I Hate It When I Panic, And I Really Hate It When I Don't Have To Panic

I wasn't in a good frame of mind when I came home last/Tuesday night after the Timberwolves Game (which they won, even though they finally took the lead on The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies just before halfway through the Third Quarter).  Naturally I checked the thermostat first thing when I got home.  And the thermostat was blank.

Ah, so the batteries ran out.  Well, Father bought a huge stash of AA batteries, so I replaced them.  But the thermostat still didn't work.  Oh, no.  The thermostat we have is just a programmable one.  It also has been there as far as I can remember.  It's been so long since it's been replaced, it makes sense that the damn thing just conked out.

Unfortunately, I suddenly realized I was in the lurch.  You can't really go without a thermostat, can you?  Well, I should take that back; if it were not too long ago, when the temperature was below freezing all day, not having the ability to heat the house with the help of a thermostat would be dangerous.  But we are, thankfully, having a mild (if not necessarily a heat) wave with temps punching into the fifties most days this week.  I have been told that you don't want to let the ambient temperature of the house drop below 60 degrees.  That would happen if it were below freezing, but probably not now when it's much warmer than that.

That would give me time.  To do what ... well, that's what I have been doing the next couple hours.  I ran into a YouTube video whereby you could hack the furnace on using this special two-way wire that does the work of a thermostat, including stopping when it reaches a certain temp.  But my main concern, obviously, is getting a new thermostat.  I tried looking for the exact type of thermostat, but that thing is damn old, so it's not in stock at any hardware store.  It's plentiful online, but that obviously would take time to get shipped, and as much as I think the house could survive without regular heat because of the milder temps, I don't know how long I want to tempt that.

Unfortunately, the thermostats that I could just go and buy are way, way different from the one that's in the house now.  First of all, I see these smart thermostats and they are way too smart for me.  Then, as I fell further down the rabbit hole of learning about the world of thermostats, I saw that the wiring pattern behind the thermostat is very, very important to note and even take a photo of.  Each brand and maybe even each model of thermostat will or might have a different configuration of the ends of the wires being plugged into its socket.  Moreover, the configuration of how the sockets are arranged vary by brand and even by model.  So if I bought one of these things off the shelf, I would have to unscrew the wires, unscrew the mounting plate, put the new mounting plate in (while making sure it's level), then carefully matching up the wires to its socket in the new configuration.  And I'm supposed to make sure the HVAC is completely unplugged while I do this, and I don't know how the hell to do that.  I was going to just wing it and do this intricate wiring work without shutting the power off to the HVAC.  Hey, I'm a big boy now, right?

Ultimately, though, I decided I was too chickenshit to do that.  My dumb ass was sure to get electrocuted.  And then I went on Amazon, saw this particular brand of thermostat, and then saw that magic word: "Prime."  If I sign up -- and, of course, it's only a free trial! -- I can get this same brand of thermostat delivered in two days.  I think the house can go without heat for two days in this weather, right?  So I signed up to get it this Friday.  I just have to remember to cancel Amazon Prime in 30 days because Amazon is the devil.  I just had to dance with him because otherwise I would have no heat.

With that bought ... well, why don't I try new batteries in the old thermostat again?  There are plenty down there, and maybe I just got two bad ones or something.  So I took that old thermostat downstairs, found two other "new" batteries, put them in ... and the display was back on.  Jesus fucking Christ, did I pick two new batteries that just didn't fucking work?  Or is this thermostat being so flighty that it just decided to work then and there?

So I have heat now, and it seems to be working fine.  I thought about cancelling delivery of the new/old thermostat and Amazon Prime.  But remembering how panicked I was, I'm keeping it.  This is a prime example where it's smart to have a back-up.  Of course, I have to remember that I have a back-up thermometer.  If this one conks out for real, there's a good chance I will forget I bought a replacement.  Where would I even put this one once it comes in?  Well, that's not the worst problem to have.

---

I told you at the start of this blog post that I was not in a good frame of mind.  That's because of the car.  I'm scaring myself into thinking it's way too low on oil.  I have checked, or tried to check, the level a few times over the past week or so, but the goddamn thing is so hard to read.  I have a dipstick that has a plastic orange end.  It's hard to read when there's clear, new oil, and it's also a bitch to decipher because it seemingly has oil above the full dot and below the empty dot, and then it's completely drenched in oil on one side of the dipstick but completely dry on the other.

