Posts Tagged ‘The T’
Scuttling, diagonally
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described yesterday, your humble narrator was out for a short walk.
Not an exodus, nor a crossing of some hostile desert, this time around it was all familiar territory.
One was loathsomely scuttling down the diagonally cantilevered PJ McArdle roadway, here on the face of Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington. I’ve walked this way several times over the last few years.
That’s the Monongahela Incline, pictured. It’s a funicular railway.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Every now and again, one needs to relax a bit, take it easy. Ruminate.
I’ve really been getting around, in the last six months in particular.
A lot of attention has been paid to Pittsburgh’s North Side in the last six months, and to several other ‘zones’ around the city which I have some sort of intellectual interest in. Troy Hill, East Liberty, East Street Valley, Perry Hilltop and the Swindell Bridge, Skunk Hollow, Brighton Heights, lots of new and novel sights for me.
This scuttle was a bit more like visiting a relative’s house, I’d venture.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My day was abbreviated, due to an incoming weather system promising to bring thunderstorms and tornadic warnings to the area. It was quite a nice day at the time I was out and about, climatological wise, otherwise.
Happily, I was wearing a new pair of Merrell hiking boots, after discovering that I had ground my older pair’s soles down to flat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Speaking of flat, when I got down to Carson Street, the Via Majorica of the South Side Flats section – a wrecker towing a bus was observed. I whipped the camera forward, and the two guys driving the thing saw me and started vamping for the shot. Sweet.
Me? I wanted to go shoot a picture of a train and also drink a beer.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! CSX #3346 shot through the usual spot and satisfied my urge. I had a singular glass of suds, and then walked back towards the T light rail which is about a half mile or so away from this spot.
All told, maybe three miles in total, if we’re stretching it.
Specific ‘leg work’ for the day involved hyperextension of, and stretching the tendons, leading into and out of my ‘bad’ ankle joint while walking downhill. Accomplished mainly via a series of walking postures.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, a ride back to HQ in Dormont on the T light rail, and yet another happy reconciliation with a dog named Moe, and a woman called ‘Our Lady of the Pentacle.’
Back tomorrow with something different.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
‘Effin around on West Liberty
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Is there no one on this planet who can even challenge me?
General Zod said that in the second of the Christopher Reeves Superman movies, and I find myself repeating it periodically.
Every now and again, one of these native born Appalachian people decides they’re trying to get one over on me, thinking that I’m dumb or facile enough to allow it. It’s usually a clerk of some kind.
I have one sentence to offer in response – I’m from Brooklyn, yo, don’t piss on my feet and tell me it’s raining.
A minor business dispute at the customer services desk of my local car mechanic spun wildly out of proportion recently, for instance. Somebody in their employ randomly tried to inflict their will upon me, which caused me to have to ‘react.’
You never, ever, want to see me to start ‘reacting’ to something. There’s a small army of environmental regulators and politicians back in NYC and especially so at Newtown Creek who can tell you that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Long story short, a minor ‘recall/repair’ was applied to the car a couple of years back. Known issue, manufacturing defect, easy peasy fix if you’ve got the replacement part. Said replacement part began to degrade over time during the last 24 months, and I mentioned my problem with it to the mechanics desk when I came in for an oil change. The person I was talking to got hostile about it, and quick.
This kicked off almost a month of back and forth’s, and a great deal of wasted time for me. These shots were gathered during my most recent encounter in this skirmish, when the car was at the mechanic for appointment number three.
After gathering these shots, since I hadn’t heard from the mechanic since dropping the car off, I decided to call them and ask for a status.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
First, I was accused of trying to defraud Toyota since the clerk didn’t bother looking up my car’s warrantee in her system. Started purposely mangling my name during the conversation – called me ‘Which Maxwell,’ ‘Max Wishman,’ and a few others.
Then she decided to randomly try to charge me $300 just to have a mechanic examine the issue that I had described. Under my breath, I murmured ‘eff off, and she hung up on me.
What this person’s mistake ultimately came down to was in not understanding what it was she was dealing with. I got back to the dealership, collected my keys, and then proceeded over to the side of the facility where they do the office work. I do not back off when I’m in the right. Period. Don’t start a fight, but finish it, that’s me.
Two hours later, and I’m waiting to see the GM of the dealership. Couldn’t see me in person, but we spoke on the phone later on in the day and worked things out.
He chided me for using ‘blue language’ with a woman, to which I responded that ‘I don’t modulate my behavior towards Toyota employees based on their gender or sexual identity,’ and that as a guy from NYC – cussing is a cultural thing for me. He said that ‘here in Pittsburgh, gentlemen speak properly to women.’ I apologized for my cuss, and didn’t go after his sexism, all of which seemed appropriate to do. Sometimes you need to give them a little ground in an argument, before pressing your point.
