She Quit/Little Shit At Chick-Fil-A

So what I thought could happen did happen: On Wednesday, the day after I took a day off, I come back and see, through an e-mail, that the only other person in the same position as I has put in her two-week notice.

I'm torn.  Well, maybe "torn" isn't how I feel right now.  "Pissed" ain't it, either.  But I'm stuck in the lurch right now.  The Fourth Department is now me and my supervisor, and that's a very, very precarious position to be in because my supervisor really has more things she could and should do in her position.  (There should be two other people in the same job as I anyway, not just one other person, and I think I've alluded to that before.)  My supe now needs to work at this job at least a couple days every week.  That doesn't necessarily change the work schedule I'm in; I have been working back there at least part of the week and that will still happen, it's just the person who takes the other part of the week will change.  Moreover, and this still kind of sucks, which half of the week now changes.  The person who quit doesn't work Thursdays or Fridays, so I have worked The Fourth Department the back half of the week.  My supervisor doesn't work Mondays, so, and I've looked at the calendar my boss has now had to change on the fly, I'm now back there the first half of the week for the forseeable future.

There is a person who's taking a position that's the same as mine, but that is the one that has not been filled for months now, the one that is five days a week and ends Saturday.  But this person has to get trained in all sorts of responsibilities, so doing this particular job will be months, if not at least a year, down the road.  And, like I said, I'll be back to where I am now until next week, namely two people and a supervisor being capable of doing that job, not three and a supe, which is the ideal number of people.  That feels so far away right now, dammit.

But trying to see past the immediate changes as a result of this quitting, I find myself re-evaluating whether I should keep working here.  I wonder why she's leaving.  I have a sense that it could be because she doesn't like this job.  I've been back there with her working alongside The Fourth Department on occasion.  That position remains a pain in the ass even in its best hours, and she has muttered under her breath from time to time how much she hates that particular job.  Was that the reason she found a new job?  If so, as much as I hate what that now means for me, I understand.

And still I wonder if this new job is indeed better -- not just that it's better than calling people and getting inundated with BS, but is it an easier job that pays better?  There have been many, many people who have quit this company, and I wonder if they, including my soon-to-be-ex-co-worker, sought and found something that truly is better -- not just for them, but better in general, you know?  Where is she going?  How is it better for her?  Could that "better" be "better" for me, too?  And if that is the case, why in the heck am I not going out for that job, too?  I've heard of one study saying that people who have taken part in The Great Resignation, those that have quit for other jobs since the pandemic began to lift, have on the whole gotten better jobs at better pay.  With her quitting, I wonder if she's been successful in finding that as well ... and I then wonder why I'm not doing the same.

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No other place to put this.  Want to vent my spleen about this little shit, but I don't think I'll remember to blog post about this if I don't do it now.

So I talked about how I wanted to not spend money either Wednesday or yesterday/Thursday, but because of Able Seedhouse closing and National Coffee Day I have gone in the opposite direction and spent all sorts of money.  Well, I got a couple rewards from the local Chick-Fil-A, one of which was for a free autumn spice milkshake or something which expires either tomorrow/Saturday or today/Friday, and I thought I might as well use it before going home to see the Law & Orders.  (The other Chick-Fil-A reward, by the way, is for a breakfast biscuit I thought I used Tuesday but still pops up in my app.  I have till Monday to use it [again, I guess], but Saturday morning will be the only time I can use it, and I'm still torn as to whether or not I want to wake up early to use it, especially since I might want to watch soccer.)

So I go in and I'm thumbing through my app.  I notice there wasn't really a line (one guy was waiting), but I just hung out near the entrance.  I then hear a woman's voice behind me: "Are you in line?"  And there was what I presume to be a mother and a son.  For the time I was on the road yesterday/Thursday there were drivers who were aggressive and so I was aggressive in turn, so I was not about to give up my position in line, even though there was no line, so I said, "Ope!  Yeah, I'm in line," and I moved up.  And when I moved up in line, this little shit harrumphed.  He was harrumphing me?  For not moving up in line?  And you should have seen this little shit because frankly, he wasn't so little.  He was definitely younger than 18.  He could have been in junior high.  And yet he almost as tall as me, he may have been heavier than me, and he was rounder than me.  Yeah, this little shit, harrumphing me because I spaced out just a tad.  There's a good chance I outlive his fat ass.

Wanted To Not Spend Money Yesterday Or Today, But Pshaw

You can feel fall in the air, and with that, the pull of cocooning in your house, and in your bed, is irresistible.  I wanted to indulge in that feeling by just going to and from work yesterday/Wednesday and today/Thursday.  It helps that all three hours of prime time both nights have shows I want to watch: The Conners, The Goldbergs and Abbott Elementary (a show I haven't seen yet but have heard real good things about) followed by a special 90-minute The Amazing Race (when it settles into its usual hour-long episodes at 9, I can see Home Economics at 8:30) yesterday/Wednesday, then the Law & Orders today/Thursday.  I can go home, maybe take a nap, maybe make dinner, then eat while watching TV.  No money spent, no gasoline burned, no carbon footprint extended, just living a quiet day.

But then, Tuesday, I was scrolling through my Facebook and saw that Able Seedhouse was closing Saturday.  Their beers were alright, but I liked the space more.  And on top of all that, I have a gift certificate for them that still had three bucks on it.  Had to go, and assuming it'll be a madhouse Saturday and I have plans on Friday and knowing me something bad will happen if I wait to drop by Able on Thursday ... I decided to do it on Wednesday.

And then I saw that Thursday is National Coffee Day!  I have to take part in the deals!  I have to buy coffee (at a discount) before going to work, and hell, I'll get coffee after work, too.  I'll have coffee coming through my brain matter, but it's National Coffee Day!!!

So what was supposed to be two days of cocooning and not spending any money has turned right around to two days of going out at all times of the day (and night) and spending money out the wazzu.  At this point I should just throw my money into the air.

The Deal That Wasn't

So I went to see Blonde last/Tuesday night.  Review: The many critics who say Ana de Armas is revelatory in a movie that fails her ... well, I may have been conditioned to believe that after all the reviews I saw, but I think the critics are right.  It's tough to give a damn about a movie when its lead character has no agency, who does not do things but instead has things done to her.  (That's why I think Sicario is such an overrated film: It's just Emily Blunt's character going through a bunch of shit.)  Also, the incessant and trippy cinematic effects director Andrew Dominik deploys, while dazzling in and of itself, eventually detracted from Blonde and called attention to itself.  Maybe the scattershot wizardry of the film and the passiveness of Marilyn Monroe was mandated by the source material, the 2000 fictional biography of the same name by famed author Joyce Carol Oates.  If that's the case, then Blonde the book is overrated, even though it was universally acclaimed at the time of its release.

(With that said, I just read through a review by Sean Burns of WBUR.  He too doesn't seem too enthralled by it, but makes allowances that the countless episodes of exploitation of Marilyn/Norma Jean is a meta-criticism of celebrity culture and how fans fetishize and then dispose of actors by using their on-screen images for our own lusts.  OK, maybe I'm being a bit harsh on the film.)

Anyway, after my stripper girlfriend bailed on me -- she said she got an hour east of her home out in west-central Minnesota before her car started to poop out on her; I thought she would be in the Twin Cities around noon time, not 5 p.m. -- I made sure on my phone about how long the drive to the theater would be and when the movie would start.  But damn you, Google Maps, you sly bastard, I saw an ad for Groupon where I could buy not just the ticket but also popcorn and pop at a discount.  Groupon, my old friend who I haven't used in a long time!  So I spent five minutes (needed to reset my password) getting on and then buying both deals.  I was going to use cash, but I couldn't pass up this deal.

After I exited the theater, I was looking at the movie posters on the wall.  The last one I saw was not for a movie, but for a deal at the theater: On Tuesdays, tickets are $7.  I bought mine on Groupon for $9.50.

(smacks head)

Hey, I haven't been to this theater in years, so I'm not beating myself up too much here.  Besides, I don't know if I'm going to watch a film there before January, which is when the Groupons (and I used both last/Tuesday night) expire.  But I still feel dumb for basically overpaying for a ticket just based on the day of the week I go.  And this was supposed to be a deal!

Expenses Without Receipt

Starting from Monday, September 26:

