Light Up Night

The City of Pittsburgh kicked off the Holiday Season with tons of festivities downtown on the weekend of November 18th and 19th. The big thing that occurred was on Friday night when they lit the christmas tree in market square. Another hot item that opened this weekend in the city was the PPG ice skating rink. Fans were surprised to see Tom Cruise and his daughter Suri skating along side them in the rink. Cruise is still in town as he continues filming his movie "One Shot". The two looked like they were having tons of fun together and fans gave them their space to enjoy each other's presence. It was a big weekend for the city as many families and kids came down to kick off their holiday season. Bands marched in front of the Macy's department store before they revealed their windows with the latest clothing styles that they hope many people buy as gifts this year. The most important thing for the city is that these two days brought many people downtown eating at restaurants and buying things which brings money in to help the city.

Chesney - McGraw Coming to Heinz Field

With winter months coming many country fans were excited to learn about an upcoming Summer Concert. Announced earlier today was that Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw would be performing on June 30, 2012 at Heinz Field. The two of them will be stopping at Heinz Field with their "Brothers of the Sun" tour that has them all over the country through out the summer. Chesney has came to Heinz Field many times including this past summer to perform a concert. Fans loved his concerts and still talk about how he always has a great concert. His "Goin Coastal" tour last year was the biggest country tour of 2011 as he performed to more then 1.3 million people. This though with be the first time these two singers will be performing together in ten years. The tour will also feature special guests including Grace Potter, Jake Owen and The Nocturnals. Tickets for this concert will be going on sale December 3 and it seems to be a hot ticket so make sure you get yours as it seems to be a great concert!

Crosby's Return

Rumors have continued to go around as reporters and fans continue to keep predicting when he will return back on the ice for a game. Many people thought that day may come on Friday, November 11th after the Penguins returned home from their west coast road trip. Well that was not the case and everyone is still guessing. Now people are saying he could be back in the game line-up tomorrow, Tuesday November 15th  but no one will know for sure until game time roles around and everyone can see if he is on the ice or not. Fans are eager to see him back out on the ice as they have hopes he will pick up right where he left off with scoring and assisting many goals. With the excellent duo of Malkin and Crosby everyone can't wait to see if they will play together on a line or only be on the ice with one another on the power play. Even if Crosby doesn't play tomorrow people are realizing he is getting very close to his return and are getting more and more excited for that. Although the most important thing is to make sure Crosby is completely healed before he comes back so that he doesn't get a hit to the head which then will sideline him again and maybe for an even longer time then it did this time. 

Sunday Night Football

Sunday's for many people are filled with football and when 8:20pm rolls across tonight everyone in Pittsburgh will have their eyes glued to the tv. Not only just in Pittsburgh but across the country as it is the Sunday Night Football game. To make it all the better the Steelers will take on their long time rival the Baltimore Ravens. In the first week of the season the Steelers went to Baltimore and got demolished 35-7. Now they look for revenge against the Ravens as they come to Heinz Field. Coming off a big week last week verse the Patriots they look to keep control of the AFC North. As the Steelers take the field they will have the help of James Harrison back in the starting line up. Hopefully he and the other linebackers can stop the run of Ray Lewis. On offense Ben Roethlisberger looks to lead the Steelers to many touchdowns with the help of speedy Mike Wallace running down the sidelines. Tune in to see the Steelers play as they look for another victory!

New Pittsburgh TV Show

Ever want to see Pittsburgh from many different angles? Well that perfect opportunity is now able to happen. Beginning last fall PBS started filming Pittsburgh from the air and many different events that occur in the city. Along with filming just downtown Pittsburgh they also filmed Westmoreland, Washington and Fayette County to include many suburbs of the city in the TV show as well. They focused on many different landmarks like Kennywood, Idelwild, Sandcastle, Ohiopyle and many others in the show. It started showing last week on PBS and its called Pittsburgh by Air. It gives viewers many different perspectives of the city that they wouldn't be able to see from driving down the sheet. The show is doing so well that PBS plans to come back and take many more shots of the city to air. Tune into PBS to check the show out!

Peter Pan

Many people are excited to be whisked away to Neverland when they enter the Benedum Center, to see Peter Pan live. The Pittsburgh Ballet Theater is opening its 42nd season with this spectacular show. Families are excited to see this show as it bring interest to all ages. Little kids love seeing Tinker Bell fly where the adults love the whole show. This production is a perfect family gathering to spend a day in the city. Restaurants near the Benedum are excited for the new season to begin as they hope it brings even more business to them. It's great to see things happening in the city even with the economy still down.  

