What Apparently Is The 2022 Minnesota State Fair New Food Of The Year Is ...

... well, first of all, from what I have read, it appears to be a banner year for new foods at the Minnesota State Fair.  Since the Fair decided to be progressive and forward with introducing new foods, I believe that 2022 may be The Best Year Ever For New Food (And Drink too, even though there are way fewer websites that are reviewing the new drinks at the Fair -- and by the by, gosh, I miss The Growler).

Several foods received what is basically a perfect rating in at least two of the websites I went to, so that makes finding a best hard to figure out.  One tie-breaker I have decided to use is number of reviews.  That takes out what appears to be a big hit, the Tot Dog.  For some reason, one of the websites (I think it's the Pioneer Press) didn't have its reporters review it.  Unfortunately, there are two new foods that garnered unanimous commendations from all the websites, so I am leaving out the Tot Dog (although I sure want to try it!).

Between the two, I decided to use as a final tie-breaker the rankings from Beard Award-winning food critic Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl of Mpls.-St. Paul Magazine.  She has as runner-up the Pork Schnitzel Sandwich from the Farmer's Union.  These guys are usually very good, and I think their new food every year charts on Grumdahl's annual State Fair Top 5 list.

What she has first, and therefore what I will crown as The 2022 Minnesota State Fair New Food Of The Year, is from new vendor Union Hmong Kitchen and ... well, it's real name is in Hmong, and I don't know how to pronounce it and I feel really bad about that.  It's called the Mov + Nqaij, which translates to rice and meat.  The rice is the Hmong purple sticky kind.  And you can have three kinds of meat -- well, actually it's sausage or chicken thigh or tofu.  You can also have three different sauces to go with it.  There's a scallion sauce that appears to be mild and a tiger oil that from its description alone looks like it'll burn off the roof of my mouth.  I went on Saturday night and waited half an hour for the sausage with the chili oil, which is hot, and not Minnesota hot but, like, objectively hot.  I tried to power through and dip the really good sausage in it, then the rice and greens (it's described as "microherbs") in it, and I got halfway through the cup before I couldn't take it anymore.  I felt the heat in my mouth for about an hour afterward, or about halfway through the aborted concert I went to at the grandstand.  The whole dish is really good, although I want to try the other two proteins and, so help me Buddha, the other two sauces.

No matter that I'm not giving the Mov + Nqaij a perfect 10.  People who have reviewed the foods have universally praised it, and so I will honor it as The 2022 Minnesota State Fair New Food Of The Year.

(Oh, and I should add that UHK has a drink called the Dej Qab Zib, which is coconut milk and lychee syrup and garnished with, I believe, the same microherbs as in the food [which, by the way, I guess you can order in English; I said when I ordered, "I'll take the sausage with the chili oil"].  It looks beautiful, and it tastes heavenly.  It was overcast and in the seventies Saturday night, and I wish it were sunny and in the nineties with humidity, because the quenching spell upon drinking that would have permanently sated my thirst.  Honestly, I like the food, but I love the drink way more than the food.  And I'm getting it when I'm ordering the other two proteins and the other two sauces, too!)

I'm Worried About

So I'm worried about where we're going to see our Game Saturday night, and then I have to worry about this "sensitive client" at work, whatever that hell that means, and then I need to worry about money since every stripper I know is asking me for it so they can "get their kids school supplies" or some shit, and then I have to worry about getting fat and finding the time to exercise, and then I need to worry about where we're going to watch our Game next week.

Fuck this, I'm worried about everything, goddammit.

I Know They're Pissed Now

I was supposed to have a follow-up call in this research study connected with the U. that I'm currently enrolled in back on Thursday.  I was all ready to receive the call ... but it didn't come.  Well, it did -- it just was sent automatically to voicemail.  I saw the record of it when I checked my phone (er, checked the phone app on my phone).  She called.  Up to five times over the course of the evening and night.  By the third missed call, I opened up my data to e-mail her that I am still around and that I apologize that my goddamn cell isn't letting me answer her call.

Eventually, I think a little after the fifth and final attempt of the night, which was around 9 p.m., I got an e-mail back from who I think was the person who tried to call me.  "We weren't the ones who blocked your call," she started, and in my reply I told her, once again, "No, it was my phone that blocked your call, and I'm sorry."

I may have blog posted about this before, but if I have, I'll repeat myself: I was supposed to have a phone call with these people earlier in the study which was also abandoned/postponed because my fucking phone for some reason blocked her call.  I still don't quite know why in the fuck this is happening, especially since I think I have called the number from which these people are calling me.  Regardless, from the tone of the e-mail I got back, they're getting real pissed at me.  I don't blame them, but I am at a fucking loss as to why this shit keeps happening, and how in the fuck I can stop it.

The person who e-mailed me Thursday night asked if we could try a call again tomorrow/Tuesday.  I told her that can't happen because I'm working The Fourth Department, and I might be tied up with work.  I asked if we could do a Zoom the following Tuesday (the day after Labor Day, and also after my parents leave so I can do a Zoom without them knowing), and I haven't heard back yet.  It feels as though they're frustrated.  Again, I can't blame them, but I don't know how defensive I'll be if they start giving me attitude as a result.

In the meantime, I may -- may -- have found a solution.  After looking in the Internet, I might have needed to turn off the Silence Unknown Callers feature on my phone.  That doesn't give me confidence I can field a call from them, however; I mean, if that feature is shut off, wouldn't I be getting dozens of spam calls from people I don't know?  I haven't, and I'm glad for that, but there is no proof that the feature is working.  If I knew it would, I would try to reschedule for tomorrow.  But now ... well, I've kind of put these people in a shitty situation, which means I am sort of fucked, too.

Technology goddamn sucks.

OK, My Night At The Minnesota State Fair

OK, so I leave the United Match (Loons came from behind to win, yay!) last night and after deciding not to take a nap because I probably have a lot of long lines I need to wade through, I go park at one of the Park-And-Rides close to the Fair.

I see four dudes hanging out near the corner, waiting for the bus.  The bus comes in, but parks several yards away.  I thought, OK, for crowd reasons it's going to drop off passengers here, move up several yards, pick up those guys, then leave.  I make sure that my car is locked.  I turn around, the bus is driving away, and it drives past the four dudes standing there.  I wait another 15 minutes for the next bus to pick up me and the other people who get there later.  Those four dudes don't walk over to get on the bus.  They're just standing on the corner ... EVEN THOUGH THEY LOOK LIKE THEY'RE WAITING FOR THE BUS.  I missed the bus because of those fuckers!  And why in the hell are they just hanging out talking in a church parking lot?  What dumbfucks do that?!

---

I thought I had time, but I soon realized that I had about an hour before the 7 p.m. concert of Portugal. The Man, Manchester Orchestra and Bad Bad Hats.  What's more, I had one other thing I was determined to do: Wait in line for the (and I should blog post about this soon) Minnesota State Fair New Food Of The Year at Union Hmong Kitchen.  I was thinking the line was going to be long, and it was: A half-hour, to be exact; I set my watch.  With me getting lied to about the bus and this line, I think I got my food at around 6:50.  Bad Bad Hats is a local band who has a song, "Detroit Basketball," that I love and would hate to miss when they play it.  But I had this food and drink that I really wanted to try last night.  I can't walk with them, and I don't think I could bring them into the grandstand.  So I made the decision to consume them right then and there, then walk to the Grandstand.

I'll review them later, but let's just say I really enjoyed them, for the most part.  I wanted to get a beer from the far side of the Fair, but I was missing the opening act.  In fact, by the time I got in, Bad Bad Hats were on their final song, and no, it was not "Detroit Basketball."  I was bummed.

---

Manchester Orchestra is either a five- or six-piece band, and the frontman wears a polo shirt and has a nebbishy vibe to him.  Trying to get into their music, but they seem to be nice people and very good musicians.  Unfortunately, they were warned late into their set that a storm was coming, and either at the end of their set or maybe with one song to go, they told us from the stage, "We were told that's the end of our show.  Love ya."  Manchester Orchestra has a song that I like, but they didn't play it.  I am bummed.  But now I feel obligated to see them next time they blow through here, and hopefully that'll be indoors, because we don't want no storms blowing through here.

---

We still took shelter and waited half an hour before what I guess was the inevitable conclusion was announced by the ushers: The rest of the concert was cancelled, and Portugal. The Man weren't going on.  And that sucks because it would've been the second time I saw them, and the second time I would have seen them this year; they opened up for Alt-J at the Armory in March.

So, no songs I recognize.  (I should say that the song Bad Bad Hats played before their final song, one I would hear from outside the grandstand while I was buying my ticket, was another song I'm familiar with and that I like, so I kind of missed that song, too.)  Got wet that night, especially after I was told the concert was cancelled and silly me walked out onto the State Fairground in the still rainy denouement to the violent storm that did rip through for about 20 minutes.  (Credit to the fair: I complained that there wasn't any rain when they postponed/shut down the concert after Manchester Orchestra, but maybe ten or 15 minutes after we were told to seek shelter, the storm came with a vengeance.)  I actually went west to get that beer I wanted before the concert, only to see the whole place closed early.  And then, as I thought I should just call it a night, the rain pretty much stopped.  Thought I'd take in a MinneBlueberry Pie with cinnamon ice cream before they closed.

And by the way, the Fair said that all tickets for the show will be refunded.  Since I paid with a credit card, it should be refunded to my credit card straight away.  So, there's that, at least.

---

And that was my night at the Minnesota State Fair.  Oh, for those of you who haven't heard the song, here's Bad Bad Hats with "Detroit Basketball":

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#0: United FC (Last Week: -1).  When you think of "playoff atmosphere," Saturday night is what you think of.  For those who care about the competition and what this Match means in the standings, this is a highly anticipated matchup between Austin FC, a second-year squad who is second in the Western Conference, and Minnesota United FC, a team in fourth place but on a roll.  Both clubs have a front four that are locked in.  And there's only about six Weeks left before the playoffs begin.  Let's go!

