So I work for a new crew this morning for the Wild Game tomorrow/Thursday.  I finally hooked into this production company; unfortunately, I had to surprise my boss with a second day off (I had asked for today/Wednesday off for a few weeks, and I thought I would, you know, actually have this day off) on Monday.  Everybody's cool, I believe; that's not something I will take likely when it comes to loyalty to my job.

I do hope this is worth the sudden change to my main job.  I have the usual anxieties: New people, new environment (will I be outside most of the time?  It's going to be cold today), new venue when it comes to working in the capacity I'm working (I have been up in the press box a few times but that was years ago when I was doing radio and freelancing, so I'll need to figure out where everything is again), etc.  I have to hope that the people I work for aren't assholes.  And on top of all that, I have driving on the roads to worry about.  I think it'll be OK because the snowstorm we suffered through yesterday/Tuesday (I think we got just over four inches here even though other places in the Twin Cities got twice that) finished up for evening rush, so I have to believe the highways are going to be alright come morning, but the temperatures are going to go below freezing, so I'm scared that there will be slick spots I'll encounter if I'm not careful, or slow.

So I hope I make a good impression.  And I hope I don't screw this up.  And I hope I can work on my computer in my downtime with these people.  And I hope I don't regret doing this.

Goddamn You, Blizzard

We have had several inches of snow already, but for the first time in a long time (if not ever), that occurred over, like, a week straight.  This morning we're getting our first goddamn blizzard, and motherfuck, the worst of it is aiming straight at the Twin Cities.  At first this dead bullet (by which I mean the worst of it; this snowstorm was going to give us some of the white stuff) was going to miss us to the east and north.  But I just saw the rerun of the 10 p.m. news and it's now hitting us right in the fucking eyes right here.  And it went from 2-4" to ... what, 5-7"?

I now have anxieties all over the goddamn place.  Foremost is getting to work on time and in one piece, and then getting home in one piece.  The heaviest of the storm begins around the time I start off for work.  Beyond that, I have taken a gig running for Thursday's Wild Game, and I'm working tomorrow/Wednesday as well as Thursday.  I'll post all my other fears in my next blog post this time tomorrow, but I can tell you right now I'm scared I'll get into an accident on my way to St. Paul for this job.  All the elements are there: First time with this new company, first time working production regarding this team, first time working such a gig on the other side of the river, etc.  Yeah, the snowstorm could have hit Wednesday instead of today, but still, I'm afraid it's going to be awful.

Goddamn you, blizzard.  I might not survive you, truly.

Damn, Bitch Is Now Cray

So, I was dithering as to when I wanted ******a to come over and rub me down again.  On the one hand, her last massage was great; she ended it by sliding her hands around my perineum (the area between my dick and my asshole), which gave me the idea she's this much closer to touching my pee-pee.  On the other hand, she was in one of her paranoid moods again, talking about how the phone is listening in to her conversations and shit.  Eventually, my little brain prevailed.  Also, I have felt burned lately by the other strippers in my life, promising me handjobs but then ghosting me, or going all crazy and spitting all over my cock for some goddamn reason.  For the most part, ******a has delivered, and I need that realiability right now.  So, even though I planned on seeing this porn star late last/Sunday evening, I woke up from my #DoinTheQuad World Cup marathon viewing-induced nap earlier in the evening to call her up and tell her to get her sweet ass over here so she could soothe me.

Her getting lost, again, could have been a warning sign.  So too could have been her complaining that she couldn't find her weed.  She went back to her car to try and find it; I encouraged her, because she was high when she massaged me last time, and she, you know, almost touched my pee-pee.  Unfortunately, her paranoia about being followed not only has persisted but intensified; she kept talking about how her ex-boyfriend from about two years ago was, like, able to open her phone remotely to track where she's going and to trace her phone calls.

This time, however, it was a hell of a lot worse.  She's living with her sister and her family, and she believes they stole her weed.  She then asked if she could place her phone at my bay window so she could record her car as it was on the driveway.  Then, she wanted me to take out the batteries in my CO detector; I didn't know how, so ******a just told me to put it in the living room.

But worst of all was her behavior as she asked me to change the settings on my phone.  I don't know what the fuck she wanted me to do, but she was so goddamn scared that her phone would somehow manipulate my phone into recording us or something that told me to go through a lot of my settings and turn them on, or off, or something else.  She wanted me to turn on my data plan, then turn it off, then turn it on again.  She told me she wanted it on airplane before she told me to turn on my data.  And then, she told me to turn off my phone and turn it on, to "reset" my phone.

But by God, the strangeness didn't end there.  She was vaping because she had no weed.  ******a blew the plume of vape smoke my way, to which I coughed.  And she said, "What was that?"

"A cough," I replied.

"It sounds like a cough of someone who's trying to tell me something," ******a said.  And then she told me to do all these fucked-up things to my phone settings again.  I got so fucking sick of this bullshit that I made her do it.  I just held up the phone while she tapped and swiped and everything.  And by the way, it didn't look like she knew what the fuck she was doing, either!!!  We spent a good 15 goddamn minutes on fucking with my phone, for all I know, what she did and/or undid got my phone to start spying on her.  Finally, out of nowhere, she said, "Pretty soon, I will take all of my enemies down.  And I hope you're not one of them."  Dafuq?

But you know what?  The massage was fucking fantastic.  The massage, the real deal, was great.  She kneaded my knots and busted the fascia all out of my muscles and stuff.  But also, maybe because she was at least self-aware at how bonkers she sounded, while she didn't actually touch my pee-pee, I think she knocked up against my cock more times than at any previous session.  And when she did this thing where lightly tapped all over my pubic hair, I think I got a semi.

So I think I'm working on ******a ... no, wait a second -- she's insane!!!  For all I know, the next time she comes over, she's going to accuse me of spying on her!!!  That is the next logical step ... by using her logic, of course.  At her next psychotic break, she will find my house while I am gone and try to break in to see where all the cameras are and shit.  How do I explain that to my parents?  Man, the things I do just so I can be naked in front of a hot chick, I tell ya. ...

Doin' The Quad!!!!

OK, I am here at the Black Hart.  As I type this, I am between the second and the third Match today.  My energy feels good, although, like on Thanksgiving, I wonder if I am going to crash come 1 p.m.'s marquee Matchup between Spain and Germany.

What I am surprised about, and maybe I shouldn't be, is how full I feel right now.  I thought I could, like, graze my way through the day.  So I bought donut holes for the (what turned out to be) two dozen people who braved the 4 a.m. Game between Japan and Costa Rica and paid for coffee.  Before the second Match, Belgium-Morocco at 7 a.m., I went out and wanted to get Hardee's, but they were not open yet, so I went through the McDonald's drive-thru instead.  Haven't had their hotcakes (with sausage) in a long time, and it was nice.  But then I ordered a spicy Bloody Mary.  That was around 7, just before the start of the Game, and I am still working on it.  I didn't think three small-ish pancakes and one sausage patty could fill me up, but it has.  Damn, I feel fat.  I might be able to have one more cup of coffee, just so I can stay awake, and I might eat more donut holes because no one appears to be eating the last half of the box, but I guess I will not be having a hot dog and chips and a beer, like I planned on.  Oof, I feel fat.

Hope to Buddha I get through watching all four Matches here!!  Wish me luck!!

---

Aside: With me doing this, it appears the plan I once had of watching the NFL and either getting pizza or making something at home at least on one Sunday will go by the wayside.  I had chances earlier this season, but I think I didn't then because I was called into work then.  As much as that sucks, this one thing I want to do will probably have to wait till next year, and I justify not doing by thinking that it's not the World Cup or the upcoming family vacation at fault, but work.  Those two things are once-in-a-lifetime occurrences, while work could happen (even though I think it's going to stop once the company hires more people).  In this case, doing something that might not ever happen again trumps something that you do on an annual basis ... even though I don't remember if I ever just veged out over at least one NFL Sunday every year.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: Positive Numbers).  They only had one Game this screening Week, but they outlasted Arizona St. in Tempe, 3-2, and they're ranked second in the nation, and in a crowded Week, I think they probably are the only team in the Twin Cities that is playing very, very well right now.  So they're positive for a second Week in a row.

One more with the Sun Devils this/Saturday night, then a two-Game series at Michigan St. starting on Friday.

#0: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -5).  I hesitate to say they're rounding into form, but I have to admit they have collected some good results this Week.  They swept Rutgers in Piscataway, like they should have, but these women surprised me by beating #8 Ohio St. at Columbus in four Sets, avenging a humiliating defeat in three at the Pavilion.

Minnesota is ranked ninth in the poll right now.  The regular season finale is this/Saturday night at #5 Nebraska.  Yeah, they're in the tournament, and after a topsy-turvy season, there's a chance they'll snag the #8 seed, which would line them up for a Regional Final appearance, which is something I doubted from time to time this year.

#-1: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -3).  Well, at least they can kick the shit out of a low-major school like Presbyterian in a bodybag Game, 82-48.  What's coming this weekend, the Cav Classic in Charlottesville, should be a fitter test.  They play host Virginia this/Saturday afternoon, then play Liberty tomorrow/Sunday afternoon.  The squad then plays their part in the B1G/ACC Challenge, hosting Wake Forest Wednesday.  Hmmm, Wake Forest ... maybe I should go to this Game.

#-2: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!).  It is sad, truly sad, that a once-program like the University of Minnesota has a wrestling squad that was getting their asses kicked, at Halftime, 12-6, by fucking Binghamton.  Binghamton.  Binghamton.  But the Bearcats -- that's what they're called -- had an upset at 184 when #22 Jacob Nolan beat #10 of the Gophers, Isaiah Salazar, and then #7 Lou DePrez of Binghamton pinned #28 of the U. Garret Joles at 197.  They had one hell of a rally they needed to pull off, and somehow they did; the Dual was won only at the last Match, at 157, where #2 Brayton Lee of Minnesota beat the Bearcats' Connor Decker via Major Decision for the 19-15 final.

And Binghamton was unranked!  What awaits the Gopher grapplers when they face South Dakota St., which as a team is ranked 24th, tomorrow/Sunday afternoon -- in Brookings?  Oh, they also host Augustana at Maturi Thursday.