Pfah.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This whole encounter just pissed me off, mainly because of all my time that was wasted with no mechanical result on the problem I was having with the car.
Suffice to say that I allowed exactly 48 hours from the phone conversation with the dealership’s GM to pass, then left him a message asking if he’d been able to find a resolution to my problem.
Son of a gun if the person who had randomly caused all this derision, and wasted the time of both customer and dealership with three separate maintenance appointments, didn’t cheerfully call me up to schedule an appointment for the dealership to ‘make good’ on the issue. I was also told, happily, that she had found my warrantee in the system, and called me ‘Mister Waxman.’
All General Zod ever wanted was respect, and what was best for his people.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This person at the dealership’s receiving desk was acting towards me like a bully. When I was a little kid, I had to ‘take it’ from this type of person. As an adult, however, this sort of behavior is unsafe at any speed to perpetrate, around me at least. Can’t abide it.
One of my beliefs is that if you are ‘strong,’ psychologically speaking, and you encounter a bully you must knock them back. If they’re trying to do this stuff to you, it’s a guarantee that they’re doing to others who aren’t as capable of standing up to it as you are. You owe it to society.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
They really don’t see it coming, with me deep in the conflagrations of middle age. The gray hair disguises it, I guess. I must look like a pushover.
Heh.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Failure of intent
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ok, I’ll admit it, I willingly attended a Governmental meeting here in Pittsburgh. I’ve been doing historic research about Pittsburgh, too.
I was talked into it, but there was food laid out for the meeting, so that’s a tax refund – right? It seems that Allegheny County, which is a Governmental layer more or less synonymous with the municipality of Pittsburgh geographically, was publicly releasing an environmental plan that’s been in the works for a few years.
I figured that I’d work a scuttle into the endeavor, and found myself starting said walk at the top of Mount Washington, and specifically use Sycamore Street for the descent. Fun.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This ‘plan’ wasn’t actually much of a plan, it was more of a wishlist visioning document without any mandated deadlines for its recommendations, which didn’t carry a budget along with them. Ambitious plans filled with terminology like ‘decarbonizing’ and ‘human powered’ populated its pages.
A presentation was given, and then attendees were led into a room with the easels and signboards, where people connected to the agency wanted to hear opinions and reactions to the plan. I saw the person who talked me into coming to this event, and made a bee line for her signboard.
I felt that I needed to point out that nobody but nobody is going to replace their gas stove with an electric one without some sort of tax incentive to do so. The expensive nuances of removing a gas system and having an electrician come in to pull new power lines up through the gas pipes isn’t something they thought of, nor is a funded mechanism to handle the tonnages of gas stoves and furnaces which would headed for landfills or recycling.
Also, that when a government says ‘we should do a thing’ without any sort of a timeline included in their statement, that’s just politicians talking about the ‘way things should be,’ and they don’t have any way to pay for this policy position they admire.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hey Now! CSX #104 was crossing underneath me while I was crossing the Smithfield Street Bridge, to get to the County building where the meeting would take place. I should mention something here…
I’ve given up. Nothing matters and nobody cares. The only thing which can stop people from pouring battery acid into water reservoirs is the threat of Police enforcement – and even then – not so much. I honestly believe that the best we can do at this point – environmentally speaking – is to try and manage the ‘new normal.’ It’s too late. We missed the window, as a culture, to do anything about the climate problem.
The County’s plan is solid in its logic. Its mandates are unfunded.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The cost of retrofitting the ‘installed base’ of water heaters, furnaces, stoves and so on is massive. Just doing the government’s buildings represents a price that would double taxes for a decade.
The only way to achieve a changeover to devices fueled alternatively to manufactured gas is to either mandate the replacement and create a tax scheme to forgive and absorb the expense, or to just change the zoning laws for new construction and gradually move over to the newer/‘cleaner’ technologies in the fullness of time as housing stock is demolished and rebuilt over the decades. The latter is the sort of approach that NYC is taking.
NYC is also embracing a farcical rooftop solar agenda, but that’s a different tale.
Suffice to say, I’ve seen a lot of environmental plans presented by lots of very smart people, and it’s ultimately always a wish list or a ‘vision’ plan that you’re consuming. Important to do, mind you, but still just a wishlist.
I wish that I was rich, taller, and better looking. That’s my vision plan.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The catering at the event was very political.
They had gluten free, and vegan, and all the other options which you’d need to have for a public ‘do.’ The food was prepared by a non-profit which specializes in providing the first steps for street people towards having a hirable skill set. Everybody I met was super nice, and friendly. I did my best not to talk to anyone, but that didn’t work as I was approached several times, and once they heard the Brooklyn accent…
I actually had to say it several times: ‘Hi, I’m Mitch Waxman…’ sigh…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I found the whole thing slightly depressing, as I often find such gatherings. They are very happy and peppy in public, however, the political people here in Pittsburgh. Genuinely nice in person.