• Actually, let's go back to Friday, September 23, where, after deciding not to go to the Twins Game, I instead unwound after a difficult day at work with dinner at the Leaning Tower Of Pizza.  I always only had slices of pizza there, but that is only on their late-night menu, and I was there smack-dab in the middle of dinnertime, so I had a proper meal of a hoagie.  With beer and tip: $25.
• I then went to Bebe Zito for ice cream ... just because.  Creme brulee with flan is very, very filling.  With tip: $7.24.
• Go back to Wednesday the 14th, where I went to Caffetto on a weeknight because I felt like I needed a spot to work and home wasn't going to cut it.  Tea, chocolate cake, tip: $9.
• And then we hurtle back to Tuesday the 6th ... started off The First Day Of Fall stopping by Caribou before heading into work.  Whatever I got, with a free upgrade, minus the discount for the correct answer, plus the tip, equals: $6.79.
• And then after work I went to Moler to get a shave.  The female student who shaved me (not well, but she was learning) was kind of a worrywart, I think, and a motormouth.  I mean, I'm glad she cared, but there was a lot of stuff that she missed.  And yet I gave her my usual $5 tip, meaning I paid a total of: $14.
• I was handed from some place of business (I think) two fresh, crisp, consecutively-numbered $5 bills.  I had been meaning to use them both in the same place, but at the end, I couldn't split up twins, so I stored them, meaning I took out of my wallet: $10.
• Labor Day: Went to the State Fair.  I had the following: The lobster roll from Scenic 61 (really good, but $20 is a lot for something the size of a hot dog, and not even a brat); the non-alcoholic Pina Colada from Manny's Tortas (can they serve it with rum?); the tofu and The Drink from Union Hmong Kitchen (tofu is edible if you spice the hell out of it, and the "Tiger Bite" sauce was all bark and no bite, but I mean that as a good thing, savory without being hot); a tall Hard Pink Pineapple Cider from Wild State (as good as a few people said it was); a short Ron Gant Was Out from Surly (a typical hoppy craft beer, but I like the name); the Grain Belt Light Blu slushie (with tip; I now understand why it's become a fast Fair staple); and, finally, a cotton candy float from one of the small kiosks that dot the shadow of The Grandstand (good and indulgent, and I am surprised that a new and ambitious food shows up at one of these really old and traditional small kiosks that dot the shadow of The Grandstand).  I hope I did my math right ... total: $82.
• Sunday the 4th ... went to the State Fair ... got the following: A tot dog (don't quite get it; it tastes like a corn dog; it may have a little hash brown texture to it, though; no matter, it tasted real good); Grain Belt Blu (with tip; I wanted the slushie, but this sweet sour still hit the spot on a hot late afternoon); Farmer's Union pork schnitzel sandwich (a very good and yet substantial food item; people said that if ate this, you might be wiped out for eating the rest of your trip to the Fair, and they were largely right); and the chicken and The Drink from Union Hmong Kitchen (I think I may like the chicken more than the sausage, and the scallion sauce I got was perfect).  All told I spent: $53.50.
• To Friday, September 2, the day before my alma mater's first football Game of the season.  I was scrambling like hell when I realized that the place we were going to go to watch the Game no longer has the network that is broadcasting the Game, so I had to find a new place.  But first, I had to go back to my old stomping grounds to make sure everybody there knew we were not going to see our Game over there because we can't.  And in dropping in, I needed to keep up relations and buy something.  Whatever I ate and drank (don't remember) plus tip: $9.
• Then I went to Billy's On Grand in St. Paul.  This place had the network we needed, but the last time we saw a Game there was at least three and may have been five Years ago, so like with this place we were going to go to in downtown Minneapolis, there was a chance that they switched satellite services after I left.  Well, I don't know if they switched satellite services, but that place has definitely changed.  I had to pay a cover of ten bucks.  I also had to get patted down by one of the three security guards stationed there.  And then, instead of a sports bar setting when I went there, there was a DJ and a bunch of, let's just say, people who weren't interested in watching sports.  I don't know what the fuck happened to this place, but even with all the TVs I saw, this was no longer the sports bar this once was.  No, this place transformed into something uglier.  So nope, not there either, and I instead decided to cancel (even though it turns out I went to the apartment of a fellow member of the ex-club; I went to his place once a few Years ago to watch our alma mater on the same obscure network).  All I got at Billy's (or Zombie Billy's) was a can of Pepsi, and I tipped on top of that.  Total: $13.
• Finally, we go back to Saturday, August 27, when I went to the State Fair for the first of my three trips for 2022 after the United FC Match.  While waiting out the storm I got a Naughty Shirley, and after the storm blew through I was able to snag a Minneblueberry pie with cinnamon ice cream.  The Minneapple Pie stand may be the most underrated kiosk in the Minnesota State Fair; all their offerings should be considered classics.  I mean that!  All that plus the tip for the Naughty Shirley (which was good, although you can just describe it as an alcoholic Shirley Temple) came out to: $21.50

Good through September 26.

Just want to note that because I filled in for work Thursday and Friday, my start time then was 8 a.m.  And then I came in on Saturday, and that shift usually begins at ... 8 a.m.  And then it just so happens that yesterday/Sunday morning, my call time for the Vikings Game was ... 8 a.m.

And guess what?  Today for work I have to be in at ... 7 a.m.  It's my regular start time, and I'm not filling in for anybody else.  Sorry to mislead y'all.

And So Ends A 60-Hour Workweek (With An Aside About Paid Time Off)

A combination of staying a bit beyond my shift (something I usually do, and something now permitted nowadays since we're so short-staffed), offering overtime for stuff we're behind on, and filling in for people both last Sunday and yesterday/Saturday, I just worked each of the past seven days at my main job.  And boy, am I tired.

I do want to help out; I don't feel like "quiet quitting," at least not yet.  But a bigger motivation, of course, is financial.  Overtime is at time-and-a-half, which is awesome.  But for last week, knowing that I had the opportunity to fill in not one but two days, I decided to friggin' go for it and work at least 60 hours for the week, because after that point, I get double overtime pay.  Well, I guess I should have researched all of this before last Sunday, because it doesn't appear as though the state mandates double OT (and federal regulations explicitly state there are rules for, uh, "single" OT but conspicuously say nothing about double OT), so maybe I don't get double pay after 60.  But I went past 60 anyway!  Working in excess of 11 hours on Wednesday, when I came in early and left a couple hours after my shift was over, helped me blow past it.  Seriously, I should be up to 63-4 hours for the week.  So if the company provides double OT, I'm in the money!  And if not ... well, I know better now, and I can say that I had the intestinal fortitude to work that much in my old age ... so, yay me?

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I think I haven't blog posted about this on WAF.  I didn't know till, uh, fairly recently that paid time off does not count toward overtime pay.  I thought I had a big opportunity to rack up the hours one week even with a holiday, and so I worked like a dog.  But because I worked a total of less than 40 hours of, uh, "actual" work, it was just straight time.  I looked at my pay statement once and thought my pay was a bit low, so I dug deeper and that's when I found out about this, well, dumb rule.  This is a disincentive to work; if the only way to get OT in a week where you have a day off is by, essentially, working a day, why not just enjoy the day off?  Maybe that was the intention when this policy was made all those years ago.  Maybe labor pushed for it.  Don't know.

At any rate, with a few months left before the year is over, I can start to compute how much paid time off I have left.  And even with a big holiday coming up around Christmastime, I still have so much that I currently am above a threshold of 40 hours I can carry into next year.  Once 2023 gets here, any paid time off above 40 is lost to me.  So, I am going to be taking an occasional day off here and there till the end of the year.  That includes Tuesday, where I hope to see that hot Hooters waitress, maybe convince my stripper girlfriend to touch or suck my dick, and then see Blonde at the Lagoon to see what gives that movie an NC-17 rating.  Hey, if you have to take a day off, might as well enjoy it, right?

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Gopher football (Last Week: -2).  The Dinkytown gridiron men take the top spot this screening Week by virtue of their 49-7 septupling of Colorado at Huntington on Saturday.  They complete a home-and-home series with that Game, and Minnesota outscored the Buffaloes by a combined score of 79-7.  Only a Touchdown six Minutes into the Fourth Quarter prevented Colorado from getting shut out for the whole series.

That's a great thing, and goes a long way toward giving these guys the WMNSS perch.  However, the result may also be evidence that the University of Colorado has The Worst Football Program In The BcS.  Also, while the U. is 3-0, and that's a lot better than 0-3, one of the Wins came against a second-division school and the third came versus New Mexico St., a program you can say should be a second-division one.  So, you can say that they still haven't proven anything yet.  If that's the case, playing at Michigan St. this/Saturday afternoon might be the test this club finally needs to prove that they are more than paper tigers.  We shall see.

#-2: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -4).  Routed Indiana at Robbie Stadium Thursday, 3-0, the last two Goals being scored 85 Seconds apart.  That's great, especially since this was the only Match this club played this Week.  But this is not the traditional power of the Indiana men's soccer program; the Hoosiers after the Game had a record of 2-6-1 (that's two Wins, six Draws and one Loss).  The Gophers, meanwhile, still aren't good at 5-1-4.  This XI still has a lot of work to get into tournament shape, and they'll have a chance to do that this Week because they finish a three-Match homestand with Games vs. ninth-ranked Northwestern Sunday afternoon and Michigan Thursday.

#-3: Vikings (Last Week: -1).  OK, so they're not going undefeated this season.  In fact, the euphoria expressed by The Purple Faithful after Week 1's dominating Win over the Pack was matched in its intensity by contempt and despair after getting humiliated Monday night in Philadelphia.  We are an impetuous, impressionable people, aren't we?  You shouldn't get too high after Wins, and you shouldn't get too low after Losses ... wait a second, what the fuck am I talking about -- of course you should get too low after Losses!  This is fucking devastating!  The season's already over!  Kirk Cousins is washed!  Kevin O'Connell is no better than Mike Zimmer!

OK, I'm joking.  A little bit.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Whatever, it's a Head Coach's first Year, you always give him a mulligan.

This Week's home matchup versus the Detroit Lions is no gimme.  Seriously.

#-4: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -6).  There's something very wrong with this team.  They beat Washington St. in four Sets Saturday, but then go to West Lafayette and get swept by 11th-ranked Purdue last/Friday night, 18-23-30.  There is continued dissension in chatboards over Hugh McCutcheon not putting different players in the rotation, or even giving gassed players a breather here and there.  Do something, they say, because shit isn't working right now, and they're going to slip down from sixth to eighth, where they are now, to something worse in the AVCA Top 25.  Please note that this squad is 5-4, and they have Matches against Wisconsin Sunday night and Northwestern Wednesday coming up this Week.  Those start a three-Game homestand, and maybe that'll help, but right now, who the fuck knows?

