Thought I Could Take It Easy The Rest Of The Week. Nuh-Uh

I work in The Main Department today/Thursday and tomorrow/Friday, which means I usually don't have the time to stop for coffee before coming in, which incentivizes me not to spend any money on that day because I really should start having no-spend days.

These two days were supposed to those no-spend days, days in which I head straight to work and then, once my shift is over, I head straight home, lock the door, and figure out what the hell am I going to eat that night.  But that isn't happening because things came up last week.

Tonight/Thursday night, I am going to First Avenue for a concert sponsored by, all of organizations, MNUFC, for which I am a season-ticketholder.  I don't know either musical act, but this is a concert at First Ave. that is mainly for one particular demographic only -- fellow STH'ers.  Plus, the ticket was just over twelve bucks.

Also last week, a person with whom I ushered invited me to a Friday fish fry in south Minneapolis.  At first I wanted to stay away.  This feast is associated with Lent, and I am not a part of any Western faith.  But then I read this article about how these fish fries is another unique thing for us Minnesotans that people from other parts of the country might scoff or even ridicule.  Once I learned that restaurants and churches and even VFWs have these Friday fish fries, I was intrigued and wanted to see what it is like.

So I texted this usher friend and said I changed my mind and I really would like to see what is up with this peculiar tradition.  Unfortunately, tomorrow/Friday probably is the only Friday I have free until Easter.  So, I am going to get back on the road today/Thursday after coming home from work (and maybe taking a nap once I got home) to eat lots and lots of fish at a church.

Eh.  Could be worse.

(Edited Leap Day at 4:24 p.m. because I was so damn tired when I wrote the last two sentences before going to bed last/Wednesday night that what I typed doesn't make any damn sense, so I am going to end the blog post like this below:)

So, instead of probably boxing up my things and throwing them back in storage, I will be having fun and spending money.  That's great ... until I realize I'm bleeding money and I still don't know when my parents are coming home.

Fuck it -- I'm having fun!

And Now The Central Heat Is Scaring Me

We are in the middle of, oh, 36 hours of cold weather.  In this, The Winter That Isn't, we have had a few bouts of cold weather, which is fortunate (we'll set aside talk about how this really warm winter is a brutal sign of climate change for another time).

However, I have noticed more and more that whenever the central heat kicks in, it's getting noisy.  Like, really noisy.  This noise starts at the beginning of the cycle; unlike the tap-tap-tapping of one of the filters that I fixed by buying a new filter, there is this loud ... sound that I can't describe.  All I can say that it has gotten louder and louder every time it starts up.

I don't know what's the problem, no matter how much Internet sleuthing I do.  I guess I should look outside at the compressor to make sure, like, a dead rabbit isn't caught in the fan.  But if it's not obvious, I have no idea what to look for.  So I'll have to, ugh, deal with it.

Right now, as I type this, my heart is beating really fast.  I am scared I am getting poisoned by carbon monoxide.  I have a CO detector, and I think it works ... but does it?

I'm Happy For Her! I Really Am!

Sometimes it's weird to see the strippers in my life lead lives beyond being strippers, you know?  I have to remember that these are women who are not one-dimensional.  I may get hard over that one dimension, but I don't own them.  They have ambitions, dreams, family and friends that have nothing to do with me.  I love that, actually.  I love women that have well-rounded lives, and the fact that I am Facebook friends with many of them makes me feel honored; they trust me to be a part of their lives, arm's-length that it may be, that they might be hiding from their loved ones.  I may fantasize about having sex with all of them, but right now I hold a level of friendship (and, dare I say, love) with them that I will never take lightly.

Nevertheless, it is jarring to see one of my stripper girlfriends fall head over heels in love -- not sex worker love, but actual love.  That is what happened with *****a, someone who has come over and given me handjobs over the years.  I had no idea she was even looking for a boyfriend until I saw Reel after Reel (is that what they're called on Facebook?) of her holding and kissing this guy.  I've only seen this for about a few weeks, but it looks like she is in luuuuuuuuuuuuv.

I'm happy for her.  Really, I am!  I'm not jealous of him at all.  Again, I don't own her.  And she doesn't owe me her loyalty; shit, guys, I get handjobs from all sorts of stripper girlfriends, and I don't plan on giving that up for a long, long time!  I really hope this works out, in fact.  For all the love she's given me, I really do want what makes her happy.  And right now (fingers crossed), it looks like it's this dude.

And yet I miss her.  We have had our difficulties arranging our schedules so that she can make her vicious, hand-lovin' housecalls.  Couple months ago, in fact, we agreed she'd come over, but, well, "something came up."  I wonder if any chance of getting an HJ from her has gone by the wayside because of this cancellation.  It would be weird, after all, if we fucked around even after she's gotten into a committed relationship.

---

So My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Division) is now over four years dead.  (By the way, it closed down near the very end of 2019 -- right before the pandemic.  If it didn't close on its own, there was a good chance it would've gone out of business because of lockdown.  Fantastic timing.)  I would not have the breadth of stripper girlfriends I have if not for a place like this.  With no cover, relatively cheap drinks and the ability to just sit and hang without the pressure of getting dances, I was able to go there dozens, if not hundreds, of times without completely driving myself into bankruptcy.  I was also able to cultivate relationships with the strippers, many of whom trusted me enough to take that next step and actually do sexual things in private stripper parties that I only imagined happened at strip clubs.  The decision to have that as a hobby probably comes at great cost if I ever attempt to attain a higher public profile.  But since I don't pursue that (for now), this is our little secret, and one that I cherish.

That being said, my circle of stripper girlfriends is now static.  There is no club and so there are no fresh strippers to get to know.  I have who I have.  And while I am deeply grateful being a part of their lives, *****a is an example of what could happen when we grow apart.  It's inevitable, and yet I am saddened and a little scared that these beautiful women whom I have seen naked so often will eventually exit my life.  It's not easy now that there is no "third space" like My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Edition).  Time makes it more difficult.  And then circumstances, or finding someone, or life, cleaves a wedge that may never be stitched back together.  It happens.  I don't know if I'm ready, though, especially if all my stripper girlfriends go away in the end.

But I'm happy for *****a.  I really am!

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: United FC (NEW SEASON!!!).  When I complained in my blog post that I couldn't figure where to go and what to do Saturday, I forgot a fourth option beyond staying home, going to watch the girls' high school hockey tournament finals in St. Paul, or (what I decided to do) going to the Cold War Kids concert in Minneapolis.  Because I thought it was a waste to go to either downtown two times over the weekend, I could have (sort of) split the difference and the cities and gone to the Black Hart in Midway to watch MNUFC's season opener at Austin.  I decided against that, however, mostly because I was sure they would lose, and I don't want to be witness to that.  After all, the side's not only led by an interim Head Coach but their second interim HC, Cameron Knowles.  Also, neither Emanuel Reynoso nor Bongokuhle Hlongwane made the trip to The Live Music Capital Of The Country.

The odds were stacked against them ... and yet they came out of Austin with a 2-1 victory.  Moreover, by all accounts, they looked really good in the Match, especially in the First Half.  They looked different, too, and I think many of us supporters really just wanted a change after the end of The Adrian Heath Era came crashing down with repeated blown leads and without a playoff berth.  They came out in a 4-3-3 instead of a 4-2-3-1 that seemed etched in that rock all the Loons players touch as they come out of the tunnel at Allianz Field.  Moreover, Knowles used his Substitutions -- all of five of them, in fact!  Finally, he relied on his young talent, bringing in new guys Alejandro Bran, Tani Oluwaseyi, Loic Mesanvi and Caden Clark (who is a native of Medina, Minn., and came up through the now-shuttered Minnesota Thunder Academy before being traded away to the New York Red Bulls in 2020).  Clark paid dividends, being the prime instigator in the Game-winning Goal in the 92nd Minute, scored by Bran.

It became apparent in the past few seasons that Heath had his favorites and preferred to play them for as long as possible in Matches.  In that way, he is like another Head Coach who patrolled the sidelines in Minnesota: Tom Thibodeau of the Timberwolves.  But the time has come for a youth movement.  And yet there is a possibility that United FC aren't that far off -- that the talent is there, it just needed more athleticism which only comes from playing unproven youngsters.  That bore fruit Saturday night.  It's only one Match, but maybe a shake-up in Manager and in the front office was exactly what MNUFC needs.  That, plus the fact that I'm an ebullient (for now) season-ticketholder, compels me to not only put them first in the survey but put them above negative numbers.

The home opener is Saturday afternoon, believe it or not.  And it's against defending MLS Cup Champion The Columbus Crew, for which Christian Ramirez, local legend, is still playing.  Man, it's going to be emotional.  I plan on wearing my Superman (that's Ramirez's nickname around these parts) scarf when I go.

#0: Timberwolves (Last Week: Positive Numbers).  Now that the All-Star break is behind us, NBA players start to give a shit.  Milwaukee came to Target Center Friday and went out to a 17-Point lead by virtue of a 36-13 Third Quarter before holding off the Wolves, 112-107.  They responded the next night at home by crushing Brooklyn, 101-86.

They are still in first place in the West, though they are tied with The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics (and Boston is blowing both of them away for best in The Association).  They've got a busy screening Week, but at least they are continuing their seven-Game homestand vs. San Antonio, Memphis, Sacramento and the Clippers.  I'll be at Wednesday's contest versus The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies.

#-1: Wild (Last Week: -4).  A 3-1 Week is pretty good, right?  The Presidents' Day matinee at home against Vancouver was fucked up.  I was working and moseyed over to the Game (I was able to listen to it on KFAN's streamer, which I thought was illegal).  I made a point to go back to Sirius XM for the rest of my workday after seeing them down to the Canucks in the Second Period, 5-1.  And then I check the score on SXM and, late in the Game, they're up 10-7, the score by which they eventually won.  They scored five Goals between the end of the Second and start of the Third Period, four of them on the Power Play.  And Vancouver is The Best Team In The National Hockey League!

