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Vampire Selfies

Craptastic recollections from an observant overthinker

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Work freaks24 Opinions23 Life in other cities12 Drugs & drink10 Personal shitshows10 Finances8 Wimminfolk8 Ignorance7 Music7 School days7

Bicycling6 Teenager6 Travel stories6 Breeders5 Race & religion3

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Part 2 - Boise, Idaho. Hyde Park bubble, Fela Kuti, sober gym, helping addict backfires

on January 17, 2026

Life in other cities

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Part 1 of 3: Biz I - That time I asked for & received a million dollars to build a tech team out of thin air. I was 32.

on January 15, 2026

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Part 2 of 3: Biz I - Assembling my staff of misfits & castoffs

on January 15, 2026

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Part 3 of 3: Biz I - Wrongly sorted spreadsheet nearly derailed my career

on January 15, 2026

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Nepotism, fucktard boss & that RFP from Florida Power & Light

on January 12, 2026

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80% of my Gen X tribe know fuckall about technology

on January 08, 2026

Ignorance Opinions

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Ain't love grand: recently divorced friends, gawdawful stories

on December 10, 2025

Breeders Ignorance

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Ethical dilemmas, antisemitism, fired as a wilderness guide: Camp Nebagamon, Wisconsin

Me on left, beach cliff 50ft+ over the water, at Pictured Rocks Ntl Lakeshore in the 'U.P' aka Upper Michigan, south shore of Lake Superior. Yes that's a bandana on my head. -- ...guy leans out of his pickup window & hisses 'Jewboy' & roars off...welcome to day 1 in Lake Nebagamon, WI... This is no ordinary story of being fired. In hindsight the event leading up to it were a moral dilemma that I predict you have experienced in your own life. So: senior year of college my friend told me a few years prior he worked at this camp, which still exists as a boys camp in N. WI, as a 'tripper' meaning on the 'trip staff.' These were camp counselors separate from the day to day, living in the cabin counselors. Trippers took the boys out on camping, hiking & biking trips, generally 5 days at a time. This was real deal camping: tents, powdered food, into the woods, carrying everything, etc. Anyhoots I applied, interviewed (by 4 owners at Hotel So...

Part 3 of 3: GMI - HR warning 'into the bush', 4 for 4 on failed hires

Dateline: 2005-07. Buckle up loyal readers as here is where it gets bizarro. During my time in the Mpls office, when I was still coming in every day, I hired 4 people. All new college grads. All failed spectacularly. 4 for 4 bad decisions. Ran the table Hire #1 My favorite college professor ever Martin Markowitz recommended a former student when I asked him for a suggestion. He was working at a liquor store nearby (1st red flag), went to visit him. didn't notice he had demonic halitosis (2nd red flag). Wish I had. I actually gave him breath mints after a few weeks, it was that bad. The gig was placing him onsite at one of the big global food company in town to run a single project of ours. Great opportunity for someone with their shit together. Of which he did not. He was in over his head & it's my fault for not pulling plug. It was too high visibility. He was a new hire, no track record. We swapped him with an existing solid project manager Imogen, she was the ticket. I re...

Me at age 17. Not being a whiny coddled bitch boy driven everywhere.

Dateline: high school. I was 17, Darren 15. Together we set off on our bicycles from north of the twin cities to the Canadian border town of Ely, MN. Camping along the way. That stretch took 5 days. Then west 250 miles in a brutal headwind for 2 days to Walker MN. Then south 50 miles to Crosslake, MN where we caught a ride home w/my pops from his cabin on the lake. We wore cutoff jeans or nylon running shorts, regular tennis shoes, and heavy Bell helmets. No cell phones, obviously. Not much cash. Gawdawful cycling clothes. I recall he hit the deck day 1 in Elk River on a highway shoulder when he drifted into me. He banged his head but helmet worked. 2nd day it poured, we setup a tent somewhere after a muddy road in the rain. Ate dinty moore beef stew out of the can. Jelly? In the upper right are 2 blokes from San Francisco we met randomly on the road near Lake Superior. They took a train to Minneapolis & biked back. The round guy said he needed to lose weight. At the campground he ...

Francis McGillicuddy

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