Fireworks all around

I got back from my trip to Chicago last night, just in time to join Justin, Inbal, and Debby, amongst others, to watch the Fourth of July fireworks over the Mall.

Here are two (very bad) videos, one of the real fireworks, and then one of the random fireworks going off all around:





Speaking of fireworks, I got to see some in Chi-town on Monday night. The show there was pretty awesome. Here are some pictures:

And here's a video of the fireworks:

During the trip, I found out that both my brother and I are quite similar: "Kiss Off" is our favorite Violent Femmes song, we both sing when we like the music playing in restaurants, and we both detest crowds. And, everyone kept saying that we look alike. Weird.

My favorite part of the whole weekend, though, was this amusing exchange:

Brother's Friend at Taste of Chicago: I just got some catfish, so everything is right with the world.
Brother: Everything's not right with the catfish's world.
BFaToC: What, are you a vegan or something?
B: No.
BFaToC: Just an asshole?
B: Yup.

I actually have a lot to say about a large undisclosed part of my Chicago trip, but I'm not sure that this is the right forum, or that I'm in the right frame of mind. Maybe I'll write more on that later. At this point, the important thing is to note that I got to spend some time with my brother, see some of Chicago, and relax a bit. Oh, and I got to buy cowboy boots. Rampant consumerism strikes again.