Both XI's traded Penalty Kicks in the First Half.  The difference came in the Second Half.  The Loons pressured AFC from the high line all Game.  It paid dividends in the 62nd Minute when Franco Fragapane, who's caught fire himself, picked Center Back Julio Cascante of a ball passed to him by his Goalkeeper, Brad Stuver, deep in the Austin box.  Fragapane chipped the ball past Stuver for the 2-1 lead, and after heavy pressure by the Verde, the Loons made that scoreline stick.

It felt as though the entire Allianz Field crowd was invested in the Match and knew the stakes.  It was energizing to see our team, our good team, take all three Points against a foe a few Years younger but more than several Points ahead of them in the standings.  It's what good teams do.  For that accomplishment and the indelible two Hours at the rocking nest, not only do I give MNUFC the top spot this Week, I am also going to elevate them above negative numbers.

There are eight Games left to go in the regular season; two of them are coming this screening Week.  Tonight's/Saturday night's tilt vs. a beatable Houston team may be a trap Game for MNUFC because they play at Real Salt Lake Wednesday.  If the season ended right now, Minnesota would be hosting RSL in the First Round of the playoffs.

#-1: Gopher volleyball (Re-Entry!).  The University of Minnesota sports teams are rapidly coming back online over the next Week or so, so get ready (I tell myself).  The volleyball squad began its season last/Friday evening in Fort Worth, Tex., site of the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge.  The U. begin the season ranked fifth in the country; the opponent, Baylor, is ranked 16th.  I do like it when this program challenges itself, and a four-Set Win over the Bears on a neutral court is a good thing -- even if it's something you should expect from the Minnesota volleyball club, and even though heartbreak is almost fated to be at the end of this journey.

The non-conference slate, as usual, appears to be a meaty and challenging one.  They finish the tournament tonight/Saturday night versus host TCT, then travel to Austin to play Texas for just one single, solitary Match on Wednesday.

#-2: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -3).  Very inauspicious Week, and a very bad start for the Dinkytown women's XI.  On Sunday, the Goofers blew a 1-0 lead (McKenna Buisman scored in the 48th) by giving up two Goals to hosts TCU about 90 Seconds apart in the 85th and 86th Minutes to lose, 2-1.  Then, in Thursday's home opener, the U. couldn't break through against Cal Poly -- Cal Poly! -- and lost the Game on a Goal by the Mustangs' Nikki Trucco in the 78th.  Add that these players choked away a lead and settled for a Draw at Baylor on an 80th-Minute tally in their season opener, and this side has now allowed four Goals in the final sixth (aka after the 75th Minute) of all three Matches they've played.

This is an extremely troubling pattern.  But at least this team has its whole season ahead of them, so there's time to turn it around.  Even though it went winless this Week, they have that in its back pocket, unlike ...

#-3: Twins (Last Week: -2). ... the Twinks, who, despite crushing The Bastard New York Giants in the first Game of their three-Game series last/Friday night, 9-0, are seeing their playoff chances go up in flames.  That Win last night broke a six-Game losing streak.  Yep, they were about to go winless for the screening Week: They lost the last three Games of a four-Game set at The Bastard Washington Senators v.2.0 -- a squad that fired first its Manager and then its General Manager a couple days apart earlier last Week -- at home, no less, then got swept over three contests at irredeemably cheatin' Houston.  Cleveland has gone 2-3 since Saturday, but they're now three Games ahead of Minnesota in the AL Central.

(Aside: I saw most of the Guardians' 3-2 Loss in Seattle last/Friday night on Apple TV+.  It's nice to be able to watch Games that are not on free TV, and so long as I get Apple TV+ -- I'm guessing I've been given a free trial because I'm with T-Mobile -- I will watch an occasional Game on Fridays, when the streaming service broadcasts Games.  A lot of people hate the broadcast, but I think the graphic visuals are cool, and I do like the B-team (?) that called the exciting finish.)

Things are falling apart with the Twinks.  Last night aside, it's the Lineup that's gone to shit.  Luis Arraez still leads the league in Batting Average, and Jose Miranda is producing at a clip where I can't see how he'll be sent back down to St. Paul ever again unless he's hurt.  But for a while now that's been it, and that's unacceptable for a team with playoff aspirations.

And oh, Byron Buxton is hurt again.  I thought it was ... OK for Buck to come back on the kind of contract the Twinks offered him.  But whatever money he makes isn't worth it if he's on the Injured List, and goddamn, he's on the IL now.  His aches and pains seemed to be have been managed well for most of the season, but I don't see how this entire situation has changed for the better if the organization has failed to keep him out of traction.

I think it's interesting to note that San Francisco is the last of the other 29 teams to play at Target Field.  Once it's completed its season this weekend -- are they going to the State Fair today? -- the Red Sox come to town for a trio, and then the White Sox are here to start a trio on Friday.  Minnesota at least has the opponents to get back on a winning streak.  But can they?

Expenses Without Receipts

Shit.  Let it go too long again.  Let's dive in.  From Thursday, August 25:

• Actually, let's go back to Monday, August 22 ... first, I am putting on this date money Mother gave me to pay for the house electric and gas bills online.  She did this days ago, and I think I actually paid this a couple days later, but because I'm spending cash on this day, I'm throwing these in on this day as well.  It's an administrative thing.  An Infusion of: $131.
• I also remembered that Father gave me money for all the lottery tickets he wanted me to buy for him when one of those two jackpots (I don't remember which) reached a billion dollars.  An Infusion of: $100.
• I didn't need all that money, so I deposited the two $100 bills I got from my parents: $200.
• A French language adult educational ... system or something or other, Alliance Francaise, had a small French film festival going on.  One of the films they were screening is a film I've always wanted to see because it's one of those Greatest Movies any cinephile should see: Jules & Jim.  I figured it was time to see it.  I love the setup enough: It was outside in the back of the AF building, and we were given chairs to sit on the parking lot to watch the film.  It was supposed to start at 7 but the glare from the sun convinced the school to push it back to 7:30, and even then the glare made it hard to see the screen until sunset took hold a bit after 8.  As for the movie ... eh.  There is a caricature of French New Wave films of elliptical dialogue and flat emoting.  I respect what the movie represents in cinema, but I got nothing out of it.  And if I didn't cheat and see what the ending was on its Wikipedia page, I would have thought it was exponentially longer than its actual 1:45 run time.  But I liked the idea and the setting (even with the roaring cars right next to us), and they offered small cups of popcorn for which they asked for donations.  That plus admission for Jules & Jim: $7.
• Since I got there a half-hour too early, I did what I was going to do after the movie and drove down to Sebastian Joe's, just because.  Sundae plus tip: $8.45.
• And after all that I threw into my cup of new coins two shiny quarters.  Did you know they changed the portrait of George Washington in the front?  Huh: 50 cents.
• Back to Friday the 19th: First I went to ******a's apartment to get a massage, a reward after a very taxing and stressful week: $120.
• And then I went to a stripper party.  You know, I remember that I wanted to blog post about it, so I will.  Let's just say that I had a VIP with one stripper and a shorter VIP with another, and with cover fee I spent only: $200.
• To Friday the 12th -- The barber school close by me has a very special, uh, special: All haircuts are free.  I think they bigwigs wanted the students to have practice.  I had a rather cute-looking one.  She plays chess.  And she was very professional even though she cut the front of my hair unevenly.  I still gave her a massive tip that pretty much was what a haircut over there normally costs: $10.
• Then we go all the way back to Saturday, July 30.  That was the day my parents came back to town, so I thought it'd be a good idea if I took the car in for a wash.  Central Car usually does a bang-up job.  Have a receipt for the wash, to this EWR is for the tip only: $4.
• I then went to the barber school to get a shave.  This dude was nice, too.  I wonder why I didn't see if I could get my hair cut by him, too.  Oh, well; I didn't see, so it was possible he was taking the day off.  And besides, I wouldn't've gotten my hair done by this cute student.  Anyway, shave plus tip equals: $14.
• On Thursday the 28th ****e* fit me into her busy schedule and cleaned the house before the 'Rents came home.  Had to leave work for a bit in order to open the door for her and have her start cleaning in the afternoon.  It's a little weird, but my boss okayed it so long as I made up for the time I was gone (minus my lunch break) at the back end of the day.  Probably not a bad arrangement as I think about having her come around in the future.  In the meantime, let's just say that I, uh, finally convinced her to revisit her stripper past.  I might blog post about this in the future.  In the meantime, she still cleans like the dickens, and she's a steal at only: $200.
• Sunday the 24th ... fit in a massage session with ******a before my parents returned.  She doesn't trust her phone nowadays, so we had to turn on KS95 for music while she rubbed me down.  And I gotta say, when it's out of the dayparts of morning and afternoon rush, I think KS95 plays some pretty adventurous music.  I don't know if I'll ever listen to them on a Sunday night, but that radio station hit all the spots this time around.  Anyway, the massage cost me: $120.
• Back to Friday the 22nd, where ***e* came around to jack me off ... and this time, she brought with her *u****, not her regular partner!  Actually, ***e* stayed with *u**** while ***e* was in town, and *u**** drove the two up here.  The HJ was good -- HJs usually are -- but it was kind of a surprise to see *u**** just jerk me off when she's done so much more to me -- and I to her -- in the past.  That's probably because ***e* took the lead and she doesn't do that shit.  But on Friday, August 19, she did do that shit.  Anyhoo: $240.
• Tuesday, July 19 -- I may or may not have found a dime on the ground.  An Infusion of: 10 cents.
• And I saw Thor: Love And Thunder at the movies.  I am pretty much in for a penny, in for a pound with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so maybe my opinions don't much matter since I'm watching them all anyway.  But what stands out from basically Thor 4 is that it's a much funnier movie than nearly all the other MCU ones.  That's what you get when Taiki Waititi takes the helm, and the film, the character, and the universe is all the better for it.  By the way, I hope Christian Bale didn't go all method in this one; his child (children?) are in it, as are the kids of Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman.  Discount Tuesday ticket, popcorn and pop: $10.74.