Next came a doubling-up in Winnipeg, but they beat Edmonton and Seattle on the road.  That should account for something ... but they are, as of press time four Points behind for the final playoff spot in the West, currently occupied by Nashville.  They have no one between them and the Predators for now, although St. Louis is tied with the Wild with 62 Points.  But it shows how massive a hole the squad dug themselves that a 3-1 screening Week isn't enough to get them into postseason position.

Busy Week for these guys, too -- home to The Bastard Hartford Whalers, at said Predators Thursday, then a back-to-back over the weekend where they are in St. Louis (another very important tilt) and then come home to face San Jose.

#-2: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -7).  Swept Minnesota-Duluth at home over the weekend -- kinda.  The Bulldogs managed to take the Goofs past regulation Friday, but the U. grabbed the extra Point in the Shootout.  Minnesota won Saturday afternoon, 4-2.  They're fifth in the PairWise ... and in no position to be even mentioned as a title contender.

The regular season is over and they finish third in the WCHA.  They thus draw sixth-seeded Minnesota State-Mankato for a best two-out-of-three series at Ridder Arena this weekend.

#-3: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -5).  Beat Ohio St. by nine at The Barn Thursday, but got crushed at Nebraska -- excuse me; tournament-bound Nebraska -- by 18 yesterday/Sunday evening.  Maybe we need to slow our postseason roll a bit, although they are only three short of the magical 20-Win threshold.  This Week: At Illinois Wednesday, home to Penn St. Saturday.

#-4: Gopher softball (Last Week: -2).  Well, at least all the Games they were scheduled to play got played this weekend.  Unfortunately, maybe they should have wished for cancellations, becaue they went 1-4 at the UNT Invitational.  They won only their Sunday nightcap (or "morningcap"; it got played at 9 this/Sunday morning) against New Mexico, 10-1.  The only upside, if you want to really look for it, is that they lost the other four Games by a total of five Runs.

Nevertheless, they sport a 5-7 record as they head to Charlotte for The Queen City Classic.  They're scheduled for five showdowns: One with host Charlotte and Fordham, one against the best team in this tournament, ranked Kentucky, and two with North Carolina-Wilmington.

#-5: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1).  Uh-oh.  Completely winless Week -- a Loss Monday to seventh-ranked Oregon St., 6-1 (the Gophs lost both Games to the Beavers), then a two-Game sweep courtesy of Northeastern (!!) at the Twins Spring Training Complex in Fort Myers, Fla.

These people are going to be tooling around the Pacific Northwest for a while, even though they aren't playing in any official tournaments.  This weekend they play one Game vs. Pacific and then two versus Sacramento St.  All three Matches will be played in Sacramento.

#-6: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -6).  I remember in college reading a play called Mud.  It is a love triangle set in a poor part of the country.  Mae is caught between Lloyd, her cruel de facto husband who falls ill and mentally challenged.  Mae enlists the help of erudite neighbor Henry, and Lloyd begins to suspect they're catting around.  Well, the twist in the play is that as Lloyd takes the medicine that heals him, Henry gets into an accident that incapacitates him.  In essence, the roles Lloyd and Henry embody switch places.

And that's basically what has happened to the University of Minnesota basketball programs this season.  No one had any hopes for the men.  Most people thought Ben Johnson would be fired by the end of it.  But (ass-kicking by Nebraska last/Sunday night aside), the club has been a resilient and even good one, surprising teams and fans along the way.  Meanwhile, people thought a new Head Coach was the key to unlock the potential of the women, and they started the season playing really good basketball.  But then Mara Braun got hurt and is likely out for the season, and their play has gone completely into the shitter, and evidenced by double-digit Losses this screening Week at home to Wisconsin and at Nebraska.  This team, at 15-12, has gotten so bad so quickly that everyone involved with the program has to be questioned.  I'm serious; they've gone to shit.

This putrid regular season will be over after this Week, when they host Caitlin Clark and Iowa Wednesday (good luck) and finish the Year at Penn St. Sunday afternoon.  Will they even get one bye for The Big Ten Tournament, which is the following Week and will be played at Target Center?

Expenses Without Receipt

Damn, long time again.  Starting from Saturday, February 24:

• And actually we go back a day, to Tuesday, February 20, where I finally went to see ******a, my ATF, at My Favorite Stripclub.  I wanted to see her for Valentine's Day, but it was snowing then, so I delayed it to this day.  A combination of me getting out of work later than I wanted, a short rotation of girls, the MC demanding each girl working there get on stage for two songs and a regular ******a hasn't seen since before the pandemic meant I was there for about 45 minutes only, way shorter than an ordinary visit.  On the bright side, I guess I saved money.  Cover, tips, drinks for the both of us and only eleven table dances from ******a total: $139.
• On Sunday the 18th I went to Bethlehem Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis to see The King's Singers, an a cappella English choral group.  I am by no means a religious person; I am a Buddhist if you put a gun to my head.  But I love listening to very old religion-themed music from the Renaissance.  I have satellite radio, and around the holidays I love, love listening to a pop-up station called SiriusXM Holiday Pops.  That is where I first heard the ethereal harmony of The King's Singers, who have shuffled through about two dozen members over the course of its half-century of existence.  I am not the only one; they sold out of tickets (even though they were free), but I was able to go there and snag a seat in the balcony.  So glad I was able to finally see them.  The church did take donations which in turn pay for bringing in singing groups like The King's Singers, and so I gladly forked over: $20.
• That evening I went to the Heights Theater to see a silent Ernst Lubitsch film called Lady Windermere's Fan.  Never heard of the movie and I'm not a silent film fan, but this is one of those very rare screenings that was happening relatively close to home, and hey, I had a Sunday night to kill, so I went.  There was live musical accompaniment for the flick, and the group called The Poor Nobodys were the best part of the experience.  They played fantastically and added a needed dimension to a film that otherwise appealed only to your sense of sight, and yet they were never, ever distracting.  Charged the ticket (which was $20) to my credit card, but I shelled out cash for the small popcorn and pop plus tip: $12.
• Back to Saturday, February 17th -- I was going around doing some shopping chores and, as a treat, I went to Dunkin' Donuts.  I remember that this place does not take American Express, and a few days before I was told my AmEx card was being closed down because the card company flagged a suspicious purchase to which I said I did not make.  From that point until Thursday, February 22, when I didn't have my new American Express, I had only one credit card to charge purchases.  I was at a Wal-Mart and Dunkin' is close, so I took that as a sign to go into this Dunkin' and buy something ... and use my credit card.  However, I bought just two donuts, the total for which was $3.01.  And my brain kind of glitched, because that penny threw me off and made me decide to pay for this with cash because I hadn't gone and used the coins in my back pocket for quite a while.  I regretted changing my mind and using cash instead of credit as soon as I got my receipt, which has the total of the donuts but not the tip, which I write here: $1.
• That afternoon *******a came over from west-central Minnesota to give me a massage.  But she gave me more than a massage!  She finally listened to my entreaties and didn't just graze my dick but really grab and wank it!  And as a topper, I asked her to kiss my cock ... and she did it!!!  Oh man, we're gonna have some real sexy time the next time she can cum over!!!  But it was still largely a massage for which I spent: $100.
• That evening I went to 7th Street Entry to see a really good and really hot musician I remember stripping at a run-down neighborhood bar.  I wonder if she recognized me.  I charged the ticket, but I paid for my Loon Juice with cash.  With tip: $11.
• Friday the 16th: Left work early.  I needed to work on my receipts, so I went to Sociable Cider Werks around the time they opened.  I went there because I went there two weeks prior.  I was hanging out outside, which was a tad chilly out.  I was warming myself next to a cauldron with a fire going while nursing my beer.  I saw person after person grab their food for the food truck parked just outside.  Many of them had paper trays of food in both hands, so they had no way of opening the door to go back inside.  I saw this and opened the door for them.  Well, someone working for Sociable noticed because one of the workers there went outside and gave me a card for a free pint for being such a nice guy!  Sociable Cider Werks is the best!  I used that card for a free pineapple cinnamon cider, and it was really tasty.  I tipped more than I usually do when I'm paying for a beer: $2.
• Later that day I got double-teamed by ***e* and ******e again.  I love these two because they don't fuck around.  They just tear into my pee-pee like no one else does.  I wish more of my stripper girlfriends were that direct, aggressive and perverted.  Total: $240.
• To Sunday, February 11, aka Super Bowl Sunday ... went to a closer coffeehouse that day.  This place still uses paper cards to track how many drinks you've bought.  I love old-school, no-tech places like this.  I had enough for a free drink, and I'm glad I woke up and left the house early enough to use it for a large turtle mocha.  I used that to wash down oatmeal with oat milk.  I wish I knew whether having oat milk cost me an extra dollar.  I really I wish my cashier would've told me if that were the case.  With tip the oatmeal cost me: $7.
• That afternoon *****y came over to wank my dick.  We initially scheduled this for a different day, and it wasn't great she wanted to cum over the afternoon of the Super Bowl, but like I have said before, I know *****y is a stripper who would give handjobs to just everyone, so if that's when she has time, I will accommodate her.  She is on the expensive side, however: $160.
• And since this is the Super Bowl, I decided to eat Pizza Hut.  Got a large olive pizza and breadsticks, and I was able to eat it all, even though the last two pizza slices were kind of hard; I finished both of them some time in the Third Quarter.  Total: $15.
• Back to Saturday the 3rd, where I decided to bring in the minivan for a car wash, but just the outside.  The inside could use a real cleaning, but I have to take out everything in there, and then I have to explain to the people cleaning the car that one of the doors doesn't work and you have to be careful with the other one, so, whatever.  I charged my credit card for the car wash.  This is a place where you can ask to pay more than the cost of the wash, then ask for that difference back in change so that you can tip.  I do that all the time here.  This time, however, I kept some of the tip money I got back.  Therefore, this goes down as an Infusion of: $2.
• After that I went to the same coffeeshop.  Since this was lunch, I got a beef chili and Coke.  Don't spend a weekend afternoon here often, and the place was packed; duly noted.  With tip: $9.50.
• On Friday the 2nd, after treating myself to a week in The Fourth Department with a trip to the speakeasy around the corner, on a lark I went to Up-Down to place some games.  I also bought a slice of pizza even though I had already eaten because they were going for two bucks.  With tip the trip cost me just: $4.
• Now, we have to go back to Friday, January 26, where I deposited money I had withdrawn for a stripper party that failed to materialize.  I redeposited: $200.
• On Saturday the 20th, I got my face shaved.  With tip it cost me: $13.
• On Thursday the 18th I went to an afternoon party at the home of *****y.  First time in some time I have gone to her place to take in a house party, but she didn't disappoint.  She grabbed some lotion and went to town on my cock, and this time around it was easy for me to cum!  *****y was also there, as was another customer.  He had *****y in one room while I got *****y in another.  After a while, we basically swapped strippers and headed back up to the rooms for a second VIP experience.  Unfortunately, because I was pretty much tapped out money-wise and was definitely tapped out cum-wise, I barely got hard for her, even though she is absolutely fucking gorgeous and she was handling my dick like my dick stole something from her.  She has made me cum when she and *****y double-teamed me.  Now, I have to make it a point to have *****y and only *****y get me off.  VIPs for both plus cover comes out to a massive: $305.
• To Saturday, January 13 ... got my hair cut.  The person who cut my hair was someone I haven't seen before (that happens often) and liked to talk and talk and talk.  I don't know if that chattiness is a smokescreen to obscure that he did not know how to cut my hair because it took a long, long time for him to cut it.  (On more than one occasion, I'm in that chair for only five minutes.)  And I didn't really have time to hear him speak.  But eventually he got around to finishing, and he was nice and apologetic about going so slow.  Have a receipt for the cut, so this EWR is only for the tip: $4.
• Finally, I finally got around to storing the latest round of new coins.  Found a shiny new dime and a quarter that apparently is one of a series of new designs on the tail side of them celebrating American women.  I also stored a Canadian quarter; you never know when those will come in handy.  Total amount stored: 60 cents.

