G20 in the East End

My thoughts exactly

2009-09-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hello protestors, this is all residents of Pittsburgh are asking....Don't be a jackass

9/23/2009

2009-09-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Another pretty quiet day. When I left for work, the busway was still (relatively) crowded, and lots of annoying ass drivers on Negley (I hate to drive). Alot more police/military activity than in the previous 24hours. One of the National Guard armories by me is housing Guard troops/police. I have several buddies from my time in the guard who were activated for the G-20. I've been trying to keep in contact with them to find out the latest dirt on what's going on. Not a whole lot. Fine with me, I hope this is the most boring blog in history.

While at work, the neo-conservatives I work with were abuzz with the Greenpeace sign hanging from the West End Bridge. I agree with the message, disagree with the execution, and overall, if that's the worst disruption we see, that is just fine by me. A bunch of articles were on-line about the "siege in Shadyside", over-hype much???? I don't blame owners for wanting to be prepared, I blame the news media for trying to sell headlines.

Speaking of being prepared, I went on a jaunt after work to pick up pepper spray for my wife. Some may say I am being a reactionary. I don't think I am. I am being what we like to call prepared. If nothing happens to her, AWESOME, no harm no foul. If some whack-job does try to mess with her, I would racked with guilt that I didn't do anything to help her.

All was normal when I got home, alot of talk amongst the neighborhood. Nothing new, just alot of the same from previous days (frozen turds, bricks, and burning cars.)

9/22/2009

2009-09-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Still Optomistic, but less so than before. The rumors (maybe misinformation) are starting to fly among local residents. It's true that a fake pipe bomb was found a couple blocks from our house yesterday (this may be the psycho combat vet in me, but insurgents in Iraq liked to place fake explosives to see how we would react and then plant a real one designed to exploit our reaction techniques to cause more damage/kill more people). It's true that there are a shit-ton of protests, many near us.

I don't care about the protests, honestly, I may think you're crazy but respect your right to protest. I don't think people have the right (the anarchists and other assorted whack jobs) to destroy things that don't belong to them and otherwise cause havoc. If you hate all forms of government, great, but don't fuck with my city. I plan on being a quiet observer unless I am dragged into a fight for what is mine or whom I care about.

For now, things seem pretty normal, there were a ton of people on the streets, everyone took their trash out to the curb like a normal Tuesday night, but the natives are restless. The topic of conversation as you took your trash out to the curb and ran into a neighbor was all the craziness that is supposed to be going on. I heard everything from they will burn your car to they will kill your dog (they better not, because I will kill one of them if they hurt our dog).

My wife will be walking to work for the next three days (she's a nurse) and I am probably most worried about that.

Bottom line, there's alot of uncertainty in our neighborhood, not unlike the blogging community at large. People don't know what to expect and that is the scariest part. Time will tell.