#-3: Vikings (Last Week: 0).  They're up here mostly for their lofty record, but this was a pretty strange Week for The Purple.  First, they get laughed off the national stage, at home, to a Dallas Cowboys club that decimated the Vikings Offensive Line for seven Sacks, went through the Defense with their 1-2 punch of Tony Pollard and Ezekiel Elliott, and wiped out any hopes Minnesota had of coming back in that Game on Sunday with big play after big play.  The emasculation was 40-3, the second-worst home defeat in Vikings history.  (The only one worse was delivered on October 6, 1963 by The St. Louis Cardinals, a team that, technically, doesn't exist anymore.)  It was the Cowboys' biggest road Win ever.  And I just saw this stat here, by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk: The Cowboys are undefeated at U. S. Bank Stadium.  You've gotta be fucking kidding me.

No rest for the wicked as the Vikes hosted their first-ever Thanksgiving Game in history.  Too bad it was up against the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick, a man who probably knows why you wet your bed when you were a kid.  And yet Minnesota won by yet another one-score margin (33-26), but even that was controversial: Can anyone explain how in the hell that catch by Hunter Henry was ruled incomplete?  Another Florio joint on PFT raises (and maybe I'm muddying the waters here, but we kind of left logic once the call of a Touchdown was overturned) a third possibility: Going by the NFL's rules, couldn't Henry be down just short of the Goal Line for a 4th-&-Goal?

Whatever.  Minnesota finally beat New England after losing the last five matchups with them (the last time they won was in 2000).  They're 9-2; second-place Green Bay (!) and Detroit (!!) are 4-7.  It's possible that if the Vikes defeat the Jets, and both the Packers and Lions lose next Week, they win the NFC North.  And yet Vikings fans will remain traumatized over the beatdown by the Cowboys are wonder how good of a team are they.  And they should remain traumatized.

#-4: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!).  A shootout Win followed by a thorough 4-1 pummeling in Wisconsin doesn't portend good things once they enter WCHA play.  But they're out in Las Vegas this weekend -- Henderson, Nev., to be exact -- for the Henderson Collegiate Hockey Showcase and they started that tournament by destroying 12th-ranked Penn St., 5-1, last/Friday evening.  They play #5 Yale (!!) this/Saturday evening in a different arena than they played last/Friday evening, then start a two-Game set against Minnesota State-Mankato beginning Friday.

#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -2).  Went 3-1 this Week -- just got by an injury-riddled 76ers squad in Philadelphia, survived Miami (a team, by the way, whose number the T-Wolves have had for many, many Years now -- seriously, they've, like, lost twice to them over the past Decade.  They were good against them even in the Wade & James Years), then crushed the Pacers in Indiana.  But then yesterday/Black Friday afternoon, they had an ass Third Quarter (after leading at the Half) where they were outscored by the Hornets by 18 and lost in Charlotte, 110-108.  That ended their winning streak at five.

Despite their recent run of good form, the fanbase is growing more disgruntled that the team hasn't gelled yet.  They were booed off at Halftime of the Game against Miami because they were down, 60-47.  In a diametric opposite of what they did at Charlotte, they boatraced the Heat 37-19 in the Third Quarter to lead by five after three.  But after the Game, new acquisition Rudy Gobert complained that the Target Center crowd wasn't more supportive.  Hey, Patient Zero, these people paid good money.  Unless what they do is illegal, they can do whatever the hell they want.  And they responded like they usually do, and should, whenever their team is playing like shit.  You were playing like shit.  And by the way, after you got booed off the court, you started playing better.  Real better.  And you won.  And I think you didn't get booed off the court after the Game.  See how it works?

The Timberwolves remain in tenth place out of what people are calling an anemic-looking Western Conference.  (The team in first, Phoenix, have won two-thirds of their tilts, so I don't know if that's a sign of conference weakness.)  They are only a half-Game behind The Bastard Buffalo Braves/San Diego Clippers for eighth, however.  This Week: Home to Golden State, at Washington, home to Memphis.

#-6: Wild (Last Week: -7).  Not a bad screening Week: They beat a real good team in The Bastard Hartford Whalers, 2-1, then blasted The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers, 6-1.  Unfortunately, they lost Black Friday to Toronto, 4-3, where, according to The Athletic's Michael Russo, the Jordan Greenway-Johnny Gaudreau-Matt Boldy Line sucked and the Alex Goligoski-Matt Dumba was on the ice for all four Maple Leaf Goals.  They sit on 20 Points along with three other teams, and they all are tied for eighth place.  Still, with a similar record to the Timberwolves, I decided to throw them under the Wolves for this Week's survey because they played and won one fewer Game.

They continue their seven-contest, 16-Day homestand this Week against The Bastard Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton.  Hmmm, a light Week after playing four the previous one, including that Black Friday afternoon Loss.

#-7: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4).  I am getting impatient with this team.  They were in San Juan Capistrano this Week for the SoCal Challenge.  They played California Baptist.  I caught the radio call of the Game (late) on the Fan.  Mike Grimm either was with the football team or begged out of this tournament, so the studio host/back-up was the announcer, and despite not having a color analyst, I like the guy.

But I didn't like the Game.  They raced out to a 15-0 lead, but somehow the Lancers were able to get back into the Game and eventually, Cal Baptist managed to tie this Game in regulation at 53 even though they were up at Halftime by eight.  The Lancers led for the first time that evening in Overtime, and even led by three with 85 Seconds left.  But Minnesota closed it out with a Dunk by Pharrel Payne and, with five Seconds left in OT, a Dawson Garcia basket in the paint, to win, 62-61.  Still, this is a very demoralizing way for a BcS school to play against a college that probably graduated to top-flight this decade.  And, as logic would dictate based on previous results, in the Championship Game of the SoCal Challenge they were no match for the winners, UNLV.  The final score was 71-62, but the deficit was in double digits most of the Second Half.

They have one Game this screening Week before B1G play starts in earnest: Their participation in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, where they travel to Blacksburg and face Virginia Tech on Monday.

#-8: Gopher football (Last Week: -1).  This season, one in which the Big Ten West became up-for-grabs in the middle of the season, has become a stinging disappointment.  Iowa dirties up any Game they play, but the Gophers remained in it, keeping it deadlocked at 10 ... until Mo Ibrahim fumbled at the Iowa 9-Yard-line with about five Minutes remaining in the tilt and, worse than that, after getting the ball back on a Three-And-Out (where Iowa didn't gain a Yard, something that that ballclub has done all season and yet still has a chance to win the Division), Athan Kaliakmanis got picked off at the Hawkeye 33 with about two Minutes remaining in the tilt.  Iowa did gain Yards on this Possession; in fact, they drove it all the way down to the Gopher 3 before hitting the Game-winning Field Goal with 1:38 left.  Minnesota turned the ball over on downs in the next series, and Iowa gets Floyd of Rosedale for an eighth Year in a row.

Now all this squad has left to fight for are pride and, well, The Axe.  This afternoon they play Wisconsin in Madison, and while not too long ago I would have thought the Gophs would be able to retain Paul Bunyan's tool for a second Year, well, now, after they changed Head Coaches mid-season to Jim Leonhard, I don't know for sure.  It feels like there's a good chance Minnesota finishes below .500 in-conference this Year.  And like I said, that is very, very disappointing.

#-9: Whitecaps (Last Week: -6).  Coverage of the Premier Hockey Federation remains a black hole, but what I do know is technically, they remain winless four Games into the season.  They took Boston to Overtime but lost 58 Seconds in when the Pride's Sammy Davis five-holed Whitecaps Goaltender Amanda Leveille.  You get loser Points in the PHF and, well, that's what the Whitecraps currently are, I'm afraid.  Off through next Week.

Yeah, the only downside to waking up at 3 in the morning and getting two-to-three hours of sleep the past two days is that you have to pay for it eventually.  And I did: Each of the past two nights, after getting home from soccer-watching and stuff, I conked off for between three and 3 1/2 hours.  Maybe "pay for it" is pretty dramatic: I feel great.  But since it's not a full night's sleep, I'll probably conk off for some weird length of time, and I won't know when.

I've done this 4 a.m. World Cup thing the past two days.  I'll do it Sunday.  But I have to sleep in tomorrow morning.  And, I have to see Grandmother's best friend.  I should have done that that Wednesday I was off, but instead I went for lunch at Outback Steakhouse and exercised in the afternoon.  I think my reasoning was the roads may have been slippery, but my drive to the gym was just fine.  But you know, I have my alma mater's big Game tomorrow night; I can't wake up at 4 a.m. to watch when I need to gather my energy for that.  Yeah, I should sleep in, see Grandmother's friend, and take it easy for that big Game tomorrow night.

To Do Something You've Never Done Before, Or To Do Something You Do Once A Year?

So I did my last blog post at Black Hart, after the second of four World Cup Matches.  I decided I was going to stay there for the first 2 1/2 Matches of the Thanksgiving quadruple-header and leave after the First Half of Portugal-Ghana.

I decided that because I thought I would be tired.  But while I said in my last blog post that I wasn't 100% alert, I thought I could go another 1 1/2 Games.  That would mean I "did the marathon" and saw all four Group Stage Matches in a day.  I've never done it before, but after I published that post I thought about doing it.  I mean, why not?  It's ... well, something I've never done before.  That might be a strange "accomplishment," and I don't think anybody will be impressed except me, but still.

And this thought crystallized in my head: "When will I ever do this again?"  That is a tremendous thought to me.  When confronted with choices, I usually go with the thing that I probably won't be able to do again.  That makes sense, right?  Not only is it a quadruple-header, it's one on Thanksgiving, and part of probably the only World Cup to ever be contested in the winter.

But ... it is Thanksgiving.  With the arguable exception of Christmas, there is no holiday as steeped in tradition as Thanksgiving.  There's turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, family (well, not me, but that's been the way it's been for a long time, and I don't mind), and football.  And I have a tradition on this day that is basically set.  I go to the local grocery store to get a turkey dinner before the first NFL Game of the day at 11:30, and then I ... just watch football.  I think.  OK, so maybe I do just one thing.  Maybe two with A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, even though that's harder now that I can only see that special through streaming.  But the holiday is sacred because you do the same thing on that day every year.  That's not just routine, nor is it boring, let alone stultifying.  It is an exercise in self-renewal, that you are the same person that you were, and that you plan on being, and that is worth revisiting annually.

