Waitress Babes

So the place my alumni group has gone to watch football Games has been one we've gone to for, oh, almost a decade.  There are many drawbacks which, I believe, prevent more people for showing up for our events.  It's in downtown Minneapolis; parking is a pain and crime, however apocryphal it is, is a deterrent for alumni to come down.  Also, as someone who has "run" the group for many years now, it's very important to not only watch the Game but to hear it.  While at times we have been able to hear it, these days it's crowded out by the music that's blaring over the speakers.  Finally, as an alumni group for a university over 2,000 miles away, our attendance naturally is no match for any group from, say, Wisconsin or Michigan.  If we are ever to see a Game at the same time as one of those schools, we will get crowded out.

That's not to say that that would be a deterrent to going to this bar to watch Games.  I mean, it happened just now as we are trying to watch our alma mater's women's basketball team advance through the NCAA Tournament.  We had to bogart a table while Iowa St. fans slowly took over this place to watch their Cyclone men's team play.  But, we were still treated well and we got to watch (if not hear) our Game.  We would face the same problem, probably, if we went to any other place in the Twin Cities.  Add the unfamiliarity of a new group asking if we could be a regular presence at their bar (with albeit a small and unsteady attendance) and the possibility that we wouldn't be able to get sound there, and I conclude, again, that while the place we have now is by no means perfect, it is the best of what may be an imperfect lot.  We were bar-hopping like no one's business before someone found this place.  We went through six, maybe seven different spots before we found this one.  Either the place we found closed, or the situation somehow was so bad that we just hated going back there season after season.

I continue to get bombarded with inquiries asking if we could move somewhere else, to which I state my reluctance to move, given that we have built up some equity with this bar, but asking those who ask to find a better alternative.  If they can find a spot that gives us what we need (central location, safe area, free parking), I will consider it.  There has been no serious alternative so long as I have headed this group.

With that being said, there is a secret reason why I want to stay with this bar.  For the past several years, the waitresses that work there have been smokin' hot.  Bare bellies, slim figures, all that.  To wit: The girl who has served us the past two game-watching events has got a nice ass and emphasizes her cleavages by sticking her pen in her top.  And last week, I don't think she was wearing a bra because I could see her nipples through her top!  (She's a really good waitress, too -- smart and quick to get you what you want.  But having a rocking body is a big plus.)  She's is one of, uh, four gorgeous babes who work here.  And not to say that there aren't hot waitresses at any other place we'd go to, but I don't know if they'd be as hot as the ones here.  Add that we know each other and, well, you understand why I don't want to leave!

Hey, Sweet Things! Ugh, Sweet Things ...

Once I realized I'll be really late for work, so late that it wouldn't make sense to eat dinner when the screening of the Ghostbusters movie (which I had bought for Wednesday until I realized I was going to the Timberwolves Game that day) was coming up, that I decided to take advantage of the free foods the fast food apps were offering me because it's my birthday month.  I went to Burger King for dinner so I could use some of to-be-expired points on a cheeseburger, then I went to Potbelly to get my free shake.

Also, I got a Coke to wash down my cheeseburger and mozzarella sticks at BK.  I did not finish either the Coke or the shake by the time I had to go to the theater.  (I was late, but luckily there was another screening of the film 40 minutes after the showing I intended to watch.)  So I came home and, luckily, neither of my parents saw me sneak in two cups of sugary foods.

However, Father came out of the master bedroom to tell me that Mother made what essentially is called "sugar water."  The bowl they made for me was special: Mother had made this spicy ball made out of mung beans.  I actually saw it the day before and thought they had bought and peeled potatoes.  Nope.  And I was shocked that it was spicy hot.  And, yes, it was sweet, though not tasty.  So just now I had this bowl of sugar water, and then I had to drink the rest of my Coke (tropical flavor), and then finish the oreo shake from Potbelly.  In other words, I think I may now have diabetes.

Might Need To Move Up My New Job Timeline

For three of the four departments that I am trained in, we have a monthly meeting.  Well, we used to.  It's been infrequent the past, oh, half-year.  In fact, I don't remember the last time we had a monthly meeting.  These days, usually, my boss just sends out an e-mail saying our meeting has been canceled; anything he would say during the meeting could just be typed out in that e-mail.

But for his latest e-mail cancellation, he typed out something that really, really caught my eye.  Near the end of his message, he said: "Maybe next month I'll have something to say."

You know what I think he means by that?  We're all going to be laid off.

Look, I've been pissing and moaning about how my boss is micro-managing my hours to make sure I don't garner overtime.  But there has been a lot of cost-cutting and belt-tightening within the past, oh, year or so that I have finally pieced together.  For example, The Main Department has been whittled down to, pretty much, nine people every day; when I started work there, it was 15 or so.  There used to be three people in filing every day; now, it's two people three days a week and one person the other two (although someone can come in and help if the work needs it).  We get an e-mail every morning giving the number of forms that we need to deal with every day; it's not as high as it used to be.

Oh, and finally, after work yesterday/Thursday I have overheard that the person who works filing second shift is taking today/Friday off.  Usually that means that someone in first shift is asked to work second shift to cover for her.  Not this time; people in second shift have been told that filing will not be staffed tonight/Friday night.  I know that this person has taken the occasional day off over the previous several months.  And I don't remember the last time my boss has asked for people to substitute for her.

The god damnedest thing about all of this is that the work continues to get done.  We must have rocket-boosted our productivity because there hasn't been a new person coming in to any of the departments I work in in about a year.  And yet I still feel as if my boss and other higher-ups are scraping by and trying to find ways to cinch the metaphorical waist even further.

Hey, I might be paranoid and reading way too much into what my boss said in that e-mail.  But I don't like this.  I think I can see the writing on the wall.  And I say there is a non-zero chance that we will have a meeting next month where my boss is going to say that we are "transitioning" into other departments, but they will only need a few of us.

I have to freshen up my resume, for chrissake.

No One Calling

Tuesday evening I was expecting to talk to this guy from this group from which someone nominated me to a position on the board of directors, anonymously.  I had my earbuds in and everything, waiting for him to call.  But he never did.

He did, however, e-mail me.  And he said he did call.  So I apologized and swore I would find a new time to speak with him about this position.  And then I went to my list of Google Voice calls (do y'all have Google Voice?) and saw that this person did call me, at our appointed time, and left a voicemail.  He didn't screw me over or forget.  If anything, my goddamn phone doesn't work because it should have rung when this guy called in and it didn't.  Seriously, I was on my phone, scrolling through social media, for an hour waiting for him to finally reach out to me.  So it's the phone's fault I am not hearing the phone ring, even though it's, you know, a cellphone.

Another Case Of Horrible, Horrible Timing

In importance it doesn't rise to the level of working on the day my uncle died.  But considering I have another scheduling conflict almost a month after that, I feel as though the universe is conspiring against me.

My alma mater's women's basketball team is in the NCAA Tournament.  They're doing good.  Real good.  Like, they're in the Sweet Sixteen and they have a chance to get to the Final Four.  If they make it that far, the National Semifinal will be on Friday and, Buddha help me, if they win that one, the title Game will be Sunday afternoon.  My alma mater hasn't won anything I could see on TV (I am glad they have won in water polo and beach volleyball, but I have never watched that), and so if the dream comes true, I'll be able to see it at my favorite downtown bar alongside my alumni friends.

However, and I am still mad at myself that this is yet another case where I don't put two and two together until it's too late ... well, I was watching another tournament Game on Sunday and ESPN brought up their schedule graphic, where they detail the dates of future rounds of The Big Dance.  The Final Four Games are next Friday, April 5.  The championship is set for the afternoon of Sunday, April 7.  And I realize, then and there, that I am taking a flight on Saturday, April 6 to get ready for the total eclipse.

