. From my point of view both cyclists and motorists break the law daily.

I cant remember the last time I saw someone actually obey the posted speed limit, or didn’t witness someone floor it to get through a yellow light. Every day I see at least five people on their cell phone, not paying attention to the road or their surroundings.

I challenge any of your sources to give me a day when they don’t experience these things as well.

Your sources point out a small subset of cyclists in Pittsburgh who put themselves and others around them in danger with reckless riding habits. When I am on my bike I am defensive, safe and predictable as are the majority of cyclists I encounter daily. I slow at all stop signs and I stop and cautiously go at all stop lights when it is safe to do so. I don’t obey the laws exactly as they are written, but neither do 90% of the drivers I encounter.

I believe your contributors should take a long hard look at their fellow drivers habits before they choose to criticize the way cyclists share the road. Cycling is here to stay, we are not going anywhere. Time to get used to us and work with us to make our city a cleaner, better city.

Sincerely, Ryan Sprake

Exciting news to see Pittsburgh go another step further in making the city a happy place to ride your bike.

Read about it!

I made a payment online to our credit card through Chase Online but it turned out it wasn’t enough so I went back to edit the payment. Well I can’t edit, cancel or add another payment for another three days. So I call their customer service line and they confirmed the same thing. I can’t make another payment for another three days! I asked the customer service agent if there were any other options for payment and the only other way was for me to make the payment from another checking account or to call back when I get the finance charge.

What a scam, prevent people from making their payments and get them with a finance charge. I love this world.