A Eulogy For Borders

[Author’s Note: Yes, I know it’s been eons since I updated this blog. I’m going to have to try to do something about that, but this was too important to me not to write about]

When I graduated college in 1999, like so many before and after me, I had to look for a job. Having a degree in film/video and not knowing anyone in the industry in addition to being unable to take a no/low pay job for “experience,” this proved difficult. I temped for a short time that summer, but working in offices downtown while being dressed up and being folks’ gopher was simply not for me. One day that fall, I came across an ad in the Chicago Reader that a new Borders store was opening in the suburbs and was hiring. I patronized Borders occasionally as they had an excellent music section and the novelty of being able to get coffee and browse in a retail environment was still exciting. So I applied to work in their music department. One quick interview later, I was a Borders employee. I figured I’d work there for several months until I could get my foot in the door elsewhere.

I worked there for seven years.

The first few years there were the best. Most of my co-workers were fun and like-minded, and many years later, I am still friends with some of them. Even though we were a big-box chain, the corporate office gave the stores enough leeway that it still felt somewhat independent. We could cater both our displays and inventory to suit the interests and needs of our community. I worked in the music department at first, and somehow ended up being the classical music specialist – all those years in band helped I guess. We had quite the extensive music selection back then, and at the time DVDs were just becoming popular, slowing pushing out VHS tapes. Customers would ask for me by name to help them out with their music requests. That was not uncommon – many staff members had areas of expertise in the store, and employees and customers alike would depend on them for both recommendations and assistance in figuring out obscure titles. Most importantly, we had fun working there – I have countless stories of time spent there (most of them involve clueless and/or crazy customers) that still make me chuckle all these years later.

Over the years, I made my way through the ranks. I managed the music department & the café, became the inventory manager and by default the second in command behind the store’s general manager and even opened and worked at a different store for a year before returning to my original store with a promotion. During this time, Borders went through a series of transformations, all for worse. There were countless “restructurings” seemingly on a yearly basis: they shuffled the managerial and supervisory positions so many times even I forgot who reported to whom. With an influx of people outside the book business hired to top positions at both corporate HQ and the district level, the company climate changed. Gone was that independent feel of the stores – an emphasis was placed on making all stores look the same and inventory was no longer catered to a store’s community – Borders became less bookstore-coffeehouse, and more Wal-Mart. I could go on and on about the piss poor decisions that Borders made throughout the years that led them to this untimely end, but I’m sure you can read up on that at any reputable business website. I will say this – the steadfast refusal of corporate Borders to listen to their employees in the field is the main reason the company is where it’s at today.

I saw the writing on the wall five years ago. Many good employees were driven out of the company, and I was following them. Seven years of retail takes a toll on even the best employees (I still don’t like Christmas as much as I once did), and seeing as both my pay and the enjoyment of working there was low, it was time for me to go.

I am sad that Borders seems to be on the fast track of closing its doors for good. Without Borders, I would be a different person today – working there taught me many life skills I doubt I’d have today. I also wouldn’t have met so many great people over the years. I would probably have not fallen into so much debt, as my book and music shelves can attest to even to this day. Perhaps with Borders fading away, the once booming business of small neighborhood bookstores can make its return. I hope for that, but considering the success of the Amazons and Kindles, sadly I think the brick and mortar book business may be on its way out for good.

Both stores I worked at are on the closing list. I am waiting to hear from folks that still work for Borders (albeit temporarily), when their last days are. I was there when those stores opened. I will be there when they close.

I wonder how Tom & Louis Borders feel right now.

Public Service Announcement

When I started this blog nearly a year ago, my intent was to include a little bit of everything that interested me: art, politics, media, sports, current events and the like. Well that didn’t exactly happen. Caught up in the excitement of what was to become a truly magical experience, I started blogging about the Blackhawks. And blogging. And blogging some more.

Therefore, I’ve decided to become a split personality. Introducing....

Geek Misconduct

This blog will be the depot for all of my hockey rants and ramblings, so if that piques your interest, follow along. You can also keep tabs on my hockey brain farts on Twitter as @GeekMisconduct. I’m sure all three people who read this blog for other things are breathing a sigh of relief.

This is not to say a brick wall will be constructed between both blogs. I’m sure hockey will still bleed over on here from time to time, and likewise some nonsensical ramblings will go on at GM. But I thought it best to separate the two, not only for my sanity, but for yours.

For those of you who have been following along with me on here, I sincerely thank you. Now if you’d excuse me, I have to finish writing a post about baseball ;)

Can You Take Out A Home Equity Loan For Hockey Tickets?

