Pittsburgh Neighborhood Tours

Pittsburgh is home to more than 85 unique neighborhoods, ranging from the old historic areas to the new developments.  You can tour every neighborhood, but you will always find that nowhere can compare to the beautiful downtown area.  More than 3,000 people live in downtown Pittsburgh and those numbers are growing every month.  Though the area is more than 250 years old, people are just discovering the convenience and beauty of the newly renovated lofts and apartments.

To explore downtown Pittsburgh, you are going to need to do some walking.  The neighborhood is two miles wide so you can easily walk to anything you need.  Within the neighborhood, you will find everything imaginable from theaters and galleries to restaurants and parks.  The residents of downtown rarely drive and many don’t own a car at all.  With the easy access to public transportation and close vicinity to everything essential, their walking shoes are the only travel expense they incur.

One of the best features of the downtown neighborhood is the rich culture of art.  The Cultural District of downtown covers 14 blocks with plenty to see.  There is a constantly evolving schedule of entertainment in this area with theaters drawing crowds every night.  You will also notice beautiful public art that lines the streets.  From colorful murals to vivid text, you should take a walking tour to truly appreciate all the downtown art scene has to offer.

The downtown neighborhood is always alive with activity no matter what time of year you visit.  The “Light Up Night” is the famous Christmas celebration where everyone officially lights their homes and businesses as well as the downtown Christmas tree.  Another fun event is the “First Night” which is Pittsburgh’s annual New Year’s Eve party.  During the summer months, there are often street concerts and block parties.  You can catch festivals during the spring and fall, featuring arts and crafts by the locals.  No matter what brings you to Pittsburgh, be sure to take time to explore the downtown neighborhood.  It is the most exquisite part of the city with rich history and a beautiful culture.

With its popular sports teams and historical significance, many people assume that Pittsburgh is a city of attractions for adults.  Fortunately, Pittsburgh has dozens of great adventures for the kids to enjoy as well.  It is a perfect place for a family vacation because there is something that everyone can enjoy.  Kids love the great attractions in Pittsburgh, especially the most popular ones that are highlighted below.

Explore the Children’s Museum

The Pittsburgh Children’s Museum isn’t just a typical walk through gallery.  Kids get a hands-on experience when they visit this educational hot spot.  Parents Magazine recognized the museum in their list of Top 10 American Museums for children.  There are all kinds of activities for kids to enjoy from building a boat to learning how to ink silk-screens.  Perhaps the most exciting part of the museum is a chance to see the real King Friday from Mr. Roger’s famous PBS television show.

Take a Cruise with the Gateway Fleet

Pittsburgh’s three rivers are just waiting for kids to come on an adventure at sea.  The Gateway Clipper Fleet consists of 5 ships full of historic educational opportunities.  The children can enjoy a fast paced dance cruise for an extra dose of fun!

Ride the Cable Cars

Mt. Washington’s steep Duquesne Incline is the perfect place to take a ride on Pittsburgh’s cable cars.  These cars are fully restored to their original condition and they have been carrying visitors up and down Mt. Washington for nearly 135 years!

Check out the National Aviary

Every kid loves to learn about animals, but it’s not every day that they can see an African penguin up close.  The National Aviary is America’s best zoo devoted solely to birds.  You can see more than 600 birds in every size, shape, and color imaginable.  For a special treat, your child can enjoy Penguin Point, where African penguins are living in a natural habitat.

These are just a few of Pittsburgh’s many opportunities for kids to explore their surroundings and have a great time.  If you are looking for the perfect place for your next family vacation, book a trip to Pittsburgh and everyone will love it!

A recent survey among Pittsburgh teachers revealed that 95% are using bingo games in the classroom on a weekly basis. This should stand as no surprise to parents who are also familiar with games like Rehab Bingo or Paddy Power Bingo which allow adults to play online.  Apparently, the love of these online games is what inspired Pittsburgh’s teachers to search for ways to use bingo online in the classroom.  While most games are aimed at adults, they have made a few simple changes to make it work for the children as well.

The game of Bingo is a great teaching tool to have available no matter what subject you teach or the age of your students.   Basically, Bingo starts with a square grid full of answers, players cover up spaces of the items which correspond when presented by the teacher or another student caller.  A complete line going horizontally, vertically, or diagonally represents a win.  “Black Out” or “Coverall” is an extension of the easiest version and requires all the spaces to be covered and matched.   The teacher can also have students look for patterns that match letters or numbers when their markers are matched up.

