A Towel Adds 1.4 Pounds

Went downstairs to shower in the master bathroom.  I mowed the lawn earlier this evening.

My parents have a scale.  After I took off all my clothes, I weighed myself: 169.6 lbs.

Showered.  Put a towel around my torso so I can put my clothes on dry.  Curious, I weighed myself again to see if the scale fluctuates in measuring: 171.0 lbs.

Strange.  That much?  But then I took my towel off and I weighed myself again: 169.6 lbs., again.

So a body towel adds 1.4 pounds.  Sheesh.  I didn't think a towel would weigh that much.

So every time I go in for a doctor's visit, and I'm asked to weigh in, I am probably, what, several pounds heavier than I actually am?  I get to take my shoes off before I go on that scale, but maybe I should take off all my clothes to get an accurate reading!

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1).  It's sphincter-puckering time.  The American League Central lead, which was once at 11 1/2 Games on Cleveland, is now at two.  Dropping a series versus the Yankees, then failing to sweep the White Sox at Comiskey, plus The Tribe staying hot by fattening up on bad teams, is a big part of it.  Fact: Sunday, when the Twins beat Chicago and Cleveland lost to Kansas City, was the first day the Twinks gained ground on Cleveland, on a day they weren't facing each other, since June 29.  Facts like that shrink insurmountable leads.

To blunt that, the organization finally pulled the trigger on a deal, getting reliever ... Sergio Romo from Miami.  He was the Closer on those World Series-winning San Francisco Giants teams.  Romo is not the Pitcher he was, of course, but considering the beleaguered and overworked bullpen this club has now -- and considering the prospect Minnesota gave up isn't Royce Lewis or Alex Kiriloff -- I'd like to think this is a win.  Romo has to throw well, though, of course.

This is the time of the schedule where these guys face bad teams.  The Marlins, from which Romo came from, is the first foe; they start a three-Game set against them tonight (Tuesday night) in Miami.  Then they come home to start a maximum homestand versus Kansas City for three over the weekend and then another trio against Atlanta starting on Monday.

#-2: United FC (Last Week: -2).  Their all-comp non-losing streak may have reached nine Matches, but I am not happy with their scoreless tie against Vancouver Saturday night.  That is the worst team in the Western Conference and second worst in Major League Soccer, and they are playing at Allianz.  Sure, the Whitecaps parked the bus and feigned injury a lot, especially in the First Half.  But this club is (supposedly) too talented to not at least slot a Goal against these guys.

The slowdown in results (this is the squad's second tie in as many Games) coincides with the return of Romain Metanire from Madagascar duties during the African Cup of Nations.  He is a hell of a Defender; he's going to be part of the MLS All-Star in Orlando as they face Atletico Madrid Wednesday.  But the strength of the Fullback's offensive game, crosses, has tended to dominate MNUFC's gameplay ever since he emerged.  There were 37 crosses in the tilt versus the 'Caps, and they completed only three of them.  Sure, Metanire didn't cross all of them.  But that's his thing, and since he has proven he can stick in MLS, there seems to be a lot of disproportionate yielding to his style -- much to the detriment of the team, which seemed to be scoring in bunches through tiki-taka.

Oh, and the team yesterday/Monday shipped out Defensive Back (and Woodbury native) Eric Miller to NYCFC for $50,000 in GAM.  The signing of Fullback Wilfried Moimbe helped push Miller out of the rotation and onto the Bronx.  Reports said Miller was in the doghouse with Adrian Heath, though with his yeoman's game, I wonder how he got there.

The Loons, sitting in fifth in the West, play the Portland Timbers twice here over four days.  Sunday afternoon's contest is league play.

#-3: Lynx (Last Week: -3).  Uh, things are spiraling downhill for the Jynx.  They finished up the first half of the season getting beaten at Target Center by Washington Wednesday, 79-71.  That extends their losing streak to three.  And while they still hold down the final playoff spot (and are fifth in the West with a 10-10 record), they are only 1 1/2 Games ahead of New York, and these folks seem lost right now.  Hope the All-Star Break did them good (even though Sylvia Fowles and Napheesa Collier went out to Las Vegas to partake in the ASG), for they resume regular-season play Saturday at Indiana.

So I went to a stripper party today, to see **y.  We talked, then we went upstairs where she sucked my dick.  She didn't suck my dick the last time I saw her, so why now?  Maybe it doesn't matter; it was absolutely awesome.

But I realized this around the time I was leaving the party: She didn't take her clothes off.  She just saw my cock through my fly, sucked me off, stripped me, and sucked me again till I lost control.  But she kept her dress on.  She didn't take it off, but it never occurred to me to ask her to take it off.  She just ... did it.

Maybe that doesn't matter either.  But the thing is, this is a stripper party -- where, you know, strippers strip.  In fact, I didn't see one boob at the party.  Not one.  That seems ... wrong, don't you think?

Lamp Is Out

The lamp in my bedroom went out.  Don't know what happened.  First thought the bulb burned out, but then I changed it and it still wouldn't come on.  I don't think I am bent out of shape about it because I can see just fine in the daytime, to the point I forget the lamp is out.  But come the nighttime, when I am getting in and try turning on the switch in my bedroom and get nothing, that's when I remember that it's out.

Don't think I've done anything to it.  But maybe I jostled the dresser the lamp is on, dislodging the lamp's cord from the power strip.  I should check on it.  At some point.

They're All Leaving

In the past 24 hours I have learned through Facebook that two members of the alumni club I run are leaving to take new jobs elsewhere -- one to Chicago, the other to San Francisco.

I wish them well, and change is inevitable, especially in these cases where it's leading to bigger and better things.  But we could use all the support we can get now, and even though it was only some of the time, they showed up.  With them gone, well ... I don't know what I'm going to do.

I had not pooped in a while, but after work Thursday I ate some bar food at a place I thought a co-worker was bartending at.  I didn't see him, but he still might work there.  Anyway, my bowel movements have been numerous and productive -- too numerous and productive.

Meanwhile, I went to work second shift.  Unusual night in that the workload was light.  No one asked me to help them find anything, which is a first while in filing.  I decided I had the time to clean, part of new tasks we have been asked to do.  No one had used the vacuum cleaner until last night, so I feel good about that, even though I didn't vacuum up anything.  And there was still work left over.  Hey, if they see that I cleaned, they have to cut me some slack, yeah?

And today I am thrown into the new department, by myself, to work again.  First time in a month, maybe more.  For some reason I feel good that it's going to go well.  Which probably means I'll screw up left and right.  Wish me luck.

Stopping And Smelling The Flowers

I need to post something before I head into work today, so I want to just take the time to appreciate having the whole house to myself.  Many times I wake up to quiet -- and that means not hearing Mother retching up her throat as part of her hygiene routine, or Father banging pots and pans in the kitchen.

I just got off the phone with Mother about something important regarding her Vegas properties.  We have been texting, but this is the first time in about a week, maybe more, since I heard their voices.  And I love them, I'm supposed to, but golly, it was nice not to hear them around the house.  It really was.

About three more weeks of this, that's all.

Disappointed In Myself

I am getting more and more frustrated at work, to be honest.  I am seeing clearly more and more that there are disadvantages of being a jack-of-all-trades.  While it's probably good for my "career" to be cross-trained and that flitting around from place to place at least makes things interesting, my inability to drill down at a certain job because I'm being pulled to another place means I can't really get the nuances of a job down.  Therefore, I keep forgetting.

I was scanning today.  Surprised the hell out of me, but the person who was supposed to be on the afternoon shift took the day off, so even though I jumped in to help at lunch, I was told that I was doing it!  The forgetting part I'm alluding to above ... well, let's just say I caught something, but I forgot that I had to do something further with that.  Before I would have forgotten the first part, but still, not doing everything I needed to do is something I feel I should have known by now, but I totally blew past it.

Add to that the mountains of folders I needed to scan, which was a pain in the ass.  At one point I was trying to prepare each folder to scan that I was told by my supervisor there were no forms from which to key information, so I needed to stop preparing and start scanning.  That feels like another thing I should have known already -- reading the workflow to make sure my co-workers weren't idling.  I was overwhelmed, sure, but I don't think my bosses care either way.

I'm in filing tomorrow and another department Saturday.  Wonder what I will forget the next two days ... and then I'll wonder what I'll forget when I circle back to scanning since I've been in other places the previous two work days.

OK, so because my credit card got stolen, I had to update my payment methods online, including my phone, which is coming up shortly.  I switch cards, then told I'm getting kicked out of automatic payments, which cost me a discount.  Furthermore, I then end up paying, but my credit card is getting charged today, when I wasn't planning on spending any money (technically, I know).

So now I somehow screwed up my automatic payment so that I pay more and pay at a different date, and I can't fix it.  Hopefully doing it over the phone will work, but I'm with someone right now and I don't have complete confidence he quite gets what I need.

If it doesn't work, I'll bitch about it here.  If it does, I will speak of this no more.

I Knew I Was Going To Be Too Late

Grandmother died about two years ago.  I was expecting to get ashes or, at the very least, information about obtaining the ashes from her biological family shortly after the cremation.  But honestly, I didn't think too much about it after I got home.  Part of it is distance, part of it is the numbing shock of losing someone I was close to, part of it was dealing with my brother who was being a colossal dick and I just wanted to get away from it all.

But I had been waiting.  For a long time.  Now, my thoughts about it were fleeting, and my actions towards that end have been even more infrequent.  I could have reached out to the family before now, but I didn't.  It's was for all of those reasons above, plus time making it even more awkward to ask.  But finally, before it becomes too, too late, I reached out to the grandson through Facebook about it.

