I was late to last night’s meet n’ greet because I was adopting this bitch. I won’t be at PodCamp Pittsburgh today because I’ll be eating this bacon.

I’ll see you at the after party.

Last night, Social Madia & I tried to go to one of our favorite Japanese steakhouses, only to find that it is closed Sunday–Thursday during “summer hours.” We tried a Vietnamese place down the street that is supposedly open until 9/9:30 p.m. (depending on where you look), but was not. We ended up at a sushi/Korean restaurant that closes at 10:00, but apparently stops cooking at 9:00. We were told we had five minutes to order, and no, not that dish, it takes too long to cook.

I love Pittsburgh, but there are downsides to living in a city that considers 9:00 late.

There are also many upsides to living here, like attending another wine tasting event by Rhomania and running into one of my favorite wine drinking buddies, Guy Peluso. Guy is planning some really exciting things for Pittsburgh, and I’m excited to be on his advisory board. And the tasting was at another Pittsburgh original, the Waffle Shop, so there were delicious waffles that I got to eat without Food Network in my face.

If we had known we were too late for Asian, Social Madia & I may have stayed in the neighborhood for Ethiopian. I’m thinking about writing a guide for people who want to live a metropolitan life in Pittsburgh. It would include a list of restaurants that stay up later than your friends’ kids. What else would be helpful?

I had a great lunch with Bryan Gratton at W.g. Grinders. I maximized my time to take advantage of the low parishioner-pastor ratio.

We talked about the different roles the church plays in people’s lives, and I tried to solve problems that I’m not qualified to solve. I asked about growing the church while confessing that I may be one of the least effective evangelists. I’m now working on that.

I was at Woozle‘s house after Mr. Dirby‘s 30th birthday party because he has been wanting to meet Nate the cook. Unfortunately, we both assumed the other had not been drinking, which in hindsight was a silly idea. Most of our ideas our quite brilliant, so this was unexpected.

We spent some time drinking wine and discussing superheros, and I tried to explain my observation that New York eateries sell too many options. For example, a chicken & ribs place in New York may also sell gyros, chicken gyros, and burgers. In a city with so many food options, this just doesn’t make sense.

On Friday, October 13, 2000, there was a full moon. Some friends and I were lost in the woods, on our way to a campground in Allegheny National Forest. We were on Route 666.

Midnight came and nothing happened.

Then again, we found our site so late that I had to cook in the dark while my friends pitched my tent in the rain. After the grease splashed onto my hand, I was too busy tending to my burn to notice that my friends didn’t know what to do with the rain fly.

The pool of freezing rain that accumulated in our tent that night felt good on my burn, but nothing else felt good. Maybe we should stay indoors today.

Number One has been wanting to get out more, so we spent most of the important part of Saturday geocaching. We decided to hunt 10 caches, and found all but one, which I suspect may have been removed. The owner and I are currently investigating.

Yesterday, I thought I had developed hives from drinking nothing but fruit & vegetable juice for three days. After diphenhydramine had no effect on the rash, I have diagnosed it as poison ivy from geocaching in the woods with kids.

People kept insisting that I have a good birthday, so thanks to DJ Lunchbox for dinner, to Woozle for the wine, and to The Long Time Darlings and The Harlan Twins for the birthday beer and cake.

Thanks to my parents for the Coleman Classic 2-Burner Stove that I was always meant to have, and to G for the Pinnacle Dualist that continues to impress me. But mostly, thanks for camping in the rain and enjoying it.

G, angered upon being stung by a bee, and having been allergic to bee stings as a child, decided to pick up the hose and go to war with the bees. As it turns out, he is no longer allergic.

Please pray that we do not see any bears in the woods.

I’m done resting now.