Filed under: Pittsburgh, Social Media, Sports, Uncategorized | Tags: even more sports, pixburke, whoo-hoo, yinzteam
I’ve been looking forward to today as much as nearly anything all winter.
This evening, a bunch of us will meet at the Island Sports Center to give curling a try for the first time. I’ve been a freak about this sport after watching all I could during the last two Olympics, and tonight I finally get to throw a few rocks tonight, thanks to the great folks with the Pittsburgh Curling Club, whom I met when I did a story about them a couple weeks ago.
Bonuses:
Going to Bocktown after.
Finally getting to meet Mystery Michelle.
Tonight is gonna be good.
Filed under: Elsewhere, Food and Drink, Home, Music, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Social Media, Uncategorized | Tags: beeeeer, hippie music, holiday fun, internet fun, navel-gazing, pixburke, sentimental goop, yet another dreaded bullet update, yinzteam
I just re-read the post I wrote this time a year ago, and it struck me — I’m doing the exact same thing I was doing 365 days ago — drinking barleywine, watching a Grateful Dead DVD (the same one, in fact) and thinking about the year that’s about to pass and the one that’s just about to begin.
I explained a year ago why I do these things on New Year’s Eve, and with everything that’s happened since then, I think it’s understandable why I’d go back and seek a little comfort as I contemplate what’s to come.
I usually talk a little bit about what I hope to accomplish in the months to come, and it just occurred to me that last year I didn’t. 2008 was a year of monumental change for us, and I think I was still a little overwhelmed — to the point, at least, that setting some goals for 2009 might have slipped my mind.
That we will fix.
I don’t have a ton of big things in mind for 2010, but I do want to work on a couple things that should help me do better things — and have more fun — at work and at home.
- I’ve been pushy about a few aspects of my job, but not so much about others. The one I’m resurrecting in 2010 is beer writing. I let that slide as space in the paper got tighter and my time got shorter, but neither of those reasons should keep me from doing a column a month. The Beer Guy will return.
- Related: I’m also going to make my own. Last year I bought the homebrewing gear from the husband of Lady D, with an eye on making that something I’d try this winter. It’s this winter, and it’s time for me to see if I can make beer I like to drink.
- I told you about this one at the end of November, but it bears repeating: completing the half-marathon portion of the Pittsburgh Marathon in May. I started training but have done little in the last two weeks as I’ve been fighting an annoying cold for the last two weeks. I have my work cut out for me, but I will be completing that thirteen-mile shuffle coming up in five months.
- I had a pretty good blogging year, but I let everything kind of go to hell in the last month. I will post at least 20 times each month in 2010.
- And finally, one that comes completely out of the blue: I want to learn to play the ukulele. I should probably start that one by getting a ukulele.
There was some tough stuff this year — some health-related things that continue to remind me that I’m much closer to 50 than I am to 30, and work continues to be tense, at least in the financial sense. That’s all part of being a grownup, I suppose — something I should probably start working on someday soon.
But the good outweighs the bad, and the best of 2009, once again, was you guys. A great example — I was an idiot about tracking down my now-traditional bottle of East End’s Gratitude for New Year’s Eve consumption, enough so that Scott sold out of his 2008 bottles before I could stop by the brewery and pick one up. After a frantic-but-unsuccessful search, I got in touch with Chris at Bocktown — the owner of one of my favorite bars in town and a great source, but most importantly a very good friend — and she set me up with a bottle from the restaurant’s stash.
That’s relevant tonight, but it’s also a great illustration of what all of you have done for us this year. Your generosity and your good humor is evident each time we do something with yinz guys, and it’s made us better — and probably even younger — people that we would have been otherwise.
Maybe I’ll make that the last goal for 2010 — we’re going to keep hanging out with you people. It seems to be working so far.
Filed under: Food and Drink, Pittsburgh, Social Media, Sports, Uncategorized | Tags: even more sports, grumpy old guy, pixburke, yinzteam, yum
Saturday was a day of two distinct halves, split by a two-hour nap and a handful of Advil.
