I Hate It When I Panic, And I Really Hate It When I Don't Have To Panic

I wasn't in a good frame of mind when I came home last/Tuesday night after the Timberwolves Game (which they won, even though they finally took the lead on The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies just before halfway through the Third Quarter).  Naturally I checked the thermostat first thing when I got home.  And the thermostat was blank.

Ah, so the batteries ran out.  Well, Father bought a huge stash of AA batteries, so I replaced them.  But the thermostat still didn't work.  Oh, no.  The thermostat we have is just a programmable one.  It also has been there as far as I can remember.  It's been so long since it's been replaced, it makes sense that the damn thing just conked out.

Unfortunately, I suddenly realized I was in the lurch.  You can't really go without a thermostat, can you?  Well, I should take that back; if it were not too long ago, when the temperature was below freezing all day, not having the ability to heat the house with the help of a thermostat would be dangerous.  But we are, thankfully, having a mild (if not necessarily a heat) wave with temps punching into the fifties most days this week.  I have been told that you don't want to let the ambient temperature of the house drop below 60 degrees.  That would happen if it were below freezing, but probably not now when it's much warmer than that.

That would give me time.  To do what ... well, that's what I have been doing the next couple hours.  I ran into a YouTube video whereby you could hack the furnace on using this special two-way wire that does the work of a thermostat, including stopping when it reaches a certain temp.  But my main concern, obviously, is getting a new thermostat.  I tried looking for the exact type of thermostat, but that thing is damn old, so it's not in stock at any hardware store.  It's plentiful online, but that obviously would take time to get shipped, and as much as I think the house could survive without regular heat because of the milder temps, I don't know how long I want to tempt that.

Unfortunately, the thermostats that I could just go and buy are way, way different from the one that's in the house now.  First of all, I see these smart thermostats and they are way too smart for me.  Then, as I fell further down the rabbit hole of learning about the world of thermostats, I saw that the wiring pattern behind the thermostat is very, very important to note and even take a photo of.  Each brand and maybe even each model of thermostat will or might have a different configuration of the ends of the wires being plugged into its socket.  Moreover, the configuration of how the sockets are arranged vary by brand and even by model.  So if I bought one of these things off the shelf, I would have to unscrew the wires, unscrew the mounting plate, put the new mounting plate in (while making sure it's level), then carefully matching up the wires to its socket in the new configuration.  And I'm supposed to make sure the HVAC is completely unplugged while I do this, and I don't know how the hell to do that.  I was going to just wing it and do this intricate wiring work without shutting the power off to the HVAC.  Hey, I'm a big boy now, right?

Ultimately, though, I decided I was too chickenshit to do that.  My dumb ass was sure to get electrocuted.  And then I went on Amazon, saw this particular brand of thermostat, and then saw that magic word: "Prime."  If I sign up -- and, of course, it's only a free trial! -- I can get this same brand of thermostat delivered in two days.  I think the house can go without heat for two days in this weather, right?  So I signed up to get it this Friday.  I just have to remember to cancel Amazon Prime in 30 days because Amazon is the devil.  I just had to dance with him because otherwise I would have no heat.

With that bought ... well, why don't I try new batteries in the old thermostat again?  There are plenty down there, and maybe I just got two bad ones or something.  So I took that old thermostat downstairs, found two other "new" batteries, put them in ... and the display was back on.  Jesus fucking Christ, did I pick two new batteries that just didn't fucking work?  Or is this thermostat being so flighty that it just decided to work then and there?

So I have heat now, and it seems to be working fine.  I thought about cancelling delivery of the new/old thermostat and Amazon Prime.  But remembering how panicked I was, I'm keeping it.  This is a prime example where it's smart to have a back-up.  Of course, I have to remember that I have a back-up thermometer.  If this one conks out for real, there's a good chance I will forget I bought a replacement.  Where would I even put this one once it comes in?  Well, that's not the worst problem to have.

---

I told you at the start of this blog post that I was not in a good frame of mind.  That's because of the car.  I'm scaring myself into thinking it's way too low on oil.  I have checked, or tried to check, the level a few times over the past week or so, but the goddamn thing is so hard to read.  I have a dipstick that has a plastic orange end.  It's hard to read when there's clear, new oil, and it's also a bitch to decipher because it seemingly has oil above the full dot and below the empty dot, and then it's completely drenched in oil on one side of the dipstick but completely dry on the other.

I checked the oil level before driving out of downtown after the Wolves Game.  The dipstick was how I described it above, and it wasn't the first time it looked like this.  So is my car completely tapped out of oil?  I can't believe that; I got an oil change about 2 1/2 months ago, and I don't think it's leaking oil.  And what if I have overfilled it, which is something I am scared as hell I have done if I fully believe what I saw on my dipstick these past few times, acted as if my engine was empty, but got suckered because it was in fact full, or even more than full?

I am in a bind.  Or, I have put myself in a bind of my own delusions.  I have blog posted before that I might be scaring myself into thinking I am about to do catastrophic damage to my car by doing and/or not doing something when the best thing I could do is just chill and drive.  Maybe that's the case here, and I should just relax ... no, fuck no, I need to take this into the dealership.  Maybe they can figure out how much oil is in my car without charging me for an oil change, or something.  And then they can teach me how to fuckin' read the oil level on their shitty dipstick.

And I am changing my mind on that, maybe.  I am leaning toward putting in just a little more oil.  Maybe that'll be the thing that finally gives me the results I want to see on the dipstick.  But what if I overfill it?  I've seen so many fucking disaster films.  Man, why do I have a car?  Why do I even drive?  It's just one more burden you're placing on yourself.

Deep breaths, trying to take deep breaths. ...

Hello, City Workers, And Goodbye, Tree Stump

So almost three weeks ago I was woken up by a city surveyor who I thought was ICE, but really just wanted access to my gas meter so he and his co-worker could mark the gas and water lines on my front yard when people come back and grind the stump of the diseased tree that had to be removed.  He said people would come by the following week.  I called the city the next day to make sure they are who they said they were, and the person I spoke to said the following week was being optimistic.

The person I called was right; they didn't come the following week.  But they came yesterday/Monday morning.  Like, kind of early.  Like, I was hitting the snooze button for the first time when I heard some people talking outside.  It wasn't distracting, but I didn't hear such loud talking at 7:10 in the morning.  Just after I hit the snooze button for the second time, I heard this loud machine noise from what I thought was just down the street.  That was enough to convince me getting just a few more winks of shuteye wasn't in the cards, so I got up, and went to the bathroom -- to pee, of course, but to also look outside to see what was the matter.  And that's when I saw two dudes on my front yard.  One of them was standing a few feet from to this chest-high partition that was surrounding the stump, and another on a payloader with a stump grinder on the front, grinding away on the tree stump.

I go out and, as someone who didn't expect anyone to see a dude working on his front yard at 7:30 in the morning, wave to the guy standing.  "Good morning!" the nice man waved back.  Yep, totally normal.  Also totally normal to back down the driveway and then drive in reverse around the huge dump truck parked askance so I had to be careful that there wasn't another car driving through from the other side because I could've hit them.  But hey, I'm just glad they weren't there to abduct me and whisk me down to Whipple.

Came back in the early evening and the stump was gone.  The person with the city I spoke to on the phone said there was a possibility that the workers would throw grass seed where the stump was to get the grass growing process started, but there wasn't any, and I think that's because the ground is still too cold.  But it does appear like they threw dirt on it.  I touched the hole the stump left behind.  I have never felt dirt that soft, to be honest.

Weird how it all came about, and I do feel bad about the tree, and the circle of dirt left behind isn't aesthetically pleasing.  But hey, I don't mind seeing my tax dollars at work.

This Grocery Store Is Pissing Me Off, Man. ...

So there's a grocery store close by me that my family has gone to ever since I can remember.  For people who will never pass up a bargain, I don't know why they frequent this mom-and-pop, boutique grocery store.  Don't get me wrong -- their stuff is great, and there are some things I can get there that we would have to travel a ways to buy elsewhere.  But knowing my parents, they would not go to this grocery store.  But make no mistake; they still do.

And I do.  It's convenient.  It also makes this great chili that I see more and more as dinner.  If I want to make a steak, or if I need onions and peppers to spruce up my spaghetti sauce, I go there instead of the bigger chains around town.  Like I said, their stuff is great.  Finally, I noticed that these guys compare favorable with Aldi for cheapest prices for plastic bottles of pop, which I need almost as much as water.  I would have to pay 30, 40, even 50 cents more than I do at this place.

OK, so this is how they pissed me off yesterday/Sunday.  I wanted chili, and I wanted to buy a plastic bottle of pop.  I also wanted to see if they were still running their $1 deal for Mr. Pibb, which is a decent soda, but I really wanted one just because their bottles are a buck apiece.  So I went there for the first time in, I think, over a month.

Well, first of all, that promotional deal for Mr. Pibb is over.  Beyond that, their big change, which I saw my last visit there, was that they installed a new rewards system.  Before, I was given this paper card with our number.  We either showed the cashier our card or gave him or her our number.  After we accrued enough points, we would get five bucks off automatically.  But on my last visit, I saw these brand-spankin' new cash registers, and I was told that the old rewards program was killed off, utterly.  In its place is this system whereby, instead of issuing cards with numbers, we registered with our phone number; they track points and after a certain number, we get a discount.  It might be five bucks, I don't remember.  But the first stupid thing is that the points we accrued up till then are gone.  It's a brand new system, fuck your points.

