Driving in PA

The Pittsburgh airport is not in Pittsburgh, oddly enough, or at least it's not in the city limits. It's about 20-25 miles west of downtown, so the drive from the airport was not terribly short, especially compounded with the fact that there was a crazy amount of traffic. This was my second exposure to Pittsburgh drivers, but my first time in a car with a non-"Burgher" driving. And man, let me tell you, it was a little nerve-wracking.

Drivers are far more aggressive there than they are in Washington. They will not be afraid to force their way into traffic. They also tend to hog the intersection instead of leaving space for other cars that need to turn. That isn't always the case, but it seemed to happen more often than it does at home. Also, the traffic lights don't switch from red to green as fast as they do in Washington, so PA drivers take advantage of this and they will not be afraid to go through the intersection at the tail end of the yellow and even into the red. And there aren't any traffic cameras so they don't really have a lot to be afraid of. Also, stopped drivers are very impatient and when they see that a light is going to turn green, they will often jump the gun and start rolling through the intersection before the light changes on their side. The same goes with pedestrians waiting to cross. It's nuts! And actually, that's really the best way to describe a PA driver: impatient. They don't even give you a second if you don't step on the gas right away after the light turns green. They'll honk at you to go. Another oddity is that almost everywhere you go, there are signs that forbid you from turning right on red. I haven't quite figured out why, but I assume it's because there are a lot of pedestrians and this way you keep people safe and probably reduce congestion.

Dad and I went and got my keys and after having to call them to figure out where they were (their office apparently is within an apartment complex...?) and getting nervous at the question, "Did you pay your security deposit?" when the answer was yes and she didn't have record of it. Fortunately, the other woman working there did have it on file, which is good because someone cashed the check!

We stopped by the apartment to check it out, only to meet the construction crew. They were nice enough and they let us go in and see the apartment, which was getting the last clean-up done before it would be ready for move in. I knew it was going to be small, but wow, it is pretty small indeed. I mean, it's a good size for a studio, but it's still not that big! I will post pictures later on. I'm holding off until I get all the boxes and stuff cleared away (which I have almost completed!). Dad and I decided to wait off on bringing stuff to the apartment until they had completely vacated the room.

At this point, both of us are exhausted so we decided to go see if the hotel would let us check in early. By some stroke of luck, they did and we both crashed for at least 4 hours. It was much needed.

After that much needed nap, we spent the evening at Costco surveying their TV and office chair selection and purchasing a mattress and frame for me, which we strapped to the roof of our Ford Fusion. And...it starts raining. Fortunately we are able to roll up the windows. Unfortunately that doesn't matter because the straps are pushing on the weatherstripping in the car door, making it ineffective and causing the rain to leak all over me (but somehow not Dad) during our 20 minute car ride back to the apartment. I was not amused.

We sleep in the hotel. We go shopping the next day. Today's priorities are a box spring and the major furniture that I would be needing. Our search for a box spring took us to Ross Township which was about nine miles north of downtown on the freeway. We managed to get a cheap (in quality and in price) box spring and strapped that to our roof. Fortunately, no rain this time. However, we took every back-road and alley and sketchy byway in order to avoid the freeway. I think the GPS was just trying to mess with us. We got back though and didn't have to go over 40 mph.

Our trip for furniture took us in the complete opposite direction to West Mifflin, southeast of downtown. This is where the nearest Wal-Mart Superstore was located. We bought a desk/side cart, a futon and a TV stand and a bunch of other things on the list of things we needed to get, including all the housewares and appliances and things of that nature. I have no idea how we managed to fit it all in the car. We had to take some stuff out of the boxes in the parking lot in order to fit it all, but we did! And of course, bring on the thunderstorm! There were HUGE bolts of lightning going across the sky, nothing like I'd seen before, really. It was beautiful, deafening and scary all at once. Dad was afraid we'd get hit, so we booked it out of there and got back to the apartment to unload everything. Then we turned right around and went back to Costco and bought a TV and office chair and some food items. We got back, unloaded and started to put the furniture together.

The furniture building process was not the easiest when you needed a screwdriver, which we did not have. However, we made do with the end of one of the butter knives that I had just purchased. We got at least the futon together and then we went to sleep...not very well, but still we attempted to sleep.

What a day! I'm finally "moved in" to the apartment.