Part one: Yinz Bowl.
The day dawned crisp and cool, an ideal canvass for the gridiron warriors who would battle that day…
OK, that’s enough. We had a slightly smaller group of participants for Yinz Bowl II — offset by actual spectators this time around — and we didn’t get any of the ladies to play this year, as Mrs. Crappy was at work, AAA and CPG were both not yet home from Thanksgiving travel and Mindbling had something mindblingy to take care of.
Thus, “Flackle” drifted away from “Flag” and a little more towards “Tackle,” meaning the protocal seemed to be to tackle the ballcarrier and then pull his flag. That’s not a bad thing, but it definitely meant I was suffering more at the end of the game than I might have been otherwise. It also served to perhaps underscore the age differential between me and everyone else (although Scott and Woy are closer than they might like to admit). Rob shot the second half of the game — you can see his Flickr gallery here — and a couple of the pics illustrate the difference pretty clearly.
Speed.
Gravity.
Anyway. I had a few receptions, one carry, a couple tackles and a pulled groin. And I apparently dinged Shireman, catching him on the chin with a shoulder while I turned around after making a catch. Next year, Jim, I suggest hitting me somewhere where there is more padding.
I also served as chief trainer for the group, administering medicine — as captured by Abby — to those who needed it afterwards.
Like, say, me.
It’s three days later, and I’m mostly recovered. I’m walking without a limp and the pain in my shoulder is gone; my ribs are still a little achy when I cough, though.
Part two: Make Room for Kids at Las Velas.
Our friend Ginny kicked off her effort to raise $10,000 to install a game room at Children’s Hospital on Saturday night with a benefit party at Las Velas, her husband’s restaurant. I don’t really need an excuse to avail myself of a Las Velas margarita or 12, but this seemed like a good opportunity to have some fun and help out a cause we wanted to get behind.
There were a few Yinz Bowl players limping around the restaurant — and then there was TV’s Jim Lokay, who shook off whatever aches and pains he was experiencing to engage in a Mariachi and margarita-fueled dance-off with Tall Kathy. I promised Jim I wouldn’t post the video I shot, but one little picture couldn’t hurt, right?
Even without the Dance of the Pittsburgh Broadcasting Stars, the night was fabulous. After circulating and sucking down some tequila, we — Mrs. Crappy and me, Redpenmama, AAA and Chachi, who were joined after a while by the Shiremans — set up at a table and grazed our way through an excellent dinner — and more tequila. We all were able to set aside whatever pressures we regularly face and relax, and we laughed our way through the evening. I regularly have fun with all you people, but I’m having a hard time remembering a night that seemed quite as good as that one. I hope we can do it again soon.
And we — meaning everyone who showed up at Las Velas on Saturday — did good. Ginny said the restaurant’s donation to the Make Room for Kids drive is upwards of $500. If you didn’t get a chance to come out on Saturday, you can still donate via the PayPal link at Ginny’s site.
Postscript.
Football that didn’t kill me. Drinks and dinner with great friends to benefit a great cause. I need to figure out a way to do this every Saturday.
Filed under: Pittsburgh, Social Media, Uncategorized | Tags: internet fun, pcpgh4, pixburke, podcamp pittsburgh, yinzteam
Thanks, Abby.
I think I said this at least once during my Blogging 101 session during Podcamp Pittsburgh 4 — Do as I say, not as I do.
Yep. The guy who stood in that room and talked about the importance of posting regularly is just now getting around to writing about Podcamp.
Hey. I think I also told you that this stuff can be hard.
My own little teeny portion of Podcamp went pretty well, although I started very slowly. Lots of excellent questions from a room full of people helped; having Justin standing in the doorway to help answer questions about business blogging helped even more. We were able to convince Bob to start up a blog on the spot, and at least one other person — Danielle, whose name I hope I’m spelling correctly — started two others just days after Podcamp wrapped up.