To make up for it, I guess, we were automatically given three bucks off our next purchase after our initial visit upon which we registered.  That next purchase was yesterday/Sunday.  So once I was ready to pay, I asked the cashier where the discount was.  That's when she explained to me that no discount is automatically rung up at the cash register, like the old program did.  Instead, we were e-mailed a Quick Response (QR) code.  I guess we had to go into our phone, look for that e-mail, and scan it, or something.

I tried looking for it since there was no one behind me.  But (and maybe I should blog post about this sometime) using search functions on your email applications on your phone sucks.  They don't find shit.  And I couldn't find it, so I had to just pay full price for my chili and bottle of Pepsi and go.

I didn't think at the time I even got a QR code.  But I did.  Once I got home, I realized that as part of signing up for this new rewards program, you give them permission to e-mail you.  I did find the e-mail where the code was.  Also, and unfortunately, the cashier said that this $3 dollar new program discount lasted only for a month after registration.  And in that e-mail, conveniently, I saw the expiration date of ... four days prior.  I couldn't use that discount even if I were able to find it when I was there.

That really pisses me off, it really does.  I was used to these guys doing everything, but now more of the work, especially the part where I am responsible for keeping up on my discounts, falls on me, and I don't like that change.  So maybe I'll drive down to Cub to get my chili from now on, and maybe I'll then stop by Aldi for my pop.  Because I don't like getting screwed like this, and I did get screwed.

So ****e cancelled on me today.  Said she has a bad cold.  I believe her.  This is the first time she texted me in advance to say that she can't do it.  There was that weird day where I came over and a man was there telling me she couldn't have company.  And there was another time where I let myself in, stayed for half an hour, thought she wasn't there, left, and then got a call from her, while she was home, saying she just had overslept.  (I had plans that day, so I figured I would just start them early instead of going back to her place.)

What can I do?  She's sweet, I like her, and she is the only person I know who will, uh, let me love her like I want to.  I just don't know the next time I'll be able to see her.  Hopefully soon.

In the meantime, I'm still, unfortunately, horny.  I have thought about asking one of my stripper girlfriends to come over.  But nah; instead, I'll eat or do laundry, and then I will exercise in the evening.  I'll keep it holstered for another time.

The Joys Of Buying A Robe

It's not as if I don't mind wrapping a bath towel around myself when I leave the bathroom after taking a shower.  And hell, right now I could gallivant around the house stark naked if I wanted.  Well, maybe not; I can't dry the curtains at the back door.  And that's when I thought about buying a robe.  And you know, it gets cold when I gallivant around the house stark naked.  Now, it's just a robe, and I'm not wearing anything underneath it.  But it would be enough for me to wear, and I could do things like do the laundry or make myself dinner while wearing it, and I wouldn't be either cold or embarrassed.

The problem is that the best robes are so expensive.  I rely on The Wirecutter for best products, and I was amazed that all the robes they recommend are at least close to a hundred bucks!  Really?  Are good robest that pricey?

I had been looking at the article in The Wirecutter for a few years now.  They update their list annually, so I kept looking just in case they found a budget pick.  Well, about a month ago I saw that listicle again and, miraculously, there was a sale going on with one of their robe picks.  That discount ran around 30%, and going from almost $100 to less than $70 was the final incentive for me to finally buy a robe.

And you know what?  I love it!  I can walk around the house now after I shower without worrying if any neighbor catches me naked.  It is still new, so the deep and plus hairs of the robe nestle and comfort me.  It keeps me warm as I put-put around the house.  Finally, it solves the reason I wanted a robe in the first place, a reason I let slip from my consciousness frequently: I hate sitting up on my bed waiting for my hair to dry before I could put my clothes on and gallivant around the house.  With a robe, I don't have to pull my shirts over my wet hair and thus making my chest and back sweaty all day.  Instead, I can walk around the house and spend my time doing productive things as my hair dries.  Plus, I don't have to pull a robe over my wet head.

The only dilemma is where to stash the robe once my parents come home.  I can't leave it out in the bathroom.  I think it'll have to be put in a closet, right next to my civilian clothes.  But I don't have to really, really think about this issue until I get a fixed date of when my folks are returning.

Don't Share A Bath Towel With Your Parents

So Thursday night I went down to the master bathroom to take a shower.  It had been several days since I washed myself (adhering to strict Chinese/Lunar New Year taboos), and I knew I had to use the one downstairs because I used the one upstairs the last time I showered.

But you add those two things up and you can see how I forget things.  Not, like turning on the faucet, but remembering what I have to bring downstairs from the upstairs (aka my) bathroom.  One of those was bringing in my own towel.  I only realized this, however, once I turned on the water in the shower.  Whoops, too late.

While I didn't bring down my own towel, there were two towels there.  They're my parents', and they left them there when they left for Vegas.  Great, I'll just use them ... except that I don't know whether they washed them before they began wintering out in Nevada.  Now, I use the master bathroom sink to brush my teeth, so when I dry my hands I dried them on those towels.  So sure, I maybe shouldn't complain about using dirty towels.  But there is a difference between using my folks' towels to dry my hands and using them to dry my body -- right?

Regardless, I had no choice.  So I picked one of the two towels and I dried myself with it.  I used it as if it were my own, but all the while I was imagining my parents coming out of the shower doing the same thing.  Ick.  Glad I bought a robe (and I should blog post about the robe I bought very soon); once I got all of the big wetness off my body, I dropped that towel and got into my robe.

So the towel is going to be washed by me soon.  The imagery of my parents using what I had just used ... well, I can't wash that out of my brain no matter how hard I try.

Well, Hitler Did Get The Trains To Run On Time

My passport's about to expire in six months, so I figure that I should renew it.  I didn't use it to go anywhere out of the country, and I don't plan on using my passport for at least, oh, the next three years.  But I am privileged enough to believe that there is a non-zero chance I can fly overseas at a moment's notice, so it behooves me to have a valid passport with me at all times.

So I renewed my passport, oh, about five weeks ago.  I don't remember if I took it upon myself to renew it the last time it had to be renewed, which was a decade go.  Nor do I remember ever renewing it online.  But I did.  And honestly, beyond the slight hiccup of cropping the passport photo Walgreens sent me digitally in order to comply with the government's requirements, it was a breeze.

Once I applied, they said they would send it in about eight weeks, with the estimated delivery date being exactly my birthday.  They did a lot better than that.  Two weeks ago I got my passport, which, if I have my dates correct, was about two weeks after I applied.  Then, the next week (which was last week), I got my passport photo.  I honestly thought there was a chance they would hang up my application because I've been so, let's just say, dissenting about our current government.  But either they don't care or they don't know me, because I got my passport and passport card in record time.  Unfortunately, you've got to hand it to them.  This is how people accept fascism -- if things in their lives work.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

I was going to complete this last night before I went to bed, but I got so tired I was like, "I need to sleep."  Now I'm up but I need to go to work, so I'm just going to finish this.  Anything I wanted to write for this Week's survey I'll try and put in next Week's survey ... if I remember.

#-1: Timberwolves (Re-Entry!).  Their commitment to Defense remains spotty.  The started the second half of their season beating the Cooper Flag-less Dallas Mavericks at home, then get beat by an execrable Philadelphia club (also at The Target Center), before going to Portland and getting by an ascending Trail Blazers squad by three.  In Tuesday night's Game, Jade McDaniels went off for 29 Points.  That's great, but he remains an X-factor.  He needs to pop off more consistently for the T-Wolves to have a chance at winning the whole thing.

They finish a three-Game road trip at The Bastard Buffalo Braves and Denver before returning home to play The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies.

#-2: Gopher baseball (Last Week: -1).  I was at last/Wednesday night's Game versus Kansas, the opener of a four-Game, five-Day series being held at U. S. Bank Stadium.  (It's also the reason I was so tired.)  I have never seen the ball fly out of a ballpark in a college baseball Game like I did last/Wednesday night.  The two teams combined for seven Home Runs, the last of which was blasted by the Gophers' Easton Richter to make the score 8-7.  Minnesota got the tying Run at Second Base, but the Game ended on a grounder to Shortstop, and they lost.

But they're up here in the WMNSS because they swept both Games of a two-Game set with Northeastern down in Ft. Myers, Fla., by a combined score of 27-7.  They'll try and bounce back this weekend against the Jayhawks, then invite Wisconsin-Milwaukee to town for a two-Game series Tuesday and Wednesday, also at the Vikings' stadium.

#-3: United FC (NEW SEASON!!).  See, if I wasn't so tired, I would expound here with a preview of the season.  It should be this way, but I don't have the time, so I'll try and give an overview next Week.  In the meantime, I'll just say that since Kelvin Yeboah scored a header off of a nice Cross from Devin Padelford (who was feed by a nice cross-field long ball by Julian Gressel), this 2-2 Draw at Austin feels more like a Win than a Loss, so that's why they're up here.  Can't wait to attend the home opener vs. FC Cincinnati Saturday.  Not looking forward to the below-freezing temperature.

#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -3).  Routed Rutgers at The Barn 80-61, then kept it honorably close at third-ranked Michigan, losing 77-67.  Eh, whatcha gonna do?  This Week: Host UCLA, visit Indiana.

#-5: Gopher softball (Last Week: -2).  They hosted a tournament at U. S. Bank Stadium too, the Gopher Indoor Classic.  Unfortunately, they were way too generous as hosts, going 2-3, splitting two Games against Central Michigan, beating Long Island, and losing to Iowa St. and North Dakota St.  They play a one-off at for-profit Grand Canyon, then participate in the final non-conference tournament they have over the weekend, the Hillenbrand Invitational in Tucson, Ariz., where they will sandwich two Games against Howard with contests with host Arizona and Long Beach St.

