Random Picture Monday (02-08-10)

J-Dub is back from the desert.
He doesn't look very excited about it.

~
We asked you all to send your blizzard pictures
in to us, so we could post them for everyone to see.

Here is just the beginning of the great shots
we received.

This next one was sent from Cleveland, Ohio.

Many more pictures will be posted throughout
the week.

Feel free to send more to us at...

thenewkblog@gmail.com

The Weather Is News

Normally on Fridays here at the Newk, we
make a rather simple post, then give you the
weekend weather report with Nic Cage.

Today, we'll do the report first, then talk
about it.

Don't fear change, people.


Here's your Newk Weekend Weather Report:

"They say 5 inches is average."


~
We know.

Sometimes Nic gets a little "risque" with
his weather reports.

It's obvious, that he is talking about the amount of snow
that's expect to fall today and tomorrow.

Actually, they say we could get up to 8 inches.
(Pittsburgh hasn't seen over 8 inches in one storm since 2003.)

That's a lot of snow.

Not as much as one of our friends in Baltimore is
expecting to have to broom off of his E-Class.

Where 24 inches is possible.

But that's what he gets for living in Baltimore, and
driving a nicer car than we do.

~
Hopefully, you'll have enough time after buying
milk and rock salt, to read today's post.

Or maybe you have sworn off thenewk, after our
"vulgar" use of the word 'bitchy' in our facebook post
yesterday.

If that's the case, you are probably too busy volunteering
at the church to surf the internets.

Seriously though...

If you would like to express your dissatisfaction to us
here, please send an email to thenewkblog@gmail.com.

We promise to respond with language more suitable
for the internet.


~
J-Dub Vegas Update:


J-Dub's final day in Las Vegas was a blur.

Here is what he remembers.


He ate the best burger ever at The Burger Bar located
at the Mandalay Bay...
(Kobe Beef, Pepper Jack Cheese, Jalapeno Bacon and a Fried Egg)


At the Bellagio water show...
We hope you liked following J-Dub's travels.

We plan on bringing you much more in the future.




~
God speed, Chet.
You will be missed.

It's A Good Day For A Rant

The wife and I had dinner in Verona last evening.

Which means two things...

One: I ate more food than I should have.
Two: We had to drive through Oakmont.

The fact that I pigged out, isn't too awful.

But driving through Oakmont...

Good grief.

It's nice to see that they finally got a traffic light.

But if you don't stop at a stop sign, every 10 seconds,
you must be driving through the cemetery.

Seriously.

That town has to have half a million dollars invested
in stop signs.

And don't get us started on the brick roads.

No wonder they claim they "last so long," it's probably
because people do anything possible to avoid driving
on the damn things.

Honestly, even if you didn't have to take a dump when
you started driving on the bricks, just give it about 1 block and
something will surely be shaken loose.

They even had the balls to place a speed bump
on one of them.

I now know what it must have felt like to drive
that dune buggy contraption on the moon.

I'm sure Oakmont thinks those streets bring "class" to
their town.

Pretentious is, as pretentious does.

~

Another thing that's been bothering us lately.

How annoying have the Black Eyed Peas gotten?
(Not that we were ever big fans to begin with.)

Can you think of a more "sell-out" group of entertainers?

And why are there 4 of them, when only two of them
actually sing?

Am I right?

The next time that Chavez looking guy's mic gets turned
on, it will be the first time.


Okay, we feel much better now.



~

J-Dub Vegas Update:

On top of the Stratosphere...

J-Dub doesn't fear the volcano at the Mirage...

Outside of Ceasar's, which is "pager friendly."
("Not at the table, Carlos.")

J-Dub had no problems finishing his Carnegie Deli sammy...

He then kicked it in old Vegas for the rest of the night...

Tomorrow is his last day in Vegas.

You don't want to miss it.

Beer Here

Over the last bunch of months, you have been hearing
about Giant Eagle in New Ken being allowed to
sell beer at it's cafe.

Well, it seems that dream has become a reality.

The Pa. LCB has approved the transfer of a liquor
license.

They will be allowed to sell 6-packs of beer.

And from what we understand, they sell over 150
different styles of beer at their other stores which are
currently allowed to sell it.

We have some friends that have been to the GE in Robinson,
and they are quite impressed with the selection.