I guess it was to be expected - team wins a championship, tickets become scarce. But when single game tickets went on sale for the Blackhawks last month, I did not expect to be completely shut out. Of all 41 home games. Except for standing room (fuck that). Or the exorbitantly priced 100 level seats (fuck that even more).

I already had issues with the Hawks’ ticket sales because not only did they raise ticket prices again (I can’t say I blame them - supply & demand) but they also divided parts of the 300 level into *3* price levels. For serious? There’s only 17 rows in most of them for Chrissakes! They also have dicked around with my brother’s season tickets - they wanted to move down a couple rows because they sit in the second to last row of their section and folks in standing room basically invade your personal space the entire game. I can attest to that - I used my brother’s tickets to see the preseason game vs. the Wings on Saturday and Amy had to put her arm out to prevent some guy from basically resting his junk on the top of my head. Eww. In any case, the Hawks ticket folks refused to move my brother and his seatmate (even though most of the seats in the rows in front of them are not used by STHs) unless they wanted to move down far enough to be in a more expensive price level. Way to take care of your loyal fans. But why would the Hawks make any concessions to them? The waiting list (which I am a part of) is miles long and they could find someone to take my brother’s seats, probably at the non-grandfathered price range to boot. Hey, the Hawks organ-I-zation is still miles above when Dollar Bill held the reins, but boy can you tell John McDonough is in charge - he pulled the same shit when he was with the Cubs.

They're Ready For Their Closeups Mr. DeMille

Btw...Sunset Boulevard - EPIC film. I love mes some Gloria Swanson.

In honor of the first night of the preseason (Blackhawks' first game is tomorrow night - w00t!), I've decided to have a little fun with various players' official team photos. I stumbled upon them over the weekend when I printed out the Hawks roster for training camp, and some of them are too funny. Now there are plenty of pictures of myself floating around that look much worse, but I don't make millions of dollars either, so I won't feel too bad about the mockery.

Training Days

June 9th seems so far away at times - especially since I had to endure a horrendous summer of Cubs baseball which made me miss hockey even more. But finally, the party's over, the hangover cure has been ingested and we're on the cusp of the 2010-11 NHL season. With the Chicago Blackhawks as your defending Stanley Cup champions, of course.

Training Camps used to be several weeks long, but with the playoffs running into June, preseason games and now these "Premiere" games in Europe (WTF NHL - do we really need games in Sweden, Finland *and* Prague?), camps are now merely days. That doesn't leave time for players on the bubble to make the big time a lot of opportunities to make an impression, so these camps are much more intense that they probably were a few years ago.

Roadtrip Recap: Fin.

OK, at this point it's been a month since the roadtrip (and I honestly have more interesting topics to blog about, like the 2010-11 NHL season OMGOMGOMG) and I know I've lost what little audience I had to begin with. But goddammit, I'm going to finish this, if only so when I'm 79 and back in diapers, I can read this and remember. And we better have flying cars by then too.

Pass the Pigskin

When I don't have to turn the a/c on for several days in a row, when I see surly teenagers walking to the local high school, when I begrudgingly have to remember where the hell I put my hoodies, this can only mean one thing: IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON.

The Chicago Bears have a rare gift in this city - they're truly the only team in Chicago that the whole city is united for. Sure, the Blackhawks were hot shit this year, but half the folks in their Byfuglien jerseys (haaaaaaaa...suckers!) probably thought icing was what you put on a cupcake two years ago. Notwithstanding, hockey still has nowhere near the number of fans of the other "Big Three" sports in this country. The Bulls? The 90's were great in the Jordan/Pippen/Jackson era (hell, even *I* watched the NBA playoffs then), but when MJ left, so did the Bulls hold on the city. Cubs/Sox? I'm surprised they don't ask on birth certificates in Chicagoland which team has your alligence. Nothing divides this city like bickering between fans of the two teams. The Bears have always been *the* team in Chicago. The waiting list for season tickets is decades long, people fight over who inherits them in wills (seriously) and no matter how bad the team sucks, Solider Field will be full come December when the windchill is 20 below zero and a handful of men will paint their chest orange and navy and go shirtless. And then they will have frostbitten boobies. I was in 5th grade during the illustrious 1985 Super Bowl season, and this city went bat shit crazy. Nothing could ever top the feeling and excitement - unless of course if the Cubs ever win it all, and I think Chicago will just burn to the ground if that ever happens. I think part of the reason the city was so caught up in it was it was Chicago's first championship since the Bears won it all in 1963 - and there wasn't even a Super Bowl then. Decades of pent up frustration came out that year - it was one big party from September to January. People from that team are revered as saints in Chicago - I mean if Mike Ditka decided to run for Mayor, he'd win in a landslide. Actually my pipe dream would be a Ditka-Oprah mayoral race. Now that would be fun!

