I survived my 18-day road trip for work, got home, recovered for a week, and was terminated on Friday. Effective Sept. 1, 2009. I'm better off in the long run, but it was a serious shot to the ego.
[SIDE NOTE: I'm extremely fortunate that this will not put us in dire financial straights, and it looks like it's not going to affect my professional reputation. I was terminated because the boss doesn't want this position telecommuting anymore and I'm unwilling to move. If you know where my employer is located, that makes even more sense. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, the Universe has a plan and all that.]
What made my crappy day much better was Friday night's Stanley Cup Final win by the Penguins! Since I went to the Steelers parade back in February, I figured "why not!" and went downtown today to the Pens parade.
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To hit some of the highlights and recap my day as I did back in February ...
• Leave house a few minutes before 11 a.m. Stand on the T platform at Castle Shannon for (no joke) 25 minutes before the first car comes by.
• Stand the whole way in. Realize that Hubster was dead-on that this parade will be more heavily attended than the Steelers parade. Think this is a combo between better weather and the fact that school is out.
• Exit the Steel Plaza T station at 11:57. Yep. Grant Street is packed. Troll the sidewalk on the "uphill" side of the street for a bit, realizing that I'm not going to be elevated enough to get any decent photos.
• Attempt to get to the New Jersey barrier. Realize that with people five deep, I'm never going to get decent photos from there.
• Try to take photos anyway when Mario Lemieux drives by. Fail miserably, but get a half-decent crowd shot. (I like the energy and motion of the shot)
• Climb up on one of the concrete flowerpots in front of the Allegheny County Courthouse. Perfect spot for photos. Highlights:
ICEBURGH!
My old boss. From 15 years ago. Yeep!
SUPERSTAR!!! Max Talbot is the guy in the white sweater. Sadly, he never turned towards me. :-( Bill Guerin is the guy on the left with the video camera.
Flower with the Cup!
• Parade wraps up around 12:40. I hung around for a few extra minutes to let the crowd thin, then headed over to the supplier of Dan Bylsma's Magic Burritos to grab some lunch
• Get on an inbound T at 1 pm sharp
• Listen to the crankiest T driver ever: "Yinz keep touchin stuff you don't know nothin' about. Now we're gonna be stuck on this here hill!"
• Walk off the Castle Shannon platform at 2 pm. Head home. Do minimal work for remainder of day. Take a nap.
Tomorrow's plans include starting my workout routine and doing the minimum amount of work necessary for survival. If I get motivated and remember to take pictures again, hopefully you'll start seeing regular blog posts from this here URL again!