Good through February 24.

Had No Idea What To Do Or Where To Go Tonight

I had three things I could do tonight:

• I could stay home, watch sports and Saturday Night Live, and do chores, namely go through my stuff.  But the host for SNL is a comedian who slurs Asians, and by principle, I cannot and will not watch that shit.  In fact, I want to be out of the house when the show is on.
• I could go to the Cold War Kids concert at First Avenue.  But I went downtown to watch EPL this morning, and it seems like a waste to go to the same place both in the morning and then the evening.  Plus, the cost of a ticket is a little more expensive because the show is sold out, something I didn't expect would happen.  Beyond that, it's not an inexpensive ticket, and I still should not  be spending money willy-nilly, especially now that my boss is cock-blocking me from working overtime.  I just checked my checking account and, uh, yikes.
• I could go to the Girls' State High School Hockey Championships at the Xcel Energy Center.  But I am seeing a concert of two choral groups, Cantus and The Canadian Brass, at the Ordway tomorrow/Sunday afternoon, and I'm not really feeling going to St. Paul on back-to-back days.  Also I'll need to find parking in St. Paul, and I loathe paying for parking.  Finally, and I don't know if people know this, but the government agency that runs high school sports here in the state, The Minnesota State High School League, are a bunch of assholes.  I had a run-in with them when I was a part of The Media covering a Boys' State High School Hockey Tournament, other media members have had their credentials rejected for bogus and even no reason, and over the summer the association initially prevented three students from participating in a section track and field meet because their coach mistakenly left off their names off an entrance sheet.  That really pisses me off.  These motherfuckers at the MHSHL actually believe their shit don't stink.  And so, by principle, I don't want to validate them by paying a ticket for an event they run.  (There's another complication: One of my stripper girlfriends, *****a, works as a server in downtown St. Paul.  I want to eat at the place she works at, but there is Cossetta, another place I haven't been to in a while which I love.  Which place to go to?  And frankly, this dilemma would be solved if I did go to St. Paul both today and tomorrow.)

In the end, I have decided to ... go to the Cold War Kids concert.  I think, deep down, I will not do anything that benefits anyone I don't like.  (By the way, it'll be too tempting of me to turn on the television and watch SNL if I'm rooting around at home.)  So I will spend some money, have my hearing blown out, and go downtown twice in one day -- although, if I can rationalize this, it's two different parts of downtown, and I will not be crossing paths when I go back tonight.  And then tomorrow, after the concert, I guess I'll go to both Cossetta and the place where my stripper girlfriend works at.  Because hey, what's money and getting fat, right?

I'm Chafing (In The Figurative Sense, But I'm Chafing)

So I got cut early from work Wednesday through Friday this week.  This is a concerted effort by my boss to keep me at 40 hours every week so I don't cost my company overtime.  It has happened last week.  He has also told me, a few times, that he is under orders to keep me under 40.

I think I have blog posted about this, but it was this week, and in particular yesterday/Friday, when I finally felt being cut to 40 hours.  On Wednesday my boss took note of the extra hours I spent Monday and Tuesday in The Fourth Department and said via e-mail to make up for that by leaving early the rest of the week so that I add up to only 40.

I don't like that, so I tried to carve out an exception whereby, if the work coming into The Main Department is running late to the point where everybody in that department will have to stay late (and extra) in order to do the job, I thought it best to stick around and help out, even if it is just five minutes.

Well, yesterday/Friday was touch-and-go.  For a while there it seemed as if the work coming our way was coming out late and, late in the afternoon, it was coming fast and furious.  We are able to check how many forms are still needed to be keyed, and from looking at that I thought there was enough compelling evidence to at least ask my boss if I could stay late -- you know, to "help finish up."

So I went down to his office and asked if I should stay.  And, while not turning around, he immediately said, "No, you can leave as soon as you reach 40 hours."  Well, OK, then.  I turned around and started walking away ... but not before stammering out, "You know, I just wanted to make sure you didn't need me just in case there was work, you know."  And in typing that sentence I definitely know I didn't really say that, or any sentence that made any sense.  I was, frankly, kind of floored at his tone, how dismissive of any flexibility to get the job done, and how insistent he was of finally pinning me down to just 40 hours after weeks, if not months, of racking up OT.

I'm still thinking about that little exchange we had, and the more I ruminate on it, honestly, the more pissed off I get.  I said this earlier, but I believe it even more so now: I was thrown into a situation where I had to stay late in order to get the job done or else I would get yelled at.  But in staying late I accrued overtime pay, and the more I had to stay to finish the work, the more OT money I got.  Yes, I got used to having a slightly fatter paycheck than I would have if I stuck to 40 hours.  So now that things have settled down, my boss -- again, under orders from his higher-ups -- has taken vengeance upon my OT banking and cracked down on me.

I think I said this in an earlier blog post too: Being told to cut back to 40 hours after routinely getting overtime pay feels like I'm getting money taken away from me.  Add that feeling to the feeling I was being ... oh, dismissed and minimized by my boss yesterday/Friday, and you know what?  I'm starting to think that looking for another job isn't a bad thing to do.  Because this is fucking bullshit.

Addendum To: End Of The Line For My Powerbank?

Turns out, no, it's not the end of the line for my power bank -- at least I don't think.  I plugged it in to a different outlet, the one in my bathroom.  I looked online and people just recommended I plug it in overnight to see what happens.  I couldn't wait that long; after a couple hours I looked at the powerbank ... and I saw a blinking dot, indicating that it is charging.  The thing is, the third dot remained blank.  It was the fourth dot that was blinking.  So, yesterday/Thursday morning, I looked and pressed the side button -- and the third dot was still unlit while the other three lit up.

It is now easy to deduce what happened.  When I freaked out seeing that there were only two non-blinking lights on as I charged the power bank, it in fact was charging.  It's just that the third dot, which would normally be blinking to indicate it was charging, apparently has burned out.  The powerbank is showing its age, but it still is working as well as it needs to.  I'll take it.

End Of The Line For My Powerbank?

Weirdest thing just happened.  I have two power banks (is "powerbank" one word or two?), and that gives me the flexibility to keep my phone constantly charged whenever one of them needs to be recharged itself.  That just happened tonight with my older power bank, and so I switched it out with my newer one and plugged it in.

I just checked on it.  There are four indicator lights on this powerbank, small blue dots, each of which blink as it's being recharged.  And it is on two dots, and two dots only.  There was no blinking third dot.  I touched the plug; it was hot, which means to me that it's still charging.  But there is no outward sign that this power bank is indeed charging.  I usually wait until my powerbank is pretty much out of energy before switching it out, but I don't wait until it's completely empty.  But it was empty this time, and actually for the first time I can ever remember.  I just thought I waited too long.  This instead might be a sign it's gotten so old it can't recharge anymore.

I'm not too keen on buying something I didn't think I would need to replace in quite a while, but depending on whether it can charge fully and how well it can recharge my phone, I might have to shell out more money for a new backup power bank.  Great.

I Should Be Happy Getting More Free Food, But I'm Not

So after making a 45-minute stop at My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Division) to see my ATF (it was that short because work had me stay late -- we get work a day after they're collected, and Monday was Presidents' Day so it was a federal holiday so we shouldn't have gotten much work yesterday/Tuesday -- but we did!!!), I went to the Mexican fast food place close by me that is not Taco Bell.  The prices for their items are way expensive, so I got two things for $13+.

