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Giving it some gas

“The Pump” (c)Lawrence A Capozzolo

… actually more like filling up the tank.

BTW … this is a keyhain camera (Vivitar Digital Mini Camera) pic of the Citgo in Sewickley, PA – which I believe may possibly be the very last full service station in the country. I think we need to get it put on the national list of historic sites (and immediately after install a row of Tesla charging stations next to the gas pumps just to see the confused looks).

… so, getting on with it.

Since SWB is sort of revived (actually it’s becoming more of the defunct Confused Words poetry blog than Confused Words was … although I think someone took over that blog name on WordPress), we are going to try to revive a unique photo blog we started specifically for Art All Nigh in 2010 (if I remember correctly) – Pittsburgh By Mini Cam. The photo blog was specifically for images taken with those Digital Mini Cameras found in most Pharmacy stores for about $10 each. You know, the little cameras with imagers worse than a 1990s $5 web camera? Yep … those little things on the end of a keychain that make you wonder if you accidentally ate a handful of magic mushrooms after looking at the images.

Those cameras, albeit with their horrible images, are just plain fun …. because you have no idea what you took until you download them …. sort of like using a GoPro with really really really (x50 here) bad quality.

Many equate them to the cheap plastic cameras of the 50s and 60s or the discount single use cameras of the 80s. They take crap, but it’s just plain fun.

Anywayz … watch the site Pittsburgh By Mini Cam for new entries.

The first image series kicking the site back off will be from Sewickley and War Memorial Park near Pittsburgh PA.

-SWB

 

National indie bookstore day

Take note tomorrow is Indie Bookstore Day (April 28, 2018) – click here for info. Despite the fact that “they” have deemed bookstores a dying breed … I completely disagree.

I do believe that hands are being changed from the Wally World sized mega libraries, back to where books belong … with the indie dealers that love them, and know them. I don’t care who you are, but the experience of buying something from someone that actually uses the product, or in this case, has read it …. makes a big difference.

I like going into my indie bookstore, where the shop keep (yes, I watch to much British TV) might have a bit of a intellectual “attitude” because they actually read their books on something other than a pad or phone (which means they actually comprehended the book too). I like the fact that they can hold a conversation with me on an author, a subject, or an issue – and have a clue.  Try that at Goliath Books!

We have a great indie store near where I live called The Penguin Bookshop. Great selection, and it sort of reminds me of Black Books – except the people at Penguin are actually sober.

If it’s in stock tomorrow I will be buying Alan Alda’s new book on communicating.  Check it out here.

If you aren’t buying books, buy one tomorrow (or maybe today) …. start a habit!

-SWB

Cops N Coffee

How did “Cops N Coffee” and up in “so stupid it could actually happen”?

Well, read on ….

But, let me bore you first by filling you in on a little bit about the writer (me): First, I was never military or a copy, or basically anything of legal authority recognized by a uniform. I did grow up for over twenty years next door to the Deputy Sheriff of Allegheny County and his sons. Some of his children became local officers and mayors of our community. The community I grew up in was Brentwood, similar to the one I live in now (Glen Osborne / Sewickley Area). Originally my wife and I did a little stint in Leetsdale after we were married, but opted to move into the Glen Osborne / Sewickley community next to us – not for status, but simply it reminded me of my old neighborhood (many people knew each other, the law enforcement and people in the local government were integral parts of the community, and it was a safe place where you want to raise a family … whether you owned a mansion or BMW or a small house and a Dodge {BTW, a little trivia note — there were more BMWs in the Brentwood/Whitehall area than in the Sewickley area when I grew up}).

Again …. I love my community because it was safe, the same as I love the one I live in now.

I also respected the police officers and other officials not because of uniform, but because they were tightly integrated with the community – there were no false arrests, or brutality, or abuse from police officers or other government officials towards people in the community … incidentally, the people in the community rarely ever had run ins with the law or otherwise.

So why did this work out so well?

Community … the officers were your friend’s dads or moms, your parents friends, your friends, your neighbors – yes, even the ones that lived outside of the community became part of it. The most effective safety system in a community is everyone in that community becoming an integral part of it and accessible in it – this it most critical with government representatives and officers of the law.

Why the long-winded explanation?

When I look at a community and see the local cops congregating at a local diner, convenience store, coffee shop, etc it communicates one thing to me … this place is safe – I would raise my family here.  Why? They are completely accessible to the members of their community, of which most communicate with them daily. This also shows me the connection created hampers things like police brutality (ie. why would you harass your neighbor if you just had Christmas dinner with them or simply shared conversation over coffee?), government corruption, etc. When I see officials from the local government hanging out in the local places being accessible, it lets me know I really can have a voice in the community (and a better chance to have their actions in governing reflect what the community really wants). When I watched this disappear from other communities I’ve lived in I’ve watch crime, police brutality, and political corruption become rampant and take over those communities … some being very well established, very wealthy communities. I not longer live in them because I no longer feel safe in them. Many left those communities feeling the same.

