Tag Archives: Downtown

Pgh Tech Council: Customer-Led Innovation in Technology

I know the title of this presentation may seem overwhelming, but I am here to tell you that it is not. Over the summer someone posted to IheartPGH about a new company here in Pittsburgh called Spreadshirt. I was thrilled to discover Spreadshirt as they offer a super high-quality on demand printing, and I was not too happy with the IheartPGH t-shirts that we were linking to at the time. Long-story short I know work for Spreadshirt and write the Spreadshirt Blog, if you are interested in t-shirts, technology or what we often have for lunch check out Blog.Spreadshirt.com. Spreadshirt has recently hired Jana Eggers as the new CEO and she is great. (You can read and interview with Jana here). Not only is she knowledgeable about all things business she is a great person to talk with. Jana and I have had a couple of conversations about socially responsible business and she introduced me to Nuts about Southwest, which is the Southwest Airlines Blog that is very well written and offers some great business insight on customer service. So I highly reccomend joining the Pittsburgh Technolgy Council’s Breakfast Breifing on Dec. 6th.

Women in Technology Breakfast Briefing: Customer-Led Innovation in Technology By its definition, innovation yields new and surprising methods, products or services. But how do you find the surprises to truly wow your customers? Let the customers lead the way. Jana Eggers, U.S. CEO of Spreadshirt and founder of Intuit’s Innovation Lab, explains how to bring customers into your idea process as she shares stories of innovation success and failure. Event sponsored by Highmark. Morning coffee sponsored by On Assignment Lab Support.

Date: Wednesday, December 6
Time: 7:00 a.m. – 7:45 a.m.
registration, coffee and networking; 7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.
breakfast; 8:15 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. program
Venue: Sheraton Station Square Hotel
Cost: $35 for Council members, $75 for non-members
RSVP: Council Events or 412.918.4229

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do while trying to figure out how to get into Folino’s without proper ID…)

Friday, October 13
Scitech Spectacular, 5:30 p.m., Carnegie Science Center, North Shore Side

do_and_dont
Correct (left) and then, y’know… not so much.

“Ride a Freakin’ Segway!” is what this one boils down to. Oh, ok, those guys that did the Mentos/Diet Coke dancing Waters thing are gonna be there too this weekend, (I hope accompanied by a tape of Claire De Lune) but really, this is all about the opportunity to look as White & Nerdy as possible, captaining the device that was supposed to “change the way cities are built” around an obstacle course in the best possible time. If there aren’t prizes, there damn well should be. I dunno, pocket protectors or something… Gold-plated 20-sided dice maybe…

The Scitech Spectacular is full of cool things to do beyond the Segway, like the Rinspeed Senso, a car that ” senses the driver” and looks like the kind of thing you’d hop into to chase down people running away from Carousel. There’s a Hi-Tech (their spelling, not mine, some sort of marketing thing, I think) Sports and vehicles show, river education tours (Like, you get educated, not the river. The river was home-schooled and anyway, it don’t need your education, it don’t need your thought control), and all manner of other events, but allow me to reiterate: Ride A Freakin’ Segway. End of story.

Sound Bytes, 9:00 p.m., Wood Street Galleries, Dahntahn
kilmerWood Street Galleries continues it’s Sound Bytes series, a mixture of Art and Music with Natura Nasa, who are described as sounding like “something like a nightmare and a flying dream”. Gotcha, I dig it. I love flying dreams, personally. Hell, I just enjoy dreams. Like… Anyone else have that dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid, with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you? No?

Saturday, October 14
St. Benedict The Moor/Epiphany Nationality Food Fest/Frankie Capri, 2:00 p.m., Uptahn
This weeks winner of the prestigious “Longest Item Title” award…

I received the following important communique from the Dishers

“The man, the myth, the legend, Frankie Capri is performing at the St. Benedict the Moor/Epiphany Food Fest this Saturday from 2-5. Heck, I thought he was dead. If you haven’t seen Frankie before, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.”

“Ethnic food and the complete and utter lunacy of Mr. Capri. What’s not to like?”

I couldn’t have said it better myself, which is probably why they’re what I like to call “writers” and I’m more of a scribbler. Or a typist with a gift for googling local events. Whichever. The Fest runs all weekend and also has a Tiki Lounge. One more thing, and I have saved the best for last: they will be serving free beer during the Steelers game on Sunday. Lemme say that again: FREE BEER. Do I have to draw you a drunken picture? ‘Cause if I do, it’ll be a charcoal rendering of Sienna Miller. In the style of Renoir, if you know what I mean. Yeah!

Speaking of which, Sienna, baby doll, you never wrote to me. What’s up wit dat? My sweet limey love muffin, you’re only in town for a couple more days, and we need to make the most of it. I can get you into Folinos, no problem. They know me there.

