Back In Reno

I'm back from Pittsburgh. Congratulations to my cousin Claire and her new husband Joe. They had a gorgeous wedding.


The trip was one of those 48 hour in-and-out jobs that I'm so famous for in my family circles. It's unfortunate, but it's sort of the nature of the beast when you live on way out west and most of your family is back east. But at least my own fiancee Melissa finally got to meet the extended members of the giant Irish horde she's marrying in to.

One thing I can definitely say about Pittsburgh: Man, do they love their local football franchise. When we got off the plane and exited our concourse at the airport we were greeted by two lifesize, full-color statues of that were put there (I guess) to give the incoming visitor a sense of Pittsburgh's place in history. One statute was of a young George Washington, who as a young man distinguished himself just south of the site of the modern city at the Battle of the Monongahela during the French and Indian War. The other statute? Franco Harris, frozen in the act of making the Immaculate Reception. I sh** you not.

The other thing I'll say about the 'Burgh is that if anyone ever had the necessary capitol and wanted a sure-fire way make a lot of money on an investment, move to Pittsburgh and start a taxi service. The two notable cab companies in Pittsburgh appear to be completely incompetent. In the middle of the day on Saturday (Saturday! Not a busy weekday, mind you, but Saturday!) I called one of these cab companies only to be put on hold for about ten minutes, then told that they were too busy and I should call their competition. I called the competition, and was on hold for half an hour--this is not an exaggeration--before giving up. All I was trying to do was get from the Children's Museum, where Melissa and I were spending time with my niece, to our hotel which was barely a mile away. In the end, I was forced to call my dad and have him contact the hotel concierge, then get in a cab himself (for some reason they wouldn't do it if he didn't come along for the ride) and come get us. When I got back and complained to the hotel staff, I was told this is pretty much par for the course in Pittsburgh.

Oh well. It's still a pretty nice place, lousy cab service notwithstanding.