Friday, November 05, 2010
Schenley High School Basketball at the Civic Arena in State Finals
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Second Half:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
Part 4:
Thursday, November 04, 2010
East Pittsburgh Job Fair with more than 80 employers -- Please share out
Light Up Night in Pittsburgh with a Fireworks Paddle
Light-Up Night Fireworks Paddle
When: Friday, November 19, 2010 7:00 PM
Where: Newport Marina
929 W. North Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15233
Pittsburgh's Light-Up Night has changed a lot over the years. Originally a kickoff for the Downtown Christmas shopping season, it's becoming a real festival, with stage shows, parades, the lighting of Christmas light displays, a big party on the Clemente Bridge with food and music. And of course, since this is Pittsburgh, fireworks! Join us for a short November paddle up the Ohio River to Downtown to check out the festivities and watch the fireworks.
We'll put in at the ramp at Newport Marina on the North Side. It will be a short 1.5-mile paddle up to the Roberto Clemente Bridge. There will be lots of activity on the bridge, people all along the riverfront, and boats lit up with Christmas lights. Let's be part of the spectacle! I'm lighting up my kayak with one or two strings of battery-powered LED Christmas lights, $10 each at Target (among other places).
The water will be 50 degrees, so everyone should think a little about safety. PFD's are mandatory, as always. Wear a wet suit or dry suit if you have one. If not, you should at least bring a change of clothes in a dry bag, just in case you take an accidental swim. I'll have my marine radio on board, bring yours if you have one. Worst case, if one of us went in the cold water and had difficulty getting back in their boat, River Rescue would be a couple of minutes away.
Directions -
- Come across the Ft. Duquesne Bridge (or down I-279 from the North Hills) onto Rt. 65 North.
- Take the Chateau Street exit at the West End Bridge interchange.
- Follow Chateau St 1/2-mile.
- Stay to the left, and take the U-turn under the highway onto Beaver Avenue.
- Two blocks ahead, turn right onto North Avenue.
- Meet in the parking lot on the right, at the end of North Ave.
- The marina is across the parking lot, along the riverfront trail.
This is the last-chance paddling event of the year for all but the most hard-core kayakers. Last year, there were two dozen kayakers on the water, at night, late in November. This year, I'm sure there will be more. It's a fun event - hope you can make it!
RSVP to this Meetup:
http://www.meetup.com/kayaking-129/calendar/ 15305837/
We've been doing some traveling...
That's me with the camel back (filled with water) as we hiked out into the bush of South Africa on foot, single file, behind the guide / ranger who was armed with a rifle.
David Batzofin of Joberg was with us at Idube, part of the Sabi Sands section in central South Africa. Sabi Sands is connected to Kruger National Park in terms of how the animals walk. David is a great travel companion and he had a great camera with us on the walk and in the Landrover. He was on assignment as a travel photographer and journalist. See his blog at http://davidbatzofin.blogspot.com.
Blogging about Idube: http://davidbatzofin.blogspot.com/2010/11/idube-game-reserve.html
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Fwd: Mt. Lebo school renovation
Signage of the Times
At recent Mount Lebanon Commission and School Board meetings, exasperated residents have testified that they are practically going out of their minds over all the delaying tactics tossed at the Mount Lebanon High School renovation project. Well, I'm already there – completely bonkers - over this controversial issue. Not so much over whether we spend 75 or 113 million – either way we all know that we will get what we pay for. To me this ain't so much about the kids anymore. It's coming way too late to benefit my two. What's driving me nutty is a nitwit neighbor of mine trashing my "Save Our School" lawn signs - 3 times now and counting. Could this sign stalking midnight marauder still be mired in that 70s tune "Signs, Signs, everywhere Signs, blocking up the scenery breaking my mind" (thank you 5 Man Electrical Band) or what?
Now I would argue that lawn signs define our civilization just as usefully as billboards and bumper stickers keep our attention focused on the road. Sloganeering signage has probably put more dents in fenders than in voter opinion. The most bold and amusing of bumper stickers I saw in Manhattan. It read "Can't you see I'm on the phone!" I remember handing out a whole box of McGovern/Shriver buttons in '72 and somehow we still lost that election plus the Vietnam War to boot. Heck, it was only with this recent Obama election that I morphed from signage challenged to signing on to Barrack's hopemobile. The idea of plopping America's global melting pot poster boy into the White House was just too delicious to pass up for a previously hopeless liberal such as I.
