The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#0: Timberwolves (Last Week: -1).  Can't say I think they're going to win this series, but ... this club seems as locked as they have been all season.  That depth and chemistry propelled the Wolves into taking Games 3 and 4 at Target Center this Week.  Anthony Edwards is stepping up as the alpha, not only on this team but also in the playoffs.  Meanwhile, Jaden McDaniels has had to step up and be a reliable scorer, and he has.  Therefore, they are on the brink of beating The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers (who played all five of their starters for the entirety of the Second Half of Game 4, no substitutions ... and they almost pulled it off, falling 116-113), starting with Game 5 tonight/Wednesday night at the Crypt.

Want to be encouraging about what they've done, so I put them above negative numbers, but they haven't yet reached The Western Conference Finals, so I won't put them at Positive Numbers.

#-1: Gopher softball (Last Week: -6).  This squad is mired in negative numbers based on overall and conference record.  But let us note that the softballers had probably their best weekend of the Year over the weekend.  They hosted two teams, both out-of-conference (Pittsburgh and North Dakota), for two Games each over three Days.  Only the first tilt versus the Fighting Hawks Saturday evening went the distance.  Not only did the other three Games get mercy-ruled, they ended after the minimum of five Innings, and they all were Gopher Shutouts.

Poor Pitt.  They got waxed 9-0 in five on Friday and 8-0 in five Saturday afternoon.  I was at that Game Saturday afternoon as part of a Golden Gopher softball/baseball Doubleheader.  It got done in 75 Minutes.  Oh, the U. blitzed NoDak Sunday afternoon 8-0 in five as well.

Didn't realize they were in the middle of a seven-Game homestand.  Also didn't notice that the regular season ends this weekend as they host Michigan for a three-Game series.  They're 4-15 in the Big Ten, and they've already been eliminated from playing in the 12-team Big Ten Tournament, so this is it for them.

#-2: Twins (Last Week: -5).  Last Year, the Twins had trouble getting out of first gear, but then they had consecutive three-Game series against The Chicago White Sox and The Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of. ...  Minnesota won all six Games, and that propelled them into their best play of the season.  (Let's not talk about how they collapsed down the stretch.)

By coincidence, the Twins got the White Sox and the Angels back-to-back again, and although they dropped a rain-shortened 3-0 result to the Pale Hose, they swept Anaheim and went 5-1 in these six Games.  They lost 2-1 last/Monday night in Cleveland when Kyle Manzardo walked it off with a Home Run off Louis Varland in the bottom of the Ninth Inning, though.  Also, they are 13-17 overall and trailing Detroit by five Games in the A. L. Central.

Two more vs. the Guardians, then at Fenway for a trio over the weekend, then home to play The Bastard St. Louis Browns for three starting on Tuesday.

#-3: Wild (Last Week: -1).  I can feel it slipping away.  Thursday's 5-2 romp in Game 3 of their series against the (Las) Vegas Golden Knights at the X felt electric.  But Team Privilege won in Overtime in Game Saturday to even up the series at two apiece, then won it in OT again in Vegas last/Tuesday night to take a 3-2 series lead heading into tomorrow/Thursday night's do-or-die Game 6.  Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy continue to shine, but damn puck luck has put the Mild behind the eight-ball.

Instead of calling them the Mild, if I want to insult them, maybe I should call them the Mid instead.

#-4: United FC (Last Week: -4).  Ugh.  Their eight-Match unbeaten streak (albeit four of those eight Matches are Draws) came to a thudding end at home vs. Vancouver.  This was a matchup of the top team in The Western Conference (and all of Major League Soccer) versus the #3 team in the West, and sadly for the Loons, they got boatraced, 3-1.  I guess I could and should bash MNUFC since the Whitecaps played a CONCACAF Champions Cup Game Thursday evening and, because they had to play Minnesota Sunday afternoon, they rested many of their best players and they still raced out to a 3-0 lead before Will Trapp pulled one back.  But looking at how the Whitecaps were surgical in build-up play, I've got to say that they look like a damn good team.

United FC, now technically in fourth place but in a three-way tie on Points for third, play Saturday at Austin, one of the clubs that is tied with them on Points but is technically in third, where the Loons were this time last screening Week.

#-5: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -3).  Coming in dead last with a bullet are the Goopher baseballers.  They had been riding high, winning nine in a row recently.  But they got swept over the weekend at Siebert by my alma mater.  Me and a few alumni friends took in the Saturday Game, one that was scoreless through four Innings but came alive with a First Pitch Grand Slam in the top of the Fifth.  My alma mater's Starting Pitcher had a No-Hitter through seven Innings and eventually threw a Complete Game two-hitter as Minnesota lost, 6-1.  The U. had a lead in Sunday's tilt, but coughed up two Runs in the top of the Ninth to lose, 3-2.  Oh, and they got blasted in the Friday contest, 16-6.

What may be worse is that they lost last/Tuesday night at home to North Dakota St., 6-3.  Maybe it was hangover over the weekend, but these guys have followed up winning straight with losing five straight.  And they have to turn around and go across the Mississippi to play at St. Thomas tomorrow/Wednesday afternoon, then travel to Nebraska for a trio over the weekend.

Boss Back On His Bullshit Again

Well, I guess it was going to happen some time.  Over the weekend, after yet another week of staying late, he finally e-mailed me "worried" about my work.  Not necessarily that I'm working late, but that I am leaving so much left over after working late.

I wanted to respond immediately.  This, at first blush, was another of those, "Why in the hell are you working so long?" e-mails that would have made me snap.  But I didn't want to say anything I'll regret, and I really wanted to tell him off about all this shit I have to do -- shit, by the way, he doesn't know how to do.  But I needed to stop and think, two things too many people in this country don't do.  I think he understands that there's a lot to do in The Third Department (although he pointed out that, in winding language, my co-workers don't stay late and I do -- I think I'll have to let that slide).  He said that my supervisor asked me on Friday if I needed help and I said no.  Now, I don't remember what I said on Friday -- not only because I read the e-mail yesterday/Monday, but also because my hair is on my fire whenever I start working in The Third Department, so I won't know what I said to anybody there a minute after I say it.

The big takeaway I think I get from him is that he is surprised that, even after staying late, there was so much other stuff to do.  This ties back into all the shit I have to do in this position.  But there is another dimension to my work, namely what do I need to do before I leave at the end of the day and what can wait till the next day.  Frankly, I don't think there's much I want to leave till the next day.  If I do leave it till tomorrow, I'll just, you know, have to do it tomorrow, along with all the other shit that comes in that day.  Why not just do it before the next day?  But in his e-mail to me, my boss detailed a lot of things I didn't get around to that he thought I would.  Beyond not having the time, many of those are tasks I thought I could put off till the next day.  That's partially why I told my supervisor I was good.  Again, I'm not one to tide stuff over to the next day.  But at some point even I have to call it quits, and without a natural stopping point, I feel there are some tasks that don't have to get done right then and there.  I believe I was told as much, but apparently my boss thinks otherwise.

This brings up a lack of communication of how The Third Department is now supposed to go.  My boss said a few months ago that he did not want us staying late.  But in this e-mail, he wants me to do all the things that I left after I left work on Friday.  So which one is it?  I haven't been sat down by my boss or my supervisor (who didn't acknowledge me at all yesterday/Monday and may be pissed at me for all the shit I left over on Friday because she might have needed to do them on Saturday) and told this specific task can wait and this specific task cannot.  There are a lot of things I could use more direction on, but everybody seems to be so damn busy, I didn't bring it up until problems came to a head.

I'll look at his e-mail again.  But I'll "invite more discussion" on what should be taken care of and what can wait.  Maybe this will smooth things over.  But when I initially read the e-mail, I thought that I need to go on a job search again, just to cover my ass.  And I still think that's a good idea.

Don't Have Time ... Now I Have Time ... No, Now I Don't

Man, have I got a splitting headache.  Think I got it after sleeping in my car for almost half an hour after MNUFC got obliterated yesterday/Sunday afternoon.  Anyway ...

... I was going to see The Accountant 2 Wednesday afternoon, the second of two days I had off this week.  But I took back my paid time off for both days -- I'll say why later -- and so I obviously can't go at that time.  I had time to go to the theater I was going to see the movie after the MNUFC Loss, so I wanted to make sure it was OK for me to switch.  Now, this is not my hometown theater.  I have asked to see the movie I bought a ticket online for at a screening different than the one I paid for, and they were totally OK with it.  But the guy I spoke to said I had to talk with Atom, the application through which I bought the ticket.  Weird.

I didn't have to "talk" to Atom.  Instead, the means to cancel the ticket was right there, and I did.  I have $5 in credit to see any other movie I want to see at any time I want now.  I was planning to see The Accountant 2 this/Monday evening, well after work, though.  I was kind of bummed out about that because I told my parents I would be eating out.  But what do I do now that I can't go to a movie I planned on going to?

And then I remembered that we are seeing my niece (and her two parents) Saturday.  I have been fretting for some time when I could get my hair cut and my face shaved.  Doing that this week would be next to impossible considering I am routinely working so late, every barbershop is probably closed by the time I get done with work.  But I think I need to look presentable to my niece, so I have to find time to get my hair cut and my face shaved.  And you know, cancelling the movie means I can do it tonight!

One problem: Severe weather is forecast for the evening.  And when I say severe, I mean severe.  They have that 1-to-5 scale of predicting how bad the severe weather could be.  I usually see the Twin Cities at a 1, maybe a 2 on occasion.  Tonight/Monday night, we're at a 4.  I thought 4's were only reserved for states south of here.  This is the first time I have seen the Twin Cities at risk for moderate severe weather, and that scares the hell out of me.  If it's going to be that bad out there, I don't know if I should get groomed.  Maybe I should head for home, or maybe even camp out at work until the storm blows over.  Either way, I feel like I'm taking a massive risk going out after work just to get to get my hair cut and my face shaved so my niece doesn't think I'm a slob.  What bad timing.

