Best products from r/pittsburgh

My favorite and the most comprehensive book I've ever found about Pittsburgh is this one, but I will definitely need to check out the one you recommended! The one in my link also makes for a great coffee table book! My friends and other guests love thumbing through the pages with all the amazing pictures.

My house is decently insulated and the heat works fairly well, that is with exception of my bedroom. The bedroom is upstairs but only has a single radiator for what is the largest single room in the house. It's comfortable until the coldest parts of the cycle, and with one thermostat that's downstairs it's never going to get better.

I use an electric heater with a remote thermostat that I bought on Amazon (link below) in my bedroom. This allows me to turn down the heat in the entire house at night and to save on gas while also meaning my bedroom isn't fucking freezing come 5am. It's a nice balance of heat and $. I use a cheap electric heater (link below), it's surprisingly quiet and will easily take the chill off the room.

All of that said, a programmable thermostat is also golden. Turn the heat down when you're at work and asleep. Also, insulate your windows (and make sure they are locked as it helps seal the frame) with plastic covering and cover door gaps with blankets or heavy door mats. All these little tricks add up.

A $200 bill is a big gas bill in my three bedroom house, but you'll have to give this a shot to decide if it saves money.

Thermostat for electric heater - https://www.amazon.com/Nashone-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat-thermostat/dp/B071NG8MZK/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=thermostat+wireless&qid=1572803946&sr=8-12

Electric heater - https://www.amazon.com/Brightown-Adjustable-Thermostat-Portable-Protection/dp/B01L1O7MPE/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=electric+heater&qid=1572804045&sr=8-8

Avoid satellite at all costs. Not worth it. You're paying more for less.

Verizon FiOS is where you want to be, ideally, just due to the technology being superior. Latency, signal quality and bandwidth are all excellent. I have coworkers who have the 300Mbps plan from them and love it (they're definitely power users!). The most basic plan of FiOS will probably treat you mostly well, some others might have to jump in and comment on this as I don't know this stuff personally.

Comcast is mediocre. Their residential side is very unfriendly if you're a power user. They have strict data caps, and violating the data cap three times in a row bans you from their service forever. If you consider yourself a power user (lots of streaming content, large downloads, steam games, etc), you might want to just go with their business level service. You don't have any data caps and if you have an issue with your internet someone to look at it will be out in hours instead of days. The plan isn't awfully expensive either (60/month for 12/2mbps in my area). The drawback is the 200 dollar installation fee and the minimum year-long commitment (or 100 dollar fee for 2 years, 50 dollars for 3). If you break the contract you pay 75% of the remainder of the commitment. So if I broke my contract right now two months into the contract, I'd pay 60 10 .75 = 450 dollars, ouch!

As for your other services...

I see you're bundling phone. There's a very good chance you can get by with much less expensive VoIP phone service (especially if you already use cell phones in your family) and drop the expensive telephone plans. Check out Google Voice; it's a free telephone number that does all sorts of neat tricks and features for you. Then, combine it with the OBi100 so that you have "landline" phones that use Google Voice's free telephone service. It's free calls to the US and Canada, and pretty low international rates. What's the catch? You need your internet connection to be on to get phone calls (but you can get these forwarded to your cell phones too), and you can't make 911 calls from your Google Voice powered phones.

As far as the TV... that's more tricky and I don't have a good answer for you, because I don't even have TV installed at my place and don't care for it. Try reading up in /r/cordcutters about ways to cut the cord. There's a lot of online media options available now with netflix and hulu plus, and many other streaming options too. They can help you with those.

I've been doing keto since March and have lost ~30-35 lbs. No exercise, just dieting. I've never really eaten unhealthy, but rather eaten too much of things that are considered "healthy" in moderation, e.g. orange juice.

I call my variation on it "Squirrel Hill Keto", because I work there, and with all of the Asian restaurants there, I find it hard not to eat rice. I just have to watch how much I eat of it and try to avoid it when I can.

To try to make this post a little more related to Pittsburgh:

• Jimmy Johns makes among the best lettuce wraps I've had, and doesn't charge extra for them.
  
• There are lots of gluten-free menu items all over the place, and they are better than the gluten-full options, but still not technically within diet constraints.
  
• I've been researching alternatives to flour and found that coconut flour and almond flour are commonly recommended. I just found almond flour for the first time in the wild today at Penn Mac in the Strip. Costco in the Waterfront had a big bag of coconut flour the other day.
  
• East End Food Coop has most of the alternative sweeteners, such as stevia, xylitol, erythritol, etc. I'm still trying to find psyllium husk, but it's likely EEFC has it and I've just not found it or had the impetus to ask.
  
• Italian restaurants are basically out when on this diet, and Mexican restaurants are difficult. I completely avoid the former and generally go for dishes like chicken mole or carne asada that I know won't have tortilla or such.
  
• Murray Ave Grill's southwest salad with roasted red peppers is fantastic, beaten only by the chicken shawarma salad at Taza 21.
  