Three Fallen Officers

A horrific event occurred in Pittsburgh on April 4, 2009. Richard Poplawski fatally shot Paul Sciullo, Stephen Mayhle and Eric Kelly leaving all three officers dead at the scene. Many people who did not even know the officers made tons of respect to them and their families as they lost their lives in the line of duty. The whole city of Pittsburgh can't thank them enough. Poplawski trial concluded this summer as the result was he would be given the death penalty. Now the question was what would happen with the house where the three officers were killed? No one would want to live there after such a horrific event occurred at the house. It finally was sold last week in a sheriff shale. That gentlemen decided out of respect to the officers to demolish the house and then build on the ground once all of the debris was gone. All of this finally came true earlier this week when the house was demolished after many delays in the process since the crime occurred in 2009. The families of the fallen officers are happy that this is over with as they hope to try and move on with their lives as best they can. 

Sidney Crosby Cleared for Contact

A big day occurred for Pittsburgh Penguins fans as they all received the news that their star captain was finally cleared for contact. After having to watch their captain be sidelined by a horrible concussion he finally has made huge progress that has many fans hoping he will be back in the line-up soon! Receiving a hit to the head first came on January 1st, at the Winter Classic as the Penguins took on the Capitals. Unfortunately Crosby took another hit to the head in the following game just two days later. He was officially diagnosed with a concussion January 6th and has not played since. Doctors believed that having to hard hits to the head in such a short period of time is what caused the concussion to be so severe. It is still undetermined how long Crosby will participate in practice with contact before he is cleared to play. No matter how long it takes fans are still hopeful it will be relatively soon. Crosby is not only a great leader for the team but when he got hurt last season he also was leading the league in goals. Both fans and the team are excited for Crosby to come back as they hope for big things out of him again. 

Benedum Center Seats to be Remolded

Ever go see a musical, opera, or theater production and by the end of the 2-3 hour event your back kills? Well hopefully that will change if your seeing a production at the Benedum Center. It has just been announced that they will replace the current 2,881 seats with new cushions and will refurbish the framework of the seats. This have been put into the budget after many complaints have come in from guests over the past five years about uncomfortable seats. The theater will close for three weeks in January when this remodeling occurs. The project will cost an estimated $450,000 out of the 2012 Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. 1.4 million dollars will be spent on improvements at the Benedum and Byham theaters. This is just one of large projects in the 2012 budget. They hope by improving the seats it will allow tickets to sell faster which therefore will sell at a higher price. The last time the seats saw any improvements was in 1987 after the whole theater was redone. Hopefully the new seats are more comfortable and allow many more people to relax during the shows. 

Tom Cruise filming movie "One Shot"

The Batman movie has finished filming in Pittsburgh and now we have a new one beginning.  The newest movie being filmed is "One Shot" which is based off of a Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. The movie began being filmed this week and the filming will conclude in Pittsburgh in January. Lots of filming is taking place though this month before the lead of the movie, Tom Cruise takes a break form this film to promote his late movie, Mission Impossible 4. He has been spotted around the city by fans multiple times since he has arrived in Pittsburgh. Fans have seen him with wife Katie Holmes and daughter Suri at the milkshake factory on the South Side and at a farmer's market in Franklin Park. Every fan has said that Tom Cruise and family have been extremely friendly and also take time to sign autographs and talk to fans. The filming is taking place all month so their are many more opportunities to still see the celebrities around town. 

Head of the Ohio Regatta

Many people would look outside Saturday afternoon and they would just see pouring down rain, but for many college university rowing teams they could be found outside rowing down the Ohio River. It was the 25th anniversary of the Head of the Ohio race which is one of the biggest collegiate rowing races in the country. Only Philadelphia and Boston have had rowing races in their city for over 100 years. The  Pittsburgh has become one of the most competitive events on the east coast and attracts many universities to attend. Their are three different types of races they could be a one man boat, two men boat or eight person boat. Unfortunately the rain kept many spectators away and made it miserable for the ones that attended but the rowers benefited from it raining making it easier on them. The rowers are used to dealing with the cold as it was only a high of 50 degrees since they normally all have practices before class beginning at 5:30am. Look to attend the Head of the Ohio Regatta next year as the race gets more and more competitive every year. Below is a picture of an eight man boat during the race on Saturday.

Demolition of Civic Arena

The fifty year old steel - roof that the Pittsburgh Penguins called home for awhile is now finally be demolished. The Penguins moved to the Consol Energy Center last year and will now call that building home for many years to come. A group tried to keep the building from being torn down because they claimed it was a landmark in the city and wanted to preserve the building. They hoped the city would agree to keep the building and they would be able to use it for other events. Unfortunately for that group their efforts failed and the building began being demolished this past week. The whole first level of seats are already removed from the arena and the construction crew will continue their work until finally the whole building is gone. Once the building is completely demolished the Penguin organization has hopes to build restaurants and stores in its place. Fans look forward to enjoying the new plaza before they cross the street to see the Penguins take the ice at Consol Energy Center. 

