i heart pittsburgh

so i moved. fuller and i got ourselves a new apartment, and it's fabulous. i'm unpacking as we speak. well, not RIGHT now; it's getting boring, so i'm taking a break. i think i'm done in my bedroom, and so i'm about to tackle the kitchen, which is probably the biggest hassle of them all. but i want to get done before i head to g-rap to see my family, so i have motivation to keep at it. if you want my new address, email me. i'll be sending it out soon via email, if i remember, but just to be safe, if you want it, ask for it. all right. peace out.

a fond farewell

this is my last week at the church. today was my last day of my after-school program, and it was bittersweet. the kids were terrible today, but they're still great. it's weird to think it was the last one... i was so busy putting out little fires the whole time that i didn't have time to get sentimental until now. afterwards, a bunch of people from my church took me out to the japanese steakhouse and said nice things and ate good food and sang "you are my sunshine" to me and made me cry. i've been so busy i've barely had time to think about the sadness of this time. of course it's exciting to start a new life, but old things have to come to an end for new ones to start. i'll really miss these people who have been like a family to me out here. it's a good thing i didn't move to baltimore. that's too far away.
well, it's ten o'clock, and i'm still at the office. i think i better head home. but here's a picture of my kids last week, running down the hill to go to the after-school program. it's one of my favorites.

home sweet home

last week, a report came out that listed the top ten "most livable places" in the country, based on nine categories: housing affordability (cost of living), transportation, jobs, education, climate, crime, health care, recreation, and ambience (museums, performing arts, restaurants and historical districts). they surveyed 379 places, and came out with the top ten. and the winner is.....

(drumroll.....)













(photo by Darrell Sapp, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
PITTSBURGH!!

just in case you think it's a fluke (or you've never been here to visit), let me just say that over the last 25 years, pittsburgh is the only city to have finished in the top 20 every time. so that settles it. it's awesome here. you should probably move here.

just in case you're curious, the other finalists (after pittsburgh, of course) are:

2. San Francisco, California
   
3. Seattle, Washington
4. Portland, Oregone
5. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
   
6. Rochester, New York
   
7. Washington, D.C.
8. San Jose-Sunnyvale, California
9. Boston, Massachusetts
   
10. Madison, Wisconsin

so come on out and see. it's awesome. i told you.

the end of an era

today i spent the whole afternoon with stephanie, one of my students from rmu. we've been meeting together every week for the last three years, and today was our last campus minister-student outing. we went out for lunch at the spice island tea house (otherwise known as the isle of pleasure café), and then we went to the mattress factory, which is a really cool art museum on the north side. (you should come visit. we'll go.)
i drove steph back to campus, and realized that that was the last time i'll ever have occasion to go there. i may drive through whenever i want, but as all my students are gone now, with graduation this saturday, my time there is done. it was quite strange to drive through campus and back out under the cast iron gate for the last time. it's over. weird.
i'm not sure that it has hit me yet. i still have two and a half weeks left at the church, so maybe that's part of the delay. the next few weeks are going to be quite strange though. i'll try to keep you posted. that's it for now. adios.