And he said his mom (Grandmother's daughter-in-law) sent an e-mail about it after the service.  I don't remember getting it, though I do remember giving them my information.  Damn thing probably went into my spam folder.  But if they didn't hear from me, I assume they would have tried again, or even called here, right?  And beyond that, they still have some ashes lying around, don't they?

Probably not.  Shit, man, I procrastinated way too much on this, and there were too many mistakes and instances of miscommunication for me to get Grandmother home.  smh

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Twins (Last Week: 0).  I say that overall, this was a bad screening week for local sports.  No one had a great week.  So in cases like this, I am looking at where all the teams stand in the standings.  And while their lead on Cleveland has trimmed to three, the Twins still, somehow, remain in first place in the A. L. Central, and thus will take first place (albeit at -1) in the WMNSS.

But there is a hell of a lot of regressing to the mean that's going on right now.  They actually went 3-4 this week, starting off with a horrible two-Game home sweep at the hands of the, erg, New York Mets.  Then came a four-Game split of The Bastard Philadelphia-By-Way-Of-Kansas City Athletics (also at home) over the weekend, the last two of which featured some of the wildest late-inning heroics you will see in baseball -- in their favor Saturday, in ours Sunday.  A notable feature these past seven games is the conspicuous leaking of the bullpen, which choked away two late leads over the week.  And yet there is still no talk of bringing in a reliever.

While this ballclub is having a dramatic regression to the mean, The Tribe continue to catch fire.  All is not lost yet, especially because of yesterday's/Monday's taut 8-6 at Target over the New York Yankees, which featured a Twins Triple Play and five Home Runs.  But there are two more contests vs. the dreaded Bronx Bombers before they hit the rock and play four at the White Sox.

#-2: United FC (Last Week: Positive Numbers).  Technically, this side didn't lose this past week.  But they did lose Wednesday, in a friendly against visiting EPL squad Aston Villa, 3-0.  To me, all exhibition wins shouldn't count, but those that end up in defeat are.  So this is a big reason why the Loons sit behind the Twinks in this week's survey.

Well, that and the fact that they are not leading the Western Conference but are nonetheless hanging tough in fourth place.  And, well, they did have a match that mattered on Saturday, and they tied at Salt Lake at 1.  Darwin Quintero scored in the 57th Minute (off a Corner Kick started by Jan Gregus that was headed by Mason Toye to El Scientifico), but Real Salt Lake's Marcelo Silva tied it up in the 70th, so this feels like a loss, and that's another reason why MNUFC are here in second.  Meanwhile, the organization signed a Midfielder and a Wingback during this transfer window.

So they wrap up a series of two-Game weeks still unbeaten in their least five matches.  Next up: An important home tilt vs. Vancouver Saturday night.

#-3: Lynx (Last Week: -1).  And the Jynx are back in trouble again.  This time last week they sat second in the West.  But back-to-back losses to Seattle (at home by 11) and in Vegas (by 5) have sunk them all the way down to fifth in the conference, and it's only by the grace of God that, if the season ended right now, they would get the last spot in the playoffs.  The good news, such as it is, is that budding rookie Napheesa Collier will be at the All-Star Game after all because budding superstar and hometown Ace (the Game's being played in Las Vegas Saturday afternoon) A'ja Wilson injured her left ankle and can't play (and might not be able to play for weeks, they say; that could sink the breakout season the Aces are having right now, for they lead the West as of press time).

But the Lynx need to get to the All-Star Break ASAP, and they can do that right after hosting deadly Washington in the team's annual basketball camp Game; it's being played at high noon on Wednesday.

Parking Meters?

After blogging this I'm going to get a handjob.  It's in *e***'s studio not too far from me.  Just now I passed it by on the way home from the dentist this morning, and, for God's sake, I think I saw parking meters on the side street.  Parking meters?!  There?!?!  If I need a HJ, I'm not gonna pay for parking to do it.  Sheesh.

Fucker's Got Some Balls On Him

Some dude from high school friend requested me on Facebook today.  Don't know if I should accept it.  We had some good times, we had some shitty times -- well, I should specify: He made my life shitty at times.  I remember him threatening to beat me up while we were in Europe.  We also had good times there, too.

In high school, you get along in order to go along.  But I'm not in high school anymore, so I don't have to do that anymore.

Does he understand what he did to me?  Do we see that time differently?  Or does he not care?

So, should I?

Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: June

OK, so I only got to look at June -- and actually got to put back up the calendar -- last week after my parents left.  Luckily for me, there are only ten babes for this month, so that means fewer choices.  And since it is now the last third of the month (!!!), I won't dawdle.

The main babe, Gianna out of Boca Raton, Fla., has penetrating ... green?  Hazel?  Blue? ... eyes, but she's laying Sphinx-style on the beach.  She's not showing a lot except a tantalizing curve of her rump.  I wonder if she's wearing a thong, but from that pose, we'll never know for sure.

There are some great smiles from the women this month, I'll tell ya!  Only one of the ten is wearing a one-piece, which is a great sign.  But there continues to be a lot of shots where they put their arms in front of them, or they're turned away from the camera.  There are only three "proper, full-frontal" shots.  Of them, third-best goes to Adreana, hailing from Houma, La., although she is wearing a heavy top which makes me think she is, uh, top-heavy.  In second place, from Mobile, Ala., is Falicia.  Long hair, but -- well, this may be stupid superficial, but her pictures is too small.

So I am going to give best to Trazia, working the Concord, N.C. Hooters.  A redhead (yow!) with a come-hither look, a deep burgundy two-piece bikini, curves which border on the buxom side, and deep, deep cleavage.  I don't remember the last time I was served by a redhead at Hooters!

I can now turn to the actual month ... after masturbating to June, of course.

Two Dudes Can't Just Eat At A Restaurant Together?

So I'm going out to eat with my friend, the foodie, tonight.  As usual when we get together it's my choice, and I'm afraid I'll pick a place he's been to already.  I don't think we've been to this place, however.

My fear is, well, how it'll look.  In reading the reviews on what to get there (I want to do that when I eat at a fancy restaurant), they also talk about the beauty of the place -- and they use adjectives such as "feminine" and "romantic."

My friend and I -- uh, are not.  We just look food and, sometimes, enjoying each other's company.  That's it.  Can two dudes eating at a restaurant together be ... just two dudes eating at a restaurant together?  I hope so -- but then again, me doubting that may not be so, even to one stranger, may be my problem.

Just woke up and just started to freak out about my credit card getting stolen back on Sunday.  I was going to order a credit report to monitor any suspicious activity, but then I decided to Google what other steps I need to take, then realized an initial fraud alert is something I also should have done.

I kind of thought that once my credit card told me that my info was stolen, I was being taken care of.  Turns out, maybe not.  Not as if I've been duped in any way, but maybe I need to be a bit more proactive, just in case.

Bunkering Down As Hell Came Through

At one point during the day at the airport, where records are rendered official for the entire metro area, it was only I think, 85 degrees IRL but, with a dewpoint of, I think, 80 degrees (!!!), the heat index (aka how it actually feels aka the reverse windchill) was, fuck, 115 degrees.  It felt like 115 -- Death Valley, basically.

It was apparently at its worst, around my work and home, between 2, when I had my afternoon break, and 3:30, when I left work.  And goddamn, I could feel the humidity in my clothes and in my bones.  Set the air conditioning in my car to the second-lowest setting (I usually set it at its lowest) so I wouldn't freakin' melt on my drive home.  I promised myself I would rinse our garbage bin of the maggots in the dirty water in the bottom; after that and getting the mail, I was going to open the door, close it behind me, and stay inside until I go to work in the morning.

And that is what I did, even though the Heat Advisory for the area technically ended at 10 p.m.  I spent my afternoon and evening paying my family's bills, eating and taking a nap.  But once in a while I would take a look through a window to outside.  It was sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, and there wasn't a raindrop falling from the sky.  But I knew it was oppressively hot outside, and so I feared how it felt, even though I was safe inside.  So weird that such a placid, even inviting, tableau really is unbearable, even dangerous.

I cranked up the AC in the house twice.  It's running now, but maybe I can shut it off for the night.

Getting Re-Educated -- Bullshit ...

So, remember when I said one of my supervisors is keen on "re-training me" so I would work faster?  Once I passed my six-month review earlier this week, up to yesterday morning, I thought I was just being paranoid.  But later in the morning he sidles up to me and says, "Remember what I said last week about re-training you?  We'll do that later today."  Well, fuck me.

And he proceeded to go back and tell me everything I have been doing wrong.  Well, not really.  But yes, really.  Look, I'll be honest: I'm really most embarrassed about two mistakes that happened while he was looking over my shoulder.  One was me waiting for a form when I should have been looking for a folder (sorry to be so vague; like I think I've said before, I don't want to give too much detail because then people might know what I'm talking about).  I saw this folder in the filing cabinet but ignored it because I was looking for a form, which just happens to be inside the folder.  He opened up the cabinet, looked into the folder, and took out the form.  Fuck me.  The other fuck-up was kind of the opposite: I grabbed a form when I didn't need to.  It was of a certain kind that we don't look up, even though I was told, according to this sheet, to get it.  I mean, my supervisor told me this, but I forgot.