Maybe the first indication something was amiss was that the cashier didn't give me my change back.  She eventually did, and then she shoved the bag of food at me -- totally fine.  So I go home and tear into the first thing I see, a softshell taco that seems as "deluxe" as the description on the drive-thru board said it was.  Then I reach for the other item I ordered, a quesadilla ... but then I notice that there is a clamshell package underneath the paper bag from which I took out what I think is the deluxe taco I ordered, both of which are in a plastic bag.  That's a lot of packaging for just two items.

And then I open up the clamshell -- and I see a taco bowl.  I did not order a taco bowl.  And then I opened up the paper bag and see that it's not empty.  Oh, no -- there are six more items in there, two which probably are deluxe tacos and three ... I think this place calls them chilitos, but they're basically cheesy roll-ups in tortillas.

So yeah, they screwed up.  This may be the first time in my life a fast food place screwed up my order in which they gave me more food by mistake.  I sure as heck wasn't going to leave my house to give back the food.  But honestly, I am very bummed and, dare I say it, overwhelmed that, after I ate the taco bowl and one of these "chilitos," I still had five things to eat.  I already had a plan for what I would eat the rest of the workweek, none of which involves spending any money to eat: I got hot dogs out of the freezer and bought hot dog buns, and I also bought two cans of soup with which I was going to add to rice I was going to make.  Now I don't know what to do now that I have two tacos and three chilitos I have to eat before they go bad.  And on top of that, I haven't the faintest idea how to reheat the tacos.  Do I really have to scrape off the lettuce, cheese and tomatoes before reheating the tortilla and the meat?  Gosh, that takes so long!!!

Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: January 2024

Man, finally getting around to this month.  And I have to say, the month grew on me more and more (pun intended).  You know why?  Most of the models for January '24 stuck with basic pose of standing directly facing the camera.  Oftentimes there is too much foofooraw with the shot, either with arms needlessly draped over the waitresses' bodies or some stupid prop that distracts from the shot.  Not here; it is, with very small exceptions, just a gorgeous Hooters girl showing off her sumptuous body.  And this getting back to basics accumulates to a very, very good month.

(A point to illustrate the opposite: One of the servers in this month is Lindsey, out of Merrillville, Ind.  She was The Main Girl the previous month, December 2023, and I thought she had one of that month's standout photos.  She has one of the small pics this month [and I think it's kind of uncouth to feature a Hooters woman in back-to-back months {even if it is across two years}, but seeing as for Jan. '24 her name is spelled "Lindsay," with an "a," {and by the way, I just checked her Instagram; it looks like Hooters misspelled her name in December}, I don't think there's a person there looking at the whole calendar and doing a once-over to clean up and reorganize things for the better], and her hands are covering up her body, even though her left hand is acting as if she's unzipping her top.  She has an unmemorable photo for this month, and so I cannot single her out for recognition, sorry.)

I am being so generous that I want to name seven babes here.  And I am going to go against the observation I just pointed out above when I tell you that the hottie I mention first (which means seventh place) and last (which means first place) aren't directly facing the camera.  No matter: In seventh place, posing off to the side, is Birmingham's Maycie, she with the long, brunette hair and the black two-piece bikini connected with gold chains.  I think I can tell she's got a nice body, but she really has a beautiful, beautiful face, and that overcomes the unfortunate side pose.

In sixth place is Orlando's Samantha (long, brunette-ish hair, fuchsia-patterned two-piece); in fifth place is Tampa's Cameron (long blonde hair, light blue two-piece bikini); and in fourth place is The Main Girl, Sarah, hailing out of Sarasota, Fla. (long, cascading light brown hair, and I think a dark purple two-piece).  I throw all of them together because all they are doing is standing up and facing the camera ... and showing the world their female goodies.  And they are goddamn spectacular.  See, that's all a horny heterosexual male like me needs!

In third place is Cassy, also (apparently) working from Sarasota, Fla.  She's got long black hair.  She is directly facing the camera, too, but she's flung her arms up and has them resting on her head.  That's a fucking sexy pose; it's as if she's saying, "Bam!  Here's my fuckable body!"  The only thing that detracts against it is that her purple-ish bikini top looks more like a sports bra.

In second place is Daniella, out of Weston, Fla.  Long, light brown hair that goes down to her elbows; lime green two-piece bikini that's connected with gold hoops.  She's standing straight at us, sorta; she has this Venusian curve to her pose that is casual yet sultry.  The more I look at her, the harder I get.

Finally, in first place, is Hannah, of St. Peters, Mo.  The petite spinner has long, black hair, is sporting a blue two-piece with a design on it and connected by what looks to be pearls, and seemingly has been shot at the base of a grand staircase.  She also has turned her body to the left a bit.  But damn, she still has a hell of a body on her, and she has an incredibly inviting smile.  She subverts what I like about most of the women in this month, but I think she's worth it.

So congratulations to Hannah, and to all the other half-dozen Hooters waitresses that made January 2024 a very, very good month.  I wanted to masturbate to them all after I blog post this, but I'm tired, and besides, I already did so!

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3).  It's getting to the point where it should be NBA Finals or bust for this team.  I'm serious.  They're on a four-Game winning streak -- and all four Wins are on the road.  They demolished an on-track Clippers squad in Los Angeles Monday by 21, then took both Games at Portland Tuesday and Thursday, both going away.  They went into the All-Star break (congratulations, by the way, go out to Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns and West All-Star Head Coach Chris Finch, even though they got blown out by the East because it's the All-Star Game so who gives a flying fuck?) tops in the Western Conference, the first time this franchise has ever done that.  (By the way, I may not have corrected myself from an earlier WMNSS when I said Finch is the first Timberwolves HC to coach an ASG.  Flip Saunders did coach one.  I regret the error.)  This club has reached another unprecedented milestone, so I have to both put them in the top spot and into Positive Numbers.

Coming back from the break they begin a seven-Game homestand with back-to-back contests vs. Milwaukee and Brooklyn Friday and Saturday.

#0: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -1).  I should not be putting a program that I am certain will not be an NCAA title contender this high this often.  But the grapplers cannot be denied getting above negative numbers after they finished the regular season by beating Wisconsin at the Sports Pavilion, 28-12.  Useful or otherwise, this team finished the season on a six-Dual winning streak.  The Dual with the Badgers may have been won at the outset with the first Match at 125 Pounds, when the Gophers' Patrick McKee, ranked eleventh in his class, pinned third-ranked Eric Barnett to give the U. a 6-0 lead, which they did not relinquish.  (Note: After the next Match, where the Minnesota's Tyler Wells got a Decision over the Badgers' Nicolar Rivera, they gained only two Points instead of three because Minnesota was deducted for "Control Of Mat," whatever that means.)

So now the next event for this team is the conference championships, scheduled for College Park, Md., Saturday, March 9.  Assuming Minnesota doesn't do anything at this point and beyond, am I able to ignore these guys for the rest of the Year?

#-1: Gopher baseball (NEW SEASON!!!).  John Anderson announced over the offseason that this season, his 43rd helming the Gopher baseball program, will be his last.  While I appreciate his tenure and admire his longevity, I still believe that Minnesota is a sleeping giant that would use new energy and a fresh set of eyes to capitalize on the good aspects of this program.  That being said, I have no idea how this team is predicted to fare this season.

However, they are in the middle of their opening tournament of the Year, The College Baseball Classic being played in Surprise, Ariz.  They went 12 Innings with Cal State-Bakersfield before winning Friday, 8-7, but then lost Saturday to seventh-ranked Oregon St., 6-4.  However, they came back with a resounding 11-2 domination over New Mexico last/Sunday night.

They finish up the tourney early this/Monday afternoon playing the Beavers once again.  After an exhibition vs. the Twins at their Spring Training base in Fort Myers, Fla., they'll play a two-Game series versus Northeastern, presumably also at the Twins' Spring Training Complex.

#-2: Gopher softball (Last Week: -5).  The Gophers really got affected by the thing that will impact both diamond sports this spring: Bad weather.  The club was slated to play five Games in the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational (presented by EvoShield) in Clearwater, Fla.  But being this is Florida in the late winter, weather was so awful there that the three tilts they were supposed to play Saturday and Sunday were cancelled.  They were big opponents, too: ninth-ranked Stanford, fourth-ranked Georgia, and twelfth-ranked LSU.

On one hand those were lost opportunities to paid their resume come tournament time.  On the other hand, they did play a ranked foe, fifth-or-sixth-ranked Washington, early Friday afternoon and got pummeled, 12-4.  They bounced back to beat the only unranked team they were scheduled to face over the weekend, Georgia Tech, but that was by a 12-11 margin.  Going 1-1 when more Games were cancelled over a Week than played doesn't show how good or bad a team is ... or does it?

Maybe Denton, Tex., will have better weather.  That's where the Golden Gophers will be this weekend for the UNT Invitational.  They'll play five Games: Two with Texas Tech and one each against Stephen F. Austin, New Mexico and host North Texas.

#-3: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2).  They're holding steady in ninth in the PairWise, but it was a rough weekend at South Bend, where they won in Overtime Saturday evening after getting thrashed by a score of 6-1 Friday night.  Maybe a bye weekend will do them good; they host Michigan for a pair the following weekend.