I walked back across the river and caught a T light rail back towards HQ. Hope that this plan gets funded, and that they figure out a great way to sell it to those who will automatically be hostile to it.
Try this:
Hey, Y’see those people over there… whom you don’t like… well, those other people that are standing behind that curtain over there want to take something away from you, and give it to them. Me? I’m the only one who can stop that… even though I’m actually one of those people behind the curtain… I’m the ‘good one’ who cares about you, your kids, your dog, and Veterans – of course. Vote Quimby.
Back next week with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Lots and Lotsa Hey Now!
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This most recent of scuttles finished as many do, with your humble narrator rehydrating at what’s now called the ‘Burghers Brewery’ on Pittsburgh’s South Side. Hey… it’s really close to the T Station!
This time around, I was trying out a new brew of theirs – an Irish style Red Ale called ‘The Red Funicular.’ It was good. That’s my review.
Hey Now! CSX #503 appeared, heading northwesterly.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I had finished my earlier peregrinations by crossing the Monongahela River, via the Smithfield Street bridge, pictured above.
The masonry of that bridge was designed by John Roebling, and the steel structure above is by Gustav Lindenthal. That’s the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, and the designer of the Queensboro Bridge – back in a superior City, for the curious.
It should be mentioned that the Newtown Pentacle time warp has actually increased in severity recently.
The photos in this series of posts were captured on the 21st of May, and the very words you’re reading were encoded a month later at the end of June. At this writing, I’ve got close to a thousand shots which haven’t been processed yet – just sitting there on my computer’s hard drive – so hopefully I’m going to be able to continue with my longish ‘lead time.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #3165 elicited a ‘Hey Now!’ when it turned up in the very same spot that #503 formerly occupied, less than twenty minutes earlier. I headed inside for a ‘reload,’ and paid my tab. Two is plenty for me, these days.
I used to be able to outdrink Russians when I was a kid. Was always the last one awake at a party, me. A lot of that was paranoia, I’d imagine.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as I was exiting the establishment with my final boss of a beer in hand, CSX #3409 appeared and was headed in the opposite direction, southeasterly, towards the steel mills and ultimately – Maryland or West Virginia.
Hey Now!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Man, I got lucky on this particular day. Hey Now!
That’s CSX #5465 rolling along there, just as I downed the last of my second beer. I returned the glassware to the brewery, and began a final set of steps to get back to HQ, where Moe the Dog was likely wondering what the heck had happened to me.
Moe is a worrier.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A ten minute walk saw me at those ‘Station Square’ platforms offered for the T light rail service, which carried me back to HQ.
Moe was fairly indifferent five minutes after my return to HQ, but I did get a very emotional greeting from him – barks and squeals.
Back tomorrow with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
End of scuttle, and Hey Now!
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A fairly long walk through Pittsburgh found a humble narrator in need of a quick meal, and while sitting in front of a pizzeria on Pittsburgh’s East Carson Street while eating a slice and drinking a Gatorade, a Pittsburgh Fire Department’s fire engine hurtled past.
Can’t resist.
My plan for the remainder of the day involved that slice of pizza forming a late lunch/early dinner, and then I’d down a pint or two of beer at that brewery I often visit, alongside the CSX train tracks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the way, I found myself admiring the simplicity of some of the older residential structures nearby. The people who originally inhabited this area were mill workers, and suffice to say that the built environment is quite ‘humble’ around this zone.
That pizza got me moving again. Amazing what a bit of fat and carbohydrate does for a wandering narrator’s flagging energy level.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You just can’t ignore it when a composition like the one above appears in front of you, you just cannot.
I arrived at the brewery, ‘inspected the porcelain,’ and then bought myself a beer. One had been in constant movement for about six hours, with an hour of sitting down at the library lecture right in the middle of that.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
CSX #990 appeared, which rounded out my scuttle, and offered a logical juncture wherein I could ‘hang my hat’ and say ‘that was a day.’
I was actually on my second beer when they showed up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I slurped down the last of my glass of suds, and paid the tab within.
Another inspection of the porcelain, and then I was back in motion. One was physically tired in a muscular rather than psychological sense, and it felt like my back and legs definitely had a decent workout. The meal and the drinks had filled me with carbohydrates so I was ready to roll again.
The camera straps were arranged, the heavy backpack slung across my horrific frame, and then things were leaned into for the final movement.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Within a few minutes of walking, I was soon at a T light rail station called ‘Station Square,’ whereupon my chariot arrived.
Back next week with something different – at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 