Good through August 25.

A Good Night's Sleep, And Now I'm Paying For It

Sometimes, believe it or not, my worst days at work come after a good night's sleep.  Today is a case in point.

Last night I came back from a quick workout.  I showered, went back to my bed, did some stuff online, then conked off between 11 and 11:30.  I felt tired, but I had a peanut butter sandwich I was going to eat (after adding jelly) and about 75% of a coffee I bought for the day but did not drink if I either didn't go to bed or woke up after a brief nap.

Alas, my body said, "Nope, you're lying still for seven hours."  And so, while I had the alarm woke me up, I was refreshed and happy I got some good sleep.  Add an easy time at My Favorite Department (where I'll also be tomorrow), and I think the rest of my workweek was going to be an easy glide to the weekend.

Alas, my day went, "Nope, you're going to go through a bit of hell."  The hard drive on the computer at this workstation was swapped for some damn reason, and that means most of the work I need for this job -- forms to fill out, inboxes I need to reach -- had to be mapped, and that's something I don't know how to do.  I tried anyway before asking my boss.  That was a waste of two hours.

Things got better in the afternoon, but I got sidetracked by my boss asking me to do data entry because they were backed up out there.  My co-worker who is in My Favorite Department full-time was a bit miffed at it, but she thought she could handle the workload without me.  So I finish up keying, I leave ... and I get home to discover I left my phone at work.  Great.

I have a phone call I need to take at 6:30.  I also have some medication I need to pick up, which I planned to do around 6.  That pharmacy is close by, but I was hoping I could tuck in a little nap, but I can't do that now that I have to pick up my phone ... especially since I turned on my alarm for 6 o'clock and I should leave NOW before my other co-workers try to figure out where the hell that sound is coming from.

I kind of wonder if my day would have gone better if I only had my typical four hours of sleep.

Things Fall Apart -- Again

So Monday night Father is trying to repair this leak from our old copper pipe in the basement.  He bought some pipe repair kit contraption, the instructions to which he couldn't understand because they were in English.  He asked for my help, but I couldn't understand the instructions because I couldn't understand them.  I remember when there was a pinhole leak in the same copper piping some years back when my parents weren't here, and ... frankly, I don't remember how I dealt with it before Father came home from Las Vegas to fix it.  I don't remember if I tried fixing it myself, but if I did, I failed.  At any rate, I came home from work yesterday/Tuesday and he didn't seem to be working on the pipes, so I guess it worked, or something.

Later last/Tuesday night I tried to open and clothes my blinds, but instead of opening and closing, one side of the blinds moved up and down.  Often you see the bottom of blinds be crooked.  Nope -- for mine in my bedroom, the top of my blinds are.  And I finally saw tonight that a string holding up one section of the top of the blinds snapped.  I don't know what to do besides keeping the blinds closed so that no one sees.  I don't want Father to fix it because that means going into my bedroom, where he eventually will tell me to clean my damn room again, pffft.

Oh, and I lost my set of keys, the one that has the key that opens the desk drawer to my porn and the one to my storage unit.  I have another set, but I want to find my first set.  I hope they'll turn up; they sort of seem to do that.  But I looked through the pants that I wore and they're not there.  Did they fall in the car?  Did they make it to the washing machine?  Hell if I know.

Yeah, things are falling apart now.

Yeah, Back To Hating My Co-Workers

You know, I keep making the mistake at work of checking the number of forms in a folder and then not closing down the software system in which I check those out.  It's a very basic Graphic User Interface and yet only one person can look at that particular folder at a time.

I keep making this mistake in my Main Department, when I'm scanning in the forms.  There is a certain number of these per folder.  If there isn't, you are asked to go onto this system and check if the list of forms include (and it's hard to describe so I'm going to be vague about it) forms that don't need to be there for one reason or another.  If you subtract those already-accounted-for forms and that difference is the number of forms you scanned in, you're OK.  If not, it's time to manually count the forms to see if this problem needs to be passed along to a supervisor.

Anyway, my problem is that the count of scanned forms is not what I expect, I go onto the system to make sure they're all supposed to be there ... and then I forget to shut down that software because someone in the lab usually is looking at the same folder at the same time.  That means that people on the lab side of our department have to go up to a pass-through window and shout for the someone who has opened up that folder to get out of it so they can do whatever important work they have to do.

That someone, by the way, usually is me.  And this fucking happened again fucking yesterday/Monday.  I see this person who, uh, warned me to get out of the software, but it's not like I have ever spoken to her, let alone struck up small talk with her.  But I can't get over this particular incident not because I did it again, although that's bad enough, but I say "Sorry!" (like I always do when I stay on the screen) and she didn't fucking goddamn acknowledge me.  None of the lab people ever do, to be honest, but this one irks me, not gonna lie.  And by the way, I had to look up the number of forms in this particular folder because she fucked up.  I scanned one fewer than the number the software says I should have had, and I had to double-check to make sure I wasn't seeing things incorrectly.  If that lab worker hadn't screwed up the count in the first place (and I think she eventually had to delete a form that was listed there but wasn't supposed to be there), I wouldn't have panicked when seeing the wrong count again, frantically counted all the papers and totally forget I was still on that screen.

So this means I'm back to hating my co-workers.  Well, she might not be a co-worker per se, but we work for the same company and in the same building, so, yeah, technically she's my co-worker.  You want to be that, uh, brusque with me at work, I see no good coming out of socializing with you at all away from it.  And like I said, IT'S YOUR DAMN FAULT!!!!

Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: July 2022

I have gone back and forth ever since I first laid eyes on the month.  Not to say that's a bad thing -- far from it, it's pretty good.  Of the dozen women on this month, I'd say about half a dozen are notable, and I'm still not firm as to which six.  But it's getting late in the month and I should spit this out and I can't think of anything else I want to blog post about, so I will make my decision now.

I will name six, and I will rank them in ascending order.

In sixth place is Trinity, out of Odessa, Fla.  Long, straight, light brown hair.  What gets me is her get-up: It's a blue two-piece bikini, but the top is one of those things where both sides of the top are connected only by two horizontal strings that frame the cleavage.  I don't remember the last time I've seen such a unique top.

In fifth place is Aubrey, from Sarasota, Fla.  Long, straight, blonde hair, and a white two-piece.  I love the vertical ridge down her cleavage to her navel.  A sign of strength!

In fourth place is Madison, hailing from Knoxville, Tenn.  Long, blonde hair, a red two-piece bikini whose top is, uh, kind of zany.  From her proportions it looks like she's a tiny girl, but that makes her body bangin'.

In third place is Lindsay, out of Merrillville, Ind.  I have really gone back and forth with her.  I didn't initially have her as a waitress I wanted to cite.  After all, even though she has long brown hair and is wearing a blue two-piece, she's posed on the side, and nondescriptly at that.  But I'm looking at the background of her photograph.  The Hooters logo looms behind her.  The scenery could be anything, I know that, but my horny mind wants to think that she is posing at the restaurant she works at in Merrillville, Ind.  Could be out in the patio, or it could be in the inside of a mall, like the Hooters at the Mall Of America.  I just get this kinky kick that a Hooters girl dresses down to a swimsuit and takes photos at the place she works at and perverted heterosexual males like me would love to eat!

In second place is Tayler, from Sugarland, Tex.  Long, straight, dark brown hair, and her two-piece bikini is pattered with white stars on a blue background, also known as the canton part on the American flag.  I'll be honest: She's not smiling, and that bothers me quite a bit.  But goddamn, look at her body -- long, slim, got that vertical ridge showing strength, built like a fucking greyhound, a sexy one!  She's ... my word, she's fit!

Finally, in first place ... I give it to The Main Girl, Blakelyn, hailing from Jacksonville.  Brown hair that ends at her shoulders, and she's wearing a two-piece that's red, white and blue but is not American flag-themed.  That her picture is the biggest one of the dozen on here is a major boost: She is one of the few on this page who fully faces the camera, so we see her delectable body in all her glory.  She's thigh-deep in a pool, and she's splashing the water for effect.  But sexiest of all to me?  She's smiling in this photo.  Yep, I'm acting like a male chauvinist when I say that, but her smile puts her over the top!

So, congratulations to Blakelyn, and to all the other hot women I've pointed out.  I've masturbated to all of you already, but I think I have interest for one more squirt before I fully turn the page on all of you!

So I'm at the United Match last/Saturday night, and I have noticed for the second Match this capo, someone who leads the Match-long chants at a soccer Game's supporters' section, which at Allianz Field for Minnesota United Matches is called the Wonderwall.  This capo is fucking gorgeous: She has long, curly hair, both times I've spotted her she wore a barebelly halter top, and she's got a lot of sexy tattoos.

The thing is: I think I've met her before.  I think I met her several years ago at an MNUFC fan appreciation event.  I got food and sat at a table, and I think she and someone else sat next to me because they were working for the team as, I think, salespeople.  She started up a conversation and, partly because I wanted to be friendly and partly because she was hot as hell, I joined in in kind.  But that was years ago, I think before the Loons mad the move up to Major League Soccer, and I don't think anyone working for the organization can be a capo because you have to, you know, work for the team.

But anyway, she's sexy as fuck, even from many yards away, and I wonder if she is that person, and I wonder if she recognizes me.  Because she's sexy as fuck.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: United FC (Last Week: -1).  Maybe it's the season ticket-holder bias in me, but I remain impressed when this side, and really any Minnesota team, can go on the road and win.  The Loons did just that, defeating Nashville SC in the brand new grounds they opened up earlier this summer by a 2-1 score Sunday night.  Franco Fragapane (who has started to score, thank goodness) opened up scoring in the Match in the 27th Minute.  Nashville's Hany Mukhtar, who has been a great soldier for them, tied it in the 61st, prompting me to turn off the radio.  But coming to the rescue was new acquisition Alan Benitez.  United FC fans on Twitter were lambasting his lack of defensive commitment playing as a Right Back, but that paid off in the 75th when he scored the Game-winner, Minnesota's sixth away from home this season, an organization best in top-flight.