And I was proud enough of my Obama stickers to keep 'em on a whole year until 2010 census work made me cover up my left wing leanings. I enjoyed my G-man work immensely by the way – wore an Elliot Ness overcoat covering my always at the ready imaginary tommy gun, parked anywhere I damn pleased and made census avoiders scurry like rats into their basements and defiant libertarians spew their bizarre conspiracy theories all over their front porches while peering ever so nervously up to the sky at my hovering black helicopter friends…but I digress.
Let me tell you what happened these last two weeks to my signs.
I placed 2 in my yard on Kurt Drive, another couple on a fellow soccer dad's lawn up the street facing Lakemont Drive, plus gave out two more to Tour de Lebo bikers to place on Folkstone and Sunrise Drives. Had the neighborhood pretty much covered. So that's 6 signs times 3 thefts which equals 18 signs times $3 per which is a collective $50+ heist. Add my pain and suffering and it's really way over a hundred bucks of virtual visual vandal damage.
Dashed was my dream of that star spangled summer evening round about 3 years down the road when our town's July 4th fireworks would light up the sky and we Leboites would not have to lay our collective squint on some shoddy, moldy and last century oldie school building – but rather we would instead spy upon a glistening new Lebo High Spaceship lifting our kids and grand children to Emerald City educational bliss and Friday Night Football heights which would make Upper Saint Clair, Bethel and Peters town folk rue their days of excessive haggling over their meager school do-overs!
When I surveyed the initial theft scene, my first impulse was to simply electrify my next pair of "save our school" signs.
This was a promising plan but then my wife reminded me of the many canines that tended to relieve themselves on our premises and the image of a pee line transforming into a doggie death ray led to her confiscation of my extension chords.
This imposed cease fire got me to thinking "What would Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction do in this situation?" That's right - I would "try real hard, Ringo, to be the Sheppard!"
So I re-set the new placards in the exact same spots but this time attached a brilliant red balloon to each figuring that this kind of guy just might need a balloon and knowing no-one would consciously abuse a red balloon – especially not one just like that kid's in that Red Balloon book we all have most assuredly read several times.
The next morning the sun again rose wondrously over our blue and gold skyline and I peeked out the window and saw that the SOB had run off with my second round of signs - plus savaged them all over the street, red balloons popped. This was not good. Not good at all.
So I got out my magic markers, and quickly drew up a poster that read "hey (followed by a rough drawing of a screw and a ball)! Quit stealing our signs!" And scribbled below that "it's wabbit season" signed E Fudd. Heh, heh, heh.
Plus I got my sledge hammer out and pounded the steel spikes of this looney toon warning and 4 new "Save Our School" signs as far into the ground as they would go figuring that would hinder the next rip off attempt.
At daybreak, after gathering my PPG and checking to see if Luke Hagy had scored his usual 3 Blue Devil TDs, I glanced towards my signage and there stood practically smoldering - 4 naked, bent steel towers looking like ground zero. The sign stealer had somehow grasped that the signs actually slipped off very easily from their steel stems…
What was different this time from the earlier attacks was that there was no evidence lying about on the pavement, no chance for retrieval and proper burial. My signs were now hostages in the clutches of an anon nutcase.
The new sign reinforcements weren't in yet so my lawn was to remain a battleground lost for several days…unless I would muster the singular courage to go on the offensive. So I drew up a second hand made placard showing Bugs Bunny proclaiming "This Means WAR!" (thank you Mel Blanc) and I email blasted a cry for help and found that indeed others had endured similar attacks on their signage as well as veiled threats to their very personhood. The targets included school board members and mild mannered musicians… Police reports had been filed and suspected bad guys fingered. Lo and behold two suspects lived right down on Lindendale!
This made me shudder since only a while back I unwittingly precipitated a runaway softball incident that rained down unmercifully on Lindendale folk and it occurred to me that maybe some lindendaleones might still harbor a grudge of some kind...