See, I don't do well when someone is looking over my shoulder, especially one who is critiquing my work.  So I made two errors -- admittedly mistakes on my part -- with him watching me.  That probably doesn't look good in his eyes.  Add to it that I don't think he's that great of a manager.  The other people around him mention, for example, that he likes to do things his way.  And he is kind of grabby when I ask him questions.  Now, to be fair, I do ask him a lot of questions, so he may think that some "re-education" is in order.  Plus he did give me one tip that would make things faster for me.  Finally, maybe he hates doing this as much as I hate him doing this to me.  Maybe he was told to re-train me because he has orders from my actual boss.

Or, it could be all of these things.  That he is trying to help me, but is being a dick about it because he has very poor interpersonal skills.  And that while I don't like being told what to do, I do need the help.

At any rate, we're going through this shit again, only in a different area.  I'll try to keep an open mind about it, but I'll reserve the right to roll my eyes, and/or start telling him he's a nag.  We'll see.

Was hoping that I could work on shedding pounds now that my parents are gone.  But there are leftovers in the kitchen, plus there's my sweet tooth because of all this hot damn weather.

Got home from the United match last night.  Sitting in the hot sun compelled to walk across the street after the match for some Culver's custard.  And then I got home and ate corn-on-the-cob and fried rice.

So I am up and about to head off to work.  I just went downstairs to weigh myself and ... well, I'm actually lighter than I was the last time I weighed myself a couple days ago, but I'm still at least five pounds heavier than I want to be.  Maybe baking in the hot sun is good for losing weight.

Busy Busy Busy!!! (Scheduled Post)

You know, I am kind of frustrated with the fact that I don't really have too much time off to myself at night this week.  Partly that's because of all the chores I have to do with my parents gone; I had to mow the lawn yesterday after coming home from work, something Father would have plenty of time to do.  But I have to admit that being my own boss without people knowing all my whereabouts is allowing me to stray away from home most evenings.

Take a look at what I had and have going on once the workday is over this calendar week:

• Sunday: Went out to the distillery close to home to see a free concert by local act HALEY and Ted Leo, sans his Pharmacists.  Not only is this a great concert not to pay money for, but this is a tremendous concert that happened only 15 minutes away from my house!
• Monday: OK, I had the evening all to myself; I wanted to stay home to catch So You Think You Can Dance.  But there was a hellacious storm that blew through, so it's not like I could do anything outside.
• Tuesday: Went to see Rocketman.  Grade: B+.  Honestly, after watching the film, I want to give Elton John a hug.
• Wednesday: MNUFC has a Friendly against venerable English club Aston Villa.  I think I can squeeze in a much-needed haircut before the match, and I really should start paying my parents' bills after it.
• Thursday: Need to see my therapist after work, then endure a hellish drive home.  Then I go downtown to see Parquet Courts in concert.
• Friday: OK, I don't have anything planned.  Plus it's going to be hot out.  Time to just go home and do absolutely nothing for once.
• Saturday: Even though I haven't made plans yet, I want to have dinner with my friend then.

So you see I'm busy.  Add to all this that I'm coming in two hours early this morning to work because Overtime has been offered.  Which is the reason why I'm scheduling this blog post ... and why I should go to bed now.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: United FC (Last Week: Positive Numbers).  I know I've said in the past that I have regretted being an MNUFC season ticketholder.  That was then, when they sucked.  They don't suck now, therefore I don't regret it.  In fact, with the Lynx still finding themselves and the Twins cooling off, I think the Loons have become the hottest ticket in town.

First, let's talk about Wednesday's Open Cup Quarterfinal against New Mexico United, a virgin club which has started a pretty raucous fanbase already.  On short notice and through the help of a bank (I think) subsidizing tickets, 188 fans (the supporters group calls itself "The Curse" -- cool name) chartered a flight up here.  And there were still more people who wanted to come up, so 75 more fans chartered a bus to make a trip up to the North a weeklong vacation.  Now that's dedication.  That's soccer dedication!

And starting from first kick, NMU had the upper hand on MNUFC.  In fact, they scored first, as Santi Moar took a pass from Christopher Wehan and ripped a long shot through a closing phalanx of Loons and past Vito Mannone in the Seventh Minute to give the second-division visitors a 1-0 lead.  I'll admit I shit some bricks at that.  But three Minutes later, Angelo Rodriguez brought order back into the American soccer pyramid by taking a Hassani Dotson Assist and scoring for Minnesota.  And the hits kept coming for the home side: Darwin Quintero, Rodriguez for the Brace, Jan Gregus on a sweet Free Kick, Rodriguez for the Hat Trick, and Miguel Ibarra finally scoring one at Allianz, and our Loons are off to the USOC Semifinals with a 6-1 win.

Saturday's important tilt versus FC Dallas was a whole different affair.  Since the side has been on a very busy part of the schedule, playing two Games every week for the past ... uh, three? ... weeks, I was wondering how much Adrian Heath was going to rotate his players.  The answer, stemming from the XI that started: Not much.  Ibarra was put on the bench for Ethan Finlay, but otherwise, the ten who started Wednesday started Saturday.  And that may have been the reason Minnesota played so sluggishly.  In fact, now that I think about how often I was looking at my phone, both clubs didn't really do much for the 90 Minutes.

But come Second Half Injury Time, literally as the public address announcer was announcing there would be five more Minutes, this game went into overdrive.  Jan Gregus got off a shot that Dallas Goalie Jesse Gonzalez could only get his fingertips on.  And substitute Mason Toye, who has been as in-form a player as anyone in Major League Soccer, was Mr. Right Place, Right Time for the rebound to give MNUFC a very late 1-0 lead.

Dallas tried to mount a counterattack, and very late into the Match there was a whistle.  There was a lot of confusion and a lot of time trying to sort out what happened, and that was just on the field.  (We folks in the stands were even more in the dark.  I had to check Twitter to find out that Mannone fouled FC Dallas' Bryan Reynolds in the box, but the official checked VAR before deciding a Penalty Kick was going to be awarded to Dallas.

That's when I thought this was going to end in a tie.  OK, one Point in a very important Match in the middle of a tight Western Conference -- I can make my peace with that.  But Vito said no-no.

You can catch both highlights in this spliced-together video supplied by the team through Twitter:

Loonies never say die... pic.twitter.com/jOJFJSOXJe

— Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) July 16, 2019

I've been going back and forth about this game because of the admittedly boring 90 Minutes, but right now, I'll say that this was the best Loons game I have ever seen. And those two extra Points puts them, as of press time, fourth in the rough-and-tumble Western Conference.

One final two-Match week this week -- one, however, if you don't count Friendlies, which Wednesday's match is, versus venerable side Aston Villa.  Wonder how many regulars will start, let alone play, in this one.  The more important Game is Saturday at postseason-contending Real Salt Lake.  MNUFC currently has a four-Game winning streak when it comes to Major League Soccer matches, and an eight-Game winning streak when you include Open Cup matches and Friendlies.

#0: Twins (Last Week: -1).  Right out of the gate, the Twins open up the Second Half of the season with an extremely important three-Game series against Cleveland in Cleveland.  The good guys were once up by 11 1/2 Games on the Tribe, but that had shrunk to 5 1/2 by the All-Star Break.  (By the way, I caught, like, a minute of the ASG before hoofing it to Caffetto, so I couldn't tell you what Berrios or Polanco did.)

And ... they won two-of-three in that series over the weekend.  Could have been better; Jose Berrios got shaken down on Sunday, the club scored three to tie it up, then Carlos Santana homered for the Game-deciding, 4-3 victory.  (Weird stat: On Saturday, Max Kepler homered off of Cleveland starter Trevor Bauer in his first two at-bats of that Game, thereby giving him five consecutive HRs in as many at-bats off of him, tying a Major League Baseball record for most homers in a row by a batter from a Pitcher.)  But they could have lost the series, or they could have been swept.  So Minnesota left the CLE with a 6 1/2-Game lead in the A. L. Central (which is, as of press time, down to six, since the Tribe beat Detroit last/Monday night).  The sky isn't falling -- yet.  And there is about a fortnight before the Trade Deadline.

They have a maximum homestand.  Today/Tuesday they have a two-fer with the Mets.  They entertain Oakland for four over the weekend, then begin a three-Game series vs. the Yankees.  This could be an important screening week.

#-1: Lynx (Last Week: 0).  I've got to be honest: This year I have over looked the Lynx.  The players comprising their dynasty, save Sylvia Fowles, are gone, at least for now.  And they are not the dominant squad like they were before.  Even though they went 2-1 this screening week (a loss at last-place Atlanta is sandwiched by a road win in Chicago and a home drubbing of Phoenix), they simply don't have the decades-long devotion of the Twins or the darling status of United FC right now.

But I took a gander at the Women's National Basketball Standings.  And although it is tight -- they are only a half-Game ahead of Los Angeles and Seattle -- the Lynx sit in second place in the West, 1 1/2 Games behind Las Vegas, a team everybody predicted would break out and be a great team this year.  (And not for nothing, Connecticut and Washington have better records from the East.)  So it could be a lot worse.  In the meantime, both Fowles and Odyssey Sims have been named as reserves for the All-Star Game, being held in Las Vegas.  At least one writer online suggests that Rookie Napheesa Collier is a snub.  I'm just glad the Lynx found what seems to be a keeper.


Home to the Storm Wednesday, then at Vegas Sunday.

Have To Rethink My Going Out Plans

So last last weekend (not this prior weekend) I went to two stops: Milkjam, which I go to occasionally, and Glam Doll, which I go to a lot.  But I don't know if I should go to those places anymore.