#-4: Wild (Last Week: -7).  The Mild could've made it a perfect screening Week as well as a five-Game winning streak.  They went to (Las) Vegas and beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights, 5-3, Monday in what a few people are calling the squad's best performance all season.  They followed that up Wednesday with a 3-1 Win over The Bastard Winnipeg Jets in that tiny Mullett Arena, the Tempe home for the Arizona St. men's hockey team.  In a sign of how I think there is no hockey fanbase in the Phoenix area, despite the attendant boost in prices because only about 4,600 people can fit in there for an NHL Game, the crowd had a decided Minnesota bent to it.  They then took a 2-1 lead late Saturday at home versus Buffalo, only to (yet again) allow a late Goal and then lose it in Overtime.

The league remains so, so forgiving when it comes to keeping teams in the playoff race for interest's sake.  Still, Minnesota remains within hailing distance of the final spot in the West -- four Points behind St. Louis with Nashville ahead and Seattle alongside them.  And this is a club that should be tanking for better draft position.

A pair of back-to-backs this Week.  They host Vancouver for a Presidents' Day matinee, then fly up to Winnipeg to face The Bastard Atlanta Thrashers tomorrow/Tuesday night.  They then visit Edmonton Friday and the Kraken Saturday.

#-5: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -6).  When things are going well, even small setbacks can be interpreted as positive steps.  Case in point: Thursday's eight-Point Loss at #2 Purdue.  This club, and even Ben Johnson's clubs of the previous two Years, would in no way even be expected to compete.  But while it's disheartening to see the U. have a lead and blow it, they led the Boilermakers by eight at Halftime.  (Purdue subsequently lost at Ohio St., which just fired their Head Coach in the middle of last Week, but the Boilermakers are still a very good team.)  With so much good news surrounding this team, you can easily see that as a moral victory, especially when the Gophers bounced back with an 11-Point Win at The Barn over Rutgers.  You know, when I look at Joe Lunardi's bracketology on Tuesday morning, is it possible I'll see Minnesota as one of the Next (it actually should be called Penultimate) Four Out?  What a turnaround for this program!

Home to said Buckeyes Thursday, at Nebraska Sunday.

#-6: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -8).  Missing the NCAA Tournament is now a foregone conclusion -- these players are fighting for the WNIT now.  An eight-Point defeat at Rutgers Tuesday extended their losing streak to six, a streak that mercifully ended Saturday at Williams with a 25-Point shellacking of Northwestern, which is something every team in the B1G is doing.  Unfortunately time is running short, and I don't think this squad has bounced back from the loss of Mara Braun.

Home to Wisconsin, at Nebraska.

#-7: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -4).  After getting their collective asses kicked at Wisconsin over the weekend by scores of 4-3 (in Overtime, but still) and 4-0, I am very, very troubled as to the future trajectory of this program.  This is a far cry from the team that last won it tall in 2016, and eight Years feels so long ago.  There are two benchmark programs the U. has to compare itself against, Ohio St. and the Badgers, and they went 1-7 against them, tallying a total of 5 Points.  Even more evidence that these Goofers are a clear cut below the true elite in this sport ... and below the program they once were.

Hosting Minnesota-Duluth this weekend.

Back To Vegas -- Maybe -- At 11 Tonight

OK, so this is what I was going to blog post until fatigue piled on me overnight ...

So my parents are coming home -- to the States definitely, probably only to Las Vegas -- at 11 o'clock (my time) tonight.  Thought they would be in Hong Kong a little while longer, but either they got bored or they had stuff to do.  Either way, they're in the States and it's freaking me the fuck out because there is every possibility that they'll fly home and not tell me, and the house is littered with my stuff.  Shit, there's a non-zero chance that they'll fly home in the morning.

That bullshit my parents pulled years ago, coming home and seeing the house laid out the way I want to (with my porno mags and cum towel out), traumatized me in a way that I have never healed from.  Goddamn them.  Goddamn them to fucking hell.  Because I am now frightened that they'll blindside me, and embarrass me, by coming home when I wasn't expecting them.

But I am doing anything?  No.  My stuff is still here, and while I've done some light packing, I haven't thrown anything away, and I haven't put anything in storage.  All my stuff ... fucking Christ, it's so overwhelming!  I have so much stuff, and I cannot part with any of it.  And I have gotten so depressed that my sentimentality is weighing me down that I get paralyzed.  Anything I do is not going to get me closer to my goal of going through my stuff.  And that was the plan when my parents left a month ago.

For all my trauma and the threat that they'll come home, I don't plan on doing any cleaning or storing, at least not yet.  I am banking on them being honest that they are not coming home for at least a month because they need to get their affairs in order in Vegas.  But they've lied before.  They always lie.  And yet I'm banking on them not lying because that gives me time to not panic and finally get around to my shit when I want to.

My self-hate that I haven't been able to go through my stuff like I wanted to is an issue I have to deal with later.  I need to worry about being able to go and throw everything into my storage unit when the time comes ... and if I know it's coming.

---

Oh, there are two other things I need to worry about.  One is the health of my uncle.  If something bad happens to him, of course the timeline moves up.  The other is all the alcohol I still have to consume.  If they come home when I least expect it, what do I do with it?

Goddamn ... so tired ... so, so tired.  And I should start picking up my stuff around the house because my parents are coming home from Hong Kong -- to Las Vegas, not here, but since they're in Vegas, they could very, very easily immediately take a flight up here ... and not tell me about it.

Shit, man ... I was going to make a big, important blog post about this, but I'm too fucking tired to do so.  I'm going to go sleep and see if I have enough energy to pour out my thoughts in the morning, or whenever I fucking wake up.

So someone stole my credit card information late Wednesday night/early Thursday overnight -- I should blog post about that -- and because of that, I wanted to go to Dunkin' Donuts just now to use my other credit card because that place doesn't take my other credit card.  It makes sense to me, just go with it.

Anyway, so I go to Dunkin' and get some donuts.  But because the total for those two donuts is $3.01, I suddenly get this urge to use cash because I haven't given up any coins in some time.  So I $4.01 in actual currency (with a dollar tip) even though I went there because I wanted to use my credit card, and I regretted it and soon as I left the counter.  Jesus fucking Christ, why do I change my mind like this?

I am so disgusted with myself that right now, I feel as though I need to go back to Dunkin' again tomorrow morning to buy more donuts just so I can use my credit card then.  And I keep spending piles upon piles of money -- for strippers, and now for food, and now because of my OCD and self-hate.  Oh, God. ...

Oh, And Another Thing Preventing Me From Building Up My Checking Account ...

... I have to service all my stripper girlfriends.  I arranged to see my ATF at My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Edition) back on Wednesday/Valentine's Day, and even though that fell through, I only postponed seeing her till Tuesday.  Meanwhile, on Tuesday, ******e told me that ***e* is crashing at her place through this/Saturday morning, would I like to be double-teamed, to which I said, "Fuck and yes!"  (They came by last/Friday night.)  And on top of that, Thursday afternoon I learned that ********a, the stripper who now massages me, was coming in from western Minnesota.  When I tried confirming that with her, we hastily arranged a session for this/Saturday afternoon.

So I shelled out money for sexytime with two girls yesterday/Friday, then I have a massage today/Saturday, then I'm going to the strip club Tuesday.  Three huge expenses that involve nudity over the course of four days.  No wonder why I feel like I'm broke.

Forgive me: I have re-read my last blog post knowing that I was close to dropping to the floor in unconsciousness, so tired I was around 12:30 or so, and I edited it to ensure I was saying what I meant to say.  That being said, I for the most part got my thought across.

Look, I've gotten used to the money I've made because of OT.  If you didn't want me to make OT money, don't force me to work overtime ... which is kind of what happened when I started working in the maelstrom of The Fourth Department.  Taking that potential of making that money away from me ... well, it makes me start to rethink some things.  That's all I'm saying.

So my boss e-mailed me yesterday/Thursday saying, and I think I've got this right, "Since you had overtime Monday and Tuesday, let's have you leave early today (meaning yesterday/Thursday) and tomorrow (meaning today/Friday)."  Wait ... what the fuck is this "let's" thing?  I don't think this is a good fucking idea!

That e-mail blindsided me.  But maybe I should not have been blindsided by it.  My boss continues to harp on me about OT, all the way through to the performance review I had last month.  But it seemed at the time as if he finally understood the energy and time I have to devote to do the job right and get all the forms I'm asking information for processed once I get answers to my questions.  Also, and he was a bit candid about this during my performance review, but he is under pressure from his boss or bosses to make sure I don't accrue overtime.

With that being said, I hate being told the day of work that I am supposed to leave early that day.  Beyond the surprise, though, I don't like that, basically, I am being told how much money I can make.  Maybe I shouldn't be shocked.  He has told me to leave early when the work that day is light.  But I don't remember being told I have been cut early that way.  And that bothers me.

Maybe my rationale has nothing to do with what happened yesterday/Thursday, but I have gotten used to racking up OT.  When I started this job, I was only working 40 hours a week.  That was fine because I didn't know any better.  But then I got walloped by The Fourth Department, and after a lot of hemming and hawing, I realized I had to stay late to do the job properly.  That's overtime, and I have been cranking out hour after hour of OT and receiving remuneration for it.  If that remuneration stops, it feels like someone is just arbitrarily taking back the money I was making for my hard-earned work.

Potentially losing money I, frankly, have come to expect, has been weighing on my mind so much that ... you know, I'm tired, and I want to go to bed, and I think I am going to just let that last half-line alone. ...

And I'm Completely Lazy, Too

So a snowstorm hit last/Wednesday night, the first real one of the winter, actually (4 1/2 inches, according to the yardstick I used to get annually at the State Fair).  I am glad I postponed seeing my ATF at My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Version).  But does that mean I can't go out?