Are you still reading this?
Good.
Here's what happened…It was a dark and stormy evening when I parked my van heading up Kurt Drive so that my fastpitch softballing daughter Jen could run into the house to escape the rain. I got out my driver's side and opened the back hatch to fetch the equipment and was clobbered in the groin by a tumbling ball bag that Jen had hurriedly propped on top of the unstable bat bag and also neglected to zipper up and it plunged onto the street and a good two dozen greenish yellow softballs bounded to freedom past me and down our very steep incline. Unfortunately coming up the hill were some cars. An elderly man drove the first, and having witnessed the entire episode, stopped in his tracks and pounded his steering wheel hysterically laughing at my pathetic attempt to run down a few of the escapees. A lady in the car behind him, fearing the worst, did a duck and cover. A third car driven by a teenager tried to do a u-turn but only provided a tempting broadside target for the rapidly accelerating balls. Some of the balls made it clear to the Lindendale curb and bounded right, careening all the way down to Cedar Blvd, I guess to find a waterlogged resting place as close as possible to the softball fields. Others hung a hasty left and were unceremoniously gobbled up by a hungry sewer. Still others catapulted over the curb and into the several yards seemingly safely tucked away far below street level. The crashing noises and the screaming subsided after only a few minutes and I wondered whether this softball debachle would ever come back to bite me…
So honorable commissioners, this is probably why these few isolated, scared neighbors of mine continue to haunt your chambers to oppose soccer fields, swimming pools and adequate police protection. They obviously detest sports and shiny new buildings and have taken to cannibalizing signage and now are ganging up on your "Commissioner's Parking Spaces"… something I and maybe you never even knew you had and I bet they just found out about as well...
Oh I so long for the daze when we just sipped our tea and acted civilily!
That's all folks!
Larry Evans
Water polo clinic and all stars
The Eastern's Clinic will begin at 8:45 am and run until 11:15 am. Immediately following the clinic will be the all-star game, starting at 11:30 am. Once again, two-time Olympian Brad Schumacher will be making the trip from California to host the clinic. It is open to male and female athletes ages 10 to 18. We ask that your athletes register by November 5th.
This year the Eastern's All-Star game will be between the Pennsylvania all- stars and the East Coast all-stars. The East Coast all-stars will be comprised of all athletes from all states other than Pennsylvania. The decision to make a Pennsylvania all-star team is based on the fact that the Eastern Championship is hosted in Pennsylvania. Each all-star team will have a roster of 14 players. In order to determine the top 14 players, we ask each coach to nominate 1 to 3 players, in order of rank, and have their nominations in by noon on Wednesday October, 27th. We will be announcing the team by Friday October, 29th. If your team is a public high school, your nominees must be seniors.
The Eastern's All-Star game and Clinic are both great opportunities for your athletes to be scene by college coaches. American Water Polo has specifically coordinated these two events to be held on the same weekend as the Men's Division I Eastern Championship. The top eight east coast programs will be competing to advance to the Men's Division I final four. Your athletes also have the opportunity to witness first hand some of the best water polo being played on the east coast.
Please contact myself or Tom Tracey as soon as possible. We will be selecting the all- star team in the afternoon of Wednesday October 27th. Nominations that are received after 12 pm on the 27th will not be considered for nomination.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
Alex Bond
American Water Polo, Membership Services
320 West 5th Street, Bridgeport, PA 19405
610-277-6787 Office 610-277-7382 Fax
Monday, October 25, 2010
The death of an open water swimmer in a meet at UAE is so sad.
Fran Crippen, 26, died Saturday during the last leg of the Marathon Swimming World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.This is bad, bad news.
My wife and I went to the UAE in May of this year. We did visit a beach but didn't swim in open water -- but -- I wanted to do so. And, we even had a companion, a master swimmer from Omaha, that was about to join us. Swimming around The Palm was in our sights, but, the hours were pressing. We went to the pool instead.
UAE has some places that have great skin diving along a reef.
UAE's tradition also includes lots of pear diving where guys in boats worked with weights tied to their legs to easily get to the depths -- and then are pulled topside with bags while wearing gloves.
Ugh.