#-6: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: Positive Numbers).  Only one Game this screening Week, but it was a defeat at Williams to Michigan St., a team only several spots ahead of the Gophers in the polls, by 14.  Would've been nice to grab a Win, but no big worries are coming from this.  They are still in contention for a Top-4 Seed and the right to host Games at The Barn.  Keep your eyes on the prize as this team finishes up their regular season at Illinois Sunday afternoon.

#-7: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -5).  I'm supposed to take these underachievers seriously?  I have to regard these players as members of a blue blood when they get swept at home (yes, both Losses were in Overtime, but what's the fucking difference?) to Minnesota-Duluth?  Fuck this team.  I don't give a fuck that they're hosting St. Cloud St. for the First Round of The WCHA Tournament?

#-Infinity: Wild (Re-Entry!).  How do you piss away all the goodwill you got when you scored the gold medal-winning Goal in the Winter Olympics?  By immediately turning into a bunch of thirsty fuckboys!

The Wild lead the NHL in number of players on Team USA with three: Quinn Hughes, Matt Boldy, and Brock Faber.  All three apparently partied it up with the googly-eyed hack installed as FBI Director who decided not to do his job and instead flew a jet, on taxpayer dime, to Italy to act like a frat boy dick.  And then the fat, corrupt ass installed as President invited them to make him look good at the State of the Union.  

These stupid, stupid bastards.  What they did since Sunday isn't about national pride and unity, and it isn't even about having the time of your life.  It's about normalizing the most corrupt, dirtiest man ever installed as President -- and who, oh by the way, probably raped kics.  (And he cheated to win both of his elections, too; I won't let anybody forget that.)  And he is a user who does everything to benefit his wallet, his ego, or his penis.  He probably doesn't even know how to properly pronounce "hockey."  He just knows that this team won, they're winners, and he associates with winners to make him look good.  And Hughes, Boldy and Faber willingly did that for him.

Twenty players on the team volunteered to be political props went to Washington for the State of the Union.  There are five who did not: Kyle Connor, Jackson LaCombe, Jake Guentzel, Jake Oettinger, and Brock Nelson.  I'll take what I'll say back if I get more information about them, but for right now, these guys are heroes for refusing to let Trump wipe his ass with their medals.  I'll be rooting for these guys and the teams they're on (and that really sucks for me because Oettinger is Goalie #1 for The Bastard North Stars, and now I have to root for those assholes?!) and, as disbelieving I am to say this, I'll be rooting the Mild to lose.  After what that MAGAt son-of-a-bitch did to our communities and the people who live alongside us, these motherfuckers cozy up to him?  And General Manager Bill Guerin invited Kash Patel into the locker room after the Game???  Fuck the Wild.  They have a stupid fucking name, they won't take back North Stars, and now they've decided they are Team MAGAt.  Goddamn all of them.  They deserve to rot at the bottom of this Week's survey.

When Second-Guessing Is The Right Thing To Do

When I leave for work in the morning, I frequently forget something to which I need to shut down the car, open the front door to my house, and disarm the alarm in order to retrieve what I left behind.  It's usually my cellphone, so it's a pain-in-the-ass to do my steps backwards and then do them all over again once I find my phone.

This time around, once I turned my car on I forgot something else, namely an envelope Mother asked me to stuff with tax forms that had to be delivered here and not to my parents' condo in Las Vegas.  I wondered when I would have the time to get to a post office to send it.  We've been so busy at work that swinging by the post office close to me would be fruitless because they would be closed by the time I'm free.  I thought Sunday would be the earliest I could do it; I would be able to go down to ****e's place for a little screw time, then in the afternoon I could go to the post office at MSP before going home.

Two things wrong with that.  First, and I don't remember when I checked, that post office branch isn't exactly on the way back.  I would have to deviate east for a bit, then jog back west in order to head north.  Second, I would be downtown both last/Tuesday night (for a concert) and tonight/Wednesday night (for a Golden Gopher baseball Game).  The downtown post office closes in the evening, so if I get out of work early enough, I'd be able to go to the post office, mail the envelope to My Mother, then do whatever I want downtown because I'm already there.

In anticipation of that, I was going to throw that envelope filled with Mother's tax forms in my bookbag so I would have it with me if I had the time to send it.  But, alas, I forgot.  Oftentimes I would remember once I am more than halfway to work, and for those time I just mentally shrug and say to myself I'll do it tomorrow.  But once I remembered the envelope after I started my car, I just kept thinking that the moonshot of leaving work with enough time to mail the envelope and then go to the concert was a risk worth taking.  So, I turned off my car, went back inside, disarmed the alarm and picked up the envelope.

And good thing, too.  While I had to stay late at work, it wasn't late enough where I couldn't still get to the post office, pay to ship the envelope, find another parking spot, and walk for almost a mile to the club to get to the concert, which began at the strange hour of 6.  And so I did all that, and I caught the last couple songs of the first of three acts and the entirety of the other two (with a DJ filling in the set changes while stagehands haul off musical equipment).  Plenty of time.  Now, I think about how badly I would have screwed myself if I remembered the envelope before driving off to work but said whatever.  Glad I trundled back inside, because a sizable chore for Mother has been done.

My Gas And Electric Bills Seemingly Mirror Each Other

Just paid my electric and gas bills now online.  As I think I've said here before, my gas bill is mortifyingly high.  But, my electric bill is manageable.  And I know it's the exact opposite come the summer -- my electric bill is gargantuan but my gas bill is tame.  I don't think I get why those two bills are ships passing in the night, but I just came up with a possible explanation: My house uses natural gas to heat itself, but electricity to operate the central air conditioning.  Makes sense, right?

Anyway, off to bed.

I have a self-imposed rule that my blog posts now (I made this rule up several years ago) have to be at least eight hours apart so that my latest blog post has some shelf life atop the Wailing And Failing homepage.  Well, my last blog post is almost eight hours ago, but I'm tired right now and I don't want to wait the 10-15 minutes before it reaches eight hours, so I'm just going to blog about being meta and then go to bed.

Toxic Male At Work

Friday was one of the days where I hate customer service, and cringe when I remember that I was not told there was customer service when I got hired for this job.

It didn't happen to me, but to my co-worker.  I was going to go back to my work when I overheard her being interrupted by someone over the phone.  After several seconds where she was just listening, she slammed the phone down.  That got the attention of my other co-worker, to whom she had to say that she was confronted by someone when all she was asking for was information missing from the form.  What was really bad was that he immediately called back, to which she declined the call.  And then this piece of shit called again, and again, and rightly so, she declined the call.

I hate that this happened to her, and I really hate that this prick obviously got bent out of shape over something that pretty much every other person we have dealt with has just, well, answered.  I don't know exactly what he said, but it clearly upset my co-worker, so I don't need to hear it.  I asked her to hand over this asshole's contact information so I know who I'm dealing with if I ever have to deal with him.  I mistakenly threw it away, but I remember the name, the area code, and the client he was working for.  I hope that's enough.

I wonder why people are like that.  Then I remember that, even though I want to think I would never lash out like that, I have been upset at people.  And I was upset because something didn't go my way that I thought should.  Yet in the wildest reaches of my imagination, I could never scream at anybody if someone called me in a similar situation.  How could he feel so attacked, so hurt, over being asked for more information?  The fuck is wrong with him?

The only thing I wish I could have realistically done (because I want to get this fucker fired) is asking my co-worker if I could do calls for the rest of the day.  Instead I volunteered to take something off her plate when I should have taken the task that upset her.  I hate calling too, and this toxic male is the reason why I shied away from helping her in that regard.

When I Socialize, I Eat ...

... and I had a group dinner on Friday and a friend's birthday dinner last/Saturday night.  I went to two places I haven't been to, and to celebrate, I ordered a lot of food.  And I ate it.  And I am fat, and I feel fat.  

Drank a bit, too.  Starting to feel like it's a bit much.  It certainly is wrecking my sleep schedule.  I went to bed early last/Saturday night because I was tired, and yet I woke up at 8.  And I see, as I type this, that the Gold Medal Game of the Olympic men's hockey tournament is going on now.  Everybody, and I mean everybody, is watching this Game ... and to celebrate, I think that I am going to go out to watch with other Americans, too.

I don't stop.  Even though, maybe, I should.

I blog posted about thinking about bringing in my parents' minivan to look at exhaust that appears to be coming out of the passenger side.  Well, I have driven it a few times since, including this morning, when I used to drive to the bank and then to get my face shaved, and after the initial start, I don't see any exhaust coming out of any place it ain't supposed to.  When I got home, I left the vehicle on while I got out, and while I saw smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe (I just checked; it's 19 degrees now), I didn't see it seeping out of the side of the car.

Maybe I don't have to bring it in.  Maybe I will bring it in and ask the mechanic if he sees something, and maybe I'll pay for repairs other than the exhaust system that may or may not need repair.  Who knows?

New Hat Rack

So just after the New Year I bought on Amazon a new hat rack.  The one I have, which Father helped nail onto the wall, kind of looks like a ladder.  There are hooks that you hang on each "slat" of this rack, and the pincers at the end of each hook is where the folded cap gets attached and hangs on the rack.

Two problems with this.  One, I have bought and got so many ballcaps (I want to say I have at least 50) that there was no more room on the rack.  And two, the hooks have gotten so worn out that they no longer pinch the caps in place.  I try putting them back, and just when I think the hook has a hat in its grasp, the hat falls to the ground.  I have had to throw away many hooks that have worn out.