For Milkjam, it's more of an annoyance than anything.  You see, they ask that their door remain closed.  Milkjam gets to be a very popular place, and there is oftentimes a line that leads out to the sidewalk.  The natural tendency is to hold the door open, but they say (and I tend to agree with them) that holding the door warms up the freezers holding the ice cream, so they melt much faster than the should.  So there is a sign asking that if you are waiting and the line is long enough, please wait outside.

In my estimation, starting this year people have started to get both pushy and dumb.  For my past several visits, if I recall correctly, someone after me has held the door, as if they were completely ignorant of the sign that, in my view, is in my plain sight.  Moreover, people don't seem to exhibit self-control anymore, in that if half of a group of people (and it's always a group) can fit comfortably inside and half can't, well, they'll just shove all of themselves inside.  This lack of manners creates another issue: I remember one time that a Milkjam worker threw some of the last people in a line that snaked through a good portion of the store itself (and it's a small store) outside, saying that there were too many people inside and they were breaking a fire code.  I wouldn't know that for certain, but if they say so, they say so.  And my pet peeve is that by cramming themselves inside as opposed to waiting outside, they don't really give a damn about anything other than themselves.

It got extremely bad this past past weekend when this group which could wedge itself only halfway through the front door were a group of young and (deep breath) white teenage girls, all of whom were wearing crop tops.  They held the door open, but when they were told by a worker that they needed to shut the door, they all piled inside and then, with a tone that, in my humble opinion, just screamed "PRIVILEGE!!!" told the group behind them, a group of South Asian teenage girls, none of whom wearing crop tops (OK, maybe one), that they had to shut the door in front of them.  It may be the times we live in, and I could be oversensitive, but these chicks' behavior towards people don't look like them drives me a goddamn wall.  Oh, and I think they breaking a fire code by deciding they could line up inside instead of outside, but ultimately that's Milkjam's problem.

---

Glam Doll is worse, only because I've gone there so often I feel as though it's replaced My Favorite Late-Night Italian Place (I should blog post about them; they're closed now), and so not going there as often (or anymore) will hurt more.  For some time now (and I think I've touched on this before on Wailing And Failing) they've cut back on their hours on the weekends, closing at midnight instead of 1 a.m., their original closing time.  They have also closed earlier than that on occasion, mostly because they sold out of their allotment of donuts (which made me think they're making fewer and fewer donuts, but that's just me).

This past past weekend, after that frustrating scene at Milkjam, was something different.  I bought a donut and pour-over coffee, as usual, and sat down to, or at least try to, do some serious work on my computer.  Not too long after, I see some of the workers clean up the tables and pull the chairs up onto those tables, as if they were closing.  It was, I think, 10:30, barely a half-hour after I got there.

So I said if they were closing early, again.  They were, although they tried to make pains to not kick me out; they gave me a deadline of a half-hour, or 11 p.m.  But then I noticed the donut case: There were donuts.  Plenty of them.  I reflexively wanted to ask, "But wait -- you guys have donuts.  Why are you closing?"  But the guy -- who, unlike many of them, I haven't seen work there before -- said, unprompted by anything I said, "We can't stay open selling $1.25 donuts" -- of which there were many, although there were some of donuts with higher price points.  OK, but no way.  I have never heard of that excuse to shut down Glam Doll early before.  In fact, the only times they have ever shut down early was because they sold out.  So either this guy wasn't telling me the truth ... or Glam Doll is not as financially sound as I thought they are.

Either way, what is going on there is kind of freaking me out.  And that is why, this past Saturday, instead of jetting to Glam Doll, I went to the craft breweries on Central and hung out there.  I might not be able to have ice cream on a warm summer's day, or hang out on my computer while eating a donut and sipping coffee.  But at least I won't get pissed off by some teenage chick or get kicked out of a place for no good reason.  And maybe this is the way it'll have to be from now on.

SoClose

Went to see ****e today, and she was so good cranking me up that I almost -- almost I hope -- came in her.  Two thrusts and I was ready.  So I pulled out and splooged all over her stomach.

Need to check over the next few days to see if she's OK.  I think we'll be alright, but I need to make sure.

Some Asshole Stole My Credit Card Information Today

It seems to be happening to everybody.  I finally got caught -- for the first time ever in my life, but I got caught.

I was at The Local, watching both African Cup of Nations Semifinals (the first Match, where Senegal won because of a Tunisia Own-Goal, went long, but I got completely enamored by the Djokovic-Federer Wimbeldon Final, so I decided to not call bars around town and instead just sat and ate a lot).  I had paid for everything near the end of the Algeria-Nigeria Game and moved from a table to a bar.  As I was about to drink my Coke and water to leave, I got a message on my phone.  It was from my bank, or at least a number posing as a bank, asking if I bought something for over $200.  My very first thought was that this is a spam message -- and I like to think that many of you would think that same way.  But lifting credit card information happens a lot, too.  Plus, I thought that if it was lifted, it was lifted from ... The Local, the place I gave my credit card info to.  So I decided I should leave now, get home and check, just in case.  In retrospect, maybe I had this reflexive fear that the person who stole my credit card number was still there, and that I had to leave there, and that person, because I got scared.

At any rate, I got home and, while peeing in the bathroom, I checked my credit card online, and ... there was a charge I didn't make on my credit card.  In fact, there were two.  And without any input from me (I had yet to reply to that text, which I realized was in fact real and legitimate), they disputed both charges automatically.

And then came even more surprising things.  I reflexively checked my e-mail, and my bank had e-mailed me about not just those two charges I didn't make but the last three (legal) transactions before those two that I did make.  And after I got out of the bathroom I checked my phone, only to see that the number I had seen on the text and the e-mail was calling me.  I was at first greeted by an automated message, which took its sweet time listing the charges they had flagged.  (I can see this as a huge problem if 1] you are freaking out over getting scammed and 2] you are in a situation where you can't stay on the phone while you listen to a voice slowly detailing charges in question.)  I indicated I did not make a couple transactions, so I eventually got someone in my credit card's fraud department after, oh, five minutes.  (Again, it could be worse, but it could be better, and thank goodness I was at home and had nothing to do.)  Getting a human accelerates things; I told them there were two charges I didn't make but the one at The Local I did make, and he told me he is closing down my beloved credit card and expect a new one in ten days.  And that's it.

Two big takeaways from this.  I asked the fraud rep is there any way I can track down where, and maybe who, lifted my credit card information.  Because I am both fearful and downright upset that this happened, and I want revenge, now.  But he told me not to because it could have happened anywhere.  My first thought, just because of proximity, is The Local.  I don't remember ever seeing my waitress ever, for example.  But I've been there plenty of times before, and my credit card wasn't stolen then.  Also, I plan on watching soccer there in the future, so maybe tweeting or even confronting the manager might not be the smartest thing to do.

But one of the transactions listed on the e-mail was from the time I went to Taco John's Friday.  I had always wanted to go there, and this was finally an occasion to eat at a standalone Taco John's, something I had never done before.  But I was upcharged for a medium combo when, once I realized this, I could have gotten a small.  Add to it the somewhat nonplussed customer service I got there, and I can see some prick working there -- maybe even my cashier? -- putting in a skimmer to skim my credit card number.

However, it's also possible that it got lifted while I was on my data plan at work.  You see, there have been a few United FC matches, for Open Cup Games and Friendlies, that have offered a flash sale for season ticketholders like me.  But they only last for a few hours, and they have all ended at 4 -- only a half-hour after I get out of work.  I have always been afraid of using my credit card on a network outside of my home's in a place outside of the house.  But like I said in my previous blog post, I think I have sold my soul to soccer.  So, after I clock out, I have logged on and ordered tickets to those Matches with my credit card, which is installed on my phone.  When I thought about doing this the first time, I was scared that someone would somehow lift my credit card while I do this.  Maybe this was done here?

At any rate I don't know how it got lifted, so maybe it's best to not act on partial info and speculation.  (I think, just for my own paranoid sake, I'm going to stay away from those places for a little bit.)  That's probably because of my other takeaway: With no prompting from me, my credit card and my bank, of their own volition, flagged charges they deemed suspicious and used every line of communication they had (text, e-mail, call) to ask, essentially, if I have been a victim of credit card theft.  Like I said, if this had been at work, I would probably not see this as favorably as I do now.  Also, I'm not out of the woods; I hope I'm diligent enough to check all my accounts online in the short term, and I also hope to remember to ask for a credit report, which is free.

But I had a fleeting thought through all of this, about how these guys were just a tad ... oh, intrusive.  They knew things about me I didn't know, and they initiated things I had not agreed to.  It does come off, at least on its face, as Big Brother-ish.  But on the other hand, I remember that, not too long ago, credit card fraud (and identity theft) was so new that the onus on proving you did not charge dubious transactions was on the consumer.  I have no idea if this is still the case, but I remember in news stories in the past that people would have to take years and make hundreds of phone calls and letters in order to clear themselves of charges they did not make and clean up their credit report filled with things they did not do.  Again, I still need to check in case I need to do something.  But right now, it looks like my credit card and my bank automatically trusts me and, in fact, went above and beyond to help me.  In that sense, this is not something Big Brother would do -- this is something a guardian angel would do.  So, although I feel a little less secure, I feel good that something or somebody out there is looking out for me.  And if getting my credit card information stolen is inevitable -- and I've felt for a long time that this was going to happen to everyone, including me -- what has happened so far today is the best they can do, and that is enough.