Thoughts And Prayers To The Spontaneously Pooping Son And His Father

So leaving the baseball Game at the U. last/Saturday night, I stopped by the restroom.  There, there was young boy, maybe 2 or 3, on the Koala Kare bed, and his father in complete apoplexy.  "How do you poop like that?  How??" he was crying in near-agony as (and I didn't look straight at this ... scene) he apparently was using as much toilet paper as possible to, it looks like, wipe the crap out of his boy's ass.

Completely unprompted, he starts venting to me, the only other person in the men's room: "I asked him if he needed to poop.  He said no.  So I tell him to stand outside (I hope he meant away from the stalls; I don't know if it would be wise to tell your young son to stay outside of the bathroom all by himself).  And when I come back, he totally crapped his pants.  And this is like the second or third time today!"

As he told his son, "Man, you gotta get it together," I made my way out.  I didn't know what to say except, "Good luck, man," to which he said, "Yeah, thanks for ..." and he didn't finish his sentence because he didn't really know what to say, either.  "I understand, you have to vent," I said, and I left.

Godspeed to the father and to the incontinent son.

I Get Older, They Stay The Same Age

Do I still get horny seeing young women with their barebellies?  Judging by all the talent I saw at the U. while watching a softball and a baseball Game yesterday, the answer is, fuck yes.

That's all I got.  I'm tired.

Since When Did They Care What Time I Came Home For Dinner?

God, I'm racked with so much damn guilt right now.  It was another punishing day at work for me in The Third Department.  By now I am resigned/determined to work way past my eight hours (though that may change soon; I'll discuss that some other time), and so it's been routine for me to call my parents late in the afternoon to tell them I'm coming back some time in the evening.  That was the case yesterday/Friday.  I told them 7, but I was hedging that it could be later than that.  See, it was my last day of the week at work, and I am not the type to leave a lot of work for one of my co-workers to pick up the next day.  We are leaving some work in The Third Department for the next day anyway, but I don't like it when I am faced with a ton of work that I consider to be the previous day's work because it pushes back when I get to today's work, which I also have to dedicate a lot of time to.  And since I don't like it when it's done to me, yesterday/Friday I felt like I could go a ways in order to do my part, and to leave my co-worker with something slightly more manageable so that she doesn't curse me under her breath.

Because of that, not only did I blow through eight hours of work, my set limit of ten hours of work has been obliterated often as well.  Now I'm just staying until I'm damn good and ready to leave.  And yesterday/Friday, I just kept going and going and going until I felt like my co-worker won't be pissed at how much I left for her.  That, however, caused me to stay past 7 -- like, way past 7.

I got done around a quarter to 8.  I called my parents in my car, to which Father told me I could heat up dinner myself.  No problem nowadays; I've done that several times for dinner after my folks have been home.  So I got home, turned off the alarm, and heated up the spaghetti they left for me.  And when they came home a bit later, they asked me why I didn't call to tell them I'd be later than 7.

Dammit.  I got caught up on work that I hurriedly tried to do.  But frankly, it didn't dawn on me to call because there have been several times where I would call, say I wasn't coming home until 7, I get home at around 7 ... and they have left dinner for me to heat up and help myself.  Once or twice they were going out for a walk to exercise off whatever they ate for dinner, which they had eaten before me.  More often, they were just cleaning dishes or scrolling through their phones or downstairs doing whatever they wanted to do.  I don't remember the last time they asked me why I didn't call to tell them I was going to be late, if ever.  And if they have never asked me why, I did not think it was a big deal that I came back 45 minutes after I told them I was coming home, which, again, was a time I was soft on.

Then again ... well, I think I did tell Father over the phone when I told him 7 that if I was going to be late, I'd call.  And I didn't.  And I can tell that Father was a little miffed about it, even though, like I said, I don't remember the last time he wondered why I didn't call to tell them I would be late.  I think it's water under the bridge, but knowing how passive-aggressive My Father can be, and knowing that they are leaving soon, he might think one day in the next couple weeks would be a good time to bust my balls over this, just to shore up his masculinity.

I feel so fucking guilty.  But goddamn, man, since when did they care what time I came home for dinner?

Oh Yeah, My Taxes

When all was said and done, I owed a combined $400 to both the country and the state.  I am at peace with doing that, even though it feels like another huge annual payment I have to pay, like my satellite radio.

Checked my bank account last/Wednesday night.  Yep, on April 16, the state noted it took up my electronic payment, and the day after the federal did the same.  The government just can't wait to get their money from me, huh?

To be fair, even though I hate this particular government, all governments, regardless of party or competence, will hoover up the money I owe them ASAP.  No matter, at least I don't think.  See, I'm convinced by the argument that it's good to owe taxes because that means you have been keeping money that, basically, the government is supposed to have.  You could get a refund, but that means that the government has had money that actually belongs to you.  Better to be the robber than to be robbed.

Regardless, I think I want to be more savvy with my taxes, and any payments deriving from it, because of the corrupt government we have now.  I don't trust it with my money.  I don't trust that they won't take my money, however little it probably is to them.  The way I figure it, Trump and the Republicans in power are stealing my money however they can, so why I am giving it to them through taxes?  But no, I doubt I'll find a way to withhold my tax money from government.  I'll just go on, doing my taxes like usual, even though nothing in our country is usual now.

Sorry I Missed You, The Conners

The series finale of The Conners, the situation comedy Roseanne turned into after star Roseanne Barr shot her racist mouth off, was last/Wednesday night.  I watched The Conners throughout its seven seasons, and I liked it a lot, but I didn't really realize it was ending for good until I saw a commercial for it on, I think, Monday.

Have to be honest, though: I think I saw an ad for The Conners several weeks ago which highlighted that this was indeed going to be the last season of the show.  This series finale didn't really hit me out of the blue, but I forgot that commercial from several weeks ago as soon as it was over.  In one ear and out the other, and I almost missed seeing the whole damn thing.

I knew there were times I got home on Wednesdays over the past six weeks before 7 p.m.  I had the chance to turn on the TV and see the show, and yet I didn't.  I was probably scrolling through my phone as a way to decompress from a long day at work.  I could have been watching The Conners instead, and now I feel bad that I didn't.

Moreover, I feel bad that I didn't catch the final two episodes, which aired back-to-back last/Wednesday night.  Work was murdering me yesterday/Wednesday.  I could have left it over for the next day, but I knew that there would be more work beyond the work I left for me today/Thursday, and I really, really want to go out to an NFL Draft party in the evening, and I'm determined to leave so that I get to somewhere to watch by 7, and that means staying late last/Wednesday night to give myself every opportunity to get all the work done and, fingers crossed, leave at a not-too-obscene time this/Thursday evening.  But as soon as I decided that I would miss the first episode of The Conners at 7 (which is the penultimate episode of the series) due to work, I surmised that I would miss the beginning of the second episode, aka the series finale, at 7:30.  I had to stay late, and then I indulged in some leftover taco bar food that had been laying out at room temperature in the break room.  (The company catered lunch yesterday/Wednesday.)  If I had skipped the ad hoc nachos I made for myself, I might've been able to get home in time.  Instead, I think I caught the last 15 minutes of the finale, maybe less.  Maybe I can see those episodes somewhere else for free.

Still, the guilt lingers.  I wish I could've remembered that The Conners likely started their season some time in the spring.  I wish I could've pried my eyes from my phone and laid them on the television set once the clock struck 7, just out of curiosity.  I wish a lot of things that I let slip from my hands.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1 (tied): Timberwolves and Wild (Last Week, respectively: -1 and -2).  It feels as though these two teams, whose schedules will always line up, will be compared with each other with much more scrutiny this postseason.  Don't know why; it's just vibes.  With that in mind, I find it hard to separate these two.  I can say, definitively, that these two tower over the other local teams for the Week because both teams are two Games into their First Round playoff series (talk about twinsies), they played both contests on the road and, at least temporarily, have overcome the damnation of being Twin Cities sports teams by winning one Game.

The Timberwolves wound up the 6-Seed and are playing The Bastard Minneapolis Lakers.  Los Angeles is the 3-Seed, but they were only one Game better than the Timberwolves, so this series, at least on paper, is even.  Well, it wasn't even in Saturday's Game 1.  The Wolves annihilated L.A., 117-95.  Luka Doncic was not able to have his way with the T-Wolves the way he did when he was with Dallas last postseason.  And Minnesota didn't let Doncic nor LeBron James pass their way into Points.  Los Angeles just tied up the series with last/Tuesday night's 94-85 Win in Game 2.  The scoring that seemed to come at will for the Timberwolves in Game 1 dried up in Game 2.  Still, they somewhat battled back, and they have home-court advantage as they play Games 3 and 4 at Target Center Friday and Sunday.  If the Wolves prevent any role players for L. A. to erupt, they might be able to take control.

Meanwhile, the Wild went opposite to the Timberwolves.  They dropped Game 1 in Las Vegas Sunday, 4-2 with an Empty Net Goal at the buzzer.  Minnesota, however, came out guns a-blazin' last/Tuesday night, jumping out to a 4-0 lead four Minutes into the Second Period before hanging on for dear life and taking Game 2, 5-2.  Matt Boldy scored in this Game after tallying both Wild Goals Sunday; he obviously is having a great series so far.  It is easier for the road team to win in playoff hockey than playoff basketball, but if you asked me which of the two local pro teams could spring the upset, I didn't think it would be the Wild because, frankly, I didn't they had the team to do it.  Still might not; (Las) Vegas now gets the privilege of being the road team as Games 3 and 4 of this series is played at The Xcel Energy Center tomorrow/Thursday and Saturday.  But Minnesota has home-ice advantage for now, and I didn't think they were going to be able to pull that off.