My Father, in the midst of going through my shit and fucking invading my privacy, did come up with an ingenious way to get all my hats on the rack by putting them on those clothes hangers with hooks on each end, then hanging those clothes hangers on the rack.  But I wound up relaxing in my bed, watching my TV and seeing, over to the left, this ugly mass of hats and a metastatic tumor of clothes hangers squeezing next to and piling on top of one another just so they can stay on the rack.  I normally don't give a fuck about how things look so long as they do the job, but even I couldn't stand seeing that monstrosity every day.  (I have to admit that, as clever as he is, seeing that semi-organized mess was a reminder that My Fucking Father went through my things and acted as if he knew what was best for me, and I rebelled against that, albeit subconsciously.)

I thought I needed a second hat rack to handle the overflow of the first hat rack, but in time I thought I should just get something that could handle all of my hats.  Eventually, I something that fit the bill and bought it on Amazon.  It is a series of five cubby holes on a vertical rack that can hang on doors because there are hooks and grommets on the top.  I installed it on the inside of my bedroom door and, frankly, it's a godsend.  All the hats that crowded my plastic rack I can just fold and place in one of the shelves, and I have two shelves left over.  In fact, assuming I don't buy any more ballcaps (and that could happen), this new rack really could take all the hats I have.  I don't necessarily need my first, old one anymore.  The only thing I'm scared of, and this might just be my paranoia talking, is that the hats on this new, second rack might weigh down my door so much it'll start to pry the door off its hinge.  Hope not; this door has been where it's been as long as I can remember it.

All in all, I'm glad I made this purchase.

Simple Syrup Is Seeping

I thought putting the full cup of simple syrup, which I made by boiling a cup of sugar in a cup of water, into a smaller plastic container instead of the larger one, would suffice.  All of the simple syrup fit, but when I put the lid on, I could see the syrup push up against the bottom of the lid, you know what I mean?

I put it in the fridge and didn't think anything more of it.  But when I opened up the refrigerator door later to get something to drink, I saw that there were droplets on the side and all around the container.  The syrup was seeping out.  I don't think the container was leaking, but I surmised that the lid pushed the syrup through any opening between the lid and the container, and if it didn't drip over the side of the container it was, um, solid enough that it could travel to the lip of the lid and then drop onto the glass shelf.

Darn.  I'm not one to clean the fridge, and now it's all sticky.  I actually poured out a little simple syrup so it wouldn't push up against the lid.  I also used, like, 15 mL of it on a, I think, gimlet.  But it continues to leak out.  I have put a paper towel underneath the collect the drops, but that's too late for the simple syrup that had dropped onto the shelf.  Meanwhile, I thought I would have used more of the syrup by now, but it doesn't look like I'll be using it at all this weekend.  So the simple syrup will continue to seep.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: 0).  Before I begin, I have to note that this Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey is bereft of pro teams.  The Wild and the NHL aren't playing because the Winter Olympics are going on now, and the Timberwolves last played last Wednesday (the last day of last Week's WMNSS) and the NBA is coming back from their All-Star break tonight/Thursday night.  So this survey is all-University of Minnesota.  I swear this must've happened before, but I don't remember when.

With that said, the story in Twin Cities sports should be the University of Minnesota women's basketball team.  As good as they've become in the past Month, I didn't give them any chance of upsetting tenth-ranked Ohio St. last/Wednesday night, even if it was at The Barn, even if the Golden Gophers finally got ranked at #23.  They trailed at Halftime by three.  But they blew the Game wide open in the Third Quarter, outscoring Ohio St. 27-13 on their way to a convincing 74-61 Win over the Buckeyes in the university's annual Pink Game, beating them for the first time since 2016 (a span of 14 Games).  It's their second victory over an AP Top 10 team this Year, matching their Win at then-tenth-ranked Iowa back on the 5th.

Last/Wednesday night capped off a 3-0 Week, started with wallopings of Nebraska at home and Wisconsin on the road.  And Minnesota is now on a nine-Game winning streak.  Forget my misgivings back around the New Year wondering if they'll miss The Big Dance again; not only are they in, they are rocketing up the bracketology projections.  In fact, they are now fighting for a Top-Four Seed and the right to host the first two Rounds of the NCAAs.  Wow, what a turnaround.  Is there any reason why these women shouldn't be in Positive Numbers, let alone topping the WMNSS, this Week?

And after three Games in seven Days, they can relax with only one Game this screening Week, even though it's a big one: At home to 18th-ranked Michigan St. early Sunday night.

#0: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -3).  Finished the regular season crushing Michigan St. Sunday afternoon at the Sports Pavilion, 37-6.  That rout is nice, but by itself that isn't zero-worthy.  Honestly, I put the grapplers here because 1) they are the only other team this Week to go undefeated and 2) I do not skip over numbers, and since the Gopher hooping women more than deserve Positive Numbers, I had to put some squad above negative numbers.  So -- ta-da!

Unless they pull off a miracle and win other the conference or NCAA Tournament, they're off the survey until March 26, where they will get eulogized (again) for the end of the season.

#-1: Gopher baseball (NEW SEASON!!).  The Big Ten Conference has become such a behemoth that I believe it's expected that all schools in the league will attend to growing and improving their baseball programs.  They're not on a league with the SEC or ACC.  In fact, I still think that the B1G is a mid-major when it comes to college baseball.  But the ambition is there, despite the drawbacks living in the northern part of the U. S. (besides the two Los Angeles colleges).

I don't know if that ambition is there in Dinkytown.  Minnesota lags in NIL compared to most BcS schools, and since this isn't football or men's basketball, so the Gopher Nine probably will still have trouble squaring up against UCLA, Indiana and Nebraska.

The season started off well, though.  They were in Deland, Fla., for a tournament that doesn't have a name -- but they won it!  They beat Stetson Friday, 11-5, then shut out St. John's Saturday morning, 8-0 -- impressive.  They followed that up with another 8-0 blanking Sunday morning, this time of Ball St.  But Florida Gulf Coast put an end to the Gophers' hot start, nipping them on Wednesday, 6-5, last/Wednesday night in Fort Myers.

Ft. Myers is where they will remain.  They have an Exhibition with the Twins (Ft. Myers is their Spring Training headquarters) Friday, then have a two-Game series there versus Northeastern.  They then begin a four-Game series vs. Kansas at U. S. Bank Stadium on Wednesday that will skip Thursday.  Weird.

#-2: Gopher softball (Last Week: -2).  You know, El Paso was kind of dingy and I got my parents' work truck stolen which made me so scared to move out of the house, but I still miss those days when I was down there for six months ... wow, a quarter-century ago.  Damn.  Anyway, they swept The Dr. Diana Natalicio Memorial Tournament (one Day only) in El Paso by beating Idaho St. and host Texas-El Paso Friday afternoon, then headed west on I-10 to reach Las Cruces, N. M., and participate in The Troy Cox Classic over the weekend.  They faced The Face Of Top-Flight College Softball, current-#4 Oklahoma Saturday morning ... and got Mercy-Ruled in five Innings, 12-2.  The Gophs rebounded in the afternoon to beat host New Mexico St., 11-4, but in the rematch late Sunday morning, the Aggies got them back, 5-3.

So a 3-2 screening Week.  But hey, they now get to travel home (er, it's at U. S. Bank Stadium) to host their own non-conference tournament, The Gopher Indoor Classic, this weekend.  They face Long Island, Iowa St., Central Michigan twice, and North Dakota St.  

#-3: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4).  A twelve-Point defeat at Washington followed by a 17-Point victory at an Oregon team that's fallen on black days under Dana Altman.  And that, my friends, is all I have so say about this club.  Well, this Week they host Rutgers and visit current-#1 Michigan.

#-4: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -5).  A Shootout Win and a defeat at Notre Dame.  It's jarring to look at the NCAA Power Index (NPI), which has replaced the PairWise as the sole determinant in selecting the at-large field for the NCAA Tournament, and see that Minnesota is not only so low (as of press time they are 41st), but that St. Thomas, the other Twin Cities school playing top-flight college hockey, is not only higher but 13th, aka on the bubble.  When Tommies sports officially started top-flight play several Years ago, I mused how and even whether I would incorporate St. Thomas schools into the WMNSS.  I thought I promised then I would reach a decision by the time they were eligible for postseason play.  I have not, but that hockey team might force my hand in a Month.

Anyway, the Gophers ain't makin' it.  And they have a bye this weekend.

#-5: Gopher women's hockey (whoops I forgot).  I swear I looked up this team's results a Week ago while constructing last Week's Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey -- which consisted of a regulation Win over St. Thomas Friday afternoon at Anderson Arena and a Shootout Win over the Tommies at Ridder Saturday afternoon -- but I apparently did not put them in. Unfortunately, because of my oversight, I have to roll in this past Week's Games also, which are a pair of two-Goal Losses at second-ranked Ohio St., and I have decided the female icers bring up the rear.  As I have said about this program for upwards of a Decade now, the U. is chasing the Buckeyes and Wisconsin for women's top-flight college hockey supremacy, so only results against those two schools matter.  And they got swept.

They finish the regular season hosting Minnesota-Duluth for a two-Game series Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.

I am charging my cellphone for the second time today.  Maybe the second time I have ever done that.  I guess that's what I do when I have the day off and decide to spend the Chinese/Lunar New Year doing close to nothing important: I use my phone so much I have to charge it twice in a day.

Still, I am not liking the health of this battery.  It has plagued me since I got it that Easter, and even if I use it a lot, I still don't like it.  Not "get a new phone ASAP" hate it, but, well, kind of.

Got done with a Teams with two financial advisors for one of my investment portfolios.  I hope having this meeting on Chinese/Lunar New Year does not bring me bad luck.  I don't think it is.