In terms of organization, my session was kind of a mess, so let me summarize just a few things I wanted those attending to take away:
- Do it. Setting up a blog isn’t hard; if you have an idea, there’s no reason not to give it a try.
- Post regularly. Even if regularly means once a week.
- There are no rules. There are some loose best practices, but I manage to break nearly all of them all the time. If you’re making yourself happy, the readers will notice.
The three blogs I know that started as a result of the Blogging 101 session:
Comics and Beer. Bob agreed to be the guinea pig of the class. He’ll also be starting blogs for his journalism school students at WVU; naturally, I’m very curious to see how those go.
Crazy Love, Crazy Life. Danielle said in class she had three blogs ready to go, but hadn’t pulled the trigger on any of them. I was immensely pleased to see that this one, about her life as a newlywed, went live right after Podcamp.
Confessions of a Serial Life Changer. Danielle’s other blog that appeared right after Podcamp ended. This one will be a little tougher, as she’s dealing with some potentially deep, personal stuff. Harder to write, sure; it also has the potential to be much more rewarding.
If you were in the class, my offer still stands: Let me know when you get your blog up and running. I will read. I will comment. I will link to you. And I will try to answer any questions you may have.
- – - -
Outside of that session, my own Podcamp experience was the best yet. The schedule was truly overwhelming, and I missed as many good sessions as I attended. The ones that stood out for me?
An excellent discussion about intellectual property, a debate that leaves me in conflict — I’d like to think that the output of my professional life has some kind of value, particularly if that value means I can continued to be employed in whatever form journalism takes in the next 20 years. But I also see — and support — the notion that information should be freely accessible, particularly as it pertains to the musical world. You all know that the bands I listen to permit taping and unrestricted distribution of those tapes, in part because they see the greater value of spreading their music around.
Henry Bingaman’s excellent session on the specifics of writing and designing for the web had a ton of great tips. And although his session was tailored more towards marketing folks, I think there is some stuff that will apply to my professional life as it exists on the web.
Cindy Closkey’s Sunday session on revitalizing a blog gave me a couple tips for trying to determine the focus and value of a blog. As I reach one of my periodic slumps, that information will become very helpful.
And although I didn’t attend his session, Norm Huelsman mentioned Uncle Crappy (the site) in his talk on design basics, apparently for my use of the old Bloomfield sign photo in the page header. I guess I’m not doing everything wrong…
- – - -
As we wrapped up on Sunday, I did the best I could to stop each of the organizers and thank them for the tremendous job they did this year. We had more sponsors, more sessions, more people and, by far, the best experience we’ve had in four shots at running a Podcamp. If I missed you on Sunday, please accept this as my thanks — you guys freaking rocked this year. And I’m looking forward to trying to top in 2010.
Filed under: Home, Pittsburgh, Uncategorized | Tags: domestic bliss, family, sentimental goop, whoo-hoo
Seventeen years ago — give or take a couple weeks — I was walking through the offices of the student paper at OU when I noticed the new GA writer, the one with glasses and long hair.
Whoa.
Ten years ago today, the new girl and I got married.
When I found Mrs. Crappy all those years ago, I found the person who’s willing to put up with me and my long list of idiosyncrasies. I found my best friend. I found my constant companion. I found someone who laughs at my jokes, even as she’s rolling her eyes. I found someone who not only gets my sense of humor but shares it. I found someone who is as passionate, and as stubborn, as I am.
I found the person I was supposed to spend my life with.
She’s given me more than I can ever repay her for. Fortunately for me, I have the rest of my life to try.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Since we arrived on Kelleys Island, my watch has been sitting on the dashboard of my car.
Mrs. Crappy twice asked me for the time Wednesday; I just smiled and shrugged. I explained: While we are here, time, in the traditional sense, doesn’t matter. We will observe lunchtime, dinnertime, beach or bike time; we will simply know when it’s time for these things to happen.
It seems to be working pretty well so far. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to run — it’s beer time.
