Say Goodbye To "Stinkytown"
i am finally leaving Decatur, Illinois, one of the worst smelling cities i've been too. And that would include pork sausage plants in Los Angeles, midwestern chicken farms and farm fields in Germany where they use REAL ORGANIC FERTILIZER!! Ah...farm-fresh air! This town of 84,000 was boring to the extreme. Our group installed a new billing system at the electric company, the project i started on when i joined the firm back in January. It has been pretty relaxed in the past week and a half since we "went live" and everyone that's remained on the project to do data cleanup has been spending more time having fun. i went to dinner the other night with a bunch of the guys to Bennigan's (the subject of the new documentary "Waiting") and we were having beer and food and beer on the company expense account. i wasn't really THAT hungry and ate about half of my chicken fingers and the waitress/server/whatever, who had been doing laps since our booth was between the entrance and exit to the kitchen, saw it and cajoled me to "c'mon, you can finish that". i responded, "look, i know i'm a BIG, FAT FUCK, but i'm full, OK??" Of course, since i was at the back of the booth, she didn't quite hear me, and one of the guys said, "uh..i think he's done." In any case, over the course of two subsequent farewell dinners, the story got retold to the rest of the team and so, as we leave this town, i go with the new moniker "B.F.F." i think i come off as a little rough and/or intimidating to these kids, but that's their problem. i used to worry about that, but not any more. They are going to have to adapt to me...i don't think i'm going to worry about adapting to them. i've also decided not to sidestep the gay issue, either. i did that for too long and it seems most of these kids are cool. i guess i'll find out come my next project.
i'll leave it all in my rearview mirror this afternoon.