It was kind of embarrassing to admit to these advisors that my investments with them are one of three I have total.  It's more embarrassing to confess that I haven't looked very close at any of them to see if they're making money the way I want them to.  But I should, so I will look at those other portfolios now ... if I remember how to login.

Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year!

It feels as if the older I get, the more I hew to Chinese/Lunar New Year superstitions, as cockamamie they may be.  As I have gathered on the Internet, these are things one is not supposed to do and the time periods in which you cannot do them:

• For the first three days of the Chinese/Lunar New Year: Do not sweep, clean the house, shower or wash your hair
• For the first five days of the Chinese/Lunar New Year: Do not clean the dishes or do the laundry
• For the first 15 days of the Chinese/Lunar New Year: Do not take your car in for maintenance and/or repairs or use sharp objects
• For the first 30 days of the Chinese/Lunar New Year: Do not go to the doctor or dentist

That all seems silly, I know.  But I cleaned out the garbage, did the dishes, showered and trimmed my nails before midnight.  I also avoided meat and instead ate Culver's two-piece walleye dinner, bones and all.  Then again, I just realized that I used a knife to slice open oranges so I could make myself a tequila sunrise that I am drinking right now.  Welp, I guess I just damned myself to a year of bad luck.  Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year!!!

Putting Two And Two Together

My hand is hurting again -- right hand, at the base, right on the thumb side.  I was wondering why I've been getting shooting pain there all night, and then I realized that I used a knife to eat an andouille sausage tonight/Sunday night.  I have the same damn pain after I cut open packages of piss at work.  So the muscles I use when I use a knife hurt whether I'm cutting open packages or cutting through a sausage.

Which means ... well, I shouldn't use a knife anymore.  Man, it hurts!

Thought I was going into work today.  There was a lot of work my bosses were anticipating for the weekend, and so on Friday they asked me to come in today.  But this morning I got a text from one of my bosses saying my services were no longer needed because they in fact finished.

I'm OK with that, but.  For one thing, I got the impression on Friday that there would be work today.  If that wasn't the case and there was a possibility I would not come in, I wish it would've been couched that way, something like, "I assume there will be work, but there won't, so if there isn't, we'll let you know."  Something like that, you know?

The other thing is, even though I put in overtime last week, I could've gotten a little more had I stayed late on Friday.  Even though my main responsibility that day was The Fourth Department, there was enough data entry work that afternoon that my boss told the people who work out there to stay, I think, an extra half-hour.  This may not be the policy, but I believe that means that I could stay an extra half-hour.  I actually could've stayed more than half an hour, come to think of it.  But I left after eight hours.  Why?  Well, all the work in The Fourth Department got done.  And ... I left.  I guess it didn't occur to me that I could've stayed at least an extra 30 minutes to key.  And I didn't have to get home to watch a sport on TV or anything, either.  Dang it, I now regret not staying later on Friday.

My All-Time Favorite Nourishes Me ... With Food!

Because it was Valentine's Day, I did what any romantic would do and visited my ATF at My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Division) to rain money on her.  I texted her if she was working last/Saturday night; after initially thinking she might not, earlier in the week she confirmed that she was.

In our text exchange, she asked me if I like chocolate.  I love chocolate!  And after she got back down from stage -- we saw each other, we got to do table dances, then she had to go onstage, but then we did more table dances once she was done with her set -- she gave me Ghirardelli chocolates that she bought.  Did she buy them for me?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I don't care -- she thought of me enough to buy me chocolates for Valentine's Day!

I don't think I blog posted about this: When I saw her last, about a month ago, she surprised me with cookies she apparently baked from home.  I was freaking the fuck out about this siege this fuckin' Republican government put on us, but I really wanted to see her now that my parents have gone.  She was trying to calm me down, and so I think she thought the way she could do that is to feed me.  And trust me, the cookies were delicious.  The flour she used was so fluffy, yet so buttery.  I ate them up at work.

I have a new appreciation for her.  It may not be a grand gesture, but making and buying food for a customer is a signal that she's feeding me, that she's looking out for me, and that, dare I say it, she cares about me.  I ... love that she did that for me.

I Want To Fight Over Pennies, But Can't

Yeah, I hear that the country would be saving money if we did away with the penny.  I still don't like the idea that we no longer have a denomination of "1," you know?  I think there has to be a currency that counts off one.  Because if now the smallest amount of coin is five, why do we have the number one itself?  (I may not make any sense, or cents, but it makes sense/cents to me.)  And I will do my goddamnedest not to agree with any fucking decision this installed government makes.

But these guys have ended minting the penny, and so stores are beginning to make decisions on what to do if change requires pennies.  Some stores I've been to are going to round the total of purchases I make down to the nearest nickel, which is nice.  But just now I went to the discount food store near me for some stuff, my change was supposed to be $X.XX.X1, and she gave me all the money I was owed except for one penny.  Don't know if she rounds, or is told to round, up to the nearest nickel or round to the nearest nickel, period.  But I'm still miffed.  And before, I swear I would've pitched a fit demanding my fucking penny.  But now, considering this death of the penny, I don't know if I can fight it.  Ah, well.  This is a discount food store; I think I'm getting stuff there for dirt cheap, so maybe the thinking is I shouldn't be fighting over a single penny.  Hrmph.

RIP, Fast Food Points

So once in a while I go through all my fast food apps, for which I have a lot.  I need to check on these from time to time.  Sometimes I do it just to look at any new foods or deals they may have.  Sometimes I do it as a way of climbing out of the rabbit hole I dive into while doomscrolling while not being able to pry my eyes away from my cellphone.  And sometimes I check the number of points I have on each application to make sure I haven't lost them.

A couple weeks ago (I think), I got an offer for free food from Chipotle.  Chipotle sends those offers from time to time.  This time around I got, I think, free guacamole.  I haven't had them in a while, so I ordered online and ate the quesadilla there; I went home to eat the chips and guac.  Later that night, I went to the Chipotle app to check that the points were there.  They were, but all the points I accumulated up to that point were gone.  At that point I had to look through all my other applications because I apparently didn't take that good of a look into them.  And I saw that I lost all my points at Popeyes, another fast food place I like.

Bummed, I am.  But I don't think there's anything I can do about them.  Obviously, if my parents scooted on out of here in the late summer/early fall like they usually do, I would have eaten at Chipotle and Popeyes before whatever six-month period or so that made my points expire, but they stuck around till after the New Year, and that is what probably killed off my points.

I have noted in the past (although I may not have discussed this on Wailing And Failing) that fast food chains have differing policies when it comes to when your points expire.  Some places say that you lose your points six months after you get those points.  Other places say that you lose all your points if there has been no activity (and that includes using points as well as accruing them) after a certain period.  I like the former scenario because if you do lapse, you only lose those points.  However, with the latter scenario, as long as you do something with that restaurant, you can keep points even if you earned them more than six months ago.  Of course, the best thing is for those points to never expire, but I don't think any of the applications I have are that generous.

While the permanent loss of what I spent so much to gain is awful, I have to admit there is a certain bit of ... freedom I feel.  Yes, circumstances forced me to fail, so to speak.  But that also means that I no longer feel obligated to go to Chipotle or Popeyes just to keep the points that I have ... er, had.  In fact, even though I like eating at both places, because I am back to zero with both of them, I don't know if I want to go back because I don't want to start getting points again with either place.  I've been scarred by how bad I feel losing them, you see.  Well, I did get points at Chipotle, but that was after I realized I lost all the points I gained before my order.  I might let those points die on the vine.

Maybe the lesson is, eat at every fast food restaurant you have an app for at least once every six months.

Venmo Trouble

So I sent ****e* her money not too long ago.  I usually pay her in cash, but since I wasn't planning on using any cash yesterday/Thursday, and since the money I took out Wednesday thinking I was going to spend it on some sexytime with a stripper (which fell through) I am going to use at My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Version) tomorrow/Saturday instead, I was going to pay her through the "fake money" of Venmo.

I actually left last/Thursday night to attend a concert while ****e* was still working on my house.  She was gone by the time I came back, and, like she said before I left, she would request I pay her through Venmo.  I think there was a bit of a miscommunication; I asked for her username, but she thought I could just pay through the app, and I told her I never put money apps on my phone because someone might get in there and steal all my money.  I was able to find her username after I clicked on her request, so all is right with the world.

I have used Venmo a lot, so much so that I need to replenish it more often than I want to.  So after paying off ****e*, I tried to transfer money from my bank to my Venmo.  But I can't.  First, I tried to find the page where I can do the transfer, but there wasn't one.  I swear I've done it before, but I don't know where the hell the page is.  I look up instructions on Google, but first I only saw ways to add money through the app, and then I was told that I had to go to the "Me" tab, but there isn't one.

Finally, I stumbled on a Business Insider article that tells you how to do it.  I saw a URL.  I cut-and-pasted it, and that's when I finally saw the (unfamiliar) page whereby I can send money from my bank into my Venmo.  But then I tried it, several times, but I got an error message.  So I logged out.

Like I said, I haven't quite encountered the trouble putting money into my Venmo like I did last/Thursday night, but I have encountered the occasional trouble from this stupid application.  That thing is difficult to use, yet everyone swears by it.  I don't get it.

Just A Surveyor? Can't Be Too Careful These Days ... Maybe?

I am taking today/Thursday off.  I was intending to sleep in before ****e* comes over in the afternoon.  But around 10:30 I was woken up by a doorbell.

At first I thought it was someone selling roof repair or garbage services or something, so naturally, I waited him out.  But he rang again, and again, and then he knocked on the door.  That got me scared.  Are they coming to take me away, a-ha?

