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My friend Andy was let go today. He's a stand-up guy, and though I don't claim to know the inner workings of the
Marketing/Promotion department... Andy was the kind of guy who prided himself on a job well done. My company's
decision to let him go was an out and out mistake. We should be fighting to keep guys like Andy, not
firing them.
To make things worse, the manner in which he was notified about it all was shitty. Suffice it to say that Andy
received an email in the morning that basically let him know he was fired, before anyone actually came in to
fire him. Sloppy. Rude. And totally unprofessional.
In my opinion, I found the grounds for Andy's termination to be rather bogus. Letting someone as hard-working as
Andy go? My company fucked up today.
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This was on my way in to work. Saw the area being set up. As it turns out, the final stopping point of
the White Sox parade was Wacker and LaSalle, literally just one block over from where we work.
A little before noon, we all take a walk over to catch the "ticker tape" parade. Everyone goes,
even Chris. 
Mike and I got separated from the group, and ended up ducking through an alley, winding up on LaSalle,
about half a block from the main stage. Everywhere around us - bodies packed up against one another.
Behind where we were standing was this huge crane. There was one guy on there, whose job it was was to shoo people
away who were trying to climb up to get a better view. I asked if he would take a snapshot of the crowd from his
vantage point - and he agreed. Lots and lots and lots of people.
Flags everywhere.
That crane I mentioned? On the other end was a guy and a TV camera, overlooking the street.
Tried getting both the guy with the homemade trophy and the girl clinging to the lightpole, whose sign
read "Called in sick to work today - got White Sox Fever."
All the windows along LaSalle, decked out.
Trying to get a shot of some of the confetti cannons - but ended up getting a neat shot of this building
instead.
Another crowd shot.
This little girl was cracking me up. Too cute!
Signs and posters everywhere. I saw one guy shake a broom in the air.
The windows across the street slowly fill.
And so the ticker tape confetti starts to fall. I thought there were going to be
cannons shooting this shit off, but it turned out to be all done by hand - people throwing big wads of
shredded paper over the edge.
I think this was a parking garage across the way. You can see the lower half of bodies, but that's about
it. One adventurous guy leans out for a photo.
More confetti.
The team arrives.
It starts to get a little crazy.
Believe it or not, some of these pieces were pretty big. I got donked in the head by one of them.
The cameraman, possibly wiping off the lens.
Remember that guy who was shoo-ing people off the crane, behind us? Well, looks like he gave up.
The street was a mess.
Some dude, picking up confetti as either a souvenier or for ebay.
Walking back to work, we saw that almost every news van had people crowded on top. The cool thing? That woman
and her son onthe left there? They were standing right next to me and Mike, on LaSalle. At one point, she had lifted
her boy on top of her shoulders so he could see. Guess they found a better spot.
See what I mean about the vans?
I'm kind of fond of this image.
The parking garage across the river, filled with spectators.
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Mingus, a friend from twelvestone,
was going to be in town today. More than that, he was giving a reading at
Quimby's, right up the street from me. The reading itself was part of
the Perpetual Motion Roadshow.
Well, Jeff (aka FlamingoJeff) ended up driving down from Wisconsin
to attend the reading and grab a few post-reading drinks.
And, truth be told, some pre-reading drinks too. After work, Jeff was
waiting on my porch when I arrived home. Since he was crashing at my place, he brought with him a bottle of whiskey,
which we dipped in to, prior to dinner. And on top of that, he got me a shirt that he had made up - a sort of goof,
with wording all over it trying to get Mingus' book banned.
About an hour before the event, FJ and I meet up with Will (aka RogueDesigner) for some
Thai at Zen Noodles, right next door to Quimby's.
Outside the bookstore.
A quick shot of the boys: Jeff on the left, Will on the right. Some of you may recognize
Will's camera.
The Perpetual Motion Roadshow.
Mingus - reading from his book. All my pictures of him were
a bit blurry, but maybe Will has a few that are in focus.
A copy of Nunt.
All of the readers, on stage. Tonight's reading was the last night of their 8-day 7-city tour. Craziness.
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I was heading over to Exit to meet up with Liz and Steph, as it was Liz's 30th birthday. As it turns out,
today was also Mingus' birthday, and I was hoping both groups would get together for some celebrating.
Hot Donna, looking her meannest.
Erin and Matt, doing his best growl.
These were friends of a friend of Liz's. L to R, I think it's Mandy and Amanda.
Heather and Liz. Heather works with Liz, and the two of us chatted it up about Literature and poetry. Turns
out she is an IU grad, and studied English there as well! We had some interesting talks about the Beats,
about poetry slams, and writing in general.
Group shot of all the twelvestone folks. L
to R it's Mingus, Jeff,
Will and me.
After a few drinks, I just start taking pictures of everything around me. The lighting on these skulls
was pretty fantastic.
We were standing underneath this for most of the night. I think I find Gacy the most disturbing of
the bunch. Something about his eyes...
Vikings behind the bar.
LOL.
All I got was a rock.
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