Mid-West meets East

So here I am writing from the fabulous "Free wireless Internet" provided by the lovely and tightly cramped Bradley International Airport in Hartford( Note to Chicago: If dinky little Hartford has FREE internet, what the hell is taking you so long?), following two weeks of visiting family and friends.

Ever since I lived in Chicago I have only been able to make short trips home, thus making me feel like I never really get to spend time with my family. So this time I decided to make this trip as excruciatingly long as possible to ensure that we would all wanted to kill each other. This way it would hold me over for a longer time away. Weird logic right?

On this particular trip I began to really start to notice all the little differences about my home state of Connecticut and my current home, Illinois.
For the first week I felt great. I saw people that I have missed greatly, revisited all my old drinking haunts, sleep till noon everday. Never a dull moment. Then it dawned on me. Was I missing out on a better life in CT?

Ha! On to week 2....

The next week, it was the old CT I remembered. All the driving, chasing friends, sitting around and watching TV reminded me that my life had evolved past the point that CT could handle. And whats worse is that nothing even seemed to change there at all.

And then I began to miss Chicago. Not so much the city, but my new life in it. I missed my cats, smelly cab drivers, sleeping till noon (ok....wishful thinking), and most of all my new friends who I have come to realize are a big part of my happiness in my life now.

Not that there weren't high points in my trips. My family, as always, was glorious in their humor, their arguing, and most of all in their creating my sense of home.


So without further ado I present a few of the highlights from my families XMAS. And yes, yes, I know we are all nuts!

Mom, steve, and me

Piggin out

Dad and Diane....don't you just love her?


Dad in his true form


Me and Steve

Mission Impossible


Hmmmm.....ponder this

Brother Steve gets in touch with his feminine side

Gangsta Gangsta

Grrrr.....

Uncle Jim, Dana, Jodi

STRIKE!

I know I've wondered a million times what it would be like if for one day everything shut down and the masses were left to fend for themselves.

In Chicago, I have become sickenly dependent on the CTA and I don't know what I would do if they were to strike. I complain about walking three blocks to catch the bus now! Screw 50 blocks!

My heart goes out to all of the huddled, cold, angry commuters in New York City. Somehow it seems like they are gettin a real crap end of the deal. As a commuter I must say, riding public transportation in the first place ain't no picnic! Not only do we deal with the perpetual carnival ride filled with drunks, crazies, loud-mouthed kids, loud-mouth adults, obnoxious tourists, baseball fans, (don't get me started about the drunk jackasses that I have to stand pressed up against after Cubs games at Wrigley Field- that's a whole other blog) creepy men masturbating, homeless urination, stinky cars, non-reliability, long walks in the cold, CELL PHONE IDIOTS, the occasional rude and reckless driver, but now this. It's as if they are playing a sick game, thumbing their noses at the very people that supply their paycheck. Well I have one thing to these people:

Yea, that's right. I said it.

You know, I have a lot of respect for unions, when they are serving a good purpose. But nowadays, it seems that more and more, some unions are plain greedy and annoying.

I remember the days when unions were about helping people. Granted, the 33,700 transit workers have something to gain from this, but what about the millions of people who live and work in NYC?

It was reported today in NYTimes that 20 percent of NYC's workforce did not show up for work today. I'm positive that many of those were taking the day off because they knew they could get away with it (hell, I would), but many people will lose considerable amounts of money by not working.

And with the mania of Xmas shopping underway, retailers could see a financial hit of between 5 to 10 percent of their years profits. So I ask you, how are you helping when your are absolutely hurting more people?

Honestly, I don't have any ill will toward the workers, I just wish that the union heads would have planned this a little better. Maybe in the summer perhaps? When its not cold? Hmmm.....? Any of this sound better to you?

As if New Yorkers needed any other reasons to be cranky.

Holiday Wishes and A Little Soul

So, I am a huge fan of Trent's blog "Pink is the New Blog" because he has a great way of making fun of America's pop culture obsessions. Today I found this picture done by illustrator Todd Umbarger on his site:

How friggin hilarious is that?

And on a completely different note, I found this link to a throw-back Soul Train video and wanted to share it with you.....because who doesn't love Soul Train?

What is it about those dance lines that make me want to shake my ass? Although, I always seem to be the idiot who can't think of anything to do and I end up doing the robot ---------->

or the running man. Yea yea. Make fun if you must. Anyway, for this holiday season I want to wish everyone good times and good booze. And just in case any of you are wondering what I want for Xmas, I have furnished a list:

1) A date with my imaginary husband Jon Stewart.

2) A job here -------------->

3) And this:

I just wanted to make my list easy for everyone!

Later Gators!

ATTACK OF THE POD PEOPLE!!!!!
Beware the wrath of the corporate monkeys......

So I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am not a corporate/or office person. It's not the life- sucking fluorescent bulbs or even the mindless babble that I find myself desperately trying to avoid every 5 minutes from the cows in Accounting. It's my own damn brain. Yup. It's me.

There is a great quote in the movie "Office Space" where the main character, Peter, is discussing his work day with these "Evaluators". He says something like, "In one day I probably do about 1 hour of real work." And this is what he does the rest of the time:

The scary thing is, lately I have begun to look like that at my desk. Snack food and all. I honestly have no idea how these people can come in every day and sit in front of a computer without contemplating the many ways of killing themselves using only objects the around them. I know I have a million times. I also think of the many ways in which I could get fired in a creative and memorable way. Here is just a few of my list:

1) Come to work in a monkey suit and throw my feces at people who anger me.

2) Photocopy my boobs and draw them into a face that I name after the CEO, and distribute.

3) Tell the truth to that woman in accounting who continuously asks me if she looks fat, by mass email.

Ugh, I could go on forever. You get the point. I think there is something inherently evil about a corporate environment that sucks all of the creative life force from your body. I mean how else would these people be able to come in everyday, do the same thing, knowing there is no end but death? If anyone knows, please feel free to educate me. I'm miserable and I'm only here 2 days a week!

I remember when I first started, I liked the idea of a steady paycheck and a low-maintenance environment. Now, I think I am becoming more unmotivated every day that I spend here! Not in my outside life and school though. In fact, I am more motivated in school so that I don't end up having to work in a place like this. Well, I don't want to get onto a rant here (too late, I think) but I just had to get that out.

In the spirit of creating chaos, I leave you with another of my favorite images from "Office Space". Rest in Peace dear fax machine. PC Load letter to you too.

Who Comes Up With This Stuff?

So here I am at my internship, just trying to make it through the day without becoming a
"pod person" (aka corporate monkey) and I stumble upon this little gem of a quiz. (note: sarcasm)

If you have time, take this quiz. It's not that it will enlighten you politically or anything, (if your already not sure, then you probably won't ever get it anyway) it's just so friggin random. I mean, how do they determine your politics with just a few questions? But to be fair I will say that it did get a grasp of my political leanings, but its just funny that it placed me somewhere near Gorbachov and Martin Luther King Jr., and between Hilary Clinton and Gandhi. Who knew Gandhi and Hillary would be so tight? Oh, and P.S, Darth Vader is in there? Randomness quotient = 100%. Interesting. But Random

You are a Social Liberal (71% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (18% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: http://www.okcupid.com/politics

It's been a while since I've posted anything. One word, Finals. Enough said.
So rather than whine about how uncreative I am because of school sucking out every inch of my brain capacity, I leave you all with this. Ah Beavis and Butthead. Ain't nothing like it.