So would I break that tradition, that eating that turkey dinner, just so I can watch four World Cup Matches?  Do I do something I've never done before instead of something I do every year?  The answer is ... no.  I left just before 11 like I planned.  There are two big caveats to this.  One, I think that I am going to try to do the quadruple Sunday.  I initially thought I would go to Brit's Sunday because the last Game that day, the "nightcap," is Spain-Germany, arguably the marquee matchup in the World Cup's Group Stage.  But the Timberwolves play at Target Center that afternoon, and even though that Game starts 90 Minutes after the Match begins, I'm not sure I want to go through any traffic I might face that afternoon.  I don't work Wednesday; I think I'll venture to Brit's for the Games that day, even though I have to pay for parking.  Anyway, if I am going to Black Hart for Spain-Germany, and since they are the only place in the Twin Cities that will be open for every single Match of the World Cup -- well, why not try the quad Sunday?  So that means I could leave early today.

The other caveat: After getting that dinner and eating it at home and juicing a lemon for a cocktail I'll enjoy hopefully before 10 p.m., I did fall asleep.  Probably conked off before the start of Brazil-Serbia at 1, and I woke up at 4:30.  So maybe I don't have the stamina to watch four soccer Matches.  But I think I'm going to try Sunday.  Hopefully I'll pull it off.  I've never done it before!

Anyway, my point of this blog post is that sometimes I do things because I don't know if I'll ever be able to do it again, and sometimes I do things because I always do them, and those two things seem to completely oppose each other, and so what do you do when you're confronted with being able to do only one of those things at the same time?

Addendum To: This Is How Much I Love Sports

So far, so good.  Got up at around 3, even though I initially didn't know why I was waking up so early, and I had to lie in bed for several minutes while and feel my heart beat really hard several times; I think I finally conked off at 1 in the morning.  Bought donuts and got to the Black Hart in the nick of time.

As of press time I am still awake.  Not even drowsy, although I don't think I'm 100% alert.  Still, even though I thought about it, I probably will stick to my original plan of watching 2 1/2 Matches here before splitting right at Halftime of Portugal-Ghana.  Even after picking up a big turkey lunch (something that has become a tradition for myself), I should be able to get home by the start of the Bills-Lions Game.  If I have enough energy to put rub on the pork chops and squeeze some lemon juice for the cocktail I plan on making for myself tonight, I'll do it, but if I immediately feel like going to sleep, I'll do that, too.  I wish I were a soccer warrior, but I don't think I can tough out a World Cup Thanksgiving quadruple-header in the same place all day, especially since there are, like, six customers here now when there were, no joke, about 20 for the 4 a.m. Match this morning.  The crowd here has been dwindling, and that's another sign I should take it easy on my body and finally rest on this holiday.

This Is How Much I Love Sports

So the World Cup is being played in the winter and not the summer because Qatar bribed FIFA officials won the rights to host it this Year.  After initially saying it was going to be fine and that they can even make clouds that will blot out the sun or something, the State of Qatar realized that there was nothing they could do to prevent soccer players and fans from broiling to death in the Middle Eastern heat, so they begged to shift the tournament to the wintertime.

OK, so that's one thing.  The other thing is something that no one in that state can control: The time difference from the United States.  Some of the group Matches start as early as 4 a.m.  No one in this town is crazy to open that early -- well, except for one: The Black Hart in Midway.  They pledged to be open for all Matches for the World Cup -- moral quandaries set aside for now -- including the early morning ones.  That includes the one between Switzerland and Cameroon this/Thanksgiving morning.  And you know what?  I'm going!  It's Thanksgiving, I could use the day to sleep in instead of waking up very early, I have to wake up in less than three hours to get to The Black Hart, I plan on watching the NFL in the afternoon, and I'll be eating my way through that Game as well as the 7 a.m. one between Uruguay and South Korea (and possibly the 10 a.m. one between Portugal and Ghana, the First Half of which I will probably see at The Black Hart before going home) before gorging on turkey in the afternoon, but dammit, I'm doing it!  Why?  Uh ... will, for one thing, I love sports.  It's the only thing that sustains me in my life ... well, besides sex, and sometimes I wonder about sex.  Also, when will the World Cup happen in the winter again?  Finally, when will I get to -- "get to" -- wake up to watch soccer at a drag/soccer bar in the middle of the night on a major holiday ever again?

That should mean I should go to bed, like, right now.  But I have some alumni club stuff to do before I go to bed ... and wake up in less than four hours.  I think this will be fun!

Lot Of Staring At My Phone

Maybe I usually do this anyway, but I have noticed lately that I have just laid on my bed and have gone through my phone for up to an hour at a time.  I could be doing chores or taking care of my hygiene, but instead I am just staring at my phone.  I am sapped of energy by the time I get home; it may be because of work or because of the end of Daylight Saving Time, I don't know.  But I don't have the juice to do something else.  But when I'm on my Twitter, or I'm reading something on my cell, I'm ... transfixed by it.  I feel as though I don't have the energy to wash my clothes or do the dishes, but I do have the energy to just scroll or doomscroll or what have you.  And while other people may feel rejuvenated after doing something they like, I get no energy boost after I am able to jerk my sight away from my phone.  I am still as tired as I was when I laid my eyes on my screen.  My body was just telling me I needed to go eat, or pee, or something else.

Tonight was a perfect example.  I had to go to the library, I needed to go grocery shopping, and I wanted Taco Bell for dinner.  Once I did all that, I went into my bedroom, looked at my phone, and just veged for an hour or so.  Meanwhile the blender and cup is still in the sink and my stuff remains bagged up in the living room.  But those things can wait.  They can always wait.  Because these days, I don't want to do anything else except stare a lot at my phone.

I ordered new glasses at Warby Parker last week and I already regret it.  After I made a hash out of remembering the last time I got an eye exam at the place where I got my most recent eye exam, I finally got the updated prescription with astigmatism rating so that I can get progressive lenses/bifocals so I can see both near and far.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to notice that the total power has now changed, and with that, they recommend going to a thinner lens than the one I bought.  Great -- I think I'll have to change lenses again.  Well, at least they have a 30-day free exchange.

Oh, and I bought the frames sight unseen.  It wasn't at the store, so I took it on faith that 1) the length of the frames will match the width of my face and 2) it'll look good on me.  This could be a total mistake, where I buy glasses that pinch my temples to the point of fainting due to a lack of blood to the head, and oh, by the way, those glasses are ugly.  But like I said, I have a month to send it back.  I'll probably send it back as soon as I get them.  But next time around, I will know what to look for.

All I Wanted To Do Was Take A Shit

After Vikings Games I wait a few hours after the Game because I want to wait for the crowd to leave (although after last night's debacle I'm sure half the crowd left before the Fourth damn Quarter started) but also because there is so much great damn food the team has that I want to eat it as dinner.  I regularly over-indulge, however, and so I need to poop.

I try and use the single-use rooms, but for some damn reason they were either all occupied after the Game or they were deliberately locked for some damn reason.  I like to shit in peace, but since, you know, I had to go, I decided I would just use the general use men's room.  But let's just say I was looking for a toilet that was both free and clean and ... goddamn, humans are filthy.  I guess that sent me off on a bad mood, because after I compromised and used a toilet after wiping down a seat, and then heard one person come into the men's room, I thought I deserved some peace after witnessing such, uh, bullshit, and so I left.  And I found another general use men's room and motherfuck, there was one toilet that ... never mind.  Some other person came in and used another stall, and just before that he was talking to someone outside of the men's room about taking a shit, and I thought fuck all this and left.

I found a room all to myself in the, uh, bowels of the stadium.  Ain't great; had to wipe down this seat too.  Disgusting human race.  This is so bad, and what I saw so traumatic, that I really have to re-think whether or not I want to stay this late after Games again.  If locking single-use rooms is now a practice, I'm not going to deign to lower myself into using these filthy and disgusting stalls anymore, which means I can't eat afterward.  Yeah, right now I really feel this way.

I Like Crazy Only When I Am Crazy

This idea of these two women, *****n and ****e, double-teaming me like they did last time (have I blog posted about this?  I don't see it), was a bad fucking mistake Friday.  First both of them talked about money, money, money when I already gave *****n money for her kids' school supplies.  And then ****e started spitting water onto my junk.  I know you didn't my suck my dick -- why are you making my pants all wet with water?

And then they told me they were done even though I didn't cum.  If I'm giving both of them $140 (and I'm being generous because *****n owed me a freebie and ... oh, I'll talk about that later), I'm cumming.  I finally did, and then ****e tried to suplex me into the light for some goddamn reason.  And then I put my pants back on and it's so fucking wet with all this water.  It's like she poured an entire bottle onto me and my pants.  It's freezing outside and I have to deal with a wet ass?

Oh, and finally, *****n asked for money.  And you know what?  I gave it to her.  Stupid fucking me, thinking with my cock, gave her money, even though I already gave her money for her kids' school supplies and she said she owed me.  I'm paying her more money.  Why the fuck am I doing that?

What a goddamn disaster.  Pro tip: All sexual encounters are ruined when you talk about money right then and there.  It should be settled beforehand.  Or, in the case of these two a month or four months or whenever the last time I got DT'd by these two, just enjoy the crazy-ass ride they wanted to give you and then show them you only had so much in your wallet.  All the dick-sucking they did was their fault because they didn't arrange the cash beforehand.  Similar to it being my fault for caving in and giving those two more money when the arrangement was, uh, not.  It wasn't settled mostly because those two shook me down for even more money, and they weren't going to drop it because they were withholding services if I didn't meet their demands.  It's an understatement, but that's a mood-killer.

