Stranger's Shit

When I went to Mariucci Friday afternoon I needed to pee.  Like the arena, but they still have fucking troughs, and I'll be goddamned if I ever have to use one.  Luckily there weren't too many people there, so I just went into one of the open stalls and FUCKING GODDAMMIT, there was floating piece of feces in the toilet.  And it was yellow and brown and everything.  Some motherfucker just didn't care to flush, Jesus fucking Christ.

I'll be honest: It kind of ruined the rest of my day.  I was watching the hockey Games, and I got obsessed with what I wanted to buy there.  But FUCKING GODDAMMIT, I flashed back to that piece of shit in the toilet.  The last time I saw something like that was at Lafayette Coney Island in Detroit when I was there the last weekend Tiger Stadium was open, and my pure OCD makes me flash back to that piece of shit I saw from time to time (even though the water was clear, for some fucking reason).  Goddammit, people are just fucking gross and rude!!!

Fuck it.  Fuck it all.  If we can invade a country and kidnap a President just because, there really are no rules anymore.  (Well, there haven't really been rules since 2000, but you know what I mean.)  So let's stop playing by rules that don't exist anymore.  If they can do it, we can do it.  Why not?  Only they're doing it for oil and money and power, and when we do it -- and we better be doing it when we get a chance to do it -- it's because we're ridding the world of evil.  That's the difference between us.  And right now, that's all that fucking matters.

On Money -- When I Spend It And When I Complain About Spending It

So work yesterday/Friday ended at 2.  Missed the regulation Game (Germany doubled up Denmark and thus will stay up in the Top Division), but saw Switzerland come from behind in The Second Period and defeat Czechia in the 3:30 Game I was able to buy a ticket and make it to, then (with a ticket I already bought, not at work less than two hours before puck drop like the Czechs-Swiss Game) witnessed Canada crush Slovakia in the 7:30 Game, 7-1.

I got a ticket for the 3:30 matchup on a scalper site for $18 or so.  I was curious, so Thursday I checked prices for the 7:30 Game.  I bought one just before the tournament started for ... um, just under $70, I think.  I assumed that that Game would feature Canada, and that Canadians would swoop in from up north to see this Quarterfinal matchup.  I bought it before the tournament because the prices were starting to rise after falling a bit, and I was afraid that Canada fans would finally snatch them up thinking that they would be seeing their team.  What I forgot to factor in was Trump wanting to annex the entire nation.  That idiotic talk convinced many Canadians to not vacation in the U.S.  I remember hearing so many resorts and convention bureaus say that the number of Canadians vacationing in their cities and towns have plummeted.  I remember this now, but I didn't remember it when I bought that ticket.  (That's probably due to all the bullshit coming from that asshole's mouth; you forgot the crap he said because he constantly says new crap.  Apparently, it's a strength of his.)  So I checked Thursday and I could get in for about $39.  Dammit.  Well, I chalked this mistake up to our dumbass President and the fact that this is the World Juniors we're talking about; I don't mind paying a premium for an event I probably will never attend again even though it turns out I overspent by about $31.

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So I blog posted on here before about buying World Juniors merchandise, and about whether I wanted to buy at Mariucci Arena, the pop-up store at the Mall Of America, or both.  There were a lot of things I tried to consider about whether and what to buy, all of it leading me to a web of confusion.  Foremost among them was price, of course, but another thing was scarcity, in particular whether an item is only in one place.  And I think my OCD kicked in, because I got really, really obsessed over that when I went to Mariucci yesterday/Friday to watch the Games.

When I went down to the Megamall last Saturday, I hemmed and hawed about several items I saw down there.  Eventually I decided not to buy the big tickets items, such as jerseys and hooded sweatshirts.  They were oversized and they had designs that I wasn't too keen about.  Oh, and the price, of course.

