Author Archives: Donncha

J1 visa applicants in the USA are having a lot of trouble finding work because they haven’t got a Social Security Number. Apparently, employers can hire and pay students who have applied for an SSN but I haven’t seen it happen. This online.ie story has more, and here’s a realaudio interview with Seana MacReamoinn, spokesperson for USIT explaining the situation for students.

hehe.. Safari isn’t too bad.. posting this from the Apple Store on Michigan Avenue. It’s nice. 🙂

Yes, yes, I’m here in the office at my PC, but it’s not very nice outside right now (thunderstorm this morning, more rain expected later!) so I don’t mind too much.
The official fireworks in Chicago were on July 3rd in Grant Park (not sure why it’s a day early but who am I to argue with tradition?) When we got down there the place was thronged with people. Estimates of last year’s attendance are around 1.5 million people! I’d believe it. Here’s a pic of people leaving – all we could see in front of us was a sea of humanity, the same if we turned around!

I took a lot of photos of the fireworks but unfortunately I only had a small tripod, and some guy decided to stand up right in front of us after we had been sitting, and waiting patiently for an hour.. *grrr* When I swapped places I had to contend with a woman sitting on a collapsible chair.
Here’s what the final fireworks display was like. You’ll also get an idea of how close we were. For photography I should have been further back a bit maybe.

Despite the crowds we got onto the L and off home within 20 minutes. If you didn’t have a transit card ready you were in for a wait though as there were long queues at the vending machines.

Here’s a few of the fireworks from July 3rd.

I saw the fireworks last night at Navy Pier too. The show was shorter but better – the fireworks were mostly synchronised to music, and the shapes such as smiley faces and stars appeared in the sky which I’d never seen before! Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera, so no pics from that night.
Going home was mostly uneventful. There was a huge crowd at the Red Line Grand Station, but as half the vending machines broke down they left everyone through without paying. That was a big bonus for me as my 7 day pass expired 4 hours previously!

I may not post again until next Monday, certainly there won’t be any pictures posted as tomorrow is a holiday here in the USA.
Look out for some fireworks photographs next week hopefully!

A new Apple Store opened on Michigan last Saturday. No, I wasn’t there, but I read it in the paper last night. As I walked up that street the other night I took a photo of the store as I knew it would be of interest to the devoted Apple fanatics^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^hfans who visit this site. 🙂
What I didn’t capture was the couple at the side of the store taking photos of each other in front of the glowing Apple logo, while brandishing their Apple purchases in each hand… hehe.