Today I met the man who literally pulled the train through Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood in the early 1980s, when I watched the show regularly. His name is Bob and that was one of his first jobs with PBS. To pull a string attached to the famous train that appears during and at the end of every episode.
I met Bob because he still works for WQED and today he was in our store, filming Franktuary.
Look for Franktuary to appear in WQED’s “onQ Magazine” show as well as “Dave and Dave’s Excellent Adventures” in the months to come! Details to be announced at a later date…
Thanks to all of you who voted for Hot D***a/Franktuary in AOL Cityguide’s poll for the best hot dog in Pittsburgh. We just learned today that we’ve won!
See for yourself!
Right about now you might be wondeing how that whole voting for the best hot dog thing went down. If you are, I’m wondering right along with you.
Voting ended last weekend, but results won’t be announced until the 29th. I’ll keep you posted, especially if I’m a winner.
A year ago I was writing about the Terrible Towel. It’s not so fearsome this year.
This Saturday, my friend Brad Yoder is celebrating his new album with a CD release party. I’ll be overseeing some of the food and beverage. It’s at the Brew House on the South Side and doors open at 6:30. Check it out!
For those not familiar with Brad there’s a nice write-up on his new album in today’s Post-Gazette.
Another day, another dog. That’s what they say. For me it’s more like another day, another eight dogs. Just kidding, but our frankfurters really are delicious.
Are they the best Pittsburgh has to offer? There’s no doubt in my mind. Help AOL Cityguide conduct an accurate poll by voting for us as #1!
In case you haven’t heard Franktuary is one of five finalists contending for the title of “Pittsburgh’s Favorite Frank.” Visit http://cityguide.aol.com/pittsburgh/besthotdogs and vote (for us)!
In other news, my computer is back and I’m feeling a bit better about Apple. That’s mainly because the person who called reached me at the exact moment I was leaving my apartment and if he had been any later with his call I wouldn’t have been able to pick my laptop up until this weekend. Timing is everything. Now I can balance a bank statement as early as tomorrow. Three cheers for accounting!
Good article in the Post-Gazette today… Check it out!
In other news, there’s a certain word you won’t find anywhere on this blog. Bet you can’t guess what it is!
Finally, I happen to have recently skimmed through nearly every blog entry ever posted to this site. For old times sake, I thought it would be fun to re-post the very first entry made on March 21, 2004.
“My sister has a friend who found a hot dog cart in Brooklyn the other day. It was abandoned, but now he has it at his place. He was thinking about what to do with it and came to the conclusion that we at Franktuary should literally push the cart from the Big Apple to Pittsburgh, officially bringing the New York frank to the Steel City. Who’s in?”
So, I was in Canada this past weekend. When you get down to it, I think we’re really fortunate to have the nicest neighbors in the world.
What am I basing that declaration on?
A) When entering Canada, telling the border patrol man that I’m simply going to a baseball game works for him. Whereas when returning to my own country no explanation of why I want to get into the states is immune from scrutiny.
B) Canadians are unbelievably friendly and incredibly excited about the upcoming movie “Snakes on A Plane.”
C) Hot D***a has won a “Canadian Web Award.”
D) During the seventh inning stretch, professional stretchers actually lead you in a stretching routine.
E) I have no way to prove this but when you order a 20 ounce draught at the rotisserie chicken restaurant “Suisse Chalet,” I’m almost certain you get 24 ounces. That’s right, I have reason to believe 20 ounces Canadian is equal to 24 ounces American. I’m around cups all day, people. I know what I’m talking about.
In other news, our soda fountain produced smoke and fire yesterday and now it doesn’t produce anything at all. When Coca-Cola will come to fix it, nobody knows. Finally, I won’t be here next week. So, if you consider yourself my enemy, next week is a great time to come down and see what Hot D***a is all about.
Yesterday was not what I expected. I thought I was going to spend the evening finishing up some paperwork. Instead I cavorted around Pittsburgh with a British journalist who is traveling through the states, with no particular schedule. His purpose is to meet interesting people and then to write about them in a regular column for the UK Metro.
I met him when he happened into Hot D***a seeking free wireless internet. He needed some help with his computer, one thing led to another, and he wound up spending the evening with my friends and I as well as staying over at my apartment. He’s at the very beginning of his three month odyssey, and his columns will begin appearing in his paper sometime next week. I think it might be best if I wait for him to give you a synopsis of our evening, rather than writing about it myself right now. I’ll post the link in this very space as soon as it exists!
And because of this week’s omission, expect a double-dose of the Senile Journey next week, as the exciting adventure draws to a close.
It turns out Marilyn Manson and I have a lot in common. We both are huge fans of Haribo Gummy Bears.
What can I say, when it comes to candy the man has good taste.
In other news, Hot D***a is in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today.
Once I was in New York and I passed a wax figure of Nicholas Cage positioned outside of Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum on 42nd Street. Several hours later I passed by again and Nicholas Cage no longer had his right arm. That, friends, is exactly why Madame Tussaud’s no longer keeps wax figures on the street in front of their museums. This is also why I don’t keep a wax figure of myself in front of Hot D***a.