Why did this happen?

Complaints: “The cops aren’t doing their jobs because they are hanging out drinking coffee and eating donuts”, “The government officials aren’t doing their jobs because their hanging out talking to people in the communities”, “They should be out fighting crime (even when there isn’t any)”, “They should be cutting costs – not sipping coffee”, etc.

The summary after all of the boring rant:

When your community is safe because your police officers and government representatives are hanging out in your local businesses you don’t complain about their presence or the $3.00 they spend on a cup of coffee or take up parking spaces when these actions bring complete accessibility in your community simply because this brings to them the knowledge of the people they are protecting and representing – this is a gift, not a liability, nor an expense.

For the simple:  You don’t hinder your officers, borough managers, mayors, clerks, etc from hanging out together in your local businesses … because them being on the community’s payroll isn’t what makes your community safe – it’s those people becoming an effective, integral, and accessible part of it that makes your community safe.

Share this out if you support your local police offices, local government officials, and local government workers hanging out in the community and becoming part of it instead of folks you know see in the papers or on the news. In other words, share this out if you want “Cops N Coffee” to continue in your community or start in it.

So, why did this make “So Stupid It Could Actually Happen?” …. simply because it does, and then people in communities wonder why the cops can get away with abuse of power, local government clerks can steal, mayors can waste a community’s money …. all because those people that were initially accessible in the community are eventually pushed out of it into inaccessible offices and cars.

-LC

Switching Positions – Crazy Mocha

Alrighty, then ….. for all those loving to jump to conclusions, this article isn’t about making lifestyle choices or anything of the such.

Sorry to disappoint y’all … so ya can jump back from whatever conclusion you landed on (or skip reading this post and pop in your “Office Space” VHS tape .. which will probably be more entertaining).

Anywayz (we’re adding “z’s” to then end of lots of words to appeal more the Millennial generation) :-),

The pic is the view of the new Crazy Mocha store in Sewickley, PA. Now, for a SWB article, does this have a point at all?

Yep.

The blog, when it was on Apple’s web hosting site (yeeeeaaaarrrrs ago) was started with it’s first post in April of 2006 and the posts for years after being written at the Crazy Mocha in Southside when the company had a few stores to speak of. At least two other national blogs and twenty to thirty long time running local blogs were started that year in that Crazy Mocha location.

Now, the newest gem of the store chain – the relocated site in Sewickley PA site has opened for it’s first day with the chain now having way over 30 stores in multiple states (not bad for a local Pittsburgh company, right?)

In honor of Crazy Mocha providing such a beautiful new store, SWB thought it might be a good time to re-kick Screaming Weasel (not to mention with some inspiration from the latest literal bridge burning of the Liberty Bridge).

Check out the new store if you get a chance – even if you don’t live in the area … it is well worth the stop in to another location to celebrate and support a local company.

If you can’t get out to Sewickley – stop at another Crazy Mocha and tell them you saw the post!

-SW

Making a Snow Day a “Community-cation”

Well, you’ve got the kid or kids for the third or fifth day in a row and as much as you love those little tots, you realize you love you hair just as much (which you are now missing due to pulling it out).

The biggest thing since the economy started going splat (leaving remnants around that looked like a financial cluster bomb), was the “day-cation” or the “stay-cation “.  Actually the day-cation has been around for a long time, it’s just another fancy term for “day trip”.

The stay-cation, on the other hand doesn’t make any sense, since the real goal of a vacation or any time is to either get rid of “those people” or to at least occupy them enough to get some peace yourself. The stay-cation just doesn’t even come close.

Another perk of the nose-driving, ground-bouncing economy is that people started spending a little more locally since the started realizing that paying a few cents more for something that is in walking distance from their house, actually does cost less than driving to the nearest Wally World to get it cheaper. It’s a common sense thing, but as always with humans, it takes them a little time to “get it”.

Why not spend on day a month or every couple of months combining a day-cation with local community spending.  That’s what we did today, since it was ok to get out a bit, but dangerous enough to go to far.  We live near Sewickley, which has many (but dwindling) local stores.  So we figured what better to do than get out of the house (or we were going to kill each other … and maybe a few pets in the process), and at the same time spend a few bucks at the local stores that needed it. Sewickley is and affluent place, but like ant small business … nobody is rich when the economy sucks.

