be shady

move - successful. welcome to shadyside.

i have arrived. i would appologize for the chasms between blogs the past few weeks, but i was simply been having too much fun hanging out with everyone in harrisonburg and getting my life in order to move up to pennsylvania. but now that i am up here and situated (with bitchin' digital cable for internet and tv) i intend to jump back on the writing bandwagon on a more consistent basis.

if the past 2 days have been any indication of how life is going to be here, i am really excited. the town is so incredibly diverse. with the dozens of different districts in/around the city, there are literally hundreds of different posh places to check out on a daily basis if one had time. i am really excited to get the social network rolling and explore some more. i have done my fair share of exploring already, what with cruising on my bike around town when it hasn't been raining (whick would be oh, about 5 hours on friday), driving out to north park to go on an epic bike ride with some of the nhv crew, and driving out to robinson to shop till i drop. i am getting comfortable with the streets and directions.

the apartment was way better than i expected as well. i thought that my bedroom faced the main street (negley) but it turns out that it faces the "backyard" or as its more commonly known, the resident parking lot. but back to the apartment itself...its huge. my bedroom is enormous. i went out and bought a giant desk from ikea, i have a bookshelf, a big bay window nook, a dresser, and an electric fireplace, my bigass bed...and i still have a ton of extra floor space. the other room is the kitchen/living room. i am in desperate need of some furniture in there, but it will fill up quickly as it is about half the size of my bedroom. the two are connected through a giant doorway with two swinging doors. i was going to take pictures tonight to put online but its dark and i am lazy/tired. look for those in the future.

now the negatives about the apartment. don't worry, there aren't many.

• there is no ac
• there is no microwave
• i dont have cutting knives or furniture
• 6 or my 8 windows don't have blinds or drapes of any sort, thus dangerously limiting my ability to walk around naked
• if somebody wanted to break into my apartment, it wouldn't be very difficult...IF i left my windows unlocked. don't get any ideas.

thats about it. i've got a pretty sweet set-up going on, i suggest you visit. and its going to keep getting better as i get more comfortable with ideas for layout and earn money starting on monday. 11 months of training is quite a long time, but i am looking forward to it. to rub in the really sweet parts about my neighborhood...i live in a really old victorian house converted to apartments, surrounded by hundreds of other victorian apartments in a big old-school suburb. i am about 4 blocks away from a whole foods. 1 block from a giant-eagle (grocery store). next door to eckerd (which also has a few groceries). 2 miles from the washington blvd oval crit (which is super fast and fun. im stoked to race it on wednesday). and about 4.5 miles from pnc park and heinz field. living in a big city is a trip, definitely something you can't really prepare for if you have never done it before, which i have not.

i am pooped from my ride with the guys today. we toasted a fast 60 mile ride with some really steep climbs north of town. i thought harrisonburg had some nasty climbing, but up here the climbs seem a lot more undulating and steep. total elevation changes over the course of the same distance ride in pittsburgh compared to harrisonburg seem to be at least 2:1 (ie if i did a 40 miles ride in harrisonburg and wound up doing 2,500 ft of climbing, that same 40 miles in pittsburgh would give me 5,000 ft of climbing). it would be interesting to find some sort of research data that would prove me right, any takers? but the guys i rode with were great company, and could really move. they dropped the gimp on several occasions, but it was a good fall to reality after getting a little over-confident riding around again in harrisonburg. whoop i can't wait to race again!! still need to convince keegan to visit next week to possibly race the crit with me. alien, if you are reading this, let me know if you are coming. ive got a comfy air-mattress.

i also need to get a hold of the bus schedule. i think it may be free? but i could be wrong. definitely worth finding out. maybe i will explore by bus tomorrow afternoon, head out to the strip district and downtown or squirrel hill. or go back down by pitt (spectacular buildings) and cmu (a vintage and beautiful campus). there is so much to do and see, and i have only struck the tip of the iceberg. i am incredibly excited.

lets get this road on the show...