Winning Run, For the Win

Last week, I joined Winning Run in Pittsburgh because I'll be unable to attend the opening of her building at Carnegie Mellon University, courtesy of being in class on the other side of the country. For the record, I knew that she the firm she's at does incredible work as evidenced by the Wang Student Center at Wellesley College. This building, for which she's the architect managing the project, is unbelievably impressive: around 210,000 square-feet of well-designed, inspiring architecture. My photos do not do it justice; I'm sure that professional photog with the widest of lenses would have trouble. Here are a few of my feeble attempts.

A panoramic view created from composite images.
The building does not curve; it's just how the images are stitched together.

Another panoramic image I stitched together.
Again, no curvature on the building; it's only the image.

One of my favorite views of the building.
The bridge that leads to the building in memory of Randy Pausch,
a CMU professor and author of "The Last Lecture."

For more on the building, go here.

I'm nothing short of awed by the building and having nothing to adequately describe how proud I am of Winning Run and her work on this behemoth.

More from the rest of the week to come.

So Long, Jacko

Last Thursday, Winning Run and I were driving through the mountains of western Pennsylvania, heading back from touring Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water around 6pm ET when I got a text from Crazy Greg.

It read simply: "MJ is dead."

"Holy crap," I told Winning Run. "Either Michael Jordan or Michal Jackson just died. Which one does he mean, Jordan or Jackson?"

We turned on the radio and scanned the stations. One of the first stations we hit was a sports-talk station that was involved in the typical banter about area sports.

"Jackson," I decided.

Sadly, the last fifteen years or so of his life were ones in which his eccentricities and the accusations against him overshadowed the power of his music. In the aftermath of his death, it's apparent that his music affected so many people. Seriously, it's great to turn on the radio or be at a ballgame or in a pub and hear the tunes that transport you back and instantly make you happy.

Congrats on 300, Big Unit

Will there be any more 300-game winners? Congrats, Randy Johnson.

Here's video of my favorite pitch from the Big Unit.

Poor bird. Note the catcher's reaction.