March 27 Run/Walk: Meet at Cafetano Cafe on the Strip, Penn and 16th St.

We miss the Strip, and have been wanting to try this cafe for a while, so we'll meet at Penn Ave. and 16th St. and check out the Italian/Honduran offerings which look impressive.  Oh, yeah, we'll run and walk around the area also.

Meanwhile last week, under only a few drops of the threatened rain, we visited rarely-seen parts of Squirrel Hill (amazing that is still possible) such as Westland Drive, with long views, slightly rundown romantic mansions and bizarre constructions.  At a leisurely coffee we endorsed:

• Getting your booster shot at Costco
• The upcoming fall RG bike trip to Cumberland (yes, anyone getting this email is welcome!) for which please fill out this Doodle Poll to figure out dates.  We're thinking it will be a Fri-Sun but lots is still TBD.  
• Read (naturally) The Great Allegheny Passage Companion
• Taking a shower in plain sight of a zoom meeting (this actually happened)
• Electrician:  Mendelson Electric
• 
  Watch:  Power of the Dog (harsh but memorable), Friday Night Lights (old but great), Dopesick (upsetting but important) Curb Your Enthusiasm (none of the above)
• Get ready for the upcoming May 17 primary - hear the US Senate Democratic candidates forum right here (really, please do, this is a crucial one)
• Microsoft Teams Together Mode (we need to do this)
• 

March 20 Run/Walk: Rerun of 61C meetup but without the clock change

We'll meet at 61C cafe in Squirrel Hill again - last week we somehow missed each other for coffee, so we'll try once more.  Maybe it will be balmy and we'll sit outside!  We'll look for more of these:

March 13 Run: Meet at 61C Cafe and SPRING your Clocks Forward!

Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday so make sure you Spring your Clocks Ahead an hour.

Meet at 61C for a Runners' (and Walkers') Choice Route.

Last Sunday our East Liberty/Friendship run started out with a drizzle, but the rain knows not to mess with Running Group, so the skies cleared and the sun was out by the time we were drinking coffee.  Bird-friendly coffee!  ("Bird-friendly coffee is sourced from farms that hold certification from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. This certification means, among other things, that the coffee from these farms is grown with minimal deforestation.")

The run included a fair amount of looking, seeing, and trespassing, as usual.  The new Whole Foods building is coming along.

Endorsements include:

Two-factor authentication and

Mixtiles

Have a great week!

March 6 Run/Walk: Meet at the Detective Building, 224 N Euclid Ave., East Liberty

Back to the Detective Building (which once really did house the Pittsburgh Police detectives) but now we are going there for the coffee at Redstart Roasters (which is "bird-friendly.)  Unclear how that is related but maybe we'll find out.

Last Sunday after our travels through Homewood and Larimer, it was all about getting down with the hipsters at KLVN on Hamilton - pretty nice but, the years are passing and the bouncy techno tunes made it a little hard to hear our words of wisdom.  But here's what got through:

• Listen: Israel Story podcast (endorsed once before in 2016 - still going!)
• LARCs (of course you knew that was Long-Acting Reversible Contraception) - and this unusual explainer, "Watch me get an IUD -- for the planet"
• Watch:  Mrs. Maisel, particularly Season 4 Episode 4, in which there may be the joke about the woman who married her gynecologist, "I guess he liked what he saw."  
• Onto another topic:  "What was lost in Pittsburgh's Broken Bridge"
• Read better news:  Letters from an American (helpful daily updates from a thoughtful historian) and Print: Pittsburgh's East End Newspaper (super-local and really in PRINT.)
• In planning:  RG bike trip to Cumberland in the fall!