I checked the oil level before driving out of downtown after the Wolves Game.  The dipstick was how I described it above, and it wasn't the first time it looked like this.  So is my car completely tapped out of oil?  I can't believe that; I got an oil change about 2 1/2 months ago, and I don't think it's leaking oil.  And what if I have overfilled it, which is something I am scared as hell I have done if I fully believe what I saw on my dipstick these past few times, acted as if my engine was empty, but got suckered because it was in fact full, or even more than full?

I am in a bind.  Or, I have put myself in a bind of my own delusions.  I have blog posted before that I might be scaring myself into thinking I am about to do catastrophic damage to my car by doing and/or not doing something when the best thing I could do is just chill and drive.  Maybe that's the case here, and I should just relax ... no, fuck no, I need to take this into the dealership.  Maybe they can figure out how much oil is in my car without charging me for an oil change, or something.  And then they can teach me how to fuckin' read the oil level on their shitty dipstick.

And I am changing my mind on that, maybe.  I am leaning toward putting in just a little more oil.  Maybe that'll be the thing that finally gives me the results I want to see on the dipstick.  But what if I overfill it?  I've seen so many fucking disaster films.  Man, why do I have a car?  Why do I even drive?  It's just one more burden you're placing on yourself.

Deep breaths, trying to take deep breaths. ...

Hello, City Workers, And Goodbye, Tree Stump

So almost three weeks ago I was woken up by a city surveyor who I thought was ICE, but really just wanted access to my gas meter so he and his co-worker could mark the gas and water lines on my front yard when people come back and grind the stump of the diseased tree that had to be removed.  He said people would come by the following week.  I called the city the next day to make sure they are who they said they were, and the person I spoke to said the following week was being optimistic.

The person I called was right; they didn't come the following week.  But they came yesterday/Monday morning.  Like, kind of early.  Like, I was hitting the snooze button for the first time when I heard some people talking outside.  It wasn't distracting, but I didn't hear such loud talking at 7:10 in the morning.  Just after I hit the snooze button for the second time, I heard this loud machine noise from what I thought was just down the street.  That was enough to convince me getting just a few more winks of shuteye wasn't in the cards, so I got up, and went to the bathroom -- to pee, of course, but to also look outside to see what was the matter.  And that's when I saw two dudes on my front yard.  One of them was standing a few feet from to this chest-high partition that was surrounding the stump, and another on a payloader with a stump grinder on the front, grinding away on the tree stump.

I go out and, as someone who didn't expect anyone to see a dude working on his front yard at 7:30 in the morning, wave to the guy standing.  "Good morning!" the nice man waved back.  Yep, totally normal.  Also totally normal to back down the driveway and then drive in reverse around the huge dump truck parked askance so I had to be careful that there wasn't another car driving through from the other side because I could've hit them.  But hey, I'm just glad they weren't there to abduct me and whisk me down to Whipple.

Came back in the early evening and the stump was gone.  The person with the city I spoke to on the phone said there was a possibility that the workers would throw grass seed where the stump was to get the grass growing process started, but there wasn't any, and I think that's because the ground is still too cold.  But it does appear like they threw dirt on it.  I touched the hole the stump left behind.  I have never felt dirt that soft, to be honest.

Weird how it all came about, and I do feel bad about the tree, and the circle of dirt left behind isn't aesthetically pleasing.  But hey, I don't mind seeing my tax dollars at work.

This Grocery Store Is Pissing Me Off, Man. ...

So there's a grocery store close by me that my family has gone to ever since I can remember.  For people who will never pass up a bargain, I don't know why they frequent this mom-and-pop, boutique grocery store.  Don't get me wrong -- their stuff is great, and there are some things I can get there that we would have to travel a ways to buy elsewhere.  But knowing my parents, they would not go to this grocery store.  But make no mistake; they still do.

