As the biggest fan of social networks like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and basically whichever Web site is ‘in’ this week, one sad repercussion of my generation’s intense online activity is the loss of our class reunion. In the past, a class reunion was a “hold-your-breath-til-you-get-there-and-see-who-got-fat” kind of thing. Not so much anymore. Linked as ‘friends’ on all social networks to everyone we can find from high school, college, work, etc. allows us to see (in instant time) who , got fat, got a job, got married, and/or got pregnant. It’s like a class reunion on speed!

So, what need is there for a class reunion? My friends from high school and college are spread around not only the nation, but the world! But, I can pop by and say hello any day I want to. AND, I can updated friend statuses telling me exactly what they did today, yesterday, or any other day of the week. My generation is definitely the epitome of self-promotion. We are completely cool with publishing our photos, thoughts, and even relationship statuses online.

So, in the end, we’re losing out on our class reunion. But, MySpace and Facebook made it a lot easier for me to badger our Class President. (sorry Brie!)

Maybe we’ll be able to work it out in the end - and see who is lying online

My Verizon Customer Service Nightmare

A little while back, during the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s seminar titled, Social Media: Animate Your Marketing, the presenter gave me a great idea for a rant. Mike Woycheck, of Pittsburgh Bloggers and AlphaLab, gave a great presentation about company blogging…When to Comment, When to Listen, and When to Blog. And, of course, there are many great examples of companies who were forced to listen to consumers who had to blog about bad experiences online, i.e. Dell Hell, which basically caused Dell’s entire customer service approach to change, and so on and so forth.

So, bingo! I had been suffering from writer’s block, but instantly had the motivation to write about my recent 3 to 4 month customer service nightmare in the hands of Verizon FiOS Internet.

To make a long story short, I have been attempting to cancel my Verizon FiOS Internet service for approximately 4 months now. It turns out that Verizon’s lovely automated phone customer service program is not so lovely. In the past, it took me 3 weeks to get through for some technical support when my Internet stopped working. When it was time to cancel my service, I was prepared for the worst (or so I thought). Full Story »

My family and I have recently outgrown our 2 bedroom duplex. While it’s really a great house and we have the best landlord in the world, we just need some more room (and a better backyard for our little one). So, we are (once again) performing the rental search. We need another year or two to save to buy and we all know it will be a buyer’s market for a long time, so we decided to just rent for another year.

Well, I forgot how painful the renting process is. Not only is it hard to find a 3 BR house right now, but we supposedly need to worry about scammers from across the world tricking us. Within only one week of looking at a small number of properties online, I have received two scam offers and thought I should share my experiences with everyone in the area so no one else is scammed. Luckily, I was smart enough to do some heavy research the first time, which saved me a large sum of money, but I am afraid that others have been scammed, which is why I’m writing this. Keep reading for the whole story and what you can do to avoid being scammed. Full Story »

So, while trolling the Pittsburgh Bloggers site, I came across an article about Pennsylvania potholes. “Potholes!” I exclaimed out loud (hey, I hit relative ranting writer’s block and was very excited!). I read the blog posting, which was interestingly enough from “Edgar Speaks Out” or the blog for Edgar of Edgar Snyder’s law firm. The article cursorily explained how to recover damages from Pennsylvania potholes. But, the part that really GOT me and made me want to really RANT is that you can not claim property damages on PA (PennDOT) roads (although you can sometimes recover some injury damages).

So, you get into an accident that was not your fault and PennDOT refuses to take any liability. Did I mention that Pennsylvania has consistently been named the state with the worst roads in the United States (I almost started typing Universe and you know…I think the roads in Pittsburgh ARE actually comparable to the crevices on Mars, so this may be an entirely accurate comparison). We actually get hit with a double whammy here in PA because not only does the terrible wintry weather we’ve all been experiencing so frequently erode potholes, but our road system is seriously screwy and the potholes barely get fixed.

I guess we all have to learn to be super careful when approaching potholes - being that the responsibility for an accident caused by one may fall squarely on your shoulders. Edgar Snyder says:

“You can’t recover property damages on PA state roads, but you may be able to receive compensation from PennDOT for your injuries. For roads in local municipalities, you may be able to collect both property damages and compensation for personal injuries from local governments.”

Check out another helpful feature of good ol’ Edgar Snyder’s Web site: A Q&A section where you can find all the answers to hazardous road questions you may have. And, Pittsburghers will surely agree with me that we unfortunately have many - hazardous roads AND questions (especially for you PennDOT employees….boy, have we got questions for you).

Hey friends,

So, I put a new poll on the site asking what YOUR Pittsburgh Rant is…help me out and take it so I can write more of what YOU want to hear!

Any additional notes on the subject can be left in comments to this post… And, I always accept submissions from other Pittsburgh writers

Thanks all and I hope the weather hasn’t got you too chilly!

National Buffoon’s European Vacation

I understand the interest in bringing green initiatives and international business to Pittsburgh. In fact, I think Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has many great ideas along these lines and I can’t help but believe that our city has been consistently improving in reputation, environmentalism, business relations, and many other ways. But, do I think that in order to accomplish these two goals that two of our officials actually need to concentrate on what’s going on here first and then maybe later vacation in Europe. Further, the main locale to visit is Amsterdam… Sounds like a fun TRIP!
Instead of flying to Europe on an economic expansion trip, couldn’t our dear leaders have saved us a few economic dollars and held a few conference calls? Half of the trip is said to be funded by the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, an affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, while the other half is funded by conferences and councils in France, although I’m not 100% sure what they have to gain from it. At least they don’t hate us…

Oh, and of course, Ravenstahl’s wife needed a vacation too…well, at least the mayor’s office is REPORTING that the money is coming from her own pocket.

