My blog n'at

If you can finish that lyric of who I’m mocking you are one bad mofo and we should have drinks.

Last night was the crazy insanely hugely successful Tweet-up organized by Uncle Crappy at Vietnam’s Pho. In attendance (christ I hope I get all these right from what I remember on where people sat) – @Techburgh and his lady, @Beth910 and The Boy, @psylum, @douglasderda, @Bobtv and his girlfriend, @colindean, @illyrias, @ilikesleep, @pgha, @jamilbroom, @mrscrappy, @unclecrappy, @andreadisaster, @shanlin1022, and  @shadow.

The Dinner – Don’t even ask me what everyone had cuz that’s not happening. However I do recall @shadow taking a bath in the chili sauce. You know he was shooting fireballs about later, he just wont admit to it. You know you have a friend like that. No matter what they eat its not hot enough? That’s @shadow.  One of these days I’ll make him cry from heat. Lushie may need to break out her home made wing sauce that cleared a high rise with tears.

The Pho - I dined on an appetizer of Goi Cuon (Spring Roll w/shrimp, pork, vermicelli and fresh veggies rolled in rice paper with a peanut dipping sauce) and finally caved for the Pho Dac Biet (Beef Round Eye, Flank, Tendon, Tripe, Brisket, Beef Balls and noodles). You read that correctly, tendon and tripe. The tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone and the first three chambers of a cow’s stomach. Thankfully the Beef Balls were these and not these as I feared.

The tendon was a mess as always so I just picked most of it out but the tripe was mind blowing. You have to get past the mental fact that you’re eating part of a cow’s stomach and dig in. It takes on the flavor of what its in so it consumed the beefy goodness of the broth. The Beef Balls were an odd texture but tasted decent. Kinda chewy and what i would expect heart to be like. Everyone else around me seemed to have been won over on their dishes which secretly really made me happy. I think more people need to open their minds and give this a try as you can order a simple dish of broth, meat and noodles to enjoy. Work your way up to the big boy stuff !  Our final bill, $170.  that’s right, 20 people ate full meals and drinks for $170. You can figure the math

Highlight was also finding out that it is BYOB and with a few growlers of East End beverages in hand I think a Pho-king-beer tasting will be coming up shortly.

Dare I say the Pho was spiritual? On the drive home I thought I saw God and he was eating a bowl of Pho also and drinking a beer.

Here are a few other pics

cheers!

The Pho jokes just never stop around here. You may recall that back in July I had my first bowl of Pho while contacting in the Strip. Since then it’s grown to an addiction that finally consumed my dear friend Uncle Crappy and spawned what will be my first official “tweet-up” attendance… I think. There’s a good chance I was a part of a tweet-up and didn’t know it.

If you’re in Pittsburgh, join us for a PHO-DOWN!
1. Show up at Vietnam’s Pho.
2. Eat.
3. Go home happy.

I never said these things were difficult. Complete details are at http://pittsburghtweetup.ning.com/events/pho-down

Would a fluffy guy like myself says something is good, you should probably listen.  Come be one of the Pho-king cool kids in Pittsburgh tonight!

One of the first pieces of advice we received was to drive around the neighborhood of any house we wanted to look at.  We did this previously for a house in Mars and that proved to be a very smart move and this time would be the same. We had some errands to run on Saturday so we decided to drive around the North Hills and check out a few houses we received emails about.

From the outside the house was nice (that green is actually darker than the pic), the pictures we saw online we knew this house was absolutely perfect plus the information shows the place was updated and had a private yard. Too good to be true right? right.

We pull up across from the property and check out the other houses. Not bad, not bad. In fact we were sold on this place that we wanted to schedule an appointment. As I reached for my phone to call our Realtor it happened…

Next door in that off white house came this older lady. She got in her car, put it in reverse and backed into an SUV not once but TWICE! She pulled forward, put it in reverse and did it again! Oh yeah, there was no other car in front of her! She got out, saw us and then ran inside. My insurance agent would probably drop me for living by her.

Still amazed by what happened we leave and get maybe 4 houses away from the rear-ender when we see some ghetto chicks have their van parked in the middle of the road and are unloading it. They see us stopped and take their good ole time, read mail, chit chat. Another car came so now we have a jam and this guy wasn’t about to wait for anyone. He’s honking his horn, giving me the finger to move, which I can’t because cars on both sides prevented such a feat. Eventually the one girl gets in her van, pulls up to us, lowers her window and screams at us.  No words just blaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh with full tongue ring exposed.

Needless to say, we’re no longer interested in this property and will be staying far away from this area.

Stay classy!

Lushie and I have considered buying a house since we got married over 4 years ago but something always came up and the timing just wasn’t right. That changed last month when we started the process and got the pre-approval. We’ve outgrown the rental we currently live in and Teaspoon needs more room for all this toys. I thought “Hey if my landlord reads this he’s not going to fix anything knowing we’re moving” but really, the nest of dead bees are still rotting in the ceiling and the basement still gets water every rainfall. They’re not fixing anything.

I’m starting a new series called “HIP – Househunting in Pittsburgh”. Yes I know househunting is 2 words but H.H.I.P. is lame. You’ll follow our adventures into being first time home buyers with the first story coming up as soon as I finish this post. I’m going to use social media and the tools available on the internet to buy a house. I’m open to suggestions/advice so either leave them in comments of each post or shoot me a message on the contact form.

