The Pittsburgh area is green and under water. The Saint Patrick’s Day parade is on Saturday and done town is going to be green with people as they celebrate the parade. It is going to go on with no exceptions like rain, snow, or flooding. Everyone will be done there in there green and having fun. They do need to worry about the flooding though. With that the city is going underwater with the rain and melting snow. The rivers are coming up fast and everyone is trying to stay dry. Marching under light rain, the St. Patrick’s Day parade got under way downtown. The parade features about 200 marching units with 18 marching bands and is one of the largest in the nation, organizers say. Organizers anticipated 150,000 to 200,000 people to attend, but attendance has been light. I think the rain and the flooding concerns made some people stay home and make sure nothing happens. Trying to stay safe in case the waters get to their homes near the rivers.

The Army Corps of Engineers is currently releasing water from its 16 area flood-control reservoirs, in order to make more room for the surge of water that may come this weekend, said Werner C. Loehlein, chief of water management for the Corps’ Pittsburgh district. But only about one-third of the 19,000-square-mile drainage area upstream of Pittsburgh can be controlled with those reservoirs, he said. There is only so much that they can do about all of the water that is coming. There has not been this much water to worry about in a long time. They are setting up shelters and other places for people to go if their home in damaged in the floodwaters. All of this is putting a damper on the celebration on the parade. Hoping that it does not get as bad as think it might.

The potholes in the city of Pittsburgh and all around are some of the worse that I have every seen since I have been driving. Know one knows when they are going to be all fixed and they do not know where they are going to get the money form. There has been talk about taking form the summer budget to try and pay for them. Anybody who has done a fair amount of driving in recent weeks should be well aware by now, this is the season for potholes. The combination of freeze-thaw temperatures and above average rainfall thus far could not create a better recipe for unraveling asphalt on main highways that have not been paved for some time, and a whole bunch of secondary roads. I hate driving anymore because the roads are so bad anymore. There is so much that needs to be fixed. So when cracked asphalt and crumbling concrete team up to jar loose hubcaps, bend aluminum wheels, blow out tires and batter ball joints. This means someone else is making money. I take care of my cars and this makes it hard for me to try and avoid of the potholes as a drive. They are trying to fix them some of the main roads as of lately. There is still a lot more that needs to done. You cannot drive ten feet with out seeing one or hitting one. They are on every road, and the older roads that need repaved are really bad. I would like to find out what they are going to plan on doing in the long term because it is going to take a while to try and address the all of the potholes. Down in the south hills where I drive they are starting to get them filled and it is not so bad to drive. The closer I get into town the roads are really bad. There are holes that make me lose control sometimes because they are so bad. When they are going to fix them all I do not know. I am going to try and find out when they will be fixed so I can have a safer drive.

Keep shoveling snow or you may be fined. That is what they are telling everyone. The snow has really been a problem this winter, not knowing when it is going to stop. The city ordinance requires tenants and property owners to clear their sidewalks within 24 hours of snowfall, but it was suspended in February, when several storms dumped record-breaking amounts of snow, paralyzing the city for days. This made it hard to do anything, and was a big job to dig out.

A tuition tax is one of the last things I want to heir about being a student myself. The city of Pittsburgh is facing a budget shortfall, and is looking to the students who benefit from “the privilege of studying in Pittsburgh” to fill the gap this year and into the future. Legislation has been proposed to tax their tuition at the full listed price in order to cover “city services they use but do not pay for.” This means that we are going to have to pay more than anyone else. Most of us work in the city so we are already getting taxed for that. This is just one more thing that they want to do so they can get more money.

The potholes in the city and all around are some of the worse that I have every seen since I have been driving. Anybody who has done a fair amount of driving in recent weeks should be well aware by now, this is the season for potholes. The combination of freeze-thaw temperatures and above average rainfall thus far could not create a better recipe for unraveling asphalt on main highways that have not been paved for some time, and a whole bunch of secondary roads. I hate driving anymore because the roads are so bad anymore. There is so much that needs to be fixed. So when cracked asphalt and crumbling concrete team up to jar loose hubcaps, bend aluminum wheels, blow out tires and batter ball joints. This means someone else is making money. I take care of my cars and this makes it hard for me to try and avoid of the potholes as a drive.

            Not in the best of shape that I should be in, I am going to the gym now to try and lose some weight and tone up little. As always there are people in there that are great shape and make me look bad. There is one for sure, he is always there and always working hard. Much different from me. Always with his hat backwards to the side, looking pretty. Wearing a sleeveless cut off shirt, with his cut and toned arms. Basketball sorts, and a pair of Jordan are always fresh and clean. With his veins and mussels getting bigger every time I see him working out. Thinking to myself if I could one day look like him, even half as good I would be happy. Knowing that it will probably never happen, but I will still try my best. He is somewhat of an asshole, with his ego that takes up the whole room. Sometimes I just want to hit him because some of the shit he says about me. He is the opposite of me in many different ways. I would never weir half the things he would because I think that they look stupid. He does have the body for some of the things so that is why I think he could get a way with it.

            When do go the gym everyone look at him and right past me. That is way I think that he has such a big ego, and all of that goes to his head. He thinks he is the best at everything he does and never thinks he is wrong. If do not know something I just ask him because he would know, he knows everything. When it come to cooking or baking he is good everything that he makes is good. I would like to be able to make half the things that he can. It would be nice to be able to do some of the things he can, he is so great everyone likes him. Me on the other hand have other thoughts but I will not go there now. 

