Plus 10 points

Sitting here in 61c, my new corner coffee shop, with a dozen folks lined up at royal red and blue (go Penn! don't get confused, I'm in Pittsburgh. But whenever I see my alama's colors you know I've gotta shout it out) wooden tables with laptops out-- I feel good here. Now, if I walk south half a block to the Giant Eagle, where 2/2 the cashiers have been a-holes, I feel a little less sweet midwest meets the intellectual east. Giant Eagle may be a remnant from the actual steelmill days where life is tough and you should just feel lucky to be eating and have all your limbs.

I digress (crappy transition)

61c right down the way from my new apartment. APARTMENT. It's going to be beautiful. It's in an incredible location and has huge potential, but entering for the first time to a dirty place wiped all the gleem off of a possible first-impression buzz.

That was my last digression (I swear)

Sitting here in my coffee shop-- where a cup of coffee is a buck-ten just like it should be, I found myself with the difficult task of figuring out how to get out to the burbs w/out a car. Cab is not option-- it would work, but I'd consider it a complete and utter failure of my meet and greet the new city focus. Plus they seem pretty expensive here, and I'm on a budget-- cut the deal margins right off of buying two couches for less than 200 bucks.

Sitting here realizing I need to get far and fast, I start to surf for the answers, skeptical of my abilities. I don't even know what part of town this is-- I'm in squirrel hill, what's this place called? So, with my repetoire of skills I rely on my best one-- new guy (I'm realizing I've been the new guy a lot in my recent life). So I ask my new barista, and he starts to answer loudly, embarrassingly loud-- I sit down feeling called out and unhelped, when two guys start talking at me basically at the same time. One emerges as the more knowledgeable. He sits down and starts telling me stories of how he used to be a police officer but has since retired and hangs out here. A sweet guy who reminds me of an aged hero version of DJ Johnson with a touch of Lyle. He stops writing and explains the 8 lines of directions including distances, times and most importantly exactly how to get to my remote location. Then he hands me a bus schedule he had in a plastic bag. This is my kind of place.

Jess and I have been rating people and keeping tally-- not a 1-10 scale of hotness-- on pleasantness and qualities we find appealing-- again attractiveness not included-- many folks have received negative scores... This guy gets a plus 10.