It sucks for the local beer distributor, as we feel its
unfair that they aren't allowed to sell sixers.

But who is actually surprised, with how backwards
Pennsylvania is with it's liquor laws?

We aren't.

We are gonna wrap this up, as what we felt when we
wrote THIS, still rings true today.





~
J-Dub Vegas Update:

Here is our man, just chillin' outside the Paris Hotel
and Casino...

Getting ready to get his "gamble on"...

Video poker and drinks, that's how J-Dub rolls...
He makes friends wherever he goes...
It was a long first night in Sin City...

Where will he be tomorrow?

Stop back and see.

I Always Drink To World Peace

Today is Groundhog Day.

We love Groundhog Day.

We've seen the movie a bunch of times,and we have
actually been to the festivities at Gobbler's Knob.

How awesome of a name is "Gobbler's Knob?"

Anyways, we posted this well before Phil took a peek to see
if his shadow was around.

So if you are here to find out if winter will be over soon,
we have no idea.

The fact that you could hang your coat on our stiff nips,
tells us this cold isn't going anywhere for a good while.

But that's just our take on things.

And just like the movie Groundhog Day, where Phil Conners
keeps living the same day over and over again...

The same stuff keeps happening around here.

Like stores closing.

From what we hear, we are losing another retail shop.

It sounds like the Famous Footwear, in the Hillcrest
Plaza will be closing it's doors for good, very soon.

We realize there is another one up in the Pittsburgh Mills,
but that won't stop us from mourning this loss.

We've purchased many fresh pairs of kicks from this store.

We also feel bad for the folks that work/worked there.

We can't think of anywhere else in Burrell to buy a
pair of shoes.

Is Payless still back there?

"Bing!"

~
Here is today's J-Dub update!

It's travel day.

J-Dub prefers Rockstar, over coffee as he rode
to the airport...

He boarded his flight, and found a sweet window seat...

Mid-flight snacks and drinks...

J-Dub checked into the Bellagio, and got his
money in order...

Tomorrow, J-Dub heads out on the town.

You better check back, as things get kinda crazy.

Random Picture Monday (02-01-10)

Represent.

~
This past Friday, we mentioned that some of theNewk
team was heading to Las Vegas for a couple days.

Some of us couldn't go.

Most of you couldn't go either.

So we figured we could all live vicariously through
our little man, J-Dub.

We promised pictures of "J-Dub" living large in LV.

This is J-Dub...

He put on his NewK shirt for the trip...

Here he is, just after he booked his flight...

He had some delicious sushi, the night before he left...

More J-Dub updates tomorrow.

He finally lands in the desert.

Stay tuned...

Fun At Work Day

Today is "Fun At Work Day."

This site really isn't "work" for us, per se.

But we have decide to have fun today.

Which means we are meeting friends for breakfast,
then we're off to spend some Christmas gift cards.

What does that mean for you?

It means there won't be much to read until Monday.

Actually, we generally post a picture on Monday, so
it migt be Tuesday until you read something here.

We wish we cared, but we don't, cause we're out
having fun.

What fun things are you doing at work today?




~
Here is your Newk Weekend Weather Report:
"It's gonna be a hard nipple type of weekend."



~
UPDATE - 12:18pm

Turns out, we do have something good to say.

Some of the Newk Team are going to Las Vegas for a couple
days next week, and they've agreed to take our little man
"J-Dub" with them.

They will take pictures of J-Dub at different Vegas hot spots,
and send those pics to us, so we can post them for you all to enjoy.

Here is a picture of J-Dub getting ready to pack his bags...

Wish him safe travels.

This Email Is On Fire

As you know, we love getting emails.

We love it even more, when they are as awesome
as this one.

Read it.

You'll be happy you did.

Just walked back inside from rubbernecking at a big house fire a few doors down. It’s down a block, but so close that my house smells like a campfire. I could see the orange glow in the sky just over the roof peak of my neighbor. I came in because I was cold; the firefighters don’t have this option. They’re still working. Hard. It’s a big fire, and they’ll be busy for a while.

Here are some immediate thoughts I thought I’d share right now.

