When I Socialize, I Eat ...

... and I had a group dinner on Friday and a friend's birthday dinner last/Saturday night.  I went to two places I haven't been to, and to celebrate, I ordered a lot of food.  And I ate it.  And I am fat, and I feel fat.  

Drank a bit, too.  Starting to feel like it's a bit much.  It certainly is wrecking my sleep schedule.  I went to bed early last/Saturday night because I was tired, and yet I woke up at 8.  And I see, as I type this, that the Gold Medal Game of the Olympic men's hockey tournament is going on now.  Everybody, and I mean everybody, is watching this Game ... and to celebrate, I think that I am going to go out to watch with other Americans, too.

I don't stop.  Even though, maybe, I should.

I blog posted about thinking about bringing in my parents' minivan to look at exhaust that appears to be coming out of the passenger side.  Well, I have driven it a few times since, including this morning, when I used to drive to the bank and then to get my face shaved, and after the initial start, I don't see any exhaust coming out of any place it ain't supposed to.  When I got home, I left the vehicle on while I got out, and while I saw smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe (I just checked; it's 19 degrees now), I didn't see it seeping out of the side of the car.

Maybe I don't have to bring it in.  Maybe I will bring it in and ask the mechanic if he sees something, and maybe I'll pay for repairs other than the exhaust system that may or may not need repair.  Who knows?

New Hat Rack

So just after the New Year I bought on Amazon a new hat rack.  The one I have, which Father helped nail onto the wall, kind of looks like a ladder.  There are hooks that you hang on each "slat" of this rack, and the pincers at the end of each hook is where the folded cap gets attached and hangs on the rack.

Two problems with this.  One, I have bought and got so many ballcaps (I want to say I have at least 50) that there was no more room on the rack.  And two, the hooks have gotten so worn out that they no longer pinch the caps in place.  I try putting them back, and just when I think the hook has a hat in its grasp, the hat falls to the ground.  I have had to throw away many hooks that have worn out.

My Father, in the midst of going through my shit and fucking invading my privacy, did come up with an ingenious way to get all my hats on the rack by putting them on those clothes hangers with hooks on each end, then hanging those clothes hangers on the rack.  But I wound up relaxing in my bed, watching my TV and seeing, over to the left, this ugly mass of hats and a metastatic tumor of clothes hangers squeezing next to and piling on top of one another just so they can stay on the rack.  I normally don't give a fuck about how things look so long as they do the job, but even I couldn't stand seeing that monstrosity every day.  (I have to admit that, as clever as he is, seeing that semi-organized mess was a reminder that My Fucking Father went through my things and acted as if he knew what was best for me, and I rebelled against that, albeit subconsciously.)

I thought I needed a second hat rack to handle the overflow of the first hat rack, but in time I thought I should just get something that could handle all of my hats.  Eventually, I something that fit the bill and bought it on Amazon.  It is a series of five cubby holes on a vertical rack that can hang on doors because there are hooks and grommets on the top.  I installed it on the inside of my bedroom door and, frankly, it's a godsend.  All the hats that crowded my plastic rack I can just fold and place in one of the shelves, and I have two shelves left over.  In fact, assuming I don't buy any more ballcaps (and that could happen), this new rack really could take all the hats I have.  I don't necessarily need my first, old one anymore.  The only thing I'm scared of, and this might just be my paranoia talking, is that the hats on this new, second rack might weigh down my door so much it'll start to pry the door off its hinge.  Hope not; this door has been where it's been as long as I can remember it.

All in all, I'm glad I made this purchase.

Simple Syrup Is Seeping

I thought putting the full cup of simple syrup, which I made by boiling a cup of sugar in a cup of water, into a smaller plastic container instead of the larger one, would suffice.  All of the simple syrup fit, but when I put the lid on, I could see the syrup push up against the bottom of the lid, you know what I mean?

I put it in the fridge and didn't think anything more of it.  But when I opened up the refrigerator door later to get something to drink, I saw that there were droplets on the side and all around the container.  The syrup was seeping out.  I don't think the container was leaking, but I surmised that the lid pushed the syrup through any opening between the lid and the container, and if it didn't drip over the side of the container it was, um, solid enough that it could travel to the lip of the lid and then drop onto the glass shelf.

Darn.  I'm not one to clean the fridge, and now it's all sticky.  I actually poured out a little simple syrup so it wouldn't push up against the lid.  I also used, like, 15 mL of it on a, I think, gimlet.  But it continues to leak out.  I have put a paper towel underneath the collect the drops, but that's too late for the simple syrup that had dropped onto the shelf.  Meanwhile, I thought I would have used more of the syrup by now, but it doesn't look like I'll be using it at all this weekend.  So the simple syrup will continue to seep.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: 0).  Before I begin, I have to note that this Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey is bereft of pro teams.  The Wild and the NHL aren't playing because the Winter Olympics are going on now, and the Timberwolves last played last Wednesday (the last day of last Week's WMNSS) and the NBA is coming back from their All-Star break tonight/Thursday night.  So this survey is all-University of Minnesota.  I swear this must've happened before, but I don't remember when.