Some things to point out:

1. We need at least 3BR. Ideal would be 4 so if Teaspoon gets a sibling I would still have an office area. Furnished basement is a plus since I need to move Studio B.
2. We have a Realtor. She is badass. We’re not leaving her even if you are porn star smoking hot and offer me free beer. My Realtor will kick your Realtor’s ass.
3. We are open to most sections of Pittsburgh. Neither of us are native to the area so there is no fear for crossing a river or driving through a tunnel that would be restricting us. There’s a 99% chance we’re not living in the eastern part of town, however, since that’s not logical for things we do. It may be for you, not for us. Farthest north is Cranberry, south is Bethel Park, West is ummm I really don’t know anything in the west but I think Lushie has ruled most of it out.
4. If you are selling a house in Pittsburgh and do not have pictures online, you’re not getting my business. Yeah we could miss out but this is 2010 and that’s how I do business. It’s easy to do and if you’re not putting that effort in then I’m wasting my time. Also only pics of just the outside don’t fly.

Let the hunt begin!

in mom and dad’s bed reading the paper while doing his business

I’m a sucker for helping kids out, you all know that. From my work with CF and MS to MDA and March of Dimes kids come first. Well this one is a serious emergency and we need your help!

Everyone knows about what happened in Haiti this past week. What you may not know is this, Pittsburgh locals Jamie and Ali McMutrie run quite a few orphanages in Port-au-Prince. Brought to my attention from Ginny at That’s Church, is that these girls and the kids need to leave NOW! Over 100,000 people are dead so far, the orphanage is no longer a suitable living environment, water is contaminated and rioting will surely begin.  This isn’t just a plea to help some kids, this is a plea to help future Americans! They’re in the final stages of adoption and have families waiting.

Go to Ginny’s site for all updates and see what you can do to help. They need a plane and U.S. government help to get refugee status for the children so that they can enter the country legally.

If anyone has some kind of political pull I beg of you to use it. You can reach Ginny at virginia[at]thatschurch[dot]com

Thank you and God bless,
Douglas

Since I started listening to KISS FM in the morning more my music appreciation has changed in the last couple of months.

I’ve liked this song and *JUST* found out who sings it. Shut up. You know you like it too. jagoffs.

Christ… who am i kidding. i need to drink whiskey and eat some steak while watching a Rambo movie

Since 1980 when the US defeated the Soviets in Olympic Ice Hockey, anytime you have a major upset someone will shout out “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!” Friday night I was that guy on Press Row at the 2010 Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase at Mellon Arena. The Robert Morris Colonials Men’s team(4-12-3) defeated Miami (13-2-5) who is currently the number one team in the nation, 3-1 in front of the brave 3654 who fought the snowstorm slamming Pittsburgh. In other words, this “wasn’t supposed to happen”… but it did and I had prime sets at center ice to witness it all.

Miami proved at the first drop of the puck that they are a well oiled machine and an obvious favorite to go to the Frozen Four. This night, however, their only goal would come from a 5-3 power play. RMU played tough, capitalized on mistakes Miami made and after giving up an early 1-o lead came back strong in the 3rd for 2 goals.

As the clock ran down the RMU faithful were drowning out the large contingency of Miami fans who made the trip and as the clock hit zero you would think the Pens won the Stanley cup… again. Christ I’m getting chills typing this.  It was an amazing night for college hockey and I think that the University did a fantastic job marketing the great product they have in Division 1 hockey. I have my own personal rule to not talk about my employment on this blog so I need to find a craft way to talk about the behind the scenes of the Showcase.

Only issue from the night came from the disgustingly drunk Miami fans who don’t take kindly to losing. It was to the point that I thought fights were going to break out from the grief they gave RMU fans. Ironic coming from the losing team eh? I admit, those of us not from Miami on press row jumped up and celebrated when RMU won, but one guy was louder than the rest. He shouted in a drunken slur to myself and a few others “This was your big win of the year! Ours will be the Frozen Four!” I said “Not if your number 1 team in the nation can’t beat a 4-12 team.”  He said a few more things so I pointed to the scoreboard. He gave me the finger and was dragged out by his embarrassed wife.

Yinz Team
4th – Cindy handed my ass to me in the 3rd place game 132.30-80.63. Had I started Kris Brown the previous week I would have been in the title game against Shireman and never lived down the shame of losing to him. I’m better off in 4th.

Hop Heads Anon2
7th – at least I finished at .500 (7-7) Far cry from my title run a couple of years ago.

RMU NFL Pick’m
2nd – lost first place by 2. Thank you NE and Indy for tanking the last week. Next year picking all favorites is off limits. just sayin…

Cluni Paluni Salumi Meat Bowl
3rd – well so far. I suck at college football bowls. Oh yeah there are only 4 teams in this one.

Yinz Team Pigskin Pick’em
2nd – the wife of the comish won this league. I think there was insider trading.

So what does this show? I can pick teams to win each week really well but when it comes to individuals I’m a huge ball of suck. I may have to work some pre-draft trades in Yinz league.