I bought two medium size t-shirts of the same design.  It was important to me to at least buy anything World Juniors-related that had the official 2026 IIHF World Juniors logo and the flags of the ten countries competing.  I also bought two because of my OCD: The plan is to wear one and to keep one for storage for ... I don't know what.  Anyway, I bought a pair.  I also bought a scarf which, sad to say, I forgot to wear Friday to Mariucci when I planned on doing so.

But back to the t-shirts.  I don't necessarily regret buying them, but I recognized the style of that t-shirt when I was going through the merch store at Mariucci.  I was afraid that they would have sold out at the arena, and that's why I bought it down in Bloomington, but it isn't "special" because I saw it at MOA and Mariucci.  On the other hand, there were many, and I mean many, items at the pop-up that I didn't remember seeing at the arena.

I went into the merch store before the Czechia-Switzerland Game to buy my stuff before the Canadians did.  I wouldn't say it was cleaned out, but compared to what I saw on Boxing Day, they went through a lot of stuff.  However, and damn my fuzzy memory, even though there were several items there that I didn't see down in Bloomington, I think I'm right in thinking there is more "unique" stuff down at the Mall Of America than at the store in Mariucci.

And yet ... the things I saw in Mariucci that I don't recall seeing at MOA I pretty much bought.  At first I got a winter hat with the logo stitched on it (I know I didn't see that at the Megamall) and a logo pin (don't recall seeing it at MOA, but it's a small pin, so I could've missed it).  But during the first two periods of the Czechia-Switzerland Game I was debating about whether to buy more stuff.  Well, I save a lot of money because my parents buy all the food we eat, so I indulged myself.  At the Second Intermission, I went back into the merch store and bought a light blue hoodie with just the big logo in front (I don't think they have that one at the Megamall ... do they?) and two more t-shirts.  This one design has the logo in the front and the flags of the ten countries in the back along with Paul Bunyan as a hockey player and Babe The Blue Ox as a Goaltender.  I liked the Minnesota tie-in.  And I know I did not see this particular t-shirt at MOA.

I have dropped about $200 in World Juniors-branded clothing.  I don't think I have spent so much money in memorabilia for a single sporting event.  There have been other big sporting events I've attended ... well, actually I worked a Super Bowl and a Final Four.  I don't know how ethical it would've been to buy stuff, especially I was, you know, supposed to be working.  But for the World Juniors I'm a fan, and like I said, I have money, so I am getting all this.

And dammit ... my OCD wants me to go back to the Mall Of America a third time to go into that pop-up store to look one more time at the "exclusive" stuff it turns out I could only buy there.  In particular there was this orange quarter-zip that had the logo blown up and in contrast in the back.  Now I feel bad that I didn't buy it then.  But that pop-up store closes either tomorrow/Sunday or Monday, and now I feel compelled to buy that -- or, if that's gone, maybe something else I can only get there.  I had plans to just go home immediately after the Vikings Game, but this is the World Juniors, so I've decided I can alter my plans, cut out early from U. S. Bank Stadium, drive down there before the mall closes, and take out my credit card to buy stuff marking this once-in-a-lifetime event ...

... unless there's nothing there for me to buy and/or it's too expensive and/or all the stuff there I saw at Mariucci, in which case it would be a waste of time but whatever, I need to see for myself.  And this is where I catch myself not being frugal.  I'll spend (or fritter away) money if it's for a big sporting event and if I think the stuff I can buy is "special."  And I will beat myself up after the fact when I begin to doubt whether it is "special."  My goodness, I can't buy anything without a tinge of regret.

Quick Day Tomorrow? Three Games Tomorrow?

So I'm working today/Friday.  It's the day after New Year's.  We get worked based on urine tests collected yesterday, and obviously, since yesterday was New Year's Day, I really, really don't think there's going to be much work.  There might not be any work.  Combine that with the fact that on New Year's Eve we had a fairly meager workload that came in, and I gotta say that I don't think we're pulling a full day today because we didn't have much Wednesday.  In fact, I kind of think, or maybe I'm just hoping, that we will have a real quick day.