Well, this is a shitty pickle, isn't it?  One once-in-a-lifetime event (I have talked about the total eclipse I was able to see in 2017, but this is supposed to last way longer, so I consider it to be its own once-in-a-lifetime event) had to be fucking happening at the same time as a possible once-in-a-lifetime event.  And I don't know what to do.  I am thinking, desperately, if I could do both -- namely host a championship Game-watching event in downtown Minneapolis in the afternoon, go directly to the airport for a late flight that night, get in, go to my hotel for a cat nap, then drive off to parts unknown to catch the eclipse.  But that is cutting it way too close.  Plus, I think I have reserved my reservations for my hotel and rental car so that I can't back out (need to check on those).

So the only other option, and I think I'm going to get my diploma rescinded for saying this, is to hope that my alma mater loses before the title Game.  Of course with every succeeding round in a tournament you are going to face tougher competition.  I don't think my squad's Regional Semifinal is going to pose much of a problem Saturday afternoon (by the way, our bar is the same bar Iowa St. goes to, and if they win their Regional Semifinal Thursday, it's very likely their Elite Eight Match will tip off shortly after ours), but they might lose in the Regional Final Monday, and there's going to be a hell of a matchup for the National Semifinal next Friday.  But, if they win those three tilts, and they have a better-than-fighting chance to do so ... well, either I stay true to my school, watch the title Game with my buddies and miss my flight, or make my flight and risk not seeing history being made with my fellow alums.

Goddamn ... any other year, any other year would be so much better than the clusterfuck I might have in my hands now.  If life is a series of conflicts like this, I just ...

So some anonymous motherfucker wrote me in as a candidate to be basically the PR person for this group I'm in.  I did not volunteer nor run; some asshole just wrote my name in.  And so the guy who is running the whole group inquired about my interest.  And like a suck-up, I told him no ... but I'll listen to him make his pitch.

That pitch is tonight/Tuesday night.  I am scared that he won't take no for an answer.  But I have too much on my plate, and I respect this organization too much for me to take on this job and then do it in the half-ass manner I know I will do it.

I'm in a no-win situation.  Why did someone write in my name?

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#0: Timberwolves (Last Week: -1).  A 3-1 screening Week, and the only Loss was a three-Point one at home on Tuesday to a Denver club that got to Minneapolis before the Wolves because the Timberwolves were flying home from Salt Lake City after taking both ends of a two-Game set at The Bastard New Orleans Jazz Monday evening.  And even then it was only a 115-112 setback after the Nuggets led at Halftime by 15 and Anthony Edwards missed a Three-Pointer at the buzzer that would have sent the contest into Overtime.

It's a highly-competitive top of the Western Conference as Minnesota remains in third place, although only a half-Game behind The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics and a Game behind the Nugz.  For that reason (and because the teams below the Wolves didn't have great Weeks), I bob the Wolves above negative numbers but do not put them into Positive Numbers.  But I still encourage them to do well as they sandwich a return tilt with the Nuggets with home Games versus Detroit and Chicago.

#-1: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -3).  In their final non-conference series of the season, they go to San Francisco and win two-of-three.  Finish at 10-10 as they start conference play this weekend at Iowa.

#-2: Gopher softball (Last Week: -4).  I don't consider Maryland to be a softball power.  And yet the U. went to College Park to begin B1G play and dropped the series.  The pivotal Game probably was the first one, on Friday, where they lost to the Terrapins, 7-6, in nine Innings.  This may be a prime indicator of how good, or not, this squad is.

Three-Game series at Illinois over the weekend.

#-3: Wild (Last Week: -2).  Well, any faint chance the Mild had of getting into the playoff were dashed this screening Week by two defeats: A 6-0 ass-kicking at Los Angeles, and a 5-4 Overtime Loss at home to St. Louis where they blew yet another lead heading into the Third Period.  They sit six Points behind eighth-place (Los) Vegas, but the Golden Knights would need to collapse -- and the Mild would have to climb ahead of the Blues -- to get that birth.  Let's not delude ourselves.

(And by the way, I see the Mild sporting their third jerseys against the Blues, but they still have the Wild logo.  Fuck it, bring the North Stars back -- the name, the logo, the history, everything!  Enough with this "homage" bullshit.  Wild is a stupid name, and if you don't claim North Stars as our own, those motherfuckers in Dallas will.  Fuck it, they already have because no one in this cuckold town wants to fight for what was stolen from us.  Why in the hell did I buy that Mild sweater in North Stars colors?)

Home to San Jose and Las Vegas.

#-Infinity: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: Re-Entry!).  The wrestling team finished 22nd in the NCAAs.  Twenty-second.  I don't know if I've ever seen a Goofer grappler club place so low in the championships before.  (Side note: Penn St. won the whole shebang, again.  But they more than doubled second-place Cornell.  In fact, they racked up 100 more Points than the Big Red, 172.5-72.5.  OK, this is getting fucking absurd.)  The best-placing U. player was Senior Isaiah Salazar, who lost the Fifth Place Match at 184 pounds.

There's not a whole lot to say about this program.  And I think that's a sure sign of its irrelevance.

Can A Blizzard Give You PTSD?

I'm staying in all day today.  There's a blizzard today, a bad one, maybe up to ten inches of the wet snow kind.  Starting to come down hard now when I thought it would arrive earlier.  May mess up the time ... well, I have to face it, times I plan on plowing the driveway.

I had that big alumni thing followed by a game-watching event yesterday.  Went to the NCHC Championship Game in St. Paul in the evening.  Those two events I had been organizing for some time, and yet the thing foremost on my mind yesterday was this blizzard.  It's a bad one, this snowstorm, by far the worst of the This Winter That Isn't/Wasn't.  And I fear that will be so bad that it kind of ruined my day yesterday.  At least it occupied so much of my mind yesterday that I often didn't enjoy the moment in front of me.  The volunteering event went great, and the group that watched the Game with me was more than I expected -- and we won.  (Wish the Game were closer.)  But all I could think of was hoping the snowplow works (I haven't had to use it once this season), when I need to plow, if too much of the snow was going to fall overnight so that I won't be able to leave for work in the morning, etc., etc.

My day, my plans and my mind revolved around this one event, this blizzard.  It's like being in a toxic relationship.  And so I got to thinking: Can a weather event like a snowstorm give you PTSD?  To extend it broadly enough, can there be events in life beyond the catastrophic (as in more than a death in the family or a divorce) considered so traumatic that it alters your life and should be considered for some sort of, well, treatment or something?

During the Game yesterday/Saturday, my friend spoke about her daughter getting T-boned a couple weeks ago.  She is now anxious; she's scared about going through intersections for fear some drunk asshole will blow through the stop and run into her.  That's understandable.  I kind of feel that way about my car now.  Even though it hasn't given me trouble since the timing chain was replaced, I'm always scared that the indicator lights are going to come back on.  Hell, I'm still scared that I'll see the overheating light, or the low tire pressure light.  It never goes away, at least not for me.

Now, with a weather even like a blizzard, it's here and (eventually) it's gone.  Winter eventually ends, too.  But it's a season.  Winters come back.  So, in that sense, wouldn't the trauma of needing to deal with snowstorm after snowstorm, even if it only happens one part of the year, still be considered something you can't just "deal with?"  I'm starting to think that isn't totally absurd.

Apparently, I Hurt Someone's Feelings And I Didn't Even Know It

So I've got a big to-do today/Saturday that's alumni-related.  I have been talking to a fellow alum who is part of the organization we're volunteering for.  It's been tough finding time to talk to him, but he is marketing this app with this organization, and we've been volunteering with that organization for a while, so I talked to him online.

