Pictures 15: Pittsburgh familiarity and fraternization

Seeing my brother Dan in Pittsburgh was a real treat. We are very, very different people, but when it comes down to it we find the same things funny and regularly text each other seeming non-sequiturs simply because we know the other would appreciate it.

So, hanging out with him, his roommate Matt and his girlfriend Mandy at his place in Lawrenceville was nice. We spent a lot of time just vegging out at his apartment, so that made for a lot of images of the four of us, as well as some cool shots from the roof outside his kitchen window.

If you don't know me, nor do you stalk me online (here or via Facebook), you may not find all of these images too fascinating, but here they are nonetheless.

I am, after all, still enamored of my new-to-me camera, so I really like the way a lot of these images came out.

Click any image to see a larger version in Photobucket.


This is Dan on the first morning I was in town. We were tired and I was showing him how my camera worked. He took a picture of me, too, but it is extremely unflattering and there is no way it is going online.


Looking out his living room window - all those trees got clobbered by the snow this winter.

23 more below the jump...

Pittsburgh, and Pictures 14

It's been nearly a week since I came home from Pittsburgh, and I've yet to write anything about it. I suppose I'll keep it short, then - besides, I didn't do much besides hang out with my brother and sleep on his couch and do nothing - so there aren't a ton of stories to tell.

And, come to think of it, I don't feel like telling stories at all, so I will just show Pittsburgh to you.


A view of the city from Grandview Park in the Mount Washington neighborhood

I think a lot of people have a very mistaken and outdated idea of Pittsburgh. It was established as a steel city in the Allegheny Mountains, a particularly beautiful stretch of the Appalachian Mountains that runs through Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For a long time it existed in a decidedly stereotypical Appalachian realm of being relatively poor, dirty, and decidedly Slavic.

Over the years, what with the decline of the American steel industry, Pittsburgh has seen a waning population and waxing culture. While the town does have two notable colleges - Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh (the latter of which being my brother's alma mater) - students tend to come to Pittsburgh, learn valuable things, then leave Pittsburgh.

For those who stay in town, however, there is an entire city full of blossoming music, theater, art and social circles, all coupled with an incredibly low cost of living and what I think is one of the most picturesque cityscapes in the country.

More images and musings below the jump. Remember to click any image to see it larger on Photobucket.