Azur Cubs

The city of Pittsburgh is lucky enough to be one of the best zoos in the whole country. Rare types of tiger are Amur cubs and the Pittsburgh zoo is lucky enough to have three of them. The three cubs are just over a year old now and throughout the whole United States their are only six of these cubs total that are one year old. The surprising thing is that half of those cubs are all in the same zoo and that just so happens to be in the Pittsburgh zoo. A collector stamp has just be created with the Amur cubs picture on it to gain awareness to the fact that there are very few of these cubs left and they could be all gone before our lifetime as humans is over. People are hoping by bringing awareness to others that more people will try and help save this rare type of tiger so many more generations of people will have the opportunity to see them. Below is a picture of the stamp everyone can buy to help promote saving these rare tigers that we as a city are lucky enough to have three of!

It's a Hockey Night in Pittsburgh

As the Pirates season begins to come to a close, as they will not make the playoffs it’s now the beginning of the Penguins season as they had their first preseason game at home last night. Many people love the Penguins especially since they have a lot of young stars that have been new to the team in the last decade. Think back ten years ago and think of the best player on the Penguins? A lot of people may not even remember that team they only can think of the current team and the past teams that had Mario Lemieux on them. Now all of the fans think of the young generation of stars the Penguins have beginning with Crosby, Malkin and Fleury but there are so many others the fans love to cheer for also! At the beginning of this season Crosby will not be playing as he is still sidelined from his concussion he got last season in January. Back on the ice though for the Penguins is Malkin who is just coming off of an ACL and MCL tear he had. It is huge for the Penguins to have at least Malkin back in the lineup because without their top two goal scorers it makes it much more challenging to win hockey games. Now in the second year of the new Consol Energy Center they just built fans are very excited for hockey season to be under way again. Go Pens!

Struggling Pirates

This was the year many devoted fans in the city of Pittsburgh thought things were going to change for the Pirates. Unfortunately that is not the case as they have now lost enough games this year that will place them at 19 straight loosing seasons. That is the longest streak for any team from the MLB, NHL, NFL and NBA. The Pirates definitely were not trying to capture that statistic. At the all-star break in the middle of July the Pirates at that time were about 500 and were only 3 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL central division. The margin of games between them has slowly increased as now the Pirates have had another loosing season and will not make the playoffs again. Many fans started to regain hope this year that the Pirates are up and coming as they continue to develop younger plays. Hopefully this will continue in the seasons to come, as this was the first season of Manager Clint Hurdle. Recently the owner of the Pirates extended his contract for another four seasons. Many people realized he has brought a new atmosphere into the locker and fans are starting to realize he could be the manager to get the Pirates back on the winning track. Since I have been born I've never had the opportunity of seeing the Pirates have a winning season. Although that is the case that has not stopped me from attending Pirates game in the summer with friends as we sit in the nine-dollar bleachers seats while we snack on lemonade in popcorn. Nothing is better then a summer evening spent at PNC Park as you overlook the city and can spend the night watching fireworks and concert after the ball game. The ballpark is gorgeous and creates many memories for tons of fans as they hope they can bring home another World Series Championship some day.

We Remember..

As we all wake up this Sunday we remember the tragic event that occurred ten years ago. It was a horrible event for this entire country that took away so many innocent people from us. Families and friends struggled for some time as they had to deal with losing their loved ones. I couldn't imagine being a young child and not having the opportunity to create memories with one of my parents. Let alone my mom be pregnant at the time and I never have the opportunity to meet my father. After time I read one of these stories about kids losing their parents it brings tears to my eyes. I look at my parents and have no clue how I could live a day without them in my life. At the time this horrific event took place I was in the second grade. All I can remember that day is not being able to go outside for recess at school and my mom picking me up early from school. The whole way home she was on the phone as she kept calling my dad who left that morning for Chicago to go on a business trip. My sister and I at the time did not know the event had taken place already and we thought she wanted to see if he made it safe or not. Then we started realizing something was up when she kept calling my uncle to see where he was because he is a pilot for United Airlines. Luckily that day he was not flying anywhere he was just stuck in Tokyo, Japan where he flew in the night before. Finally my mom told us everything that happened and my dad was safe and sound in Chicago and somehow found a rental car in Wisconsin to drive home and got home the next day to be with all of us. Nothing was better than getting a big hug from him when he walked in the door because a lot of your worries went away. My heart goes out to all of the people who had to deal with loosing loved ones let alone if they lived in New York City or Washington D.C. and could have lost more than one family member or friend. This Sunday everyone will remember all of the heroes who helped saved people and all of the innocent victims that were taken from this Earth way too early.

Follow ME...

Ever wonder the way a senior in high school thinks about things like sports, fashion, government policies and others well then follow me and hear all my opinions of many different things. Everyone was a senior at some point but the times have changed since others were, so mine as well she what a senior thinks in todays tough economic times. You will see I am a huge sports fan for any of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, Pirates and Panthers. I play soccer so I have the competitive side of an athlete but then I also have the side of a girl who loves to buy new clothes and have the latest fashion styles. Friday nights you can find me in my schools Panther Pit cheering on our football team as I love to create memories with my best friends. You will hear my opinion on many topics like even the budget cuts in education as I feel that is ridiculous, we could count so much money from preparing our youth from the future. By following me you can finds tons of new exciting values a senior in high school has.