But also -- and maybe this is less of an issue than the money thing, but it's kind of the point I'm holding myself to just based on the subject line -- ****e was nuts.  Not just crazy, not even good crazy, but nuts.  She was just a fucking whore the last time, but this time, she was ... psychotic and not in a good way.  Besides the spitting water, she was talking a lot of fucking gibberish; whenever she wasn't demanding that I give the both of them money, she was mumbling about some dumb shit I didn't understand.  But telling me they were done when they didn't finish me off -- well, that was what ****e said, and I had to jerk myself off onto her to get my fill.  I would've came, easily, if she weren't so ... dumb-crazy.  And yeah, I guess I get a little ... crazy when I want sexual stuff.  Maybe I'm being a hypocrite, but I feel like I'm focused on getting what I want; I'm just really, oh, intense when I want it.  I don't know what the fuck ****e (and by extension *****n -- she wasn't talking like she was having a mental breakdown, but she was there and she was money-grubbing too) was talking about or doing, except that she wasn't physically pleasing me, which is what I want.  Where was the ****e that just pulled my dick out of my pants and gave me a blowjob at the kitchen?  Without asking me for money??

See, I want sex when I go crazy.  I sure as hell don't want it when the girl is crazy.  This ... OK, double standard was confirmed on Friday.  And what I thought was going to be another fantastic night wound up being another instance where I got fucking ripped off.  Fuck ... uh, to hell with them both.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -5).  OK, I am impressed.  In a clash of #2 versus #3, the Gophers (they're the ones ranked second) went into Ann Arbor and swept the NHL prospect-laden Michigan Wolverines -- and by three-Goal margins (5-2 Thursday, 6-3 last/Friday night).  The Gopher have had some setbacks that make me question how talented they can be.  But then I see these results and I have to believe the sky is the limit.  A road sweep of the third-ranked team in the nation?  Sorry, Vikes, but that is very worthy of the top spot in the WMNSS and Positive Numbers.

They begin a two-Game set at Arizona St. and that new Mullett Arena -- the place where The Bastard Winnipeg Jets are squatting in -- beginning on Friday.

#0: Vikings (Last Week: 0).  OK.  It's hard to know where to start to talk about, arguably, The Greatest Regular Season Game In NFL History when everybody else has already talked about it.

I was at work.  Even despite all the injuries to the Buffalo Bills, I thought they would beat our Vikes in a low-scoring affair, especially when I heard at the start of the Game that Josh Allen was going to start.  My plan at work was to listen to the opening drives.  If at that point, or some other point shortly thereafter, the Vikings trailed, I would go to SiriusXM and listen to NFL whiparound coverage on their SiriusXM NFL Radio channel, which is great because you will get to hear a lot of impending touchdown drives.  (Miss this for television coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, but I digress.)

So, as is their custom this year, Minnesota falls behind some time in the Second Quarter, and that's when I bail and open up satellite radio.  They didn't go back to them for a long time, but the first thing I heard of the Vikings/Bills Game while listening to the whiparound was Dalvin Cook's long Touchdown run.  OK, they've still got some fight in them, but they were still down by two scores, so I didn't hold out much hope.

But then they got to The Drive That Started It All -- the one that the Vikings needed to take the lead, the one with The Catch to Justin Jefferson that, even though it was 4th & long, Paul Allen (IMHO) underplayed it (and, to be honest, I still think Odell Beckham, Jr.'s catch was better when it comes to individual virtuosity), and the one where Kirk Cousins got stopped at 4th & Goal from the, like, 1/2-Yard line.  Once he got stopped, I knew they were going to lose.  But then ...

... oh, I can't embed Allen's Fumble from his own Goal Line that the Vikes recovered for the go-ahead TD?  Cool, cool.  So that was, frankly, ridic.  But they still had time, and I listened (on SiriusXM) Allen calmly shred the Vikings' Defense for the Game-tying Field Goal, and I just welled up with rage inside for fucking up an all-time gift from the gods by allowing Buffalo to tie this thing with less than a Minute left.  That was when I for sure thought they were going to lose, and that's when I turned the radio off and left work.  See, as great at this all-time tilt was, that the Vikings couldn't put the Bills away at this point is another big reason (besides the Golden Gopher men's hockey team sweeping third-ranked Michigan on the road) they don't get the top spot in this Week's survey ... if we're gonna nitpick.

I assiduously avoided all media (TV, radio, Internet social) about the final score of the Game at least until I got my handjob from ******e, but she ghosted me.  Eventually I had to do something besides look up at the ceiling from my bed, so that's when I grabbed my phone and looked at Yahoo! Sports and saw that ... the Minnesota Vikings won in Overtime???  THE MINNESOTA VIKINGS WON IN OVERTIME!!!  Get the fuck outta here!  They scored a FG but ended the Game with an Interception in the End Zone by Patrick Peterson?!?!?!  That is the craziest fucking ending ever!  Yeah, I regret not seeing it or watching it now that I know my team won!

So maybe this team is special.  Maybe this Vikings edition just needed a Head Coach who could put them in the right positions to succeed and believe in them.  Maybe these guys know how to win ... and win they will up through the Super Bowl.  Or, they'll have a massive letdown after that historic Game tomorrow/Sunday afternoon at home vs. Dallas.

#-1: Gopher football (Last Week: -4).  Crushed spiraling Northwestern, 31-3.  Projections keep them on a direct hit towards the Pinstripe Bowl.  Yeah, this squad's dream of playing at Yankee Stadium are still on its way!  But they first have to get past Iowa, who are winning Games despite gaining only, like, a dozen Yards on Offense, this/Saturday afternoon.  Do it for the pig!

#-2: Timberwolves (Last Week: -9).  A 2-0 screening Week with the Wins over Cleveland and Orlando.  Bonus points for those victories being on the road.  But MinnPost's Britt Robson grabbed a stat from Basketball-reference.com that's very disturbing: At the time between the Wins over the Cavaliers and the Magic, the Timberwolves have played the third-easiest schedule in the NBA, and yet they were 6-8 (7-8 now after topping Orlando), and they're out of playoff position right now.  It's a start summary of the underachievement we have so far witnessed.  Maybe this Week will be a turnaround.  But it'll be a busy Week -- at Philadelphia this/Saturday evening, home to Miami Monday, then at Indiana Wednesday and at Charlotte Friday.  By the way, read Robson's piece, which is not behind a paywall.  It's a reader Q&A, and Robson has been on the Timberwolves beat for Years and is very, very good at it.

#-3: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2).  Needing a buzzer-beater to beat Lehigh at home (and they were trailing by a Point) is not a sign of a healthy program.  But fuck it, Mara Braun saved the team's bacon by draining the last three of her 34 Points (second-most by a Freshman in Gopher women's b-ball history) in dramatic fashion:

And then they go and lose at North Dakota St. by six.  Great.

Host Presbyterian tomorrow/Sunday afternoon.

#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3).  I have always said that you give a mulligan to a team with a first-Year Head Coach.  That means that, although you don't have to expect them to win a title, improvement in the second Year is a reasonable goal.  So it was very dispiriting to see Ben Johnson's young men get wiped off the Williams Arena floor Monday night (69-53 as part of the Big Ten/Big East Gavitt Games series) against a DePaul program that has been on the mat for decades.  It is even more disillusioning to see them in-person because I bought a ticket, and because I witnessed this trauma, I am placing them below the women's U. team despite both sporting matching 1-1 Weeks.

The Blue Devils were led by a pair of beasts, Javan Johnson (20 Points, eight Rebounds) and Eral Penn (14 boards, ten Points), and the Goofs were massacred on the glass, 48-32.  Less of a factor though plenty embarrassing: While Minnesota had 23 Free Throw Attempts to DePaul's eight, they missed ten of them.  Again, making all of them would have resulted in a six-Point Loss instead of a 16-Point one, but seeing those missed FTs is a bad sign that we can rightly blame Johnson for not cleaning up.  And no, beating Central Michigan Thursday doesn't help, especially when you only defeat the Chippewas by eight.

They participate in the low-rent SoCal Challenge at San Juan Capistrano, Calif. next week.  They play what I guess is a new school to top-flight college basketball, California Baptist Monday, then play either the championship or the consolation Game Wednesday.

#-5: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -1).  Swept non-descript Indiana at home Sunday, but lost in four at Penn St. last/Friday night.  Look, it's getting very late in the season, and it's obvious that Hugh McCutcheon's last Year at the helm at the U. is going to end with a desultory Sweet Sixteen elimination, so I don't hold out much hope that this club can turn things around.

They'll sweep Rutgers tomorrow/Sunday afternoon, then lose handily at fifth-ranked Ohio St. Friday.

#-6: Whitecaps (Last Week: -8).  Honestly, that Whitecaps club that won its charter Year is a complete thing of the past.  They began their first home series of the season (in their new digs, the Richfield Ice Arena) last/Friday night with a 2-0 Loss to Boston.  They've got a Point, but they're still winless.  Unfortunately there still isn't enough journalism covering this team (nor the Premier Hockey Federation) to uncover why they've been crap for the past one-plus seasons.  Oh, well.  One more versus the Pride, then they're off a couple Weeks.

#-7: Wild (Last Week: -6).  This sorry-ass squad is 17 Games into this season and they're now facing their second embarrassing losing slump.  They went winless this Week: A Shootout Loss at home to San Jose, a road defeat to Nashville, and then a 6-4 setback at the X to Pittsburgh.  The first two Losses are really bad because both the Sharks and the Predators aren't very good.  Well, so are the Mild.  Their Forward corps is mostly in traction, and now Tyson Jost was put on waivers yesterday in the hopes the First Round pick becomes a two-way player, which means the organization can shed some money as he's down in AAA Iowa.  But hey, they're only one Point off of a playoff spot!

That Loss to the Penguins kicked off a seven-Game homestand.  This Week they've got The Bastard Hartford Whalers, The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers, and Toronto.  Will this home cookin' cure what ails them?  Because they have a shitty home record right now, and a fanbase that (deservedly) will turn on them if they're not playing well.

Not Crashing

It's frightening to not be tired this time of night when, for the past month or so, I've been dead tired to the point of immediately falling asleep once I decide to hit the hay.  I don't know why I feel this way right now.  I only got about 5 1/2 hours of sleep last night, I don't think I fell asleep for lunch, and I didn't take a nap at all once I got home.  In fact, I just drank a margarita.  I have not built up enough tolerance to withstand one cocktail, so I should be all tuckered out, but I'm not.  And that frightens me because it's going to be cold tomorrow morning when I venture off to work, and who knows how good or bad the roads are going to be.  I need to be as rested as I can, and that can only start if I sleep, and I'm in no mood to go to bed right now.  In fact, I'm energized as all get-out.  I'm quietly freaking out right now.

