I always tell myself that when I retire I'm getting a summer job working at the stadium. A job like this, a few hours a day here and there at a baseball field, seems more like a way to stay active, be around people, and watch some baseball than about making a living. On the one hand, yes, we can all find our own seats, and an 80-year-old is not going to do much to stop drunks or break up fights, so it's easy to ask what exactly they do. But on the other hand, it's about presenting a human touch at the ballpark, somebody to high-five the kids and be friendly to everyone else, in addition to the benefits of employing older people who might not otherwise be working. I think that's worth a few extra dollars an hour. No doubt they'll all be traded in July.

oh god, Dollar Bank People's Natural Gas Duquesne Light Carrie Furnace Hot Metal Bridge Powered by Bowser Driven by Kia Presented by Dick's. Tell 'em Colin Dunlap sent ya. just you watch.

Ah, damn. Yes, that is very shady and scummy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtOldyLWahs

I feel like that's a grift that should be looked into, too. Looks like they're connected through "Steel City Impact," a non-profit that is supposed to help disadvantaged kids in Pittsburgh (specifically Sto-Rox, looks like). Their board includes Arias, former WNBA player Tyra Grant (who also works for Arias), Justin Adams (the guy in the board room wearing a tank top in one of the videos), the owner of Armina Stone, Ryan Shazier, Jimmy Wan (for some reason, from the restaurants), and others. They're doing an event next month where VIP tickets are $1,500. Probably worth looking into what, exactly, they accomplish.

I remember coming across some of their job ads 10+ years ago when I was desperately job hunting. They seemed a little shady, but their job ads then and now aren't too different than most independent sales positions you'll find. For example, here's a recent posting that looks almost normal. Of course, most people will Google the places they're applying to, but places like this prey on people who don't know any better; their social media is also focused on the type of person chasing the influencer / athlete lifestyle, and believes they can accomplish anything just by showing up for enough hours.

YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PUSH WEBISTICS

I also spent too much time looking them up online. So weird to see him promoting a big baller lifestyle out of fucking Cranberry.

I hate their hype video. Why is he yelling at me, I didn't even apply yet.

I posted another reply to your question but it has been removed / hidden, so until it appears I'll just mention Duolingo isn't the greatest for Japanese (and is awful for Korean, for that matter). It's okay for improving memorization of hiragana and katakana, but you don't learn how to write them, which is half the point. It also introduces kanji without explanation, and, again, if you're not learning how to write characters you're not learning too much. The vocabulary it brings up is introduced kind of hap-hazardly. If you are just learning for some quick lessons on spoken Japanese, go through the NHK World lessons for free: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/learnjapanese/

Whatever you choose, just try to stick with it and find ways to introduce it into your life to build meaningful context. You're not going to be fluent after four weeks of free lessons, but you can find things to read, things to listen to, etc. Too many weeby websites promise too much, and focus on too narrow stuff.

I messaged the mods about my other post about finding teachers / tutors, so if that gets approved there will be some other suggestions.

The tribulations of the bunny cafe were fairly well documented online earlier this year, until the would-be owner hid all their tweets: https://old.reddit.com/r/pittsburgh/comments/zz7x1j/update_on_the_bunny_cafe_from_its_owner/ Not so much lack of demand as gross incompetence, financial illiteracy, and a lack of animal safety. There were also some cat cafes here, which added their own share of drama to the yinzer internet (search Black Cat Market). I know cafes exist in other parts of the world, but I think there are too many obstacles in place to make them viable here.

I have to wonder if the risks of a niche, non-animal small business would be mitigated somewhat by owning the space and living above it. I've sometimes fantasized about opening a little stationary store or something, if I were wealthy enough to not care about whether I turned a profit.