I finally got up and looked out my bathroom window.  I see a white truck with "USIC" across the street.  I got my phone, got ready to throw a punch if needed, then walked down to my front door ... but I didn't open it.

Through the door I asked him what he wanted.  This big guy in a highlighted vest asked to get access to the gas meter so he can mark the gas lines underneath the front yard in order to remove the tree stump there.  The tree was removed Christmas Week and when I came home to see it gone, it shocked the hell out of me.  But I thought the stump was going to stay.  I guess it's not ... but on whose say-so?

When I opened the front door I saw a second truck, one with the decal of the city on its driver's-side door.  Call me a fool, but I figured that these guys were legitimate, so I opened the side door that led to the gas meter so that this guy could attach his, um, meter thingy.  And then this same guy and this other guy driving the city truck could take these huge wands on their left hands, swing them around while walking all over the snowy front yard, and mark where the gas lines are with these huge wands on their right hands that sprayed paint.  The guy with the city left shortly thereafter.  The guy who hooked up his machine to the gas meter unplugged that meter, dumped his stuff in his car, came back out with flags, fired these flags into the ground like he was playing lawn darts, and then left.

OK.  So I assume that if these guys were kidnappers, they wouldn't go out of their way to dress as city surveyors and buy all this equipment.  It looked as though they knew what they were doing.  With that said, and with urging by ****e*, who got here this afternoon, I left a message with the city asking if they know this is going on.

It's no big deal.  Right?

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#0: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -2).  OK, what this team is doing is really good.  I gave this squad no chance to go into Iowa City and defeat the then-tenth-ranked Hawkeyes, but Thursday evening they shot an all-time best 71.4% (ten-of-14) for Three-Point range and rode hot shooting in the middle two Quarters and held them off, 91-85.  (Both the Gopher men's and women's b-ball teams notched upsets of the then-tenth-ranked teams in the country on back-to-back Days.)  It was the first time Iowa lost at Carver-Hawkeye Arena this Year.  It was the Gophers' first Win over a club ranked in the Top 10 since 2018.  It was the first time they beat the Hawkeyes on the road since 2007.  And it was the first time the U. beat a Top 10 opponent on their home floor since 2003.

And they suffered no let-down (not like the Gopher wrestling and men's basketball and men's hockey teams did, see below), comfortably beating Rutgers in Piscataway, 63-52.  That gives Minnesota a six-Game winning streak and some notoriety as a tough out.  I've said it before but I'll say it again -- these ladies are going to the NCAA Tournament, y'all.  That's why I have put these ballers above negative numbers.  I can't put the team in Positive Numbers, however, because the rest of the local outfits did not have good Weeks.

A busy Week ahead for this club, though: Home to Nebraska tonight/Thursday night, at Wisconsin early Sunday evening, then a home tussle versus eighth-ranked Ohio St. at The Barn Wednesday.

#-1: Timberwolves (Last Week: -3).  Was finally able to take up my friend on his offer and went to a Timberwolves Game for the first time this season on Monday.  The Woofs were fresh off two awful home Losses, a squeaker to The Bastard Charlotte Hornets and a blowout defeat to The Bastard Buffalo Braves/San Diego Clippers.  What I saw is the Timberwolves team fans now expect, a sure-shooting, ball-hawking, smart-playing group that overwhelms inferior foes like The Bastard St. Louis Hawks.  Unfortunately, I saw several instances when the players were indifferent when it came to playing Defense.  But Julius Randle notched a Triple-Double, Jaden McDaniels was engaged in the affair and made two thrillingly nasty dunks (that young man has hops), and Minnesota won going away, 138-116.

They followed up that get-right Win with another 133-109 wipeout of Portland at Target Center last/Wednesday night, their final Match before this weekend's All-Star Break (which Anthony Edwards is participating in as a member of one of two Teams USA).  And for all their stumbles, they should be worse than fifth place in the West, which is where they sit for now.  It may be dumb luck, but it appears as if the universe is giving this team every reason to get their shit together.  Will they, or will they remain a confounding mystery?

#-2: Gopher softball (NEW SEASON!!).  And this new season has already started with a thud, as the softballers leave the SDSU Season Kickoff in San Diego over the weekend 1-4, their lone victory an 8-0 shellacking of Loyola-Chicago Saturday afternoon.  They got Mercy-Ruled by Kentucky 8-0 in five Innings Sunday afternoon.  And they got lost two Games to, of all schools, Miami of Ohio.  Women's sports is big in Minnesota, but this program simply hasn't been pulling its weight for the last decade.

This team is going to the El Paso-Las Cruces area this weekend, a place I remember fondly from my time working as an intern there.  Oddly enough, it appears as though they are playing two tournaments: The Dr. Diana Natalicio (who?) Memorial Tournament in El Paso just on Friday, when they play Idaho St. at noon and then hosts Texas-El Paso at 3; then The Troy Cox (who?) Classic in Las Cruces, when they play fourth--ranked Oklahoma late Saturday morning and then hosts New Mexico St. late Saturday afternoon and late Sunday morning.

#-3: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: 0).  I feel as though this screening Week is the opposite of last Week's Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey.  Last Week, all the teams won at least one Game, and several teams had a legitimate case to be on top.  This Week, several local teams fell on their faces and would have been at the foot of the table if it were most other screening Weeks.

Case in point are the Gopher grapplers.  They burned through all the currency they accrued after their awesome upset Win over then-fourth-ranked Iowa (at Iowa City, no less) by going to Rutgers Friday night and getting upset by the then-15th-ranked Scarlet Knights, 23-15.  Like the Win over Iowa, the Dual turned on the Matches at 149 and 157 lbs.  Drew Roberts and Charlie Millard, both of whom notched the upsets that made the team victory possible on January 30, had the tables turned on them and got upset themselves, Roberts (ranked #17 at 149) to 29th-ranked Andrew Clark, 5-1, and Millard (ranked #19 at 157) to also 29th-ranked Anthony White, 4-1 in Sudden Victory.  If those two Matches went according to seed, the U. ekes out a team Win.

The squad rebounded by pounding Maryland on the road Sunday afternoon, 37-6, but the reputational damage has been done.  They finish the regular season hosting Michigan St. Sunday afternoon.

#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -4).  And fresh off their thrilling upset of then-tenth-ranked Michigan St., this Gophers club proceeded to piss away all their goodwill by allowing Maryland to score the final seven Points in the final 53 Seconds of their Game to go from a two-Point lead to a five-Point margin of defeat Sunday afternoon at Williams Arena.  Yeah, it's still Niko Medved's first season, but that chokejob is fucking inexcusable.  They play at the PNW schools Saturday (Washington) and Tuesday (Oregon).

#-5: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -1).  And fresh off their home sweep of then-eighth-or-seventh-ranked Wisconsin at Mariucci, then hosted unranked Ohio St. and completely capitulated to the Buckeyes, losing Friday 6-2 (ugh) and Saturday 2-1.  Young team that can't regulate their highs, I guess.  At Notre Dame Friday and Saturday.

So late last/Tuesday night I went out to dump pizza boxes somewhere.  We stopped trash service, so I have to find public places to throw my trash away.

I used the minivan to drive because it needed to be turned on.  But I saw that it was cold enough for frost to build up on the windshield, so I had to get out and use the ice scraper.  Maybe that's a blessing in disguise, I thought, because that would give an extra minute for the engine to warm up, and since it'll be a short ride to find a garbage can big enough to dump two pizza boxes (at least I hoped, but I found a spot close by), the minivan should be as hot as can be.

I moved from scraping the driver's side of the windshield to the passenger's side.  When I got done, I noticed that smoke was billowing out of the tailpipe.  That makes sense to me; the temperature is hovering around freezing and the car hasn't been turned on in a few days, so dark smoke coming out of the tailpipe isn't anything to freak out over.

But then I noticed that similar exhaust was coming out of the passenger side of the van.  Like underneath, like there's a hole in the muffler.  Holy shit, I've never seen that before.  And dammit, I got freaked out that the minivan, for some reason, wasn't going to make even the short ride to a garbage can and back.

I made it just fine, but now I have to look if there's a hole in the muffler, which is the simplest explanation for what I saw.  Regardless of what's going on, I feel the urgent need to fix it.  And I have no friggin' clue how much the repair will set me back, let alone what needs fixing.  But seeing exhaust smoke come out of the side of the minivan -- yeah, something's wrong.

Two Changes Of Plans

So I was plotting out which days I would eat out and which I would stay in and eat leftovers.  Specifically, because I wanted to finally pay for limes and lemons for the cocktails I am going to make this weekend, and since they're discounted on Tuesdays, I would eat out today/Tuesday and, to make up for it, eat in tomorrow/Wednesday.

But those plans blew up.  While at work, I got this text from ****e saying that she and ***i* are having a party tomorrow/Wednesday.  Then, she texted ominously, "Last chance."  Last chance for what?  Will I not be invited anymore if I don't come?  Are they hanging up the wanking lifestyle?  Is one of the two women going to die soon?  I don't know what she meant by that, but it has been a long, long time since I got serviced by either babe, so I decided I am going to this house party on tomorrow/Wednesday.  And since I'm spending money then, I might as well eat out then, too.

Then, I got another text, this time from my aunt.  She wanted to know when I was going to be home because she made food for me.  Then I remembered that around the Chinese/Lunar New Year, she has always come over to give me food she made for the holiday.  Very sweet of her, and it allows me to eat in several days over the next week.  And it would make sense, then, that one of those days would be today/Tuesday.  It's a lot of food, and I should get on it in an effort to eat it all before it goes bad.  And yes, this blows up my idea of getting citrus for my cocktails, but hey, I can make cocktails without lemon or lime juice, and besides, there's a good chance I will be out both days this weekend.