How quick?  I ask because while I have tickets to the last of three World Juniors Games at Mariucci Arena at 7:30, the second one drops at 3:30.  I have to think that if today isn't a full day, I could get in time to catch that Game.  The really intriguing one for me is the first Game between Germany and Denmark.  The International Ice Hockey Federation has promotion/relegation, and this is the relegation Game.  I really want to go for the stakes alone, but the puck drops on that one 11:30.  That might be a pipe dream ... but if there is no work today, and I can't see there being much, why can't I make it at 11:30?

We'll see.  And I'll cross my fingers.

And after lunch today My Father told me to clear the driveway of snow.  I don't know if we even got half an inch.  But I cleared it anyway, even though I really, really wanted to not even step foot outside to begin the New Year.

Fuck what I said before.  I can't wait for them to leave.

End Of 2025 Thoughts

My now ex-boss ... yeah, he was a guy.  Not only did he announce he was leaving through e-mail the minimum two weeks before he actually leaving, today, his last day, he didn't stay the whole day.  And he just e-mailed everybody peace before he left for his car five minutes later.  We all made a goodbye and thanks card for him, but my co-worker had to run it out to him as he was about to leave.  I think I said this before: I would rather have him than a micro-manager.  But geez, this is the guy who hired me for my first full-time job.  He helped me turn into a responsible adult.  I would have liked to express my gratitude in a less shallow way.

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My co-worker to whom I leaned up for much of my job left at the end of 2024, so in that sense, 2025 has gone full circle.  It has been a challenge to see my job, and thus me, change, mostly because people above me were leaving.  (I forgot that my supervisor left in the late summer; I still haven't recovered from that.)  We'll get by, only because we have to.  But I have no idea what this change will bring, and I don't like change as a principle.

I think the main thing that happened in my life, though, is Mother's knee surgery.  I am able to live much of my life independently, and for the most part I love living alone.  I haven't been able to do that for the past seven or eight months because of what Mother has to go through.  I always adapt, and I am glad that she got her knee fixed (even though she complains that it is not as good as she wants it to be), but some days it hasn't been fun having them around here ... and yet, I want to cherish the times I have with my folks when they're good, like when Father helped me clear the driveway of snow, or every night I get to eat a great dinner my parents made.

My neighbor's death a few weeks ago still weighs on me.  She is the person in my life I have lost this year, so in that sense, I have been quite lucky.  That's why I want to enjoy my time with my parents when they should be halfway around the world.  One year I will look back on the year with great, intense sadness.  I know it'll happen, and I don't want it to.

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I'm driving down to my friends' place after I get finished with this blog post.  Hope I survive the drive down and back.  It's a tradition I intend on continuing for as long as possible, as a signpost that, despite all the setbacks and wrongs and pain I might have incurred through the year, I made it.

Happy New Year, everyone.  Let's make it a good one.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

My annual, end-of-year reminder that, because I want to keep some part of The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey fresh, it will be published at a different day of the week for 2026.  It is always the day of the week January 8 falls under, so for next year, expect to see the WMNSS up every Thursday.  To catch up, next Week's survey will encompass Games from today, December 31, through Wednesday, January 7. 

#-1: Wild (Last Week: -5).  They have nipped that two-Game losing streak by winning both Games they had this Week, both of which were on the road because they're vacating the GCA so that the World Juniors could use the arena.  Minnesota crushing The (Last) Vegas Golden Knights, 5-2, Monday at their place was *chef's kiss*.  I liked their Win Saturday at The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers, too, but I wish it didn't have to go into Overtime to prevent Winnipeg from picking up a loser Point.  Alas -- Mats Zuccarello tied it up with 32 Seconds left in the Third Period, then Matt Boldy potted the Game-winner 39 Seconds into Overtime.  If they couldn't beat them in regulation, winning this way is kind of the next best thing.