Bingo cards can be purchased at any teacher supply or dollar store.  But if you want your students to feel a sense of ownership and pride for the game pieces, have them help to make the blank cards and the answer grids.  With older students, you can give them the job of preparing the grids on the cards.  Using rulers and measuring exact squares, they can set up any number of squares on the grids, as long as there is the same number of spaces vertically as horizontally.

All possible answers should be copied onto a small sheet that students can cut apart to paste on the blank grids or copy onto the grid in a random fashion.  Encourage students to set up their own pattern for the answers and explain that each card should be as different as possible.  The teacher should have a copy of all the possible answers on a master board that can be used to show which responses have already been called, so that when a student calls, “BINGO” all others playing can help check for correct answers.

You can play Bingo with nearly every subject.  Here are some ways to use the imitation format of Tastybingo games in your classroom. Let’s take Math as an example:

Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division – Put the answers to problems in the bingo boxes, then call out the problems.  This tends to reinforce math facts in the memory.  For example, you call out “Six times five”, and the children cover 30 on their game cards.

Fractions – Draw various shapes cut into portions in the bingo spaces with some of the parts shaded.  If you draw a circle, and shade one fourth of the shape, students must determine the card space that responds to the fraction.  Pre-schoolers and children in the early elementary grades could practice learning the names of shapes using these same cards.   When the students begin using basic operations to solve fractional equations, the answers could be given by the teacher, and the equations could be listed on the game cards.

Decimals – Put the decimals in the game card spaces and read the words.  For example, the teacher calls out “forty three hundredths” and the students would look for .43 on their card.  The same method that was used for fractional equations could be used for decimal equations.  The teacher could call out or write equations on the board that has missing elements and the students look for the solution on their game card.

Advanced Math (Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, Trigonometry) –  Graphic solutions, SAT/ACT prep, quadratic equations, factoring, and functions can all be reviewed and practiced using Bingo cards the same way as previously mentioned.

With a little extra thought and preparation, Bingo can be implemented into any subject as a valuable learning and review tool for students and teachers alike.

Is it legal to smoke K2 E-Liquid? This is the question that everyone is asking and if you do a quick search online, you are going to read a lot of contradicting information.  The truth is that the laws surrounding K2 incense are changing as new studies are conducted to determine the safety of K2 weed among its users. Most users tend to use K2 Ultra Incense or K2 Platinum Incense.  Recently, K2 launched a new product called K2 Code Red E-Liquid which allows users to get the same experience by placing a few drops of the liquid in a personal vaporizer device.  This has thrown a kink in things as law makers need to re-evaluate which K2 products are acceptable and which ones should be banned.

If you are going to Buy K2 incense online, you are going to see plenty of legal disclaimers that will tell you which states have banned the use of K2.  Each state has individual laws that vary depending on which scent you choose.  This is because some varieties of K2 have stronger ingredients than others and can affect the user in different ways.  Ultimately, the best choice is the buy K2 eliquid online because you will have peace of mind that you are not doing anything illegal.

As of March 2011, K2 eliquid Code Red as well as K2 42 Degrees and K2 Roleplay are completely legal in all 50 states.  Some states are limiting the usage of the eliquid with laws stating that it cannot be used in electronic cigarettes, but this is not easy to detect and can be virtually impossible to an untrained eye.  If you are using K2 eliquid, invest in a USB vaporizing device.  These tiny vaporizers look like a computer thumb drive, but they will hold a few drops of the K2 eliquid and release the delicious scent you want to enjoy.  These vaporizers are so discreet that no one will be able to tell where the smell is coming from.  You can use it anywhere.

Now that people are hearing about K2 eliquid, everyone wants to know “Where can I buy K2 incense?”  You can buy all three varieties of K2 eliquid online. Make sure you take some time to read about how to tell if K2 is authentic before you make your first purchase.  When you do your research, you can be certain that you are enjoying a legal variety of K2 like the eliquid.  This offers peace of mind that is priceless for the K2 user.  You can also sign up for K2 Affiliate Programs if you want to save more money.

With the economy blowing up in our faces and the housing market turning upside down, it is not a good time to be in the real estate business. I’m telling you the only thing keeping me sane right now are these new bingo sites I managed to find.

People keep coming and going throughout the day all hyped up claiming they are ready to buy a house. I take them out, show them house after house and end up with nothing more than wasted time. Prime bingo playing time I am wasting! The worst part is that here in Pittsburgh everybody wants to tell you their whole life story. So not only are you stuck driving them around but you have to listen to them ramble on endlessly about how many times they’ve been married, where they’ve traveled, and all about the grandkids.  They are always completely prepared with a wallet full of pictures of course.