Addendum To: Bye, Bye, Democracy

So the Republicans stole the House.  Successfully gerrymandering (this is why elections have consequences, especially the ones two years ago) will help you do that.  And the number by which Republicans will have a majority of the House can only be chalked up to gerrymandering.  Well, that and New York, which is its own shitshow of entitled and oblivious machine Democrats, MAGAts in Long Island, and Democratic judges who wouldn't let Dems cheat the way Republican judges allowed Repthugs to cheat when it comes to redrawing state maps.

We cannot wipe our brows that the "Red Wave" did not happen.  I think there was a sizable repudiation of Republicans for trashing Roe and sucking Trump's dick.  But because Republicans cheated, they now control one half of Congress -- the one that doles out the money, so expect nothing but fucking goddamn gridlock as they hold the debt ceiling hostage while demanding cuts to Social Security and Medicare.  Oh, and they'll do nothing but investigate every person connected to the Biden Administration, presidency, and family just because they want to destroy Democrats, no matter how much bullshit those investigations are.

Yeah, this was going to happen.  Still not right.  And we'll still not come back from this.

Bye, bye, democracy.

I feel tired and I should go to bed soon, seeing as my mini-vacation/midweek weekend is over.  But not only do I have things to do, my hair hasn't completely dried yet.

It's getting really long, my hair.  But I have my family vacation coming up next month.  There's going to be a family photo shoot on the beach.  My hair should be perfect, or as perfect as my hair can be.  And I recently have come to the conclusion that my hair looks perfect two weeks after I cut it as short as I can stand it.  So, if I stick to that, I'll have it cut early December, or about a fortnight from now.  Which means I'll have a fortnight's worth of staying up as my hair dries.

I showered last night, and I got really tired quickly after that.  My hair wasn't dry yet, so I used my hair dryer.  I thought it worked, but instead I woke up with my hair sticking up.  There will be a fortnight's worth of that until early December.

Hottest Girl In The Hooters Calendar: October 2022

This is a real good month, and I did my best to "honor" it just now.

There are ten on this page, and ultimately I decided to note five of them.  I was seesawing on Hayley of West Springsfield, Mass., and Jazzmyn from Pensacola Beach, Fla., both because they had, uh, things in front of them and thus obscuring their bodies.  But I am including them because, honestly, I like their smiles.  Like I think I said in last month's review, I like women who smile.  So I'm including both.  And I rank Hayley fifth only because for some dumb reason she's pictured behind a hand rail into a pool while Jazzmyn is tugging down on the front of her light blue top.

In third is Angelina of Atlantic City.  She's wearing a purple two-piece bikini and has very long brown hair.  I usually don't like photos of these waitresses posing at an angle.  But goddamn, look at Angelina's body.  She may be tall, but she's toned as fuck.  Most Hooters babes are approachable, but I don't think I've ever seen a Hooters girl as sultry as Angelina.  I now see that I'm talking her up more than I would as someone who I truly believe is third.  But I'll keep her at third.

Second is Richmond's Connor.  Long light-brown hair she has, but she's in second place mostly for what she's wearing.  It's a blue two-piece, but the two sides covering her boobs are connected together by strings or wires attached to the top and the bottom of the sides.  It's a different way of showing sideboob, and I don't think I've ever seen someone wear that in a Hooters calendar, and I think that's totally hot.

Finally, the top girl for October 2022 is Jillian, hailing from Tucson.  The blonde is wearing a vested top, which I'm not a fan of, and she's rotated almost away from the camera.  But that black bikini bottom is showing off her ass -- I'd say it's about half showing.  It's a nice ass.  And she's smiling, too.

So, congrats to Jillian and all the other babes of note.  I hope I did right by you, but if I have enough energy again, I'll take another swing for y'all!

Enjoying My Weekend/Having A Mini-Vacation

Oh, hey -- right now I am in the middle of my two-day vacation.  Technically I have today/Tuesday off for paid time off, and in exchange for working Sunday I am taking tomorrow/Wednesday off.  (We are so short-staffed at work that I could have worked five days and used paid time off for a sixth, but the company's rules are such that you only get overtime for working 40 hours, so I don't see the point of working a fifth day.)

What I really want to do right now is work out.  But I am torn between going to the gym and staying here and using the elliptical.  I want to use my gym membership, plus I think I can gas up my car on my way back.  But ... I am now thinking that I could do other things on my "weekend"/mini-vacation that I should do.  I could go to the gym tomorrow/Wednesday afternoon in the middle of my shopping.  I'm not too crazy about driving at this time of night while it's snowing and temperatures are hovering around freezing.  Besides, I have this, uh, thing where I want to go through all four programs of the downstairs elliptical at least once and probably twice while my parents are gone.  I wonder sometimes when I'll get to it; well, this wouldn't be a bad time.  Besides, tonight I think I can start shoveling outside and, probably, start to go through my stuff that's out in the living room; haven't touched that in a weeks.

Well, maybe I'll touch myself first and then make a decision.  Yeah, I'll do that first.

Things I Want To Talk About With My Doctor Today

• My weight/high cholesterol/high blood pressure, which is all the same thing
• Plantar fasciitis/new inserts?
• Itchy scrotum
• Deviated septum?/feels like one nostril is bigger than the other

I guess that's it.

Winter Has Come, Dammit

While I was busy working and doing alum stuff, the weather forecasters determined that the first snowfall of the year is going to happen this morning.  Unlike previous years where our first snowstorm was a hit of a few inches, this one apparently is a long, dragged-out snow storm that will give us an inch or two at this time and then an inch or two at another time.

Regardless of how much falls and in what frequency, there is no worse driver on Earth than a Minnesota driver upon the first real snowstorm of the winter, and for that reason I am dreading like hell tomorrow.  Driving home is bad enough with slick roads and aggressive, stupid drivers.  But I plan on going straight to the U. for the men's basketball Game there early this evening.  I think I can take side streets from work to the U., and I know I can from the U. home.  But I am a Minnesota driver driving after the first real snowstorm of the winter, plus I'll be driving at night, so I could really, really suck.

Moreover, I have Tuesday and Wednesday off.  I have my annual on Tuesday, after which I want to see this hot Hooters waitress I think I have a good vibe with.  Wednesday I want to see Grandmother's friend, and then I might want to eat out, and preferably outdoors.  Oh, and I want to work out at the gym at least one of those two days, and preferably both.  They say it won't snow Wednesday, but we could another 1-2" Tuesday, and it'll be cold both days.  So I will be active on the road just as it starts to get treacherous.  Inevitable as winter is, I don't look forward to the next few days.

One Goddamn Penny

I have decided I need to purchase some things through Amazon -- a filter for the furnace, a filter for the water, a filter for the water coming out of the refrigerator (even though we don't drink the water from the fridge -- and, in fact, there isn't a water dispenser for the fridge), a battery for the alarm system, and those circular, hearing aid batteries (they're for my car key fobs).  I was saving them up so that I would have enough to get free shipping when buying them together ... even though I have tried to do so in the past and then I see I am paying for shipping for some of the items because they're not eligible after all, or something.

That's the case here (and by the way, I think Amazon says I qualify for free shipping, but then when I go to the address page where I show which items go to which place, that's when I see some of the items do not have free shipping), and it's really annoying the hell out of me because, according to Amazon, I am one single cent short.  Again, it might not matter because I still might be paying shipping for some of the stuff I want to buy.  But for the past few days I have been goddamned obsessed with figuring out the one thing I want to buy in order to be "eligible" for free shipping.

At first I was at a complete loss as to what to buy.  There is nothing I want to buy, and to be honest, it was kind of a struggle to figure out the stuff I need to buy now.  Then, I remember that there are a lot of OnlyFans babes I am willing to buy gifts for.  I have seen a lot of their wishlists, and many of them are only a few bucks (well, less than ten bucks), so I thought I could just toss in one of those to get over the hump.  But I swear, I have tried putting in my cart gifts from a half-dozen OF babes, and every single time Amazon continues to tell me I am one goddamn penny short.  Apparently, none of the gifts I want to buy are eligible.  I swear they were eligible when I bought them in the past.  Now, who knows?

Just now I thought I could buy fuel stabilizer, which I should put into my lawnmower now that it's winter, and even that is ineligible.  I don't get it.  So I quit.  It's very convenient for me to buy all the stuff that I need through Amazon, but if they're going to lead me by the nose like this, I think I'll do the more sensible thing and buy as many of these things I can in the stores that are, like, around me.  Sure, I'll be paying for shipping for all the items I will still buy on Amazon.  Frankly, right now I would rather be $100 short of free shipping than one motherfucking penny short.  God, that bothers me so fucking much. ...

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

This begins the survey's busy season.  Along with the fact that I have to go to work right now, this WMNSS isn't as comprehensive as it could be.  But I'm busy, so let's go:

#0: Vikings (Last Week: -2).  Another Game where they started off gangbusters, lulled bigtime in the middle, then through miraculous passes and hellacious defense finished up strong and won it in the end.  So it went Sunday afternoon against the Washington Commanders and their unheralded Quarterback and former Viking Taylor Heinicke.  They built a two score lead, and yet the Vikes came back in the Fourth Quarter to pull out the Win.  It may not be indicative of an all-time great team, but there is something about coming from behind to come out on top.

And it's getting even better for the Vikes going into Sunday's tilt at Buffalo.  A couple defensive players have been ruled out, and Bills QB Josh Allen has not been practicing.  Fuck yeah, I'll take a victory because the opponent's best players aren't there, are you kidding me?

#-1: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -4).  Won in five at Illinois, then swept Maryland.  Like I always say with this squad, do something notable in the NCAA Tournament and then get back to me.  Hosting Indiana Sunday, at Penn St. Friday.