• Keto seems to stress meat, so I've gotten pretty good at cooking meat in different ways so that I don't get bored of it.
  
  • Steak. I spend good money on ribeye at Costco, because I don't like Wholey's cuts. I'll get the occasional small filet mignon at Wholey's and their strip is good, too.
    
  • Chicken. Costco's chicken thighs are fantastic for me, as I very often cook [sous vide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide] using a Sansaire Immersion Circulator.
    
  • Pork. Tenderloins go a long way: cook one in a crock pot or sous vide, and that's about four portions of very keto meat. Also, ribs: 3 hrs in the oven at ~300˚F, then a few minutes on the grill slathered in BBQ sauce and you'll never go hungry when you can do this for ~$3/portion.
    
  • Everything else. Fish at Wholey's. Random stuff, especially kebabs and exotic meat at Strip District Meats.
    
• I get most of my vegetables through a farmshare program at work, but augment with stuff that I get at the two produce places in the Strip (Stan's and ???). I get quick stuff at Giant Eagle and avoid Whole Foods entirely.
  
  
  Keto isn't cheap. Carbs are cheap: bread, pasta, rice. Not-carbs aren't: land and sea meats, vegetables, etc. That said, it is doable in Pittsburgh.
  
  The hardest temptation for me is beer, as I love me some good 'burgh beer and cider. I've had enough of those while on this diet to know what happens when I drink too much on the diet. The terrible feeling -- beyond hangovers -- for the next couple of days is a sufficient deterrent now that I've done it a couple of times. It does make me an incredibly cheap date, though!

yes, but I strongly recommend you read: http://www.amazon.com/The-First-National-Bank-Dad/dp/0743204808 first.

There's an essential thing to keep in mind: interest rates are too low and time horizons too long to actually make it possible for young people to "Get" saving at an early age. The solution to this is obvious, affordable and fun for everyone: just open your own "bank" and then pay your kids ridiculously unsustainable interest on every dollar they save (up to a limit). 1% per month. hell, 1% per week.

it teaches them math, you can afford it on small amounts of money and it gives them the opportunity to learn something about compounding at a rate they can relate to.

strongly recommended.

Fair point regarding peripherals you physically interact with, like keyboards and mice. I was thinking you were talking more about components like processors, RAM, and so forth. I recently went through a similar ordeal trying to find a gaming headset I liked.

Stores like Best Buy and Staples will usually have one mechanical keyboard in stock, but it's hit or miss as to whether they'll have a demo unit on display for you to touch and feel. Doesn't help much if there's a physical box in front of you, but you can't open it to get a feel for the product.

My wife has been considering a mechanical keyboard, and she actually bought this switch tester that lets you get a feel for the different switch types. It was helpful to rule out the ones I definitely wouldn't want, but without being able to see on-screen response and have an entire set of keys under hand it still wasn't the demo I would have hoped for.

(I'm conflicted between the Cherry red and brown types. Red seems to be the one you'll find most commonly in mass-market mechanical keyboards.)

My dog is just like yours. It's so frustrating to have some shitty owner put her in that situation. I've started bringing this with me on our walks and I can't recommend it enough. Stops dogs in their tracks. It's just compressed air, but the "chtttttt" noise it makes is incredibly effective.

Anyway, good luck with your pup.


Just realized it's been recommended below. Glad others use it too.

My friends, Lisa Speranza and Nancy Foley (mentioned in the article) wrote a great book about the cemetery: https://www.amazon.com/Allegheny-Cemetery-Images-America-Speranza/dp/1467117382
Lisa is finishing up her next book about Homewood Cemetery which will be available in December.
She just took me on a 2 hour walking tour a few weeks ago and it was fascinating (and a really great hike!) She's available for tours if you contact the cemetery office.

This one is nonfiction, but is a great look at the development of Pittsburgh in relation to its landscape. As an architect I may be biased, but this book is super interesting: The Spectator and the Topographical City.

I had this same issue a month ago, it really is tough to find a place to actually demo one.

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Amazon is a dangerous place but I got a pretty solid one on there:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F832YJR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Great chair for the price, solid materials & everything.

1. Depending on how much work you want to do you can still find homes for sale inside the city for that price. If you are looking to rent everything should be in your budget as well. Also when you say Pitt do you mean University of Pittsburgh or just Pittsburgh? Pitt is the school, PGH is the city, PIT is the airport. [its a quick way for people to clock you're new if you use those interchangeably]
   There are a ton of other posts about the real estate market in town and its really a sellers market right now. We have a ton of new-build apartments that have gone up recently and are expensive for what Pittsburghers are used to paying for rent but are in-line with your budget.
   
2. Amazon - seriously. Unless you want spring for some reason they have this 12in foam mattress for $190 which will be cheaper than anything you can get locally.
   