And I do.  It's convenient.  It also makes this great chili that I see more and more as dinner.  If I want to make a steak, or if I need onions and peppers to spruce up my spaghetti sauce, I go there instead of the bigger chains around town.  Like I said, their stuff is great.  Finally, I noticed that these guys compare favorable with Aldi for cheapest prices for plastic bottles of pop, which I need almost as much as water.  I would have to pay 30, 40, even 50 cents more than I do at this place.

OK, so this is how they pissed me off yesterday/Sunday.  I wanted chili, and I wanted to buy a plastic bottle of pop.  I also wanted to see if they were still running their $1 deal for Mr. Pibb, which is a decent soda, but I really wanted one just because their bottles are a buck apiece.  So I went there for the first time in, I think, over a month.

Well, first of all, that promotional deal for Mr. Pibb is over.  Beyond that, their big change, which I saw my last visit there, was that they installed a new rewards system.  Before, I was given this paper card with our number.  We either showed the cashier our card or gave him or her our number.  After we accrued enough points, we would get five bucks off automatically.  But on my last visit, I saw these brand-spankin' new cash registers, and I was told that the old rewards program was killed off, utterly.  In its place is this system whereby, instead of issuing cards with numbers, we registered with our phone number; they track points and after a certain number, we get a discount.  It might be five bucks, I don't remember.  But the first stupid thing is that the points we accrued up till then are gone.  It's a brand new system, fuck your points.

To make up for it, I guess, we were automatically given three bucks off our next purchase after our initial visit upon which we registered.  That next purchase was yesterday/Sunday.  So once I was ready to pay, I asked the cashier where the discount was.  That's when she explained to me that no discount is automatically rung up at the cash register, like the old program did.  Instead, we were e-mailed a Quick Response (QR) code.  I guess we had to go into our phone, look for that e-mail, and scan it, or something.

I tried looking for it since there was no one behind me.  But (and maybe I should blog post about this sometime) using search functions on your email applications on your phone sucks.  They don't find shit.  And I couldn't find it, so I had to just pay full price for my chili and bottle of Pepsi and go.

I didn't think at the time I even got a QR code.  But I did.  Once I got home, I realized that as part of signing up for this new rewards program, you give them permission to e-mail you.  I did find the e-mail where the code was.  Also, and unfortunately, the cashier said that this $3 dollar new program discount lasted only for a month after registration.  And in that e-mail, conveniently, I saw the expiration date of ... four days prior.  I couldn't use that discount even if I were able to find it when I was there.

That really pisses me off, it really does.  I was used to these guys doing everything, but now more of the work, especially the part where I am responsible for keeping up on my discounts, falls on me, and I don't like that change.  So maybe I'll drive down to Cub to get my chili from now on, and maybe I'll then stop by Aldi for my pop.  Because I don't like getting screwed like this, and I did get screwed.

So ****e cancelled on me today.  Said she has a bad cold.  I believe her.  This is the first time she texted me in advance to say that she can't do it.  There was that weird day where I came over and a man was there telling me she couldn't have company.  And there was another time where I let myself in, stayed for half an hour, thought she wasn't there, left, and then got a call from her, while she was home, saying she just had overslept.  (I had plans that day, so I figured I would just start them early instead of going back to her place.)

What can I do?  She's sweet, I like her, and she is the only person I know who will, uh, let me love her like I want to.  I just don't know the next time I'll be able to see her.  Hopefully soon.

In the meantime, I'm still, unfortunately, horny.  I have thought about asking one of my stripper girlfriends to come over.  But nah; instead, I'll eat or do laundry, and then I will exercise in the evening.  I'll keep it holstered for another time.

The Joys Of Buying A Robe

It's not as if I don't mind wrapping a bath towel around myself when I leave the bathroom after taking a shower.  And hell, right now I could gallivant around the house stark naked if I wanted.  Well, maybe not; I can't dry the curtains at the back door.  And that's when I thought about buying a robe.  And you know, it gets cold when I gallivant around the house stark naked.  Now, it's just a robe, and I'm not wearing anything underneath it.  But it would be enough for me to wear, and I could do things like do the laundry or make myself dinner while wearing it, and I wouldn't be either cold or embarrassed.

The problem is that the best robes are so expensive.  I rely on The Wirecutter for best products, and I was amazed that all the robes they recommend are at least close to a hundred bucks!  Really?  Are good robest that pricey?