#-3: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -3).  I was inveighing in last Week's survey that I did not put the University of Minnesota baseball team in the top spot even though they went unbeaten.  Honestly, if they were able to run the table this screening Week, I probably still wouldn't put them up top because of the importance of what the Timberwolves and Wild did.  Sorry.  Has to be said that they got doubled up at Rutgers in Sunday's getaway Game, 12-6, ending their winning streak at nine, which concluded with a midweek doubling up of South Dakota St. Wednesday at Siebert, then defeating the Scarlet Knights Friday, 3-2, and Saturday ... well, wouldn't you know, doubling them up, 8-4.

They are still mired in mediocrity overall, but you can't deny they're playing a lot better.  Don't know if that will continue when they host my alma mater over the weekend.  I am really busy, but I think I can catch one Game.

#-4: United FC (Last Week: -4).  I made the decision to see the Kendrick Lamar/SZA concert at U. S. Bank Stadium, which was Saturday night at around the same time as the Loons' matchup with FC Dallas.  (Aside: I think this is at least the second time I decided not to go to a home Match against FCD.  Purely coincidence.  Oh, I should add that I wouldn't have gone to the concert if this wasn't the kickoff stop for the tour.  I'm not a huge fan of Kendrick Lamar or SZA.  But it was a very visually arresting concert, even if my seat was in, of all places, the press box, which was in the far corner from the stage.  And I paid $145 for it!)  Don't think I missed much; they wound up tied at 0.  The Hoops aren't a bad side, but if Minnesota United could've just notched one Goal, they would surpass Austin for second place in the West all by themselves.  One MLS writer believes that opposing squads have finally caught up to what Eric Ramsay wants to do offensively.

Nevertheless, United FC have a big one Sunday afternoon, which is a postponement because their next tilt was supposed to happen Saturday night.  However, Vancouver has been busy with the CONCACAF Champions Cup; they play Inter Miami tomorrow/Thursday night, so the contest against the Loons was pushed back a Day because it looks as though there is a worldwide standard minimum of three Days (though not necessarily 72 Hours) between soccer Matches.  Nonetheless, despite the hectic schedule the Whitecaps have right now, they're sitting in first place in the Western Conference, so this showdown between first and (technically) third in the West should be one to look forward to.

#-5: Twins (Last Week: -5).  I finished watching the comedy block of St. Denis Medical and Night Court when I absentmindedly started flipped channels on my TV.  I go down to Channel 9 -- and I see the Twins playing the White Sox.  And then I remembered -- several Twins Games are going to be on over-the-air TV for the first time in decades.  This is a good thing!

And better than that, the Twins won.  Unfortunately, that finishes up a 2-3 screening Week where the two victories (it started off with that 4-3 Win over the Mets at Target Field that I went to and whose ending I missed, dammit) sandwich a weekend sweep courtesy of The Bastard Boston-by-way-of-Milwaukee Braves in Atlanta.  Only the White Sox and Colorado have worse records than the Twinks' 8-15.  But Minnesota gets to host the Pale Hose twice more before Mike Trout and The Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of Los Angeles Angels Of Anaheim Angels Of ... come to town for a weekend trio.  They then strike out to play at Cleveland for four beginning Monday.

#-6: Gopher softball (Last Week: -6).  Yeah, this might end up being the worst local team of the first half of the Year.  Dropped the first two Games over the weekend at Madison versus Wisconsin before taking the getaway Game (which was played on Monday; this was a Saturday-to-Monday series, for some reason), 10-4.

The Gophers, 15-28 overall and 4-15 in the Big Ten, continue conference play vs. B1G foe Pittsburgh ... wait a second ... Pittsburgh isn't in the Big Ten!  But it looks as though the Panthers are coming to Cowles Stadium for a two-Game series Friday night and Saturday afternoon.  Not only that, they will play another two-Game series over the weekend, vs. North Dakota St., and those Games will take place Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon!  Four Games over three Days against two teams in one venue?  Well, that happens frequently during the non-conference part of the schedule, but not this far into the season, and not against two teams out-of-conference.  I have to go that Saturday afternoon Game just to see Pittsburgh.  When will they come back up here again?

Addendum To: The Trash Bag Gets Smaller For Father

Revisiting this idea from almost a month ago, I recently concluded there might be another reason my parents throw in an object underneath the trash bag so that the bag only covers half of the bucket it's in.  The bag usually isn't big, wide, or voluminous enough for it to fit snug into the bucket.  Sometimes, when I put in a bag, I select one that's not tall enough, and so I can't pull the bag over the sides of the bucket and keep the sides there.  Then, you have to be careful of throwing trash into it because some of it might not make it into the bag and instead will fall into the bucket, which is gross.

So maybe that's why they throw an empty carton into the bucket first: To bring up the bottom of the bag enough so that the sides reach up to and over the sides of the bucket.  That makes more sense than my first theory that it helps Father from hurting his back.

Just want to note that observation here.

The Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: March 2025

I was able to have this month up on my wall for the first part of March, but ever since it's been hidden in my drawer, so I have had to remind myself of this month right now.  So maybe I can chalk about being a bit harsh to that, but giving the month one more once-over, I can only single out four of the baker's dozen for March 2025.  In ascending order:

In fourth place is The Main Girl, Charlotte's Judea.  Dark brown braided hair that falls to her hips, and she's wearing a brown two-piece dotted with white spots.  I like that she's posing right straight at the camera, and I like that her hands are playing with the bikini straps -- her left under her bikini bottoms, her right tugging the string between the two pieces of fabric covering up her titties.  Always a nice touch.

In third place is Victoria, hailing from Hampton, Va.  Dark hair, dark green two-piece bikini (the color of course befitting the month, even though I see only three of the 13 waitresses here wearing green).  Her porcelain skin really sticks out.  So does her plump ruby red lips.  Those are qualities you associate with a lass of Irish heritage.  I don't know if she is Irish, but it would be sexy if she is, and she's sexy even if she is not.

In second place is Atlanta's Cass.  A cascade of blonde hair with darkish roots flow down to sternum height, and she's sporting a black two-piece.  Her torso is rotated to the left, but you get to see much of her strong body straight at you.  But it's the devastating Mona Lisa smile that's giving her powerful femme fatale vibes.  Very, very nice.

Finally, in first place is Alyse.  She automatically gets the top spot because she works at the Mall Of America.  Moreover, she's the one who sold me this calendar.  I've never seen her as a server, by the way, only twice at Hooters, both times signing as a calendar girl.  She is a cute thing, however.  For the record, she has straight, dark blonde hair, she's wearing a dark pink two-piece number with purple here and there, and she's resting her left wrist above her head.

So congratulations (and thank you) to Alyse, and to all the great waitresses of March 2025.  I promise to touch myself to you four as soon as I have the time.

Bad Driver: C0NFUSE (?)

Another incel Republican with a white whip cutting me off with only inches to spare without turning on his signal?  And all because I changed lanes in front of him?  Fuck off, boy.  I went to the Kendrick Lamar/SZA concert because I have money while yours is wrapped up in being a prick and letting everybody know it.  And what the fuck is with the license plate, anyway?

OK, I switched lanes after switching over to the left-most lane because it occurred to me I needed to take the cloverleaf exit.  But then this asshole did what I did and I'm all, "No, I'm not gonna follow this piece of shit onto the exit, I'm going somewhere else and I don't care how long it takes me to get to the fast food place."  And then I realized that I could get to this place faster if I passed the exit and took a left and the next light ... which meant that I didn't need to change lanes.  And now I need to stop this line of thinking.  I am not going to scrutinize my behavior because it might have cause another guy's asshole behavior.  That guy is an asshole, and behaved like it.  I did nothing wrong.  Period.  Well, I wish I honked at him right as he cut in front of me and not when he was two lengths in front of me.  I was scared, though.

I hope writing this down is the end of it in my mind.

But really though, that license plate ... I don't know if I have it down correctly, but it sure as hell is stupid.

And Now, Sleep

I had to wake up early yesterday/Saturday because I worked.  I was working yesterday/Saturday because my boss asked me to.  In exchange, I had Wednesday off, and I thought I could sleep in then, but Mother wanted me to take her to Walgreens to help her with passport photos, and since I was going to the Twins Game that afternoon, I decided to wake up a little earlier than I wanted to.

All's that to say is that I have been waking up before I wanted to for just about a week now.  So thank Buddha that today/Sunday is Easter.  I have nowhere to go -- can't even work out; the community center is closed -- so that means I can get up when I want ... unless Mother asks me to do another thing with and for her again, dammit.

Yeah, You Told My Ass This The Day Before Too, I'm Sorry

I struck a defiant tone when I apparently screwed up at work on Thursday.  But I did not tell you that I made another mistake around the same time.  That one I definitely did fuck up, and with that I had no issues of being told I've done this four or five times before.  It was my mistake ...

... which I apparently repeated, to my utter disgrace, at work yesterday/Friday.  I did something I should not have done, to be slightly more specific.  And because my supervisor told me not to do this on Thursday and I did it again the very next fucking day, my boss had to step in and ... well, I hope it's not a verbal reprimand that's going on my permanent record, but he had to put in writing via e-mail that I did this mistake again and that this is what I'm supposed to do instead.  I have to admit that getting a warning that way is a good way for me not to make that mistake again.

But there are questions that abound from this.  The defensive side of me wonders how this mistake got back to my boss.  Did someone tell, and is that someone pissed that I did this two days in a row?  If so, who is this person, and does that person not respect me anymore?  I hate that, but I have to admit that if the roles were reversed, I totally would think that person is stupid and untrustworthy.  But the other side of me is wondering (after apologizing, which I did to both my boss and supervisor in replying to that e-mail) after years of doing it correctly (or at least I think), what is going on with me that I would fuck up something this basic on back-to-back days?