I Think I Sold My Soul To Soccer

This is one of those cases where I want to write long about it, but the timeliness of the subject conspires with my need to leave very soon compels me to not blog post too much.

So last night I was at the United match.  Best MNUFC match I've seen so far; I'll tell y'all at the WMNSS come Tuesday.  There's a guy who, like me, comes to a lot of games by himself because he's a sports nut.  We were chatting it up at halftime.  Cool, solid dude.  He asks me how many games I am going to this year.  I may have told him I'm a season ticketholder, but I listed all the games I've been to ... league matches of course, then the Open Cup matches, then the friendlies ... and this is the point where I realize that I am going to a lot, and I mean a lot, of soccer games.

And sure, this is all centered around one time I have made a decision to devote a lot of money and time to.  But this also concerns a stadium, Allianz Field, to which I have seen a game not with the Loons but with the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team, in the Gold Cup.  And that day featured another game, between Trinidad & Tobago and Panama.  And looking back, my soccerdom isn't rooted at all to United FC.  There's the games way back with the Minnesota Stars, and before that the Minnesota Thunder.  And I plan on taking in at least a couple games with the Minnesota Golden Gopher soccer team this fall, as I have done for many years now.

And then it's not just going to games.  Like any couch potato I try and see a lot of soccer games.  I've watched soccer before I've gone to soccer matches, but in past years my loyalty to "football," I realize, has become almost total.  I go to pubs to watch World Cup matches -- first men's, now women's.  Whenever continental cups are played (UEFA Euros, Copa America), I try to watch a game or two.

But I have tried, in years past and now, to find a place that will show really obscure matches.  I tried to go to The Local last year to see a La Liga match.  I went there two years ago and made them change the channel so I could watch the Women's UEFA Euro final.  And right now, this very minute, I'm trying to find a place that will ensure I can watch an African Cup of Nations game this afternoon.  I can't find it yet, and it's driving me crazy.  That's when you've caught the soccer bug.  That's when you've sold your soul to soccer.

Gotta go.  Wish me luck finding a place this afternoon.

Is It Too Late? Is It Too Much?

After I blog post this, I am going to get in my car and deliver this thank-you card to the post office mailbox.  The card is to the family who hosted the super important alumni club event ... almost three weeks ago.  Yeah, that's late.  But I think, as president, I need to send thank-you cards, even if they are on the tardy side.  I mean, don't people send Christmas cards around MLK Day?

So maybe that won't make me look good in their eyes.  But just as worrisome (even though the card is all sealed in the envelope already) is what I said.  I thought about it a lot over this evening.  No, that's not true; I thought about thinking about it a lot over this evening.  Specifically, what tone should I strike for this card?  Finally, I considered that this is the family's second year hosting and that this card will get to them almost a month after it has occurred, so I thought a brief, "Thanks, this was better than last year, see y'all in the fall!" message would be enough.  But I already have regrets.  Should I be comparing this year's party to last year's?  Am I disparaging last year's, even though I really think this year's was just as good?  And am I being presumptuous about having the family come over to downtown Minneapolis to watch football games with us?  Have I made an ass out of u and me when I assume?

Well, too late now.  And besides, there's a good chance they'll trash the card as soon as they open it.  It's the thought that counts, especially from board members, right?

Day ... 2 Of My 36-Day Bit Of Freedom

So I took my folks to the airport yesterday.  (I saw at work their flight was delayed, then I re-checked online and it wasn't, and after I got home it looked as though it was delayed by three hours.  And my parents didn't even tell me. ...)  So as I type this they should be on their way to Italy.  And so I have the house all to myself for the next month-plus.

So fuck yeah Imma lettin' my hair down!  Well, I took it easy today: I just threw some things on the floor and that's it.  But I do have ambitious plans now that I have the run of the house to myself, and should I do them.  Frankly, though, as soon as I got home from taking my parents to the airport (and then going to Hooters), I did nothing but surf the 'Net, then go out for Sebastian Joe's and a walk around Hennepin.  Yeah, it was a great a not-humid day to do that.  But I should be getting on my to-do list.

Meanwhile I thought I heard something drop outside while I was in my bedroom.  Went out; didn't see anything that looked like it fell.  Maybe I'm hearing things.  Or maybe things just fall when I have the run of the place all to myself.

Addendum To: Oh, Am I Bothering You Now?

Oh, and another thing that she did that pisses me off: OK, we have a cart because there sometimes are a lot of folders that come in that we need to take care of.  When I was being a gentleman I used the cart to bring the folders in.  Then I leave this cart in the room because, well, she and other people leave it outside next to a second cart.  I didn't think it was a big deal to leave this second cart in the room; we'll just exchange it the next time we grab the folders.

This women, who I thought was nice but apparently hates it when she thinks someone like me is pissing on her gate, literally takes this cart and puts it back outside, even though there are no folders to bring back into the room.  She made an actual fucking show of this (even though I only remembered this just now, waking up) because she didn't like I did -- what I did for her.  I mean, just because it's your job today means you get to control everything?!  When it's my job to do the job she did yesterday she also takes that second cart outside?!?!  Seriously, how controlling of a fuck are you???

I thought she was cool.  Man, was I wrong.

Oh, well.  She's leaving soon.

Then again, I have to be in that fucking department tomorrow.  I feel more respected out in DE now.  Crazy world.

Oh, Am I Bothering You Now?

Man, this fuckin' sucks, but in my last half-hour at work, I felt so disrespected at this department for the first time ever.  Two co-workers -- not one, but two -- co-workers were rude to me.  I got the feeling they were pissed that I was encroaching on their territory, for some stupid goddamn reason.

The thing that really bothered me was that one of them rude to me has been really nice to me.  I don't get it.  See, all I did today was get her work for her.  And instead of a thank-you, she just said, "OK -- I'm here, you're there!"  Well, no shit, Charlie Brown, I'm just getting your work for you.  You know, the same way you sometimes get the work for me?  She not fucking get it, has something changed, or was she just Cybil today?

I don't know if I should buy chocolates for these assholes ever again.  Fuck 'em all, shit. ...

Hey, asshole at Caffetto, I had no interest in what you were typing up on your computer.  I was spacing out, OK?  Just thinking about what I wanted to do next, but not before not thinking at all.  Your reflexive move to turn your screen away from my distant eyes was fucking pathetic.  But you do you, you over reflexive, privileged prick -- as so indicated by me smh.  Sheesh.

I Miss Her Already :'(

Got the news at work in the morning once I saw that she was supposed to be at the scanner and wasn't.  When I asked, I was told that this girl quit.

She was the one who followed me working there full-time.  What stands out, frankly, is that she's cute -- which means that, in my estimation, she was hot.  And I'll be even more frank: While I like all the people in the main department, none of them I would consider physically attractive.  But when I saw her for the first time, I'm like, "Whoa."  Moreover, she was so nice, which makes her even more attractive.  Pump the brakes, though; she is in a very serious relationship.

However, I don't understand why she quit.  She was very active when it came to organizing activities for the department.  I thought she was integrating quite well.  The only thing I could detect was that she was honest about having her down days.  Don't know if that led to her leaving; maybe it was.

Regardless, I am sad that not only did she quit, but she didn't tell anybody, at least not me.  I miss her.  Because she was really cool -- and, yes, she was hot as fuck, too.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: United FC (Last Week: 0).  I have to give some honest, non-disingenuous dap to the local Major League Soccer club, and I'm not giving them the top spot and Positive Numbers just because I pay season tickets for them.  They have just pulled through possible their most successful week in their time in top-flight.

First of all, on Wednesday, in front of a crowd that was not a sellout due it being Independence Eve (I think many people headed up north to beat the heat) and in a game Head Coach Adrian Heath called his team's most important yet, they managed to beat Western Conference rival San Jose by a scoreline of 3-1.  While Darwin Quintero opened the scoring, the Match-winner was provided by, of all folks, Michael Boxall.  The Defender took advantage of the Earthquakes' tactic of man-marking by storming up the field with the ball.  He tried to pass it once he got inside the box, but it deflected ... right in front of him.  So Boxy decides to continue to run, beats the Goalie to it, and smashes it in.  Then, in the dying embers of the game, substitute Kevin Molino broke away, took the feed and slotted it for the final Goal.  It was a Goal that had Heath jumping up in celebration.

Defending home turf is the very least you can do if you want to be a decent, playoff-contending club.  So I didn't have high hopes for their next MLS Game, Saturday at Montreal.  The Impact are a decent squad (third in the East), and with the quick turnaround time and another midweek battle (versus New Mexico United) in a U.S. Open Cup Match that management apparently has decided to give a damn about winning, I was OK with them laying out the B Team and hoping no one injures himself.  And there were seven changes from the starting lineup from the Earthquake Game.

But the damnedest thing happened (while I conked off in the First Half and driving in the last 15 Minutes of the Second): The Loons were able to tie the Match at 1 and then at 2 (via a Penalty Kick by Ethan Finlay just before the half ended) at Halftime.  And then early in the Second, Mason Toye, for the second time in this Game, broke free, blunted a pass perfectly, then shot it past the Impact Goalkeep.  And by jove, United FC were able to keep the lead and win, 3-2!

With that victory, don't look now, but MNUFC are on a hot streak.  They have won their last two league Matches since an embarrassing 1-0 loss at Colorado June 8.  Add the victories vs. Kansas City at Allianz and at Houston for the USOC and, what the heck, the June 25 2-1 victory in Madison over the organization's minor-league team, the Forward Madison Flamingos, and they have won six in a row.  Not a tie among them!  So yes, I think they are more than deserving of their first (?) Positive Numbers.