I had been looking at the article in The Wirecutter for a few years now.  They update their list annually, so I kept looking just in case they found a budget pick.  Well, about a month ago I saw that listicle again and, miraculously, there was a sale going on with one of their robe picks.  That discount ran around 30%, and going from almost $100 to less than $70 was the final incentive for me to finally buy a robe.

And you know what?  I love it!  I can walk around the house now after I shower without worrying if any neighbor catches me naked.  It is still new, so the deep and plus hairs of the robe nestle and comfort me.  It keeps me warm as I put-put around the house.  Finally, it solves the reason I wanted a robe in the first place, a reason I let slip from my consciousness frequently: I hate sitting up on my bed waiting for my hair to dry before I could put my clothes on and gallivant around the house.  With a robe, I don't have to pull my shirts over my wet hair and thus making my chest and back sweaty all day.  Instead, I can walk around the house and spend my time doing productive things as my hair dries.  Plus, I don't have to pull a robe over my wet head.

The only dilemma is where to stash the robe once my parents come home.  I can't leave it out in the bathroom.  I think it'll have to be put in a closet, right next to my civilian clothes.  But I don't have to really, really think about this issue until I get a fixed date of when my folks are returning.

Don't Share A Bath Towel With Your Parents

So Thursday night I went down to the master bathroom to take a shower.  It had been several days since I washed myself (adhering to strict Chinese/Lunar New Year taboos), and I knew I had to use the one downstairs because I used the one upstairs the last time I showered.

But you add those two things up and you can see how I forget things.  Not, like turning on the faucet, but remembering what I have to bring downstairs from the upstairs (aka my) bathroom.  One of those was bringing in my own towel.  I only realized this, however, once I turned on the water in the shower.  Whoops, too late.

While I didn't bring down my own towel, there were two towels there.  They're my parents', and they left them there when they left for Vegas.  Great, I'll just use them ... except that I don't know whether they washed them before they began wintering out in Nevada.  Now, I use the master bathroom sink to brush my teeth, so when I dry my hands I dried them on those towels.  So sure, I maybe shouldn't complain about using dirty towels.  But there is a difference between using my folks' towels to dry my hands and using them to dry my body -- right?

Regardless, I had no choice.  So I picked one of the two towels and I dried myself with it.  I used it as if it were my own, but all the while I was imagining my parents coming out of the shower doing the same thing.  Ick.  Glad I bought a robe (and I should blog post about the robe I bought very soon); once I got all of the big wetness off my body, I dropped that towel and got into my robe.

So the towel is going to be washed by me soon.  The imagery of my parents using what I had just used ... well, I can't wash that out of my brain no matter how hard I try.

Well, Hitler Did Get The Trains To Run On Time

My passport's about to expire in six months, so I figure that I should renew it.  I didn't use it to go anywhere out of the country, and I don't plan on using my passport for at least, oh, the next three years.  But I am privileged enough to believe that there is a non-zero chance I can fly overseas at a moment's notice, so it behooves me to have a valid passport with me at all times.

So I renewed my passport, oh, about five weeks ago.  I don't remember if I took it upon myself to renew it the last time it had to be renewed, which was a decade go.  Nor do I remember ever renewing it online.  But I did.  And honestly, beyond the slight hiccup of cropping the passport photo Walgreens sent me digitally in order to comply with the government's requirements, it was a breeze.

Once I applied, they said they would send it in about eight weeks, with the estimated delivery date being exactly my birthday.  They did a lot better than that.  Two weeks ago I got my passport, which, if I have my dates correct, was about two weeks after I applied.  Then, the next week (which was last week), I got my passport photo.  I honestly thought there was a chance they would hang up my application because I've been so, let's just say, dissenting about our current government.  But either they don't care or they don't know me, because I got my passport and passport card in record time.  Unfortunately, you've got to hand it to them.  This is how people accept fascism -- if things in their lives work.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

I was going to complete this last night before I went to bed, but I got so tired I was like, "I need to sleep."  Now I'm up but I need to go to work, so I'm just going to finish this.  Anything I wanted to write for this Week's survey I'll try and put in next Week's survey ... if I remember.