            There have been a few different places that I have been thinking about to white about and to describe to everyone. Some of my choices have not been the best, because I think that they were too obvious. The first place that I thought of was best buy, because I like to go there a lot. I thought I would be able to describe a lot about and be able to talk to the people that work there. Then I thought it is a big chain and there are a lot of advertisement for it already so therefore I did not choose this place.

            The next place I thought of was Chili’s because I work there and go there to eat often. It would be easy to understand how everything runs because I work there and know what goes on in front and in the back. Then I thought that it is not the best places to do a paper on, because they do have a good bit of advertisement them self. Also I do not think I could talk about it any more than I would want to.

            The next place that I thought of was Wendy’s restaurant because it is also a place that I like to go to eat at often. They have good food and everything is nice inside and out. There are a lot of them all around and there is a lot of advertisement for the restaurant. They would be good because there is lot to describe but almost everyone knows a lot about them to begin with. So then I thought that this would not be a good choice to do.

            This brings me to the choice that I had made to write about, it is one place that I spend most of my time and love to be there. I always feel better when I leave and it is LA Fitness. It is a place that I think no one else will talk of write about because no one else goes there that I know off. It is a place that I could describe a lot about and really get into peoples heads to learn more and more. There are many people down there that I can talk to and learn more about. This would be something that I would like to do.

I’m going to describe a place to you all without telling you what it is. In the summer time, it is warm and always nice to go with family and friends. It is right in the middle of everything that is going on. The grass is always green and has been there for many years. There are always events going on there and it is a good place to learn. In the winter, on the other hand it is not the place to go. It is outside and it is cold out in the winter, therefore no one would want to go there. There has been a lot of history made there and there still is, not as much as it has. There was fighting and gunfire all the time, many years ago and a lot of lives had been taken. All of the rivers around it were the best place to come and go from it. The main part of it is no longer there is marks to be were it once stood. One of the biggest things that have happened there lately that I have gone to was the NFL kickoff. There were so many people there I could hardly move or even walk around.

            For the most part a lot of the history was made hundreds of years ago. Men fighting for their lives, trying to protect them self’s and others. The bloodshed and hart of the men was very great. It was for the town and everything thing around it. There was not much of anything back then. That was about the only thing around. It was one of the prettiest places in my eyes. Everything was green and the rivers were clear and flowing smooth. There was so much to look forward to and so much to see. It was one of the safest places to be. Without saying any names a lot of historical people have been here and have done many great things. They wanted to change things in the right way and make the land free. At this point there is not much there but there is a lot to learn if you have not been there your self, to see what there is.

Growing up in Pittsburgh, I always viewed the city as my favorite. It is not the biggest city in the country, but when I little I always thought that it was. I always enjoyed coming downtown for any kind of event. Now that I am down here all off the time I do not enjoy it as much. I almost hate to now just because of the traffic and the time it takes to make it down here. The way I think that other people view the city that do not live here, have their own opinion. Some might say that the city is nice and is moving in the right direction, by going green and all of the other positive things that are going on. Others might say that there is really nothing in the city to really look forward to. As most do know, and my favorite thing about the city are the pro sports teams. The Steelers and the Penguins. For them this makes Pittsburgh the city of champions. I do think that is the biggest thing that people think of when they think of Pittsburgh. There are many other wonderful things that the city is known for like the Heinz family and the product they put out all over the world. The schools and the good learning you can get if you would come to Pittsburgh to get an education. That is one more, big thing about the city people come from all over to get their education here. Especially in the medical field, there are some of the best hospitals in Pittsburgh. One of the reason why is because this where a lot of the learn and come our with new ways to help people. They are always on the cutting edge when it comes to the medical field. We also are starting to get into more movies and really show more parts of the city. For as before we were looked past most of the time to have any movies shot here. There only were a few good ones that had some seines shot. The past few years there have been more and more movies of other things like it done here. They have been done in or on the outer parts of Pittsburgh and into the suburbs. At the end this is my favorite city and I would not change too much about.          

            This week was not one of the best ones that I have had I a long time. At first it started out just like any other week, everything was normal and going smooth. I had Monday off for school, which was nice because I was able to get some homework done. Then I went to bed that night feeling well. The next morning I woke up and I could barley move. My whole body was aching, and I was not felling well at all. It really did hit me right over night. I did not know what I was going to do. I had class later in the day and I did not know if I was going to make it out of bed or not. I was able to get up and get something to eat and had got enough energy to make it to class. I was feeling better as the day went on and thought I was ok now. Then driving home after class I was cold and tired and I wanted to get home and get into bed. As I was on my way home driving through south side, the light turned red as I went under it. There was a cope sitting right there, I did not think he saw that or if he was going to come after me. Then a few blocks down there he was behind me. I thought to myself he is not after me is he. He was and he pulled me over and wrote me up. This made my day even worse than it already was. So after all that I went to bed for the night, got up the next day and my throat was sore now. Now I have to go another day felling like shit, just what I needed. I had another class that day and I was trying to stay out of trouble and for the most part I did. Then I had work the next morning and get up early which was not the best thing for me because I was not going to get a good night sleep, that I needed to try to feel better. I made it in on time felling ok after I started to wake up at work. I knew I was not feeling well because I did not want to eat any thing, and I am always hungry. Anyway that is how my week as gone so far and it does not look it is going to get any better.