And to think I get to do this all again today/Saturday because I get to go back to work!  Yippee!!

You've Told Me Four Or Five Times My Ass

OK, goddammit, I get the message at how ... let's just say "perturbed" you were when you accused me of making the same mistake at work four or five times.  But first of all, let me say that I don't ever remember you saying that.  Second of all, even if have told me before, it sure as hell wasn't four or five times, I can guarantee you that.  And third of all, lady, I am fucking inundated with bullshit the minute I sit my ass in that chair, and I can't stop until at least, at least ten hours pass.  That's how it has been since Boxing Day, and that my co-worker helped me with my job and I still stayed an extra two hours to catch up on work should give you an indication of how ragged my day is now.  So forgive me for forgetting, even if my fuck-up kind of rippled through the company.  Sorry.  Damn.

(As an aside, this was my first day in The Third Department this week, and I have noticed that even though I have been rotating through tasks for several years now, I am kind of, well, "off" the first day I move into a position after a few days away from that position.  As much as I want to say I remember everything I do, and I can easily switch my brain to the work I need to do at this job or at that job, I kind of forget parts of those duties if I've been away from it for a few days, and I think that's the case here.  This might continue to be a problem if all I do is rotate from position to position.)

Maybe I need to sleep.  Wake up and put this day behind me.

Lost Hooters Coupon

There are a dozen coupons in the Hooters calendar, one for each month.  A few I can't use, either because it's a discount on merchandise or, if you want to a discount on your meal, you have to spend so much, but drinks don't count.  But the others I do use, and so that means I'm going down to the MOA once a month just so I can use that month's Hooters coupon.

I was going to do that for April back on Sunday.  I was in the area because I was mailing my taxes, and the only post office open on Sundays is the one at the airport.  Once I parked my car at the Megamall, I had to check and make sure I had the coupon with me.  Alas, it was not.  I thought I had put the coupon in the back pocket of the pants I was wearing all week.  But it must've fell out somewhere.

Will I go to Hooters this month anyway?  It's 50/50.

The Definition Of Best Laid Plans Ruined

So I got out a little late because Mother wanted me to help her out at Walgreens for some reason.  I get to the stadium in time, but I get lost, and then I decide I really want to eat and drink something while there, so I decide to miss some at-bats while I get food and a beer.  But then the Game goes slower than I thought, and then it goes into extra Innings (Griffin Jax blows a three-Run lead, goddammit), and I only got metered parking for four hours, so I make plans to leave early, but then the Game ends quickly in the 10th Inning (Twins win!  I was wrong in the WMNSS!) as I leave the bathroom and go downstairs to see my friend, who's ushering the Game.  And then I tell him I have to leave before my parking expires, even though I promised him as I was walking into the stadium that I would talk to him for a bit before I leave.

Also, I was hustling because this bodega close to where I parked sells these supposedly awesome breakfast egg sandwiches, but they close at 3:30.  I get there at 3:32, but it looks like everything is closed.  So, to sum up: I missed big chunks of the Game including the Game-ending play; I had to buzz past my friend even though I told him I wanted to talk; and I was too late getting this egg sandwich I want at possibly the only time I will be downtown on a weekday all year.

Damn, man, I need an HJ so bad.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3).  I am faced with a conundrum this Week: How do you acknowledge teams that have reached the playoffs, a notable achievement, against a team that isn't having a good season but has been on fire as of late?  In the end, I am eschewing what usually is my first (and often only) factor in ranking the local teams here in the WMNSS, record for the screening Week, in favor of the overall picture.

That's not to say that I think the Timberwolves are coming in hot.  They did, however, not only make the playoffs but reach the goal that is important to them, namely avoiding the Play-In.  They needed help from, of all teams, San Antonio, who beat The Bastard Philadelphia Warriors this Week that put Golden State a Game behind the Wolves and thus in seventh place in The Western Conference's final standings.  But the T-Wolves had a finishing kick, defeating The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies in Memphis before coming home and beating Brooklyn and The Bastard New Orleans Jazz to finish sixth in the West.  Those are enough accomplishments to give this squad the top spot in this Week's survey.

Now, expectations were higher than sixth (although a huge caveat to that is that only two Games separated the teams that finished between third and eighth place, my goodness me).  They also draw the third-seeded Bastard Minneapolis Lakers and Luka Doncic, who scored at will against Minnesota in last season's Western Conference Finals.  He doesn't have Kyrie Irving, but he does have LeBron James.  Also, the Timberwolves don't have Kyle Anderson, the man who defended Doncic the most in last Year's series.  Maybe that's a good thing, considering The Dallas Mavericks eliminated the Wolves in five Games.  But I'm afraid that's what The Team That Was Stolen From Us v.1.0. is going to do in this series, dammit.

#-2: Wild (Last Week: -2).  Similarly, the Wild also (finally) clinched a playoff spot.  Their finishing kick, however, wasn't that impressive.  They started off the Week holding off San Jose in Overtime at the X (BTW, the X won't be called the X starting next season ... Xcel Energy will let the contract the utility signed at the opening of the arena a quarter-century ago expire without extending it ... the arena will have a new name, and so we will have to call the Wild's place where they play Matches something else, and this is why I hate naming rights for arenae and stadia), 8-7 of all scores.  In what shaped up to be a very crucial late-season showdown, The Bastard Atlanta Flames handled the Mild handily in Calgary, 4-2.  The Flames, however, wind up as the last team out (so to speak), because Minnesota collected OT victories at Vancouver and over Anaheim at home to finally sew up a postseason slot.

It is kind of pathetic how they crawled over this finish line.  The Mild were down to the Ducks last/Tuesday night, 2-1, and Joel Eriksson Ek tied up the score on a scrum in front of the Anaheim net in the final Minute of regulation.  That tied it up at 2, and once the Game hit zeroes, Minnesota got that Point they needed to officially qualify for the playoffs.  Of the four Games they played this screening Week, three of them went to Overtime, but the Wild won all three.  The Game previous to this Week went into OT, and they won that, beating The Bastard North Stars at home.  Stretching back a bit further, six of their past eight Games went to extra time, but the first two Overtime Games, at New Jersey and at     the Rangers, wound up in Losses for Minnesota.

What I'm saying is that this club isn't exactly rounding into form.  Also, they have drawn The (Las) Vegas Golden Knights, a team that has bedeviled Minnesota after the Golden Knight's first regular season because they have been allowed to both amass player assets and violate the spirit of cap rules under the implied blessing of Commissioner Gary Bettman ever since they were born.  Also, the Wild are very mid.  This is playoff hockey, so upsets can and frequently do happen.  But I can't see it happening in this series.

#-3: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -6).  So this is the team I'm alluding to.  Believe it or not, they're the hottest team in town right now, even more so than the Timberwolves.  The Gopher Nine are riding a six-Game winning streak that began last Tuesday, continued with a 12-2 drubbing of St. Thomas at home last Wednesday in a Game mercy-ruled after seven Innings, got extended even further over the weekend with a surprising sweep of Ohio St., by far The Worst Team In The Big Ten This Season, at Columbus (!!!), and is still alive after last/Tuesday night's 9-2 Win over North Dakota St. at Siebert Field.

And that winning streak gets the U. to 17-17 overall and 5-10 in the B1G.  I doubt this streak will last a Week from now: After playing South Dakota St., the team they beat to start this streak, tonight/Wednesday night at home, they travel to Rutgers for three.  But these guys are playing as well as they probably will for the rest of the Year.  Moreover, I usually want to recognize long winning streaks like this by proclaiming that they've "won" the survey for the Week.  But the overall record is so-so and the conference record is still bad.  And this is the Week where the Timberwolves and Wild clinched playoff spots.  So, I had to rank those two teams higher than these young men.  Sorry.

#-4: United FC (Last Week: -1).  Buried in all the playoff-clinching hoopla in this state, and as befitting the plight of professional soccer in the country, is that the Loons are somehow second in The Western Conference right now.  Saturday they "fought" to a scoreless Draw at Toronto.  I was listening to the Match at the library while I was doing my taxes, and frankly, it was a Game that haters of the sport would use as a reason why they think it's boring.  But still, hey, second place.

Host Dallas Saturday night.  I have already given my ticket to my friend because I plan on seeing Kendrick Lamar and SZA kick off their stadium tour.

#-5: Twins (Last Week: -4).  A 3-4 week where they lost series at Kansas City and home to Detroit, and the bitterness baseball fans in town have felt since their team's collapse at the end of last season has, by all accounts, curdled into apathy.  Monday's attendance of 10,240 is the lowest number in the history of Target Field (besides, of course, restrictions because of The COVID-19 pandemic).  And that served the Twinks right, because they lost to The New York Mets, 5-1.  They now sit in fourth place in The American League Central Division, already 4 1/2 Games behind Detroit for the lead.

And yet I am planning on going to this/Wednesday afternoon's baseball Game anyway.  It'll be the first time I've been there in two Years.  My boss asked me to come to work on Saturday, and in exchange I have today off, and it just so happens that there is a baseball Game in the afternoon, and there are worse ways to spend a day this side of the ground than at a baseball Game, especially one on a weekday afternoon.  Now, I just have to find my scoring notebook.  Oh, and since the Twinks doubled up the Mets last/Tuesday night, 6-3, I am under no illusions they will win today; they have won only one series so far in 2025, and that was the second series of the season when they took two-of-three at the White Sox.

