Fun things I did on my birthday

So I started my new job on Christmas Eve, a rotation shaping the opinions of Chicago. For purposes of good, I suppose, which is why December 24 wasn't such a bad day to begin.

Regardless of how things may go, one thing to enjoy is that the parking lot is by a confectioner, so I will begin and end each day inhaling the sweet smells emitting from the Blommer's Chocolate factory. For a former and probably future fat boy, that's Nirvana.

I hope to get out of the office a lot, and on my first day I went to Macy's (AKA Marshall Field's) on an assignment: I had to ask shoppers for their tips on recycling Christmas junk and for their tips for making 2007 a more environmentally friendly year. And, no, I am not working for a TV station, though those do seem like local News at 5 questions.

They didn't use any of the material I gathered, but Phillip Smith of Chicago told me, "I try to save wrapping paper and reuse it."

"I keep the bows, fold some used paper back up, and recycle the rest," said Flora Reagan, a kindly grandma from St. Louis I found among the Frango mints.

What a coincidence that the first two people I chatted with reuse wrapping paper, which fascinated me. Hey, to be honest, I am so enviro-friendly I don't even wrap most of the gifts I give. Ok, sometimes there is a fine line between doing what's best for Mother Earth and being downright lazy.

What made the walk to the big old store worth it was holiday moments you get in a big city, like two burly construction worker/hunter types in Carhart gear shopping together at the Estee Lauder counter. I so wanted to ask if the items were going to be for each other or for their "wives," but who wants to get hit in the face on Christmas Eve which also happens to be my birthday?

Outside the store I chatted with two friendly Salvation Army ministers in training, bell ringers Kristina Sjorgren and Jayne Wubben. They told me their husbands were working the kettle just down the storefront from them. Lo and behold, there was this tall, doughy guy with one of those faces so Midwest wholesome you just want to pinch his chubby cheeks and his thinner buddy - both using faux Muppets to entertain the crowd into donating money. Only thing is they had the critters lip synching to Alvin and the Chipmunks, which could have been construed as a plug for the new movie, if I were more cynical.

But it was just funny in a way that made me want to rub my shaved head the way Curly of the Three Stooges used to do.
I wish I has brought my own camera with because those images are exactly why I wanted to work downtown in the first place.