Over its life as a franchise, NSC has consistently punched above its weight.  But as of press time, they're on the outside looking in and increasingly facing questions as to how and why they seem so underwhelming playing at home.  Meanwhile the Loons are in fourth place, jousting with reasserting FC Dallas for third.  And they have a measuring stick Game tonight/Saturday night, as they host the team in second place in the West, second-Year club Austin FC, featuring MVP contender Sebastian Driussi and ex-Loon -- and One Of Us -- Ethan Finlay.  MNUFC has made some moves over this Transfer Window, including picking up Benitez and Midfielder Jonathan Gonzalez.  Will AFC make United FC regret that it didn't pick up someone on Defense?

#-2: Twins (Last Week: -2).  Yeah, they're on a four-Game winning streak which includes a three-Game sweep of the hapless Royals in which they outscored Kansas City, 17-2 (and the last two Games were Shutouts).  But they started off the Week losing a pair, and the series, to the Angels, and as of right now, they remain a Game back of Cleveland for a division lead they had most of the season and 1/2 Game back of Tampa for American League Wild Card 3.  Furthermore, despite shoring up relief pitching over the Trade Deadline, the Bullpen still remains shaky.  Take, for example, last/Friday night's 2-1 Win in The Battle Over The Bastard Washington Senators at Target Field.  Recently acquired Closer Jorge Lopez was charged to shut the door in the Ninth, and he did, but only after a pair of Walks and a Game-ending Double Play.  This is an organization that will not let its Starting Pitcher face a Lineup a third time, and so will regularly use four, five Pitchers each outing, and I'll be damned if at least one of them has a bad performance on the mound.

They play Texas the next three Days.  On Tuesday they visit Houston for three, then they have a three-Game home series vs. The Bastard New York Giants starting Friday.

#-3: Gopher soccer (Re-Entry!).  I've been so busy and/or in my head lately that I didn't notice that the college sports season started on Thursday with the kickoff of top-flight women's soccer.  (Last Week's WMNSS was the last one of the Year to feature only three entries; it's only going to get more numerous from here on out.)  I have no idea what to expect from this side this Year, but I give credit to Head Coach Erin Chastain for not shirking from challenges and starting her charges on the road against BcS schools.  Thursday night they were in Waco, Tex., taking on Baylor in a Match that was delayed by about 90 Minutes because of the weather.  Khyah Harper broke through for the Gophers in the 52nd Minute, but the Bears' Haven Terry knotted it up in the 80th, and the first Game of the Season goes down as a 1-1 Draw.

Their second Game is also in Texas: TCU tomorrow/Sunday night.  They then go back to Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium to play their first home Match versus Cal Poly Thursday evening.

#-Infinity: Lynx (Last Week: -3).  I didn't think they had a chance.  And, despite having one final Game against a very good Connecticut club that had nothing to play for while they had everything to play for -- they would have made the playoffs instead of Phoenix if they won -- and showing a dead-cat bounce to cut the deficit to four late, the Jynx lost the final Game of the regular season at the Sun, 90-83.  Thus, the Lynx miss the playoffs for the first time since 2011.  That Loss also ends the illustrious career of one Sylvia Fowles, who, in another player profile/retrospective, will take steps in becoming a mortician now that she's retired from the WNBA.  A mortician?!

As happens after the season ends for a team that fell short, the secrets to the shortcomings of the Lynx started to spill out into the open this Week.  Head Coach and General Manager Cheryl Reeve revealed that she couldn't "get through to this group," and her squad "didn't have great buy-in."  Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan pointed fingers in his post-mortem posing as a column: Kayla McBride plays hard, but Natalie Achonwa didn't do enough, Rachel Banham isn't a starting lineup Point Guard, and possibly most glaring of all, Aerial Powers is a shoot-first ne'er-do-well.  If there is any one player that takes the fall for this past season, it'll be Powers.

Souhan says it's time to rebuild.  With only a dozen teams and too many really good players who can't play in the WNBA due to too few spots and not enough money, you don't need Years to rebuild, and with Napheesa Collier back full-time and the new nucleus around which the team rallies, the Lynx certainly could be back as a title contender next Year.  I don't doubt that.  But while this league probably is a league where you can turn over the roster over an offseason and still be good and even improve, I think this team could use some turnover.  Let's face it: The Minnesota Lynx weren't very good.  You are what your record says you are, according to asshole Hall Of Fame Head Coach Bill Parcells, and the Jynx finished the season 14-22.

Meanwhile, I think I'll ask a question too few are asking: Is Cheryl Reeve safe?  There are new owners coming in (Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez) who did not hire her.  And many Lynx observers and fans point out that while her coaching is unquestioned, she hasn't done so well acquiring talent ever since she took on the GM role.  Finally, if it's time for a rebuild, wouldn't that go for the Head Coach, too?

It Pays To Have An Ally

It's hard to describe yesterday.  In most tangible ways, it fucking sucked, and just as bad as Wednesday.  It's mostly from nagging by co-workers for shit I didn't do again, mistakes I have made before.  I'm sorry I fucked up again, OK?  Jesus goddamn Christ, I'm getting buried with fucking bullshit over here, so get off my ass!!!

But it's in those hours of stress and suffering in which I notice moments of grace.  And I gotta say that my co-worker, one who works right next to me, saved my ass when I felt so lonely yesterday.  Now, I have to point out that there was not a whole lot of new stuff that came in yesterday; it was as few as it was on Monday, so that was a big weight off my shoulders.  All the unique problems I had to deal with pushed all the new stuff I needed to tackle later in the workday than I would have liked, so having so few things to do then was very alleviating.  But my co-worker, probably sensing my stress, took half of those new forms off my plate, which made the end of my day much easier.  Furthermore, she noticed that a lot of those forms that were sent to me could have, if not should have, gone to her and my other co-worker in My Favorite Department instead.  That raises the possibility, if not probability, that I have been doing too much on my end back in The Fourth Department for far too long, and that somebody is giving me more work than I should be doing.

I have come across several articles about the workplace environment changing since the pandemic began -- The Great Resignation, "quiet quitting," steadfastly not making friends at work, etc.  That last concept is an idea I have largely believed ... when I do believe it.  What I think I mean by that is that I vacillate on the idea.  Work, especially this week, is so fucking overwhelming that I usually do not want to associate with anyone even tangentially connected to work, and specifically a space that causes me distress and anxiety.  If I'm getting yelled at by you at work, why in the hell would I want to know you outside of it?  But that sets up an antagonistic mindset, one where it's you against other people when the "enemy" might not be those other people, but the work itself.  Just writing that gives me pause; if the other people I work with recognize it's the work that's the "bad guy," they wouldn't be yelling at me, for fuck's sake.

But it's times when work is at its worst where you could use a co-worker who empathizes with you, and even shares your burden.  And hey, not only did she take some of what I thought were my responsibilities -- which, by the way, allowed me to get out of work only an hour earlier than I should have instead of two, and that's a big goddamn deal -- but she seemed to care about what I was going through.  And for yesterday and today, there is no authority figure hanging around where we are working; our supervisor is taking the rest of the week off.  Oh, I should circle back and say this: These unique problems I had to deal with yesterday morning?  I relied on her to help, massively.  And she did.  And so I ... well, looked, and look, to her as a supervisor.  She has saved my ass time and again ever since I started work back there.

It pays to have an ally.  It pays to have a co-worker whom you can ask for help, and with whom you can feel as though she's on your side against the work, if not other co-workers who appear to be bitching at you for no good reason.  That may not be socializing at work.  But the idea that you should completely separate your work life from your personal life seems absurd when you need somebody to help you at work.  I personally like her.  I really do!  And she's going to help talk to my supervisor next week about this looming problem of me getting work that should be going to her and her co-worker.  That's ... being a good person.  An ally.  So ... yeah, maybe yesterday wasn't a bad day after all.

Yesterday Fucking Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked

Yeah, yesterday was the day at work I feared and expected.  The horridness of the day unfolded in a way I didn't quite anticipate, however.  All this time I was worried about the people I had to reach out to being nasty to me.  Yesterday, however, it was my co-workers, all my co-workers, who were short with me and with whom I was short in return.  It doesn't help things when the first thing you see getting into work are the mistakes that you made the previous day and you have to start your day by going back and fixing them.  And then you had people you work with nagging you about "You need to do this!" followed by "Why are you telling me this?"  To which I can only reply, er, respectively, "I didn't fucking know I have to do this!" and "Because I don't fucking know, and I need you to tell me!"

I have complained about people I have had to contact for information being bitchy to me.  That is never fun.  However, it hits different when the people being assholes to you are people in the same company as you, even people you see during the day.  It's bad enough that you ever have contact with that toxicity.  But if the fights you are having are with people who are within proximity to you (as in the same campus), if not working next to you, you can't slam the phone down, or ignore the e-mail.  That poison is around you, and it can potentially get nasty between you two again the next day, and there's no avoiding that the way you can not talk to some contact from some other company, which makes your working environment even more toxic.

Since the day started out shitty, I just couldn't, or didn't, want to shake my bad mood.  I stayed later than I had the previous two days.  The number of forms that came in was much higher than Monday but a little lower than Tuesday.  No, the delay in me leaving, and the stress of all 9 1/2 hours before I could leave, came with all the other weird fucking bullshit I had to deal with.

So, unto the breach I go again today.  My co-worker, with whom I noticed I was short with when all this goddamn mess came onto me, said it is a new day.  It is a new day.  It can't get any worse.  Then again, I don't know that.  It could be a new day for more fucking bullshit to come at me.

Addendum To: Jesus Christ, Man, There's Jelly In The Fridge, Too!

And I blog post the previous day to see that, for lunch yesterday/Tuesday, Father made me a sandwich not with peanut butter but with jelly, thus doing the exact opposite of what he has done all these many days and weeks and years.  But since it's still a sandwich with just one ingredient in it, and since it is still missing its other half, I had to complete the sandwich, this time with peanut butter, a new jar of which I had to break open.

