Happy Thanksgiving!

One of the funniest Thanksgiving television episodes ever.

Why did I think this was a good idea?

I attended the 50th anniversary of the Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights this past weekend. Basically, it's a little parade that goes down Michigan Avenue and as it passes each block, the lights and decorations on the streets light up for the season. It goes from the North end of the Mag Mile, past the Hancock tower, and down to the Chicago River, where there are fireworks after the parade. I don't know why I thought that this would be a good idea, given my aversion to crowds. I usually think of that AFTER I am stuck in a sea of people, unable to move. It was a lot more crowded than I expected.

I had never heard of this event before this year. Then again, I don't really pay much attention to parades, etc. I only heard of it after the former boy mentioned it in passing, because he lives not too far from the parade route and said it was kinda cute and fun.

Initially my friend and I wanted to be down by the river so we could see the fireworks, but that was the most crowded area of the entire event. We decided we'd rather see the floats, since we've seen fireworks. So we fought our way to an area that was decent. We were back from the street and didn't get to see as much of the floats as we would have liked. However, the floats were underwhelming. For a "Festival of Lights" we would have expected more... ya know... lights!

We ended up in a spot next to a funny and sarcastic guy and his family from Crystal Lake, three twenty something girls and two guys with them who you could tell were only there because they were hoping if they did whatever the girls wanted, they might get laid later, and some really bizarre, creepy guy who appeared either drunk, high, or both, who kept leaning over the ledge we were standing by/sitting on and looked like he was going to hurl at any moment. So there was CONSTANT entertainment.

I did get some cool Kinetic/Intentional Camera Movement shots though (other examples of that style of photography are on the shutterbug site).

After the crowds started to dissipate, we made our way back to the subway to go back to my neighborhood. It wasn't as crowded as I'd expect, but the first train that came was packed to the gills, so we decided to wait. We were rewarded for our patience, however, because the next train that came was Santa's Express! Yes, the CTA has a special Holiday Train (they call it the "Holiday Train" to be politically correct, but it is most obviously a "Christmas Train"). It's covered in lights and has a special open car for Santa and his reindeer. It rotates between different train lines from now until Christmas. I've only ever seen it go past, but I've never been on it. It is just as decked out inside as out. It was a totally random, awesome, and trippy experience. People cheered when it pulled up. So below are an assortment of pictures from the day:

Tribune Tower at Night:


Tribune Tower Kinetic Blur:


Here Comes Mickey!


Intentional Camera Movement/Kinetic Photography


Santa's Express Arrives

Analytics Update

I haven't checked Google Analytics for a while but I always find it fun and interesting.

The top 25 searches that led people to this site:

Rank	Key Words	Count
1	michael bay sucks	512
2	sarchasm	365
3	worthy causes	162
4	chicago flag tattoos	147
5	hairiest woman alive	129
6	chicago flag tattoo	114
7	poststructural feminism	109
8	why michael bay sucks	103
9	dc flag tattoo	72
10	the sarchasm	70
11	post structural feminism	68
12	radical feminist theory	64
13	poststructuralist feminism	63
14	what the fuck ever	53
15	post structuralist feminism	43
16	post-structural feminism	40
17	woman's work manifesto	39
18	passive indifference	34
19	radical feminism theory	34
20	structural feminism	34
21	god is a sadist	33
22	korphe pakistan	27
23	examples of liberal feminism	21
24	list of worthy causes	21
25	austin powers underwear	19

Countries represented over the past 6 months:

United States
United Kingdom
Canada
Australia
India
Brazil
Germany
Ireland
New Zealand
France
South Africa
Singapore
Philippines
Norway
Japan
Malaysia
Pakistan
Netherlands
Egypt
Israel
Belgium
Puerto Rico
Argentina
Indonesia
Sweden
Austria
Iran

Gossip

I don't normally post about work, for obvious reasons. However, I can't help sharing this story and getting feedback from you all about this situation. It's vague enough to where it's safe to post about and, frankly, I don't care if someone at work finds this post - in fact, I kinda hope they DO.

I hate gossip. I mean, really hate it. It's offensive, petty, childish, rude, and in my opinion, only serves as a tool for miserable people to make their pitiful lives seem better than they actually are by dragging others down. In a way, that makes it a little like watching Jerry Springer.

Now, there's office politics talk - trying to figure out what might happen to a particular division, what plans are for the future, etc. That's different because that has a purpose in the workplace. I'm talking about personal gossip.

Now, I try to separate personal feelings from professional duties. I don't have to like everyone I work with, but I have to be able to work with them. Hell, on a personal level, especially after this incident (piled on top of other examples) I can say I genuinely dislike my boss. He's OK to work with, but as a person, I would never choose to associate with him outside of work. Also, even if I don't particularly like someone, I can't let that get in the way of getting something done for them. Case in point - last week, I'm in my office and my boss comes in and we start talking about a project we're working on. The subject of a particular person comes up, who is - admittedly - difficult to work with sometimes.

We begin talking about this person's apparent inability (or lack of desire?) to understand some key differences in definitions and not wanting to admit that there's some problems in his area of oversight because of it. THEN, in a tone of voice (he had a big smug smile on his face) that was meant to say "hey, get a load of this, this will make you laugh," my boss tells me that this person is separated from his wife as of recently. I just stare in disbelief. Am I supposed to get some kind of pleasure out of misery in this person's personal life??

Me (angrily): "So? What does that have to do with ANYTHING? That's none of my business. Why do people care about this kind of thing??"

Keep in mind, this is NOT the first time he has participated in this type of gossip. Each time, I shoot him down or ignore it. I'm above that kind of petty bullshit.

Him: "I don't care"

Me (even more angrily): "Well, obviously you DO if you're repeating it."

Him: blank stare, grunt, walk away.

I really wish I would have laid into him more about it. Ask him what kinds of things he says about ME behind my back? Did he make fun of MY divorce to others? Do you really think it's OK to talk about people's personal lives like that? Does that make your own pathetic, miserable existence seem better?

Ugh. It really pissed me off. I will never stoop to that level, however, from now on, I WILL be telling those people who I DO like and respect at work never, ever to tell this guy anything remotely personal about anyone.

I mean, how can I be expected to have any professional respect for someone like that?