#-1: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!).  Their commitment to Defense remains spotty.  The started the second half of their season beating the Cooper Flag-less Dallas Mavericks at home, then get beat by an execrable Philadelphia club (also at The Target Center), before going to Portland and getting by an ascending Trail Blazers squad by three.  In Tuesday night's Game, Jade McDaniels went off for 29 Points.  That's great, but he remains an X-factor.  He needs to pop off more consistently for the T-Wolves to have a chance at winning the whole thing.

They finish a three-Game road trip at The Bastard Buffalo Braves and Denver before returning home to play The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies.

#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1).  I was at last/Wednesday night's Game versus Kansas, the opener of a four-Game, five-Day series being held at U. S. Bank Stadium.  (It's also the reason I was so tired.)  I have never seen the ball fly out of a ballpark in a college baseball Game like I did last/Wednesday night.  The two teams combined for seven Home Runs, the last of which was blasted by the Gophers' Easton Richter to make the score 8-7.  Minnesota got the tying Run at Second Base, but the Game ended on a grounder to Shortstop, and they lost.

But they're up here in the WMNSS because they swept both Games of a two-Game set with Northeastern down in Ft. Myers, Fla., by a combined score of 27-7.  They'll try and bounce back this weekend against the Jayhawks, then invite Wisconsin-Milwaukee to town for a two-Game series Tuesday and Wednesday, also at the Vikings' stadium.

#-3: United FC (NEW SEASON!!).  See, if I wasn't so tired, I would expound here with a preview of the season.  It should be this way, but I don't have the time, so I'll try and give an overview next Week.  In the meantime, I'll just say that since Kelvin Yeboah scored a header off of a nice Cross from Devin Padelford (who was feed by a nice cross-field long ball by Julian Gressel), this 2-2 Draw at Austin feels more like a Win than a Loss, so that's why they're up here.  Can't wait to attend the home opener vs. FC Cincinnati Saturday.  Not looking forward to the below-freezing temperature.

#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3).  Routed Rutgers at The Barn 80-61, then kept it honorably close at third-ranked Michigan, losing 77-67.  Eh, whatcha gonna do?  This Week: Host UCLA, visit Indiana.

#-5: Gopher softball (Last Week: -2).  They hosted a tournament at U. S. Bank Stadium too, the Gopher Indoor Classic.  Unfortunately, they were way too generous as hosts, going 2-3, splitting two Games against Central Michigan, beating Long Island, and losing to Iowa St. and North Dakota St.  They play a one-off at for-profit Grand Canyon, then participate in the final non-conference tournament they have over the weekend, the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., where they will sandwich two Games against Howard with contests with host Arizona and Long Beach St.

#-6: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: Positive Numbers).  Only one Game this screening Week, but it was a defeat at Williams to Michigan St., a team only several spots ahead of the Gophers in the polls, by 14.  Would've been nice to grab a Win, but no big worries are coming from this.  They are still in contention for a Top-4 Seed and the right to host Games at The Barn.  Keep your eyes on the prize as this team finishes up their regular season at Illinois Sunday afternoon.

#-7: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -5).  I'm supposed to take these underachievers seriously?  I have to regard these players as members of a blue blood when they get swept at home (yes, both Losses were in Overtime, but what's the fucking difference?) to Minnesota-Duluth?  Fuck this team.  I don't give a fuck that they're hosting St. Cloud St. for the First Round of The WCHA Tournament?

#-Infinity: Wild (Re-Entry!).  How do you piss away all the goodwill you got when you scored the gold medal-winning Goal in the Winter Olympics?  By immediately turning into a bunch of thirsty fuckboys!

The Wild lead the NHL in number of players on Team USA with three: Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy, and Brock Faber.  All three apparently partied it up with the googly-eyed hack installed as FBI Director who decided not to do his job and instead flew a jet, on taxpayer dime, to Italy to act like a frat boy dick.  And then the fat, corrupt ass installed as President invited them to make him look good at the State of the Union.  