So, to sum up, I went from eating out tonight/Tuesday night to staying in, and I went from staying in tomorrow/Wednesday night to eating out.  And for once, these changes aren't frustrating to me.  It just necessitates a change of plans -- two changes of plans, in fact.

Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: January 2026

Almost the first full month where I have the Hooters calendar back up on my wall so I can see it every day.  So I think I can say with some authority that ... this may be one of the worst months I have ever seen.  Again, I'm not saying that all the servers for this month or ghastly to look at.  But I can only pick out two of the dozen women here for special recognition, and frankly, the babe in second I am pointing out based on a guess.  The other pictures don't do anything for me, sorry to say.

The waitress in second place is Madison, from Weston, Fla.  Wavy dark blonde hair that ends at the bottom of her chest.  Her attire makes her look like a company girl.  She has orange bikini bottoms and is wearing a black Hooters crop top. It's the kind I used to see on Hooters women way back in the day, where it cuts off high on the waist so it shows off the Hooters girl's midriff.  That would be sexy as fuck to see in the restaurant, but for swimwear it looks a bit overdressed.  I am taking it on faith, however, that she is not wearing anything underneath the crop, which kind of makes up for size of the top.

And in first place is Emily, of Hampton, Va.  Wavyer dark blonde hair that reaches belly height, she is wearing a black-and-yellow two-piece.  Posing almost fully at the camera, she places her left hand against a stood-up surfboard while her right hand pulls up on her bikini bottom.  She's got a nice body, and I love her wide smile.  She's fucking gorgeous.

And, that's it.  So congratulations to Emily for winning.  And no worries -- I have already masturbated to these two!

Super-Specific Predictions For Super Bowl LX

I am having a hard time really digging into this Game.  I think it's a product of not devoting enough time to it, but I can also see an array of outcomes, from a Seattle Seahawks blowout to a New England Patriots Win at the buzzer.  And I guess it's a testament to how good this contest could be ... or, could not.

I believe the consensus (and I think there's a consensus) that this will be a low-scoring affair.  The Seahawks' Defense is elite, probably an all-time unit, while the Patriots apparently are rounding into form.  New England, according to writers breaking this team down, are rounding into form on Offense as well, but I still am skeptical because of two reasons: Drake Maye is in just his second Year as a pro, and the left side of the Pats' Offensive Line (in particular Left Tackle Will Campbell) appears to be the biggest liability of any unit or sub-unit in the Super Bowl.  (I still believe that New England's easy schedule in the Regular Season is indicative that they've been lucky to get this far, but analytics people, using recency bias, shows that they have played well in the playoffs, where obviously the teams are all good, so maybe I should drop that).

And yet, and this might be my Vikings fandom talking, I don't know if Sam Darnold is going to have a good game.  The interior of the Seahawks' Offensive Line is somewhat suspect as well (in particular Right Guard Anthony Bradford), and the Patriots probably will find a way to exploit that and make Darnold look vulnerable.  Finally, New England Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels is a mastermind, and given two Weeks to engineer a game plan, I have to believe he's going to get his Offense going and scoring.  How much?  I don't know.

With all that being said, I have super-specific predictions I am obligated to give:

1) Darnold won't have a good Game.  He'll throw for, oh, 225 Yards, even though he will score two Touchdowns -- one to Jaxson Smith-Njigba, one to ... you know, I'm going to pass up first-string Tight End A. J. Barner and say that backup TE Elijah Arroyo receives the other TD.

2) I am not sure if Seattle will rely on its run Game, even though the Offense is predicated on it.  The injury to Zach Charbonnet might drag down the Seahawks' Offense.  Still, I think Seattle will rush for 75 Yards.

3) As much as I think the Patriots will try and double him, I think Jaxson Smith-Njigba has a productive night.  He'll catch for over 100 Yards and get that Touchdown, and those statistics will pop in what I think will be a cagey affair.

4) Over on the other side, I raise one final wrinkle that makes me lean in one direction: Drake Maye is working with a hurt throwing shoulder.  He's off the injury report for Super Bowl LX, but I still think it's going to be an issue.  He'll throw an Interception.  He will also throw for 250 Yards and throw for one Touchdown.

5) I also think New England relies on its running Game.  The Seahawks "Dark Side" Defense has been so good because they have been able to rush the Quarterback without committing more than four players, thus giving them plenty of tacklers in the back in case an offensive player gets loose.  To counter that, and to give Maye time to grow into the Game, McDaniels will have the Patriots running the ball.  And I think they'll have some success: 100 Yards and a Touchdown by TreVeyon Henderson.

6) This will be a tight affair.  In fact, it could be a slog, especially in the First Half.  Both Offenses have feasted on the big play, and so both Ds will do their damndest to prevent that from happening.  Expect a lot of runs and checkdowns, on both sides.  And still, most likely when it comes to third-and-longs, both Defenses will get to both Darnold and Maye.  I expect, in total, ten Sacks.

7) I also expect that because of fatigue and the desperation to win the Game, things will open up.  There will be way more Yards gained in the Second Half than in the First.  Logic dictates that there will be more Points scored after Halftime, too.  But what I will say the pivot point of the Super Bowl is an Interception thrown by ... Drake Maye, and it'll be returned all the way for a Touchdown.  That will happen at some point in the Second Half.

That's all I got.  I was hoping to read more breakdowns of the Super Bowl, and I really want to be an aficionado, but I couldn't get through Bill Barnwell's behemoth on ESPN.com, and I stopped halfway through.  Like I said, I'm busy.  But if you have time, read it.  The Xs and Os are wonderful.

But, with the information I can process now, my prediction for Super Bowl LX is: Seattle 24, New England 19.  If I were a betting man, I would wager on the Under of 45 1/2.  (I have seen Seattle -4 1/2 pretty much since both teams won their Championship Games.)  Smith-Njigba wins MVP.  And the football team of a city I really like gets its second football title.

Those Motherfuckers

Today I woke up around 11:30.  I think my body told me I only needed six hours of sleep.  But, I think I was trying to loll around my bed to get more shuteye anyway.

I couldn't.  I was woken up by a car horn being honked incessantly.  I think they say that when you hear a horn getting honked repeatedly, that means that those people are not only around, but they're about to take someone.

Those sons-of-bitches are still here, goddammit, and they might finally be reaching our street.

---

Not too long ago, my phone blew up.  Emergency text.  Some kid is missing.  But this is no Amber Alert, at least I don't think.  The missing child is a Latino boy.

I saw on the tracker website that an observer saw activity at an address close to the one given on the alert.  Poor boy made a run for it, I reckon.  I don't know how he's going to survive because this is the one cold night we'll have for at least the next couple weeks.  But if there are gods, let him run free.

Bored Me Napping, Then Shopping For Big-Ticket Items

Braced myself for another long day at work yesterday/Friday ... but it wasn't; it was actually tame, and very tame compared to Thursday ... and yet I have to brace myself for today/Saturday, because my bosses said that today/Saturday could bring in a bunch of work which I don't understand why it couldn't have come yesterday/Friday, and so I'm coming in to work as soon as I wake up.

So my plan of staying in today/Saturday has blown up, but hey, I am getting beaucoup overtime this week, so I'm not too upset.  Still, I wondered what I would do once I got home (on-time, which I did not expect) yesterday/Friday.  I thought I would be awake enough to start on the leftover pizza that I had decided I would eat, but the setting sun convinced me to take a nap first.  If I wasn't tired, I'd pop up early, and work on the pizza before the sports Games I wanted to watch would start at 7.

I crawled into bed before 6.  I woke up a couple minutes past 9.  Didn't expect to do that.  I thought I didn't have time to eat pizza and should pivot to spaghetti, which I planned to eat today/Saturday, but I am getting Pizza Hut to watch for the Super Bowl, so I went through with the pizza.

Yeah, nothing exciting.  So, in my bored state, I was reading up on the latest on how these assholes continue to plague and besiege our state.  One person believes that the announcement earlier this week that they're withdrawing troops was just a way to get people in the state and the national news media off their backs.  Then, the next step is for the remaining pricks to go hard not necessarily after non-Whites but observers that have made their loud objections to what is going on here a state-wide issue.  Intriguing, and I can see that that works, and is working now.

And then I clicked on a link recommending the best gas masks to buy.  If I have to physically commit to this struggle, I'll probably get tear-gassed, so I might as well prepare, right?  I looked through not one but two websites dedicated to the best gas masks, and me being a thoroughly-researching consumer, I think I settled upon one.  And, to make things even more tantalizing, the gas mask is on sale.  (I'm not going to link the websites that reviewed the masks or the company that sells the one that appears to be the top-rated one, just in case they're snooping around here.)  I think maybe I'm sounding too paranoid, but dammit, the thing's on sale.  I'll wait till tomorrow/Sunday; if I remember, and if it's still on sale then, I think I'll buy one.

What I did pull the trigger on is a new robe.  After seeing the two website review gas masks, I went to the website that does nothing but review consumer products (to think gas masks are a consumer product -- what a world we live in), The Wirecutter.  And bored me went down another rabbit hole, to their review of robes.  Now, I have thought about buying a robe for the past, oh, few years.  On the one hand I didn't think I needed one; either I would wrap myself in a towel and just hang out on my bed in the nude, or, if I'm alone in the house, I'd just waltz around naked.  But there is a limbo state where you are not totally dry but still want to putz around in the house without your man bits hanging out -- well, unless you want to open up your robe to thrust out your dick.  I'd reserve that occasion when I want to surprise one of my stripper girlfriends.