#-2: Gopher women's basketball (Re-Entry!).  So the college basketball season is finally here.  Top-flight b-ball for both sexes began Monday, and that included both ballclubs from the U.  Most every BcS school opted to begin with home contests versus unheralded, low-major programs, and so it was with the female hardcourters, who kicked off the 2022-3 season by drubbing Western Illinois by 30.  Nice start for a season where Lindsay Whalen might be on the hot seat.  This Week: Home to Lehigh Sunday, at North Dakota St. Thursday.

#-3: Gopher men's basketball (Re-Entry!).  Meanwhile, the Gopher men, with Ben Johnson at the helm for a second season, almost got humiliated right out of the gate Monday night, barely hanging on to defeat Western Michigan at Williams Arena, 61-60.  Hopefully there will be many more results like last/Friday night's 72-54 rout of St. Francis (Brooklyn) at The Barn.  This team is busy with another pair of home Games.  DePaul comes into town Monday as part of the Big Ten/Big East challenge known as The Gavitt Games; I'll be there because I bought at ticket at the Fair, and I hope to get there when it tips off at 6.  Another directional Michigan school, Central Mich., comes here on Thursday.

#-4: Gopher football (Last Week: -3).  They should be better than Nebraska, who couldn't wait an extra two weeks to fire Scott Frost and save $7.5 million.  The Cornhuskers were in this contest until P. J. Fleck decided to replace Tanner Morgan with Athan Kaliakmanis, and they were able to come back in the Fourth Quarter to win it in Lincoln.  Their final (relative) cupcake before the rivalry gauntlet to end the season is this/Saturday afternoon as they host Northwestern.

#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: 0).  They did go back up to #1 in the rankings on Monday; they haven't fallen below third so far this Year.  That might happen, however, after Penn St. came into Mariucci on Thursday and defeated the Gophs, 4-2.  That Loss is sandwiched this screening Week with Wins over Notre Dame last Saturday (which completed a sweep of the Fighting Irish) and the Nittany Lions last/Friday night, courtesy of Bryce Brodzinski breaking a 1-all tie with a pair of Goals in the Third Period 66 Seconds apart.

For some reason the U. is playing another Thursday-Friday series, this one against recruiting phenomenon Michigan on the road.

#-6: Wild (Last Week: -5).  Lost at the Kings 1-0 where they only got on the Power Play once and Kirill Kaprizov was given a Game Misconduct after Drew Doughty pissed him off into punching him.  They then routed the Ducks in Anaheim 4-1 -- pro hockey in California remains in a sorry state this season -- and outlasted the Kraken in Seattle, 1-0.  I look at the standings for the first time and they sit mid-table and out of the playoffs (shrug).  This Week: Home to San Jose, at Nashville, home to Pittsburgh.

#-7: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1).  Completed a sweep of Minnesota-Duluth last Saturday, 5-3.  But then, in their annual U. S. Hockey Hall Of Fame Women's Face-Off Classic Monday, held in Andover, they inexplicably lost to St. Cloud St., and convincingly so, 4-1.  The Game, if I'm not mistaken, counts.  How in the fuck do you lose to a school like that, in a way like that, in an important Game like that?  I found this very uncharacteristic and troubling.

They're off this screening Week before a big series at Wisconsin.

#-8: Whitecaps (Re-Entry!).  So professional women's ice hockey is back!  The Premier Hockey Federation's Minnesota Whitecaps have moved out of St. Paul's Tria Rink and down to the Richfield Ice Arena ... and they began the season last weekend by getting swept on a pair of 3-2 Losses  by the Six in Toronto.  I see that the team touted all their signings, most of them holdovers from when they were good back in 2020 and 2021, and I'm still mystified as to how it all fell apart for them last season, and so I don't know how good they could be this season.  Their first home Games at their new rink are next Friday and Saturday vs. the Boston Pride.

#-9: Timberwolves (Last Week: -6).  Yeah, what's going on with this club is pissing a lot of people off.  They beat Houston at home, but they currently are on a three-Game losing streak after dropping tilts to New York, Phoenix and Memphis.  Everybody's now complaining about a concerted lack of effort on the part of the team, and while I understand this is a young team, lack of effort should not be the reason why they're an underachieving 5-8.  I thought things were going to be different.

Light schedule this Week: At Cleveland tomorrow/Sunday, at Orlando Wednesday.

I Hate When I Misremember Things

I'm trying to get new glasses.  Sure, I got my eye exam back in February, but I then received a coupon for frames there, and then I forgot, and then by the I remembered I got this coupon it expired, and so I was so ashamed that I forgot about updating my glasses until now, and I'm upgrading them now for the family vacation to Hawai'i.

Waiting nine months, I believe, has opened up a Pandora's Box of confusion that has turned getting new glasses into an ordeal, and this is my fault.

First, when I decided that I really should get a new prescription, I couldn't find it.  I, in fact, found my old prescription, but that was from three years ago.  So, I had to go to the eyeglass place to get another copy of my prescription, and I wanted to avoid that because I am going to buy frames at Warby Parker, not this place.  Doing that kind of feels like showrooming, even though I'm not sure buying frames at Warby Parker will be cheaper, or better.

But I lost the prescription and so I went to the eye care center for another copy.  I took that to Warby Parker, but the person who was about to take my order noticed that this new prescription doesn't have a ... uh, what did he call it ... a power number that would make my lenses bifocals, which I need.  I wear progressive glasses (aka bifocals), and I saw that my old prescription had something for that, but the exam from February did not.  So, was I cured of my nearsightedness in the two-plus years between examinations?  Or did the optometrist just flat-out screw up?

So I had to go back the eye care center on Monday.  The doctor who made the description wasn't there, but she could review my "script" and get back to me in the morning.  Well, I didn't hear from her as of yesterday/Thursday afternoon, so I went back to the eye care center to see if they had an answer.  Out comes the owner of the store, and he confirmed something the Warby Parker guy, who I had turned part of my brain off to because the jargon was going over my head: My new "script" didn't have that power factor because it was meant to only be for reading/nearsighted glasses.

And this is where I really screwed myself.  I thought I was getting a prescription for general purpose eyeglasses, ones that I use for, like, both driving and then for looking at a computer.  Apparently my eyes need something whereby I use a part of the lens distance sight and part of it for reading close-up.  Those are what bifocals -- "progressive" lenses I guess is the politically correct term for them now -- are for.  So why is my updated prescription meant for only long distance, such as driving?  Did I tell her I only wanted glasses for faraway things, and that I was going to use two different eyeglasses?

So I show the owner the glasses I have, the one that had my old prescription.  These are bifocals!  And then he looked at them ... and he couldn't see the transition from far sight to near on them.  He got one of his employees -- all three of them were standing around him at this point because they were about to close -- to look through them and she couldn't see and progressive "part" of my eyeglasses.  And that's when it dawned on me: That old prescription, that one with the "power" factor, is not the one I have in my eyeglasses now.  That old prescription, from 2019, I did use ... to buy sunglasses at this place, at I think late 2019.  I have those sunglasses -- in my car, when I use them to drive and when it's sunny out.  My current eyeglasses are from an even older prescription, from I don't remember when.  Stupid me.  Stupid fucking me.

Now, the issue of not knowing what my eyeglasses are, as complicated as it seems in my head, is a different issue from what kind of eyeglasses I want to use.  Me not knowing what I'm looking through right now aren't bifocals does not mean that I shouldn't have a bifocals-type "script" when I got my eye exam in February.  But it does explain (partly) why I have to take off my glasses nowadays to look at something up close.  I thought it was because my eyes were getting bad.  Nope -- it's because the glasses I'm using now aren't general purpose progressives.  That's what I want ... now.  Did I communicate that with the optometrist who administered my exam back in February?  Did I somehow tell her the opposite -- that I already have bifocals, and I just want eyeglasses to look faraway?  Again, I don't remember because this was back in February ... and I forgot.

The owner -- who, by the way, kept wearing his mask wrong, which is an annoyance but he really did help me -- finally convinced me that I want general purpose eyeglasses and therefore this prescription needs updating, and he said he'll talk to the examiner this afternoon to try and retro-prescribe this power factor.  That explains why my "script" seemed to be better than last time.  But a part of me is afraid I told her several months ago something I no longer want now.  Or maybe I did.  See, all of this is part of me misremembering things, goddammit.

Work Is Now The Upside-Down

Something happened for the first time ever yesterday/Wednesday in The Fourth Department at work: I got there just about on schedule.  Yep, I didn't have to stay an extra two hours or one hour or even half an hour.  I got out of there just before 5.  And since I clocked in 15 minutes later than I should have, that basically evens out to an eight-hour day.  Never thought that would happen -- never, ever.  Those first days back there by myself, when I didn't know what I was doing and every new form I had to deal with brought minutes of confusion, pain and resentment, I never thought I would have a day where I felt in control of that job.  But I have to say that just about everything was calm pretty much throughout the day back there.  Moreover, I have to confess that things have slowed down back there for the past several weeks.  There are still many days I have had to stay for a half-hour or an hour to finish up the work.  But it feels as though the extra time is getting shorter.  (Yesterday, having only eight new forms to deal with helped greatly in getting out the door on time.)  Moreover, even when I go over, I don't feel overwhelmed or trapped.  Some days it's a lot of work, but it's nothing I'm unfamiliar with, and so it's nothing I can't handle.

With successfully sanding down the worst aspects of that job, I can appreciate more the other aspects of it.  I am the only person working that position, so if I screw up, the only person likely to care and probably to know is me.  I'm tucked way in the back, so I can sneak in a quick Internet search and probably not get burned.  I am not assigned breaks or lunch, so I can use the bathroom or take my lunch nap whenever I please.  I hate to say it, but ... maybe I like this job.