#-5: United FC (Last Week: -3).  These Loons are fucking wheezing to the finish line.  With a slew of injuries and talisman Emmanuel Reynoso sitting out for too many yellows, they went Saturday to Sporting KC, a team that is all but officially eliminated from the playoff race and got boatraced, 4-1.  As has happened too many goddamn times, the Backline cracked after one Goal and then allowed a couple more in quick succession.  In this case, Michael Boxall gave SKC the lead in the 31st Minute, and then MNUFC coughed up two tallies four Minutes apart, the second of which came in the 45th.  My fucking God.

This team, which was once third in the West, is now in sixth place, two Points above eighth.  And still they have a decent chance of making the goddamn postseason at least because the two teams left to play are slumming with Sporting in the bottom of the West, the first of which is the final road Game of the Year at San Jose on the 1st.  They should get Bebelo back for that one, so maybe all will be right with the world, but right now, who the fuck knows?

But hey, at least they're not the ...

#-6: Twins (Last Week: -5).  Holy fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.  A 1-6 screening Week, which overlapped a 1-8 road trip.  The Guardians beat 'em won four-of-five in Cleveland, all but putting their playoff hopes out of reach.  And then they go to Kansas City and get fuckin' swept by the Royals.

Goddamn this whole organization.  Things looked so good early on, but then everything went to shit -- the Lineup got hurt, the Rotation couldn't hold up, and the Bullpen, including the relievers they brought in at the Trade Deadline, crapped out on them.  And this is new -- Byron Buxton is having surgery!  And he's going to miss the rest of the Year!!!

The reaction from the local fan base has gone from anger to apathy.  This team started to slide shortly after the Trade Deadline, and by the time this club put together a string of bad play, it was Vikings season, and like the 100th grounder you've seen this season, the locals go through their routine of shrugging their shoulders, whispering to each other, "Hey, it's the Twinks," and putting on their Vikings jerseys.  And closer to the New Year, after it's clear the Vikings aren't fucking going anywhere either, we'll either put on our Wild or, nowadays, our Timberwolves Jerseys.  For every time there is a season.

Ten Games out of first place in the A. L. Central.  And four Games under .500.  Why do we give a shit?

They play the Angels (and by the way, I made the right decision not going to last/Friday night's Game, even with Shohei Ohtani pitching; I'll watch a baseball Game outdoors if it's cloudy, cold, windy and dry, but cloudy, cold, windy and raining, even at a drizzle?  Fuck and no) through the weekend, then host the White Sox, then go to Detroit starting Friday.

Fucked-Up Fridays

Need to note that today/Friday, last Friday, and the Friday before last either were or will be fucked-up.  It has rained or will rain those three Fridays, and that's bad, but they've been fucked-up not just because of the rain.

Well, Friday the 9th was mostly fucked-up because of the rain.  I wanted to get to the volleyball Matches as soon as I could leave work, but I stayed in my car for, oh, an extra 20 minutes because of the steady rain (and because I couldn't bring my umbrella to the Sports Pavilion).  I'm glad I was able to see the whole Minnesota-Oregon Match after the Penn St.-Stanford Match, but I wish I could have seen more of the Nittany Lion-Cardinal Match than I did ... but for the rain.

Now, last Friday, the 16th, was kind of fucked-up because of the rain.  But I was mostly late to the volleyball Match between Pepperdine and Washington St. (which the Waves won in five Sets after being down 2-1 to the Cougars), even though I was going to miss its start regardless due to work, because I lost my fucking watch.  I was preparing to leave, was going to put my watch back on after I take it off the start my workday ... and I couldn't find the damn thing.  I went to my car twice, intending to leave and feeling as though my watch couldn't have walked away from my workstation, only to come back inside the building to canvas not just my workspace again but also everywhere else I was that day -- my main desk, the bathroom, the break rooms, etc.  I took an extra ... oh, between 15 and 30 minutes before I gave up and went to the Match.  I think -- I think -- I saw barely more than half the Match, and barely more than half the Points of a great contest.  Obviously I would have seen more than half easy if I didn't go back and fruitlessly look for my watch.

Still, I couldn't let go, so after the Match (and stopping by the place we usually see our alma mater's football Games) I went back to work to take one final look-see through my workstation and, voila, I found it.  It was behind one of the monitors.  I put it on its stand, then over the course of the day I guess I piled my paperwork on top of it, and then used it to push my watch to the back.  I crawled underneath the desk to look for it, for God's sake, but it was kind of disguised in darkness just behind that monitor.  If I had only looked back there in the first place, I could've saved myself 15-30 minutes, dammit.

I think I encountered some drizzle on my way to Maturi.  But it looks as though the rain will be steadier today.  And that absolutely sucks, because I want to go to the Twins Game.  Not to see the Twinks; they've fallen into the shitter the second half of the season.  No, I want to see their opponent for the tilt, the Anaheim Angels.  As bad (shockingly so) as the team is as a whole, they have arguably the two best players in Major League Baseball: Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.  In particular, I've always wanted to see Ohtani pitch.  And it just so happens that Ohtani is scheduled to start for the Angels tonight.  And I'll be goddamned, there is a just-better-than 50/50 chance it'll rain at Opening Pitch of 7:10.

So it could rain so bad that the start of the Game will be delayed, or, it'll be delayed at some point after Opening Pitch, or, the Game will be rained out.  And even if the Game goes on, it'll be cloudy, cool, and quite windy -- not perfect baseball weather, in other words.  Is it worth all that to see Ohtani pitch?  It would ... were it not looking like a good possibility that it'll rain.  Fuckin A, man, I might not be able to see Ohtani pitch ever again after tonight, but this goddamn rain. ...

I kind of snapped at someone.  Not a co-worker, but some guy I have to deal with through e-mail.  Oh, and it was this fucker.

He was being a whiny bitch again, and with all the bullshit I had to go through this afternoon, I took exception to his words in his stupid goddamn e-mail and I had it.  Now, I didn't tell him to fuck off, but I'm pretty sure my tone of voice with him could not be mistaken.  And good.  Because I'm done with dealing with this asshole.  Seriously, I'm done.

So a stripper girlfriend of mine is having a party this week and I, thinking with my small head, asked if she would have the time to come through my place and give me a couple dances.  And I want it to be "dances" but I'm not sure because she's never, you know, done that.  She can swing by, though, so I'm wondering if I can take this to the next step or, if I come out fully nude or something, will she slap me in the face and turn right around.

See, that's the, well, expectation I now have of any stripper girlfriend who comes by the house.  They "know" what I'm after.  But maybe I shouldn't expect that.  Or, maybe she knows the deal and she's totally cool with it.  Or, maybe I should do my old routine whereby I wear my porno pants and it, you know, just slips out.

I'm having a fantasy before I have to go to work.

Addendum To: I Think I Accomplished A Lot Tonight

Make it two in a row for productive me!  I wanted to make homemade simple syrup and grenadine for the cocktails I will soon enjoy once I have the time.  After work, presumably while talking to my psychotherapist, was the perfect time.  I procrastinated because it felt like doing both was going to take so long.  I really thought I was going to do one and then the other another day.  But while I was waiting for my shrink to call me (he finally did 45 minutes after I thought we were going to talk), I was able to finish both.  They're chilling on the stove right now; I figure that tonight/Wednesday night, after I get back from checking out this place in St. Paul where my fellow alumni might watch Saturday night's Game, I'll add some vodka, pour them into containers, then put them in the fridge.

---

Tangent: Overtime was offered, again, after work yesterday/Tuesday.  I could use the money right now.  On top of that, I could have set a brand new high for most hours worked at my company for a week.  I am working all seven days this week, and with a couple of those days being in The Fourth Department, I could make a run at 60 hours, which, if I'm right, would mean that double overtime would kick in.  I'd like to get money at double OT, ngl.

Unfortunately, on Monday my therapist's assistant finally got back to me (I texted her last week) about a time to set up a tele-session with my therapist, and so I promised after work yesterday/Tuesday with him and so I had to leave without picking up OT.  That damages my chances of reaching 60, but I am trying to do my best by waking up early today and coming in early because OT has been offered for the morning.  Don't know if I can max out at the usual two extra hours per day, which would help in reaching 60.  Heck, I don't even know if I can get up before my usual time because, shoot, if I want to get up early, I should be in bed already.

I Think I Accomplished A Lot Tonight

Even though I was on three hours of sleep and was noticeably grouchy and quiet at work today (I became that when I got the impression my co-worker, the one who has bailed me out many, many times, was perturbed at me for not doing one thing when I should have done another thing before I left to go to a different spot during the day and left her with some work regarding that one thing I should have done instead of the thing I did do), I have a reason, or an excuse/justification.  I was up Sunday evening, in what you would call a quasi-mental breakdown, going all over the house for two reasons: Trying to find a way to replace the broken blinds, and finding this form to get reimbursed for my dental checkup from June.  I went to this room to find a yardstick so I could measure the window frame, and I checked and rechecked my bookbag, which I laid close to the front door, for these reimbursement forms.  I did this so much that I went to bed to get less than three hours of sleep.

All this running around -- which, upon further reflection, may have been a manic episode -- nonetheless made me determined to fix both problems: To change the broken blinds and to fill out and fax this form to get my money back.  And even though I was running on fumes (even though my lunch nap did wonders for me), I was going to do both last/Monday night.

