There and Back Again: An Eevee's Tale

[eevee]

Good lord. I've been out of town for almost a month now. I'd even forgotten how glorious my monolithic dual monitors (so, a duolith?) are; I spent two weeks working on my 1366×768 netbook. It was terrible, let me tell you

Comments

[anonymous]

downtown Pittsburgh is an abysmal cesspool of CVSes that close at 7 p.m. and several each of McDonald's and Subway. It is not a fine place to eat. It is not even a fine place to walk around; the entire city is a patchwork of old crumbling sidewalks, new architecture that feels like it was abandoned halfway through construction, and actual construction where it feels unnecessary. It has been described (by me) as a SimCity game played by a six-year-old: an invisible hand drags the bulldozer tool through the city at random, and has to be in bed by 8.

No. What you described is the tiny abandoned urban ghetto juxtaposed with the sterile business-centric corner of shit that furries THINK is "downtown Pittsburgh", because they don't venture out of their 100-foot comfort zone around the poorly-located convention center (thank god, because they'd otherwise be at my house). That area shuts down at 7pm because it only exists to serve business moguls with no interest in culture moving in and out of town in normal daylight working hours. Every other convention that goes to the David L Lawrence is for business, medical research, or whatever other square, suit-wearing venture you can think of. It fits where it is. The majority of the city is similar to the strip district and has more color, hidden uniquities, and sheer personality than just about any other size-comparable city short of maybe Boston or Seattle. It's also so dense and separated from the business sector that there just isn't any room for passerby tourists there unless they know a local that can point them in the right direction. I'm very happy for that.

If you want to judge this city, try seeing more than just a tiny fraction of it first, and try coming for a reason other than a furry convention. You might be surprised.

[geight]

You stopped reading after that part and immediately replied, I guess?

Also seeing as how his job is in Pittsburgh he travels there semi-frequently. Also former Pittsburgh natives have more than willingly agreed that the town is the armpit of Pennsylvania.

[eevee]

I actually visit Pittsburgh every four months or so for unrelated reasons. But on those occasions I'm a business mogul myself, so I have even less reason to venture beyond downtown.

I assure you that I've wandered further in Pittsburgh in every direction than the overwhelming majority of those congoers. But I've never treated Pittsburgh as a tourist destination, no, and I have little interest in doing so. I just wanted something to eat at 2pm on a Saturday, man.