Pittsburgh is a weird town. When my philosopher/cabbie drove me downtown at 8am on Monday morning, i was immediately struck by the interesting geography of the city, with the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers providing the northern and southern boundaries of downtown, respectively, converging into the Ohio River just south of Heinz Field (formerly, and more appropriately, Three Rivers Stadium). But having spent a few days here, i've noticed the odd mishmosh of architecture and general evidence of decay. There's no consistent design aesthetic, buildings range from gothic stone to Victorian brick to hideous seventies blocks to hideous nineties gothic glass abominations. The bridges that traverse the rivers all share the same construction, a mundane steel arch painted yellow in apparent homage to the Steelers. It's certainly a blue collar town, but it almost feels like the entire populace never recovered from the decline of the steel mills. New industry and the "culture district" can't mask the sense of malaise.

I took a two hour walk today to collect these observations. Since i saw the Mariners play in Seattle last weekend, i toyed with the idea of checking out the Pirates as i walked by PNC Park, but decided i wasn't enough of a baseball or Pittsburgh fan to watch nine innings by myself in a strange place. Luckily, Heinz Field is within walking distance of my hotel so i can avoid taking a taxi to tomorrow night's Chelsea/Roma match. I keep wondering if i'm going to run into John Terry, Frank Lampard, and co. in a diner downtown somewhere.

My talk at the AAPM meeting Tuesday afternoon went very well. The conference on the whole has been a bit of a let down though. I'm just not interested in 90% of the work being presented, and for some reason the organizers scheduled the 10% i am interested in during conflicting sessions. Combine that with the most ridiculous awards ceremony i've ever seen (although i have to give props to my friend Mark for his induction as an honorary member of the AAPM), and i just can't see myself attending this meeting again. This is the conference that my division at Stanford (Radiation Physics) attends religiously, but i can't see why i should waste $1000+ a year coming here when it's doing nothing for my career. The annual SMI meeting, coming up this year in October, is cheaper, more informative, and infinitely more exciting.

Forgot to mention that while i was at home with Ana before heading across the country, i got reacquainted with Cartoon Network as that's what she demands on the television 24/7. I used to know all about CN's lineup ... Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory ... heck, i remember watching the original Johnny Bravo short that led to his series. But these days, other than Adult Swim and the fantastic adult humor shows therein, i have no idea what is on CN. Turns out there's all kinds of good things. My new favorites are ¡Mucha Lucha!, featuring an elementary school for aspiring young masked wrestlers like Ricochet, Buena Girl, Snowpea, and the Flea, and Teen Titans, loosely based on the DC comic of the same name featuring a superhero task force starring Robin of Batman And ____ fame. I even found myself getting into heretofore incomprehensible Yu Gi Oh!. V and Arlene seemed amused by my engrossment, but i must say that Cartoon Network is keeping up it's tradition of excellent original toons.