My class did a rendition of the Super Bowl Shuffle. I was Mike Richardson. That should tell you how popular I was :P

Roadtrip Recap: Days Five - Six

[Please note this post will probably be more incoherent than usual as I am watching the first NFL game of the season (Fuck you Brett Favre!) while composing this. Which reminds me that I should do a Bears preview post before Sunday for what promises to be another woeful season. Is it October yet?]

So I'm gonna finish the Canadian portion of the way overdue trip recap now. Thank Jebus.

The Mayors of My Life

I've got the final recap of my roadtrip in the pipeline (after finally finishing uploading 340 photos - yeesh!), but we interrupt my slacking to bring you some Breaking News!

HO-LEE SHEEEIT!

Amy texted me at work to tell me Mayor Daley wasn't seeking a seventh term as mayor. For those who don't live in Chicago, this is a BIG DEAL. Shocking - I honestly thought he was going to stay in office until he had a chest grabber like his old man, Richard J. 42 of the last 55 years has had a Daley running Chicago, so it's going to be hard to imagine this city Daley-less. Not to mention all the $$$ we're going to end up spending peeling Richie's name off of every surface that matters in this town. Seeing as "Da Mare" has been in power since I was in 8th grade (ack), I thought I'd take this opportunity to look back on the Mayors of Chicago in my lifetime.

RIP Rocket

Not to be a downer, but our hamster Rocket went to the big wheel in the sky sometime last night/this morning. I'll wax poetic about him and my love of hamsters in general later, but I wanted to take a second to honor his memory. We got him at a shelter last year, and he was a "senior" hamster at that point (meaning he was about a year old or so), but we adopted him anyway. This is one of my favorite pictures of him - if you look closely at him, you'll notice there's a piece of poo stuck on his head. I found this hilarious, especially when he got annoyed and resisted when we tried to get it off of him.

We were blessed to have this little old guy for over a year. Your mommies will miss you and never forget you!

[Shit I'm crying again and I'm out of Kleenex. ANYway, back to my usual stupidity shortly - I want to finish blogging the damn roadtrip by the end of the holiday weekend]

Roadtrip Recap: Days Three & Four

At the rate I'm going, by the time I finish this, I'll be on my next vacation. Or the NHL season will have started.

Anyway.

Roadtrip Recap: Days One & Two

Well I haven't gotten this recap up as quickly as I'd like. For gods sake I'm only at the halfway point of uploading all of the pictures I took. It really has taken me the week after the trip to get my bearings and a somewhat stressful week back at work didn't help matters much. I'm not sure if anyone even cares anymore, but I figure I'd better write this down before I get too old and can't remember any of it.

And Here. We. Go.

I Hath Returned

OK, I really did mean to attempt to blog while on my road trip, but due to the fact I passed out most evenings when we got back to our hotel (humidity + walking for miles makes me tired), this did not happen. Aside from that, we had multiple issues with internet access: one motel's idea of wi-fi was like a 28.8 modem and another hotel was equipped with only an Ethernet cord that Amy's laptop did not like. We also encountered, unbeknown to us, we were going to incur "International Roaming Charges" on our iPhones while in Canada (Fuck you AT&T) so checking the net for three days was verboten unless we could get wi-fi on the smart phones.

But aside from that, it was a fun trip and I'm sad to see it end. I have 1200+ photos to go through. I am only on Day Two of posting them to Flickr so this may take awhile. I will also put up a summary here once I have some time - hopefully this week. In the meantime, here's a list of all of the places we stayed/stopped at during our eight days:

Chicago-South Bend, IN-Bryan, OH-Toledo-Cleveland-Ashtabula, OH-Conneaut, OH-Erie, PA-Silver Creek, NY-Buffalo, NY-Niagara Falls, NY-Niagara Falls, ONT-Toronto-London, ONT-Southfield, MI-Detroit-Hamtramck, MI-Ann Arbor, MI-Chicago

Needless to say I put over 1,200 miles on my car. He performed admirably.

And now it's to bed as I'm sure there are various disasters I must fix when I'm back at work tomorrow. HUGE SIGH

Vacation Time!