-Fires happen really, really fast. Faster than you think. Look around your house right now. Is it safe enough? Is your family safe? Is your stuff safe? If the answer is ‘maybe,’ get off your ass and take care of it. No excuses. Check your smoke detectors, service your furnace, check your chimneys. Seriously.

-The burning house was empty. Has been for a while. I don’t think anyone was hurt, but I can’t confirm that. I didn’t see any ambulances while I was lazily rubbernecking. If you own empty property in the area, check on it. Is it safe? Go check. This neighborhood is dense with houses, and, like I said, fire is fast. I saw a lot of guys braver than I’ll ever be risking their lives tonight so this abandoned house and the surrounding properties would be okay. There were two guys on a three-story-high ladder chopping at the roof from the outside while more guys were inside the third floor in extremely dense billowing smoke. I could only see their helmet lights, barely piercing the thick black fog. While they were doing this I worried that they would fall through the burned floor, or the steps would collapse, or they’d burn to death or suffocate. What they were doing was no joke...all to save a derelict house. If you have an empty run-down house you risk the lives of the firefighters and the lives of the decent houses in the immediate area. Take care of your property. Lock it up and button it down. Be responsible.

-The next time the local fire department has a fundraiser, donate. Whatever it is, a pancake breakfast, a boot at a red light, whatever...don’t hesitate. Give what you can and say a sincere thank you. Right now it's almost midnight and the wind chill is in the single digits and they’re still out there, risking their lives--for free, it’s volunteer--to keep us all safe. Do your part. Help them out. Take care of your property, give when you can, and consider volunteering. I’m scrawny and really nearsighted, but mostly I’m just chickenshit, and I’m sorry. I salute you guys, and I thank you.

We here at theNewk, would also like to say
thank you to the men and women that protect
us every day.

We don't say it enough, but we appreciate you daily.

Much respect.

photo taken by davidcooperphoto.com

Peep It While You Can

It turns out, there is a leaning tower right in our
own little hood.

That's right kids.

Just across the Allegheny, sitting in the little town
of Tarentum, we have our own version of the Italian
masterpiece.

Only ours looks more like an old laundromat.

Known as the "Leaning Tower of Tarentum," it resides
at 203 Fifth Ave.

The building has been condemned for over a year now.

Due to the leaning, and other various problems.

The city is trying to get the owner to have the
building torn down.

They have also attempted to get state grant money
to have it razed.

But there it sits, tilting and mocking everyone that
wants to see it demolished.

This building has attitude, and we dig that.


To be completely honest.

We seriously wanted to don berets, and have someone
take our picture standing in front of it, as if it were some
sort of tourist attraction.

We thought it would be an awesome picture to go
along with this post.

But we didn't have the time, as this story couldn't wait
a minute longer.

And our berets are at the dry cleaner.


If any of our readers have the moxie to attempt
such a photo.

Please email us a copy of it, and you will surely be named
theNewk's "Reader of the Week."

Are You In A Helpful Mood Today?

We've gotten a couple emails recently, asking for
some assistance.

We don't have much of a book collection, so we
weren't the answer these folks were looking for.

So, on to Plan B.

You all.

In the past, we've learned how helpful our fellow
Newkers could be.

We can only hope that the good nature of you all, shines
through once again.

Here is the email...

Dear theNEWK,

This may not be what you consider a "hard-hitting story." However, if nothing else, it's something to post on your site in hopes that someone will be able to help out a fellow AK-Valley resident.

My dad and I have been searching high and low for Arnold High School yearbooks from the early 1940s. We started the process a couple of months ago because we were looking for old photos of my grandparents, but now, it has turned into something more. Simply put, we're intrigued by these seemingly nonexistent yearbooks. We've been to Peoples Library; we've been to the Alle-Kiski Heritage Museum. I've even been in contact with the Arnold Chamber of Commerce, where it was confirmed that there is indeed a series of years that is missing from the city's yearbook collection.

Maybe someone out there who's reading your blog can solve the mystery!

Thanks, and keep up the great work. I love reading theNEWK.

Regards,
Stephanie

I hope that some of you are trying to think of a
particular box in the attic, that may solve this mystery.


If you have any info, or books.
Please email us, and we'll pass that info along to Stephanie.

Pictured, is the one we recently purchased at a flea market.

Will it help?

Please email us at
thenewkblog@gmail.com