These stupid, stupid bastards.  What they did since Sunday isn't about national pride and unity, and it isn't even about having the time of your life.  It's about normalizing the most corrupt, dirtiest man ever installed as President -- and who, oh by the way, probably raped kics.  (And he cheated to win both of his elections, too; I won't let anybody forget that.)  And he is a user who does everything to benefit his wallet, his ego, or his penis.  He probably doesn't even know how to properly pronounce "hockey."  He just knows that this team won, they're winners, and he associates with winners to make him look good.  And Hughes, Boldy and Faber willingly did that for him.

Twenty players on the team volunteered to be political props went to Washington for the State of the Union.  There are five who did not: Kyle Connor, Jackson LaCombe, Jake Guentzel, Jake Oettinger, and Brock Nelson.  I'll take what I'll say back if I get more information about them, but for right now, these guys are heroes for refusing to let Trump wipe his ass with their medals.  I'll be rooting for these guys and the teams they're on (and that really sucks for me because Oettinger is Goalie #1 for The Bastard North Stars, and now I have to root for those assholes?!) and, as disbelieving I am to say this, I'll be rooting the Mild to lose.  After what that MAGAt son-of-a-bitch did to our communities and the people who live alongside us, these motherfuckers cozy up to him?  And General Manager Bill Guerin invited Kash Patel into the locker room after the Game???  Fuck the Wild.  They have a stupid fucking name, they won't take back North Stars, and now they've decided they are Team MAGAt.  Goddamn all of them.  They deserve to rot at the bottom of this Week's survey.

When Second-Guessing Is The Right Thing To Do

When I leave for work in the morning, I frequently forget something to which I need to shut down the car, open the front door to my house, and disarm the alarm in order to retrieve what I left behind.  It's usually my cellphone, so it's a pain-in-the-ass to do my steps backwards and then do them all over again once I find my phone.

This time around, once I turned my car on I forgot something else, namely an envelope Mother asked me to stuff with tax forms that had to be delivered here and not to my parents' condo in Las Vegas.  I wondered when I would have the time to get to a post office to send it.  We've been so busy at work that swinging by the post office close to me would be fruitless because they would be closed by the time I'm free.  I thought Sunday would be the earliest I could do it; I would be able to go down to ****e's place for a little screw time, then in the afternoon I could go to the post office at MSP before going home.

Two things wrong with that.  First, and I don't remember when I checked, that post office branch isn't exactly on the way back.  I would have to deviate east for a bit, then jog back west in order to head north.  Second, I would be downtown both last/Tuesday night (for a concert) and tonight/Wednesday night (for a Golden Gopher baseball Game).  The downtown post office closes in the evening, so if I get out of work early enough, I'd be able to go to the post office, mail the envelope to My Mother, then do whatever I want downtown because I'm already there.

In anticipation of that, I was going to throw that envelope filled with Mother's tax forms in my bookbag so I would have it with me if I had the time to send it.  But, alas, I forgot.  Oftentimes I would remember once I am more than halfway to work, and for those time I just mentally shrug and say to myself I'll do it tomorrow.  But once I remembered the envelope after I started my car, I just kept thinking that the moonshot of leaving work with enough time to mail the envelope and then go to the concert was a risk worth taking.  So, I turned off my car, went back inside, disarmed the alarm and picked up the envelope.

And good thing, too.  While I had to stay late at work, it wasn't late enough where I couldn't still get to the post office, pay to ship the envelope, find another parking spot, and walk for almost a mile to the club to get to the concert, which began at the strange hour of 6.  And so I did all that, and I caught the last couple songs of the first of three acts and the entirety of the other two (with a DJ filling in the set changes while stagehands haul off musical equipment).  Plenty of time.  Now, I think about how badly I would have screwed myself if I remembered the envelope before driving off to work but said whatever.  Glad I trundled back inside, because a sizable chore for Mother has been done.

My Gas And Electric Bills Seemingly Mirror Each Other

Just paid my electric and gas bills now online.  As I think I've said here before, my gas bill is mortifyingly high.  But, my electric bill is manageable.  And I know it's the exact opposite come the summer -- my electric bill is gargantuan but my gas bill is tame.  I don't think I get why those two bills are ships passing in the night, but I just came up with a possible explanation: My house uses natural gas to heat itself, but electricity to operate the central air conditioning.  Makes sense, right?

Anyway, off to bed.