#-6: Gopher softball (Last Week: -5).  And now we get to the Goofer softballers, who got swept at home over the weekend by Oregon.  They lost honorably Saturday and Sunday afternoons by matching 5-4 setbacks, but they got blasted out of Cowles Stadium in the opener on Friday, 13-0 that was halted after five Innings for the good of the women and children who witnessed this horror and for the good of the concept of decency.

This team is not good.  They are 3-13 in-conference and 14-26 overall.  They are tied with Maryland for the second-worst record in the Big Ten.  And thankfully for them (and mirroring the good fortune the U. baseball team was graced with last weekend), they face The Worst Team In The Big Ten This Season, Rutgers, for a three-Game series, even though this is on the road.

I Am Going To Work A 24-Hour Day Soon

OK, the guardrails are off, and even I am gobsmacked at how I no longer mind them.  The work keeps piling up, and to make sure it gets done, I have to stay late.  And now, I'm staying very late.

As I began doing overtime at my job, I kind of thought that two hours was the max.  If I knew then that there was a stated, ironclad reason why, I don't remember that now.  Since the New Year, when my longtime co-worker retired and no one has been hired in her place and (maybe) work has ramped up, staying ten hours simply has not been enough to get through all the work.  The changes recently made to The Third Department (and I might go more in-depth as to my thoughts about them, but they still haven't been fully formed) have so far been cosmetic.  There hasn't been much we no longer have to do, and while there has been a de-emphasis on what work is a priority, we who work back there still run into the problem of the work needs to get done.  We can leave early and leave work for the next day, but it still needs to get done, and if more work the following day is waiting for us as well -- well, we would just need to stay much later the next day to prevent carryover work to snowball.  So, why in the hell don't we just stay late the first day -- which is what we're doing now?

I was working The Fourth Department yesterday/Monday.  I think that, overall at least, shit hasn't hit the fan when it comes to that department as opposed to The Third Department, but while there are times when the workload actually is manageable, there are times when it goes absolutely haywire, like yesterday/Monday.  There is someone on Sunday who can do some of the work, but she is working other departments on that day, so she is doing all she can and leaving the rest to the person working that department on Mondays.  That was me, obviously, and I was hit with several dozen forms that hadn't been touched yet.  Compound that with another, oh, 18-20 forms that came in new yesterday/Monday (which is an exorbitant amount to come in on Mondays, but the lab has been backed up all year as well), and I had, well, a lot of work.  I will not say the number of forms I had to do is a daily record; I have roughly the same amount of forms I have had to do a few times before.  But I found it so damn difficult to get through all of them for some reason that I knew by around 3 o'clock that I was staying an extra two hours ... at least.

Once I realized the enormity of work that still needed to be done, I had to decide when I was simply going to give up and leave work.  I think my objective was to simply touch every single form that came through.  Once I did that and performed my very important end-of-day tasks, I had stayed 10 1/2 hours.  I have been creeping past two hours of OT several times lately.  But the work hasn't gotten done and, frankly, I'm getting the sense that my bosses are permitting that because even he knows it's a lot of work.  So, ten hours and a minute became ten hours and five minutes which became ten hours and 15 minutes which became, well, now.

And still I have a lot of e-mails that provide the information I need to "finish" a form, and I usually try and stay late to get through all of them, but I was staying so late to work on new stuff that I didn't get to them, at all.  When I come into work today/Tuesday, I will have at least two dozen of those types of e-mails to get through.  That, to me, is yesterday's stuff, and that will delay the point in time when I can get to today's stuff.  The later it is, the more likely (obviously) I have to stay late, and this is Tuesday, when we usually get the most work in the week because that is when most of the forms from the weekend get here.  So I am already mentally preparing to stay 11 hours at work today/Tuesday, knowing full well that I still might have to leave work for the next day (which I have off, but I don't feel like being a dick and leaving a bunch of work for the person following me).

It is getting ridiculous.  It does feel as though I could, and I might have to, work 24 hours straight in order to get my job done.  But as I have alluded to before, I am trying to do my job, and it looks as though my higher-ups are letting me.  I am at peace with my ten-hour-plus days, at least for now, because the workload ain't changing anytime soon and, yes, I need the money.  So I will keep doing what I need to either do my work completely or not go insane.  If my boss puts his foot down and tells me to leave after a certain point in the day -- well, I probably will object, but let's just cross that bridge if and when we get there.

Why I Prefer Self-Checkout

OK, calm down, cashier.  What I meant to say was that are you OK if I take my shopping cart, go back to get the packs of water that is on sale and just walk through and past the checkout line.  You obviously didn't let me finish because after I said, "Leave the waters here, take the cart back to get the correct ones ..." you had to jump in and say, "Yeah, that's why I told you to leave the waters there."  You really think I was just going to leave the cart and drag the bottles of water on sale from the back of the store to my car?

Maybe I'm wrong about his tone.  Maybe I shouldn't take things so defensively.  But maybe I need to reconsider where I do my grocery shopping because, once again, I had a bit of a run-in with someone there.  Shit, man, please don't make me go back to Target just because I can go check out myself.

Why Do I Still Go To The Auto Show?

I have been going for a long, long time.  I loved how I could see all these fancy new cars.  Also, I could see the ones that are, shall we say, much more attainable (although I would have to bust my butt and look for a higher-paying job).  I loved getting all the brochures, and I would tell myself that I would lie down and look through all of them and maybe be inspired when the time came to purchase one.  And the bags.  Oh, the bags -- you gotta get one to put all those brochures in, you know?

Well, that was then and this is now.  I went to the auto show yesterday/Saturday, and in keeping with how the trend is going, I stayed there far less than when I did when I first went to the show.  In fact, I looked at my watch when I thought I had seen everything and there was still more than an hour before the Frozen Four Final, for which I decided to stay the whole day and night in downtown to go to our alumni group's bar and watch.  I eventually found stuff to look at -- I went to the classic and antique car rooms, separate from the main room where all the new cars you can buy are -- but things are dramatically different, from both my perspective and the show's.

It's clear to me now that, as an adult, it doesn't really pay to aspire anymore.  There is one thing I have done for some time now: Find the most expensive car in the show that I can get into (that means no show cars, no prototypes, and definitely no classic cars) and take a picture of the sticker price and the front of the car.  I get a kick out of that not because I hope to one day be able to buy it, but just to note the price.  (Aside: The add-ons of nearly all the cars I looked at ballooned the base price of the car to an exorbitant amount.  I cannot believe that the size of those add-ons were typical of previous years.  If not, there's one explanation: That Fucking Guy's dumbass tariffs.)  For the record, a Range Rover clocks in at $158,370.  But beyond that, I did way less getting into cars than I used to when I was young.  Oh, sure, I saw some that I liked.  The new and colorful Volkswagen vans, called the ID Buzz, were a splashy hit, for example.  But all the other two dozen or so cars I checked out were interchangeable to me.  Also, I wouldn't be able to buy any of them.  That's another (sad) similarity.

Parallel to this, the show has changed.  I think it was the pandemic.  The auto show has gotten smaller.  I see fewer brands on the showroom.  The convention center is a huge space, but in the years since (and I really want to say it started in 2022, two years after it was cancelled and a year after it went to the State Fairgrounds), more of the floor was ceded to an area for test-driving cars, which is cool.  But, this year I saw a corner of the center dedicated to jacuzzis.  You can't drive jacuzzis, can you?

But the big difference in the auto show now: No more brochures.  The pandemic accelerated the push to make all papers digital in an effort to cut costs.  I have gotten way fewer brochures since the pandemic and, for the first time ever, yesterday/Saturday I did not pick up one single brochure -- and I did not see a brochure available to be picked up.  The days of bringing home a car-branded bag of pamphlets I probably won't read are now gone.

But hey, at least Toyota is still offering bags.  I filled it with the auto show brochure (which in itself was cut down [and shrunken] to the size of a fold-open pamphlet -- it even had a coupon!) and some salesman's business card.  The salesman wasn't there to give it to me.  No, there was a stand, and in the middle was a pile of business cards, and I took one.  I didn't even look at the cars of the dealership he works for.  I just picked one up so I could throw a second thing in my Toyota bag.

I really am just going to these auto shows now for the bag.  That's the only free thing they're offering ... well, besides fantasies, I guess.  And fantasizing that one day a beautiful car I scoped out at the auto show will wind up on my driveway?  Heh!

Maybe I Should Get Serious About My Doing Taxes

So it was last week when I started my taxes.  No, I don't think I should have procrastinated like I did.  But, I have my reasons.  Work is kicking my ass (I stayed an extra two hours last/Friday night -- let's see if my boss is OK with that -- and after dinner I went to bed from a bit past 7 until just before 12:30) and, yes, there is a sameness to my sources of income from year to year that I think I have much of it down, which allows me to procrastinate.

Of course, with procrastination, and me being, well, me, that is not necessarily wise.  I have fucked up my taxes before, especially with that mistake which I am still too ashamed to bring up now.  I'm also lulled into thinking that since I have to fill the same forms and schedules year after year, I know which lines I need to automatically plug in because I think they're the same every year.  That would be the case if I actually remembered which forms and schedules and lines I have to fill in every year.  But like most things, if I don't do them on a ... well, if I'm being honest, a daily basis, I will forget.  And who even wants to remember tax season?  That made me write down a list of schedules and forms I need to print out every year.  And even then, I don't remember which lines I have to fill in on each schedule and form.  I keep the rough drafts of every tax form I figured out my taxes on for years now.  It would make sense for me to, say, reference what I did last year in order to remember how to do it this year.  I'm sure the copies of last year's forms and schedules are in my storage unit.  And with basically the weekend for which to do it, I don't think I want to go out there just to rummage through all my stuff to find it.

