Trip to Pittsburgh

I just got back from a business trip to Pittsburgh, PA. Pittsburgh is a fascinating city, dating from Colonial days. Established as a trading post by the French, it was the object of an abortive drive by the British. George Washington first established his reputation as a soldier when he took over the expedition after the British commander was killed. Because Washington did not understand French and his translator(?) wasn't much better, he actually signed a document admitting that he assassinated the French ambassador to the Indian tribes in French America, and thereby provided the French with justification to start what became known as the French and Indian War.

The British and Colonials eventually prevailed, of course, and the future site of Pittsburgh was called Fort Pitt, after Britain's Foreign Secretary, George Pitt. In later years, Pittsburgh became the center of the US steel and coal industries, with a reputation of a gritty, dirty, blue-collar industrial town.

These days, even after the decline of the coal and steel industries, Pittsburgh is in something of a renaissance. The old HJ Heinz ketchup factory has been converted into a bunch of trendy and expensive loft condos, for example. The smoky, gritty reputation is outdated, too: Pittsburgh now bills itself as 'America's Most Liveable City.' The city is built on a series of rather steep hills, with valleys in between, so the impression is not of a large single city, but of a series of interconnected neighborhoods.

Driving into town from the airport, one does not see the city at all until after passing through a long tunnel through one of the hills. Upon emerging from the tunnel, this is what you see:


Actually, you end up on the bridge on the lower right of this picture, but it's still a pretty spectacular introduction to the city.

As far as the business purpose, it was a good trip. We met with a company involved in supercritical extraction, a key component of our plan for biofuels production from algae, and believe that the meeting's outcome was satisfactory for everybody. To look at our algae business, check our web site, www.greenfireenergy.com.