And I did.  On my way home I bought a tension rod, which a dear co-worker of mine suggested I use to hang up the curtains she gave to me (her child didn't want them as she went to college), from Target.  I took a deep, well-needed nap for about 90 minutes or so, then got on my two-step ladder to figure out how to open the brackets and take out the headrail and thus the whole thing.  I thought I needed a screwdriver to unscrew something; turns out I needed it just to pop open the brackets that snap shut, then I used it to pry open the, uh, valence clip (aside: It's the weirdest thing that, when something breaks and you try to go on the Internet to see how to fix it yourself, you are introduced to a world of terminology you need to nail down in order to figure out how the hell to fix it) that held up the middle of the headrail.  But once I did both things, the broken blinds slid out.  The first tension rod was not long enough -- I should have paid closer attention to the length of the rod that was stamped on the label -- so I had to run to Target, wait for ten minutes behind some Asian dude returning at least, and I shit you not, three grand worth of Apple products, then buy a long tension rod.  But I got back home, found a curtain wide and long enough, and put it back in the bracket.  We'll see how much sunlight it lets in compared to the venetian blind, but I won't have to worry about the strings on the blinds completely snapping and falling while I'm either in the nude or masturbating, or both.

Oh, and after I got home I filled out the form and then went out to fax it.  The local Cub used to have a fax service where each page was only a buck, but they don't do that anymore, so I had to go to a FedEx where I did it for a bit over two bucks, which I swear is a hell of a lot cheaper than the last time I went there to fax something.  My main concern over this is filling it out correctly.  I remember having to talk to someone for about 15 minutes, having her tell me what I do in this section and then in this section.  I have a form I needed to fill out from 2019, and I used that to guide me for this one.  I hope what I did then was correct.  Hell, I hope the fax number didn't change.

So, assuming that the fax went through and the curtain is going to do what it's supposed to do, the two problems I stayed up for Sunday night I was actually able to fix.  I'm proud of myself.  And I think I should reward my self with rest ... even though it's only going to be four hours.

Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: August 2022

Since that month was mostly spent in my drawer, I have had to linger on this month for a while now to take all ten babes in even though I hung it up in September after my parents left.  It's time to make a judgement, and it's based on a sentiment I have heard is misogynistic: I like women who smile.  Now I get that that statement might sound creepy, but I say that it's only from creeps and groomers who spit out that yang in some craven way to get tail.  Smiling is a gesture of kindness and grace in society.  You approach someone with a smile, you are more likely to get what you want because you are saying that you are a nice person who appreciates what that person can do for you.  There is a rightful currency in public for smiling, and I don't think I should be canceled because I think this way.

As it applies to Hooters waitresses showing skin, I have gone back and forth between five of the ten who stand out for August '22.  I keep looking at the month and re-evaluating, but eventually I believe that, at least for this month, I prefer the ones who are smiling.

So, in ascending order:

In fifth place is Sierra of Ft. Myers, Fla.  Blonde with a periwinkle two-piece bikini, she is smiling and reclining, but sorry, her arm in front of her is a big distraction.  This would be an awesome picture if that arm weren't there.  (Now, I wouldn't know where Sierra should put that arm instead without falling over, but, well, that's how I feel.)

In fourth place is Baylee, hailing from Brandon, Fla.  Another blonde with long hair; green-blue two-piece, and she's clutching the sides of her bikini bottom.  But she's not smiling.  No, she's not frowning either, she's just got neutral expression.  And that's OK, but she's on this list mostly because of her stunning body.

In third place is Alyssa, out of Brunswick, Geo.  Long blond hair; two-piece bikini; and like with Baylee, Alyssa is clutching the sides of her bottom, alluding to her pussy.  She's shown with her body directly facing the camera, which is a very good thing.  The problem: She's not smiling, and for her and this photograph, it's a drawback.

In second place is Brianna, of Joliet, Ill.  Long brown hair, very light blue (maybe eggshell?) two-piece.  And yeah, she's smiling, and very broadly, and that makes her sexy in a very cute way.  The only downside to her photo: She has her arms crossed in front of her.  I think she's got a great bod, and I wish I could only see it.

Finally, in first place is Lexi, out of Davenport, Iowa.  The fourth out of the five with long blonde hair, and the third out of the five wearing a perwinkle/very light blue/eggshell two-piece bikini.  She's a little small up top, but that's no crime.  I love that she has her arms holding her head.  But her smile, though not as wide as that of Brianna (it may be more of a smirk, albeit a sexy one) makes that entire shot.

So, congratulations to Lexi, and to all the others who I have pointed out.  I will masturbate to you -- when I have time, which I hope to have before the end of September, because I don't want a backlog of Hooters months to jerk off to.

Horizontal Blinds Broken

They broke just before my parents left.  Hard to explain, since I'm busy catching up on YouTube videos on how to replace blinds and therefore need to know the fucking vocabulary of blinds, but the, like, string on one section broke, so one side is slumping real bad right now.  It's still up, and it's still covering my window, which are the most important things, but it's going to continue to slump, and I'm scared that in the middle of the night it'll just, like, break completely and fall down, and so people could see right into my bedroom, and I would either be sleeping naked or be in the middle of masturbating or something.

I don't know how to fix it, or even if I could.  I think I need to ask my parents not how to replace the blinds, but if they somehow bought these in bulk and, if so, where's the spare blinds.  Because I could see Father doing that.  And then he'll get all confused and tell me to figure out how to replace the blinds myself -- "Learn how to do it!" -- and then I'll get all pissed off and say, "Of course I have to learn!  You're not even here!  And that's not what I'm asking you, asshole!"

So I'm kind of stressed out.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Vikings (Re-Entry!).  So far, so good.  Yes, it's one Game, and I have to continue to remember that while the Vikings' biggest rival are the Packers, the Packers' biggest rival aren't the Vikings, it's the Bears, so I think we need to check ourselves of that emotional dissonance.

But hey -- 23-7 to start off The Kevin O'Connell Era with a Win!  More notably, the Offense was a distinct change from the "fear-based" philosophy of previous Head Coach Mike Zimmer.  They opened up and in fact relied on the passing Game, and Justin Jefferson feasted to the tune of a record-high day in Yards and two Touchdowns.  Dalvin Cook may have seemed like an afterthought, but he racked up more than 100 Yards from scrimmage.  And the Defense pestered Aaron Rodgers all afternoon.  As a Vikings fan, I never can say a Game is over until it's really over.  But just before the Fourth Quarter, when the Greg Joseph made a Field Goal and the Packers punted, was when I could breathe a sigh of relief.  Many other Vikings fans say they thought this Game was in the bag.  I think they're lying.

Anyway, you can wave away Minnesota dominating on Sunday more to the Packers' deficiencies.  Both of Rodgers' starting Tackles didn't play, and that's a big reason why the Vikes sacked A-Rodg four times.  What may be a more ongoing concern for the Pack moving forward are the green Wide Receivers that Rodgers is left with since Davante Adams was traded to The Bastard Oakland-by-way-of-Los Angeles Raiders.  That drop by WR Christian Watson early in the Game could have changed the complexion of it from what it eventually became.  People think the WRs will eventually learn, but will they?

This still goes down as a victory, and there are high hopes going into the Monday night contest in Philadelphia.  And hey, even if they lose, this is the first season for KOC -- who cares?

#-2: Gopher football (Re-Entry!).  I noticed something in college football -- and not at the U.  UCLA last Week beat Alabama St.  That is second-division Alabama St.  It is the first time in UCLA program history where the Bruins played an FCS school.

Notre Dame has yet to play a Game vs. a second-division opponent ... but that will change next season, when they host Tennessee St.  That leaves one and only one program to never sully and whore themselves by stooping so low as to play an FCS team: My alma mater.  That was close to ending, however; several Years back, they scheduled a Game against Cal-Davis.  That was scrapped (with a penalty given to the Aggies for breaking the contract) once Mike Bohn became Athletic Director.  I thought the thinking was that those three schools would remain untainted.  Well, joke's on my school, I guess, because both UCLA and Notre Dame decided to dance with the trollops for a free and easy Win.  I hope my school doesn't puss out and schedule one, ever.  They're now the only ones, and that's a distinction that's worth holding onto.

Oh yeah, so the Gophers beat the ever-living shit out of FCS Western Illinois Saturday, 62-10.  This is a Win that means nothing.

And the next opponent at least plays not that much better.  Colorado is not just a top-flight school, but one that's in a BcS conference (albeit the Pac-12), and it has won a Mythical National Championship in my lifetime.  But they suck right now, and they got shut out at home by these Gophers last Year.  The Buffaloes return the favor, visiting Huntington Bank this/Saturday afternoon in a tilt that the U. should win easily.  But hey, at least it's a top-flight program the Gophs are playing.

#-3: United FC (Last Week: -3).  "Four Seasons In One Day" is a beautiful song, one of many, by Crowded House, an extremely underrated band in rock 'n' roll.  And it's like the Loons are going through the fourth season of the 2022 season, the one where things appear to be falling apart, and where players are off the pitch due to either season-ending injury or card discipline.  And yet, as they are falling through the standings, they've still got a chance.

It ain't a great result, their 1-all Draw versus LAFC (Laugh-See) at Allianz on what I want to say is the first MLS Match MNUFC has ever played on a Tuesday.  The Loons score was by, you guessed it, Brent Kallman.  Yep, the last holdover from the team's lower-division days.  Have I talked about this?  When he was re-signed in the offseason, I greeted it warmly because it maintained the last tangible cord to this team's beginnings.  But then Kallman played, filling in for the backliners because of injury or because it was a mid-week Game, and Kallman, well, didn't play well.  Some fans online believe that, since filling in for Bakaye Dibassy, the Defense has gotten so bad it can be the main reason MNUFC lost three in a row.  But there Kallman (a Woodbury native) was, giving head off a Corner Kick from Emmanuel Reynoso that, finally, he didn't overshoot to the other side of the pitch.  No, this was a kick that barely got level with the LAFC near post, and Kallman headed it in short-side to give Minnesota the 1-0 lead.  Kallman also scored against Colorado earlier in the season, and that makes my heart light.  And yet I don't know if Kallman should be back with this team next Year.