And then we didn't talk.  I thought about speaking with him as our event was coming up, but I had work and then the jobs at Target Center and then my uncle died and then my parents came home ... just a bunch of shit rolled up on me, and so I thought to reconnoiter with him just before the event, or just about now.

So yesterday/Friday afternoon I see that he e-mailed me.  He talked about a bunch of stuff about his app and thanked me for helping him troubleshoot it.  But in the end of this long and involved message, he said something that has thrown me for a loop.  He said that I removed him from "the group," but he doesn't hold any animosity towards me.  And he hopes we can work together in the future.

I have no fucking idea what the hell he's talking about.  And if you can place yourself in my shoes, please understand the panic I instantly felt when this ... guy/fellow alum made this ... declaration/accusation out of the blue.  I expected to see this guy for a big meeting before our volunteering event is about to begin today, because he is supposed to make a speech touting this app for which he is shepherding.  I had been looking forward to seeing him.  Now, I can't afford to avoid seeing him.  And apparently, I hurt his feelings.

And I don't know how.  I don't know what "group" he is specifically talking about.  I have an e-mail group of alumni to which I sent out messages about events, such as this one.  I sent one out earlier this week, and I checked that his e-mail address was one I sent it to.  I sent another one, about a game-watching event I'm doing for women's basketball after our event, and I made sure he got that, too.  Is he talking about the e-mail list?  Because I simply can't believe I removed him.

But after sleeping on it, he might be talking about volunteering for the event itself.  One of the things we did while on the Zoom was fiddle around with the organization's reservation system.  He put his name in our group.  I thought he was just doing it to begin a troubleshooting exercise.  I swear he never said anything about actually wanting to volunteer with us.  Also, I swear that some time after our online meeting and I started putting names onto my list of reservations (which is something you're supposed to do for this organization), I did not see his name anymore.  I assumed he took himself off the list.  I know it's in my nature to leave things as they are.  Again, I was under the impression that he was just putting his name in there just because, but I would not remove his name unless I had other people who genuinely wanted to volunteer and I had no more spaces available.  At that point, I would have e-mailed and asked if he really wanted to volunteer with us, and if his name was just an exercise, whether it would be OK if I took his name off the reservation.

That, however, didn't happen.  Again, his name just disappeared, and I thought it disappeared because he deleted his own name.  But if this is the "group" he says I removed him from, I don't know how his name got deleted.  So I frantically replied to him about an hour after he apparently sent this e-mail, profusely apologizing for what I could have done wrong (even though I have done nothing wrong) and hoping we can iron out any differences or misinterpretations when we see each other this afternoon.  He hasn't answered back.

Well, fuck, this is going to be awkward as shit.  I need to hope to hell I get there early enough, and he gets there early enough, for us to talk about what did or didn't happen.  Otherwise, I am going to run into some guy who's mad at me for fuck knows why.  This is drama I don't need in my life, Lord. ...

Mother Comes Home Just In Time For A Goddamn Snowstorm

I was white-knuckling it on my way down to the airport and back.  It may have been the weather conditions, but being on tires on their last legs (so to speak) did not help my confidence.  I made it, even though it felt a few times like I was going to slip off the highway.  Still pissed that this guy my parents know fucking cancelled on me when I made an appointment with him to change my tires.  Then again, maybe I don't want my new tires to go through a snowstorm just as it starts its run ferrying my vehicle.  Maybe this can wait until after the winter.

Oh, and winter is back.  Maybe several inches by morning.  Then a whopper, probably the worst (and actually first) big blizzard of the winter -- which, ironically enough, is falling after The First Day Of Spring.  At least half a foot.  I'm glad I don't have to be anywhere on Sunday, when it's supposed to be falling and falling fast.

Mother got home just in time for this.  My parents are avoiding Minnesota now because they hate the cold and because they can.  And, ironically enough, after going through The Winter That Wasn't, both of them have come back just as we finally have winter.

I want to say that it's bugging me that I'm not alone anymore, but frankly, it's not bad right now.  I felt sad that Father may have been lonely, but now that he has someone, namely Mother, they're not lonely anymore.  And while I may regret saying this, seeing some life and noise inside this house is a welcome change.

Mother screamed at me through my bedroom door.  I thought she wanted me to do something for her.  Instead, she gave me a few Hard Rock shirts they bought during their trips to Asia.  Aw.  Mother will ask me for something annoying tonight/Friday night.

No Anti-Picks, This Year And Maybe Ever

There are many reasons why I'm not doing them this Year and maybe never again.  I shall list them:

1. One of my places of employment frowns upon even the perception that I am gambling, and I really like this job, so I think I will demure as long as I am working for them;
2. My uncle's death has cast a pall on things;
3. I have been busy planning Game-watching events for my alma mater's women's basketball team;
4. I went to a MNUFC Friendly last/Wednesday night; otherwise I might have made time;
5. And my previous Anti-Picks haven't gone so well.

So there you go.  Sorry about that.  Although, maybe I'll change my mind.  Who knows?

Songs Playing The Minute Of My Birthday, 2024

This birthday was different because I was working on Sunday and therefore couldn't dash into my car and turn on the radio.  So, just for this time (I think) I turned on the SiriusXM app and looked for songs I like.  I am trying to remember the channels they were on, but I forget which U2 song was playing on U2-X Radio (if it was a U2 song).  Damn, my memory rots in 72 hours.

But I remember two songs:

On Alt 2K: Lorde, "Green Light"

On The Pulse: Beyoncé, "Texas Hold 'Em"

Cut Lines, March Madness 2024

According to the NCAA Men's Basketball Selection Committee:

Team 64/The Last Team In If This World Were A Just One: Nevada

Team 65/Should Be Called The LAST Team Out: Boise St.

Teams 66 & 67/Also Playing The Play-Ins (in order): Colorado and Virginia

Team 68/Luckiest-Ass Team: Colorado St. (by the way, that's three teams from The Mountain West Conference involved in these cut lines)

Team 69/Actual LAST Team Out: Oklahoma

Fuck this ... my boss wasn't at work yesterday/Monday, but my supervisor was, and she was hounding me to get shit done in The Fourth Department on time.  But hey, it didn't happen, and I left a half-hour later than I "should have."  It's work, for fuck's sake.  I'm dedicated to doing the work, and not watching a clock.  But my boss is and now my supervisor is.

I'm close to done.  I'm serious.  I feel this is micromanaging, and I'm not going to work under these conditions.  If it weren't for March Madness and this alumni event coming up and then doing my taxes and my vacation and then the NFL Draft and possibly picking up test scoring work, I'd be jumping at a chance to find another job.

Maybe I should start looking for a new job right now anyway.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

I'll be honest with you: I don't feel like going all out on doing a full-fledged WMNSS this Week, either.  I got done with four days of working at Target Center, and I need to start working on two important e-mails that should be sent out, at the latest, by tomorrow/Tuesday.  Plus, I think the grief over the death of my uncle is still lurking deep inside me.  But instead of just listing the teams last Week, I think I have enough time to blurb about them this Week:

#0: United FC (Last Week: 0).  I had a good Production Manager who didn't keep us till the wee hours of the morning.  In fact, each day we were released in the early evening.  That meant that I didn't have to sell my ticket to Saturday's Match against LAFC and that, in fact, I could go to it.  (I was meaning to sell it, but it didn't sell, no matter the price, which I find odd because the opponent is one of the most known in Major League Soccer.)

