Power You, Power Me

I liked those pink fountain pic's he took yesterday, in advance of Pittsburgh's 250th birthday celebration. At least he's doing something useful.

Here are two websites with different perspectives on the "250":
Imagine Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh 2050

Did you notice the chill in the air this past week? The chill is not just the reduced chances that someones going to notice the For Sale by Owner sign in front of me, now that mortgage companies are becoming more careful about who they lend to (though my sub-$100K value would make most home buyers swoon with the potential savings over the next 15-30 years), but from the approach of winter to the Northern Hemisphere.

Yes, the leaves are turning, the nights are getting cooler, and soon Cleveland and other North Coast cities will get their first lake-effect snowfalls, making those of us in Pittsburgh (1) wish we had a lake nearby, or (2) thanking our lucky stars that Pittsburgh is several degrees of latitude south of the North Coast.

Of course, with the approach of winter comes thoughts of heating houses, heating cars, heating humans, heating buses, heating schools, heating...well, you get the idea. Will the tanking economy make heating more expensive? Will the lack of apparent demand make heating less expensive?

Did you know that when the utilities talk about gas prices, they mean the residential price, that you and I pay, and not the "wellhead" price? I hadn't thought of it before, either.

Would it surprise you to know that natural gas prices actually go down in the winter, historically? Check out the historical ranges for residential gas...it's very interesting.

Did you know that coal, used generally for electricity generation, is classified in two categories? Yup: thermal coal and metallurgical coal. I didn't know that until he began talking abit about energy suppliers. He'd been aware of Alpha Natural Resources for awhile, as his mother had mentioned them, but he became even more aware when an old-line Cleveland company, Cleveland-Cliffs, announced a bid to buy ANR.

Here's an interesting PDF from the Department of Energy. According to the document, the price of coal generally came down about 66% from 1983 to 2003...according to the Wikipedia article, that price has quadrupled from 2003 to 2008, due in part to the rising global demand for both energy production and steel production. Although the recession that appears to have finally caught up to us (is anyone yet admitting to it?) may/will decrease energy demand worldwide...coal will remain very important in the world energy and steel production realms.

The other day, I noted one other hint to the impending winter: the smell of hardwoods being burned in fireplaces or heating stoves locally. Do you use hardwoods where you live? Does anyone still use coal in their homes? One of my fellow neighborhood houses does...he likes to think he's still in the 19th century, with that thick black smoke wafting heavily from his chimney....

Enjoy your Fall!

..HF.

Far From You

Dear house,

Here I sit, on the bank of the Mon and Allegheny confluence. I should
be working on my Wu taiji, I should be paddling about these waters as
I'd been planning all morning, I should be working on plans for
getting you shipshape for your next family.

But, no, instead I sit here listening to the minimalist waves lap the shore, watch the mallards stand and flap and preen, watch vehicular traffic make use of the wonderful Pittsburgh bridges, view Hilton, Highmark, Ariba, UPMC, PNC, United Steelworkers and Federated adorn the tops of relatve skyscrapers, and dream of ways to get out on that wonderful water without putting more rotomolded plastic or form-fitted fiberglass where it doesn't belong.

Latis just cruised by, a 30-foot cruiser, but she's not the answer. I know the answer lies somewhere between my brain and the water ... I've just gotta find that middle ground.

..owner.

River of Clouds

Two cities he has lived in have very different terrains, but some
similar atmospheric conditions.

Here in Pittsburgh, houses are arranged up and down ancient mountain
valleys where morning fog accumulates in the upper valleys and slowly
grow into valley-bound clouds as the coalescing moisture falls toward
the larger stream and river valleys. This morning, the Turtle Creek,
watershed and the Allegheny River valleys are so enshrouded,

allowing higher corridors such as Rt. 30 and I-376 to be blissfully
illuminated by bright late-summer morning sunlight.

San Francisco starts the day in bright sunlight everywhere, from the cool environment of downtown SF, Pacifica and other coastal
communities to the much warmer regions of peninsula communities
Redwood City & San Jose to East Bay and east valley communities.

In SF, though, the fog gathers through the morning over the ocean just
outside the city gates, as it were, the Golden Gate Bridge. After
noon, the flood gates seem to open, as the pent-up demand of ocean fog
to roll in over the unsullied waters of the SF Bay. Initially, the
careful water-hugging clouds stream in along the shipping channels...

but as the excitement builds, clouds leap up over poor fog-vexed
Pacifica and western SF neighborhoods and begin to over-run the high-
rise apartments and skyscrapers of fashionable downtown SF, north and east of Chinatown.

In Pittsburgh, the sun melts the morning moisture...in SF, the
inhabitants aren't so lucky.

..HF.

Sent from my iPhone