The Public Transportation Expedition

Sunday was a day wrought with various goals, such as finding sheets for my bed, getting laundry detergent, and find a "red, bread, or spread" to bring to a wine and cheese party my adviser was hosting that night. I started off by walking to a local shopping district about a mile away and checking out the various stores. I found one good option for sheets, a cvs pharmacy for slightly overpriced detergent, and no place to get some cheese or bread.

With that I went in to the boutique furniture and linens store and found my cheapest, on-sale, single color, sheet set for a little over $100. What a steal... When I told the lady that was helping me that I was looking for something a little more economical, she was extremely helpful and essentially described to me the entire nature and workings of Pittsburgh's bus system as well as some possible places downtown to get some cheap sheets. As I was walking towards the bus stop to head for downtown, I remember how miraculous and wonderful my iPhone is, and that I can use Google maps to plot out the best course for me to get anywhere in the city using public transportation. I then decided that I would likely be happier with Target, rather than Burlington or Macy's, and let my phone lead the way (with a quick stop at CVS to get some change to pay for the bus fare).

I was soon on bus route 61, heading for the Waterfront, a large commercialized (and chain-store ridden) outdoor mall. About 30 minutes later I started freaking out that I was going to pass my stop, and began incessantly checking the GPS on my phone to make sure we hadn't gone to far. As we hit a stop (at least nearby to where I was going) a bunch of people started to get off, so I quickly checked my phone and the GPS was telling me this was the right stop. I hopped off the bus, only to look down at my phone and realize that I got off about half a mile away from my intended stop. I started my trek in the direction of Target and could see the wonderful red branded shopping carts and parking signs before I knew it.

As I walked in to the store, I realized how hungry I was, enjoyed a nice hot dog at the little mini food court, and then continued to drink my ginger ale as I began shopping. I quickly found detergent, some nice jersey-knit sheets, and a few other various items I realized I needed. After Target I went next door to Giant Eagle, the only grocery store I have seen so far in Pittsburgh, found a nice olive hummus for the party later, and was shortly heading back to campus.

That night, I walked over to Laura's house, met a lot of very nice grad students and enjoyed various red wines and different types of cheese. We played a wine guessing game, in which we each tried three different wines and tried to guess their country of origin, the type of grape, and the type of animal on the bottle (all multiple choice); as it turns out one of the French guys actually got them all correct. After desert and a bit more talking, one of my fellow guests gave me a ride back to campus. I then hung out with people back at the house for a while, watched some TV, and went to sleep in preparation for my early morning 9:30 wakeup!