OUTrageous Bingo/Flaming Fall Frolic 6:30 p.m. and whenever, Goodwill, Sahsside, then The Sideways 8 Club, Shadyside
“Drinking For A Cause” makes a strong return this weekend with two events that serve as fundraisers for the Shepherd Wellness Community, a local AIDS outreach program. First on the fabulous docket is something called “OUTrageous Bingo”. Allow me to quote from the release: “A very VERY gay old time with a drag show at intermission.” I’m not sure about the booze level at this first one, since it’s at Goodwill, and I don’t think they’ve got a liquor license yet, but it’s located on the Sahsside, so it’s only a matter of time, really. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., games start at 7:30. $15 at the door. Tickets available in advance are $12 and can be purchased at:

  • A Pleasant Present
  • Banner Coin Exchange
  • Klavon’s Ice Cream
  • Tuscany Cafe

And after you’ve had your fill of giggling like Beavis and Butthead every time “O 69” gets pulled from the old ball bucket, (I went to one of those Sunday Night Catholic Church Bingo bashes once, and there was an older lady there who had New Years Eve noisemakers just for when O 69 was pulled), head on up to the Ol’ Sideways 8 Club, which is real life is called the 5801 Video Lounge on Ellsworth (formerly New York, New York just to fully confuse the issue) for the “Flaming Fall Frolic”, where you’ll enjoy $1 off all drinks, free appetizers and the piano stylings of Al Snyder.

Drink and Draw: Burlesque Style , 5:00p.m., Brillobox, Upper Larryville
sallyrandThis one will give me the chance to brush up on my charcoal rendering techniques in advance of my session with Sienna. Brillobox is hosting drop-in model sessions for artists beginning in October, and this is the first one. How it works is, you pay a fee to get in, bring your art supplies, and draw (or paint) the models that will be on hand to pose for you. This session’s theme is burlesque, drawing inspiration from the vaudeville queens and their outrageous costumes. Short description: two models, one in feathers, the other in satin and Lace. No photography or oils, dry mediums and water-based paints acceptable. If the one wearing feathers looks at all like Sally Rand, let me know so I can get up there and propose marriage immediately. Any further questions, call them at 412.621.4900.

(Thanks to Susan for sending this one in… )

Sunday, October 15
Gold Diggers of 1933, 8:00 p.m., Regent Square Theater, Regent Square (Duh.)
kanyeI ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger…

This is a film that was shot in the five year period between the advent of talkies and the enforcement of the Hays Code, so it’s something of a groundbreaker and historical oddity. Filled with sex, money, power, it’s the story of how far a good girl can go before she becomes a bad girl. (Short answer: The Firehouse on a Saturday Night)

The opening scene is chorus girls wearing giant gold coins. Sold.

Long Ago And Far Away, 8:00 p.m., Manchester Craftsmens Guild
ACFFA6Billed as “an original interactive performance created by Kim Nazarian of New York Voices”, Long Ago And Far Away doesn’t have anything to do with Star Wars, from what I can gather, but it still seems to be a good thing to do of a Sunday Evening, and the Steelers will be done by the time this starts. (Hell, they might be done done by the time this thing starts if the offense can’t get something going.)

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Got an event planned? Would you like a whole flock of yinzers with disposable income to show up? Let Git Aht know by sending the electronic mail to gitaht@gmail.com.

Your $.02 could be worth a lot


Oh baby, if you want to see a better Pittsburgh then this is the event for you! I was lucky enough to attend an earlier version of this 2 summers ago and it was a very interesting and fun Saturday. I am still talking about the cab situation in Pittsburgh.
Anyhow – I am sure this event will be interesting and if you have an idea for something, anything (well as long as it involves Pittsburgh) then this is step one to getting the gears in motion. The good folks at the Sprout Fund have $100,000 to put into grants to fund some of these projects.
So big money aside, this will be a fun day with some fun people – I am planning on attending, and I think I am pretty fun.
Where can I get more info: Check out this webpage http://www.sproutfund.org/Default.aspx?page=engage.home
When: Sat. Sept. 9, 9am-4pm
Where: CAPA High School, Downtown Pittsburgh
How Much: Only $10 and that includes lunch!

From the Sprout Fund Website:

The Idea Round Up is the launch event for The Sprout Fund’s Engage Pittsburgh 2006 initiative.

Engage Pittsburgh 2006 will produce a community blueprint and involve citizens in developing ideas and implementing projects that will achieve positive regional change and broad-based community goals.

By combining dialogue with dedicated funding projects, Engage Pittsburgh 2006 promises to be like no other civic initiative to date.

Lead support for Engage Pittsburgh 2006 is provided by the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

Free Spaghettii

I have never heard of this event. But I do like Spaghetti!
Apparently the people for KDKA have a free Spaghetti Breakfast in Market Square each year.
I would love to know some of the history of this event – if you know some information or have attended in the past – leave a comment or send an email!
Here are the details for this years event:
Friday, September 8th, 5am-9am, Market Square, Downtown.
Free Spaghetti Breakfast

be in a movie about pittsburgh

i just received this information in an email:

“IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD”
BE PART OF A FILM SHOOT
SATURDAY JULY 1, 2006
5:00 PM
AT THE POINT

On Saturday July 1st at 5 p.m., Pittsburghers, past and present, near and far, are invited to join Mr. McFeely (David Newell) to sing “It’s A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood” at The Point.

This once-in-a-lifetime event is part of the grand finale of “A TALE OF TWO CITIES”, a movie we are making about Pittsburgh– the city which built America with its steel, cured polio and invented everything from aluminum to the Big Mac which now is being challenged to reinvent itself.
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