So no, maybe I'm winging it, and maybe that's not a good idea.  On top of that, my 1099 from my stock portfolio added a new line item I apparently got money from.  It has taken me this past week to figure out where to report it and what I need to do with it once I find the line for it.  That necessitated a brand new form, which initially shocked the shit out of me.

So with the new form and my brain doing a self-wipe on how I did my taxes last year, I guess I have taken a nonchalant attitude to my taxes when I shouldn't be.  But, I spent a couple long nights over the past week (after I took evening naps) to power through, and I had the time to go over my work.  I'm glad I did, because I have found mistakes.  Problem is that I'm scared that I haven't done my due diligence to make sure I haven't made more mistakes.

Tuesday is Tax Day.  I have a bad memory of standing in line for a couple hours at the post office just to mail my forms, so from that point on I have given myself a deadline of doing it the weekend before.  However, like I said, I slept for five hours last/Friday night.  That would have been time I could have spent giving my taxes another once-over, but alas.  I am going to at least try and do my final tax drafts at the library this/Saturday afternoon, then go to the post office at the airport tomorrow/Sunday afternoon to officially file.  (By the way, I still don't trust the government, and I especially don't trust this shitty and probably illegally-installed government, so I will not file electronically.)  Is that enough time to ensure I've done my taxes correctly?  Have no clue.  But as I lie on my bed to blog post this, I have no desire to work on them now.

My taxes are going to get more complicated starting next year, so I have thought that I should give up doing these myself.  At the very least I thought about using tax software, but from what I have seen, my situation is too complicated for any of the free ones out there, so that gives me pause.  Maybe I need to go to a preparer, but the first thing I gravitated to when I searched for it are local preparers who have been disciplined.  Shit.  Maybe it's still worth it going out on my own, even if it costs me money.

It's Like I Fucking Forgot How To Do My Job

Goddamn.  First time working in Third Department since "the changes," and I had it in my brain that I need to leave at a decent time.  That time was supposed to be a half-hour over.  With some of the stuff being allowed to be held over (even though I have reservations about that still), and, more importantly, a relatively light workload, I could do it.

But then I realized that I missed a rudimentary task, and I had to go into this other room to grab the forms in order to re-do them all.  That made me scared that I forgot to do this other thing, so I had to grab those forms from the other room to make sure I actually did do it (which I did).  And then I remembered that there were some other things I needed to do, and all told, that pushed me past 45 minutes over.

There are two very bad things wrong with that.  One, I kind of told my supervisor that I would help key once I got done with my stuff.  I thought I would get done with my stuff, but my inattention to doing my job prevented me from doing that stuff.  I could have stayed and did data entry for an extra-half hour, but I don't know if my boss would be happy if I stayed that late.  Better to take the hit for not doing what I sorta promised my supe I would do.  Two, even with all that said, I fucking forgot to do one thing, which is the very last thing I am supposed to do in The Third Department before I leave, something that has been fucking drilled into me since I first started training.  I fucking forgot to do that.  I was so discombobulated over what else I forgot to do and in a rush to do all the things I had to do before I needed to go at the time I told everyone I was going to go and worried over how I was going to explain that I was going to key when I didn't that I forgot to do this basic goddamn thing.

Oh, it'll be embarrassing for me to come into work today.

Third (And Final?) Snowout ... Maybe?

I don't know now because I forgot to jot it down, but I think it was Monday, March 31.  Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#-1: United FC (Last Week: -1).  This was a pretty shitty Week for local sports, not going to lie.  (Ironically enough, the two teams that had two decent Weeks are the ones at the top and at the foot of the table -- see all the way to the end.)  It was easy to put the Loons first this Week because they went into Yankee Stadium and beat NYCFC Sunday afternoon, 2-1.  But I have to admit they were gifted three Points.  For one, while Tani Oluwaseyi had a scintillating run and finish to slot home Kelvin Yeboah's centering Pass in the first Minute of the Match, he looked offsides to me, and seeing replay, it wasn't close, yet VAR let it stand.  Also, the Pigeons got a Penalty Kick in First Half Injury Time after the Ref determined Michael Boxall fouled in the box, but NYCFC's Alonso Martinez hit his attempt hard against the post.  Keaton Parks drew one back in the 89th, but MNUFC managed to hold on for the road Win.

I have dogged Wil Trapp from time to time here, but I read an article once that if anyone from this club were ever to appear for the USMNT, it would be Trapp.  And he was acting frisky in this one, hitting the ball from beyond the box, and then receiving an Indirect Free Kick from Joaquin Pereyra and finding the back of the net with his second boomer.  I don't ever remember seeing Trapp score.  Meanwhile, it look as though Head Coach Eric Ramsay has found his attacking tandem in Yeboah and Oluwaseyi.  If so, may it reap dividends for seasons to come.

With all that said, the competition they have faced that has gotten them to a virtual tie for second place in the West (alongside expansion squad San Diego FC) wasn't like facing the SEC in basketball this past Year.  And they'll get to face another tomato can as they head north across the border and visit winless Toronto FC Saturday afternoon.

#-2: Wild (Last Week: -2).  The teams from here until we got to the very bottom have flashed more warning signs than good signs.  I was torn when it came to putting the Mild in second place this screening Week.  After all, they started off losing at both New York City clubs (although they scratched out a loser Point vs. the Rangers on Wednesday).  But on Sunday at home in Overtime, they withstood The Bastard North Stars and won, 3-2, ending their losing streak at four contests.  And it's a rule for me in the WMNSS that a victory over The Team That Was Stolen From Us v.2.0 counts a little more than any other Win.

With all that said, The Bastard Atlanta Flames are charging hard; they are now only four Points behind the Mild for the final playoff spot in the West, and Calgary has one more Game to play.  And goddamn, in the final Week of the NHL regular season, those two play in Calgary Friday night.  Also, they host San Jose tonight/Wednesday night, travel to Vancouver the night after playing at Calgary, then finish the season hosting Anaheim Tuesday.  We'll see if they even each the playoffs this time next Week.

#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: 0).  See, once again, the Timberwolves had a Week that looked like the exact opposite of the Wild.  While the Wild went 1-2, the Wolves went 2-1, routing the Nets in Brooklyn and outlasting the 76ers in Philadelphia, then losing last/Tuesday night at Milwaukee to end their winning streak at five tilts.  The problem is that in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, they have slipped back into Play-In position -- and in eighth place, to be exact, albeit one Game behind four teams (the Clippers, Nuggets, Warriors and Grizzlies) for fourth.  Their lackluster play against teams they should beat is coming back to bite them in the asses now, and even though it won't take much to catapult them to home-court advantage in the First Round, they are back stuck in the Play-In limbo they've been in much of the Year.  So, even though they had a better screening Week than the Timberwolves, I'm looking at the overall picture and believe the Woofie Dogs are in a worse position now.

With that said, they, like the Wild, are entering the final Week of the regular season.  They have their final road Game of the season at The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies tomorrow/Thursday night, but finish at home against two teams they're supposed to beat, Brooklyn Friday (after playing them just eight Days before) and, finally, The Bastard New Orleans Jazz Sunday.  That's three Games in four Days -- can the Timberwolves survive that finishing stretch?

#-4: Twins (Last Week: -3).  Dogshit, these guys.  Many analyzers thought these guys would win the American League Central Division because they had the best Rotation, Lineup and Bullpen.  I saw that they added only three players over the offseason to the tune of less than $11 million total and conclude that the Twinks are running it back with the same fucking squad that played itself out of the postseason by playing at a .333 clip for the last Month of the season, so how could they win?  And it turns out my pessimistic ass was right, for the finished the Week 2-4, losing their opening home series versus Houston and now trying to avoid getting swept in Kansas City tonight/Wednesday night.  Griffin Jax helped the Astros come back from six Runs down on Sunday to win in extra Innings, Pablo Lopez left his start last/Tuesday night (a 2-1 Loss to the Royals) early with some sort of injury, Carlos Correa is batting around The Mendoza Line and Harrison fucking Bader has the highest Batting Percentage of anyone on the team.  And they're already four Games behind Detroit in the Division.  Suckage.

After finishing up in K. C., they host the Tigers over the weekend and the Mets starting on Monday, both for three Games.

#-5: Gopher softball (Last Week: -5).  Like the Wild and Timberwolves, I face a similar dilemma differentiating between the Golden Gopher softball and baseball teams.  Let's be honest: They're both fucking terrible.  But while the softballers lost their series at Purdue over the weekend, at least they won the getaway Game Sunday, 11-8, snapping an icky-poo nine-Game losing streak.  Maybe some home cooking in a weekend series against Oregon will turn things around.  (It probably won't.)

#-6: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -4).  Holy shit, the diamond teams in the Twin Cities are fucking terrible!  The baseballers won one Game, but it was last/Tuesday night at home over South Dakota St., but the final score was 4-3, and they had to come back from an early deficit to the Jackrabbits by plating three Runs in the Third Inning.  Unlike the U. softball team, they can't say they broke their losing streak to a Big Team team.  No, they got swept by Penn St., and at home.  And that was the second straight sweep at Siebert to a conference team; they dropped all three Matches against Iowa the weekend before.

They'll host St. Thomas tonight/Wednesday night to finish their 12-Game, two-venue homestand (which currently stands at 4-7) before playing a trio at Ohio St.  The Golden Goofers are 12-17 overall and 2-10 in-conference, and thank Buddha they will play against the only conference team that technically is worse than them.

#-Infinity: Gopher women's basketball (Re-Entry!).  Congratulations, I guess, go out to the Gopher women's b-ball team, who defeated Belmont last Wednesday, 75-63, to win the Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament, or the WBIT, or what I would like to call the "Wabbit."  I normally don't care about winning inferior tournaments.  I still don't.  But I want to note that Head Coach Dawn Plitzuweit has gotten her charges to the finals of a secondary tournament for the second season in a row.  Could be worse, but at some point these appearances should be a springboard to the NCAA Tournament, aka the one that really counts.