Needless to say, if this trip does help to accomplish those two initiatives (increasing globalization and environmentalism in Pittsburgh), then I may just have to turn this RANT into a RAVE. But, if it turns out to be just a damn vacation to go get high, then I will just RANT away!!!

ATTN: Caring Pittsburgh Landlords Needed

Oakland Series Continued…

“The majority of the current owners appear to use the properties strictly for investment purposes, and once sufficient return is generated by the real estate, it is sold to the next willing absentee landlord” – a study by Pitt’s Graduate School for International and Public Affairs, on Meyran Ave, a popular student rental street in Central Oakland.

As I’ve written before, the arrival of student renters into the Oakland community has unleashed a string of problems. The renters’ property is owned by absentee landlords who make a huge profit, but do not make necessary repairs due to the negligent enforcement of local building codes. The depreciating property values result in a loss of tax revenue on many local properties.

Based on the aforementioned study and other focus groups conducted by OPDC, it seems that the older residents are in agreement that the main problem is the absentee landlords, not the college students themselves. “They [landlords take care of their house in Upper St. Clair or Mt. Lebanon but they forget, they think Oakland is trash so let’s damage [it] and you know students live there, so let’s trash it,” one long-term resident said. A major concern is that landlords who do not live in the neighborhood do not maintain their properties suitably and any of us who  have lived there and suffered through trying to get a hold of an absentee landlord for housing repairs know that this is indeed a problem. Full Story »

So, in what seems to have become a theme on this Web site, I must ONCE again rant about Pittsburgh’s bad drivers. The first (and a half) snowstorm came this past week in the Burgh and I managed to encounter (once again) the worst of the worst of Pittsburgh drivers.

Bad weather Pittsburgh drivers, I beg you:

1.  When you come to the end of a side street in bad weather, please do not pull out INTO the street so that other cars have to swerve around you. It’s best to avoid swerving in bad weather - simple, but obviously misunderstood around here.
2. Along those lines, when you are trying to turn left in an intersection and there are cars going straight coming DOWN A HILL (think Potomac Ave and Banksville here people), please do not try to creep left in front of those cars driving down the hill. They are sliding already and SHOULD NOT HAVE TO slam on their brakes to avoid your dumb self or swerve additionally.  Speaking of, lady in the BMW SUV doing this the other day at the aforementioned intersection should read this and learn a lesson (if our beeping didn’t teach you one already).
3. You don’t have to drive under 5 miles an hour on the heavily traveled roads that aren’t slippery. This only worsens traffic.
4. Lastly, if you hear someone beeping at you from behind, get the heck out of the way. (This is the most important for accident avoidance).

Pittsburghers - if you follow this advice, the incidence of bad weather accidents in this city will decrease. And, so will my blood pressure.

Hit and Runs Abound in Pittsburgh

That’s it. I’ve had it. Some jerk Pittsburgher hit the mirror of my brand-new (to me) Honda Pilot last night, scratching it and cracking a large triangle piece out of the mirror. And, of course, they drove right away. Real nice … Jerk.

When I lived in Oakland, my Subaru’s mirror was hit NO LESS THAN 5 times, 2 of which I had to pay (at inspection) hundreds of dollars to have the entire mirror replaced (not just the glass). And, surprise surprise, it’s not freaking cheap.

Or, how about that one Halloween night in Oakland when I came out in the morning to find that my Subaru along with EVERY other car for 2 blocks distance had been KICKED. I was lucky enough to get the worst of it - and my poor Subaru still has 3 HUGE dents on each passenger side door or panel. Lovely. How courteous. The great part about that story is that my drunken neighbors were up, saw it happen to one of their cars, tackled the idiot, and then LET HIM GO after getting his name and number - a FAKE! Idiots.

What makes people so completely awful and rude? How do you justify doing something like that? Isn’t it the freaking holiday season? Aren’t people supposed to be NICE? What’s happening here?! There is NO courtesy left in this world. To prove my point… Full Story »

Oakland: The Loss of a Community, Part 2

This is Part 2 of the Oakland Series. There’s so much to say about the Oakland community that you will see a number of posts devoted to Oakland, The University of Pittsburgh, and especially, bad housing conditions in Pittsburgh - one of my personal crusades for change. This entry is dedicated to the history of housing law and the older residents who have lived in Oakland for a long, long time (and who many simply have forgotten).

I would like to note that the University of Pittsburgh has done an excellent job to rebuild the bridges they broke in the late 60s and early 70s with Oakland’s long-term residents (as explained in this posting), but there is still more work to do when it comes to improving housing conditions for both the students renters and the long-term residents of Oakland.

Oakland in the 1950s: The Cathedral of Learning Mobbed by Many as the University Grows in Popularity!

Law and Housing Conditions

“Miserable and disreputable housing conditions…may indeed make living an almost insufferable burden. They may also be an ugly sore, a blight on the community which robs it of its charm; which makes it a place from which men may turn. The misery of housing may despoil a community as an open sewer may ruin a river”
~ Supreme Court Justice William O.Douglas, in Berman v.Parker. Full Story »

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