I am glad I went.  Eric Ramsey finally took the helm of the Loons Saturday night, but he didn't change much -- the 4-3-3 was still in place, the youngsters started, and he used his subs judiciously and well.  Moreover, MNUFC won a regular-season Game over Laugh-See for the first time ever -- 2-0, albeit through broken plays (the first on a broken clearance off a Free Kick, the second a bad glance off a United FC deep ball), but hey, you have to capitalize on the mistakes the other team makes.  Even better, Emanuel Reynoso and Bongokuhle Hlongwane subbed in in the Second Half (and Bongi scored that insurance Goal).  They are shedding their early injury bug, and now they sit atop the Western Conference with ten Points and remain undefeated at 3 Wins-1 Draw-0 Losses.  That deserves another screening Week above negative territory.

It's essentially a bye Week, although they have a Friendly versus some club called St. Patrick's Athletic Wednesday evening.

#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -5).  Shit's getting real now.  They took both Games they played this Week (at both The Bastard Buffalo Braves and The Bastard New Orleans Jazz), but they remain stuck in third place in The Western Conference behind The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics and Denver.  They play a second Game in Utah tonight/Monday night, immediately fly home to host the Nuggets late tomorrow/Tuesday night, then host Cleveland and Golden State over the weekend.

#-2: Wild (Last Week: -4).  The hole they dug themselves in earlier in the Year means they have no margin for error.  And while they wound up a perfect three-tilt homestand with Wins over The Bastard Winnipeg Jets and Anaheim, they needed to take two Points at St. Louis Saturday ... and, preferably, prevent the Blues from getting any.  They had to storm back, unfortunately, to send their contest into Overtime tied at 2 and then eventually a Shootout, which the Mild eventually lost.  That helped St. Louis leapfrog in front of Minnesota in the hunt for that last playoff berth.  And they remain five Points behind (Las) Vegas for that spot, and they have only 14 Games in order to get that.

This Week they visit Southern California for Games on back-to-back Days vs. Anaheim and Los Angeles, then they come home to host the Blues.

#-3: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -3).  The weather has been so good that the U. decided to open up Siebert Field early and schedule a midweek one-off Game against St. Olaf, which they won, 5-1.  They then went to Elon and lost two-of-three over the weekend, salvaging only the getaway Game, 9-7, and even that took 10 Innings.  (For what it's worth, they lost the other two Games by only one Run.)

Another Wednesday matchup at home, this one vs. Augsburg, then a weekend series out against San Francisco.

#-4: Gopher softball (Last Week: -1).  This is not good.  In their last non-conference tournament of the season, The Garnet And Black Invitational, they lost four-of-five.  Their only victory was the middle one, 14-4 over N. C. State which was mercy-ruled after five Innings.  Two other foes, Boston University and host South Carolina, are ranked in at least one poll.  And the final two are Big Ten schools against whom they're evidently playing non-con contests, Michigan St. and Northwestern, and they dropped those, too.  If they can't beat those conference opponents, how much of a chance do they have versus the rest of the B1G?

Finally begin conference play at Maryland for three.

#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -2).  They allowed Michigan to come into Mariucci and eliminate them in the B1G Tournament Semifinal, 2-1.  Guess it doesn't matter; the U is eighth in the PairWise.  Still irksome that the Wolverines continue to have a lot of success against the Gophers, though.

Sunday is the reveal for the bracket.  This time next Week, these guys may be at -Infinity, just like:

#-Infinity: Gopher women's hockey & Gopher men's basketball (Last Week, respectively: -7 and -6).  I don't want to waste much mental bandwidth on these two.  Just want to say that the Quarterfinal Loss by the lady icers at Clarkson, even if it went to Quadruple Overtime, is yet another sign that this program is regressing.  It's been now five Years since they made the title Game and eight years since they won it all.  This fucking team never stood a chance.

And meanwhile, even though there were greenshoots that thankfully sprouted during the season, it wasn't enough to spark a miracle run to the NCAAs, and they were ousted in the Big Ten Men's Tournament Thursday afternoon vs. Michigan St.  But they accepted an invitation to the NIT, so that's ... good, right?  (By the way, the Gopher women's b-ball team also accepted an invitation to the WNIT.  Will we cover either club as they go through their respective tournaments?  Hell, no!  It's the NIT!!)

Bracketology 2024

According to the Bracket Matrix, which says it's done aggregating and updating before the Selection Show (teams are listed in order):

The Last Four In In A Just World: Northwestern, Mississippi St., TCU, Florida Atlantic

Play-In Games, Or Who Should Really Be The Top Four Seeds For The NIT: Colorado, Michigan St., Texas A&M, Oklahoma

Actually, Sir, They Really Should Be Called The LAST Four Out: St. John's, Virginia, Indiana St., Seton Hall

The Passive-Aggressive Dance With My Boss

You know, at this point I shouldn't be surprised that my boss is making me cut hours so I don't do overtime anymore.  And yet I found myself shocked and even angered that I was told to leave so that I would stay at 40 hours one week, and then to also be told last week to do the same even though I was taking days off and therefore, theoretically, he could balance out the hours I actually worked with paid time off so it would add to 40.  But no, for some dumb damn reason I can only work 24 hours last week.

The week before last I was in The Fourth Department all week.  Try as I might ... no, that's a lie, I was at work back there until all the work was done, I accrued OT -- not a lot, but enough so that I know he noticed.  He can be brusque, and I think he demonstrated that to me by the way he walked without veering from his path if we were about to cross paths, or by giving me the silent treatment until he absolutely had to speak to me.  To be clear, I am chafing most of all by the edict (that I am certain he is following according to the wishes of his boss or bosses) that I am not supposed to work overtime.  It doesn't matter how nicely my boss is treating me as he cuts my work shift short; I think I do good work but it takes some time, and I hate being told to leave my work so that I don't cost my company time-and-a-half.

So I have to admit I am dreading this coming week.  I am in The Fourth Department again all week.  And I know he's going to pressure me to just work 40 hours.  But you know what?  I think I can also play this passive-aggressive game.  I will not cheat to work past 40 hours.  But knowing that working more than 40 hours is an inevitability (or just about: One week earlier in the year I barely reached 40 hours because we had no work), I will not pop a blood vessel in order to leave at my appropriate time.  I know for sure that my boss is dreading my time at work in the Fourth Department this upcoming week, however, and I do not want to anticipate how he'll broach my overtime pay.  Hell, he might blindside me again and yank me out of that position for one day just so he can save our company ... what, $25 an hour he has to pay me in total, including OT?  Regardless of what happens, there is a burgeoning test of wills between my boss and I.  A part of me wants to stay and win this battle of wills.  Another part of me is a lover and not a fighter, and wants to take the course of action that kicks up the least amount of trouble.  I know which camp I'm in.  I think.  Maybe.

Is Father Lonely?

Compounding the death of my uncle, I was told by Mother on Sunday, when Father was desperately coming home to see his younger brother before he passed, that Father fell in the middle of one night and got a gash on his head so bad that blood was gushing.  He had to go to the emergency room to stop the bleeding.  So she told me to watch him, just in case.

I am frickin' working like a dog, at my normal job the past workweek and then at Target Center for the basketball tournament this weekend, so me watching him consists of genuinely asking if he's OK and texting him in the middle of the day.  He seems fine.  I actually am more worried about his mind than his body, but both appear to be OK ... although he left the kitchen light on a couple hours ago.  I hope to Buddha he didn't slip and fall somewhere and I didn't hear it.  I'll go downstairs to make sure he's just in bed.

Mother is still in Las Vegas, so unless he has a more active lifestyle than I remember him having, Father is stuck in the house all day alone.  Realizing this, I have been thinking about him -- not just whether he's safe alone at home, but whether he's, you know, alone.  I am now wishing Mother was here with him.  I still remember them fighting like cats and dogs because they've been tied to the hip for nearly all their lives.  But right now, that feels like a better alternative than what Father probably is doing right now, which is being bored to death.  Hey, when you're married to each other for so long, each other's all you've got.