It is confounding that the Wild may be both the third-best team in the NHL and the third-best team in their Division, but here we are ... even though they are creeping up The Team That Was Stolen From Us.  They continue their long road trip through the New Year by continuing out west: San Jose this/Wednesday/New Year's Eve afternoon; Anaheim Friday; then a pair of contests in Los Angeles Saturday and Monday night.

#-2: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1).  OK, so this is what I want to see: This club with so much talent and promise going into hostile territory and not only winning but wiping out the home team.  I don't know how good Indiana is or isn't supposed to be, but I did not expect the U. to come away from Bloomington with a 71-48 shit-kicking of the Hoosiers.  This is kind of what I expect from a Dawn Plitzuweit-led team.  But a much taller task awaits to begin the New Year: At Michigan Monday.  Experts say that it'll be the Wolverines and UCLA atop The Big Ten, with UConn, Texas and LSU forming an unstoppable "Big Five" in women's college basketball from which one will almost assuredly win this Year's championship.  An upset Win there and ... hoo, boy.

#-3: Vikings (Last Week: -3).  Yeah, I have a sneaking suspicion the Vikes are playing harder than many other squads, including the ones on their schedule.  They actually won going away at home versus Detroit Christmas afternoon, 23-10, in a most inexplicable way possible: Detroit giving away six Turnovers.  I never imagined the Lions imploding like this, but their vaunted, high-flying Offense essentially shot itself in both feet.  And no offense to Max Brosmer, but if you can't beat a guy who went nine-for-16 for 51 Yards in the tilt -- and got sacked seven times in the Game -- you done fucked up.

I might touch more on this some other time, but right now, I can't stand the people who hate the Vikings for not tanking in order to secure a higher draft pick.  They reflexibly call the team (or the front office or the coaching or the players ... hell, why not all of them?) incompetent.  Well, winning four in a row, and possibly finishing the season above .500 if they beat the injury-racked Packers early Sunday afternoon, is very, very competent.  Don't you want your team to show you they might know what they're doing?  My belief that the Vikings could run the table remain very much in play.  I don't remember the last time, if ever, I have ever felt so good about a club that got eliminated from postseason contention so early.

#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -2).  Finished the non-conference part of their schedule by routing Fairleigh Dickinson Monday night by 17.  FDU upset Purdue a few Years back in only the second #16-over-#1 upset in men's college basketball tournament history, but this current team is no great shakes, so the victory doesn't have that much juice.  Now, at Northwestern late Saturday afternoon, or home to Iowa Tuesday night?  I might start caring.

#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4).  Of the five Twin Cities teams to play this screening Week, it's only the Timberwolves who lost.  Their defeat Christmas night in Denver is forgivable: The Nuggets remain a formidable opponent, Anthony Edwards hit a quick, spinning 3 to send the Game to OT, and even though the Wolves had a huge lead in Overtime, they only lost by four on the back of a superlative performance from Nikola Jokic.  I was able to catch the end of the Game, and people are calling it The Game Of The Year.

However, their Loss to Brooklyn Saturday, at home by 16, is much less acceptable.  The Nets are third from the bottom in The Eastern Conference.  And you get blown out?  I don't care how much of a comedown those players were on after that insta-classic two Days before; do they have any idea that they might not be able to take Games off, especially if the consequences might be losing to a shitty squad at home?

The T-Wolves were able to bounce back and finally win this Week by annihilating the Bulls in Chicago by 35 Points on Monday.  (Side note: The Timberwolves, Wild, and both Golden Gopher basketball clubs all played Monday, and they all kicked ass in their respective Matches.  It may be The Most Dominating Day In Minnesota Sports History.)  But they sit in a virtual tie with The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers for fifth in the West.  Getting into a groove and stacking victories would do a lot, promise.

This Week: They complete their four-Game road trip with visits to Atlanta (this/Wednesday/New Year's Eve afternoon), Miami (late Saturday afternoon), and Washington (early Sunday evening) before coming home and hosting the Heat Tuesday.