Business is slow and I know that 9 out of 10 people who walk in my door are not going to be buying anything. So why don’t these people just leave me alone and let me play bingo already? Last week I even missed out on a bingo bonus because some old lady wanted to discuss mortgage options.

Last week I spent an entire day searching the internet for bingo sites and found a ton that even have free bingo; score! Seriously, if I got paid for playing bingo, I could get out of real estate altogether. Maybe one day I’ll get lucky and win a big bingo bonus and I will be the one buying a new house for once. I watch people buy their dream homes all the time. I even help them do it, but I don’t have mine. I am determined that free bingo is the way that I’ll be getting mine.

But for now I suppose I will keep showing houses in the hopes of selling one and search for new bingo sites in between. I might grumble under my breath, but I’ll continue to smile and nod as clients tell yet another story about their grandchildren.  I know at the end of the day, I’m drawing a paycheck that allows me to keep playing at my favorite bingo sites. You can laugh if you want, but I firmly believe that this Pittsburgh real estate agent is bound to win a big jackpot one day!

My friends, Hal and Mary, were looking for a home in Pittsburgh and really wanted to have some sort of spa setup, a Jacuzzi perhaps, in the new home.  Finding a home with spa type setups is, apparently, like searching for a needle in the proverbial haystack, according to Mary.

They had a hot tub in their last home, as well as a Jacuzzi in the master bath, so they were pretty spoiled. Hal got online and found some amazing amenities, some of which I never heard of, such as an air bathtub, which is an air jetted tub that creates thousands of bubbles that actually caress the skin and produce a soothing sensation.  I found out a lot just talking with them about their options.

For example, take a look before you buy whirlpool tubs online: There are a number of companies who list these tubs with a fill page description and colored pictures of every make and model.  Each of these has a different combination of features as well as its own “look”. I found out that the majority of these tubs have one system of airflow, but there are some that have 2 and 3 air systems, complete with an automatic drying cycle, to dry the tub!

In Whirlpool bath tubs, the tub is equipped with up to 250 air outlets, depending upon the size of the tub and the amount of stimulation someone wants.  Preheated air is then sent through these openings at various speeds, to give you a partial to full body massage.  The jets can be located on the sides of the tub or, as in the aquatic air systems, at the bottom of the tub.  Some of them even have automatic lighting and music, keyed to the pulsations.  I was amazed.

I decided to go online and see them for myself.  You know, each manufacturer has so many different spa products that come in all shapes and sizes.  It was quite the departure from our regular, ordinary bath tubs. While online, I decided to take a peek at the outdoor saunas.  I’ve always loved that warmth, especially after a workout.  It’s very soothing to the muscles.  Saunas are a great way to get impurities out of your skin as well and you end up looking fresh and dewy when you come out. There’s the obvious advantage, on the outdoor models, of not having to worry about moisture in the home and you can set them up pretty close to the house and use them all year long.

After talking to Hal and Mary about their Jacuzzi and all my investigation into hot tubs and spas, I’ve decided we need both a Hot Tub and a Sauna.  I just haven’t told my husband yet!

The world is changing. In the past it seemed like nearly everyone smoked cigarettes at least occasionally and many people were chain smokers. Now people are aware that if they smoke, they will be judged based on the habit. As a result, many long time smokers are trying to kick their habit.

If you are a smoker who is tired of dealing with constant dirty looks, but you can’t stand the idea of giving up tobacco altogether, you might want to consider an alternative method. Ploom cigarettes use a combination of real tobacco and herbs that are released in a pleasing vapor instead of smoke. Since the Ploom personal vaporizers do not look like a cigarette, people will have no idea that you are smoking.  Find out more by reading Ploom reviews and if you do choose to buy Ploom, check out this Ploom coupon website too.

If you have real estate to sell you have a vested interest in finding the best realtor to market your property. However, how do you know which realtor is the best choice?

It is important to look for a realtor that is a member of a MLS (Multiple Listing Service). A realtor who is a MLS member has access to listings far exceeding what non-member realtors can access. By listing your sale property on a Dane County MLS listings site there is instantaneously more exposure to potential buyers. MLS members list properties on each others sites (or link to them). This is very advantageous if your property is in Dane County, Wisconsin for instance; anyone in the whole world will be able to view homes for sale in Madison and consider buying your house.

If you are a seller you are surely interested in optimizing the bottom line of the sale. In Madison, Wisconsin you will find MHB (Madison Home Broker) ready to list and sell your property. This friendly, experienced, highly successful company is a MLS realty with an effective online presence.  Their marketing plan “sell your home faster for more money” puts optimized profits in the seller’s pocket every time. They use online marketing strategies to get your property noticed and old fashioned tactics to increase the seller’s bottom line at closing.