Oh, and I ate it after I woke up at 3:30 after sleeping for for five hours.  I'm awake now, just a few hours before I have to go to work.  I hope I can fall back asleep.

So why did Father pull this switcheroo on me?  And why does he still not understand it's peanut butter and jelly?

Jesus Christ, Man, There's Jelly In The Fridge, Too!

I probably have blog posted about this before, but in case I haven't, I will risk repeating myself.

Ever since my parents have come home, Father has packed a lunch for me for work.  As I have said many, many times before, I don't need food at work, but he packs it anyway, and I can't afford my own place.

He has changed it up in the past, but so far, and what I anticipate what he'll do until they leave, his lunch for me is a banana and a peanut butter sandwich.  Not a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but a peanut butter sandwich.  This despite us having a squeeze bottle of grape jelly (which I found at work; once again, someone brought food for us to take) which I know he has noticed.

What's the use of a peanut butter sandwich?  Peanut butter and jelly go together.  In fact, without the other, each of them is kind of pointless.  And just peanut butter on a sandwich is extremely useless.  You need at least two things inbetween two pieces of bread like that.  It's a law, or at least it should be.  Otherwise, you may as well just eat the bread out of its bag and then the PB out of its jar.  There's no use putting them together if they're the only things being put together.

I've been so perturbed by this that I am now just refusing to eat the "sandwich" at work.  But once I get home, I wait until after dinner, put jelly in the sandwich, and eat it now that it is "proper"  It's a good idea for another reason: I am currently participating in a research study at the U., and I am supposed to take this medication with food before I go to bed.  Saving, and rescuing, peanut butter in bread so it can be chased down my gullet with a pill feels very efficient.

But Jesus bleepin' Christ, man, can't you just slap on some jelly!  The sandwich looks so lame without it!!!

I Am Full Of Dread For This Week

This week I am in The Fourth Department all week.  Probably is the first time ever I've done so.  In one way, this is good: I get into the groove of things, and after reacclimating myself to all the outstanding work and, frankly, remembering how to do the job, there will be some parts of it that will get easier as the week progresses and I can readily recall what is wrong with this form or that form.

The downside, of course, is that I have to deal with other people's bullshit all week.  I don't know if I'm up to letting it flow off my back.  I'm into fuckin' defending myself.  And I will.

So hey, wish me luck!

Maybe I Shouldn't've Gone Out Today

I actually thought I could just stay in today/Sunday.  My parents wanted to teach me how to cook pork, even though I did it once or twice before, because they are going to leave me a bunch of frozen chops and they wanted me to cook them the right way.  I thought I did it the right way, but frankly, I've grown up eating the pork chops they made, and they are delicious, even though I don't know any better.  Anyway, with that and maybe mowing the lawn, there was enough of my day where, if I woke up late because I had nowhere to be on a Sunday, I'd get up whenever, learn how to cook pork chops my parents' way, maybe then mow the lawn, and then most of it not all of my afternoon would be spoken for.  I still have papers to go through, after all, and this day would have been the perfect day to go through them.

When I finally woke up (around 11 -- egad) and popped my head out to eat a very late breakfast/early lunch, I asked about when they can show me how.  And they said, "Well, we figure that since we're eating pork tonight, we'd show you around dinnertime ... after you come back."  Dinnertime to them, by the way, is around 4.  Anyway, when I heard, "After you come back," I felt like the lock on my cage sprang free.  Try as I might -- and sometimes I don't try that hard, to be honest -- I remain uncomfortable just hanging out at home with my folks during the day.  I feel as though I should be doing something that they are satisfied with -- something like cleaning my room.  But I can't clean my room if I'm off, and so I've been conditioned to find excuses to get out of the house during weekend days as much as possible.  I'm not sure if they'd be so pissed these days if I would just stay in my room and watch TV, but, you know, still.

So, now that I know they expected me to just leave in the afternoon, I left in the afternoon.  (However, Father did teach me how to prepare the chops -- tenderize them, rub it down with some seasoning -- before I left.)  Didn't think I'd spend any money today, just thought I'd walk around the Sculpture Garden if there was space to park (there wasn't, so I didn't walk), then go to the library to knock down some of my voluminous e-mails.  But the darnedest thing happened this Sunday afternoon: Too many jerks driving fast and cutting me off like they're racing in NASCAR.  I could've gone without seeing or dealing with that today.  Oh, well.  Once I got back home, I was taught to use water to continue to juice up the chops and to cook the pork between three and five minutes on each side.  Oh, and after dinner I mowed the lawn.  Don't know if I'll have any time to do it next weekend.

Oh This Is A Great Conversation Byeeeeee!!!

I did my third and final Zoom for the club I help run last/Saturday night.  I've been dreading it, as I've dreaded all the Zooms, because I am not a sociable person and I am not the type to continue throwing topics out just to break the silence.  But I do these Zooms anyway because I feel obligated to keep this organization together.

Besides, I have a de facto ace up my sleeve: Zoom meetings, at the Basic level, are only 40 minutes long.  I figure if the meetings drag or if we run out of stuff to talk about, no worries; at worst I will have to suffer through 40 minutes of uncomfortable silence.  By the way, I don't know why, when you schedule a Zoom, they are timed out in 15 minute increments; if the basic unit of a Zoom meeting is 40 minutes, why can't you schedule a meeting for just 40 minutes?  And by the way, why is Zoom Basic a maximum of 40 minutes?  That time limit seems like an odd number for a free videoconference.  Shouldn't it be an hour, or 30 minutes?

So even though I extended our June meeting not once but twice because the only person who came on with me had a riveting story about, no joke, coffee makers -- and I think I just re-clicked on the Zoom link after we got kicked out; if that's all we needed to "extend" our Zoom, why would I ever need to pay money for its Pro version? -- I kept it at 40 minutes (well, 45 minutes; the Event time spans are divided only in 15-minute increments, like when setting up a Zoom meeting) just like me and my good friend did for our July Zoom.  I wasn't really feeling talking to people through the computer, but 7 o'clock rolled around and I had to keep the social club fires burning.

To my astonishment, and to my ever-enduring gratitude, three other people showed up.  It was a party ... well, sorta; I guess there were some dead spots in the conversation, which is inevitable when all the parties aren't completely familiar with each other.  One popped on quick before heading out the lake just beyond his property, but the other two were really rolling on a topic just as we were getting to 7:40.  Whoops.

I brought up Zoom just in case it felt necessary to quickly schedule another Zoom right afterward (even though, like I said, back in June I was able to just click the link to the originally-scheduled Zoom and we were back in and back on).  Then I barged into a pretty involved conversation between both other participants to remind both were bumping up to the 40 minutes Zoom allows us to use for free.  Then, one of the two asked me about another social event I might be doing for later this month.  I told her about my tentative plans and then said, "So ... yay or nay?" to which she replied, "No, I'm done."  I was referring to my event later this month, but she thought I was talking about the Zoom.  Awkward.

So neither of them needed to extend the conversation -- even though it felt like the conversation they were having was good enough to continue.  Thus, I went into the Zoom scared that no one wanted to talk, and it ended by me abruptly and tersely ending a talk before people were done talking.  Man, I'm such a heel.  And I am so bad at hosting and socializing.  They must think I'm rude and stupid.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: United FC (Last Week: -2).  This has been a bad-to-real-bad Week for Twin Cities teams.  I can't believe that I'm putting in the top spot a club that went winless for the Week.  But, well, implications lead me to this conclusion.  And I stand by it.

On Saturday, the Loons visited Colorado without Emanuel Reynoso, Michael Boxall, and Robin Lod because they all accumulated too many Yellow Cards.  As I said last Week, this is still a winnable Match because they're facing a Rapids side that just does not have it this season.  But they lost -- a winning Game, but they lost, 4-3, on the strength of a Hat Trick from Gyasi Zardes.

It should be noted that Minnesota has cranked the Offense dial up to 11 as of late.  After that crazy-ass 4-all tie against Portland, there were four Goals scored in this one within the first third of the First Half; Abu Danladi got MNUFC up in the Fourth Minute only for the XI to allow Colorado to score thrice in eight Minutes.  You could say that if Minnesota had all three starters in this one, Minnesota would win.  But you have to recognize that they could have won this one without them.

A demoralizing culprit for the Loss: Goalie Dayne St. Clair.  According to xG (and I don't understand this statistic at all, even though every analyst on TV and print and the Internet relies on this as a tidy summary of a player's performance), DSC was at a MLS all-time best for about the first half of the Year, but since June, he has been not just mediocre, but poor.  People watching the Match believe St. Clair was responsible for two of the Rapids' Goals.  He stops those, the team would have extended their unbeaten streak to eight Matches.  But he didn't, and at least one writer on mlssoccer.com called for Adrian Heath to bench St. Clair.

So of course he goes out on Wednesday and is named Most Valuable Player of the MLS All-Star Game as the American league beat Liga MX, 2-1.  I think it's more a homer pick than anything, but DSC had that one diving save he needed to make to ensure he didn't allow a Goal on his watch.  That ASG was cool, by the way.  It's the second one I've ever attended, the first being the NHL ASG in, of all places, Dallas where I was able to easily snag a ticket from a scalper.  Yeah, these fucking people got to steal our hockey team.  Anyway, it was great to see so many jerseys representing Mexico: The Mexican national team, Chivas (a lot of Goats jerseys; I sat next to a guy wearing one), Club America, Cruz Azul, Pachuca, Pumas ... it was great to see so much representation from a country and a league you don't see much in Minnesota.  I want to say the vast majority of all those ... shoot, I'm going to say they're Mexican natives all live here, because I can't see the MLS ASG as an event people fly in for.  But I don't know.  Maybe I'll ask my season ticket representative; maybe he'll know.  Oh, by the way: The female talent of Liga MX and Mexico fans was fucking top notch.