Hope to Buddha they can continue this.  And they can; they have the next three at home, although the third is a Friendly.  After Wednesday's Open Cup tilt against New Mexico, they host FC Dallas, another good outfit, Saturday night.

#0: Lynx (Last Week: -2).  They might not have gotten out to a fantastic start, and they are roiling amidst massive personnel changes.  But also don't look now, but the Lynx may have solidified themselves.  They have also gone 2-0, blowing out poor Atlanta at home last Tuesday by 17 and outlasting a team for a change by three Saturday at Connecticut.  For what it's worth, the team has won four-of-five, so maybe they've figured something out.  But they have a busy screening week ahead -- tomorrow/Wednesday at Chicago, Friday at Atlanta, Sunday evening against Phoenix at Target Center.

#-1: Twins (Last Week: -1).  Don't look now, but the Twinks are freefalling.  Yeah, I'll say it.  They finished the First Half of the season with a 3-3 week, dropping two-of-three in Oakland and winning two-of-three at Target Field vs. Texas.  Let's face it; the Twinks are not playing well right now.  Meanwhile, Cleveland has stormed back into contention in the American League Central.  What was once a nine-Game lead (and an 11-Game lead earlier this spring) has shrunk to a 5 1/2-Game lead.  And while Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios and Jake Odorizzi will be in Cleveland for the All-Star Game (Eggs is too injured; Berrios was named to the roster in his place, thereby righting one and only one snub), the rest of the team will meet them at "The CLE" to begin a very important three-Game series this weekend.  If the Tribe sweep them Twinks -- shit, fans might start jumping out their windows.

#-2: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3).  Just reintroducing the Woofie Dogs to yell at them a bit more.  Nothing important has really happened this week ... and that's the point: These guys collapse this past season, Gersson Rosas announces he has a bunch of lofty goals to remake this team, and he fails to do any of them!  The most important move coming out of this week is Monday's announcement that Restricted Free Agent (and One Of Us) Tyus Jones has signed an offer sheet with The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies.  As of press time, the Woofs have three days to match.  But doing so basically puts them at the cap, and going over just won't do, so bye-bye to a guy who, I think, never really was given a chance to show he had the intangibles to stick in the National Basketball Association.

Plus I need to pile on about a point I may not have made for the WMNSS after the NBA Draft.  They traded up from 11th to sixth, right?  Well, Rosas did that because they wanted to go for Darius Garland, a Point Guard that would herald a new start for the club in that position.  But I swear I remember that everybody knew that Garland would be picked by Cleveland with the fifth.  And the Cavaliers did.  So why in the fuck did they draft up one spot short?  And why didn't they go for Coby White if they needed a PG so goddamn bad?  And why in the hell did they instead choose Jarrett Culver, a guy who nobody I knew thinks is a great fit for the Wolves?  Are the other rumors also true -- that after Rosas's plan blew up in his face after the fifth pick that he tried to trade down?  Seriously, what the fuck is going on over there, and why the hell would I pay a red goddamn cent to see this shit-ass team that's not only off the rails but rolled over in a sewage ditch?

Too Slow???

So back on Friday, as I was starting my shift in the filing room, I got called over by my supervisor for that day.  Usually he avoids the hell out of me, and understandably so, because I'm chasing him down because I have a filing question to ask.  But he was chasing me, literally.

I was leaving the filing room because I needed to check on whether I needed to get something to bring back to the filing room.  I was allowing the door close behind me when, as it was closing, my supervisor called for me and then opened the door to stop me.  I've never seen him do that before, and it truly was jarring.

That's when he whispered to me (and I'm paraphrasing): "You're too slow in filing.  I'm going to look over your shoulder and give you tips on how to get faster.  OK?"

Well, if that doesn't hurt your pride.

Where do I start?  There are three (and sometimes four) different areas when it comes to filing.  If his ... oh, I'll just say "complaint" about me is that I'm too slow, I don't think it's this one area because it's dependent on requests we get.  It could be this second area, but I don't think I'm that slow.  And frankly, I don't think I'm slow in this third area, the one I think he's talking about.  Without detailing exactly what I do, there's a lot to do -- especially on Tuesdays, the beginning of our work week, and the times I have lately been working in filing.  Also recently, my actual boss has asked us to begin tracking our work.  That's how this guy, my supervisor, knows about my supposed lassitude.

Now, what is the process of how he knows?  Either he was looking over the numbers or, more likely, my actual boss looked at the numbers.  From there, either he told my supervisor to tell me I'm working slow, or he told him that I'm working slow, so talk to him about it.  Maybe this is the same thing.  But I will add that while I think my actual boss is on the cool side and I can work with him (at least for now), I don't feel that way with this guy.  The other day, for example, as he was gone, we all were talking about how he likes to move things the way he wants them to be no matter how we try to do what he wants.  So like I've said before here on WAF, people in that department appear to tolerate him, and that he doesn't have much standing in there.

And, so, I still think it's possible that he is taking this initiative on his own and not at the behest of my actual boss.  Why?  Well, a personality like sounds like a guy only in this for himself.  Using that logic, he is doing this so he can make himself look good.  Maybe that's wrong, and maybe I shouldn't think of him like that.  And maybe he genuinely wants me to do better.  Or, maybe he's just doing his job.  Look, I just don't like being told that I'm doing a bad job.  And in my mind, that is what he said to me.

Whatever.  I'm next scheduled to work there Saturday.  That can change in my job.  But if not, I have about a week before this guy is looking at me like a hawk and telling me to cut corners or something.  Let's see if I can swallow my pride to do this.

Conflict Day #2

This should be a fun day, and I think it will be, and I think I eventually will enjoy myself.  But it's going to be a busy one, and it's filled with conflicts that I would have preferred not to face.

This morning, in about six hours or so (shit, I should go to sleep), I am going to Cedar-Riverside (hopefully; depends on parking and the crowd) for the Women's World Cup Final.  The U.S. is an extraordinary favorite, which scares me, because I think the Netherlands can park the bus and squeeze out either a counterattack Goal or send the game to Penalty Kicks.  We are brimming with too much confidence.  Either way, I'm going to see the game and hopefully see a win with allies.

After that I go to the inaugural 3M Open, barely 15 minutes away from home.  I'm not a fan of the sun, so I am prepared (for the first time this season) to wear both sunscreen and bug spray.  But the novelty of seeing a PGA Tour for the first time in my life, and at a golf course so close to home, forces me to go and risk heat stroke (even though the humidity has come down from earlier in the week) and potentially huge crowds to see this event.  I will be missing the Copa America Final between Brazil and Peru, but you only get to see a first once, you know?

And besides, there is another final, the Gold Cup Final between the United States men and Mexico, that evening.  In retrospect, seeing the 3M Open (and being out of the house) is a good thing for me.  I might be able to survive waiting around three hours before the Copa America championship, and really, once the U.S. men won its Semifinal versus Jamaica, the Gold Cup title game was going to be more important.  This way, I can go from the golf course to ... well, I shouldn't go home ... I'll either exercise or take a nap in my car, then go to a place (maybe the American Outlaws hangout in downtown Minneapolis?) to watch that Match at 8.

Regardless, this is an echo of what happened two weeks ago.  Then, an obligation precluded me from seeing golf.  Now, golf is precluding me from seeing soccer.  Wait -- now that I typed that it doesn't look as profound as it sounded in my head.  Maybe I should go to bed now.

When I Learned That Twitter Really Is Just A Cesspool Of Lies

So the main thing going Thursday wasn't so much Independence Day so much as it was Donald Trump's petulant and masturbatory salute to himself in Washington, DC.  This was a day that was rightly both dreaded and ridiculed.  You would think that with a situation like this, especially an event that many people have known about for some time, Twitter (or at least tweeters) would tee up things that are both inflammatory and wrong.  And I would have liked to have not fallen for such deceptions, but I did -- several times.

I don't know which one was first, but the most twisted and upsetting one concerns a tweet (I'm not going to embed them here, partly because I don't want to help any possible disinformation and partly because I'm too lazy to find the tweet) with a photo of a woman, sitting in a lawn chair, smiling while holding up a sign that says "CAUTION," with a drawing of that father and daughter, latter in the shirt of the former, found dead face down in the Rio Grande.  Since this "parade" would attract MAGAt zombies to the Lincoln Memorial, I and many others in the Twitterverse were so aghast at the appalling sadism by this ... well, bitch that many of them wanted her "doxxed," or outed.  I did my moral duty and both liked and retweeted the picture and the doxxing request.

Later did I realize I was played for a fool.  A few hours later I see the same picture of that woman.  But this time it was in a re-tweet of a tweet by an actual reporter in Washington, DC.  This journalist actually recorded a quick interview with the woman -- who says she is actually anti-Trump, is there counter-protesting, and often fundraises for Democratic causes such as assisting the refugees in those concentration camps in the southern border.  The frozen images in our head, along with the heated and hateful environment in which this took place, along with our (well-deserved, I might add) preconceived notion of the captive audience, led us to believe something that was, once a person actually, you know, did some work, totally opposite.  The harassment and doxxing, as far as I know, hasn't stopped, but it's clear that those trolls and bullies are now coming from "our" side.