Thankfully (I think), Mother's coming home soon.  They can be with each other, keeping each other company, annoying the hell out of each other.  That will lessen my anxiety, for sure, and hopefully they will be safer once they'll be stuck at home together.

Aunt Is Doing ... OK? (I, However, May Be A Prick)

I will confess: Once I heard that my uncle had died, I harkened back to the time about six weeks ago, when my aunt dropped by the house and told me not to talk to him because he hadn't been feeling well, and if I asked him how he was doing, he was not going to tell me the truth.

I regret not talking to him to this day, and it will haunt me forever, just like I regret not ever visiting my friend who was convalescing out in Edina for months and who died after having surgery.  In the aftermath of knowing he had passed, I wondered about the conversation we had.  She's a little daft, and I didn't quite understand why she told me not to speak with him.  In fact, I had wondered if she had been hiding the full extent of the deterioration of his health.  If, for example, he had been in the hospital for a couple weeks and didn't tell me or the rest of the family, I would be very, very upset.  I had asked that if things went south with my father to let me know ASAP.  And a part of me, to be honest, didn't think she did.

But then I scrolled through my Google Voice messages Wednesday night and saw that my aunt did in fact leave a VM for me.  There were two reasons I didn't get it till now: 1) she called me overnight Saturday/Sunday, which was when I got back from the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament around 9, crawled into bed around 9:30, woke up around 5 or so, then immediately drove back to work at Target Center; and 2) how I set up Google Voice means I don't get voicemail through the phone.  Any messages left for me I need to go through my Mail app to get, and that's if I remember to hear them, and seeing as how I come across half a dozen messages from time to time, I don't remember a whole lot.

Anyway, she said that she needed to get ahold of Father ASAP because my uncle ... well, you know.  Eventually Father heard about his little brother -- not by me, of course -- so she was able to reach him like she wanted to.  But beyond not seeing him before he died, I really, really hate myself for not answering my aunt's VM when I should have.  And now that what's done is done, I didn't think reaching out to her now is the best idea.

Eventually, however, I had to -- not only to let my aunt know I did get her voicemail, and not only because contacting her is the right thing to do, but because my sister asked me to.  The shoe is now on the other foot; instead of me being mad at her, she now had every right to be mad at me.  I really didn't want to get yelled at, but it isn't grown-up of me to complete avoid her upon one of the worst moments in her life.

I really should visit her at their house.  I think a call would be in order.  But I had to buy pizza and get home last/Thursday night in time for dinner with Father.  I need to take some time talking with my aunt, and I couldn't do it if I was racing home.  But, I split the difference and texted her while I was at Target Center in the afternoon.  I didn't hear from her.  I thought it was either she was still in mourning and/or she was still pissed at me.  However, after I got home, I got a text from her saying she was fine.  And I noticed that she was liberally using the exclamation point.  Maybe it's nothing, but from the tone of her messages back to me, she didn't quite sound like she was depressed over losing her husband of over 40 years on Sunday.

I said I wanted to talk to her.  She gave a time of tomorrow at 2.  That doesn't work, for I am back at Target Center for the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament this weekend, and then I work in The Fourth Department all next week, and then Mother comes home Thursday night and I have to pick her up, and then there's that huge alumni thing Saturday afternoon ... and yet I said I will try for next week.  And that seems to be a "promise" I will have to push back to the following week.

You know, the more I write up how I'm dealing with my uncle's death, the more disappointed in myself I become.

I planned on going down to Bloomington to get my tires changed by a guy my parents know.  It was supposed to be this morning.  But this dude just fucking cancels on me.

This is the last free day I have for the next, oh, week and a half.  It's kind of why I took this day off.  (Well, I took this day off because my stripper girlfriend was supposed to come and clean the house, but don't tell Father.)  I have work through the weekend, then I'm in The Fourth Department all next week at work (and don't fucking get me started on that bullshit), then I have to pick up Mother from the airport, and I have this huge alumni thing the following weekend, and who knows if there will be a funeral for my uncle.  This was the fucking day.  And he fucked me.

Do my parents really know this guy?  Maybe Father can take the car down there for me.  Otherwise, I don't know why I can't just take my tires to the local shop and get them changed there next week.  I know they won't fucking cancel on me.  This is all bullshit. ...

I got cut from work today and I am pissed.  I'm taking the rest of the week off, so I thought I could stay all day and work until it's done.  I'm going to be working under 40 hours this week anyway, so what does it matter if I stay ten hours, right?  Well, my boss says they can't do that, so I might as well work only 24 hours, and since I worked ten yesterday, I worked only six today.

Honestly, I'm just fuckin' done.  I am trying to work here, OK?  I'm willing to work.  But now, not only is he making sure I don't work more than 40 when I work all week, he's now making sure I work only 24 when I work only three days.  What the fuck, man?  I need to brush up on my resume.

Pilot Light Was Out

Should have suspected something when I washed dishes in lukewarm water.  But I tried to take a shower and I cranked up the handle and it was still cold, so I suspected something.

The fucking pilot light was out.  Thankfully, water heaters these days don't ask you to light up the end of a piece of paper and risk lighting yourself on fire.  But the first time the flame wasn't the I expected but an out-of-control orange, and it was making these hissing noises that made me think the goddamn thing was gonna blow.

Thankfully, I waited.  I see a gauge outside the water heater with a blinking light indicator.  It's been blinking blue all this time, which means it's operating normally.  And I just checked; the raging orange turned into a raging blue, and then it has become to solitary, humble blue light I remember seeing when the water heater is acting normal.  The hissing sound's gone, too; according to the only Internet site that hasn't tried to scare the fuck out of me, that hissing is coming from the condensation as the heater is trying to get itself up to optimal temperature.  Once it did, I think, the hissing stopped and the flame quieted down to what it now is.

Now, I can take a shower.  Hopefully before the house blows up.

After my uncle died, I don't think the family needs two more deaths the very next day.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

So my uncle did die yesterday.  At the tail end of the Game I was covering, in fact.  Don't want to get too deep in it now, but I now truly regret not saying goodbye to him when I had the chance.

For that reason, I will list the local teams for the screening Week, but I won't say anything about them.  It's been a day, and I just want to go to bed because I have work in the morning.  I probably will go back to the old format next Week, and I might even touch on some of the things that happened this past Week next Week.  I hope you understand.

#0: United FC (Last Week: -1).

#-1: Gopher softball (Last Week: -3).

#-2: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -5).

#-3: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -4).

#-4: Wild (Last Week: -7).

#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -2).

#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -6).

#-7: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -8).

#-Infinity: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -9).

Got word from my cousin that my uncle is dying.  And I am working at the Game.  Such horrible timing.

God, My Boss Is Gonna Be So Pissed

Supervisor came to me yesterday/Friday afternoon and told me that the target time to leave, in order to be kept to 40 hours for the week, was 3:30.  Endeavor to leave at that time, she said, but I understand if work continues to come in.

Well, I hope my boss feels the same way as my supervisor, because I didn't leave at 3:30.  Nope, I left at 5.  And I wasn't milking it, either.  Answers came in.  Someone told me that I needed to e-mail a company to fix a report.  And I had end-of-day stuff that I have to do to make sure I didn't screw anything up.  Bing-bang-boom -- 90 minutes.

I know that I am being surveilled at work, through keystrokes and websites.  I did look up directions to the speakeasy I wanted to go to after work because I needed a goddamn drink (or two) to ruminate on how fucking pissed my boss probably will probably be that I racked up 90 minutes of OT.  And I hope that he isn't so pissed off that he looks through what I have done to make sure that my 90 minutes were spent actually working.  I keep saying that the work is the work, and I can't not do it because I have to leave "on time."  But I don't know if my boss will accept that, or will feel (from the people above him) he can accept that.  He might need to micromanage.  Or snoop.  And that will make work even harder to deal with.