So back to the WMNSS ... the Loss puts MNUFC in fourth place in the West, one Point behind FC Dallas and one Point ahead of Real Salt Lake.  The Rapids Game was the last of six consecutive Matches the Loons played against squads that were out of their conference's playoff picture at the time they played them.  They went 3-2-1 for 11 Points.  Should've been at least one, if not three, Points more on Saturday, but the club used this soft part of the schedule to straighten out and fly up the standings, which they needed to do.  But now comes the hard part, beginning with tomorrow/Sunday night's tilt at a Nashville side that opened grand GEODIS Park this season but has only won three of 11 Matches there.  I have read that there has been some booing from the home fans because of both results and the conservative play by Nashville SC.  Plus, Reynoso, Boxall and Lod will all be back, even though Reynoso is tending to a sore ankle.  (Reynoso started the ASG, by the way; no Goals, but he had a nice shot and displayed the usual dribbling prowess that makes him one of the best players in the league.

#-2: Twins (Last Week: -1).  Yeah, they won twice this screening Week.  (Aside: I have ranked all three teams in this Week's WMNSS in inverse order of weekly record.  And I still stand by that ranking.  This must be a first.)  But they lose thrice this Week, too, and partly because of that, they have slipped behind the Cleveland Guardians and are now in second place in the American League Central Division for the first time in Lord knows how long.  Cleveland has won six in a row.  Meanwhile, the Twinks split a four-Game series in Toronto and lost both Games of a midweeker at the Dodgers.

Whatever magic they had to climb to the top of the standings is now gone.  Starting Pitching is no longer sterling.  The Lineup has come back to earth.  And the Bullpen, even with the addition of so many new arms that many beat writers say it's the busiest the organization has ever been, remains only good at their best.  This feels like the moment where the host of the party turns on all the lights.

Could I be wrong?  Sure.  But without the lead in the AL Central, don't look now, but the Twins are now out of the playoff picture.  At least they'll have opponents against which they might be able to turn it around.  They spend the weekend in Anaheim against a ballclub that arguably has The Two Best Players In MLB (Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani) and yet are 49-64.  They then come back to Target Field to host Kansas City for a trio beginning Monday, then have a four-Game series vs. The Bastard Washington Senators v.2.0. starting Friday.

#-3: Lynx (Last Week: -3).  Entering yesterday/Friday, the Lynx were one of four teams vying for the final two playoff spots, the others being Phoenix, New York, and Atlanta.  They all the same record of ... 14-20.  Seeing that this is a top-heavy season and therefore the seventh and eighth seeds in the playoffs likely will be cannon fodder (I forgot that the WNBA changed its format again for this Year: They have abandoned the stepladder, double-bye format for the conventional bracket where all eight teams play from the start [best-of-three for the Quarterfinals, best-of-five for the Semifinals and Finals]), I still don't understand this thirst to reach the playoffs and instead just toss your lot into the WNBA Lottery and hope you get the first pick and the chance to draft Aliyah Boston.  Let's face it; even if the Lynx make the postseason, this is a rebuilding Year, and next Year will be one, too.

Napheesa Collier has returned from maternity leave, and all season I have doubted the utility of her coming back when a bottoming-out seems to be in order and with a promising rookie class coming up.  But then the obvious finally hit me -- the reason Phee came back was because she wanted to play with the legend, Sylvia Fowles, before Fowles retired.  And then it makes sense that Big Syl wants to push for the playoffs.  She's a competitor who wants to give it her all until she won't be allowed to.  So ... yeah, I guess trying for the postseason ain't the worst thing in the world.  (By the way, while I have sort-of understood her greatness, it's been only very recently, up until the club's home finale last/Friday night, where her accomplishments on the court were deservedly spotlighted.  She seems to be a nice, worldly person off the court, too; this is an excellent profile of Fowles the player and the person, and her even-keeled nature makes me think that her varied interests off the court will keep her busy and happy in her retirement.)

Sad, then, that in that home finale, Minnesota got their damn doors blown off by Seattle, 96-69.  This disaster was all over after the First Quarter, when the Storm led, 30-10.  In that Quarter, Seattle drained six Three-Pointers (the Lynx had none) and scored more Points off Turnovers than the Lynx had Points.  For the Game, the Storm shot 53% (38-of-72).  For last season's Minnesota squad, Assist Percentage (and I'm guessing Assists as a byproduct) was a big reason they reached the playoffs.  Well, they got out-assisted, 29-16, in the contest, more proof to me that lackluster Guard play has stymied the Lynx the past few Years.  Meanwhile, Fowles scored 13, and the league's all-time leading rebounder grabbed twelve more.

While damaging, let alone humiliating, that Loss was last/Friday night, it's kind of sad to see the Lynx still have a fighting chance of making the playoffs.  In a sorta elimination Game also last/Friday night, the Liberty beat the Dream.  Meanwhile, Phoenix, having gone through trials not of their own making (Britney Griner) and sort-of their own making (Skylar Diggins-Smith has taken the last two Games off due to "personal reasons"), beat Dallas.  This means that the Liberty and the Mercury are a Game up on the Lynx and the Dream.  If New York and Phoenix both win their final Games tomorrow/Sunday, the Lynx are out.  However, as I think it is explained here, Minnesota still holds tie-breakers on all three of the other clubs fighting for a playoff spot.  So, if the Lynx beat Connecticut on the road and either the Liberty or the Mercury lose tomorrow/Sunday (all dozen WNBA teams play tomorrow/Sunday, though not at the same time, and to further ensure an honest effort I think all Games of a league's final regular season day should be played at the same time, just like how MLB now does it), by the grace of God, Minnesota's in.

For the record, New York finish a home-and-home at home vs. a Dream team that has lost three in a row and seven of their last nine, while Phoenix host a Chicago Sky club that still has a chance to finish above the Las Vegas Aces for the best record in the league.  And, the Sun is locked into the third seed no matter if they beat or lose to Minnesota.  Finally (and I have no other place to tuck this fact in), the Lynx's defeat ended a three-Game winning streak that got them to this puncher's chance; they beat Atlanta at Target Center Sunday and the Merc in Phoenix Wednesday.  So I'm saying there's a chance.

Not A Bad Car Shop ... With A Hiccup

So I went to the shop, dropped off my car, went downtown to eat, and went back up to my town to get a handie from ******e.  Sadly, she didn't let me sleep in for a couple hours because she said she "wanted to start moving stuff to the hotel she'll be staying at starting this weekend" (she was staying at her parents' place, which ain't too shabby), so I had her drop me off at the shop where I was hoping that the guy's hopes when I dropped off my car that it'd be ready by noon -- she dropped me off before 11:30 -- were true.

And such a coincidence, it was!  When I walked through the door, the guy said he had just called me and left me a message!  It was ready!  And the cost for doing all the things that needed to be done was ridiculously reasonable!  Cool!  And so I drove out, seeing that I had an afternoon where I could both get my hair cut (for free at this school close by) and get a workout in.

But then I noticed something.  I didn't hear anything initially.  But after I pulled away from the school where the free haircuts are being given on my way to the gym, I heard a loud, rhythmic grinding/knocking/clicking noise whenever I stepped on the brake.  I thought I would drive it for a bit just in case it was a lubrication issue and the car just needed to warm up, but once I drove it to a Subway close to the community center, the noise was so loud that I just had to call the auto shop back.

The guy was flummoxed.  He swore they didn't touch the brakes, and I didn't ask them to do anything about them.  But he told me to come back to the shop and let him drive it so he could tell what is now wrong with it.  From the front where I had to sit I saw my car up and down the lift, the mechanics working on it, the guy at the front driving it around the block, him telling the guys to put it on the left again, and him driving it again before he pulled my car right up front, which means it was now OK.

The problem, according to him: Corrosion on the spindle.  When the spindle came in contact with the wheel, the rust comes into contact with it too, and so when I apply the brake pad, I hear that corrosion.  I don't quite understand that, but the second time around the guys in there cleaned off the corrosion, and I haven't heard that noise since -- well, at least much; I think I hear it quietly when I brake slowly.

Anyway, I am not all that happy because this noise obviously didn't happen before I brought it in.  The guy swore up and down they were nowhere near the parts where this noise suddenly occurred.  At any rate, I think they have fixed the problem, and they didn't charge me for it, even though, at least according to him, this was an issue separate from the maintenance I asked them to do and therefore, theoretically, would mean this would be an issue for which to be charged.

This noise after I brought the car was the exact thing I was afraid of when I decided to go to a different shop.  But they rallied to fix this problem that may not have been of their making, and so I think I will give them another chance, and a good review on Yelp.

This Is The Vacation That Isn't

So I have the next two days off.  Originally I wanted to go to St. Louis, preferably by car, and make it a six-day vacation straddling the weekend and ending on Tuesday.  Unfortunately, rates for car rentals were so obscene that I shaved off one day, and when my parents said they were coming back, I shaved off another.  I was going to give away today and tomorrow, too, but like I bitched and moaned about here, everybody this summer has taken a vacation except me.  Besides, I am racking up the paid time off and, in an e-mail I got Tuesday, my boss confirmed that we can only carry over a week's worth of it into next year, which means I have some days I have to burn off or else I lose the money I make from not working.

So, I am giving myself two days off.  Am I going to St. Louis?  No.  Besides the sky-high prices of cars (which I think have backed off now) and my parents coming home, when I proffered the idea that I would take a road trip for just, oh, four days (and I was thinking Friday-to-Monday) because hey, my parents would be home to mind the house, Mother freaked out about, like, me passing out behind the wheel or something.  I didn't want to deal with her grief, so I nixed the actual vacay for a fake one.  (Say, have I blog posted this story here on WAF already?  I don't remember.)

So I'm telling my parents I'm taking half-days today and tomorrow.  If they ask, I'm going to tell them I'm bringing my car in for service ... which is true.  But they don't know that I'm bringing it to a shop I've never been to before.  It comes recommended, although I wish it had more reviews.  But while the car after I get it back from the dealership runs fine, it's expensive and I haven't been all that happy with the customer service.  Plus it's got some extensive maintenance that's supposed to be done on this, which means I'll have to cool my heels for at least a few hours (at least I think), and that dealership is not a place I want to get stuck in for a few hours.  This shop is on a bus line, so I will be able to go downtown for breakfast, maybe get a haircut and, oh yeah, get picked up by ******e for a handjob at her parents' house, where she's staying at right now.

