Halloween 2005 at Eiler Technical Enterprises

Pictures by Scott Eiler (or by his camera, at least)

Commentary

In which three organizations (including Eiler Technical Enterprises) put on Halloween parties, head to head. And just to be fair to the competitors of Eiler Technical Enterprises, Eilertech supports them all!

For this year's Halloween, the entirety of Eiler Technical Enterprises is dressing up as the Domination of Eiler, the World Domination Division of Eilertech! This is, of course, the part of Eiler Technical Enterprises which is dedicated to world domination. You can find some fun commentary and travelogs there. Submit to the Domination!

Part I: Some Big Company / Fun Committee

Some Big Company gained its ongoing alliance with the Domination of Eiler by showing they can have fun. They even have a committee for that purpose.

They have the departmental Halloween party whenever the department head can make it. This year, it was on Halloween Friday.

The Domination of Eiler took many pictures of the Some Big Company Halloween party, because Some Big Company's regular volunteer cameraman was on vacation. And the Domination is publishing these pictures... because Some Big Company doesn't pay its work staff to publicize fun stuff with pictures, but the Domination does. Submit to the Domination!

	Scott dressed up as the military force of the Domination of Eiler. Here we see the Dominator in his Domination Guard uniform, plus the Domination flag as his cape, and a Staff of Dominance courtesy of the Hall of Sticks.
	Scott's cubicle dressed up as Domination of Eiler World Headquarters. Everybody wants to rule the world, or at least North America. That is to say, North Eilerania. The Domination of Eiler battle line is visible on the map. The Domination claims every place its forces have personally subjugated. Which is to say, all the places that Scott has ever been to. There are EilerBases beyond the Domination's front line; these are mapped too, if you look really carefully.
	Scott's closet dressed up too, but it also continued marketing for the Hall of Sticks, the woodcarving arm of the Domination's world conquest. Some Big Company allows stick sales on behalf of their in-house charity there, but sales are disappointing so far this year.
	Scott's cubiclemate Syed was issued a Domination of Eiler battle flag - which he promptly redesigned. Are those balloons on that flag, or are those... sperm?
	Some Big Company has a "Fun Committee" in charge of setting up its departmental parties. The Domination Guard engineering force works in alliance with this committee. The Domination of Eiler supports other parties besides its own, just so they have a chance of competing fairly with the Domination's own parties.
	Rachna and Christy helped set up the Some Big Company Halloween party. The amount of crepe paper involved, gives Scott flashbacks to decorating for the high school prom dance. The Some Big Company Halloween party had an "International" costume category. Rachna took this contest seriously. Unfortunately, practically nobody else did. Except for the Domination of Eiler, of course, whose uniform transcends all nations.
	The Some Big Company party included a salad and pizza buffet. Extra cheese and mushroom pizza for the vegetarians this time, because every meat-eater likes veggies too.
	Those who dare pass the doorway of the Some Big Company party, must brave the cardboard cutout version of Death! And then they must pass by Rachna too, who takes the party tickets.
	A department led by one manager "Jim", dressed up as him. Jim can't quite believe it yet.
	But Jim was made to join with his spawned collective. All must be Jim .
	Even people who had other costumes, had to be Jim.
	Table of Jim.
	The departmental leadership and Matt the party master sit in judgment. Matt's the man without the mustache.
	This table has a race car driver and a Renaissance man. But the strangest costume is the Chicago Cubs fan... after the White Sox swept the World Series. Which itself is not just strange, it's another sign of the Apocalypse.
	Marcus is a Tennis Victim. And he won First Prize! (Marcus works with Scott on occasion, even after costume parties. You'll have to imagine the Dominator and the Tennis Victim bent over a computer in the Domination of Eiler enclave, because for some reason, the Domination's cameraman was unavailable right then.)
	One guy dressed in western wear. We can't call him a cowboy, though, because he has no cow.
	Rich is a cowboy, because he has a cow.
	Heidi won the Halloween quiz! Among other things, she knew that Scotsmen carve turnips, not pumpkins, for Halloween. And for knowing that, she gets a prize! ... from the dollar store.
	We had two other quiz winners, including Mr. Western Wear. They each got suitable prizes from the dollar store.
	Matt is the master of ceremonies.
	Contestants in the costume contest.
	Srini made a spectacular late entry as a legendary creature from a Jules Verne novel. To his chagrin, he was promptly mistaken for Michael Jackson.
	Maotze ("Mousey"?), Max and Jerome came in even later. But still in time. The Gorilla and Banana team won a prize!
	Scott's development team had more costumes than any other team. Including the Team of Jim, which only had one costume.
	Max the Gorilla runs rampant. But what's that in his hair?
	... Why, it's the Domination of Eiler battle flag!
	Jerome did a banana dance for the coders. The scary thing is, he looked just like a dancing banana icon from Instant Messenger software.
	A brave few people stayed behind to clean up. Towards the end, they were in danger of being outnumbered by trash bags.
	The Team of Many Costumes had its daily staff meeting in costume, of course.
	Shui dressed as a Chicago White Sox fan. Go figure.
	Maotze is still Minnie Mouse, but Max is missing his gorilla head.