Well, actually, it should.  I still have so much shit lying around, and there's no telling when my parents are coming home.  So, I could have used this snowy night to pick up my things, read through old papers, organize and possibly throw away shit, you know?  But ... AMC Theatres is doing a smart thing by allowing its showplaces to screen art house films that have been nominated for Oscars.  Moreover, when they are screened (the thing is is that these movies are shown usually one day a week, one screening that day, and it appears as though the day is random until showtimes are released every Friday, and I am guessing this is only going on until the ceremony), it's only five bucks.  AMC sells tickets for $5 on Tuesdays, but for these art house flicks, it's $5 any day.  Last/Wednesday night they were showing The Holdovers, and even though it began to snow real hard over the evening and I missed the last ten minutes of The Conners, I'm glad I went because it was an excellent film.  The first time an Alexander Payne movie had heart, to be honest.

This decision, however, reinforces my epiphany that, even though I had six months of my parents being out of the house, I was never, ever going to get around to even beginning my grand plan of finally doing something about all the stuff I have accumulated.  Yeah, I spent an hour shoveling snow.  But I could have stayed home and looked through my shit.  Nope, I wanted to see a movie instead.  I am too unmotivated to do a damn thing until I absolutely have to.  And since I don't have to quite yet, that stuff is still going to be strewn everywhere around the house.

I'm a failure.  But I gotta be me, I guess.

Man, I'm Such A Pussy

I arranged to see my ATF, ******a, at My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Edition) last week.  It was supposed to be today, Valentine's Day, and it was going to be special because she's my Valentine, you know?  (Also, I think the best way for a loner like me to spend Valentine's Day is at a strip club, because it's romantic!)  I texted her, and she was cool with it.

Little did I know that there is going to be a snowstorm tonight.  Not a big one; one-to-three inches, they're saying.  But seeing as that we haven't had much experience driving in the snow this winter, I have a long drive from work to the strip club and then from there back home, my tires need to be replaced (should blog post that soon) and I'm getting old, and I just am too scared to take that drive because of what might happen.  So I texted ******a back and asked if we could postpone.  She said alright, Buddha bless her.

But I remember the last time we were supposed to get walloped with a snowstorm and not only was it not as bad as meteorologists forecasted, there was no snow at all.  Honestly, if something similar to that happened with this snowfall, I'll gladly change my mind again and see ******a tonight if it's possible.  I don't want to be a pussy, but I'll change my mind only if we dodge yet another bullet of snow.

God, I don't know what's gotten into me, but I have been so frickin' tired at night lately.  In fact, right now I am going to bed, so this is my blog post.  Zzzzzzzzzz. ...

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -1).  I highly doubt they're a championship contender.  Far from it.  But after coasting a Win in their Duel at Illinois Friday, 28-12, and sextupling Purdue on the road yesterday/Sunday afternoon, 36-6, this group of grapplers has won five in a row, and that long a streak is more than enough to put them in the top spot of this Week's WMNSS.  They finish the regular season at home against Wisconsin Friday night.

#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -5).  Sure, it was home vs. Penn St., which is a good team.  But they painted back-to-back 3-0 Wins on The Nittany Lions to drift up to eighth in the PairWise, and Justin Close was the Goaltender for both Shutouts.  Still doubt they'll make The Frozen Four, which is being held at The Xcel Energy Center, but they've done more than enough to be to make into the NCAA Tournament, where every team will have a chip, a chair, and a chance.

At Notre Dame for two over the weekend.

#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -2).  "The dog with the bone is always in trouble" is a slogan I saw on a t-shirt from a long-ago once-popular brand whose name I don't remember.  The Western Conference is tight.  The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics, who had been battling with the Wolves for tops in the conference, is now fourth in the West, but only a Game behind.  Meanwhile, The Bastard Buffalo Braves/San Diego Clippers and Denver are now half-a-Game behind ... Minnesota, who, despite inexplicably dropping an Overtime decision at crap Chicago, responded by going to Milwaukee and drubbing the Bucks (who probably kept it at third gear for the tilt) by 24.  That they're still in first place despite some glaring weaknesses with Turnovers and Fourth-Quarter play is a miracle.  And now they have traded for Point Guard Monte Morris, a man who I saw one writer speculate should be traded from Detroit to the Timberwolves.  Morris was with Denver when Timberwolves President Tim Connelly was with the Nuggets.  Morris is known as a PG who protects the ball.  And the team only gave up a 2030 Second-Round draft pick, Shake Milton and Troy Brown, Jr. (who, to be fair, lit it up in the Fourth Quarter back in November to beat The Bastard Sonics) to get him.  Perfect!

The club will finish their road trip at the Clippers tomorrow/Monday and a two-Game series at Portland before the All-Star break.

#-4: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -3).  Swept a home-and-home with St. Cloud St.  But the roadie was only a 1-0 Win.  And hey, it's just St. Cloud St.  What matters way more is a two-Game set at Wisconsin this weekend, and I'm scared that the U. will be lambs to the slaughter.

#-5: Gopher softball (NEW SEASON!!!).  Even while we're living in The Winter That Wasn't, I'm somewhat shocked that the college softball season has already begun.  As per usual, the U. begins in hotter weather, this season in San Diego to take part in The SDSU Season Kickoff.  There, they went 3-2, taking both Games from Cal-Santa Barbara and one tilt with host San Diego St., which happened to be ranked 24th.  On the dark side, they got shut out by third-ranked Stanford, 3-0, and lost to 25th-ranked Kentucky, 3-2 in eight Innings.

I have no idea how experts say their season is going to go.

This screening Week's Games, as part of the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational (presented by EvoShield), are being held in Clearwater, Fla., and while there is a breather of a matchup against Georgia Tech, check out the other four contestants in this tournament: 14th-ranked LSU, seventh-ranked Washington, sixth-ranked Georgia, and third-ranked Stanford, the same team that shut out Minnesota, 3-0, Saturday.  This may be the strongest group of teams the U. has ever faced in the same before-regular season tourney.  So I fear that the Gophers will drop four of even all five Games they play in that tournament.

#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4).  This Week, this team taketh and giveth away.  On Tuesday, they came back from a Second Half deficit to eke out a 59-56 Win over Michigan St. at Williams Arena.  But yesterday/Sunday afternoon the U. choked on a 20-Point lead at Iowa and lost, 90-85.  In that defeat to the Hawkeyes, Dawson Garcia hit the floor hard and left the Game.  They weren't the same ever since.  That broke their winning streak at three.

The road won't get any easier.  They go to second-ranked Purdue Thursday, then host Rutgers Sunday evening.

#-7: Wild (Re-Entry!).  Getting back from the All-Star break (in which Kirill Kaprizov participated), the club picked back up with a pair Wins, at Chicago and, on a night where Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was feted for becoming the Goalie with the second-most Wins in National Hockey League history (he passed Patrick Roy, but no one is going to catch Martin Brodeur), he was in the pipes in St. Paul to beat the team he will enter The Hockey Hall Of Fame sporting, Pittsburgh.

Sadly, this squad has teased us like this before, stringing together a couple Wins before sliding with a streak of contests where they don't pick up victories in regulation.  They are currently five Points behind the final playoff spot in the West -- that's what you get when you get a Point if you achieve a tie after regulation and only get one Point if you win -- but they seem to be perennially five Points behind all season.  Moreover, they remain top-heavy and depthless.  There will be another losing streak that should finally convince Bill Guerin to initiate a fire sale.

At (Las) Vegas and that rinky-dink community rink in Tempe, then home to Buffalo Saturday.

#-8: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -6).  Yeah, unfortunately, this team has been obliterated after the loss of Mara Braun.  An 11-Point Loss at Michigan St. followed by a 24-Point shit-kicking at The Barn versus Ohio St. has extended this club's losing streak to five.  Forget the NCAAs; this club is now trying to reach any postseason tournament.

It is weird how the women's and the men's basketball squads at the U. have switched places since their seasons started.  It looked like Dawn Plitzuweit was the missing piece to finally unlock the talent on the women's team, while Ben Johnson looked like a dead man walking after two dreadful seasons with the men.  But as the future of the men's program looks kind of rosy as they have gotten up off the mat, one injury (albeit to an important and great player) has sunk women's.  If this losing keeps up, we'll really have to start wondering about the future of the women's team.

At Rutgers Tuesday, home to Northwestern Saturday.

Super-Specific Predictions For Super Bowl LVIII

This is an extremely hard Super Bowl for me to figure out.  I don't think these are two of the greatest teams to ever reach the big Game, but you break down the units and it appears to be strength vs. strength -- the Chiefs love to blitz while Brock Purdy is great against the blitz, for example, or Patrick Mahomes is deft at throwing the ball inbetween the hash marks but San Francisco is fantastic in defending against such passes.  In cases like this, you're forced to pick a strength, but then you realize that both teams might split their strengths, so you're still left without an edge.

I will tell you right now that I think that my super-specific predictions, and my final score, will be wrong.  Well, they've been wrong every year since I started predicting, but I have even less confidence in what I will be predicting this year than previous ones.  It's that close, and that should portend an even, tight Super Bowl ... but I'm not predicting it'll wind up like that.  I'll tell you my score, and why, at the end.  Trust me, you're going to hate it.

I am affected by recent news, especially when it comes to injuries.  And so I am shook (when it comes to predicting the SB, I'm not a huge Chiefs fan) to hear that Kansas City Left Guart Joe Thuney is out for the Game because of a torn pec.  That isn't good, and that comes from word two Weeks ago after the AFC Championship Game that rushing Defensive End Charles Omenihu blew out his ACL in that Game and he won't play today/Sunday.  Frequently, the healthier team wins this Game, and it looks San Francisco is healthier by far.

And yet ... goddammit, I see these holes with the Chiefs and I am still picking them.  Two over-arching reasons.  One, they have the better Quarterback.  Patrick Mahomes hadn't played on the road in the postseason until this Year, and he's played good-to-great in winning at Buffalo and Baltimore.  While I don't want to damn Brock Purdy by saying he's a game manager, the 49ers have gotten to this point because of the skill players on the squad, and not just Purdy.