(Aside: This car repair place is very close to my house.  And it's so close that I'm afraid that, as I take the bus to ******e's place or back to the shop to pick up my repaired car, I'll see them driving around in their minivan while they, for example, buy more milk because I almost used up the last gallon that is in the refrigerator.  Yeah, I can explain the truth, that I've taken my car into a shop.  But the BS I'll get from them for such a run-in will still be unrelenting.)

The problem is the timing.  The big variable to my day is how long will it take to do all the things that need to be done to the car.  If it takes all day, that will mean a lot of long bus rides doing all things I can and want to do, but that'll get exhausting.  And even if it takes, oh, two hours (doubt it), these are long rides on the bus, so any plans I make will pretty much be set in stone because I will be downtown and 45 minutes away from the car repair place.  I just want certainty.  I might get it when I bring it in in the morning.  I really, really hope I get the car back at the end of the day; I can't get home without it.

Some vacation, huh?

Had trouble thinking about something to blog post about.  But right now I'm doing a back-and-forth on some hot girl who said something pro-gun a few weeks ago.  After thinking about it, I tried to reason with her on something, and right now, as I type this, she is going on an unhinged, Republican-type rant about ... shoot, I don't know.  But she's getting inflammatory, if not accusatory ...

... and she just blocked me.  Cool.  That's where that "conversation" was headed.

What I'm now scared of is her friends -- many of whom are men and very, very scary-looking, if the pictures are real -- coming after me online.  There's no telling how they can get to me -- or, maybe worse, my reputation.  Can't they see a hurt, scared woman is trying to sully my name just out of revenge?  It's not the first time some crazy person who irrationally hates me wants me to look bad.  I just hope I can defend myself.  I just hope people don't believe the lies.

Welp, have a good night, y'all.

This Is Going To Come To A Head

Got another pissy e-mail from someone who I asked for some information last week.  "You know, it really bothers me that you can't look this up by the company name written on the form!"  Bitch, first of all, it's my job to document the information you give me.  It ain't my right to just fill in numbers for you.  And also, she mentions the name of the company and wondered why I couldn't look it up.  The name of the company she typed in is a different name from the one written on the form from which I politely asked her for information.  The name on our system is the one she so rudely gave me on her e-mail, not on the form ... in which case, how in the fuck could I look up the name if it's written wrong?

This is the third time I've had a run-in with some mannerless prick.  This time around, I took a couple deep breaths before I passed this e-mail to my boss.  He said to document it in our system and shake it off like water off a duck's back.  I appreciate him helping -- he did say that in future run-ins with her or anybody who's being an asshole to tell him -- but shaking it off is easier said than done.  Immediately after reading that e-mail I could feel the twinge come up my left leg and into the left side of my hip.  Both areas have been problem areas since New Year's Day.  I've noticed that stress seems to pool in both places.  I've looked it up; there's such a thing called "fascia flossing," and it's a massage technique using the theory that stress gravitates and sticks to the fascia, which is connective tissue that is everywhere in your body.  I need to do more of that (assuming it works), but then again, I wouldn't have to do that if I didn't get triggered by unprofessional goddamn e-mails like the one sent to me by this arrogant buffoon yesterday.

Like I knew was going to happen, I'm going to continue to be confronted with such rude people.  And it's going to come to a head.  One day, I'll see another shitpost from some unqualified, uneducated hack just because I'm doing my job and I'll have to defend myself by basically telling that person, in a certain way, that he or she can go fuck him- or herself if he or she doesn't like what I asked.  And then I'll be fired, and I'll know that, so I'll make goddamn sure I get my insults in.

But I can't do that.  But I don't know if I will stop myself in the moment, or if I even would want to.

Oh, Piggybacking On Choosing Not To Go To A Concert ...

... I wanted to go to a concert last Friday, July 29.  Gary Clark, Jr. and Cold War Kids were the top two acts at a concert being held in, of all places, Plymouth.  Not downtown Minneapolis where all the known musical acts play -- Plymouth.  Great suburb, one of the test scoring sites I work at (still?  Kinda?) is there.  But ... it's a suburb.  It's where people maturing past their twenties move to once they start raising families.  It's safe in the suburbs.  It's quiet in the suburbs.  And therefore nothing exciting happens in the suburbs.  That's what the downtowns of large cities are for.

Anyway, the city of Plymouth has for years been punching above their weight class when it comes to bringing in well-known bands and acts.  They seem to do it once a summer, maybe a weekend, but people I and many others have wanted to see -- Trombone Shorty, Big Head Todd & The Monsters -- have veered west of downtown and played in Plymouth.  And now Gary Clark, Jr., a guy I haven't seen but want to, and Cold War Kids, a band I've seen twice (once at First Avenue and once in Boulder, Colo., believe it or not) are playing in a city that has free parking for all?!  I'm going!!

But then my parents said they're flying back home the next night.  I thought really, really hard about going anyway -- either I would finish cleaning up the house so that I would be able to go with a clear conscience, or say to hell with it and try and clean up like crazy all day the next day before they return home.  But I couldn't do that.  I went home, did some light tidying up, and moved all of My Stuff to my storage unit.

There was another thing that made me think twice about going.  My stripper friend lost her mom over the summer, she was willed the family home, and she was getting evicted from her place.  July 29 is the end of the month, so she was busy packing everything up and leaving the Twin Cities for good to move back to her hometown.  She actually asked for help a week or two before, and I wanted to help, but my parents threw a wrench over everything.  Nonetheless, she was in bad shape: Only one friend came over to help her, her boyfriend recently left her, and apparently her neighbor was psycho and threatened both her and this friend all day Friday.

I will say this: Things were copacetic enough at home that I could have gone over to her place -- she didn't live very far -- to help her pack and load stuff onto her truck.  But I couldn't get ahold of her.  Actually, her friend got ahold of me, but I didn't see his text until a couple hours after he sent it, and I saw it just as I got home from work.  I replied and it took an hour or so for him to get back to me, and then I sent another text and it took another hour or so for him to get back to me.  I was doing nothing but waiting, but eventually I just got bored and decided to eat at Culver's ... at which point my stripper friend called me and asked if it would be a good idea to throw her cats into a box to make the four-hour trip out west overnight and be done with moving -- and this asshole neighbor -- for good.  She sounded really happy that I listened to her, but I really don't know if my time wouldn't have been better spent if I just went to the concert.

One more thing discouraged me from going I knew well before either above obstacle got in the way.  I was filling in for someone in My Favorite Department.  That shift doesn't end till 5:30.  The concert started at 5, and it would have taken me at least half an hour if I went to Plymouth straight from work, and I had designs of at least stopping by home and changing clothes.  There were two local acts that went onstage before Cold War Kids and then Gary Clark, Jr., so I figure I had time to park and buy a ticket well before CWK went on.  But ...

... yeah, that "but" kind of escapes me now.  There was my parents, and my stripper friend, and work.  But, as I felt leading up to my parents coming home, my energy was at a low.  Maybe I wasn't as enthused about going to the concert as I initially was.  Yeah, it's probable that all these other circumstances played a part in dampening my enthusiasm for it.  However, if I recall correctly, there was a part of me that didn't mind not going.  And so I didn't.

Hey, maybe next year.  I could leave work on time, my parents won't be coming home the next day, no strippers need help moving and getting away from prick neighbors, and, like, Billie Eilish will come and play at Plymouth.  That'd be a concert I'd go to!

You know what I fuckin' hate?  Loud people in the library.  I'm in said library now and I am hearing said loud person not shutting the fuck up.  At least someone working here is trying to hush him, but I don't think it's working.

If some security guard would come over and tell him to shut the fuck up, and this asshole would talk back or even get violent, I wouldn't mind if that guard took out his gun and shot him.  This might be how I'm feeling right now, but I mean it.  I'm serious.

I Just Can't Do It (AKA I'm Getting Old)

I was supposed to do a social Zoom with my fellow alumni this evening.  I didn't because, early this week, I decided I wanted to do something.  I did not say that I wanted to go to a concert.  And now I really won't say, because I'm not going to that concert.  It's going on right now, as I type this, but I'm not going.

I hate changing my mind and then changing it again.  But ... well, I did so for a number of small reasons, the sum of them convincing me to stay away, but not that convincingly.  First and possibly foremost are my parents.  I hate that what they'll say and think about me if I say, "Hey, I'm going to a concert," is foremost on my mind, but I want to stay away from hearing any crap from them as I can.  But there are other factors that unfolded over the course of the week and accelerated today.

I noticed that this concert -- and I'm thinking about it, and I'm not going to say which band because ... oh, they might stalk me or something -- has its doors open at 7:30 with the opening act going on at 8:30.  Seems kind of late, but I know I have gone to concerts whose opening acts began that late, and besides, it's a Saturday and I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, so who cares?  Then I go on setlist.fm to see setlists from this band's previous concerts and, more importantly, to see if they vary it from night to night.  Seriously, if you're a concertgoer and want to know when your favorite bands play your favorite songs, go on this website and enjoy knowing when they come up before the people around you do.  Well, I like a few of this band's songs, but its setlist has not changed since it began its tour a week ago, it doesn't play one of its songs I like, and the other two end its main set and its show.  Again, that ain't a big deal -- many bands who I like but don't know intimately I go to so I can explore their discography on a deeper level.

And then today happened.  Work was garbage, but that makes me even more inclined to go enjoy myself.  However, it's been a relatively stormy day.  The skies are threatening now as I write this, but I was afraid I was going to the concert in a rainstorm.  Once again, I wouldn't have minded if I were alone, but I have parents who would say, "Are you kidding?  It's raining cats and dogs out there!"  Ugh.  Then I see that the Twins are playing at home this evening, probably putting parking at a premium.  I mean, why do I want to figuratively bang my head against a wall looking for parking?  But wait a second ... I've gone to concerts the same time the Twins were playing ... right?

