Pumpkin Palooza

Because we have to compete in literally everything we do here at EA, we stepped up the Halloween Party competitions this year. If you thought that Kate eating a whole pizza by herself was sick/extreme/intense, you haven't seen anything yet. We had a pumpkin pie eating contest. And it was definitely more sick/extreme/intense than most anything I've seen in life. There is video footage that I think I will view anytime I'm depressed because it's absolutely hysterical. But here are a few pictures:

Getting read to eat, the contestants ponder their strategy

Shrek (Jon) and Dwight Schrute (Jesse) face off

Let the games begin!

CWall, the ONLY GIRL in the competition dominates and takes home first place!

Jon, a little messier eater, puts in a respectable second.

Jeff (our only married contestant, and the only contestant not in my Class of 06) proves that slow and steady can earn a respectable third.

Jesse, that's just pathetic.

Jeremy, oh Jeremy. Apparently Frenchies don't like pumpkin pie.

Then there was the Pumpkin Decorating Contest. Over a lunch of pizza people paired off, chose their pumpkin, and went to work. Under the considerate oversight of our managing director Robert, we made ourselves a Burlesque Dancer Pumpkin. She even had her own poll. And tatas. You have to have the tatas. In addition to ours (from left to right in the picture below) was the MoMa Pumpkin (something about modern art?), Smashing Pumpkin, Dr. Dave, and Robert Friedman. I think the last two strikingly resemble their human inspirations. The pumpkins were evaluated by a highly specialized panel of expert judges. And, wonder of wonders, our Burlesque Pumpkin actually won! Apparently sex sells, even in pumpkin decorating. Here are the entries and our winning pumpkin:

Please note her purple lipstick, pipe-cleaner arm (behind the poll), and lace garter. We even gave her pasteys. True attention to detail.

I promise, we really do work around here. Like actual consulting work that is. But who wants to read a blog with me talking about conditioning regimens for bone marrow transplants? Yeah, that's what I thought. I actually think that we are more productive because we are provided channels for our antsy ADHD spirits. That's where I think most companies go wrong. They block websites and don't have parties. And what does every good employee who is not allowed to do things want to do? The very things they are not supposed to do. It's just human nature. Do you know how many of my friends have gone to great lengths to work around their company firewalls on Gmail? Yeah, we don't have to waste our time here with that kind of stuff. Here, we promote a healthy work environment through our occasional competitive events. Incredibly healthy in fact.

Currently we have a clothing drive ongoing. And yes, we made a competition of this: the position (consultant, senior consultant, research associate, etc) who collectively brings in the most clothing gets a free lunch. All for a good cause. Closets in New York are small. We have to have something constructive to solve this problem.
I love my job.