Secondly, I think the Chiefs have the better Head Coach.  Andy Reid has been here before, and he has skillfully navigated this team this season as it morphed from one led by its Offense to one led by its Defense.  Meanwhile, Kyle Shanahan has to shed reputation as a choker when it counts.  He was the Offensive Coordinator of The Atlanta Falcons blew that 28-3 lead to The New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI, and he was Head Coach of the Niners when he blew a 20-10 Fourth-Quarter lead to Mahomes and the Chiefs in SB LIV four Years ago.  I think it's apparent, given the noted strengths and weaknesses of both teams, what both clubs should do in order to win.  I'm largely shaping my prediction on what I guess you could call "best practices."  I just don't know if Shanahan will do that or go rogue and give the Super Bowl away again.

Might as well start with my Super-Specific predictions:

1) Both teams excel in running.  And in a case where strength meets weakness hand-in-glove, both teams are poor in stopping the run.  So, if both teams are smart, this Super Bowl will largely be a ground affair.  And that means that 49ers Running Back Christian McCaffrey should have a productive Game (and if the 49ers win and win in the way they should, McCaffrey should be the runaway winner of Most Valuable Player).  At any rate, he should rack up around 125 all-purpose Yards, split between running and receiving (he will be utilized a lot coming out of the backfield) and will score one Touchdown.

2) Meanwhile, the Running Back room for Kansas City should generate 100 Yards rushing, split between Isiah Pacheco, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, and Jerick McKinnon.  (By the way, it's still up in the air whether McKinnon plays.  For KC to win, he needs to play, at least to pass block Nick Bosa, et al.)

3) I'm going back and forth as to the number of Sacks will happen in this SB.  Both QBs are very good at eluding pressure, and if they pass it'll be very close to the Line of Scrimmage, so those Passes will come out quick.  However, Thuney injured means that a Niners interior Defensive Lineman, either Arik Armstead or Javon Hargrave, should be able to make stops in the backfield.  Moreover, while he's not hurt, San Francisco Right Tackle Colton McKivitz has allowed more Sacks than you want from an Offensive Tackle.  That should give opportunities to edge rusher Chris Jones to rush the QB, and maybe George Karlaftis, too.  (And this is where losing Omenihu hurts Kansas City.)  All told, I think Mahomes and Purdy get sacked a little more than most people are expecting, especially as the Game goes on and both teams are antsy that they aren't matriculating down the field like they had hoped.  I saw one place that says the Over/Under for total Sacks in Super Bowl SVIII is 4 1/2.  I can see five Sacks in this Game, and possibly more.

4) With that being said, both teams will try to open up the field in the Second Half after a tight, controlled and low-scoring First Half.  That should open up the potential for Sacks.  That should also mean that, at some point, a deep ball will hit.  I predict both teams will complete two Passes that go for at least 20 Yards.  For the Niners, those catching those explosive plays will be McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel.  For the Chiefs, it'll be Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce.

5) By the way, Bill Vinovich will be the Referee for this, essentially, all-star crew for the Super Bowl.  I hear he's a "have at it, boys" type of official, so I will predict no Pass Interference penalties will be called (even though I know the Referee is not the official who would throw those flags).

6) There is a decisive advantage when it comes to Special Teams.  The Chiefs should wind up with better average Field Position than the 49ers.  Moreover, I predict that KC Kicker Harrison Butker will make all his Field Goals (I'll say two) while SF K Jake Moody, like he did in the NFC Championship Game two Weeks ago against Detroit, will miss one ... and I'll say he'll miss it just before Halftime.

7) Also in Special Teams, I'll throw out an X Factor: Richie James, KC kick returner.  I think he'll get one Kickoff past Midfield.

8) Both Reid and Shanahan have come under criticism for their Game management.  There is general consensus from analytics that both Head Coaches don't go for it one Fourth Down as much as they should.  Sorry to not pick on Reid, but I can see Shanahan doing his part to undo his team in a third Super Bowl.  He will, once again, get conservative late in the First Half, opting to run the ball and, finally, settling for a Field Goal -- which, as I said above, Moody will miss.

9) Oh yeah.  Travis Kelce: 75 Yards.  He may get a Touchdown, but I can see San Francisco opting to make him disappear.  The Chiefs will use a lot of 13 personnel (in NFL parlance, that means 1 Running Back and three Tight Ends) against a Niners Defense that hasn't seen that a lot this season.  San Fran might get torched from that formation.  But I can see Justin Watson or Noah Gray picking up a TD instead of Kelce.

10) Finally, in a tight Second Half where both teams are trading Punts but Kansas City has been able to push ahead because of Butker's FGs, Shanahan will finally have no choice late in the Game to air it out.  Purdy, who has not been able to scramble for Yards because the Chiefs have decided to pen him in and make him win Super Bowl LVIII in the pocket, throws one final low-percentage Pass that gets intercepted by, oh, L'Jarius Sneed, who'll return it all the way for the final score of the Game, which will be:

Super Bowl LVIII Final Score Prediction: Kansas City 27, San Francisco 14.  So I came up with that score because of the number 13.  I'm no numerology fan, but with Taylor Swift being possibly the most important person at the Super Bowl, I had to notice all the times that number crops up here.

People has this article on how that number haunts this Super Bowl like a ghost.  Like the 49ers -- 4 + 9 = 13.  Today, the date of the Super Bowl, is 2/11 -- 2 + 11 = 13.  This is SB LVIII, or 58, and 5 + 8 = 13.  San Fran is the 1-Seed in the NFC while KC is the 3-Seed in the AFC: 1 and 3?  Swift will attend boyfriend Kelce's 13th Game today.  And while she didn't fly directly from her four concerts from Tokyo to Las Vegas (reportedly she touched down in Los Angeles and will reportedly eventually get to Vegas by car) a flight from Tokyo to Reid airport in Las Vegas is, you guessed it, 13 hours.  And, oh, Swift's favorite number is 13, by the way.

That's too fucking freaky to ignore.  So yeah, I am saying that the spread will end up being 13 Points.  I'm actually more sure of the final margin than which team will have more Points.  At any rate, since the Quarterback wins everything, Mahomes is the MVP.

Make of this what you will.  Just have fun and enjoy the Game!

Goddamn Authenticator

I could be wrong, but right now, I think the Authenticator application sucks.  I downloaded the app when it looked as though both of my Hotmail accounts got compromised.  It seemed like a decent, simple and common sense way to protect the security of my e-mail accounts.

I don't know whether it's because I forgot my passwords or what, but I can no longer verify my identity through Authenticator like I could have when I initially started using it.  Right now I am, I guess, "awaiting review," whatever the fuck that means.  Man, I forget one password and I am now in two-step authentication jail.  And the ironic thing to all of this is that these applications I thought would secure my information is now trapping me.  If I stop using this app, do I lose all my info?

I think Authenticator said there is a waiting period of a month before ... uh, I don't know what happens after a month.  At any rate, next week this waiting period is over, at which point I ... fuck, I don't know.

Oh, another irony: I have one of my Hotmail accounts on my phone, and I still access that, no problem.  But when I try signing on through my laptop (which, by the way, I am bringing back to the computer repair shop today/Saturday), I go through the Authenticator hoops.  This type of "security" is so complicated that, at this point, I'm willing to risk getting hacked because it's so much easier to just live with bad security.  I'm serious.

I Think The Goddamn Laptop Is Still Broken

Got my computer back, finally, after work yesterday/Thursday.

Trying it right now.  It is slower than it used to be.  Worse yet, the touch capabilities no longer work.  I tried rooting around and got into settings for Tablet Mode.  The damn laptop says it doesn't have touch capabilities.  Oh, like hell it doesn't!

Yeah, I've become reliant on using the touchscreen.  It had it before, but it doesn't have it now?  Dammit, I have to take this back to the shop again.

Oh, I really need to look into getting a new laptop, don't I?

The Clusterfuck That Is Paying Homeowner Assessments

I don't like the fact that my parents have, like, two dozen properties they own because that means there are two dozen paper trails to follow and the potential for up to two dozen problems to crop up at any time.  Yeah, I think the money is good enough to justify the investment, but I don't really know that because my parents are the ones who made the decision to buy these properties but, as time goes on, it has become my responsibility to track all the costs.

Those costs include assessments, the fees you have to pay because nearly all of these properties fall under the purview of a homeowners' association (HOA).  The biggest goddamn problem with them, as I have learned after dealing with this issue year after year, is that they don't tell us if and if so by how much do these assessments increase for the new year.  Around December Mother always gets into a panic over which properties haven't sent their coupon books (with the new and usually increased assessments) before the first monthly installment is due, usually around the middle of January.  So, like I think it has been in years past, after waiting till after Christmas, Mother tells me to just write checks for some amount that she thinks will cover, say, six months' worth of HOA fees to these properties.

I have been trying to track these checks that I sent early last month.  There were four of these problem properties, and after checking my parents' account online, there seemed to not have been a posting for three of them.  So I have been calling this HOA customer service line off and on the past couple weeks trying to see if they have received them.  In the meantime, I went to the bank to see if they could track them down from their end.  Of the three outstanding checks, I know that two of them were endorsed.

So, I had to go back to the HOA.  After leaving a couple voicemails, I finally had time at work yesterday/Wednesday to call them during business hours.  The first call took so long I had to cut it off to get back from break.  I was able to complete my investigation with a second call after I got off from work -- early enough because I was working (and will work today/Thursday) in My Main Department.  The bad news is that this second call took so long that it ruined my plans on picking up my laptop, which finally got done yesterday/Wednesday (I'll pick it up today/Thursday).  The good news is that I think the person I spoke to straightened out the checks and will finally get them posted to their respective properties.