But Carlos Vela did Carlos Vela things, dropping an arcing moonshot from just beyond the box, and in the end, they each grabbed a Point.  Yes, the Loons are winless in four, so they're not hosting a playoff Match if the season ended today.  But they are in fifth, fourth-place Nashville is only a Point ahead, and FC Dallas is only in third by four.  Better than that, their last three opponents of the regular season are three of the four worst teams in the Western Conference, starting with tonight's/Saturday night's road Match versus Sporting Kansas City.  Unfortunately, they're going to have to play without Reynoso, who has to sit out this Match for Yellow Card accumulation after picking up one for absurdly holding onto an LAFC player who was about to go on a breakaway from the Loons' defensive zone.  Wasn't Bebelo out for Saturday's 1-0 Loss in Portland for the same reason?  I should be paying more attention.  Anyway, Franco Fragapane is back after serving a card suspension, so the opportunity is there to take three Points from a bad squad even despite having missing and hurting men.  Fingers crossed?

#-4: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -2).  How good can you be if you're finding your stride against a, let's just say, less than stellar slate of non-conference foes?  Good question, and one the U. XI might have answered this screening Week.

They finished their non-con by thrashing Marquette at Robbie Stadium to the tune of 3-0.  That gave the Gophers a four-Match winning streak.  But look at who they beat: Drake, North Dakota, Nebraska-Omaha, and the Golden Eagles.  Only one of those Matches was on the road, and that was vs. The Fighting Hawks, and that was just across the border in Grand Forks, N. D.  Their last Loss was a 1-0 decision at Mississippi St., a BcS school.

And then the Golden Gophers started league play last/Friday night with a 1-0 Loss in Nebraska.  Minnesota kept it close against what one observer thought was the bruising, borderline cheating play of the Cornhuskers.  But apparently it worked, because in the 88th Minute a through ball found the Defender-splitting Sarah Weber, and she deposited it past U. Goalie Megan Plaschko for the Game-winning, and only, score.

I think we can say this club is not very good, and that some scrutiny needs to be aimed at Head Coach Erin Chastain.  A 4-1-4 record (four Wins, one Draw, four Losses -- I think from now on I will use a W-D-L format to put the value of each outcome in descending order) doesn't beget a tournament team.

Off until Thursday, when the squad hosts Indiana.

#-5: Twins (Last Week: -4).  I don't know if I can see the Twinks are done, given that they did sweep the Royals mid-Week and that this is the American League "Comedy" Central.  But this ballclub's second-half collapse still has them, as of press time, five Games behind Cleveland for the Division lead and a Game behind the White Sox for second.  Fuck the Wild Card; at 72-71, winning the Division is the only hope this team has of making the postseason.

That's what you get when everything that propelled you to the top -- an overachieving Rotation and a solid Lineup -- goes to hell on you and you don't have enough talent or depth to get through the rough patches.  That's what you get when the stack of relievers you got for the stretch run at the Trade Deadline crap out on you.  And that's what you get when you allow Cleveland -- an organization that seemed to be more rebuilding than contending at the start of the season, and a franchise who still can't quite stop whispers they'll be moved from The Land -- to come into Target Field and emasculate you by sweeping three Games of an all-important series.  It's happening now, too; they started the return series last/Friday night, and the Twinks allowed the Game-winning Run via a Wild Pitch by the once-reliable Jhoan Duran.

Still, I get the feeling that Twinks fans are going to let the club off the hook.  The narrative that they simply can't compete with the richer ballclubs on the coasts and down South is pretty much gospel now, regardless of the fact ownership really can change that, plus I think the Vikings winning their first Game of the Year, and over the hated Packers, has memory-holed the spiral this team is currently in.  Which is a shame, because, at least right now, I feel as though there's got to be some goddamn accountability for this failure.

Because of rainouts, there will be four more Games with Cleveland before they have a return series at Kansas City beginning Tuesday.  After that, they start a weekend trio vs. The Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of ... Friday.

#-6: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1).  You know why I've gotten "disenchanted" with this team and this program?  Fucking bullshit like this past Week, where, at home, versus good teams that are still ranked below them and thus should defeat them, lost to not one but two schools in separate tournaments at Maturi.  And both by four Sets: To Stanford in the B1G/Pac-12 Challenge Saturday, then to Pepperdine Thursday in the Diet Coke Classic.  I don't fucking remember the last time the host Goofers lost in their own Diet Coke Classic, but fuckin' Minnesota did!  They slipped from third to sixth after the Loss to The Farm, and after getting humbled by the Waves, they'll drop further.

A quick scan of a volleyball chatboard after the upset loss to Pepperdine points to two big things: Bad Setter play and shit-ass Defense.  At least one person doesn't think this team has the heart to hate losing enough.  And many U. fans on this board I went to is starting to chafe under the perception Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon simply won't entrust starting jobs at Setter and Libero to new people to see if that unlocks the hitting talent that is prevalent (and has always been prevalent) on this club since Cutch became the guy here.  It's still non-conference season, and another person on the board thinks the Big Ten is going to suffer a down year.  But this Week is evidence the U. is going to be down with it.

One final non-con Match, tonight/Saturday night against Washington St., to finish off the Diet Coke Classic.  (I went last/Friday night to the Sports Pavilion to see Pepperdine come back from 2-1 down to defeat the Cougars in the middle Match of the tourney.  Even though work and trying to find my watch precluded me from getting there until halfway through the Match, I'm glad I got there, and I'm glad that Match went the full five.)  They then begin B1G play Friday at Purdue.

Addendum To: Addendum To: Addendum To: My Meeting In The Morning

Well, this has nothing to do with the meeting I had Wednesday morning, but it had plenty to do with the thing I said at the tail end of it, namely that my outburst would trigger some karma for me when I come in and work in The Fourth Department.  I stayed late by a bit more than an hour, but it was a shitty day, it truly was, for two reasons.  First, I can't remember a day where more e-mail addresses didn't work and bounced back on me.  There were, like, four of them, and so I needed to stay late and think about where else and, failing that, how else and even if I could request the information I need someplace else.

The other reason was one of these stupid goddamn curveballs, a situation where people wanted this test but we refused to give it to them, and I was communicating back and forth with several people about whether we could use this test instead.  Eventually I was told that was this customer wanted, this customer got.  The reason why was explained to me by my former supervisor who has moved to another department.  I don't get it, because if this test was good, and if this customer has always asked for it and always gotten it, why was I told they couldn't get it?  I don't want to even think about this problem anymore, but I know goddamn well this will be the first thing I'll have to re-confront when I walk through that door in the morning.  Fuck.

I really, really want to see this neutral women's volleyball Match between Pepperdine and Washington St. this evening.  But it starts at 5, and I am supposed to get out at 4:30, so getting there by the time the Match starts probably is a no-can-do, and if today is as bad as yesterday, the Match might be half or even more than half over by the time I get to Maturi.  (There's also a good chance it'll rain this evening, and so I'll face another should-I-or-shouldn't-I-go situation like I did last Week with the difference being there isn't a second Match to watch that makes walking through a potential storm worth it.)  And all because I (possibly?) raised some issues in a meeting with my boss and supervisor?  Great.

Addendum To: Addendum To: My Meeting In The Morning

So, that meeting happened yesterday/Wednesday morning ... and what was scheduled as only a half-hour meeting turned into an hour.  Guess I had something to say after all.

Really, though, I hope I didn't come off as complaining.  Turns out I did need to vent my spleen, however, and I guess I did get, uh, triggered when my supervisor wanted to talk about workload.  She communicated that she wanted to ensure that I understood the amount of work that typically comes with this job and, OK, I did get a bit defensive at that.  I told her that I was well aware of the amount of work, having needing to stay up to an extra two hours to finish on many days.  I am not completely sure she understands my thinking on that.  She seemed to keep saying that if I felt pinned down to reach out.  I think I let both my supervisor and my boss know that regardless of how I feel, if there is work that belongs to someone else, that work should go to that someone else.  The possible solution that I think was offered in the meeting, which I want to reach, are possible, uh, conclusions if the work gets to be overwhelming.

We'll see how well we understand each other, my supervisor and I, for I am in The Fourth Department today and tomorrow.  My boss tells me that I probably will be working at least a couple days there every week for the rest of my time at my company.  He also says he's trying to get permission to find a third person who will have the position similar to mine, and that would help.  Regardless, I hope my, uh, outburst yesterday didn't call for bad karma on me the rest of my workweek.

Addendum To: My Meeting In The Morning

Oh yeah, so about this meeting last week ... there was no meeting last week.  I went to work last Wednesday, went to the meeting room, didn't see anybody there, then checked with my boss, who seemed a bit perplexed because he thought the meeting was supposed to happen last Wednesday.  But it, uh, wasn't; he told me that my supervisor (who ostensibly answers to him) said it was going to be the following week, or this/Wednesday morning.  I don't get it; isn't the meeting supposed to happen when, you know, the person who calls the meeting says it's going to happen?

But it's been delayed till today.  Moreover, it'll just be my boss, my supervisor, and me.  There would be my co-worker, but she gets the day off today, and I think that's bad, because this could just be a case where people one and two levels above me just yell at me for things I did and didn't do.  I've vacillated back to the point where I do have things to say and I am going to say them in this meeting, even though the sense that I will be listened to has diminished somewhat without my co-worker there.  But hey, I could get fired from this job at any time for any reason, or for no reason.  Might as well say my piece and reap the consequences.  

Man, I Just Wanna Stay Home

I do a lot of running around in the evenings.  Just last/Monday night I felt like I needed to exercise because of all the free food I ate working sporting events over the weekend, plus I hadn't worked out in a while.  But it's more than that: There's my alma mater's games, there's MNUFC Matches, there's stripper parties, and then there are times where I just want to go out.