We are in South Africa now and did a little swim today at the resort pool. No open water is in our future here -- yet. Durbin would be the place to do it but we didn't have any time there. Just into the new airport and a drive to the Campagne Sports Resort at Drakensberg. Won't be interested in open water in Kruger either.
Our driver the other night told us of some folks who swim to South Africa from the neighbors to the north, fleeing border guards. They travel the width of the river with a chicken on a rope at the end of a stick on the back of a croc. No joke. They use the animal for a ride by climbing on its back.
I asked what about another joining in to grab the chicken before one had covered the width of the river. Then what.
This had been a rumor here, but, was confirmed by a journalist who went to find the area and witnessed such a crossing.
Later in South Africa there is a water polo match and it would be great to find its location and try to get there, but, we'll see.
Had a great talk yesterday with a ENT doctor from Cape Town who had been to Pittsburgh twice. He has two sons, like us, who are exactly the same ages as Erik and Grant. And he is a master swimmer. He would have been in the SA Masters Championships this weekend, but this conference is in the way.
We are at the 46th Congress for South African Society of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery in assocation with the South African Association of Audiologists and South Africa Head & Neck Oncology Society.
Got to run. Tennis under the lights is in ouer future. Played 18 holes of golf today. Grant is hitting par and often 1 over par by a foot. We are hitting the cup with the putt from 10-foot, and it rims out.
RIP Crippen. Peace to all.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Save the date: Nov 8, 9 and 18th at 6 pm
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Fw: Urgent.. Are you attending the Lights On After School Event TODAY?
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Contact: Stephen MacIsaac, Executive Director FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel. 412.363.1914 office - Tel. 412.519.6793 cell
macisaac@wireless-neighborhoods.org
'LIGHTS ON AFTERSCHOOL' EVENT CELEBRATES CITY-WIDE PROGRAMMING
After-school programs to be celebrated through national awareness campaign
(
This event, one of 7,500 similar events nation-wide, is part of the Afterschool Alliance's effort to raise awareness about the importance of afterschool programming. It is an exciting chance to learn more about programs taking place in the community, and it a great opportunity this year to show support for American youth.
Afterschool programming plays a significant role in
· 26 % of
· The hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. show the highest instance of juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sex (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2002)
· 32 % of PA Children not in an afterschool program would attend, were one available. (
Activities will include:
· "Best Practices" Showcase: An opportunity to see afterschool programs in action!
· Provider Fair: Meet the community partners who make afterschool programs possible
· Youth Entertainment: Our kids aren't just smart, they're talented too!
· Guest Speakers: Local leaders share how afterschool programs have affected their lives.
This event is hosted by Wireless Neighborhoods, Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation,
Where:
When: Thursday, October 21, 2010
4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
For more information on Wireless Neighborhoods, please visit www.wireless-neighborhoods.org.
###
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Fw: First Tee Mentor Program
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Marc Field
Executive Director
The First Tee of Pittsburgh
5370 Schenley Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15217
(412) 682-2403
(412) 682-2405 (Fax)
www.thefirstteepittsburgh.org
The First Tee of Pittsburgh is a United Way Donor Choice Agency.
You may direct your United Way contribution to #1436656
Please consider our environment
before printing this message
If you have received this message in error or wish to be removed
please reply with the word REMOVE in the subject line
Want To Reduce Concussions NFL? Ditch The Helmets
The foolish thing about all this is that the easiest way the NFL can actually prevent helmet to helmet hits is to do one very simple, yet controversial thing…get rid of the helmets.
That’s right, get rid of em. Ditch em. Forget about em. There have been a number of studies that show that the helmets themselves are probably the cause of a lot of these injuries, if you wanna read an excellent article on it, check this out from the Wall Street Journal last year.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
NFL fines Steelers' Harrison $75,000; Harrison: 'It was a legal hit'
Steelers linebacker James Harrison has been fined $75,000 by the NFL for his helmet-leading hit that caused Browns wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi to receive a concussion. Harrison was not suspended.Ouch.
Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/10292/1096447-66.stm#ixzz12qMfRHmn
I told my sons that in 10 years, football will be dead. Boxing is. Football is next. Just a prediction. I don't really want to see that come to pass, but all this buzz about head injuries is not to be ignored.