Part II: Eilertech

The Eilertech Halloween Party is always on Halloween Friday, so as to allow serious partying for the grown-ups.

As ever, the Domination of Eiler took many pictures of its own Halloween party, because it's the year's leading propaganda opportunity of Eiler Techical Enterprises, a.k.a. the Technical Directorate of the Domination of Eiler. Submit to the Domination!

Attendance was lower than some years, due to soccer tournaments, a plague of sick uncles, and the general desire to get out of town on Eiler Party Day. Still, twenty people showed up. A good time was had by all.

	The Domination of Eiler regularly conquers a pool room at Idols Pub in Palatine, Illinois for its own Halloween party. This year is no exception.
	Jerome without a bright yellow costume for once - and Suresh A. with one! Scott had a spare, with the tasteful sort of color scheme that one can expect from Scott. Just the thing to go with Suresh's Batman mask... if Suresh doesn't lose it first.
	Maotze and Lena.
	Tetyana says, Eek! Mikhail just won't leave the guests alone. In the background, Suresh has found his Batman mask, but he's not defending the ladies very well.
	The superhero and the evil mask finally face off. Oh no, who will win?
	Srini sees the camera and Max doesn't.
	Even former Some Big Company/Eilertech fellow workers come to the party. Here are Srini's roommate and Bob.
	Winnie's here too, along with Shui and Bob's wife Gloria.
	Rayal and Suresh S.
	Gloria, Afsheen and Rachna.
	Rayal was somehow able to rip the mask of the Suresh-Batman for his own use.
	People put their costumes back on for the costume contest. Costumes are hard work. .
	But once Jerome has that banana costume back on, he's great at making friends.
	And once Jerome starts doing his banana dance, the ladies whip their cameras out.
	But when the gorilla starts chasing the banana, the dance is over and the costume contest is on!
	The Yellow Bat strikes a heroic pose.
	Hey, the gorilla made a friend who isn't a banana! But his new friend is in the Army.
	The creature from Doctor Moreau's Island puts on a dance. If he wanted to not be mistaken for Michael Jackson, this isn't helping.
	Winnie, Rachna and Gloria consented to judge the costume contest. The party was fortunate to have that many impartial judges.
	Here we have our costume contestants.
	Minnie, the Gorilla, and the Banana got prizes. The Dominator would have gotten one too, except he brought the prizes in the first place.
	Can superheroes and World Domination play nicely together? Probably not.
	World Domination makes a sneaky attack while the banana's back is turned.
	Meanwhile, the superhero gets in trouble with people shooting pool at the next table over. (The world may never know the full story here...)
	Vizarat got to the party late. Hey, isn't that Lena leaving?
	But Bob's still here when Vizarat comes.
	Scott the Dominator takes a break from world domination, and fraternizes with his U.S. Army enemies Shui and Winnie.
	Everyone wore a nametag, so the waitress knew they were on the party tab. And someone lost their nametag. More than once.
	The end-of-party group picture. Got nametags?
	... Here they are!
	At the end, it came down to one table with Rayal, Suresh and Gene.
	... And Scott.
	Before going home, we crossed the street for coffee. Rayal wisely borrowed the superhero cape for visibility.
	A long-standing cartoon around the office has everyone sneering at poor Jerome. Now we know why. It's because his banana suit won the Eilertech costume contest! Jerome got a lovely stick from the Hall of Sticks. Max got a Domination of Eiler polo shirt. Maotze got a full-size Domination battle flag.

Part III: Some Big Company / Wellness Center

On the workday closest to Halloween (being, this year, Halloween), the Some Big Company in-house gym (they like to call themselves the "Wellness Center") has costumed kickboxing. They used to have prizes, but that was back when they could afford enough clothes hangers for the changing rooms. But the students can still dress up!

	Scott gets his chance to wear his spare cape. But this isn't just any cape, it's the cape of the Powernaut!
	One of the Powernaut's little fans (okay, it was Syed) wanted to see the Powernaut fly.
	The Powernaut's costume is vague enough to incorporate gym clothes for a serious workout. And hairy legs, fortunately.
	Doug the kickboxing instructor dressed up as the Karate Kid. He always dresses up as the Karate Kid for Halloween.
	One woman dressed up as laundry. She fell out of the basket during the workout, though.
	Cindy dressed up as an angel. She fell out of her halo during the workout, though.
	The cape of the Powernaut is just the right length for martial arts. And he didn't fall out of it! The Powernaut dares the Batman to try that stuff for real in a full-length Bat cape.