This circa 2006 journal entry by Moxie Marlinspike recounts his move to Pittsburgh, where naive excitement for winter quickly clashed with reality. Arriving when temperatures plummeted below zero, he faced a house lacking working utilities. Struggling to install gas lines with frozen fingers, he prioritized basic survival, treating the property like a squat. The first order of business was securing a flushing toilet before tearing out walls and salvaging forgotten pallets and scrap lumber.

When a heavy cast-iron bathtub vanished overnight, Marlinspike learned that unlike San Francisco’s scroungers, Pittsburgh’s scrappers hunt for raw metals. He simply left a rusted replacement in the yard. Two older men arrived in a metal-strewn pickup to haul it away. Communication between them relied on constant yelling due to hearing loss, almost reminding him of a Walter Matthou film.

They loudly negotiated over the weight of a broken gas furnace down 17 steps, ultimately agreeing to remove it after Marlinspike was roped into the heavy lifting. The operation unfolded with shouted exchanges and plywood barriers, reflecting a practical, resource-driven rhythm unique to the city.