With that said, the story in Twin Cities sports should be the University of Minnesota women's basketball team.  As good as they've become in the past Month, I didn't give them any chance of upsetting tenth-ranked Ohio St. last/Wednesday night, even if it was at The Barn, even if the Golden Gophers finally got ranked at #23.  They trailed at Halftime by three.  But they blew the Game wide open in the Third Quarter, outscoring Ohio St. 27-13 on their way to a convincing 74-61 Win over the Buckeyes in the university's annual Pink Game, beating them for the first time since 2016 (a span of 14 Games).  It's their second victory over an AP Top 10 team this Year, matching their Win at then-tenth-ranked Iowa back on the 5th.

Last/Wednesday night capped off a 3-0 Week, started with wallopings of Nebraska at home and Wisconsin on the road.  And Minnesota is now on a nine-Game winning streak.  Forget my misgivings back around the New Year wondering if they'll miss The Big Dance again; not only are they in, they are rocketing up the bracketology projections.  In fact, they are now fighting for a Top-Four Seed and the right to host the first two Rounds of the NCAAs.  Wow, what a turnaround.  Is there any reason why these women shouldn't be in Positive Numbers, let alone topping the WMNSS, this Week?

And after three Games in seven Days, they can relax with only one Game this screening Week, even though it's a big one: At home to 18th-ranked Michigan St. early Sunday night.

#0: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -3).  Finished the regular season crushing Michigan St. Sunday afternoon at the Sports Pavilion, 37-6.  That rout is nice, but by itself that isn't zero-worthy.  Honestly, I put the grapplers here because 1) they are the only other team this Week to go undefeated and 2) I do not skip over numbers, and since the Gopher hooping women more than deserve Positive Numbers, I had to put some squad above negative numbers.  So -- ta-da!

Unless they pull off a miracle and win other the conference or NCAA Tournament, they're off the survey until March 26, where they will get eulogized (again) for the end of the season.

#-1: Gopher baseball (NEW SEASON!!).  The Big Ten Conference has become such a behemoth that I believe it's expected that all schools in the league will attend to growing and improving their baseball programs.  They're not on a league with the SEC or ACC.  In fact, I still think that the B1G is a mid-major when it comes to college baseball.  But the ambition is there, despite the drawbacks living in the northern part of the U. S. (besides the two Los Angeles colleges).

I don't know if that ambition is there in Dinkytown.  Minnesota lags in NIL compared to most BcS schools, and since this isn't football or men's basketball, so the Gopher Nine probably will still have trouble squaring up against UCLA, Indiana and Nebraska.

The season started off well, though.  They were in Deland, Fla., for a tournament that doesn't have a name -- but they won it!  They beat Stetson Friday, 11-5, then shut out St. John's Saturday morning, 8-0 -- impressive.  They followed that up with another 8-0 blanking Sunday morning, this time of Ball St.  But Florida Gulf Coast put an end to the Gophers' hot start, nipping them on Wednesday, 6-5, last/Wednesday night in Fort Myers.

Ft. Myers is where they will remain.  They have an Exhibition with the Twins (Ft. Myers is their Spring Training headquarters) Friday, then have a two-Game series there versus Northeastern.  They then begin a four-Game series vs. Kansas at U. S. Bank Stadium on Wednesday that will skip Thursday.  Weird.

#-2: Gopher softball (Last Week: -2).  You know, El Paso was kind of dingy and I got my parents' work truck stolen which made me so scared to move out of the house, but I still miss those days when I was down there for six months ... wow, a quarter-century ago.  Damn.  Anyway, they swept The Dr. Diana Natalicio Memorial Tournament (one Day only) in El Paso by beating Idaho St. and host Texas-El Paso Friday afternoon, then headed west on I-10 to reach Las Cruces, N. M., and participate in The Troy Cox Classic over the weekend.  They faced The Face Of Top-Flight College Softball, current-#4 Oklahoma Saturday morning ... and got Mercy-Ruled in five Innings, 12-2.  The Gophs rebounded in the afternoon to beat host New Mexico St., 11-4, but in the rematch late Sunday morning, the Aggies got them back, 5-3.

So a 3-2 screening Week.  But hey, they now get to travel home (er, it's at U. S. Bank Stadium) to host their own non-conference tournament, The Gopher Indoor Classic, this weekend.  They face Long Island, Iowa St., Central Michigan twice, and North Dakota St.  

#-3: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4).  A twelve-Point defeat at Washington followed by a 17-Point victory at an Oregon team that's fallen on black days under Dana Altman.  And that, my friends, is all I have so say about this club.  Well, this Week they host Rutgers and visit current-#1 Michigan.

