I'm back in the house temporarily. I spent the week driving throughout western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and the tip of West Virginia. I drove nearly a 1000 miles this week. 

    That last diary entry went nowhere. I looked up at the calendar a few days ago and realized the month is almost behind me. I just opened this page and discovered that I was going to write about being cool, or wanting to be cool. I'll revisit coolness if times permits. Given that April is gone, I don't think that I'm going to have much  time to go over anything other than what has been happening in my life. About half of this month took place on the road. Just you wait, I've got pictures to share. That should make reading this stuff more palatable.

    I guess should start from the beginning. (Here is where Microsoft Money really comes in handy. I can't remember when I was at this place or that place, but my credit charges remember well enough! So, I'm going to use my checkbook to remind myself of where I've been and what I've been doing). I know, long time readers will remind me that I've employed that trick before. Oh well.

    I left home on April 5th on my drive through the Pennsylvania countryside. On the first day I arrived in Altoona and then when that was complete I drove to Johnstown and performed another installation there. To cap the day, I drove to Greensburg to stay so that I wouldn't have to drive a long way to my first install on Tuesday morning. That night I stopped at a brew pub and struck up a conservation with the guy sitting next to me. It turned out he was a U2 fan, although not as rabid as I, but then again, who is? Anyway, I decided to have a few drinks brewed by the pub and tried this concoction called "Lunatic Ale." That was in a word, or two, a mistake. I did not drink enough to deserve the headache I received the next day. That stuff was wicked and evil and the next morning I kept thinking "I don't need to learn this lesson again, I learned it when I was much younger." Sadly, that brew was bad for me. I think that I can only comfortably drink one beer anymore and that is my friend Sam. All others don't know what to do with me. I was hurting the next morning, severely. After a rough morning I finished the install and drove my way over to Wheeling, WV for the 2nd install of the day. It went fine and our next stop was Canton. We took the most scenic drive through Southwestern, Ohio. It was on route 250, I believe. It was a really picturesque drive through the winding Ohio valley. Throughout the trip you had houses right on the road and nothing behind it. It was as if they were lined up to insulate the traveler as they went on this journey. Or perhaps it really was the only road in that part of the state. Thus they had no choice where to build. I don't know, but it beat taking the interstate. On Wednesday, I had the option of going to the Pro Football hall of fame or driving up to Cleveland to visit the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Staying in Canton would have been easier, but I really wanted to see the U2 exhibit at the hall. So, after the installation was complete in Canton, I drove up to Cleveland and found a parking spot not far from the hall. I encountered my first disappointment when I learned that I could not take pictures of anything in the hall because of agreements that the hall has made with the artists. So, I have a grand total of one picture at the hall, and it's from the outside. When I got in the admission was $20 which was $3 off because the U2 EXHIBIT WAS CLOSED!!! So I was disappointed, but I didn't get mad or anything. I went even though I knew a portion of the hall was closed, I just didn't realize that apart from the U2 exhibit, there is little U2 to see. Because of the exposure of their own exhibit, they aren't featured as prominently elsewhere so I probably won't be going back until after the induction ceremony next year.

    I didn't have much of a chance to visit in and around Cleveland. I was on a mission that day. It was my fun day and I was determined to do it all! Ok, that's not really true, I just figured that Survivor was on Thursday and I had to pick a free day when I was in Ohio. So, after visiting the Hall, I drove back to Pennsylvania to catch the first inning of the Pittsburgh Pirates game against the Philadelphia Phillies. For the first 7 games of the season, it was the Phillies only win, and I was there for it. I felt kind of special. I dressed warmly and because of the lack of wind, I didn't have too much problem enjoying the game. I had pretty decent seats for the game. It's much easier to get tickets in Pittsburgh than in say... oh ... Chicago. Here are a few of the pictures that I took at the game. Nothing stellar, but it will give you a view.

    You'll have to use your back button because I want to finish the diary before midnight and design work takes time that I don't have right now. One of the other cool things that I saw was the reliever Billy Wagner of the Phillies. He throws about 100 miles an hour and he's only listed at 5' 11" tall. It's surprising that his body can generate that kind of velocity. I didn't see one come in at 100, but I did see a few pitches at 99 miles an hour. It's kind of cool. After the game I left before the fireworks because I had to drive another hour and a half to Youngstown, Ohio. I actually got lost on my way back and ended up driving around the Pennsylvania hills (of which some of them were quite nice, neighborhood wise). I finally found my way back to the highway and rolled in sometime after midnight.

    Thursday was the culmination of the driving trip around Pennsylvania. Youngstown was first and I've got to say that of all the towns I saw during my travels, Youngstown was the sketchiest. Part of the problem was that most Postal warehouses are located in cheaper rent areas, unless they were established some time ago. But even so, I was glad when we left. Even the weather was uncooperative in Youngstown. By the way, Wheeling is run down too, but Wheeling was sort of depressing, not dangerous. There is a distinction that can be made between the two. I finished my last installation in New Castle, PA. My co-workers in the Eastern Area office drove with me for a while until we reached a spot where we could eat a late lunch before I went on my way back home. Even with stopping I was able to get home in time for Survivor and even watched it with a couple of friends. I forgot to mention something very cool. While I was I driving around Pennsylvania, I discovered that the all 18 episodes of Freaks & Geeks was released on DVD. I was so excited by this development I hardly did anything except watch the episodes until all 18 hours were sucked out of them. The episodes started out strong and there are some classically gut busting moments where I just couldn't stop laughing. I hope everyone has a chance to see the show at least once. The only thing that bothered me about the show was that towards the tail end of it, they appeared to pull out all the stops in creating situations for their characters that were either implausible or just not completely true to how the characters were developing. It also suffered a bit by coming from a slacker point of view. I guess that I always liked freaks, but always hoped they could find success even on the fringes. Kind of like the underdogs. I guess it's not accurate to believe that these people would necessarily figure it out one day. But the best part of Freaks and Geeks is Bill. You have to experience Bill to know what I'm talking about. He's a great character.

    I went into work on Friday of that week and after a short weekend, I was off to Chicago. It was my first time in Chicago and I was excited about going. On the first day, we did an install near the airport and then headed further out into the suburbs. While I was driving about, I kept thinking of Ferris and trying to tap into the vibe that John Hughes brought to cinema in the 80's. I did a lot of driving around Northwest Illinois and on Tuesday drove up to Rockford where the Rockford Peaches of A league of  their own played. We ended up in Milwaukee that night and we stayed right in the center of town. The hotel was an old Hilton with it's own water park inside. Yep, you heard me right. They had a water park in the middle of the hotel. It was located between the 6th and 8th floors. Apparently, it's become somewhat popular in Wisconsin. Colder weather requires a different set of rules I guess. I drove around Milwaukee on my one night there and found another local brew pub. Armed with recent lessons, I talked to no one, drank meagerly and finished my meal whilst watching the Brewers on television. While driving around I ended up on the campus of Marquette. At the time it was the only part of town with more than two people on the streets. I can't say that I liked or disliked Milwaukee because I never really got a sense of what it's all about. I'd be surprised if I get up there again any time soon. It's not like it's on the way to anything. There was one disconcerting thing about Milwaukee. I left my CD Case in the room and the case contained 2 of the 6 DVDs of Freaks and Geeks on it. I'm going to have to go out and purchase the set again, or maybe I can find the 2 discs on E-Bay. After installing systems in Milwaukee, we drove back to Illinois and I was able to spend some time doing some advance scouting of Chicago.