Immediately after The Big Dance is over, news organizations put out their Way-Too-Early Top 25 for next Year, and you can guess that there are huge differences between the lists.  Charlie Creme of ESPN.com has the U. as part of the "Receiving Votes" category, but Sabreena Merchant of The Athletic has them 16th.  (To further emphasize the lack of agreement between the two writers, Creme has my alma mater 12th, but Merchant has them off her Top 25 entirely.)  There was much deserved hype over Minnesota coming into the past season, but they tailed off at the end and wound up playing in the Wabbit.  It's Plitzuweit's third season.  Time to level up.

Lost A Facebook Friend Over Chappell Fucking Roan

You know, I need to get off of Facebook, or at least ratchet it down the way I'm only dipping my toe in Twitter these days.  I don't think Mark Zuckerberg is insinuating himself into the day-to-day destruction of the American government like Elon Musk is, but like the Muskrat, he owns a social media platform that, as a direct result of Trump being reinstalled as President, he has turned into an unsafe, unfair, Republican forum of lies, rudeness and disinformation.  But I still get stuck in it because I'm addicted to wishing my Facebook friends Happy Birthday and giving condolences when one of their family members passes away.

And I need to emphasize "Facebook friends."  They're not "real" friends, I guess, because I've never met them.  But the vast majority of friends I have on Facebook I have never met.  Those people are mostly women, nearly all of them strikingly hot.  I was suggested by the Facebook algorithm to friend them, scrolled through a few pictures of them in bikinis or other revealing clothing, I extended a request, and they accepted.  And that's how we became friends, or "Facebook friends."

Well, I lost one Sunday, and it was over politics, or it was tangentially over politics.  It was ostensibly over supernova pop singer Chappell Roan.  I'm not completely familiar with her work because, frankly, I don't want to.  I heard of her persona away from the stage before I listened to "Pink Pony Club," and I didn't like it.  She waded into politics before November's election -- particularly how she stood up for Palestinians in Gaza and bashed both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for siding with Israel.

Do you know, however, that the Missourian Roan has a Republican uncle?  Darin Chappell is a member of the Missouri House of Representatives representing a district in the southwestern part of the state.  Back in the fall, Chappell co-sponsored a bill banning public funds going to abortion facilities in Missouri.  I have seen no article that shows he has any progressive, liberal, moderate, or, dare I say, sane views.  He's a MAGAt, plain and simple, and even though you can't choose family, if you call yourself an advocate for drag queens and other liberal causes with the ferocity you bashed Democrats over Gaza, I think it stands to reason that your silence in the face of a family member's Republican bona fides makes you somewhat of a hypocrite.

The post that started this mess on Facebook gave me another reason to think Roan is a fraud.  According to this article -- and yes, I should be fact-checking what I see more often -- Roan seemingly took back the political stances she has espoused on stage and interviews in the past, saying she "doesn't have time to educate herself on politics" because she's just a pop singer.  That's pretty damn laughable on its face because she's stuck her nose in politics ever since she became popular.  Again, if you want to wade into politics, that's your right.  If you don't, and want to be a cypher like Sabrina Carpenter, that's OK, too.  But you have got to pick a lane, stay in your lane, and defend your lane.  Roan clearly has not, and the person who posted this article about Roan not wanting to get into politics pointed that out and called Roan a fake for this flip-flop.

Now, I didn't see this link to this article to which this person said Roan's a fraud directly.  I don't know the person who gave this opinion (although I followed her after I read it).  I saw the link to the article from my former Facebook friend, who I think (I'm not quite sure) was defending Roan.  Apparently, she's a fan.  And this being social media, there was a part of me that, after I read this opinion, fell in love with it, and wanted to engage with my Facebook friend, said, "Be careful.  You might lose this friend if you say what you want to say."  And I heard that part of me ... and I went ahead and disagreed with her.  Tastefully, of course.

Specifically, I said that Roan always smelled like a two-face and right on to this person putting Roan on blast.  To which my Facebook friend gave me a screenshot of a Variety article that said Roan was going to vote for Harris after all.  But it looked to get a little more personal than that: She accused me of not looking up evidence that proved I was right, and that she had already given proof that she was right, and that she had already proved to me that Roan was going to vote "correctly," and why did I think she had to prove it to me again.  I thought the Variety article made Roan out not to be the diehard Harris supporter my Facebook friend said she was; it sounded as Roan was being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the voting booth to vote for the lesser of two evils.

I was going to tell my Facebook friend this, but she defriended me.

I have to admit: This hurts.  I've been thinking about her off and on all day at work since she did that.  We are on the same side politically.  I had this big rant I posted on Facebook Inauguration Eve and she commented in a way that made me believe she was an ally.  I also found her to be very sweet when not talking about politics.  And yes, she's hot as hell.  So it pains me to see that she is no longer my Facebook friend, and all because of Chappell Fucking Roan.

But should I be that torn up?  This is the paradox of social media.  I have never met her, and chances were low that I ever would, but I think I know her.  She has been honest about some very low lows, and so there is a level of intimacy you can achieve with people you will never see face-to-face.  And that is why I feel so bad about this.  Then again, this is social media, a liminal state where people come and go.  I've cut off people I've been Facebook friends with for some time because of politics, and I haven't given it a second thought.  Doesn't she have the right to do the same?  And besides, is my real life truly, truly being affected if she isn't my Facebook friend anymore?

---

I slid into her DMs and said that, while I apologize, I did not take back what I said about Roan.  I also was sorry that she got upset that (according to her) I made her look up proof when she already said what she said.  And, well, that's it.

I do believe in inner peace.  Cut people off if they say something you don't like, absolutely.  And yet, when it happens to you, you just wonder why people get set off so easily.  Yes, that's hypocritical.  But dammit, she's no longer Facebook friends with me because of Chappell Fucking Roan.

Too Much Food Anyway

I also wanted to eat out on Friday because I had eaten a lot, I think way too much, at home.  My parents cook splendidly and I'm glad I can eat, and for free.  But they make a goddamn lot, and they still make me eat a goddamn lot, and I swear I'm getting fatter and thus unhealthier.  So yes, I understand eating fast food is much less healthy and I am spending money while doing it.  So, if I can control how much I eat, that should be good for me, right?  Well, that plan goes out the window if the restaurant screws up the order, which they did, technically.

OK, so I got home, grabbed my phone which was on my bed all day Friday, was going to tell my parents I was here and then leave but realized they didn't give a shit, and went to my car to order Chipotle.  I had free birthday guac, so I bought chips, and since Chipotle gives you a lot of chips, I didn't think I needed more than one taco (and I got their new chipotle honey chicken) and pop and I would be good.

What I have noticed since the pandemic, with the resulting rise in mobile ordering and the possibly-causal decrease of staff working at these places, is that orders sometimes get real screwed up.  I usually don't do anything because, yes, I'm cynical enough to think it won't make a bit of difference.  But there has been more than one occasion where I have been given more food than I ordered, and that was the case here.  I suspected nothing when I took my bag directly from the workers who had just finished my order.  I intended to eat it there so I could just be at peace to start my weekend.  I noticed a bag within the bag, so that was the bag of chips.  I grab it ... and see another bag underneath.  They gave me two bags of chips?  And then I opened up the aluminum lid of the bowl in which I expected my one chipotle honey chicken taco.  And there I saw three.  (By the way, I only saw one cup of guacamole, not two.  I stopped to buy Top The Tater on my way home so I have something to dip the second bag of chips in.)

My guess is is that they were slammed with orders and were just getting them out.  I also guess that people usually don't order just one taco, so I assumed the workers just looked at the word "taco" and automatically made three.  That doesn't explain the two bags of chips, though, so maybe they wanted to give me a second bag of chips to make up for making me wait, even though I think I got there a bit before the ready-by time I was given on the Chipotle application.  Or they were being nice.  Or generous.  Or a combination thereof.

I know it's weird to complain about getting more food than you paid for.  But I have a waistline I have to tend to, I had a plan to watch what I ate, and dammit, I got all this good food again.  It wasn't unlike eating at home.  But I'm not stupid; I ate the three tacos (pretty good) and one bag of chips with the guacamole before I left.  And I got fat and I was happy I was given all this food.

And I think that, now that I'm done with this blog post, I'll start working on the second bag of chips and the Top The Tater.

Mundo OT Falling By The Wayside?

Circling back to work on Friday ... there was a part of me that wanted to take my boss up on his offer of staying an extra four at work.  I have only worked that long probably once at my company, and (I may have blog posted about this) it was in an effort to work more than 60 hours one week because I wanted to know whether I would get paid double time once I reached 60.  Based on my paycheck, the answer is no.

I did not take him up on his offer for many reasons.  Viscerally, I was still missing my cellphone, which I stupidly forgot at home.  Guess it didn't matter if I came home after ten hours at work or twelve, but I wanted to get home as soon as possible so I could reunite with my phone.  On top of that, it was time I finally began working on my taxes, and seeing I just spent a good hour-plus realizing I had made a mistake before doing this blog post, I think I made the right choice in quitting after ten hours (and 15 minutes) at work so I could go into the break room and finally begin filling out the forms and schedules.  (Mental note: It might be time to hire an accountant or tax advisor.)  Instinct also kicked in: I was hungry, I planned on getting Chipotle because it gave me free guacamole (for my birthday), and I was set on using it, and I'm not sure if I could have had that leisurely dinner I felt entitled to after a long day at work without my cell if I ordered food at 8:30 instead of 7:30.  And although The Third Department was a lot better than I was worried it would be, my workday was still plenty long, and even though I got done with all the work, I think I wanted to quit instead of key for two hours.