3. This is a tough one because it can vary so much. I would research the type of car you want to buy, then look comparable ones up through Kelly Blue Book or AutoTrader and go from there
   
4. Verizon FiOS is the best speeds per price if where you decide to live gets the service - and honestly if you were between a couple places and theyre close go with the one that gets FiOS. You can expect to pay around $100/mo for 100/100mpbs fiber. $60 will get you around 50/50mpbs. FiOS is the only provider that matches upload/download speeds.

Does anyone have an Alexa, use the Pittsburgh Bus regularly, and willing to try a new skill I made? I was hoping to get some feedback on my first attempt at it, ease of use and feature's that would be useful.

Thanks!

https://www.amazon.com/tymcdo-MyBus-PGH/dp/B07K56PYYL/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-skills&ie=UTF8&qid=1541348626&sr=1-4&keywords=my+bus

Well I bought [this one] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q7EPSHI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) around 1 and a half years ago. I love it. It's not the most expensive mattress in the world but I really like it. My ex gf always raved about it. I have it on 2 box springs side by side on a metal frame.

You take it out of the package and give it time to expand and within 10 minutes you will be like 'wow' and within 3 hours you will be like 'how the hell did that come out of that box?'.

https://www.amazon.com/APEC-Reverse-Osmosis-Drinking-Water/dp/B00I0ZGOZM

This is the best one I think. Happy to install it!

I also highly recommend this book for some cool depictions of old Pittsburgh - in particular an account of the fancy parties that used to take place in Allegheny West and around Lake Elizabeth:

https://www.amazon.com/Remaking-Pittsburgh-Industrializing-1877-1919-American/dp/0873957792

You should check out this great book when you get a chance. We are all paying a lot for "free" parking, and those costs are often unfairly passed on to people who don't or can't drive to subsidize drivers.

Why would you expect the city to waste space that could be put to a better use on parking for you? That would be a waste of valuable space, which is in short supply in such a geographically small downtown area.
 
This book is specifically about free parking, but addresses how wasteful in general parking is.
https://www.amazon.com/High-Cost-Free-Parking-Updated/dp/193236496X
 
Long story short, expecting a city that you don't even pay taxes towards to provide something for you is an incredibly entitled mindset. Maybe cities aren't for you.
 
e: Actually, Houston just might be the city for you:
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/k591/birdboy1/parking-houston.jpg

I like to refer to us as the "Paris of Appalachia"

http://www.amazon.com/The-Paris-Appalachia-Pittsburgh-Twenty-First/dp/088748509X

Haha

Also a daily smoker here went through this recently for a job. There are multi level test kits you can get on amazon for $7 that test for different tiers of thc in urine, 50 ng/mL is what most need to be under to consider a pass, I believe. https://www.amazon.com/UTest-Meter-Level-Marijuana-Strips/dp/B01MY55GGM

If you do go the substitution route but want to avoid using someone elses, I used testclear.com, I bought 2 kits because depending on how much you need to fill for the test, you may need more than 1 kit. It comes with some 1-use toe warmers, i picked up a few packs from walmart to test with. It has a temp strip and stuff that you attach to the plastic vial. Can test heating the vial up, make sure the temp stays within the right range over 30 minutes, etc. Worked great, passed no issues. Was a very nervous 48 hours though

My wife got me THIS, it's a great book.

This book has some great photos of Pittsburgh history. The photos showing buildings downtown before and after being cleaned give you a good feeling for how bad it was.

This should give you some inspiration \<3

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Night-Pittsburgh-Our-World/dp/1602190739

Ear plugs make a world of difference. First and foremost nearly all venues are not hearing safe. Beyond that, most plugs are gonna cut out some of the garbage noise and really improve what you hear. I grew up never really catching vocals well enough and since using plugs I've heard everything.

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Check out Earasers. https://www.amazon.com/Earasers-HEM001-Musicians-Plugs-Medium/dp/B00E2D9HAA/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1541087649&sr=8-3&keywords=earasers+earplugs

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You can get them at a few music shops around town.

To be honest as much as we all hate to admit it, we are part of Appalachia. We're over 400 miles from the coast so we can't be East Coast, but we don't live near plains and farm land so calling us "Mid-west" is also wrong (plus I don't want to be in the same area as Ohio). Between the two is Appalachia which we are squarely inside of although probably the best part of. [Some even call Pittsburgh the 'Paris of Appalachia'] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Paris-Appalachia-Pittsburgh-Twenty-First/dp/088748509X) [relevent as well] (http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/brian-oneill/yes-we-and-yinz-are-part-of-appalachia-223324/)

I'm looking at purchasing a reverse osmosis system for my new house. Relatively cheap on Amazon, not too difficult to install.

Here's one I'm looking at: https://www.amazon.com/APEC-5-Stage-Reverse-Drinking-Water/dp/B00I0ZGOZM/

https://www.amazon.com/Pittsburgh-Story-American-Stefan-Lorant/dp/0967410304

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