But I want to now stay home.  Yeah, that sounds very hypocritical.  But I'm doing so much running around that, as I type this at least, I want to just go home from work and stay home.  Maybe it's time to catch up on going through my stuff, or even cleaning my clothes.  That actually sounds like fun.

What I usually do, however, is watch TV.  And while I usually don't do other stuff when I watch TV, if there's nothing on that I want to watch, I feel as though that gives me more motivation to leave the house and do something else.  That's why the start of the new TV broadcast season (which traditionally commences the day after the Emmys, which was held last/Monday night) might be the thing that finally keeps me home.  There are new seasons for shows that I watch, and I'll stay home and watch them ... and maybe do other productive stuff while at home.  Now, I just need to figure out when those shows come on.

Arranging My Whores For The Next Month Or So

Totally me ... the workweek has started, but I can't help but plan my week, and think about next weekend, and plot which of my girls I will see and when.

I am trying to pace myself, specifically seeing only one of my stripper girlfriends a week for the time being.  More than that and it gets real expensive.

I want to see ******a because I haven't gotten a rubdown from her in a month, and I could use her magic hands.  I want her to cum over this week.  But that pushes ******e to next week, even though her birthday is this week and she's been calling/desperate/thirsty to give her a "birthday gift."  I realized a few days ago that I lent her money for Christmas; is her birthday a good time to remind her of that?

And then there's **y, whose last two parties I've skipped.  It's hella far from me, but if I know in advance when her party is, I think I can go.  But that means I can't see anyone else that week, whenever that week is.  So that's a date that hangs in the air until she gets back to me.

Man, they say arranging when you see your whores is never easy.  Actually, no one says that.

No Rest For The Wicked, Or The Fat

I worked -- or "worked," like I said in my previous blog post -- the Twins Game yesterday and I will be working the Vikings Game today, and with my real job last and this Week, including filling in for someone next Sunday, I will be working eleven days in a row and 17 out of the next 18.  The money's still going out as fast as it's coming in, if not faster, so I kind of need to do this, at least until I exhibit some self-control.

That self-control should extend to my eating.  One of the things I really do love and appreciate about working these Games is all the free food we get.  In that sense, we are well taken care of ... well, for the most part; paying for a hot dog and a brat was something I did not see happening.  But we're never starved at these Games.  Far from it; I had coffee, some snacks, and then lunch was catered, and then I got more coffee, and then the Game started and I had those tubed meats and then (and this probably is the killer) a lot of pop and a huge cup of lemonade.  Oh, and I took home the post-Game meal to eat immediately after I got home.

My excuse, such as it is, is that I hadn't worked a baseball Game in years and so I wanted to load up on all the food offered there.  Can't say that for the football Games, as I'm going maybe on my 15th year or so.  Therefore, I can skip the food I can get there.  I mean, it'll be there all season.  Right?

This is where I usually say "Probably not."  But really, I'm feeling all the food in my stomach right now.

This Is An Appreciation Blog Post

I'm getting fat off the food, some of which I am surprised I had to pay for.  But not only are there worse ways to spend a waking day on this Earth than at a ballpark, I am having an easy time working, or "working," at the ballpark.  Right now, I have a perfect vantage point to watch a baseball Game (sure, the Twins are losing), and not only do I not have to pay for it, I'm getting paid for it.

Just breathe.  And be grateful.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -2).  Even though my anger towards this program for not taking that final step and winning championships -- and then compounding that by getting upset in seasons when they're ranked high and seeded high in the tournament -- I still will watch Matches in-person during their non-conference season because they'll be playing great teams in conferences outside the Big Ten.  This past Week I saw them twice at Maturi Pavilion -- Sunday against Florida, then just last/Friday night vs. Oregon, hosting the B1G/Pac12 Challenge this weekend.

I don't mind picking nits with this team.  There were stretches in both tilts where the Gophers looked mortal and lost.  The way I see it, they had trouble defending against dinks, they sometimes didn't get their blocks up in time, and there were startling instances of mis- and non-communication leading into easy points for the Gators and the Ducks.  Both opponents were able to roll into winning a Set in which the U. played awful, moreso (I think, although it could be recency bias) in the middle of their Match against Oregon than in the middle of their Match against Florida.  Still, they woke up in time to close out four-Set Wins in both.  But despite being ranked third in the country right now (behind only Texas, who they lost to, and Nebraska), I don't think championship-winning clubs let themselves be susceptible to bad lulls like I saw the Gophers allow themselves to get stuck in.

They finish off the challenge tonight/Saturday night when they play Stanford.  They then finish non-con play by hosting their annual Diet Coke Classic, which consists only of the Gophers, Pepperdine and Washington St.  They will host the Waves Thursday evening.

(Aside: I love women's college volleyball, but I love being a neutral even more.  So I salivate when I see two teams, neither of which I am emotionally invested in, come to town and play.  [That's why I love college tournaments so much.]  Before the Gopher-Duck Match, the other two clubs in this Challenge, storied programs Penn St. and Stanford, faced off.  The Match began at 5, and unfortunately work precluded me from getting there when it started, otherwise I so would have been there.  Moreover, rain was forecast last/Friday evening.  I asked the U. if I could bring an umbrella into the Sports Pavilion; they said I could not.  And I didn't want to get wet, so if it was raining hard by the time I got to Dinkytown, I would have not gone.  But finally, after waiting in my parking spot till 5:30, I decided to head to the Pav.  Hey, I was already going to miss the very first Point.  I know I'm a completist, but if missing the very first Points of the Match was basically guaranteed, what's waiting a Set-and-a-half, which is what I eventually did?  The rain was steady on my way there, but it was light.  I think the worst of it blew through while I was at the Pavilion, and by the time I got out of there between 10:15 and 10:30, the rain was a tad more intense than it was when on my way to the U.

Anyway, I'm glad I went, because even though I got there in the middle of Set 2, a tight Set which Penn St. pulled out to go up 2-0, that turned into an excellent Match.  The Cardinal/Farm took Games 3 and 4, only for the Nittany Lions to take the last four Points of Set 5 -- the last of which was earned upon a Review by new Nittany Lions Head Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley that proved Stanford hit the ball four times earlier in that Rally -- and the Match.  Sure, it delayed the Gopher Match by a half-hour.  But all those latecomers who got there assuming the Match would start at 7:30 as advertised instead were treated to a hell of a fifth Set.  Why didn't they come sooner?  Why didn't they get there at 5:05, when the Match started?  They then would've had something over me!

And that's why, for the Diet Coke Classic, I'm not really interested in seeing Minnesota play Pepperdine Thursday or Washington St. next Saturday.  But on Friday, the Waves and the Cougars play at Maturi.  [It's at 5 again, dammit, and I probably will be late again, but again, I don't mind.]  I just need to know if people can come watch that Match even though the hosts aren't playing.  I hope I can watch.  Right now, I'm in volleyball heaven.)

#-2: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -5).  This isn't the England women's team running the table in the Women's Euros over the summer, but after a stumble to begin their Year, the Gopher XI have ripped off three in a row, including Wins this screening Week at North Dakota Sunday and home versus Nebraska-Omaha Thursday.  I don't think those victories will do wonders for their RPI or whatever metric the NCAA uses to compare teams across conferences for inclusion into the Tournament; conference play will do that.  But hey, better to win than to lose.

One final non-conference Match, Sunday afternoon against Marquette at the ELR.  The U. start B1G play Friday at Nebraska.

#-3: United FC (Last Week: -3).  Saturday's huge clash at Allianz between the Loons and FC Dallas, third and fourth in the West, respectively, should have been a late-season dogfight.  Instead, it became a humiliating capitulation by MNUFC, losing 3-0 by the leapfrogging FCD.  And they scored all three Goals in a span of three Minutes (well, the first Goal was an Own Goal by Michael Boxall; I wonder if the bad vibes just cascaded into a dream-crushing flood at that point).

I might have followed many people who reportedly walked out of the stadium after that third Goal, cursing under my breath at how this side suddenly sucks.  But I wasn't there.  No, I wanted to spend some time with my parents before they left town, and I had my alma mater's college football season-opener I needed to go to.  So I gave my ticket to my friend.  After the Match he texted me saying he enjoyed it, but of course the outcome of the Game could have been different.  I responded by apologizing for giving him that dog's breakfast of a Match.

They made hay on an easy part of their schedule.  But now they'll end the regular season (with five Matches left) on a hard part, and they have dropped 3-0 decisions in back-to-back Matches since Bakaye Dibassy was lost for the Year.  They were flying high not too long ago, but they haven't clinched shit just yet.  And they are sliding down the Western Conference; Nashville SC just passed them for fourth.  They're still in decent position to nail down a postseason birth -- they're five Points ahead of the Los Angeles Galaxy -- but they have lost the right to host a First Round Match.

Worse than that, the Loons play two Matches this Week: Tonight/Saturday night in Portland, then a rare (if not first-of-its-kind) Tuesday contest vs. Laugh-See.  Oh, and for that Timbers Match, they might be without Emmanuel Reynoso because of injury.  And double-oh, Franco Fragapane is missing the next two Matches -- one for getting a Yellow Card against FCD in the 20th Minute and thus accumulating enough Yellow Cards over the course of the season to sit him down for a Match, and one for his stupid Red Card against FCD in the 69th that'll keep him out for, well, another Match.

This team went from down in the dumps to the penthouse suite, and now they're tumbling back down to the basement, for fuck's sake.