Now, contrast that to The Main Department.  I went out there a couple times late in the day yesterday, and just like they now do on a regular basis, they did not finish up at 3.  Specifically, I went out there a bit past 3:30, and they were working.  Then, I popped backed out a bit before 4, and they were finishing up, but for me, that would be staying late about 30 minutes.  Now, multiply that by ... shoot, 40 days and that's a hell of a lot of overtime.  The people there must be frustrated they can no longer get out of work on time.  Shoot, man, that's how I felt when back on Saturday.  And I can't imagine being there five days a week, not knowing when the work will stop, getting physically and mentally drained because you're staying late yet again.  The stress and burnout is not something I thought would ever happen in a position where you can just put on some headphones and type on a keyboard without (mostly) being bothered because you are no position of authority.  But when you're short-staffed back there, and the work falls on you, it becomes true.  By the way, all those people stayed an hour after to finish up the work that had to be done despite two new people coming onboard yesterday.  Yes, they were training, but every single keystroke helps, and I think that even mediocre data entry people could do their part in shrinking the workload to the point where everyone can leave when they're supposed to.

So to sum up, one of my jobs has gone from hellish to actually pretty good, and another of my jobs has gone in the exact opposite way.  Am I ... happier to work in The Fourth Department now?  Do I, like, now hate My Main Department?  Right now, I have to say ... yes.  And that upending of calcified conventional wisdom feels so, so wrong.

Post-Election Day Relief (Maybe?)

OK, the Red Wave didn't happen.  It was a narrative planned by fascists and goosed on by pollsters who injected bullshit polls in order to create a story that things were breaking Republicans' way.  Didn't happen.  Sure, Republican dictators have reasserted control over states Democrats were (again) hoping to win, such as Florida, Texas, Ohio and North Carolina (is it time to say we should just write them off and wish Democrats who still want to live there good luck?).  But the thought that Republicans would just pick off Democrats in toss-up races didn't happen.  In fact, as of right now, there is a chance that Democrats could overcome Republican gerrymandering and actually keep the House.  I was convinced yesterday afternoon, because of an interview I heard on The Michaelangelo Signorile Show, that Rethugs will stroll to control of the House just due to gerrymandering.  Welp, it looks as though Democrats have fought back.  It's still up in the air, though, and it appears as though that if the Ds lose the House, it won't be because of gerrymandering but because of ... New York?  In an election where any party flips went R to D, there have been a few House districts in that state, particularly in Long Island, that have gone the other way.  Man, to be able to overcome such cheating only to be undermined by your own state. ...

Meanwhile the Senate will probably remain 50/50.  Nevada is too close to call and it looks as though Wisconsin is going to elect traitor Ron Johnson for Senate again (I wonder if Minnesotans look at what's happening in Wisconsin before they decide who to vote for), but it's looking more like Georgia will decide things.  I didn't know till last/Tuesday night that if neither Rev. Raphael Warnock or Herschel Walker get 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff election next month to determine the winner.  Like in 2018, control of the Senate may not be decided until The Peach State votes in December.  Dems could still lose, but compared to the slaughter that many pundits predicted, we truly have spit in the face of expectations.

I may be even more overjoyed by my home state of Minnesota.  Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan very easily won the governor's and lieutenant governor's races.  Then Secretary of State went to Steve Simon.  State Auditor isn't official, but Julie Blaha is ahead.  Finally -- and he's always the laggard because the Republicans always pick on the Muslim -- Keith Ellison is beating back his challenger for state Attorney General.  I was very, very scared that DFLers wouldn't sweep the top executive jobs, but it looks like they will.

What is still very, very possible is control of the Minnesota Senate.  According to one political reporter on Twitter, it is coming down to one district whose results probably won't be in until the morning.  The DFL has retained the House.  My God, if they get the Senate too ... man, there will be no gridlock and instead we'll have actual shit that gets done!  By people who care about Minnesota, and are serious about working at the State Capitol, and actually have two brain cells that rub up against each other!

Yeah, the bottom line is Democrats can still lose legislative houses.  But all in all, it was not the massacre we were led to believe.  And there still is hope that the good guys will win in the end.

Pre-Election Day Tension

I'm nervous about today.  No -- I am scared.  I don't think it's going to go my way, the way things should go.  I don't think people care enough about the idea of democracy, and that the United States is supposed to be the shining beacon of it.  And I'm really scared that Republicans will win control of ... well, either chamber of the legislature or any statewide race here in Minnesota.  And I'm afraid a Republican will because enough people in the state believe in the idea of "fairness," and after years of allowing DFLers to run the state, they think it's only right to share.  That's stupid bullshit, because if Republicans win anywhere this time around, they're not going to share a fucking thing ever again.

I have followed FiveThirtyEight from time to time, but maybe I shouldn't have.  Partly it's because site founder Nate Silver has exposed himself as a libertarian/Peter Thiel whore.  Partly it's also because the news it's been giving me since the summer aren't favorable enough for me.  But on that thread, the recent a-ha moment I learned from reading journalism has lifted my guilt for no longer going on that website only because it makes me feel depressed.  Republican pollsters have, especially recently, flooded the ... I guess zeitgeist with polls saying Republicans are riding a red wave and will win Congress and shit.  FiveThirtyEight aggregates those polls into comprehensive, this-party-is-favored-to-win-by-this-margin, cut-and-dried odds.  The trendline has steered right in a big way; Silver now says that Republicans will take back the House and there's a pretty good chance they'll take back the Senate.  But that's with these shady Republican polls skewing the average.  That's done because Republicans are now playing mind games with both The Media and the electorate.  If they are able to influence the pre-election message that things are breaking Republicans' way, and then the votes say that Democrats won, that only boosts the narrative (the seeds of which have also already been planted by Republicans) that Democrats are cheating.  Conversely -- and this line of thought should get more pull than it is -- if it turns out that Republicans "win," they can say that the "honest" pollsters predicted as such, and so they can say that despite Democratic ratfucking (a total bullshit lie), The American People overcame that and spoke in unison that they want fascism.  Incredibly complex, incredibly underhanded, and incredibly frightening.

FiveThirtyEight has been wrong before.  Yes, it gave a puncher's chance of Trump "winning" in 2016, but it was getting only faint whispers of what was going on in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.  In no way did it (or could it) calculate him and Republicans illegally asking Russia to spread disinformation in order to brainwash voters into helping him win.  And there was no systemic, party-wide polling conspiracy trying to muddy the waters so that their narrative could either be justified tonight or be used as a rallying cry to fight cheating that never occurred.  I'm hoping the site is wrong again.  But I'm now scared of it.  I regularly use the News app on my phone, and about a few weeks ago it began displaying the odds of which party will win the House and Senate on its splash page.  That is giving FiveThirtyEight a lot of power.  Should it be given that power when people who are paying attention have noticed that's being manipulated?  And what about Silver?  He has to know that Republicans are fucking with him like this.  But he's a libertarian, and his odds are skewing the way Republicans want it to be skewed.  Does he care?  Or he is just going to say he only deals with "the numbers," when the political and psycho-social context are really the main story as to how Americans are voting the way they are voting?

---

I don't care what people think -- this is the truth.  If Democrats win (and by win I mean they get anything important, be it a governor's race or one of the two chambers of Congress, what have you), they won fair and square.  If Republicans "win," they cheated.  That is the truth.  There is no Both Sides Do It.  Republicans cheat, Democrats don't.  And so if a Republican comes out on top on any individual race, I will immediately believe that person won because of voter suppression, or fucking with the ballot box or the polling site or voting hours or initial invalidation of votes by some county-level hack.  As races drag on beyond Election Day, I'll figure Republican judges are helping Republicans win.  (Oh, don't forget gerrymandering.  That's why Republicans likely will win the House.  That bullshit fix was in back in 2020.)

There are conspiracy theories; you just have to believe in the real ones.  And the real conspiracy is that Republicans (not just Trump; they're allies when it comes to upending democracy) have successfully built a terrifying apparatus where they will claim any political race and pull out all the stops in order to keep it.  Republicans claim Democrats are already cheating, will cheat today, and will cheat tomorrow.  That's just projection.  Republicans do what they say Democrats do.  It's a goddamn psychosis, and it's a spell they've been under since the run-up to the 2016 election.  Some Russian just admitted it, for fuck's sake.  I know in my bones that if people investigate enough, it will be proven that the Trump campaign asked the Russian government for help in winning 2016 in exchange for something of value Vladimir Putin wanted.  Ever since Republicans shut up and went along for a ride that delivered them the Supreme Court, they haven't been able to get the taste of power out of their fuckin' mouths.  And so they believe in The Big Lie, and they'll suck Trump's dick whenever he demands they go down on him, and they'll copy his Neanderthal, Mafia-style tactics in order to take or retain power.

I hope correct-minded people can see through this.  And I hope enough people care enough to vote and stop this march to dictatorship.  But will they be disillusioned by inflation and this phantom idea that crime is running rampant in our streets?  Will they not believe these lies, but not care enough to vote because Both Sides Do It?  Or will they understand that the United States is sliding towards fascism ... and will vote for it because they believe that Republicans will magically lower gas prices?  I'm afraid the answers to all of the above are "yes."

---

I remember being at Herkimers bar in 2016, ready to see Hillary Clinton elected.  It was not going the way it was supposed to go.  Then I saw one brainwashed state -- I think it was North Carolina -- went red, and I went home and drank the rest of this bottle of shoju I was given.

I was at Bauhaus in 2018 when Democrats took back the House.  I was more relieved than happy.  But I don't think I can stomach going to an Election Night party tonight because I'm scared of what could happen.  Instead, I think I will do a combination of working late, watching Black Adam, going to a concert, and/or huddling in a coffeeshop and doing non-Election Day shit to distract myself.  Regardless of what I do in the evening, once I go home, I will pour myself a cocktail and hopefully drift off to sleep, then wake up to whatever fucking fresh hell awaits me Wednesday morning.

Work Is Unsustainable

So I told you about the long-time guy who rubbed me the wrong way (I've blog posted about him before) quitting just like that a week or so ago.  Well, on Friday I learned that another person who came on board on the data entry side also quit, for another job.  She was supposed to last till Saturday, but she had to go into her new job to fill out some paperwork and her boss (who is also one of my bosses) told her she needed to come in to work instead, so she just said fuck it, I quit immediately.

That particular quit, along with a building-wide staffing shortage, has had a cascading effect on our work.  Everyone who is left (or left behind, depending on your point-of-view) has to pick up the slack of all the work that needs to be done.  Moreover, the work that doesn't have to be done still needs to be done, so for that stuff my bosses have erected an incentive plan: Work so many hours a week on these things and you'll receive a bonus.  I wish I could do that, but I'm too busy coming into work to fill in for people who have quit and do the work that needs to be done on a daily basis to do the work that doesn't need to be done on a daily basis and make even more money than the overtime I'm pulling now.

