Tag Archives: Oakland

good old uncle sam

you may have seen an uncle sam’s, either in oakland, squirrel hill or at the waterworks. you may have thought that it’s a chain restaurant with it’s thorough decor and teenage staff. the only thing that may have tipped you off is the fact that they only take cash. uncle sam’s is a locally owned and operated business offerring yummy subs to several parts of the city. you always get a foot-long and they offer thin fries as a side [included when dining in]. for me, a foot-long portabella sub is two meals, and for a total of $7, that’s a deal.

check out other restaurants from the same owner: fuel & fuddle and joe mama’s – both in oakland

WRCT

wrct

Ever since I posted about WYEP being a great public radio station, I felt guilty. Why? Because I listen to WRCT 88.3 probably just as much as I do WYEP. Why? Because where else can you hear Democracy Now, Japanese experimental music, the Saturday Light Brigade, yiddish hip hop, and excrutiatingly geeky analysis of R&B lyrics?

WRCT is the radio station of Carnegie Mellon University. It is located in the basement of the CMU University Center and broadcasts from Warner Hall. The station run as free format radio which means that all programming decisions are left to the descretions of DJs and their programs. This means that I can actually drive to work listening to some pumping house music and leave listening to Nina Simone. But there is some convergence: wanna know what the kids are listenin’ to these days? Check out their Top 70 list. (Glad to see local band Modey Lemon sneak in there at #10!) Never heard any of these bands? Well then listen to WRTC! And if you … hate music, then just listen for the promos (which are pretty weird – and funny.)

Like all good radio stations though, ‘RCT offers online streaming, has a handy dandy list of recently played songs and takes requests at 412-CMU-WRCT (268-9728). iTunes users can add it to their playlist as streaming radio. (Just look under Radio/Public/WRCT.)

I remember when I was in high school in the hills of the the ‘Burgh, I had my uber cool band posters, my flannels and my Docs, and I tried to act like I listened to real, live college stations. But the only place I could get it was in one corner of my basement. Luckily for us, the station has come a long way since then! Apparently they’ve expanded (to 1750 “glorious watts”). And get this – the other day, I could hear it all the way out to the airport. So go and program WRCT on your car radio now. And turn it on when you’re stuck in traffic. You might even catch the Brazilian Radio Hour.

The Cut

cut

Carnegie Mellon, I love thee, oh how do I count the ways?

Before I actually started attending CMU, I had never taken the time to walk across its campus. That was really too bad. It’s a really cool campus, with neat buildings, interesting topography, and lots of nooks and crannies to explore. I find new places to study (and new robots) every week.

This time of year the Cut (the big grassy lawn in the middle of campus) is really gorgeous, with marching bands and frisbee players scampering around. The weather is perfect this time of year, so the whole university community is competing for a space on the green, from pale physics PhDs to the sorority girls. Despite the faint views of the downtown skyline and the Cathedral of Learning, it doesn’t feel like its right in the middle of the city at all. Ahh, surrounded by ivory towers. Awesome …

So next time you’re wandering around the area, take a walk across the Cut (and bring a picnic lunch.) It sure is purty (and will make you wish you were back in school.)