Chafing (For Lack Of A Better Word) Continues

So my boss wasn't even at work yesterday/Thursday, but my supervisor came in and told me she was monitoring my hours so that I wouldn't go over 40 hours this week.  Goddammit, this is chapping my hide.  Work in The Fourth Department has been relatively light all week.  (All year, actually.  I've been comparing the workload I've been receiving recently to the paperwork I got this time last year, and there's been a slight downtick -- as if we've gotten less and less work.  I wonder ...)  And I still have someone looking over my shoulder assuring I'm not getting overtime.

Like I continue to say, if there is work there, I have to do it.  Conversely, fine, if there isn't work, then I'll cut out early, that's fine.  I thought I was going to do that yesterday/Thursday, but something came in last-minute, and so I stayed an extra half-hour.  I have already stayed an extra half-hour already this week so, even though I thought I could whack my time so that I would just about be even going into today/Friday, I am now over by about an hour.  Which means that, if they're going to be supercilious time misers about it, I'm leaving an hour early today/Friday.  That totally ruins my plans of going to a speakeasy to celebrate myself for getting through another whole week in The Fourth Department.  That place opens at 5, and I don't know what to do with myself if I could theoretically get home by 3 instead.  Besides, what happens if work keeps me past 40 hours?

This shit really is bothering me.  If they're checking my time down to the minute, even though my work in that department is (and should be) dictated by the work that's coming in ... I'm really, really not liking how I'm being micromanaged.  I really don't.

Self-Destructive Much?

I was in a cool part of town to get my face shaved for my gig at the tournament this and next weekend.  I got out of work early, but they couldn't move up my appointment, so I was basically had to dink around the area for 90 minutes.  Went to the back bar at Young Joni, where I had a pizza and two drinks.  Hadn't been there in a long time, and I'm glad I squeezed myself back in there.

After my shave, I didn't want to go home because there was nothing there for me.  Well, I guess I could clean the house, but that ain't no fun.  But I didn't want to drive anywhere else.  I really wanted to go to Oro by Nixta; I have had their tacos at MNUFC Matches and they fantastic.  But it seemed crowded in there.  I could have gone to the 331 bar for another drink, but I was all drinked out.

So instead, I went to Anchor Fish and Chips.  I had their fish and chips once -- take-out during the pandemic.  Ah, good times.  Great food there, and it was great this time around, too.  But I had already eaten a pizza; what made me think I could eat a second meal?  But I tried, this time with the fish in a sandwich.  Unfortunately, the pizza made me too full.  Plus, the fish was huge, and the sandwich was sloppy.  I was able to drink my Coke; everything else I asked for a box (actually a tin) to take home.

And since I had been drinking, I dropped dead asleep at 9:30 and woke up at 2.  Knowing fish doesn't exactly keep as leftovers, and since I'm wide awake now, I'm heating all of this up in my oven.  And I'm washing it all down with some leftover muscato that's been in the fridge for a week.

So I ate -- and paid for -- two meals for dinner last night, and now I am eating leftovers from that second meal three hours before I have to wake up for work.  I think I can answer my own question that I put in the title: Yes, I am self-destructive much.

I just had to send out a mass e-mail to a group, and I am reminded that when I do, I occasionally also have another Internet window up where I peruse porn.  And I get deathly, deathly afraid that somehow those two windows will "cross," you know, so that one of the people from my group will e-mail me back and say, "You know, we know you were looking at porn when you sent that e-mail."  And I would be mortified, absolutely mortified.

Good thing I'm just being paranoid about that -- right?

Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: February 2024

Another very, very good month.  It's grown on me over the past 29 days, in fact.  It may be residual good vibes from the fantastic January, but of the ten babes that adorn the month just passed, I want to point out seven of them for their bodacious bodies.  Seventy percent is an excellent hit rate!

I'll go up from seventh to first, even though I'm not set on the order even now and really, all of them are damn fine:

• In seventh place is Megan, out of Lone Tree, Colo.  Long, dark hair, sporting a pink two-piece bikini (as are nearly all the waitresses for the month Valentine's Day's in, of course).  Hers is a small photo, but she seems to be shot closer to the camera than the girls here usually are, which puts her pale, arched body, just so twisted to our right, added sexy emphasis.  Also, her face is a natural one, by which I mean that she doesn't look like your typical model.  Which makes her even more hot!
• In sixth place is Raleigh's Sara.  Long, blonde hair, white two-piece bordered in pink.  Not a fan of her clutching the straps of her bikini top because it squishes her breasts (I'm sure I liked it for other Hooters women in other shots in other months, but it doesn't work for me here).  But she's got gorgeous alabaster skin and she is directly facing the camera.  Her body is bangin'.
• In fifth place is Abbey, of Boca Raton, Fla.  Very long and curling brown hair that cascades to the bottom of her rib cage, pink two-piece bikini.  I love how she arches her back; it gives her toned body extra character.  The only downside is that her Rapunzel hair is draped over her left tit.  Not that you'd see it anyway, but it's a distraction.
• In fourth place is Becky, hailing from Fort Smith, Ark.  Long brunette hair, wearing a whitish-pink two-piece whose bottoms are tied in bows.  She's posed in a quarter turn to her left (our right), and she too is arching her back, giving her boobs and waist extra oomph.  However, her hair lays to the side of her left tit, giving the viewer a clear look at everything!
• In third place is The Main Girl, Kiana, of Odessa, Fla.  Her long, brown hair is wet and therefore bunched up together into a pseudo-ponytail.  Red two-piece bikini, by the way.  This is a first, at least I think: She is shot half-submerged in a clear pool, and the photographer is shooting her from the outside, half-above water and half-below.  That creates expectations of a "peek-a-boo" shot of a hot babe showing you her goods while no one else detects a thing.  That's obviously not true; you can see only her red bikini bottom.  But the effect is there, and for a Hooters picture, that qualifies as erotic!
• In second place is Kyleie, out of Mesa, Ariz.  I am not normally a fan of lying-down shots because many of the best parts of a woman (breasts, stomach) is covered up.  But goddamn, this chick has long, blonde hair that rolls on endlessly like a wheat field, and she is so fucking tan she looks like a bronze Egyptian statue.  (Her statuesque figure is no joke; check out her Instagram -- she lifts!)  Oh, and you can tell that she has some heaving knockers by the cleavage she generates from her position.
• Finally, in first place is Skyler.  Long but straight black hair, pink two-piece, her hands are resting on a rock.  She's cute and all, but honestly, I am putting her in first because of one incidental reason: She works out of the Mall Of America.  I was there when the five babes who work there were signing the '24 calendar, so Skyler signed around her photograph.  But I have to confess: I had never seen Skyler before that signing event, and I don't think I've seen her there since.

No matter.  Congratulations to MOA's Skyler and all the other fantabulous servers for Feb. '24.  I will jerk off to all of you in due course!

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: United FC (Last Week: Positive Numbers).  Since I didn't see a lick of last Week's 2-1 Win over Austin FC, I was looking forward to these new Loons as they hosted Christian Ramirez and the defending champion Columbus Crew Saturday afternoon.  And damn, I like how they played!

When you switch Managers, the new one has to be the diametric opposite of the old one.  If not, then why make the change, you know?  Adrian Heath was known for playing defensively, playing his favorites, and not making Substitutions even when they're obvious.  That led to seven seasons of sometimes punching above their weight, but Year after Year of falling way short of the MLS Cup.  I assume Interim Head Coach Cameron Knowles is implementing the tactics of newly-hired gaffer Eric Ramsey, but even if Knowles is just doing his own thing until Ramsey gets his work visa (there's a possibility Knowles is managing the next Match, Saturday at Orlando), I like what I see.  MNUFC pressed and played a high line.  Moreover, Knowles is using the youngsters on the club (although I have to say that Sang-Bin Jeong was playing like an absolute beast before being subbed out).  I don't have any designs that these guys will hoist a trophy, but the swashbuckling style I saw was a breath of fresh air.