I got fooled again by the size of the crowd of Trump's wankfest.  I had followed coverage of it through Twitter most of the day because I had heard that there was going to be rain and even thunderstorms that might cancel the event.  (They delayed it but didn't cancel.)  Partly because of that and, in my most fragile corners of my heart, partly because I wanted to see that asshole get his comeuppance, I was following along with tweet after tweet of rain pouring on DC and the sparse MAGA crowd that had yet to descend on and defile the Reflecting Pool.  The more I saw these pictures, the more I believed that this was going to be an epic fail.  And I wanted it to be.

And so when Trump finally started talking about American colonists taking over airports, I swore that that he was doing so in front of dozens of people.  There was one guy (probably a bot) which tweeted out a photo claiming to be the crowd listening to him when it was, in fact, last year's March For Our Lives.  (The lack of leaves on the trees was a dead giveaway.)  But there other shots of the crowd coming from other sources -- and these were really.  And unfortunately, it shows a huge crowd listening to that prick Trump.  It may be (and I'm not joking) a bigger crowd than the one at his inauguration.  But #Resisters, who swore that there could not be such a huge audience after seeing the pathetic numbers in the hours leading up to it, wouldn't believe it and in fact tried to call the photos fake the people tweeting them bots.  Hey, I don't want it to be real.  And I'm still not sure how in the hell so many people swarmed the place when there was no one in the hours before.  (You should not put anything dirty past these Republicans.)  But I have to face it: A lot of people were there.  (See Trump boast about this and accuse Democrats of lying.  We should just bring up the inauguration again.)

Oh, and another controversy -- not about Trump's fake-ass parade, but the shitstorm over a non-white Ariel!  When Disney announced that they were casting some, uh, black tween for their live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, some Republicans got all bent out of shape and took to Twitter to rant about how, uh, mermaids are losing their white identity.  Of course we all starting to clap back and ridicule these Republican snowflakes ... until one person looked into what purports to be the loudest on the anti-black Ariel side and determined that she was, in fact, a bot.  If that's the case (and I think it is), isn't it prudent to ask how much of a Twitter storm casting a black girl as Ariel really is making?  Isn't this all bullshit stirred up by Russian bots or bored Macedonian teenagers?

So, triply humbled, I have had to check myself before I wreck myself.  As heated as I can be, and as I think we still need to be in the face of Republican authoritarianism, I was tricked by people.  I let preconceived notions of what I think people are to cloud my judgement, decide false things are true, and get good people into a lot of trouble.  I don't want to do that anymore.  So I'm going to pull back on yet another picture I saw around Twitter.  This one apparently is of Melania Trump, presumably after his husband's piece of crap verbal onanism.  It's a shot of her, smiling, wearing a white dress ... with her nipples showing through that dress.  A lot of Democratic tweeters are making fun of her, and a lot more are calling her a slut.  But no, I'm not buying it.  The photo would have had to have been taken on the same dais as Donald Trump, and that photographer is somehow zooming in on the First Lady?  Besides, a lot of things on the picture are off.  Her breasts are bigger, for example, than I think they are.  I'm staying away from that, even though I don't see any Twitter pushback on this doctored photo.

Don't believe everything you see, folks.  Twitter can be shit sometimes ... no, a lot of the time.

Just piggy-backing on this again.  Going back into the department today, which is right next to hers, and the silent treatment continues unabated.  Yeah, it's getting to me.  I know she, and we, don't have to get along as long as we're helping each other do our jobs, but dammit, nothing friendly at all?  Just ... nothing?  I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I don't deserve it.  Jfc.

The Longest Day Of My Life

Almost forgot to blog post today.

Monday afternoon, just before the end of work, I was told that, I think for the second week in a row, there was overtime available after work that day and early next morning.  You see, Tuesday is our beginning of the week, and the samples of piss are backed up all weekend.  There are other forms that we deal with and that are also backlogged until we get crushed by them on Tuesday.  The information regarding the piss samples takes priority, but there are so many other forms that we get that day, and that need to be done in a timely manner, that we are asked to stay late and/or come in early in order to deal with them.

I need the money.  I always need money.  So, for the second week in a row, I volunteered.  Except that my boss added an extra incentive: To be able to get out of work 15 minutes early one day from now until the end of the year.  Oooooohhhhhhh.  But I only get that if I work at least two hours of OT.  I only worked one last week, but I could use those 15 minutes at some point in 2019, so I said I could do two.  However, it was my preference to do those two hours yesterday/Wednesday morning because I was filing Tuesday and I didn't feel it made any sense to switch to my computer in an entirely different department and work just for an hour.  Besides, I wanted to see the end of the USA-England Women's World Cup Semifinal, and I wouldn't have been able to do that if I was working OT.

So, this what I did.  I stayed up Tuesday night until 12:30.  I woke up at -- gulp -- 4.  Got to work at 5.  With the exception of a glorious and well-needed nap for lunch at around 11, I worked ten hours straight.  I was going to immediately change into my shorts at work after work (it's humid around here now), but the Netherlands-Sweden WWC Semifinal was going into Extra Time, so I decided to find a bar with a TV.  I drove to Surly because they said they would have a big TV, but I didn't see no big TV.  As I was headed back to my car, the Netherlands scored, and since it's soccer, there was no chance the Dutch were going to lose, so I went to my psychiatrist's office building and changed clothes at the public restroom there.

Went to Hallmark to buy a thank-you card for the hosts of our alumni club event.  Dinked around Barnes & Noble.  Drove to the library to try and take a nap.  Failed.  Drove to a side street for the United match.  (This is around where I felt most tired.  But watching the match pulled me through.  Great win, by the by.)  Went to three places because I was starving as hell, but Old Chicago was busy, and fast food restaurants (as well as Famous Dave's) was closing because it was 10.  So I decided to go through the drive-thru at Hardee's (where there were so many cars and such slow service that I almost asphyxiated on the CO of the exhaust) and ate their Garlic Bread Thickburger in my car.  Then I finished my day at My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Edition) because, hey, I didn't have to go to work tomorrow.

Got home, finally, at a quarter to midnight.  That's 19 3/4 hours of being up and out and about.  Helps, like I said, that I had time to sleep in today.  (For the record, I conked off at about, oh, 12:30 [like the night before] and got up at around 8:30 this morning.)  Also helps that at work I was shunted to a department where I was doing so much I had no time to be tired.

Still, if I have a Wednesday like that, I should decide on Tuesday not to do that.

Dumb, Forgetful And Careless Me (Scheduled Post)

There is a report related to my alumni club I should have done almost four months ago.  I didn't think I needed to do it, and I got my answer from Los Angeles that I did need to do it after the event was over, so it was a case of out of sight, out of mind.  But this isn't what I'm blog posting about, even thought I just did.

I finally had the time to fill it out Monday night with the intention of going to the library last (Tuesday) night, scanning it and sending it.  And that is what I intended to do after I got home from work, ate delicious pho, surfed the Internet and thought about texting two strippers (one who I want to communicate with, one who I don't).  After evening rush thinned out, I went out to the library, reached into my bag ... and couldn't find this report I filled out.  And that's when I forgot that I stuffed this report in my computer bag and not my bag bag.

I remember when I stuffed it into my computer bag that I talked to myself about taking it out and putting it into my bag bag before I went to the library the next day.  And I had all the time in the world to do that after dinner and before I left.  But I didn't.  And the worst part is is that I didn't even think of checking.

These are the times when I say to myself, "What the fuck are you doing?!"

My plan was to watch the Brazil-Argentina Copa America Semi-Final after I got done at the library.  With me forgetting this report, I thought I would just not panic; I'm already four months late with this, so what's another day?  But I'm busy going to the United FC match tonight, and then I can't go Thursday because it's Independence Day and all the libraries are closed.  I could do it Friday, but I figure that the person I need to send this report to probably will take the rest of the week off.  Do I just do it Friday anyway?  Do it Monday?

Finally, after all this self-hate, once I got home I gave into self-guilt.  I was going to lie to my parents that I needed to re-do the thing I initially went to the library to do the first time, but I went back to just fuckin' scan this thing because I meant to do it last/Tuesday night.  Meant that I couldn't see the entire soccer match straight through, but hey, I was able to see the only Goals (both by Brazil) in the Semi.  Plus this, uh, "oversight" was going to hang on my conscience if I didn't just swallow my pride and go back out to the library for the second time in 90 minutes.

Could've saved myself a bit of grief if I had just fucking put that report in my bag bag though, like I tried to remind myself.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#0: United FC (Re-Entry!).  Overall this was not a great screening week for local sports.  Nevertheless there is one team that got lucky by playing only one game, and the Loons responded by an absolute annihilation -- a 7-1 ass-kicking of FC Cincinnati.  That six-Goal margin of victory is by far the greatest in MNUFC's time in Major League Soccer, and it's only the seventh time in league history a club dropped seven in a match.  Sure, it's only FC Cincinnati, an expansion team that, not too long ago, shit-canned the Head Coach that got the squad so much success in the second-division USL that the whole organization got elevated to top-flight, plus they were missing a few people.  But hey, you take your wins you can get them.  FC Cincy is where United FC were two years ago ... and I'm sure that two years from now, when that franchise is in its first year in its new stadium, they'll remember what we did to them and try to do the same to us when the Loons come to the Queen City.

By the way, at one point during the frog-stomping Saturday the PA system started playing the start of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."  Now I'm not a huge fan of Queen, but I saw the movie over the winter and even I started getting nostalgic for them.  I know everybody loves Queen ... especially everybody at Allianz Field.  Listen all the way to the beautiful end; this is when I became a #loonforlife:

Mama, life had just begun...