The final straw is when I went to the venue's Twitter.  These guys are real good and giving out the set times several hours before shows begin.  I see that the main act comes on stage at 10:15.  That's because -- and I saw it on the venue's website but I didn't see it, if you know what I mean -- there is not one but two opening acts.  I am not a fan of opening acts unless I have heard of them, so I make it a point of sauntering in halfway, if not more than halfway, through the opener.  The second opening act goes on at 9:15.  So I have to leave the house in time to get there at, what, a quarter to 10?  Who are these guys, rappers?  Honestly, I don't know if I want to go to a concert that late even if my parents were home.  And do I want to deal with all of that -- and pay a bit more than $35, which is the cost of a ticket?

Again, if circumstances were different (especially with the parents part) I might not be so whiny.  But I think a lot of my reticence also has to do with me getting old.  The 26-year-old me -- assuming he had money -- wouldn't think twice about going in spite of all these obstacles.  But now?  A part of me wants to find these obstacles out so I can stop myself from going.  I'm thinking I'm becoming like that.

So now I feel guilty about delaying this Zoom until next week.  I might have been able to enjoy next Saturday night out at, say, a concert because I would have done this social thing tonight.  And now I don't know what to say if my friends ask me if I enjoyed the thing I delayed the Zoom for.  Alas. ...

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Twins (Last Week: -2).  With the All-Star break now gone, we can now get down to the brass tacks of actually competing this MLB season, and frankly, while I like that the Twins are still leading the A. L. Central, it's nut-cutting time.

The endured/scuffled through a 4-3 screening Week in Games versus San Diego, Detroit and Toronto.  Meanwhile, the Trade Deadline came and went Tuesday, and the Twins, in the midst of a playoff race, made four acquisitions to push for the postseason: Relievers Jorge Lopez (from Baltimore) and Michael Fulmer (Detroit; the Tigers were at Target Field for their three-Game series, where Fulmer pitched for Detroit on Monday ... then went across the stadium to join his new team after getting traded on Tuesday), Starting Pitcher Tyler Mahle (Cincinnati), and Catcher Sandy Leon (Cleveland).  For depth help, and this is what all these transactions are, the Twins -- smartly and routinely -- didn't bust the farm system to get these guys.  The only player I recognize, and I think the top-rated prospect Minnesota traded away, was Infielder Spencer Steer, who's now a Red.

Overall, I think these trades are good.  Everyone pushing for the postseason is looking for relief pitching, and it was easy to see why when I went to Tuesday's matchup against Detroit.  Chris Archer started, and yet the expectations remains he is an "opener," not likely to see the opposing lineup more than twice.  He got through 4 1/3 Innings and struck out eight.  Unfortunately, the Bullpen couldn't keep the Twins in what turned out to be a competitive Game.  This time around, though, it wasn't Emilio Pagan who fucked up.  No, it was Griffin Jax, one of two RPs (the other being Jhoan Duran) the ballclub has been able to rely upon all year, who got shook down for three Runs in the Seventh Inning on their way to a 5-3 Loss.

Contrast -- well, maybe compare -- that to last/Friday night's tilt vs. Toronto, where the opposing SP was Jose Berrios, ex-Twin and, for some reason, guy I don't like.  (Last Year he told the Twins front office he was going to test the market once the 2022 season ended, and so they decided to be proactive and traded him.)  Unlike his last outing against Minnesota, where he struck out 13, he struggled through 3 2/3 and gave up five Runs.  But the Twins still couldn't take advantage in a contest where all four new Twins played.  Mahle started and struck out five Blue Jays but gave up four Runs through six Innings.  Jax and Duran did hold down the fort, but Lopez gave up three Hits and the Game-tying Run in the top of the Ninth.  Fulmer stepped in in the Tenth, and while he gave up a Hit and issued a Walk to load the bases, he struck out the side.  Tim Beckham brought in Nick Gordon in the bottom of the Tenth on a Fielder's Choice at Third Base.  (Leon started at Catcher; he went 1-for-2 with a Walk and a Strikeout.)

As of press time, the Twins lead both the Guardians and the Chicago White Sox by two Games.  It's exciting ... but if the players Minnesota got by Tuesday do what they're supposed to do, the Division race shouldn't be close.  But I'm afraid this will be a fistfight through the end.  After finishing with the Blue Jays, they have a light schedule of five Games this Week, but will be out in Southern California -- Tuesday and Wednesday against the Dodgers, then the Angels for three beginning Friday.

#-2: United FC (Last Week: -1).  Saturday's Match at Allianz against Portland probably was the craziest Loons Match I've ever seen.  I would have loved this if I didn't have a horse in this race, but unfortunately, I'm a damn season-ticketholder.

So MNUFC gave up a Goal 15 Seconds in.  Then they scored three Goals to go up by a pair at Halftime.  They fuckin' cough up that lead by allowing three Goals over 15 Minutes, the last of which apparently has been declared an Own Goal by the otherwise sturdy Left Back Kemar Lawrence.  Four Minutes later, in the 69th Minute, Luis Amarilla tied it up with his second Goal of the afternoon.

Minnesota came into this one riding a six-Game unbeaten streak.  The Timbers came into it riding a seven-Game unbeaten streak.  Whose 0 went?  Neither.  The Game finished 4-4, and both unbeaten streaks continue.  (For Portland, by the way, that streak is nine and counting following a 1-all home Draw against Nashville.)

The Loons visit Colorado tonight/Saturday night.  Unfortunately, because of Yellow Cards accumulated last Saturday, Emmanuel Reynoso, Michael Boxall, and Robin Lod all have to sit out.  For a franchise many naysayers accuse of having no depth, let's see how Adrian Heath manages a rotation on the road against a moribund Rapids organization.  They're third in the West now (tied with FC Dallas on Points; I think I have in the past erroneously thought Goal Difference was the first tiebeaker; it actually is Points Per Game, which I don't understand), and it would be nice if they could take three gettable Points on the road.

#-3: Lynx (Last Week: -3).  Beat the Sparks in Los Angeles Sunday, then lost to the Storm in Seattle Wednesday.  There are four Games left in the season, and they are only 1 1/2 Games behind New York for the final spot in the WNBA Playoffs, but they're both tied with said Sparks and have to climb over Phoenix before trying to beat out the Liberty for that birth.

This screening Week has three of those four remaining Games -- home to Atlanta tomorrow/Sunday night, at Phoenix Wednesday, then hosting Seattle in what will be Sylvia Fowles's final Game at home for her career ... and potentially a postseason-eliminated matchup/showdown.  Like I've said, while the playoffs are still attainable, there is a bumper crop of rookie talent next Year.  I don't think chasing down a postseason spot is worth it.

A First!

OK, so I dreaded working in the Fourth Department yesterday.  I have to say this: For the first time ever working by myself back there, I got out of there in time.  Yes, my friends, I actually pulled an eight-, and just an eight-, hour day!  Well, OK, I went over by, like, 20 minutes.  Seriously, though, I have not gotten anywhere near leaving after eight hours after a day in the Fourth Department, and besides, I usually stay an extra 20 minutes.  So this is like leaving early!

I was blessed with a light workload in a lot of areas.  I usually am bombarded for requests as to when a result for a test comes in.  Those usually take a lot of time researching and e-mailing people, and that's usually between tasks in which I am waist-deep.  Those tasks are usually faxing and e-mailing people to retrieve information that we need, and there are a lot of categories into which all these forms are separated into, I have to treat each category differently.  I'm usually inundated with so many forms in all categories that I sometimes nudge up to the ten-hour workday limit I have set for myself before I just have to leave and abandon the rest of the work I couldn't get to.

Well, the main reason I was able to leave on time was because I didn't get too many forms in any of the categories.  For example, we have to touch a form when we initially get them; there were only seven forms yesterday when I sometimes get up to two dozen.  After three days, we have to take another shot at contacting people to retrieve the missing information.  This category isn't too bad, and the four here is way manageable.  After five days we take a third and final swing and reach out to anybody who can tell us what the hell is missing.  There were seven of those, which actually is average.  Finally, if we do get responses, we have to process the forms.  That takes time, but I didn't get too many responses back.  That might be the end result of not sending out a whole lot of faxes and e-mails from the start, but regardless, I didn't get many responses back before I got to leave.

Another time suck with this job is just BS that comes up.  There sometimes are issues involving ... something where I am at a complete loss as to what to do.  In cases like this, I have to go to my supervisor and beg for her help.  And by the time I remember to do what she told me to do, I have to regather my bearings and remember where I left off.  That takes a lot of time; I think I likened that to spinning around an aircraft carrier at sea 180 degrees.  I just cannot think that fast or else I will completely miss steps and then sit there for several minutes figuring out what steps I missed, then take even more time to go back and do those steps.  Honestly, there were as much, if not more, of those stupid unicorn cases that it took most of the morning to start dealing with them.  Thank goodness, then, I didn't get as many requests or forms as I feared.  That meant that the time I had to borrow to deal with these special cases I made up by zipping through the relatively meager amount of forms and responses.

Finally, what I dread the most is having unpleasant interactions with prick clients.  There was one back-and-forth with some stubborn woman who would just not give me the code that I needed.  I e-mailed her back saying that the number she gave me was not in our system, to which she replied that I mixed it up with another number she gave me.  I think she thought she put one on me, but I replied that, while I did mix it up, the actual number she intended to give me also was not in our system.  Finally, someone from a different department in my company -- a person who this arrogant nutjob asked to "help me understand" all the wrong codes she gave me -- said that our laboratory did something wrong.  I've been replaying this insufferable woman's crap from time to time tonight, but I don't feel -- feel being the operative word -- as upset as I felt after dealing with this prick because here, a third party dropped in, deus ex machina style, and said a party beside me and this dumb lady made a mistake.  That absolves me of any responsibility.

Sure, she probably thinks I'm stupid.  She's wrong.  I think she's stupid.  I'm right.

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So, with all that said, karma can be a bitch.  Everything I was spared from yesterday is coming back on me twice as hard and worse today, isn't it?