So I fully intended to do an in-depth and informative post, as you will always receive here on afoui (*snort*), regaling you of vacations of days past and a preview of what is to come this week. Unfortunately work kicked my ass all week, resulting in long hours and most evenings spent falling asleep in front of the TV - I am turning into my father. So seeing as it's past midnight and we're getting up at 7am in order to hit the road early, a scant paragraph or two is just gonna have to do.

Saturday: Cleveland
Sunday/Monday: Niagara Falls/Buffalo
Tuesday-Thursday: Toronto
Friday: Detroit
Saturday: HOME!

We don't have too much planned for certain. We're doing the Rock and Roll HOF in Cleveland, Niagara Falls of course, and the Hockey HOF in Toronto - I've already bought my tickets for that bitches! Expect a lot of photos of old signs and the other off beat shit I like to take pictures of. I predict I will get at least two blisters, sun burnt once and probably eat something that won't agree with me. But I don't care - I love vacations, and I am increasingly loving going on road trips - there's just so many cool and strange things to see when you drive.

I'll attempt to make a post or two on here during our time on the road, but I will be tweeting and probably throwing pictures on flickr too. So if you're so inclined, check out the links on the right.

Later!

Saving the Worst For Last

[Goodbye Nemo *wails*]

We all knew that the moves the Hawks were going to have to make in the offseason would be painful. But if you had told me earlier that this would mean we'd lose no fewer than *10* players, including our Cup winning goalie, I would have thought you were on crack and proceeded to either get drunk or jump off my porch (I live on the second floor). 

I had been dreading the impending Antti Niemi arbitration hearing and was hoping against hope the two sides could hammer something out beforehand. Alas, that did not happen, so I crossed my fingers that the arbitrator would award Nemo something in the 2 mildo range: that would be the only way he'd fit in a cap tighter than my thighs in spandex (please note I have never owned any spandex. Go away fashion police!).

He was awarded a one year-$2.75 million dollar contract.

That was that - no more Nemo. Within 24 hours, the Hawks had signed Marty "C-3P0" Turco, and Antti Claus (because he can give up rebounds like it's Christmas) was no longer a Hawk. On a selfish note, I can state I'm happy I didn't invest in a jersey (but I might still get a Niemi T-Shirt) but I really, really grew to like Nemo as the season wore on. He seems like an unassuming, hard working, goofy guy. And he is cute in that dorky way I find so endearing.

It's not fair that a Stanley Cup winning goalie is out of a job, mostly due to the fact that the Blackhawks were punished for their success in terms of bonuses counting against next year's salary cap. The poor guy was a Cinderella story - Zamboni driver to hoisting the sports' greatest prize in a few short years. I will have to lay some of this blame on Niemi's agent, Bill Zito. I know his job is to get the best deal for his client, and of course his value will never be higher having just backstopped the team to the top. But any idiot could tell you that this was a shit year for goalie free agents (just ask Jose Theodore and Evgeni Nabokov). Everyone knew of the Hawks' cap issues - you'd think perhaps you'd take a one year deal at a reasonable price with the promise of a multi-year deal for bigger bucks in the wings. I guess money talks - yet here we are, several days after the decision and Niemi's gone nowhere. Sure Zito's boasting that several teams are now interested, but I can't see any NHL team right now signing Niemi to that $2.75 mildo price tag - especially since unless a team changes its current roster, Nemo would only be needed in a 1A or backup role. I get the feeling Zito was filling Nemo's head with Halak-type numbers, only to see that idea fly out the window. Reportedly Niemi asked Zito "Now What?" after the decision was rendered. Now what indeed - poor Nemo could legitimately be out of the NHL or playing at a price less than what the Hawks probably offered him come the start of the regular season. 

Antti Niemi, you captured my heart in the midst of the journey that brought me to tears at the end, the journey that culminated in something no logical Chicago sports fan ever expects to see: a championship. Wherever your career takes you, I wish you nothing but the best. Just remember not to lose the puck in your pants again.

I wonder if Turco will sport red sparkling pads. I may have to wear sunglasses to the UC.

It's Not Easy Being Green

 [Day 23: Garden View]

As you recall (or perhaps not, here's a friendly reminder), Amy and I are tending a raised bed garden in a former vacant lot. It's been almost a month now, but I am happy to report that not only did we not kill off everything, we actually have ate things from it (and didn't get food poisoning)! Below is a summary of the growings on (ha - bad pun!), mostly in pictures of course.

I Am Sheeple, Hear Me Bleat

When the iPhones came out several years ago, Amy and I took great delight in mocking those who rushed right out to get one. "Fucking Hipsters," we'd sneer. Like sheep, folks flocked to Apple Stores every time a upgrade happened, and then they'd seemingly gloat they were cool enough to own one as they'd fiddle with it on the train, walking down the street, in the public bathroom.

