Category Archives: Neighborhoods

Putting the 2 in Tuesday

Good golly, Miss. Molly.  Another reason to get out of the house.  But thanks to the Brillobox’s $2 Tuesdays, it is looking like Tuesday is going to be the best day of the week.  Good beer and really good bar food for $2.  What do you think of the food at the Brillobox?  What is on the $2 Tuesday menu?
$2 Tuesdays
$2 domestic bottles
$2 selected appetizers
$2 select draft

5:00pm-9:00pm

The Brillobox is worth a visit any day of the week.  You can check out their calendar at http://www.myspace.com/brilloboxevents

Name that tank

In just 3 hours the auction will end.  Our friends at East End Brewing are about to purchase a brand new tank for brewing more beer.  (I have a major affinity for stainless steel tanks, as I used to work for an auctioneer that specialized in selling dairy processing equipment, tanks, cheese vats, pumps – you name it, i helped to sell them in auctions in exotic places like Labelle, Florida, Dodge, Nebraska, or Castroville (artichoke Capital of the world), Calilfornia.  In fact we had a few brewers show up some of the auctions to buy tanks for their breweries.)

East End Brewing is auctioning off the naming rights for the new tank.

WHAT YOU GET:
The winning bidder will have their name, or the name of their choosing, dramatically emblazoned on the side of this tank, so that all can be reminded of your devotion to a craft we at East End Brewing find so near and dear to us.  You can make your bid for yourself, for a friend, chip in as a group, or even do it on behalf of an organization you find near and dear – anything goes!  Also, to make this a bit more fun, there’s no reserve on this auction.  This means that if you’re quick, you can be the LEAD BIDDER for at least a while, without committing more than a couple bucks!

And if YOU are the person who steps up and wins this thing, the name on the tank can be just about anything you want.  Name it after your favorite pet, your favorite song, your favorite East End Beer, your favorite fiancée, or even your favorite brewer – though I’m not holding my breath on that last one…The only requirement is that we keep it clean.  After all, people bring their kids in here each week, so I’ll reserve the right to decline anything I think is really out of line – but I’m not a prude.  I’ll work with you.

It is a beautiful dome top tank (I told you I liked equipment).  So maybe you should bid on this tank and name it after IheartPGH.com?

Click here to go to the ebay auction.
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Botanical Garden Bodaciousness

My usual response to growing things is a greedy, “nice garden, what’s edible?,” but I recently visited Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens new exhibit, which recreates a tropical forest environment in Thailand, and loved it.

For one thing, when the weather is maxing out at below freezing outside, it’s wonderful to walk into a tropical environment, where they have to keep the fans on and you get to take your coat off. Even better, because Phipps has focused on environmentally friendly building (oxide fuel cells, energy blankets, thermal massing and root zone heating for those of you in the know) there’s no need to feel guilty about wandering about in mid-70s weather in the middle of winter.

Best of all — the good folks at Phipps invited Buddhist monks to bless this Thai tropical forest so that it could be spirit-friendly, as well as eco-friendly.

Ellen James of Phipps explained, “Anytime there is new construction in Thailand, spirits who lived in the trees and the land have been distrubed and need to be welcomed back to the structure. The blessing was conducted by Buddhist monks but the ceremony has its roots in animism. There are two spirit houses in the tropical forest where the spirits can now live. In Thailand spirit houses are everywhere in front of small huts to large corporate headquarters. People leave offerings like flowers, rain water, cigarettes, and fanta soda.

Make/Do

I just recieved this email from the Handmade Arcade mailing list. I am super excited about this idea because I have become a big reader of the MAKE blog, which has all sorts of good ideas on how to alter your coffee maker to operate with your old nintendo controller.

Call for Projects for Make/Do For more info.
contact: Carin Mincemoyer – carin.mincemoyer@gmail.com

Wanted: Objects or activities that exemplify the do-it-yourself spirit for an exhibit at Future Tenant titled Make/Do.
Have you turned your old VCR into an automatic cat feeder? Made your old video games into musical instruments? Then you’re who we’re looking for. We’re interested in projects that alter mass produced products to do things that the manufacturer never intended, gizmos that solve problems in ingenious ways, and homebrewed answers to needs that would send most people to the local mall.
Who: Projects or proposals welcomed from artists, tinkerers, musicians, hackers, and do-it-yourselfers of all stripes.
About Future Tenant: Future Tenant, located at 801 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, seeks to promote raw, innovative artistic expressions from all disciplines. You can check out the website at http://www.futuretenant.org/
Send your stuff: Send digital images, photos, slides, or proposals for projects to Carin Mincemoyer at carin.mincemoyer@gmail.com or mail to 2100 Mary Street #403, Pittsburgh, PA 15203.
The Deadline: Send materials by December 31, 2006. The exhibit will take place in March 2007.