---

This have-to-do work has forced all the keyers to stay later than their allotted eight hours a day.  That stuff needs to get done regardless, and so for the past ... shoot, I don't know, month, maybe less, they've had to stay over.  It was 15 minutes, then I saw half an hour, then I saw those guys punch out an hour after they should have.

I joined them out there on Friday.  Stayed an hour beyond normal.  The work that needs to be pushed out we usually get done well before our day is over.  That work has pushed up to end-of-shift, and now has regularly gone past end-of-shift, and that unprecedentedness has led to a tension that I felt when we weren't finishing up the work at the time it usually gets done.

It was around the end of our day on Friday, as we finally got around to winding down, when I asked about this person who put in her two weeks and then suddenly quit last week because she wanted to finish up the paperwork for her new job instead.  One of the people who stayed behind -- whom I also sorta don't get along with (and whom I've also blog posted about before) -- followed up by saying, after another co-worker spilled the tea on her terms of quitting, "Yeah, I can understand that."  And I thought that was a little rude considering this person didn't stay too long and said fuck it, I'm not coming back.

But then Saturday came around.  On Friday, my main boss asked if I could help out to key on Saturday because they were severely short-staffed; not only did this person bail, but I think three people who usually work that day had the day off.  Without me, there would be four people and one of my bosses doing the work.  And we usually have about 2,000 forms that need to be entered into our system before we can leave, no exceptions, so they would probably be against the wall even with me.  (And that doesn't take into account what I believe is a shortage on the lab side.  With fewer people in there, the work doesn't get out as early as it usually does, so for the past month or so data entry has been assailed with a crush of work that is passed through in the last hour or so of a typical shift.)  Because of that, I didn't think I could pull in a full day knowing that I would most certainly stay beyond eight hours.  I would lose my mind, especially after the stress I felt on Friday.  So I woke up around 9:30 (which scuttled my plan of watching EPL), washed the dishes, ate at Subway and sauntered into work a bit before 1.

I didn't get out of there until a bit before 7.  I honestly thought we'd stay there an extra hour, until 5:30.  Didn't think we'd be there until 7, for God's sake.  I want to think that if we had that three people who should've been there, we would've gotten out well before 7, but I don't really know.  What I remember, however, is that seeing all these folders of forms we needed to do really, really pissed me off.  That list was never-ending, and as we were busting past 5 o'clock, 5:30, 6 o'clock, etc., I felt my blood pressure rise and my patience shorten.  I was willing to do six hours max because at that point, you are supposed to take a lunch break.  I didn't think we would get close -- that's why I sauntered in around 1 -- but I think I clocked out just four minutes before six hours, and that is goddamned ridiculous.  And I had it good; the others who worked all day were there for 10 1/2 hours!  Jesus fucking Christ, that would make me consider unionizing the place.  And now I don't think it's that rude at all to tell these guys to take this job and shove it, or to sympathize with people telling the company (and my bosses) to take this job and shove it.

---

My boss says he hired two new people for data entry.  But if they're like any of the others who have come through, one of them will no-show and the other will leave for a better-paying job six weeks from now.  Meanwhile, I am in the middle of working 13 straight days there.  Sure, I might be racking up the overtime, but 1) it's not that incentive-laden task that's being offered and 2) I am more alienated by the inability and/or refusal of this company to retain employees by, I don't know, paying them more.  The work, and asking a dwindling number people to expend so many exhaustive hours to do so much work, is unsustainable.  You're going to lose more people if you don't get them more help.  But I don't know if the cavalry's coming, or if the higher-ups even care that it might not be coming.

In the meantime I struck upon a revelation that has floored me.  On Friday and Saturday, while I was doing nothing but typing information into a system hour after hour, all I could think of was heading out for a drink after all the shit was over.  I usually feel that way after working in The Fourth Department (where I will be working today/Monday).  But honestly, on Friday and Saturday, I felt way more stress just keying than I have recently in The Fourth Department.  I have gone from thinking I need to splurge on alcohol after calling people and dealing with odd questions to thinking I need to splurge on alcohol after typing a lot more than I thought I would.  Data entry is more stressful.  Can't fucking believe it.

Kinda surprised I don't know as of right now if anyone has won the Powerball.  I went to their website just now; they have changed their homepage to just show the date of the drawing (last night, of course) and the numbers.  Before it had (I think) a background of a couple on the beach and any results of states whose resident(s) won the jackpot or not.

I could take a break from buying them, to be honest.  For Wednesday's jackpot, Father wanted me to buy 50 of them.  This time around, he wanted me to buy 66 of them.  Why 66?  Don't know the numerological appeal to this for him.  But if it's not won this time around, I'm scared to death as to how many tickets he wants me to buy for Monday.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#0: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -6).  So this is a Week where my rankings of teams differs from their standing outside the WMNSS.  Sorta.  Because they lost the first Game of a two-Game series at Ohio St. on Friday, they've been deposed from their #1 ranking this Week down to third.  But the screening Week for The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey for 2022 goes from Saturday to Friday, so technically, they had an undefeated Week, coming back to defeat the Buckeyes Saturday, 4-2, then starting a two-tilt set vs. #12 Notre Dame at Mariucci with a 4-1 victory last/Friday night.  After playing the Fighting Irish again tonight/Saturday night, they host Penn St. Thursday and Friday.  It's quite possible Minnesota reclaims the #1 ranking either by this Monday or next Monday.

#-1: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -1).  Meanwhile, also in Columbus on Saturday, the Gopher women technically lost in a Shootout to the Buckeye women's hockey team.  But because they beat the Buckeyes the previous evening in regulation, on Monday they switched places with Ohio St. to become the #1 team in top-flight college hockey.  That's a great accomplishment, but I here at the WMNSS predominantly rank teams by their record during the Week.  And coupling that Shootout Loss with an Overtime Win versus Minnesota-Duluth last/Friday night at Ridder Arena (Taylor Heise with the Game-winner), this squad had a 1-1 screening Week, with neither result being all that clean.  And yet ... well, a #1 ranking isn't something to poo-poo, so I compromised: I kept the Gopher women below the men, but I bumped up the men into non-negative numbers to make the women ice hockey team look less bad.  You're welcome.

They finish up their series with the Bulldogs this/Saturday afternoon, then play the annual U. S. Hockey Hall Of Fame Museum Women's Face-Off Classic against St. Cloud St. (they play the Huskies for the third time this season already) Monday night in Andover.

#-2: Vikings (Re-Entry!).  The Vikes are continuing a troubling pattern.  They started their Game against The Bastard Chicago-By-Way-Of-St. Louis Cardinals like gangbusters, striking for Touchdowns with ease.  But then they started to slow down in the Second Quarter, and in the Third, their Offense slowed to a stop, allowing the opponent to not only come back but take the lead.  And finally, in the Fourth Quarter, the Offense rekindles itself and finds its way back to paydirt again, and the Defense comes alive with Sacks and Turnovers.  They found a way to win, and they are 6-1.  But truly elite teams don't get into lulls and don't have to come back from deficits.  Are they better than the Eagles, or the Bills, or the Chiefs?  I don't think so.

They're at Washington D. C. Sunday.  The Commanders are shit, and yet they're 4-4.  I expect Minnesota to win, but I am certain they'll make this damn Game close.

#-3: Gopher football (Last Week: -7).  They shut out Rutgers Saturday afternoon.  Great news, but it's becoming clearer than ever that they are capable of killing teams with less talent than them but are likely getting killed by teams with better talent.  Welcome to the middle, Gopher Nation.  At Nebraska this/Saturday afternoon.

#-4: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -2).  Their winning streak ended at four after Saturday night's four-Set loss at then-fifth-ranked Wisconsin, and then they swept Michigan at the Sports Pavilion last/Friday night.  Like I usually say, let's see how they are in the NCAA Tournament.  At Illinois Sunday, home to Maryland Friday.

#-5: Wild (Last Week: -4).  Alright, things are out of sync with this club right now.  They have a regulation Win over Montreal, a Shootout victory over Chicago, a 2-1 Loss in Detroit, and a humiliating 4-0 defeat at the X to the second-Year Seattle Kraken.  According to Brandon Mileski of The Common Man Progrum, all the Wild's energy guys are injured, which means they have started contests flat.  Tenna B also says that Head Coach Dean Evason is carrying 7 Defensemen and 11 Forwards, which means one D-Man is playing way out of position, and that fucks everything up.  Got a bad feeling about this team right now.

The team has the weekend off.  Then they have a SoCal back-to-back (Los Angeles Tuesday, Anaheim Wednesday) and finish a Week-long, three-Game road trip with a return date Friday against Seattle.

#-6: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5).  Alright, things are out of sync with this club right now, too.  They go winless this screening Week with road Losses to San Antonio and Phoenix and a home Loss late last/Friday night to Milwaukee on ESPN.  One crazy revelation reared its head in the setback to the Suns: The bench players (with Anthony Edwards) were markedly better than the starting five.  Meanwhile, Chris Finch's current strategy of going big by putting Rudy Gobert in the pivot and pushing Karl-Anthony Towns out to the 4 is backfiring like crazy right now.  The early part of the season is used to work things out, but I hope Finch & Co. figure it out quick.

Busy Week.  They finish a four-Game homestand with dates with Houston, New York and the Suns.  On Friday they go to Memphis.

#-Infinity: Gopher soccer (Last Week: -3).  It was always going to be a very tall task going on the road in the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Women's Soccer Tournament and trying to upset Michigan St., far and away The Best Team In The Conference and, according to two polls, ranked sixth in the nation.  It's just sad that they surprised the Spartans with a Goal 4 1/2 Minutes in by McKenna Buisman, but couldn't hold onto the lead; Jordyn Wickes tied it up in the 55th Minute and then scored the Game-winner in the 67th.

It's only her second Year as Head Coach here, but Erin Chastain most likely has not gotten the U. into the NCAA Tournament yet.  Just sayin'.