Luckily there are enough things to do for both kids and adults within enough closeness to each store you can do your own thing.  We went to Crazy Mocha to get some coffee and hot chocolate, play on the ‘puters for a while, and get a snack.  After a bit, we took my step-daughter next door to Fun Buy The Pound where you can buy play time by the hour, giving me and my wife a little down time to enjoy some blog writing and a little reading with our coffee, etc.  When a few hours had passed we reclaimed our carbon based small human and went to Pizza Roma for dinner.  This took up a total of at least half the day, let the kids have a little fun, and let us adults regain our sanity and composure – and it helped the businesses in our community.

-SWB

PS – Add comments on things you did that added a little fun to a normally messed up “snow crisis” to avoid making it a “family crisis”.

BTW – “Fun Buy The Pound” can now be found in SWB Recommends.

The Naked Grape – Sewickley Joining SWB

Capture from nakedgrape.net – click it to go to their site. You’ve read our reviews for The Naked Grape wine bistro in Sewickley (and hopefully visited).  Well, to further the treat, TNG will be contributing a monthly wine column to SWB.

SWB would like to thank Ryta and David in advance for contributing to this blog for our reader’s enjoyment.

You will see  few short articles sentt in via e-mail at first, then eventually you will see The Naked Grape added on as a freely contributing user.  We hope you enjoy the articles.

Moe SWB postings coming later today.

You can find The Naked Grape in SWB Recommends.

-SWB

Review: The Naked Grape in Sewickley

Capture from The Naked Grape’s website – click to go there. This is a review acquired by chance. My wife and I are part of a marriage mentoring class at our local church, and our mentoring couple treated us to a night out at a just opened wine room in Sewickley, PA – so we are going to treat you to the review.

The Naked Grape did an excellent job of making you feel like you walked into a very authentic Tuscan/Italian corner cafe – intimate and cozy. We were greeted in a way that made us immediately feel like family. The restaurant at this point was only open four or five days and had an unexpected rush of business which prompted them to have to be creative about accommodating us for dinner. Initially they sat us at the tasting bar, where we stayed for about ten minutes. As soon as a table for four was available they relocated us there. I found this very surprising since most restaurants would rather seat additional business and not accommodate already sat customers. This was only the beginning of our extremely good service experience. The staff was knowledgeable without hesitation on both the food and wine selections. If something was not available, they immediately were able to give comparable substitutes.

I’m just going to go over what I had:

For the appetizer we shared Giuseppe’s Piastra del Formaggio dell’Artigianale (Giuseppe’s Artisan cheese and Fruit). This contained an excellent and very complimentary selection of cheeses, fruit, and gourmet mustards. We definitely recommend starting with this and a good light wine.

For my main selection I chose Pollo alla Antonio (Chicken Antonio). This is grilled chicken breast with TNG’s special Corsican sauce topped with a Prosciutto garnish. With my initial bite, I discovered a perfectly created sauce, chicken grilled to a tenderness rarely obtained, and an aroma that made me start to plan the next time I would order the selection. All of our dinners arrived together and at great temperature for each item.

I did have time to review the wine list, which reflected excellent choices and great knowledge. SWB’s advice is to tell TNG what you plan on ordering and allow them to make a wine suggestion.

Note: The restaurant is small, so please call ahead with a reservation.

-SWB

PS – We will be back … and you need to go there.

Click here for location info.

Clueless and Confused: It’s a State Of Mind

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OK …. I *was* going to wait a week or two to start this series, but a letter that my step-daughter brought home from her school district (Quaker Valley) inspired me to start much earlier. If you are not familiar QV is a proclaimed (in my opinion self-proclaimed compared to the elementary schools I went to) blue ribbon school with middle class, upper-middle class, and affluent peoples attending. Many of the parents that have their children attending also went to this school district – supposedly fairly smart people. Keep this in mind when reading the following:

Most parents push hard for their children to learn the basics of “look left and right before crossing the street, or parking lot, etc”. Obviously there are a few parents that avoid listening to their own words.

The letter that was sent home with our child stated that a few buses crashed into each other when a parent and child ran in front of the bus to cross the street or parking lot – the parent leading the way … not the child. Now, I may be overly protective of the safety of the child I am responsible for, so maybe thinking that keeping a child away from the big yellow moving four ton bus is a good idea is over-kill by some peoples standards. Personally I don’t think so.

Remember clueless usually produces clueless, and SWB’s first clueless award of the year goes to the parent who dragged their kid in front of the bus. Try a little harder next time and maybe you’ll make the Darwin Awards and help clean up the gene pool in the area.

Remember – be safe and don’t play “tag” with buses.

-SWB