#-4: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -5).  A Shootout Win and a defeat at Notre Dame.  It's jarring to look at the NCAA Power Index (NPI), which has replaced the PairWise as the sole determinant in selecting the at-large field for the NCAA Tournament, and see that Minnesota is not only so low (as of press time they are 41st), but that St. Thomas, the other Twin Cities school playing top-flight college hockey, is not only higher but 13th, aka on the bubble.  When Tommies sports officially started top-flight play several Years ago, I mused how and even whether I would incorporate St. Thomas schools into the WMNSS.  I thought I promised then I would reach a decision by the time they were eligible for postseason play.  I have not, but that hockey team might force my hand in a Month.

Anyway, the Gophers ain't makin' it.  And they have a bye this weekend.

#-5: Gopher women's hockey (whoops I forgot).  I swear I looked up this team's results a Week ago while constructing last Week's Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey -- which consisted of a regulation Win over St. Thomas Friday afternoon at Anderson Arena and a Shootout Win over the Tommies at Ridder Saturday afternoon -- but I apparently did not put them in. Unfortunately, because of my oversight, I have to roll in this past Week's Games also, which are a pair of two-Goal Losses at second-ranked Ohio St., and I have decided the female icers bring up the rear.  As I have said about this program for upwards of a Decade now, the U. is chasing the Buckeyes and Wisconsin for women's top-flight college hockey supremacy, so only results against those two schools matter.  And they got swept.

They finish the regular season hosting Minnesota-Duluth for a two-Game series Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

I am charging my cellphone for the second time today.  Maybe the second time I have ever done that.  I guess that's what I do when I have the day off and decide to spend the Chinese/Lunar New Year doing close to nothing important: I use my phone so much I have to charge it twice in a day.

Still, I am not liking the health of this battery.  It has plagued me since I got it that Easter, and even if I use it a lot, I still don't like it.  Not "get a new phone ASAP" hate it, but, well, kind of.

Got done with a Teams with two financial advisors for one of my investment portfolios.  I hope having this meeting on Chinese/Lunar New Year does not bring me bad luck.  I don't think it is.

It was kind of embarrassing to admit to these advisors that my investments with them are one of three I have total.  It's more embarrassing to confess that I haven't looked very close at any of them to see if they're making money the way I want them to.  But I should, so I will look at those other portfolios now ... if I remember how to login.

Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year!

It feels as if the older I get, the more I hew to Chinese/Lunar New Year superstitions, as cockamamie they may be.  As I have gathered on the Internet, these are things one is not supposed to do and the time periods in which you cannot do them:

• For the first three days of the Chinese/Lunar New Year: Do not sweep, clean the house, shower or wash your hair
• For the first five days of the Chinese/Lunar New Year: Do not clean the dishes or do the laundry
• For the first 15 days of the Chinese/Lunar New Year: Do not take your car in for maintenance and/or repairs or use sharp objects
• For the first 30 days of the Chinese/Lunar New Year: Do not go to the doctor or dentist

That all seems silly, I know.  But I cleaned out the garbage, did the dishes, showered and trimmed my nails before midnight.  I also avoided meat and instead ate Culver's two-piece walleye dinner, bones and all.  Then again, I just realized that I used a knife to slice open oranges so I could make myself a tequila sunrise that I am drinking right now.  Welp, I guess I just damned myself to a year of bad luck.  Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year!!!

Putting Two And Two Together

My hand is hurting again -- right hand, at the base, right on the thumb side.  I was wondering why I've been getting shooting pain there all night, and then I realized that I used a knife to eat an andouille sausage tonight/Sunday night.  I have the same damn pain after I cut open packages of piss at work.  So the muscles I use when I use a knife hurt whether I'm cutting open packages or cutting through a sausage.

Which means ... well, I shouldn't use a knife anymore.  Man, it hurts!

Thought I was going into work today.  There was a lot of work my bosses were anticipating for the weekend, and so on Friday they asked me to come in today.  But this morning I got a text from one of my bosses saying my services were no longer needed because they in fact finished.

I'm OK with that, but.  For one thing, I got the impression on Friday that there would be work today.  If that wasn't the case and there was a possibility I would not come in, I wish it would've been couched that way, something like, "I assume there will be work, but there won't, so if there isn't, we'll let you know."  Something like that, you know?

The other thing is, even though I put in overtime last week, I could've gotten a little more had I stayed late on Friday.  Even though my main responsibility that day was The Fourth Department, there was enough data entry work that afternoon that my boss told the people who work out there to stay, I think, an extra half-hour.  This may not be the policy, but I believe that means that I could stay an extra half-hour.  I actually could've stayed more than half an hour, come to think of it.  But I left after eight hours.  Why?  Well, all the work in The Fourth Department got done.  And ... I left.  I guess it didn't occur to me that I could've stayed at least an extra 30 minutes to key.  And I didn't have to get home to watch a sport on TV or anything, either.  Dang it, I now regret not staying later on Friday.