ummmm, originally uploaded by Mike @ pittsburgh.metblogs.com.

This is the poor quality picture from my bus where the driver just yelled at two passengers who dared to ask to get on five feet after the stop while we were stopped at a light

Welcome to tonight’s Featured Presentation!  For your viewing pleasure, “Nighthawks” episodes 1-4  Honestly, each one is better than the one before it (and no, don’t just jump to episode 4…fine, go ahead).  Come back this weekend for two more installments of Waffle Shop Week!

Episodes 3 and 4 after the jump.

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The Ren Fest might be over, but you can still go back in time this weekend at two different events.

First, as I heard on the radio this morning, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood of Make Believe will be set-up this weekend for you to tour.  It’s free and at WQED in Oakland.  And yes, Mr. McFeely will be there!

And second, the Nina and the Pinta (replicas at least) are docked at the North Shore River Front Park through November 15.  I’m hoping to go tour them, I’ll report back if I do.

In today’s show:

• The best entrance ever!
• Mandatory vasectomies
• Dating contracts
• The repeat of Pittsburgh Pete
• Thanksgiving poetry…?
• Peacocks and llamas!
• Buddhist philosophy

(Language NSFW)

In this episode:

• Hillary the computer
• Jank!
• Teh Internets
• Really short and really big words…
• Vegans vs. Bacon
• Important historical documents
• Synonyms of quagmire
• America’s Next Top Model
• Pittsburgh Pete and love

(Language NSFW)

If you didn’t vote this morning, polls are open until 8 p.m.  Find your polling place here and have your ID ready.  You can easily swing by on your way home from work or like me, get off a bus and into a car for a short drive to where you can use those cool touch screen voting machines!

In this episode:

• The slow growth of Pittsburgh diversity
• A 13-year-old puts my NaNoWriMo efforts to shame, seriously.
• Guitar music!
• Funky shoes

While not as glamorous as last year’s election, today is your day to go vote!  Need to know where to your polling place is?  Do you live in Allegheny County?  Then this is the link you need.  You can also make sure that you are registered to vote.  Take your ID and you’re all set.  You might even get candy or something (no promises).

In this episode:

• I’m going to go ahead and call it awesome music!
• Glimpses of more of the set
• The definition of “the wafflestomper.”  Hint: it’s not about waffles.
• The definition of “a pippi longstocking.”  I’m leaving that one alone.
• The most festive tuba ever.

Would you like a waffle named after you?  Who wouldn’t?!

Once again, I’ll be spending November writing a 50,000 word novel.  As of this writing, there are currently over 1,000 (1,080) participants from Pittsburgh.  Right now, five of us are busily writing at Panera Bread in Wilkins, and write-ins are happening all the time, all over the city.

Join in if you want, or watch as we attempt to beat both Sacramento and Philadelphia in a word-war that will be going on all month.

In the meantime, I’ll be back later tonight and all this week with Waffle Shop Week.  The good folks from CMU went a bit crazy with the uploads, and there’s all kinds of syrup-ey goodness to share.  And I’ll be back on Tuesday with another installment of PATransit Tuesday.  I’ll be chronicling some Christmas Creep, and later in the month, geeking out to Star Wars in Concert.

Enjoy the beautiful day everybody, catch you later!

Note: I’ve been sitting on this story for a week, hoping for resolution (hence no column last week).  And in the meantime, I’ve listened to a lot of Lewis Black, so I’m going to pay myself on the back for not swearing or wiggling my fingers.

Today, I have a story to tell, about hellacious public relations by PAT.  Normally they seem to be on the ball, but this is inexcusable, at least to me, at least for now.

About two weeks ago there were ‘unathorized’ flyers distributed on some of the buses.  My route happened to be one of them.  They weren’t copied well, when folded they didn’t match up, but I read it, and walked away with some concerns: mainly the same I’ve had all along.  I still don’t know if I’ll have service.  Here’s the run down:

• It has been stated that service to Monroeville will terminate at the Mall park ‘n ride.
• The map of the new P68 (or P67, can’t remember which at the moment) shows service going past Monroeville Mall, on one of the current routes
• It is noted that there will be three route variations
• Those variations are not listed anywhere
• PAT has said it will keep service to all Park ‘n Ride lots and open new ones, as well as create transportation hubs

So, will there be service to my local Park ‘n Ride which is past Monroeville Mall?  The flyer said no.

I’m a little bit of a (read: a really big) dork, and while I don’t have a Twitter account, I read the Port Authority’s feed since it often has more information than their website.  There was a message on it saying that if you had questions, to contact them via Twitter.  Well, since I don’t have an account, I opted to instead use the form on the website to ask a question.

Here’s where things started to break down.  I sent in my question, using complete sentences and explaining my situtation, including the unathorized flyers, the twitter account, all of it.  I get a one line reply back the next day (to the best of my memory this is what it said, I can check it word for word when I have access to my e-mail tonight):

You need to send a letter to the TDP

That’s it.  No help.  Not even an offer to forward my question to the appropriate department, you know, like any reasonable customer service department would.  Nothing.  So I send an e-mail back asking for two things:

1. An answer to my original question, will I still have service or was the brochure correct
2. Some sort of explanation as to why I was not offered any kind of help whatsoever or even any kind of decency as a customer

It’s been a week.  I haven’t gotten a response yet.

A favorite site of mine, Consumerist, covers their beat during the G-20: quality and value of consumer prouducts.

It’s a stunning story because electronic devices rarely survive the fall from my hip pocket to the floor, let alone from a high-rise into a demonstration

Read the entire article here, even if it does take a jab at Pittsburgh.

I love zombies.  Ask anyone.  However, my love mostly goes into books and the occasional movie and video game.  That being said, I think the  international zombie day is a wonderful thing, especially since it is a huge fund and food raiser for the Pittsburgh Food Bank.  Personally I have no desire to get dressed up, but more power to those that do.  The Zombie Olympics are going on right now in the parking lot outside of the old Boscov’s (and before that, Kauffman’s) end of the mall, and the record-setting zombie walk will take place at 6.

Coming to the mall on this day is always a treat, I laughed when I got cut-off by a family of four zombies in a pick-up truck, and once had to stop myself from complimenting someone on her make-up and costume: she wasn’t here for the walk.  Oops.

And, quite ironically, going on at the Monroeville Convention Center right across the road is a gun bash.  I hope they have shotguns.  Or even better, machetes.

Waiting, originally uploaded by Mike @ pittsburgh.metblogs.com.

The line snakes down Bedford. Let’s go Pens!