#-4: Twins (Last Week: -4).  Nevertheless, United FC at least are still in prime position for the postseason.  The same can't be said about the Twinks, and it's been a long time since I can remember a Twins ballclub free-falling like this in the second half of a baseball season.

However, if you're a Minnesota Twins fatalist, you weren't surprised by the team's 2-5 Week, which featured three teams that simply don't like the Twins.  We have to fucking start with the White Sox sweeping three Games from the Twinks at Comiskey.  In that Saturday Game, Dylan Cease was phenomenal, going the distance, striking out 7, and almost throwing a No-Hitter.  "Unfortunately," Luis Arraez, the league leader in Batting Average, hit one into the outfield with two gone in the bottom of the Ninth, thus breaking up the No-Hit bid.  But the Twinks still lost that one, 13-0.

And of course that shit-ass showing against a Division rival would be followed up with a four-Game road series vs. the fuckin' Yankees.  And they lost three-of-four, and they would've lost that fourth and last one if Isiah Kiner-Falefa (who the Twinks got from The Bastard Washington Senators v.2.0 and then promptly swung him to the Yanks) didn't ground out to end the Game with the bases loaded.  Death, taxes, and the Yankees making the Twinks their bitch again.  Like goddamn clockwork.

And then the Twinks follow that up with a series versus the team they're now chasing in the A. L. Central, the Cleveland Guardians.  That series started late last/Friday night because rain pushed back First Pitch by about 76 Minutes.  Dylan Bundy got shook down for four Runs in the top of the First and allowed seven Guardian Runs before being yanked in the top of the Fifth.  Thank Buddha this is The Worst Division In The Majors because Minnesota made an unheralded comeback ... only to fall short, 7-6.

That Loss, combined with a Win by the White Sox in Oakland, means that the Twinks, as stubbornly as they now fill the role of stalking horse behind Cleveland, currently sit 2 1/2 Games back ... but in third place behind the White Sox.  Minnesota is dead in the water as far as getting a Wild Card goes, so that franchise's only path to the postseason lies in staying on top of the dung heap that is this Division.  But do they have the talent and the fortitude to do it?

After finishing the Cleveland series this weekend, they host Kansas City for three beginning Tuesday, then travel to The Land and face the Guardians in a four-Day, five-Game wraparound series starting on Friday.  Things could go so bad for this squad that they might be out of the Division race this time next Week.

Addendum To: State Fair Thoughts

Back to waiting in line for food at the Minnesota State Fair: I queued up for the third and final time at Union Hmong Kitchen Labor Day and like the previous day, I was in line for about 50 minutes, maybe a few seconds less.  Like I said before, I don't remember being in so many long lines at a single State Fair in my life.  Had the tofu and the "Tiger Bite" sauce, by the way.  The skin of the tofu was extremely tasty, which made the tofu go down just fine, and that oil had more bark to it than bite because while it was a tad hot, it was by no means hotter than the irredeemably spicy chili oil

While waiting in line, I was speaking to the woman behind me.  She said that while this long was excruciatingly long, the one for the pickle pizza was longer.  I walked by that place -- it's been a longtime vendor at the Fair but I never ate there because, well, it has just served pizzas for years -- Sunday and Monday and the damn lines were so freakin' long!  The woman behind me in line for UHK said she heard secondhand that people were waiting an hour and a half for a slice of pickle pizza.  Are you kidding me?  First of all, like I said before, I don't know if waiting in line for that long is worth it no matter how good the food you're queuing up for is.  And second ... pickle pizza?  I heard a lot of people who tried it liked it, and I think there might be something to the savoriness of pickles on a pizza.  But ... can't you just buy a pickle, buy a pizza, put pickles on that pizza, and then eat the pickle pizza?  But people apparently were waiting 90 minutes to pay nine bucks for a slice of that, then post themselves posing with said pizza for Instagram.  It's ridiculous ... but it's the State Fair.  I mean, I didn't line up for that, but obviously I lined up for UHK and some people thought I was stupid, so I know the mass hysteria and the FOMO that causes people to get in line for a long time for buzzy food.

Still though ... pickle pizza?

Maybe I Should Just Let My Fantasy Football League Die

The fantasy football league I run, which is technically a cash league but whose members don't usually pay unless I beg and cajole, had its auction last/Wednesday night.  I was so jazzed for it.  I was afraid that I'd get so busy in The Fourth Department that I would be late for it, and when it got really crazy in the afternoon, I decided that I would just leave and leave the work till the morning.

I actually rallied to the point where I got out of there at 5 -- a half-hour later than my usual shift end, but an hour before the auction begins.  Good, I thought; I could get some fast food, bring it and have time to study before the auction begins.  Unfortunately, everybody was at Culver's for dinner that time of evening, and I waited 15-20 minutes before I got my food.  I got home in time, but only enough for me to pee, wash my hands, turn on and plug in my computer, and get to Yahoo! Sports before the clock struck 6.  No studying besides the Excel customizable cheat sheet courtesy of The Athletic.

But I made it!  And I'm going to talk to all the other guys in the league and we're going to talk shit to each other and rag on each other's bidding.  But the auction begins and there's only one other person on there with me.  All the others, at least to start the auction, have the two circular, clockwise-direction arrows, indicating they're auto-auctioning.  Two other owners quickly pop in and out, for some unknown reason.  And I know that two of the three who bothered to show up are my best friend's sons.

The other league I'm in (in which I am not the Commissioner) held its draft two days before, on Labor Night.  There were a dozen "owners" total, I think all of them showed up, and our draft got done in, say, 1:15 to 1:20.  With fewer players playing in our league, and all but two-to-four of them giving enough of damn to hop on for just a hot minute, we had no intriguing bidding wars where four, five of us would dare each other to top $70, $75, even $80 (which I "paid" for Jonathan Taylor) for three solid minutes.  We got done just under an hour when I thought we would go two.

I don't know where the hell everyone else went.  Now, of the eight of us (yeah, there are only eight now in this league), there usually are one or two people who didn't make it to previous auctions.  But this was way, way different.  We have never had an auction where so many people didn't show up.  And I don't know why.  I customarily select the night before the first Game of the NFL season -- so basically the first Wednesday in September -- to do our auction so we get the latest dirt on players, and most of them acted like they knew what day the auction was, didn't mind the time of the auction, and enjoyed themselves while we built our rosters.  But last night, our auction was a ghost town.

It felt, I'm afraid, like people just stopped caring.  They cared last Year, when we were getting out of the coronavirus pandemic, but not this Year?  It's hard to hold on to tradition, and our run is a long and a good one.  But if people in the league no longer view this as an event to look forward to ... well, then it's apparent that this fantasy football league is no longer enjoyable to them.  And if the other guys don't show up for the auction next year and the ones after that -- why should we even continue with this league any longer?

My Meeting In The Morning

So I and the two others who currently cover The Fourth Department have a meeting with the boss first thing this morning.  I don't know what about ... except that I kind of do know what it's about ... and I'm afraid we're going to talk about what I kind of know what this is about.

I have frustrations over the job, many times over.  And I'm not looking forward to the rest of the week, because I'm stuck there till the end of the week.  I need to let everyone there know my thoughts on how things could go better, but at the same time I'm worried that other people's critiques will reflect poorly on me.  If someone verbalizes things that way, I'm scared I would feel I have no choice other than to be defensive over it.  Also, if I just shut my mouth and say everything's fine, then that increases the possibility nothing changes over there that need to be changed.

---

Hey.  I wrote the above two statements before going to bed.  I'm writing from here forward after just getting up.  And actually ... I don't think anything can be changed.  Well, they can be.  And I do have frustrations with the job.  But after sleeping on it, I don't know if the "recommendations" I had in my head make any sense.  I guess I conflated my frustrations with possible suggestions to make things better when I realize I don't have many suggestions to, well, suggest.

So I guess I am just going to sit there at this meeting in an hour.  Well, I still might get defensive is someone says something I don't like, but otherwise, I think ... I might ... just sit there.

All The Food That's About To Spoil

My parents did a real good job storing away all the food in the fridge I saw Saturday.  However, there are still a lot of perishable items that need to be eaten or otherwise disposed of, including:

• 4 bananas
• 1 1/4 loves of white bread
• 4 ... uh, pastries which Mother filled with a sliced hot dog -- very good
• 1/5 gallon of 2% milk
• 3 apples
• an opened package of cheese, the kind that spoils, not the pasteurized one that can last for years
• by the way, there are 2 packages of the kind of cheese that don't spoil and can last for years
• and several slices of cucumbers

Lot more stuff in the freezer, where they can last for years as well, thank Buddha.  But I'm under the damn gun trying to figure out what I can eat and when.  For example, there were three small cups of fried rice I had Mother lay out in the refrigerator while she stashed the other cups of fried rice she made (and I think she made at least a dozen) in the freezer.  I ate the first cup last/Monday/Labor Night right before my fantasy football draft.  I just ate the second cup, and I am eating the third cup after I blog post this.  Part of me was hungry, part of me is pissed off and sickened by this unlawful ruling by "Judge" (actually fucking Trump whore) Aileen Cannon singlehandedly stopping the investigation into Trump stealing classified documents, but I think some of it is me wondering how I can eat all of this stuff before any of it goes bad.  I'm too busy to exercise this week, but I'll need to work out soon.

In the meantime, I don't know if I'll get to all the fruit.  I might just bring it to work and let someone else take all but one banana and apple.  I might buy cereal for the milk, and I'll need to eventually buy deli meats (Oscar Mayer, not the fancy but spoilable stuff) to go after the cheese and the bread.  The cucumbers and the hot dog pastries I'll fit in someday ... and I'm sure something will eventually go bad anyway, hrmph.