Now, Columbus Striker Cucho Hernandez put the Crew out in front in the 59th Minute when the Loons appeared to relax because they assumed play was going to slow down so that a couple of their subs could come onto the pitch.  No matter; one of the youngbloods scored a Match-tying Goal at the death:

Tani Oluwaseyi -- it would behoove Loons fans to know how to pronounce his name -- is a 23-Year-old Nigerian whom United FC made its First-Round pick in the MLS SuperDraft of 2022.  He spent some time with the minor-league side MNUFC2 in '22, and last Year he was loaned out to lower-division outfit San Antonio FC.  Well, this Year he got called up to the senior team because team officials are excited about what he can bring to the squad.  Equalizing after coming in at the 60th is a hell of way to get in the good graces of the supporters.  Plus, like I always say, it's better to Draw by scoring the last Goal than by giving up the last Goal.  This felt like a victory inside Allianz Field, so I am giving the Loons the top spot for this screening Week.

#-2: Timberwolves (Last Week: 0).  Uh-oh, maybe?  They followed up home Wins over San Antonio and Memphis, two very bad clubs with home Losses to Sacramento (in Overtime) and the Clippers (by one Point, 89-88).  I was at the Game vs. The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies Wednesday, when they started off the Game giving up the first 13 Points.  They righted the ship and were able to come back to beat the Grizz despite 1) Ruby Gobert playing only 27 Minutes and 2) getting out-rebounded, 50-39.  (Bastard Vancouver got 17 Offensive Rebounds to the Timberwolves' 5!)

Unfortunately, that 2-2 screening Week has, as of press time, put them in a tie with Denver for second place in The Western Conference, a half-Game behind The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics.  The team's Defense remains as stout and impenetrable as ever, but is this club running out of energy?

They finish their seven-Game homestand tonight/Monday against Portland.  They then begin a six-Game road trip (which, like the seven-Game homestand before, was necessitated because Target Center is hosting The Big Ten Women's Tournament, which I will be working at) with Games at Indiana, Cleveland, and The Team That Was Stolen From Us v.1.0.

#-3: Gopher softball (Last Week: -4).  A 3-1 record in The Queen City Classic being held in Charlotte right now.  Beat Fordham twice and downed host Charlotte yesterday/Sunday afternoon, but in the only Game providing real competition, the Goofers were completely blanked, 8-0, to ranked Kentucky.

One more against the 49ers (or at least I think) today/Monday.  They then play at North Carolina-Greensboro tomorrow/Tuesday afternoon before participating in the weekend's Tiger Invitational in Clemson, S. C.  One of the teams in this tournament is ... Fordham, a team the U. just crushed twice.  Sometimes I don't get softball scheduling.

#-4: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -5).  Weather continues to wreak havoc on the diamond sports.  This Nine is out in Sacramento.  The deal was to play Pacific once and play Sacramento St. twice.  That didn't happen.  The operations unit was working overtime to mix and match Games.  For the record, the Gophers split with the Hornets and quintupled the Tigers Sunday afternoon, 15-3.

Someone forged together another match-up against Pacific tonight/Monday night.  The team then heads to Spokane, Wash. (home of Sydney Sweeney!!!) for a three-Game weekend series at Gonzaga.

#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Re-Entry!).  Won and lost in OT at Mariucci to Michigan.  This team is currently seventh in the PairWise.  You shouldn't drop Points like they did in that 6-5 Overtime defeat to the Wolverines in the Saturday night Game, however.

The regular season has wrapped up, and Minnesota is the 3-Seed for the B1G Tournament.  They host a best-of-three series against Penn St. over the weekend; all Games are at home.

#-6: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3).  Lost Wednesday at Illinois, 105-97.  Saw some crazy tweet stat that says these Gophers are the first team in the history of the top-flight men's college basketball to, like, have so few Turnovers (don't remember the number), shoot "x" percent from the field and score so many Points.  And these guys lost.

They came back to beat Penn St. Saturday afternoon in comeback fashion, 75-70.  The Nittany Lions led at one point in The First Half by 23 Points, but hey, they came back to win!  I don't know where or even if this club will playing any postseason tourney.  But you have to admit there are good vibes emanating from this program, and that's a thing you couldn't have been able to say for a long, long time.

The regular season wraps up with a home date against Indiana Wednesday and a Saturday night showdown at Northwestern.

#-7: Wild (Last Week: -1).  The Mild bobos hopefully have closed all their pie holes after their beloved, immaculate squad went 1-3 this Week to fall eight Points behind Nashville for the final postseason spot in the West.  Their first three opponents are all good teams, and two of them, the Predators and St. Louis, are direct competitors for a playoff berth.  The Mild were outscored 12-4 in those three Matches, most notably a 6-1 emasculation that probably (hopefully?) will prove to be the death knell for this sorry bunch's postseason hopes.  But hey, Kirill Kaprizov scored a Hat Truck to help beat San Jose last/Sunday night!

They have three Days off before playing at The Bastard Winnipeg Jets and at The Bastard Quebec Nordiques back-to-back.  They then play their Day-After Boys' State High School Hockey Tournament matinee at the X versus said Preds.

#-8: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -2).  This club is going back to the Final Faceoff, again, after winning Game 3 of their First Round WCHA Tournament series at Ridder vs Minnesota State-Mankato Sunday afternoon.  Wait ... Game 3?  Sunday afternoon?  Yep, disquieting as it is, they actually lost in a First Round series for the first time since ... well, I want to say ever, but the U. Media Relations department isn't giving up that fact on their website.  They dropped Game 1 on Friday, 5-4.  They came back to blitz the Mavericks Saturday, 7-1 (the U. led 5-1 after the First Period), and finally broke free of the Mavs Sunday, scoring the final two Goals two Minutes apart late in the Third Period (the latter being an Empty Net Goal) to win, 3-0.  But this is yet another sign that this program is no longer elite, and has no idea on how to get back to that upper echelon.

They will face Wisconsin in the Final Faceoff, which the U. has hosted since Year One of the WCHA Tournament, on Friday, but I think everyone knows that the Badgers will kick the living fuck out of the U.  And then it's off to the NCAAs, where they'll make an appearance and be eliminated well short of the title Game.

Hockey, basketball (see below), volleyball ... what the fuck is happening to women's sports at the U.?  They used to be the better half of the athletic program, but the main tentpoles are struggling big-time.  

#-9: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -6).  Answering my question about this putrid squad from last Week's WMNSS, No, they will not get even a single bye in the Big Ten Tournament.  They finished the regular season with inarguably the two worst Losses of this program this season, and possibly the past several.  On Wednesday, Caitlin Clark made her way to Williams Arena and lit up these Golden Goofers to the tune of 33 Points.  She made 8-of-14 Three-Pointers, and it felt as though she made all those threes in the First Quarter to remove all doubt as to who would win this Game.  Iowa raced out to a 30-16 lead after one, doubled up the U. at Halftime, 53-26, made it 86-48 after the Third Quarter and absolutely, positively beat the shit out of Minnesota, 108-60.

But hey, the Hawkeyes are a Top 10 team.  Penn St. is decent, and the Goofs were playing them in Happy Valley, but somehow the result was even worse.  The Nittany Lions led 18-6 after one, 44-16 after two, 69-23 after three and finished them off by a score of 90-34.  My fucking God, Minnesota was just about tripled up in the final Game of the regular season.  Tripled.

