Pittsburgh; It's the Iron City

Today's missive shall not contain any references to bodily fluids, irregular bowels, or involuntary gastro-intestinal reactions. At least, at this point, I don't believe it will. Today's story is about another gruesome side effect of my cancer; it's seriously impeding my social activities.

But Billy, what does this have to do with Pittsburgh? I'm getting there.

During my first tour of duty at Hackensack Hospital I spent some time doing what every good cancer patient should do; contemplate existence, evaluate my life so far lived, and vow to make changes in the future. At that point, between being told you have some sort of disease and mustering all your strength to fight it, you're suppose to realize that life is short and you must grab all you can from it. Isn't that how the book/movie/poem/song goes? But, as it so happens, when I looked back over how I spent my life, I was rather pleased. I realized that was exactly how I lead my life.

But Billy, what does this have to do with Pittsburgh? I'm getting there.

Remember how you spent your life in college, or for those of you not lucky enough to go to as many or for as long as I did, how you spent your late teens and early 20's? I spent this time with many of you, so I know what you did! We would spend all night watching bad movies. We would play poker for two days in a row. We would have cocktails at 3 in the afternoon and discuss how we are better than the world. We would go to a public place and make fun of everyone. We would disappear into the woods for a weekend. We would make last minute plans, and change them halfway through. We would road trip someplace 3 hours away because we heard there was a diner with kick ass apple pie. We lived in the moment, but remained conscious of the bills to be paid for our folly, and were responsible enough to meet them, well, most of the time. I still do all these things.

But Billy, what does this have to do with Pittsburgh? OK, now I'm getting there.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to the Superbowl! As previously noted, I'm a fan of the black and gold through adoption, but Dave is a fan from birth. As to be expected, Dave, who currently resides in San Francisco, will be hosting a party on Superbowl Sunday so that he and his friends can cheer on Bettis and Roethlisberger and Ward and Porter and VonOelhoffenhimerburgerstien and the rest. Dave will do as much as he can to bring a bit of the Burgh to his abode on the west coast. This will include all things black and gold, Primanti sandwiches, and the alcohol icon of Pittsburgh, Iron City Beer. But alas, there is a slight problem with Dave's plan; the nearest purveyor of said Iron City is located in Portland Oregon, 10 hours to Dave's north. Dave's initial plan was to road trip to Portland this coming weekend, spend some time with Devyn, and then return home with enough premium lager to truly instill a sense of the Steel City in his little section of the Mission.

Here is where cancer has put a dent in my fun. In other times, I would have taken vacation from work, flown to California, joined Dave on the road trip, spent the week lounging around his apartment trying not to drink the Iron City, and then celebrated the Superbowl with some very cool people. Instead, I'll be curled up in the fetal position on my father's couch, weakly shouting cheers for the Steelers.

This concept of taking all that you can out of life is associated with many cliches; carpe diem, gather ye rosebuds, grab the bull by the horns, suck the marrow out of life. (you'll notice most of them are from poetry and other literature) To this time honored list I would like to submit my own phrase. From now on, when you want to emphatically impress upon a person the overwhelming importance of understanding the preciousness of life, grab them by both shoulders, look them straight in the eye, and tell them "you have to drive to Oregon for Iron City!!!!" As we are apt to shorten the greatest of our literary quotations to fit our hectic schedules, the phrase will from here out be "drive to Oregon".

Go Steelers!!!