It's weird, I've noticed that a lot recently. In the last couple weeks I had a teenager yell out at us "MOM, THE DOG IS POOPING ON OUR YARD" (it was walking, not pooping), and had an old guy yell out at us on the sidewalk to keep moving. I don't recall people being as vocal before, and there are tons of people walking their dogs all hours of the day. I get it, there are a lot of irresponsible pet owners: Nextdoor has postings almost every day about "lost" cats whose owners let roam, and I pretty frequently find poop on the sidewalks or in our front yard. But what is especially irritating about some of these crabby people is they are the same ones who put their garbage out days early, or let it blow all over the place, or let their cats walk all over the place, or make noise late into the night, or do other things that make it a less neighborly place. Or maybe I've just become more sensitive to rotten people with how ugly everything else going on is.

Greenfield's alright. I've lived there about 10 years.

Pros: Close to everything, walkable (if you like to walk) to places like Oakland, Squirrel Hill, Frick Park, Schenley Park, and even Shadyside and beyond (about 35 minutes to Walnut St, if you hustle), and all the dining and shopping opportunities that entails. More affordable than those neighborhoods, and your mortgage may end up being significantly cheaper than what it'd cost to rent in Greenfield, though the cost of the average starter home around here is already up around 100K from when were were buying a decade ago (now most of the cheaper homes are in the 225 - 270K range for a basic 3BR/1BA place, with it going up if there's any sign of recent remodeling). Many of the homes at least have a small yard, which is good for a dog and a garden. Regular bus service to Oakland, Downtown, and the Waterfront. People are generally friendly if/when you get kids into school, and I've generally been pleased with the school communities and opportunities on the sports teams and at the Rec Center. Really great views from some of the hilltops. Lots of wildlife, which is fun to watch but bad news for our plants.

Cons: A lot of the homes are really old and suffer from remuddling and deferred maintenance, as I've been discovering (purchased after a series of owners who only stayed there for a year or two), which has meant a ton of extra work on things like roofs, chimneys, heating, insulation, etc., plus any decorative changes. Drivers are really shitty because it's a cut-through neighborhood, so people who don't actually live here end up running stop signs and red lights all the time. Then again, the people who live here also speed and ignore signs as well. The Nextdoor is toxic, but that seems the same everywhere.

Yinz remember they used to come with He-Man trading cards in the 80s?

I think they also had Steelers cards for a while---I still have a few---unless I am mistaking them with another giveaway.

Agreed about the crowdfunding campaigns for restaurants, or retail, or shady animal cafes that usually foreshadow issues later. But, I'm not sure a fancy restaurant would be really out of place in Bloomfield, or that it's necessarily a working-class neighborhood anymore. Plus, 1/3 of this team is a brown guy and another 1/3 is a white woman, so while I take any opportunity I can to promote Kevin Sousa for the Mt. Rushmore of Shitty Pittsburghers, I don't think his race or gender matter here (especially since working class neighborhoods in Pittsburgh were historically populated by white guys and families).

I was not clear from the article, but is this a PAT/PRT bus stop, or a school bus stop? It says only the district has the authority to move it, so if it's a school bus stop I don't see why it can't simply be in front of the school. Poor choice of words, but also shitty that kids are vandalizing property. Not really sure what can be done, though. If it's students causing the problems the district could put "hall monitors" of sorts outside near the stops in afternoons, but considering they don't even have enough staff to fill their classes and can't keep people safe in the classroom, having paraprofessionals guarding the Starbucks is out of the question.

There are a handful of standards. Chengdu Gourmet has two locations (McKnight Road and Squirrel Hill), Sichuan Gourmet or Yue Bai Wei in Squirrel Hill, Chinatown Inn downtown, Ting's Kitchen off McKnight Road, Jade Grille in Mt. Lebanon, Sesame Inn (a few locations). People will debate which is better---depends on your taste and what you're looking for---but for a decent Chinese place you'll be fine with any of those.

Hal B. Klein has always been solid: for Pittsburgh Magazine, for the PG, and for the other publications he's written for.

Yes, I got a new one last week there for around $40, and there were lots around that general area.

I'd recommend Burlington.