The end the regular Year losing their last four, losing ten of their last eleven "contests," and an atrocious 5-13 in The Big Ten.  Honestly, I don't think a BcS women's basketball team is playing worse right now than Minnesota.  And I'm sorry, you can blame losing Mara Braun and any other starter that's out hurt, but this is so bad that you have to look at everyone -- coach Dawn Plitzuweit, the players, and the program itself.  It is very, very difficult for me to give out a first-Year Coach mulligan when the last two tilts of this season are ass-kickings by 48 and 56 Points.  There is a blatant level of uncompetitiveness that, sadly, is exposing a level of rot on this team.  And there better be some radical goddamn changes.

A team that was once on the ascendancy -- ESPN.com's Charlie Creme once had the U. as an 8-Seed, believe it or not -- is now playing the First Round of the B1G, a tournament they're hosting at Target Center.  They somehow are not last in the conference.  That dishonor belongs to Rutgers, whom they're playing Wednesday night.  And it should shock no one if the Scarlet Knights not only beat the Gophers but dehumanize them like Iowa and Penn St. just fucking did.

Money, Going Right Through My Hands

I wanted to not spend any money today.  But I dawdled at Bonchon after the MNUFC Match, so by the time I got to Wal-Mart to pick up Father's medicine (as well as getting a can of cream of chicken soup and some meat because I didn't want to cook it for the hotdish I made last night), they were closed.  The pharmacy shuts its doors at 6, and it was 5:58, but I shouldn't have cut it that close.

Father asked me last night if I picked it up.  I lied to him and said I did.  I feel so bad that today, I am casting about for a reason to buy something else in order to justify picking up his meds.  And so I ordered up my allergy meds at a different pharmacy.  And I think I will pick up Popeye's too; I am getting a free apple pie for my birthday.  Maybe I'll order a box of chocolates for work, too.

Yeah, I went from not spending money to spending a shit ton of money today.  I might not be spending money on Saturday, but that's ... Saturday.  A long way off.  Money, going right through my hands.

Two Things I Want To Note As I Wait For My Hotdish/Casserole To Cool

1) We got snow after my first declared ice-out, but it got warm (way warm if you include this weekend), so there's a new (or second) ice-out date: March 1.

2) So late last year I spilled 35 mL of lemon juice that I squeezed out of a lemon, which was my personal record for most juice squeezed out of a lemon and therefore worthy of a blog post.  Well, I matched that record ... uh, last week if I recall correctly.  I went to Lunds & Byerlys (I was in the area to go to a restaurant last Monday [I think] and it was too crowded, but I stopped by Lunds & Byerlys on my way to my car) and got one of their quality, really big-ass lemons.  (Also got a quality, big-ass lime, too, and while I don't think I squeezed out a record, I got a lot of lime juice, too.)  And this time, I didn't spill it after I got done admiring the quantity!

Long-Ago Friend; Casserole/Hotdish

OK, first thing: I loved the Lenten Fish Fry I went to last night.  I hung out with my usher acquaintance/friend and we had a great time.  Honestly, I was worried that I would automatically throw my defenses up because, frankly, we don't know each other all that well and it's been decades since we've seen each other.  But she was open with me, and in turn I was open with her, and we hung out for a few hours and it was great and easy.  Also, St. Albert the Great deserves its reputation of having one of the best fish frys in the Twin Cities.  It was packed and homey and inviting and, besides one alpha male not being quite in the festive spirit, everyone there was so nice and generous.  Gosh, I could go again.  Unfortunately, it'll have to be next year because I don't think I am free the next three Fridays.

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Went to sleep at around 10:30, I think, and woke up around 7:30, and ever since, I've been looking at how to cook a casserole/hotdish on the Internet all morning.  The anonymous worker at my company left another batch of vegetables.  After leaving them all day, I saw that there were still a potato, a couple carrots and a few onions.  Combine that with cans of black beans and tomatoes that are still in our pantry, the bag of processed shredded cheese my parents bought on sale from Hy-Vee, and the rice I know my folks will notice I haven't touched since they left, and I felt compelled to make another hotdish/casserole to take care of a lot of the leftovers I still have at home.  It'll save me money, even if I don't want to cook the meat tonight and just want to buy pre-cooked meat instead.  My slapdash approach to making this, however, scares me into thinking I'll screw this up.  My first hotdish had directions; I'm throwing this one together, so I don't know, in particular, how long I should cook what I'm making.  But right now I'm in the mood of rushing headlong into something despite not knowing what in the heck I'm doing.  Wish me luck!

I'm Ghosting My Uncle

So about a month ago, on a Saturday, I heard the doorbell ring.  I assume it's one of those, like, garbage company or roofing company people trying to sell us something, so like what we and many other people usually do when their privacy is invaded, I ignored the person, assuming he'll eventually go away.

He didn't.  And, he is a she.  And that she is my aunt.  After ringing, she knocked vigorously.  At this point I figure either it's a family member or this guy needed to bug out harshly, so I answered the door.  My aunt thrusted a bag of food in my hand, then barged into the house.  She's kind of a bitch when she wants to be; she invited herself in, then looked around and saw all my crap on the stairs and on the landing, and instead of immediately going into what she wanted to talk to me about, she took a beat and said, "Huh."  Not a fan of how I leave things around the house?  That ain't none of her goddamn business, is it?  Oy, she is very judgemental and sometimes gives no fucks about who knows it.  When my uncle died -- have I blog posted about this before? -- she forced my cousin (my uncle's son) to kneel at the coffin in obedience.  She forcefully grabbed the arm of my other cousin (my uncle's daughter), but she buckled because she said she had surgery on it and wasn't supposed to move.

Anyway, there was a reason she dropped by, and it's something I alluded to in a previous blog post and wanted to circle back to it in a bit more detail: Apparently, my uncle isn't doing so well.  He has been in deteriorating health for some time, and he was in the hospital for a spell around the holidays, and as she tells it, he is up and down health-wise since coming home.  And then she asks me not to talk to him.  Why?  She says that if I ask him the generic, "Hey, how are things going?" he is going to lie to me.  I should say that my aunt dropped by a week before the Lunar New Year.  You are supposed to, on that day, contact everyone you know, especially family, and say "Happy New Year!" to them.  I should have asked her what I should do in the wake of such an occasion, but it didn't occur to me then.

I acceded to her wishes and did not call her husband/my uncle.  In fact, I haven't contacted him at all.  And I don't know why in the fuck I haven't done so.  I did tell her that if my uncle takes a turn for the worse, all bets are off; she needs to tell me, and I have to tell my uncle's brother, my father, and if that prompts them to come home from where they were (Asia a month ago, Las Vegas now), well, so be it.  I want to think that her not dropping by means that my uncle is in a holding pattern.  Still, I haven't spoken to him, and it bothers me.  I mean, what if I "disobey" my aunt and, say, text my uncle?  Sure, he might lie to me, but I think the important thing is that I at least reached out to him, so so what?  I know the truth, and again, if the worst-case scenario happens, we will all know about it.

So why in the hell did my aunt tell me not to speak to my uncle?  I don't know how, but I wonder if this is some secret power move my aunt is pulling on me so that, if my uncle (Buddha forbid) passes away, she can somehow blame me or make me look bad to my folks, like I wasn't there for my uncle in his time of need.  She might be devious enough to tell my parents I made the house dirty while they were gone.  Fuckin' Christ, she fucking barged through the door like she owns the house.

I don't want to run afoul of my aunt because she can really fuck things up in my life, but I am essentially giving my uncle the silent treatment.  If he is in ill health, I think it makes sense for me to talk to him.  The more I think about it, the more I hate myself for following what my aunt says.  I should go to talk to him, and damn the consequences.  And I should do that ... before he dies.