Anyway, the main obstacle to buying a robe, believe it or not, is price.  The ones The Wirecutter recommends are routinely in the triple digits.  One hundred dollars for a damn robe?!  I may have seen one for $90, but even that's expensive.  However, when I am bored, I am weak.  And thus I was ripe for the picking when I saw one of the recommended robes being sold for about 30% off if I use a promo code tied in with the website.  At $65 ... well, it's still expensive, but it'll be as cheap as these robes will ever get.  Also, I didn't plan on spending any money tonight, but the company said I could pay through PayPal, and my stupid brain has convinced myself into thinking that is not real money, so I bought it under the illusion that I haven't really paid anything today.

So I threw my sleep pattern off last night, I bought a robe, and tomorrow/Sunday I think I'll be buying a gas mask.  This is what bored me does.  Now, off to bed.

First really bad day in The Fourth Department in a long, long while.  I don't quite know what happened.  We may or may not be backed up at work, but I thought that because Wednesday was bad, yesterday/Thursday would be better.  It was not; it was way worse.  I had double the forms I had to deal with, and I was beset as soon as the day started.

I spent eleven hours at work, and I still didn't complete all the work I wanted to.  But I had to call it quits at some point, plus I planned on picking up Jimmy John's on my way home to watch NFL Honors, and I already set up a pick-up time.  I'm just glad I got home to watch the whole awards show which, to be honest, was kind of shambolic.

You know, I had arranged a wank sesh with *****y last/Thursday night.  Work would have prevented me from getting back home in time to see her.  But like she has done on occasion, she asked for a delay.  She seems to have somewhat outlandish reasons to postpone, and this time around she said her son got rear-ended in his car.  Sure, whatever.  But I'm actually glad we didn't have any sexytime because then I could stay and work.  If I didn't stay late, I'd have to do it all in the morning, and who knows what other work would come today/Friday for which I too would have to stay late for.

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

Positive Numbers: Wild (Last Week: -3).  This has been as great a sporting Week for local sports in a long, long time, and maybe ever.  It's a shame any team has to bring up the rear in this Week's survey.  And it's incredibly difficult to decide who should lead the WMNSS because, seriously, the top three and even four squads have had screening Weeks that deserve Positive Numbers, let alone the top spot.

I decided that the Wild gets to be on top because of quantity and where this run puts them.  The club ran the table this Week, winning all four of their Games.  Yes, their last two went to Overtime, but they have an overall winning streak of five Games, they are keeping ahead of The Bastard North Stars for second place in the Central, and even though The Bastard Quebec Nordiques have the most Points in the National Hockey League, as of press time, Minnesota has the second-most, and they are only five Points behind Colorado.  It's kind of a shame, in fact, that they have to sit for the next three Weeks due to the Olympic break.  And remember that the Wild have eight players playing in Milan-Cortina, four for Sweden (most notably Joel Eriksson Ek), three for the U. S. (most notably Matt Boldy, who had a Hat Trick in last/Wednesday's OT Win in Nashville ... in The First Period), and Nico Sturm for Germany.  The Wild's fortunes could change if one of two of these guys come back injured.

By the way, the squad's first two Games coming back from the break are at The Bastard Quebec Nordiques and at The Bastard Winnipeg Jets-by-way-of-Phoenix Coyotes.  No easing back into the resumption of their schedule.

#0: Gopher wrestling (Last Week: -5).  Again, the Wild winning five in a row and being the second-best team in the NHL were the deciding factors for the local hockey team taking the top spot.  But (and this will sound quite hokey) I am very, very proud of what the then-seventh-ranked Gopher wrestling team did Friday: Go to Iowa and upset their historic rivals, the then-fourth-ranked Hawkeyes, 21-16.  It was the first time the U. has beaten Iowa in twelve Matches, and it's also the first time the Gopher grapplers have beaten them in Iowa City since 2014.

This was a haymaker of a Dual.  Six of the ten Matches were not Decisions, meaning the winner got more than three Points for their school.  The deciding factors came at 149 lbs., where 24th-ranked Drew Roberts upset the Hawkeye's Ryder Block, who was ranked 16th at that weight, 4-2, and then at 157, where Minnesota's Charlie Millard, ranked 21st, pulled off a Major Decision on #12 Jordan Williams, 13-3.  That gave the Gophers seven Points when they should not have expected any.  Truly, this is the first positive unexpected result I have seen from these young men since Brandon Eggum became Head Coach.

Yes, the upset Loss at home to South Dakota St. still stings.  But that was before Thanksgiving.  Is this a sign that these players are rounding into form in time for the NCAAs?  Road tests against the East Coast colleges (#15 Rutgers Friday, Maryland Sunday afternoon) should serve as a good barometer.

#-1: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -7).  The results don't matter since the U. is still buried in the thirties in the NPI (in case you don't know, the PairWise is dead starting this season, long live the PairWise, replaced by the NCAA Percentage Index, or NPI).  But in a long and humbling Year as this, and especially in a gauntlet where the Golden Gophers were playing ranked Big Ten team after ranked Big Ten team, they finally stood up over the weekend and said, "We don't plan on you doing that to us."  "You" being then-seventh-or-eighth-ranked Wisconsin, whom Minnesota swept mercilessly at Mariucci, 4-1 Friday and, egad, 8-4 on Saturday.  Rivalry juices may have been flowing, but otherwise I cannot explain how in the hell did this young and inexperienced team just rise up and flog the ever-loving shit out of the Badgers.  It's great, but it's also inexplicable as all get-out.

And the gauntlet of playing eight Games against four conference teams ranked in the Top 10 is now over.  They host Ohio St. for a pair this weekend.

#-2: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -1).  I can't see how this club doesn't make The Big Dance.  They walloped a team that they should beat, Purdue, by 33 at Williams Sunday afternoon.  That's four in a row, and the last three were won by more than 20 Points.

Thursday's tilt at tenth-ranked Iowa might be a tall order.  Early Sunday afternoon's contest at Rutgers should not be.

#-3: Timberwolves (Last Week: -4).  Sometimes I don't get this team.  They went 3-1 this Week, but their lone Loss, a 137-128 defeat at Memphis on Monday that was the second of a two-Game series, happened because they came out flat and never got up off the mat.  Yet on the bright side: They throttled The Bastard Vancouver Grizzlies by 17 Saturday; they defeated The Bastard Seattle SuperSonics, 123-111, beating the defending champs for the second time this season; and last/Wednesday night, they came back from a ten-Point deficit to begin the Fourth Quarter to defeat the Raptors in Toronto for the first time in 2004.

That is a lot of notable victories.  And whaddaya know, Minnesota is currently fifth in The Western Conference, only a half-Game ahead of seventh, but only a Game behind third.  They continue to give diehard pessimists like me reason to doubt they can get back to The Western Conference Finals for the third Year in a row, yet they are capable of momentous Wins and pulling a championship run.

Well, maybe a championship run.  Rumor has it that Tim Connelly, Basketball Operations President for the Wolves, is burning up the phone lines trying to land a big fish -- namely Giannis Antetokounmpo, the superstar who got The Milwaukee Bucks an NBA Championship but appears resigned to leaving the team that drafted him.  The T-Wolves dealt away Mike Conley, Jr., who once was the man who filled a weakness the team has to fill, Point Guard, which Conley could no longer fill because he's old and decrepit, so the club could get the cap space to possibly trade for Antetokounmpo so he could fill another weakness the team has to fill, scoring.  (By the way, Conley was traded to Chicago, who then traded him to Charlotte, and the Hornets appear willing to buy him out.  I don't get the rule, but since he got traded twice within a certain period, Conley could come back to Minnesota on a veteran's minimum contract.)  Unfortunately, the Bucks appear to be playing hardball.  They want draft picks, which the Timberwolves don't have, and it seems like they also want Jaden McDaniels, who may finally be rounding into form as the two-way monster the Wolves always imagined he would be.  Will the franchise push in all their chips to grab the brass ring this year?  If so, will it backfire on them?

One final Week before the All-Star break.  The Wolves face The Bastard Charlotte Hornets, The Bastard Buffalo Braves, The Bastard St. Louis Hawks, and Portland.  Fortunately, they face all four opponents at Target Center.

#-4: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -6).  Kayden Mingo's spin-around, underhanded Lay-Up with one Second left in the Game broke a Tie and broke the Gophers' hearts as Penn St. won Sunday afternoon, 77-75.  Hey, what can you do?  Well, instead of writing themselves off in the face of tenth-ranked Michigan St., they came home to The Barn, took control early, and staved off one final Spartans run to notch a shock upset last/Wednesday night, 76-73!  This Win ultimately won't matter, but it's a nice feather in the cap, and I also think it's a sign that Niko Medved can coach.

Only one Game this screening Week: At home, vs. Maryland, Super Bowl Sunday afternoon.  This is a winnable Game.

#-5: Gopher women's hockey (Last Week: -2).  And I feel bad because in some Weeks, getting a split versus a national blueblood is enough to put a team in the top spot of a Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey.  This is definitely not one of those Weeks, however.  And so I had to get picky about results.  Yes, the Gophers beat the top-ranked team in the country, Wisconsin, on Friday, but it was in Overtime, 3-2.  The Badgers came back the next afternoon and crushed the U. by a score of 6-1.  Compared to every other team in the Twin Cities who played, and the female icers had the least-impressive screening Week.  But beating the #1 is still a hell of an accomplishment.

And the Gophers are third in the country, behind Wisconsin (still #1) and Ohio St., of course.  This Week they do a second home-and-home with St. Thomas.  And like with the previous home-and-home in early December, they are playing Friday afternoon (there) and Saturday afternoon (here).