Education Week: Gwinnett County, Ga., Wins $1M Broad Prize
The Gwinnett County, Ga., school district, located just outside Atlanta, has been awarded the prestigious Broad Prize for Urban Education for 2010. The annual award, announced today, honors large urban school systems that demonstrate the strongest student achievement and improvement while narrowing performance gaps between different groups based on family income and ethnicity.
Fw: [school-discuss] 21st Century Classroom and Slate's crowdsource project
-----Original Message-----
From: Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@yahoo.com>
Sender: owner-schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2010 12:51:10
To: <schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net>
Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss@schoolforge.net
Subject: [school-discuss] 21st Century Classroom
Slate has launched what it calls "a crowdsourcing
project on the 21st-century classroom" here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2269307/
I saw one response already that pushed Linux, but
I think it is too limited and narrow. This should
be an important opportunity to connect FLOSS with
a wide range of different educational concepts.
What should terms like "free" and "open" really
imply when we are asking what the word "classroom"
ought to mean over the coming decades?
My own thoughts are very disorganized right now,
and I'm not sure if I'm going to have something
submitted by the October 29th deadline. But many
of you have much better credentials for this than
I do anyway. Some of the threads we've had on
this list lately might be relevant.
I look forward to seeing what happens.
Joel
Monday, October 18, 2010
Fw: Do you value after-school programming? Citywide Thursday Event/Job Fair Info
Are you planning on attending the October 21st event that will communicate to all that you want to listen?
After School Programming Is Important!
Do you value after school programming as a way to keep kids safe, healthy, and well educated?
If so, attend the October 21st Lights On Afterschool event and let the world know that you value after school programming.
SEND A CLEAR MESSAGE TO POLICY MAKERS AND FUNDERS THAT AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMMING SHOULD BE FULLY FUNDED BASED ON THE NEED FOR SERVICES!
Have fun at the event… (See attached for more info)
Organizations: Wireless Neighborhoods, Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, Pittsburgh Public School, and many valued community and fair partners
Encourage those who are seeking employment and those seeking a better job to attend the November 9th job fair at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in East Liberty. Over 60 top employers will be recruiting workers that day.
>If the job seekers need help getting ready for the job fair call the Eastside Neighborhood Employment Center at 412-362-8580 and ask for Brittany.
Lead Organization: East End Works Collaborative
Ravenstahl says he expects state to take over city pension plan
Mr. Ravenstahl said he and his staff have spent nearly two years working on a plan that would parlay proceeds from a leasing parking facilities to a private operator into a pension fund bailout. He said the plan would avert a state takeover that would lead to dramatically higher pension payments that the city could make only by raising taxes or cutting services.
Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/10291/1096246-100.stm#ixzz12jpCS33I
Blair, smiles and says nothing so as to not offend. Very wise move.
Blair keeps to self on City joining WPIAL
Former Schenley basketball star DeJuan Blair was in town Thursday night playing for the San Antonio Spurs against the Cleveland Cavaliers in an NBA preseason game. Shooting the breeze a little with Blair before the game, I told him that the City League is seriously considering disbanding and joining the WPIAL. He hadn't heard of the idea, but I asked him of his opinion.
"That's interesting," Blair said.
I then said, "Well, what do you think? Do you think it would be a good or bad idea?"
Blair said, "I can't saying anything else. I'm going to have to no comment on this one because if I said what I really want to say, it wouldn't come off too good."
Don't know if Blair thinks it's a good or bad idea, but he obviously thought it best to keep his thoughts to himself. Maybe it was a smart move, but I'm still curious what he thinks.
Contest wants students to think about city's future
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, the Pittsburgh Public Schools and the Pittsburgh Promise scholarship program today will kick off a contest designed to get high school students thinking about the city's future.
Students may work individually or in groups to address the question "What is your promise to Pittsburgh?" Responses must be submitted or postmarked by Nov. 24.
While the city prefers video responses, students may submit essays, photos, artwork or responses in other media. Mayoral spokeswoman Joanna Doven said she didn't want to limit students' creative expression.
Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/10291/1096236-100.stm#ixzz12ihf7hAF