...but now we've gone and have all of @allianzfield singing Bohemian Rhapsody

🔊 SOUND ON 🔊 pic.twitter.com/WDs7kk3ZfK

— Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) July 2, 2019

While the team has been on a good recent run of form, they really, really needed the three Points they got by beating up on FCC. But now they are back to facing decent teams on a busy week -- home to San Jose Independence Eve, then at Montreal Saturday.

#-1: Twins (Last Week: -2).  This ballclub has been regressing to the mean for a while now, and it is starting to bite deep.  Seems as though this is their fourth straight .500 screening week -- took two-of-three at home vs. Tampa, but lost the three-Game series at the White Sox over the weekend.  Meanwhile the goddamn motherfucking New York Yankees have surged; on a current five-Game winning streak, they now lead the American League, rendering the Twinks third overall (the Dodgers still lead MLB overall with a 57-29 record).

Worse yet ... well, maybe this isn't the worst thing in the world, but still, with the best Twins team in a long, long time, it's a shock that only Jorge Polanco and Jake Odorizzi have been named to the American League All-Star Game.  No Max Kepler?  No Byron Buxton?  No Jose Berrios?  I initially was super-pissed about the snubs.  But then I realized three things yesterday:

1. This is the All-Star Game.  People get injured or otherwise beg off of the roster -- by the handful in some years.  I'm sure there will be people who drop out, and so some Twins will be asked to forsake their vacation and go to Cleveland for the ASG.  The rosters for both squads are already bloated, and I'm sure the count for both teams will reach, oh, 50 by the time all of this is over.
2. Maybe it's best for people we thought played well enough for the ASG not to play in the ASG.  They could use the rest.  And maybe this could be used as motivation.
3. This is the fucking All-Star Game.  This is an exhibition.  I plan on going to Caffetto so I won't be bored at home to the point I feel like turning on the game next Tuesday.  Who cares about these damn snubs?

In Oakland for three, then come home to face The Bastard Washington Senators v.2.0 for three over the weekend before the All-Star Break.

#-2: Lynx (Last Week: -1).  OK, while you were looking away (or, frankly, while you haven't been paying attention at all) the Jynx have turned back into the joke they were for most of the first decade of their lives.  They finished their throttling of the Fever in Indiana on Tuesday, but on Sunday, despite racing out to a big lead in Dallas, they choked it up and lost to The Bastard Detroit (By Way Of Tulsa) Shock.  This was not the first time they've blown a lead.

Worse than that, the injuries continue to pile up.  Yesterday/Monday it was announced that Forward Karima Christmas-Kelly has a right knee injury that will keep her out for the rest of the season.  Meanwhile Seimone Augustus has yet to play this year because of her own knee injury and there's no timetable as to when she'll be back.  Finally, it was revealed this past week that Guard Odyssey Sims was arrested on suspicion of DUI back on June 6.

And worst of all is the intermediate and long-term health of this organization.  Maya Moore's reason to take the year off remain complex and inscrutable.  But you should, if you can, read this story in the New York Times about what she's doing right now: Trying to get a prisoner freed from jail for a crime Moore believes he did not commit.  A fascinating and even noble endeavor to do while you're taking a year off from playing professional b-ball.  But as for a return to the Lynx, Moore drops this spine-chilling quote:

"I don't know what the future is going to look like," she said.  "We are just going to sit in this uncomfortable tension for a year and see."

Was the fact that the WNBA designated Moore a "Core Player," and thus put her upcoming contract under strict, reserve clause-type restrictions, the "uncomfortable tension" she is talking about?  If so, it doesn't sound as though she's itching to come back.  And without Moore, the player who turned the Lynx from a laughingstock to, arguably, the league's marquee franchise will turn back into a pumpkin in time.  They might be in the shit right now.

This week: Home versus Atlanta tonight/Tuesday night; at Connecticut Saturday afternoon.

#-3: (tie): Timberwolves and Wild (Last Week: -3 and -3, respectively).  I always twin these two teams because, in many logistical ways, the NBA and the NHL inform each other.  That gets very apparent during their offseasons.  The NHL holds its draft one day after the NBA holds its.  And (at least for this year) free agency in hockey started the day after basketball's -- yesterday/Monday for the former, Sunday for the latter.

These sports are twinned in one other way as well: The Woofie Dogs and the Mild both blew it, big time, and come away from this offseason (unless there's some deus ex machina-type transaction) with more egg on their face and questions about where the hell these two fucking teams are doing.

Let's start with the Woofs.  The big buzz was centered around a possible signing of All-Star D'Angelo Russell from the Brooklyn Nets.  He really didn't pop on my radar, but I got more excited the more I heard the moves being made by Wolves front office folks to try and get him.  I heard that Karl-Anthony Towns is friends with Russell and actively tried to get him here.  And the Nets' Wild-like coup of getting two big free agents, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, paved the way for Russell to leave Brooklyn.

And he did ... to the Golden State Warriors, Durant's old team.  Don't know the machinations, but somehow the Warriors and the Nets agreed to sign-and-trade KD for DLo, blowing up Gersson Rosas's Plan A.  Worse yet, it feels as though the Dubs took pity on the Two Elves and, for salary cap reasons, traded ex-Nets Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham (and sent cash) to Minnesota.  It's being called a trade, but right now, even Adrian Wojnarowski isn't saying what the Timberpuppies are giving up.  This is basically Golden State saying, "I know you guys are bummed that you can't get your guy, but here, have some of our table scraps.  You're welcome."

How humiliating is it to be so hamstrung by Andrew Wiggins's contract that any move you might be able to make can be blown up when a championship-caliber organization swoops in with a better deal.  The only true free agent signing is one of yet another Dub, Jordan Bell.  It shows promise, but shit, it ain't no D'Angelo Russell.  Meanwhile, a lot of teams in the Western Conference got a lot better on Sunday.  That will leave the Woofs in the dust, with a frustrated KAT going nowhere but to yet another 50-loss season.  The statis of this franchise is mind-numbingly sad.

At least the Mild made moves.  Whether they were good ones is highly in doubt.  Wild General Manager Paul Fenton missed out on Phil Kessel after Kessel rejected the trade.  He then said that the team is keeping Jason Zucker even though he has been shopped around to at least four other squads this calendar year.  And then with seemingly no cap space to make a move under (although Defenseman Nate Prosser signed with Philadelphia), Fenton signed two guys yesterday/Monday.

Now, Ryan Hartman is someone I've never heard of.  But Mats Zuccarello I have.  He was signed away from The Bastard North Stars, so that's good.  But look at the deal: Five years, $30 million total, plus a complete No-Trade Clause for the first three years and a limited list of squads he cannot be traded to (at least without his permission in advance) for the fourth and fifth years.  The problem with this is that Zuccarello will be 32 years old when training camp begins.  Minnesota is projected to be the oldest team in the NHL this season.  And they still have a 1-2 punch of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, both of whose production is diminishing while their contracts remain imposing and unmovable.  This team has to get younger in order to rebuild beyond the mediocrity they're mired in now.  So why in the fuck would Fenton sign up yet another aging player to yet another contract that will tie up money on this organization for the next several years?  Who the hell is saying the Mild can win now?  That is bullshit.

Nevertheless I was going to rank the Wild above the Timberwolves because I recognized Zuccarello's name.  But then it was revealed that Fenton made this statement about him:

"I told him when I was talking to him that he's like a lizard, the way a lizard takes his tongue and sticks it as far as it does and retrieves what it was trying to do." — GM Paul Fenton on @Zuccarello36

📰 → https://t.co/2V4Lig6AeV #mnwild pic.twitter.com/2tjfFXo1GJ

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) July 1, 2019

What the fuckety-fuck does that even mean?!?!?!  Is Fenton as senile as Trump?  If so, that explains the contract he gave Zuccarello.  Because of that I'm just putting these two teams together.  They're both goddamn losers.

(One other thing: Note that this statement was tweeted out by the team's account.  Did anyone with the Public Relations department -- or any department with the Mild, for that matter -- maybe, oh, think that this quote is a bad one to put out there, maybe?!  Either they want to make Fenton look bad or now there are entire departments that know the Mild are shit and are just mailing it in.)

Most of my winters in my life here have been ones of discontent sports-wise.  And with the moves and non-moves by Teams Dumb & Dumber (you get to decide which one's which), it'll be just as bad this upcoming one, ffs.

I Keep Giving These Idiots A Chance -- Why?

So I got a coupon from Dunkin' Donuts because I answered a survey about how they ripped me off over overcharging me for coffee.  That coupon expires today, so I just went there to get my free donut with the purchase of a drink (and I bought another donut just because).

That drink was supposed to be a Blueberry Crisp Signature Latte -- hot.  It came iced.  I know, I know, #firstworldproblems.  But seriously, the moment I looked at the cash register girl I thought she was a lazy idiot, and she just assumed I wanted an iced latte when I didn't.  Plus it's rainy out, so why the fuck do I want an iced latte?

So, you may ask, why didn't I complain and refuse it?  You know, I think a part of me is a pussy, to be honest.  I just didn't want to be That Guy.  And I can see myself going back here again (I don't know if there's another Dunkin' anywhere near me), so I don't want to make too many waves.  Plus the iced latte was made well, and I don't want to waste a perfectly good latte just because it's not what I wanted, even though getting what you want is something you should be entitled to as a consumer.  

But it doesn't feel good to just take it, you know?  This the second time this place has fucked up.  The only recourse I feel I have is to, Christ, fill out another survey ... whereby I would get another coupon which I feel I would have to use at this place, a store that has screwed up my order twice now.

Why do I do this to myself?