Well, there are two downsides to that, actually.  One, these mistakes will take at least a week to correct.  Really, a week?  These HOAs are so not on the ball; this is really disappointing.  And another, one of the checks is still "missing."  I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that Mother told me to send that fourth check to an address different from the other three.  Moreover, the bank told me that check hadn't been cashed yet.  I have to go to the bank after work today/Thursday.  If it's still not cashed, I think I can stop payment on it.  I received the coupon book for that property last week; I can write a new check for the right amount and send it to the correct address.

But all of this bullshit could have been avoided if these goddamn motherfucking HOA vipers would have gotten their shit together and sent their coupon books before the end of last year.  Then, there would be no guessing, and no potential for mailing payments to the wrong address.  This is tiring and maddening.  I hate that my parents are making me do this, but these fucking HOA people are not helping by dropping the ball like this.

Well, Shit, Now It's Getting Fixed Today. Maybe.

So I called the computer repair place yesterday/Tuesday and they said the goddamn motherboard still hasn't come yet.  It's in fucking Rogers somewhere.  I thought they told me it was already in the state over the weekend.  They anticipate it'll come tomorrow and apparently popping a motherboard in isn't too long, so I'm supposed to get it back today/Wednesday.  Sure.  I'll believe 'em.  Why the hell not?

This is getting fucking ridiculous.  My life is largely on hold because I don't have my laptop.  I realized that I do all of my online payments through that, and I can't do it right now, and there are some bills that are coming due.  Like I've said before, I am kind of captive to this apparent held-up shipment.  But this has gotten so delayed, in my opinion, that I don't think highly of this repair shop, either.  I'm not certain that they'll get this done today.  I'm afraid that I will have to call them again when I don't see a voicemail from them and (after my call goes to VM and I'm told the mailbox is full even though these guys run a fucking business and it's been full ever since I called them) they'll say, "Uh, it still didn't come.  I don't know why, man."  Is it possible that they're holding my laptop hostage?  After a week and half without it, I'm not gonna say no.

Not In A Good Place Right Now/Running Away From My Problems

Sorry, y'all, but I'm not in a good place right now.  I was just a scatterbrained, introverted zombie all at work today because my mind was not just somewhere else but everywhere else, you know?

Casting a pall over everything is the health of my uncle.  I'm just really, really scared that he can go at anytime.  But -- and I hate to be so fucking superficial about this -- I'm also paralyzed by the recent news that my parents are coming home ... to the States, apparently, not necessarily here.  They're "back" in about two weeks, and remembering how those royally fucked me by coming home without goddamn telling me -- man, I'm so fucking scarred by those two assholes for life -- they might as well be home.  And so I need to start cleaning up my house of the stuff I wanted to get around to but haven't.  The house is a mess, so I need to arrange one of my stripper girlfriends to come clean.  But I have not one but two swords of Damocles hanging over my head: Not just the possibility (maybe remote, maybe not) that my folks are coming home when they want to, but that my uncle can suddenly pass ... and then my folks will be coming home suddenly.  There are a lot of what-ifs that have my absolutely panic-stricken.

And that's why, instead of going home to do some chores such as cleaning the dishes or washing the clothes, I went out to have a drink and then dinner, then come home directly to sleep.  That's why I'm up now.  That's why the Zynga Poker streak has reset back to Day 1/10%.  And that's why, presented with everything I feel like I should be doing now, I'm doing absolutely nothing.

God, I fucking hate this all.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -1).  Maryland and Northwestern are by no means programs of any stature.  Still, I have to give props to the grapplers for kicking ass this weekend: 30-6 over the Terrapins Friday, and a 39-0 shutout of the Wildcats yesterday/Sunday afternoon.  I don't think I've ever seen a shutout in a Dual before.

Now, does this mean Minnesota is a contender for the overall NCAA title?  No.  Anyway, they're on the road over the weekend -- Illinois Friday, Purdue Sunday.

#-2: Timberwolves (Last Week: -2).  I'm kind of splitting the difference here for the Wolves.  They had a 3-1 screening Week, and so I decided to sandwich them inbetween two squads that had undefeated Weeks, largely based on the whole picture of the Wolves right now.

Their sole blemish was an 108-106 Loss to lowly Orlando at home Friday.  Once again, the Woofs allowed a team to outscore them in the Fourth Quarter; in this case, O-Town outscored them by ten.  On the bright side, they crushed Dallas and Houston at home and, most importantly, defeated The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics last Monday in Oklahoma City, 107-101, based on clutch play-making and scoring -- or essentially the opposite of what happened vs. Orlando.

So, as of right now, they are tied with OKC on record but are technically second because the second tie-breaker (the first is head-to-head and the clubs split their four showdowns against each other) is Division record.  However, congratulations go out to Chris Finch: By beating the Rockets at Target Center last/Sunday night, he gets to coach The Western Conference All-Stars (which will include Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns) over Thunder HC Mark Deignault because the second tie-breaker when it comes to picking the Head Coach for the All-Star Game (the first is, again, head-to-head) is Conference, not Division, record, and the Timberwolves beat The Bastard Sonics in that category.  I'm sure that Finch is the first Wolves HC to ever lead a team in the ASG.  Then again, while it is a privilege, I wonder if he would be better off taking that weekend off for mental health.  Also, the ASG is in Indianapolis, and while there are a lot of good things there (a lot of them being restaurants), I don't get how Republican a Midwest state Indiana reliably is.

They begin a five-Game roadtrip this Week with stops in Chicago and high-powered Milwaukee.  Note: New Bucks Head Coach Doc Rivers will coach the East in the ASG.  Boston actually has the best record in The Eastern Conference, but there is a rule that no one can be Head Coach in back-to-back All-Star Games, and Celtics HC Joe Mazzulla did it last Year.  Also note that Rivers has just replaced the ousted Adrian Griffin as Head Coach in Milwaukee.  In a matter of 11 Days, he has gone from analyst for ABC to coaching in All-Star Game.  What a league!

#-3: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -3).  Yeah, they swept St. Thomas at home over the weekend by a combined 8-3, but it's St. Thomas.  So what?  They aired the Saturday contest on Fox 9+ (awful analysis, BTW), and they put up the WCHA standings at one point.  There are eight teams total.  Six of them are the six Minnesota schools (namely the ones in Minneapolis, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato, Bemidji and St. Paul).  The two schools not in Minnesota, Ohio St. and Wisconsin, are leading the league.  That is the most goddamn Minnesota sports thing ever.

Home-and-home with St. Cloud St. for the weekend.

#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -5).  I have to agree with CBS beat reporter and man who is always singing the college basketball gospel, Jon Rothstein, in saying that there is tangible progress Head Coach Ben Johnson is making with this program.  His club squandered a lead late at The Barn Saturday against Northwestern, but handled their business in Overtime, winning 75-66.  The previous two seasons, Minnesota craters.  Not this year.  That isn't a sign of championship squad, but it is progress, and that is something I didn't think I'd see from Ben Johnson.

Hosting Michigan St. tomorrow/Tuesday night, at Iowa Sunday afternoon

#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -4).  An Overtime Win and a Shootout Loss at 4th-ranked (and I'm surprised by the instant turnaround Mike Hastings has done over in Madison) Wisconsin.  The U. currently sits ninth in the PairWise -- should be safe, but I'm not 100% certain.  Hosting Penn St. for two over the weekend.

#-6: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -7).  The worst kind of news befell this program on Monday: Mara Braun, star Guard and the club's leading scorer, is out for the Year after having foot surgery.  Her team was on the skids already, and Wednesday's 16-Point drubbing at home versus Penn St. extended their losing streak to three Games.  Worst of all, Charlie Creme, women's b-ball bracketologist for ESPN.com, now has the Gophers as the Last (everybody says "First," but that's wrong; there are way worse teams than Minnesota that won't make the tournament, so why is the U. "First?") Team Out.  They started out the season nowhere near The Big Dance, but not too long ago Creme had them as an 8-Seed.

And now they're fighting for their postseason (let alone NCAA tourney) lives as they visit Michigan St. tonight/Monday night and host powerful Ohio St. Thursday.

Still Ain't Back

Called the guy to whom I gave my laptop yesterday/Saturday.  Nope, still not fixed.  Motherboard still hasn't shipped.  He says the tracking number gives him a current (as of yesterday/Saturday) location of Minneapolis.  Furthermore, if I heard him correctly, he says he's closed tomorrow, so the earliest my lap can get fixed is Tuesday.  I might not be out of work by the time he closes on Tuesday, and if I'm working in The Fourth Department Wednesday as well, it might be Thursday when I get it back.

I'm not going to call it a shitshow yet, but it's a shitshow.  He said a week, and a week has passed, and I still don't have my laptop back and in perfect working order, and I think I've waited long enough.  No, I don't think this is his fault; I take him at his word that the piece should have come in already.  Doesn't mean I have to be happy about this.  At all.

When I Really Think About It, Yesterday/Saturday Was One Hell Of A Day ...

... and I really didn't have to do anything.  I did a lot of things, though, and dammit, a lot of things happened to me.  I felt very happy and very sad, very hopeful and very doubtful, and there were things to be proud of and things to be worried over.

I need to throw one thing from yesterday/Saturday on this blog post, some meat on the bone to justify it, so I'll probably mention the most important thing: My aunt came over the house in the late afternoon to tell me my uncle (her husband) was in the hospital over the holiday for over a week.  He's back home now, but he is very, very frail.  I don't know if she was trying to tell me without trying to tell me, but I'm scared that ... well, I don't want to say, but you know ...

I think that's all I want to share right now.  Maybe later today I'll blog post about other, less important, more hopeful things that happened to me yesterday/Saturday.