Being strong in the Steel City ...

Greetings from Pittsburgh, where the weather is hot and humid - these conditions seem to be consistent right across North America at the moment.

Fans of the blog have lamented the lack of updates. Poppa Blog, all the way from Australia, said via telephone that I was getting slack. Now there! Rivjuando also e-mailed me and said: "I've been watching the blog spot, but no updates since NY. Hope the city didn't devour you or something." No such luck.

I could apologise for not updating the blog, but quite frankly, I have been having way too much fun to be stuck in front of a computer. And truthfully (not that I'm ever not truthful - a double negative), this has been my first opportunity to post a few comments.

So where to begin? I'll start in New York, the city that never sleeps, although the subway stops after midnight, leaving a lonely traveller like me to catch a cab. On Monday I caught up with a couple of friends, LG (Life's Good) and MO (Modus Operandi). I really appeciated having the opportunity to catch up with them and for LG showing me around the office where he works. I tried to see some of the sights that I missed on my last tour and went to the Brooklyn Bridge (above) and the top of the Empire State Building (below) at night, despite a long wait. Sadly, I missed Central Park (again), even though my hotel was only 10 blocks away.

Ah, the hotel! Now there's a story. Arrived via train with the District Attorney from Boston to New York on Saturday afternoon and thought it would be easy to stay in a hostel. Wrong! More than 20 calls to hostels and cheap hotels were greeted with the phrase: "Sorry, we're booked out." Then we found one on 120-something Street and Lenox Avenue and caught the subway there. Little did we know that Lenox Avenue had been renamed Malcolm X Boulevard and that we were the only two white guys in Harlem. I personally wasn't worried, but I have been pretty carefree most of this trip. Yet it was agreed that we would go back to the drawing board (the Internet cafe) and find somewhere else. Five hours later, we found one that matched previous hostels for cleanliness but was twice as expensive.

While in New York at the NBA Store, I saw a basketball legend - Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who was launching his new apparel and footwear company. This has been my second celebrity sighting, after catching a glimpse of Red Sox slugger David Ortiz aka Big Papi near his car at Fenway Park. I hope I'm not stalking.

The 'Burgh has been awesome. I have been staying with my friends Premier Brax and Penn State Pete, although I haven't actually seen either of them as they're both away with work and are very busy. I'm hoping to see them both tomorrow at the Steelers training camp before flying to Oregon for Rivjuando's wedding next Friday.

A huge shoutout to my friend LD aka Lozza Dizzle and her family for showing me the 'Burgh hospitality. LD has been awesome, picking me up from the train station on Tuesday night and taking me everywhere, including to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game on Wednesday evening. The home team is now 4-0 when I go to a game. I expect calls from other Major League managers very soon to help them in the W column. Maybe the Geelong Football Club also need my and KL's services after losing to St Kilda. To every Cat fan over in Australia - what is going on?

Pittsburgh's ballpark was beautiful and so was the night, the Pirates coming from behind to beat the San Diego Padres. Pictures hopefully to follow but the memories will always remain.