State Fair Thoughts

Today/Monday/Labor Day was the last of three days I went to the Minnesota State Fair.  And while the lines were longer than I remember them from last year and 2019 and before then, all three days I was truly grateful to see so many people (although I think final attendance numbers will be a lot lower than what The Media and people say they saw) having fun and hanging out with their friends and loved ones.  And frankly, the hot women showing off their bellies was something I was looking forward to, too.

What I was not looking forward to, and what I didn't expect?  The cutting in lines.  I swear it wasn't as bad as it had been in years past.  I blame Trump and the pandemic.

I got really pissed when I was trying to queue up for the bus taking me back to the lot where I parked my car.  I was about to round this metal barrier when this young, hot bitch (who wasn't showing off her belly, pffft) cut in front of me and stopped right at the end of the barrier because that's where the line ended.  I got so upset that another young person again cut in front of me that, because I was standing right there behind her, I said, "Hey."  And she said, "Hey," and probably thought I was going to kidnap her, so she and her friends went up the line and cut in front of more people.  Maybe my anger at her came off as something creepy.  OK, it did come off as creepy.  I just had no way to call out that bitch for cutting in line.  And then she and her friends were going to beat me out of the church parking lot, so even though they got off the bus first (I had a slow, old woman asking the bus driver questions while she and the others in the back went out through the back exit -- forgot about the back exit, dammit), I sprinted to my minivan because I wanted to beat them onto the street because I'm a petty, passive-aggressive son-of-a-bitch.  I showed her, didn't I?  No, I probably made her think that I was weird.  And that I run funny.  Fuck it, who cares, I did have a fantasy football draft to get to.

---

Oh yeah, one other thing.  Because of that goddamn shooting Saturday night, I believe security ramped up the use of metal detectors.  That made things really bad getting into the Fair today/Monday because I had to wait a good, oh, 5-10 minutes.  I literally carried my things in my hands to show them all the things that could set off the detector, I was told to walk through the detector, I set off the detector, and some "security" guard leaning against a metal rail pointed with her free hand to the side where another "security" guard was.  And then I waited another five minutes before I was told by that "security" guard to go through another detector, which I did not set off, and so she just waved me through.

Total shitshow.  I understand why.  Thank the gods above The Great Minnesota Get-Together somehow has not had a really bad gun incident like the one Saturday night (and, now that I see on Twitter, tonight).  But frankly, if the lines getting in are going to be long, and the lines getting to food are going to be long, and if people are just going to be rude and stupid ... well, that takes the sheen off of the Minnesota State Fair.

I started off this blog post saying how much I love the Fair, didn't I?

So I went back to the State Fair today/tonight, and I waited in line at Union Hmong Kitchen again.  The first time, last Saturday, I waited in line for a tad over a half-hour.  This time around, I waited in line for a bit over 50 minutes.

The chicken I got was real good.  The spice that rubbed off on the purple Hmong rice made the rice very yummy.  I also got the scallion sauce, and that actually improved upon the food, instead of setting my mouth on fire.  Another great meal.  But was it worth waiting 50 minutes?  I don't know if any food is worth waiting 50 minutes.

So MNUFC got shamed at home yesterday/Saturday by FC Dallas, 3-0.  All three of their Goals came within, like, five Minutes.

I'm glad I wasn't there to witness that embarrassment; I was preparing to watch my alma mater's football Game.  So I gave my ticket to my friend.  He texted me after, thanking me for the ticket, even though they lost.  Well, he didn't say that exactly, but I didn't know the score because I was running around and sleeping and trying to prepare for the Game.  Once I got his text, I looked up the score and, oof.

So now I feel bad about my friend watching that horrible, horrible Loss.  But then, I'm glad I didn't have to see that shit.  And then I feel sort-of guilty for feeling glad I avoided watching that defeat, only for my friend to see it instead.  Oy.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Gopher football (Re-Entry!).  So despite all the foofooraw of former Gopher Head Coach Jerry Kill taking potshots at current U. HC P. J. Fleck about Fleck being all ungrateful and shit, they apparently hugged it out before the Game.  And then Fleck and Minnesota proceeded to road-grade Kill's New Mexico St. Aggies to the tune of 38-0.  Sure, it may be the poorest and most-enfeebled top-flight college football program in the country.  It and Idaho were in the same boat not too long ago of not being able to find a conference.  The Vandals responded by dropping down into the second division.  Instead of doing the same, NMSU stuck to its guns and, after a few Years in The Independent Wasteland, will latch on to the desperate-as-fuck Conference USA beginning next Year.  At least the program is cashing in those bodybag checks.

Seriously, though, this is a good Win for the Gophers because of what it represents.  Not too long ago -- last Year versus Bowling Green, for example -- you could not even foresee the U. beating less-resourced opponents soundly or consistently.  A thorough, professional, well-thought-out Win like this shows fans that people who run the program know what they're doing, and that they are not going to mess around with teams they should beat.  Teams including second-division Western Illinois, who come to Huntington early Saturday afternoon to get the shit kicked out of them in order to get that sweet, sweet guarantee-Game money.

#-2: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1).  Swept Big Ten/Big 12 host TCU Saturday.  Then on Wednesday they returned the home-and-home favor and visiting Texas -- top-ranked team in the country Texas -- and, like last Year, lost to the Longhorns in four Sets.  No shame in the fourth-ranked team in the country losing to #1.  And again, while it's getting stultifying to see the U. volleyballers come up short season after season, I nonetheless appreciate the program continuing to schedule against the best.  That include a showdown with #13 Florida in the first home Game of the season for the squad on Sunday; hopefully I'll be able to get in.  They then host the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge starting with Oregon Friday night.

#-3: United FC (Last Week: 0).  I've talked about the fantastic run these guys have head for much of the summer, but I neglected to frame those results within their roster situation; the injury has bit this XI very hard in 2022.  Very early in the Loons' 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the Houston Dynamo last Saturday, Bakaye Dibassy ruptured the quadricep tendon in his right leg.  He joins Hassani Dotson and Jacori Hayes as being done for the rest of the Year.

It seemed like a perfect fit for USMNT Center Back John Brooks, who mysteriously was not playing for anyone, to come and not only fill the hole left behind by Dibassy but possibly (probably?) improve it.  That was a pipe dream, however, and Thursday he signed with Portuguese squad Benfica.  Instead, the organization will rely on an oldie, though not necessarily a goodie: Brent Kallman.  He is the last of the players who were with MNUFC when they were a lower-division side, and when he re-signed with Minnesota in the off-season, I was happy and even touched that that cord to the humble beginnings of this club remained.

Sadly, however, it is readily apparent up to this season that his work on the pitch has not been stellar, or even average.  Wednesday's 3-0 demolition at the hands of hosts Real Salt Lake can be attributed to Manager Adrian Heath not starting Luis Amarilla or Robin Lod, and/or not even bringing Franco Fragapane into the Game, and/or not even bringing Emmanuel Reynoso on the trip.  But if a good-but-several-places-below-you side puts three past you, I'm willing to bet Kallman had something to do with it.  I feel really bad saying this, but I think it's time to put the MNUFC's/the Minnesota Stars'/the Minnesota Thunder's past in the past by saying thank you and good bye to the Woodbury native.  It has been six Years playing for the Loons in the top flight, after all.

That speed bump really hasn't damaged Minnesota's postseason hopes; they still technically are in third in the West.  But they have a huge Match coming up this/Saturday afternoon at Allianz Field versus FC Dallas, the team technically in fourth in the West.  I expect to see Rey, Lod, Fragapane and Amarilla in the starting XI for this clash.

#-4: Twins (Last Week: -3).  Finished a home sweep of The Bastard New York Giants, then won the first two Games of a three-Game series at home vs. The Boston Red Sox, only for their comeback to come up short Wednesday, 6-5, which broke a five-Game winning streak.  They then lost last/Friday night at Comiskey against the White Sox, 4-3, a Game in which the Twinks held leads of 2-0 and 3-2, and the Game-ending Fielder's Choice in the bottom of the Ninth Inning (courtesy of White Sock Jose Abreu) was preceded by a Game-ending Hit By Pitch on Abreu that was ruled a Foul because it hit the bat instead of the batter ... which was preceded by an HBP to Andrew Vaughn that cleared both benches and both Bullpens:

The big saving grace to the Twins' Week: They're only a Game back of Cleveland because the Guardians have lost four out of their last five Games.

This is a very, very big Week for the hometown Nine.  After finishing their trio with the Pale Hose, they travel to The Bronx for four Games beginning Labor Day (actually Afternoon), who are scuffling like mad (in August they lost two out of every three Games they played) but rightfully see the Twinks as their slump-buster.  Then on Friday, they have a three-Game series against said Guardians at Target.

#-5: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -2).  Well, at least they broke their pattern of giving up Goals after the 75th Minute.  On Sunday afternoon, playing a true road Match against Mississippi St., they allowed a Goal in the 53rd Minute, and that Goal stuck as the winning margin for the Bulldogs.  They responded on Thursday afternoon (?) by notching their first Win of the season, 4-0 over Drake (largely on the strength of a Hat Trick by Izzy Brown), but hey, it's only Drake.  This Week: At North Dakota Sunday, home to Nebraska-Omaha Thursday.

#-6: Vikings (Re-Entry!).  They haven't played a meaningful Game, that's right.  But with them losing to Denver last Saturday, they went winless in all three of their preseason Games.  My rule is: If you win an exhibition, it doesn't matter, but if you lose them, and especially if you lose all of them, that's a sign of a bad team.  It's not a fair rule, but I'm sticking to it.

I'll make this prediction now: 5-12.