Fucking Hate Driving In The Snow

It may be recency bias, or it might be me getting old.  But I swear, driving yesterday/Monday morning was the most treacherous drive I've ever had.  I don't exactly know how it works since temperatures all day were below freezing, but the snow that fell on Sunday (and by the way, I don't think we got more than four inches; the problem was the wind was swirling it all around) melted and then froze, so what we got was more akin to ice than snow.

That meant we had to be really, really careful when driving, and there were a couple occasions (taking a right turn, stopped at an intersection) that I couldn't get going.  Worse off is the feeling when I was driving at, oh, 40 or 55 miles an hour that I didn't have complete control of the car.  It takes me back to when I was driving to a Wild Game in the middle of a snowstorm in my old car for work with the radio station; I tried to merge and actually spun a couple times and, thank God, rested right in the left shoulder, facing in the correct direction, without hitting anything.  But that loss of control always stayed with me, and I felt it a few times when driving to and from work yesterday/Monday.

Will the roads get better?  I want to say that road crews getting another day of it will finally make driving better.  But the problem is there are clippers coming in both this/Tuesday and tomorrow/Wednesday morning.  It shouldn't drop more than an inch in either case, but could it be enough to make driving bad again?  I don't need that shit.  I fucking hate driving in the snow.

Father And I Got Along Like Two Peas In A Pod!

You know when I said I didn't think Father really meant it when he said he wanted to spend the holidays with me here at home?  Well. ...

I woke up late in the morning to see flakes fly outside.  I've seen and driven through worse, but I didn't want to chance a risky drive to St. Paul just to see a hockey Game, especially since it was supposed to get worse.  I told Father, who noted the snow outside, that I wasn't going, so he fixed me up a sandwich and fruit to eat for lunch.

Later, for dinner, I convinced my parents that since I bought a couple extra bottles of sparkling apple juice, this would be a good occasion for us to break out the apple-cranberry bottle in the fridge.  So, even though it wasn't Christmas or New Year's, we got to celebrate a "big dinner" (and it was big -- nice pork and salad ... they went out for dinner last/Sunday night).

Right after that, Father wanted to clear the driveway.  I thought it better to wait, but he went out and prepared a pair of galoshes for me, so I went out too.  I've obviously plowed a driveway by myself before, and once you get that machine going, you're unstoppable.  But I've got to say that it was really, really nice to have My Father help with shoveling all the small parts of the driveway, like the walkway up to the stoop and right next to the cars.  He even helped scrape all the ice and snow off of my windshield.  With both of us doing it, that chore went by even faster.

And finally, after I got back in from plowing, I decided to finally wash the bedsheet, something I've wanted to do for a week now.  When I grabbed it from the dryer, Father saw me and said, "Aw, I could've washed it for you tomorrow."  "Nah, that's OK," I said, "but thank you!"

It was a nice, friendly conversation between father and son.  In fact, Sunday was a beautiful and ... well, loving day between us.  You know, for all my misgiving about my parents -- all the fake sentiments, the lies, the passive-aggressiveness, the fighting -- I have fantastic days like this with them when we're the family we should be and I forgive all that other crap.  My misgivings and grudges totally melt away.

You know, right now, I actually believe My Father wants to spend the holidays here with me.  And I want to feel this feeling more often.

Feet Are Hot

I think for the past week, though it might be only the past several days, my feet have been burning up.  I have had to sleep under the covers, but with my feet sticking out through either the bottom or, more likely, the side of my blanket.  And overnight, I actually slept about 6 1/2 hours above my sheets.

I don't know how this is happening.  What I really, really want to do is go outside and put my bare feet in the snow and leave them there until my feet get numb.  It's as if my body is just firing all this heat down to my feet, and by subjecting them to this intense cold for so long, my body will just reset, like a rebooted computer, and my feet won't feel so hot anymore.  But I can't do that because my parents will yell at me.

My feet are still hot.  They might continue to be hot when I finally go out to plow the snow.