MHB stands out with their sale guarantee. You don’t encounter many realtors with a sale guarantee; in fact, traditional full service and flat fee sales certainly do not feature any guarantees at all. And FSBO’s are a crap-shoot with little chance of success, much less any form of guaranteed success.

Back to the Dane County, Wisconsin example mentioned above. Anyone interested in Madison real estate for sale can easily find Madison real estate listings on MHB’s MLS site. Virtual tours make the trip to Dane County quick and easy. This is the company I would choose to sell my condo if I ever had to move away. Looking at this website is like taking a leap to Madison and the surrounding area. Potential buyers will be impressed by the comprehensive information available about the area in general and sale properties in particular. After browsing this site you will feel like a part of the neighborhood already.  On top of that, MHB will guide you so that you know the best time to sell in Madison, WI.

Friendly, attentive, experienced, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, professional, dedicated; all words that apply to choosing the best realtor in Dane County to market your property.

Having my own business is something that I have always dreamed of, even as a child. Though I did not always know that cooking would be my passion, I knew that being my own boss was the best way for me to be happy with my career. It has only been a few years since I opened my restaurant, but things are going well and I love what I do.

One change that I was happy to see since opening the restaurant is the ban of smoking in restaurants. Since I know that many of my regulars are smokers, I was concerned in the beginning that the ban would affect how often they came to my restaurant, but something happened that I was not expecting. My customers have taught me a few things about smoking and one is that electronic cigarettes are one of the best alternatives to traditional cigarettes.

I am really glad that my customers found a way to smoke in public without bothering others around them. While I want those customers who are smokers to be happy and keep coming back to my restaurant, I also want to keep non-smoking customers happy as well. If I was a smoker, I know that I would appreciate having an alternative that gave me all of the benefits of smoking, but without the actual smoke to worry about.

I am not sure which one of the brands of electronic cigarettes that smokers like the most, but my friends that smoke have told me that they picked their brand based on the reviews they have read online. All I know is that this kind of technology really amazes me. I am glad that this alternative to regular smoking was invented and it means a lot to how successful my restaurant has become.

• For more information on the electronic cigarette industry, go online to read one of the many electronic cigarette reviews.  If you need some help finding good reviews, try typing in Green Smoke review, V2 Cigs Review or the Safe Cig review.  These are some of the most popular brands among my customers and I have found plenty of online reviews for these brands.  You may also want to read some Premium e cigarette reviews and Blu reviews if you don’t like the reviews that you read on the other brands.

If someone once told you that nothing in life is free, they were wrong!  Pittsburgh is full of exciting opportunities and attractions that won’t cost you a dime.  If you are looking for something to do without maxing out your budget, check out these free Pittsburgh attractions.

See the Skyline

Pittsburgh is critically acclaimed at the “only city with an entrance” according to travel reviews in the New York Times.  If you want a free activity that will take your breath away, enter the city by I-376 through the Pitt Tunnel.  Just as you cross into the city limits, you will see the most spectacular sky line you could ever imagine.  The rivers look like crystal next to the gorgeous blue skies and the architecture of the city.  For a real treat, take this adventure as the sun sets.

Ride the Subway

Riding a subway is something everyone should experience at least once in a lifetime.  Pittsburgh offers a free ride in the Golden Triangle Area. You can ride this underground subway anytime for a quick adventure.  Locals refer to this ride as the “T”.

Take a Tour

Downtown Pittsburgh is an enchanting place with a lot of historic significance.  You don’t have to follow along with a large group to enjoy a free walking tour.  Robert Morris University has created a 60 minutes MP3 with narration to guide you through the city.  You can hear all the stories that shaped the city and learn the names of the gorgeous sky scrapers.  You will even get tips on where to stop for lunch if you want a truly great Pittsburgh experience.

Enjoy the View

Pittsburgh is home to Mt. Washington, a gorgeous elevated space with unbelievable views.  In fact, USA Weekend wrote that this peak was the second best view anywhere in America.  Mt. Washington is amazing at sunset, but you could also visit during the day to see the city a bit more clearly.

Play at the Park

Emerald View Park is a wide open space of green among Pittsburgh’s skyscrapers and commercial spaces.  It spans 280 acres of playgrounds, wooded trails, and basketball courts.  The park is near Mt. Washington so you could visit both at once and spend the day exploring the trails and taking in the view.