Two years ago, it was time for Amy and I to get our phone upgrades as the contract was up.  Scoffing at the thought of needing a smart phone, I settled for a simple flip top model, seen above. We lovingly named it my Jitterbug. Amy opted for a Motorola, which was a cheap imitation of a Blackberry (she hates Blackberries). I was content with it for a time, but as I got more and more involved with social media, I longed for a smart phone. I'd use Amy's when I could, but the web browser was slow, and most webpages looked horrible on it. I'd sit at Hawks games this season and wish I had a phone I could check other scores on, and look at the Twitter feeds of fellow fans.

[self portrait using the Hipstamatic app - I'm a tad obsessed with this at the moment]

Finally our contracts were up again. Both of us ate a little crow. Amy got her iPhone 4 a week after they came out. I got mine last night - I had to wait an extra month due to some bullshit AT&T policy.

I spent most of last night playing with it and downloading (mostly) free apps and putting some music on it. I'm like a kid in a candy store - a nerdy one of course. So let me just say it: I have an iPhone. And I am not ashamed.

My Personal Academy Award

I rarely talk about work on here, for several reasons - a) I try not to give away too much information about my real life persona, even though I'm sure almost everyone who reads this knows me personally anyway, b) blogging about work can be tricky - I would never say anything remotely controversial about my workplace, knowing I could could get in trouble if I did. Which I have issues with in general, but that's not a topic for here nor there, c) I know I bore everyone enough as it is, so I don't need to wax poetic about the place I spend 50 hours a week at.

That being said, something important today that I should share - not to brag or boast, but more to put my memories and feelings down before the moment has passed. But first, I feel the need to tell everyone about all the jobs I've worked. So if you're sleepy, this should work better than an Ambien.

Finding Hockey Amongst Pierogis

OK, so I wrote that long diatribe how I'm going to update the blog and do other things and yet I've waited nearly a week to write anything of substance. *sigh* Well I did upload probably close to a 100 photos on Flickr since then so I'm not totally useless. Or something. Anyway...

No, no, no, don't run away screaming! Dead raccoon is just welcoming you to a story about my visit to the Annual Pierogi Fest in Whiting, Indiana over the weekend. As you will see shortly, Mr Raccoon is just a sample of the weird ass shit (and in this case frightening) you could see and/or purchase in between stuffing your face. For those not in the know, pierogis are Polish dumplings often stuffed with potatoes, cheese, sauerkraut and other tasty things. Sadly, I didn't start eating them regularly until fairly recently. Which is surprising considering I grew up in an area of Chicago with a large Polish population (Chicago has the largest Polish population outside of Warsaw), and went to school with many folks with Polish and Slavic heritage. Aside from eating so much you feel like you need a defibrillator, there were many booths with crafts, knick-knacks and well, shit. Of course I had to capture such things with a Blackhawks theme!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

If I could accomplish even half of what I set out to do, I think I'd be quite pleased with myself. Unfortunately life tends to get in my way - work takes out a significant portion of my time during the week: I leave my apartment at 6:30 every morning, and get home between 6 and 7 at night (depending on traffic and when I can pry my ass out of my office chair). So by the time I settle in and eat, it's usually close to 8pm which leaves me about 2 hours or so of free time. I think I may be slightly manic as I tend to have short intense bursts of inspiration and desire to work on my aspirations. Unfortunately, those bursts tend to happen at inappropriate times - like when I'm at work, or at 10:30pm on a weeknight when I really need to go to bed. On the weekends I tend to try to squeeze in all the errands I was too lazy/didn't have time for in the week (i.e. laundry, grocery shopping, naps) which leaves me only sporadic blocks of time of which to work with. Add what I think is a slight case of ADD (I swear I would have been medicated as a kid had I been born twenty years later) which I'm noticing is getting worse as I get older, and I'm shocked I can finish any kind of artistic endeavor.

AnyWAY, the point of this post was not to bitch about how I don't have time to do the things I want, but to tell you what those things are. Like the essay you'd always be stuck writing that first week back to grammar school in the fall ("This summer I wrote my bike to White Hen for Slush Puppies every day and bought baseball cards from Roadway Pharmacy" [this is seriously what I did]), here's a list of what I hope I can accomplish this summer. Please note I am a realist and know there's no way I can get all of this done. I will put these in order of what I feel is doable, and also because ordering lists soothes me. Hey, I can't help that - I'm anal retentive.