And yes, even with all those good reasons, I still regret not working till late.  I'm not sure how much work my co-workers got through yesterday/Saturday, but I take my boss not texting me saying that I could come in to work yesterday or today as a sign that things are under control.  And like I said, The Third Department was not as bad as I thought it would be on Friday, and this was despite two days' worth of forms finally reaching us, so maybe the crush of work that presumably led to the possibility of a twelve-hour workday Friday was a one-time thing.  Finally, the new guidelines in The Third Department is designed to streamline things and, ultimately, get us out earlier than we have.  Even though the jury is still out, at least in theory this is supposed to work.

Add it all up, and this might be the last time I will be given the opportunity to work half a 24-hour day.  If I did my taxes right -- and Buddha knows I've effed it up in the past -- I'm owing a lot of money next week.  And I just looked at my credit card bills -- egads, I'm still living it up.  I still need the money.  I still need the OT.  And I passed up what could be my fattest chance to make as much dough as I could, never to see that chance again, dammit.

Oh, The Things I Can Talk About From Yesterday/Friday. Let's Start With The Phone

Oddly dynamic day, but rife with stuff to blog post about, and that's great since I've been kind of hurting for stuff to talk about.

I'll go in chronological order.  I forgot to bring my phone to work yesterday/Friday.  I had such anxiety not having it with me.  Honestly, not being able to scroll through things is something I did miss, even though I wasn't thinking about it every minute.  Hopefully that means I'm not totally addicted and gone.  No, I was more worried that I would need it and not have it, specifically that I would get into an accident or the car would break down on the way home and I would need to make an emergency call and of course I would not be able to, and I felt as though yesterday would be the day that would happen.  No, it did not happen, but that paranoia was with me.  It'll always be with me.

The other thing with the phone is that I assumed my boss texted me on it permitting me to come in to work today/Saturday.  There is a hell of a lot still left to do, and considering what usually happens when there's a backload of work (and considering that were allowed to work about to four hours yesterday), I would be allowed to come and work today.  However, I need to wait till he gives me the specific go-ahead.  I am surprised by this, but I still haven't gotten a text from him saying basically, "Yeah, if you want to come in and work today, come on in."  But I assumed that he had already done it by the time he left yesterday.  And that's why I told everybody before I left yesterday that I might be coming in to work today.  (And by the way, I didn't tell anybody that I left my cellphone at home.)  So I'm scared that my co-workers thought I would be coming in and changed my mind, when the whole truth is that I was willing and able to come in today, but didn't because I wasn't given explicit permission.

For all I know, my boss wouldn't mind if I come in today.  But I'm not going to get all dressed and come in, only to be told that I can't because I wasn't told I could.  So instead I'm blog posting this, and thinking about what other stuff I think is crazy happened yesterday/Friday.

Hello? Anyone There??

Oh my God, so much shit happened yesterday/Friday, and that's not including the American economy tanking because That Fucking Guy wanted it to tank.  Motherfucker.  And fuck all the MAGAts who voted for him, too.

Anyway, I worked late, but not as late as I could have.  I actually limited myself to 10 1/4 hours last/Friday night, but because indeed two days' worth of work came in in the morning, my boss sent in an e-mail in the afternoon that we could work, get this, up to four hours extra.  I probably won't get into it, at least not for now, but suffice it to say, I was torn.  But I decided to leave.

I told my folks that I was going to not eat dinner.  My original plan was to have Chipotle on the way back.  But dammit, I forgot my phone, so I wasn't able to use the app until I got home.  I figured I would just go in and leave because there was no reason to stick around if I was just going to go out to eat.  So I did.

I thought about letting them know I was home.  I saw the light from Mother's office.  I also heard the TV blaring from the master bedroom, which obviously was where Father was.  I was going to let them know I was here and I was leaving for a bit; I was going to lie and say that I needed to show my co-worker something back at work.  But then I realized that I didn't really sneak into the house.  A chime sound emits whenever the front door is opened.  I think I wasn't loud, but I wasn't quiet when I walked upstairs and then downstairs.  And yet neither parental unit got up and looked up at the front door when I came in.  It's possible that they didn't care that I came in, but I got the feeling that they didn't hear me come in, and that they were concentrating on working and watching TV instead.

That is weird as hell to me.  I kind of find that disheartening to not care that someone opened the door to their house.  But then I figured that if they didn't care to see that I came home, why would I need to let them know that I have?  That makes me it easier to just leave, which I wanted to do anyway.  So I left without letting them know I even came home, which was around 7:45 or so.  I ate Chipotle, was given a second bag of chips I don't think I ordered (another story I may or may not get around to), went to Hy-Vee because I needed to buy dip for these extra chips, then finally came home around 10.  They didn't greet me when I came back home for the night, either.

Do they care?  Do I care?  I don't know!

Too Much In Two Ways

Eating Mother's food is a double-edged sword.  Had egg rolls last night for dinner.  Damn, it's fantastic.  There might be one or two other things she makes that are better, but when I was devouring the egg rolls, it was the best damn thing she ever made.

However, I'm feeling the aftereffects of eating so much right now.  When I eat a lot of certain foods, I get thirsty as hell, and I am thirsty as hell, even as I type this.  I'm almost done with my Coke, but I'm not desperate enough to drink it all.  Had some lemonade that I'm almost finished with, too.  Drank all of the mocha I bought in the morning to bring into work, but let's face it, mochas aren't "quenching."  And while I need to drink more water, dammit, the water ain't cutting it.  I might need to buy a Big Gulp tomorrow if I'm still thirsty.

Oh yeah, there's also getting fat as hell.  That is one reason I kind of threw my parents a curveball late last night and told them I'm not eating dinner tonight.  If I do eat after work, I get to control what I eat, and I hope to Buddha I am smart enough to not buy something big.  Then again, I still might buy a huge bottle of pop.  And I might also feel as though I deserve to eat big if work is a bear today.  See, that's another reason I told my folks (well, just Mother, and I hope she told Father) that I'm not eating tonight.  The work that was supposed to come in from down South didn't.  There were hellacious storms (including nighttime tornadoes, yikes) that cancelled all flights from there.  I still stayed a half-hour over because there is just so much darn work in The Third Department -- and, as an addendum to my previous blog post, my boss gave me a quick rundown of all the changes that are to be made there yesterday, but I will hold off on talking about them until I implement these changes and see if they work -- but that indicates to me that there should have been a hell of a lot of work that came in yesterday, and that will (maybe?) come in today, along with the work that would normally come in today.  So we have two days' worth of work when I can obviously do only one.

See how the crap continues to roll down?  I'm fully expecting to be asked to come in to work tomorrow, and I'm debating whether to wake up early and do a normal day, come in for only a few hours so I can have lunch and dinner with my parents, or a hybrid of both.  (Heck, I'm still thinking I should take back not having dinner with my folks tonight because I might not have dinner with them tomorrow night.  We probably will be that backed up.)  And that affects something else I need to do: My taxes.  Yeah, I haven't even started on them yet.  I was going to this week, but I got both depressed over my team and tired because of, well, me, and so I was going to do them this weekend, but this damn storm has upended everything and given me the opportunity to take back the paid time off I took Tuesday and Wednesday.  Maybe I shouldn't take that opportunity; I really do need to look at my tax forms now.  But I won't make that choice until I absolutely have to, because that's, well, me.

There Might Be Changes At Work Today

I was fortunate to decide to take the past two days off in one way: I missed the worst of the spring snowstorm and not needing to drive when it was sleeting.  I was fortunate in another way: I could sleep in.  (I slept for three hours Tuesday evening and almost 2 1/2 hours last/Wednesday evening; maybe that's a coincidence.)  And there's a third way, I guess: There was a big meeting between my boss, my supervisor, and the two people who hold the same position as I at work yesterday.

But that last point is a double-edged sword.  That meeting, although I was allowed to miss it, was important: It had to do with new policies and protocols streamlining what we needed to do in The Third Department.  This is the one kicking all our asses.  Ever since our co-worker retired around the holidays, the workload was heaped most only one person on most days.  Even though I don't have concrete evidence, it also feels as though there has been a slight uptick in work since the New Year, which only added to the workload.  As a result, we have been working our asses off, staying past our regular eight-hour shift (when possible) in order to do all the work that needs to be done.  Stress, suffice it to say, has ratcheted up as well.

Thus, this meeting.  It's a follow-up to another meeting we had maybe three weeks ago requesting feedback on how we felt Things Were Going On.  I told my higher-ups then my piece: That it's hell, and some of the tasks suck the life out of me, but I understand the work needs to get done, and if they're willing to put up with overtime, I'll put up with ten-hour days.  Now, I obviously don't know what was revealed in yesterday's meeting, but I am sure my supe and boss have an edict from those above them to tamp down OT, so they most likely announced tasks that can be streamlined, tasks that can be given to someone else, and tasks that can be put off till the next day (although needing to deal with them the next day only causes us to stay late that day because the new stuff is still coming in, but that's a given).  Those new plans might be implemented as soon as today/Thursday, when I am coming in to do The Third Department all by myself.

Honestly, I'm torn.  I certainly would like to not be stressed out.  But dammit, I love the money I'm making!  And maybe more important than that, I like the fact I'm not getting any guff from my boss or supervisor for staying late and doing my job.  That's what I'm there for, right -- to do my job, right?

Well, we'll see what happens.  I might hate the changes.  I might love them.  There's a chance they won't work and we'll be back to where we have been all year.  And in the meantime, there is this implication of finding another person and hiring her for the same position as us three.  The issue with alleviating work in The Third Department so that everybody can get out of work "on time" can be easily solved by just hiring someone, and that might already be happening for all I know, so all of this speculation will become reality.  Who knows?