Addendum To: How Long Can My Computer Hold On?

So that weird thing where I start up my computer and can't login in to open it up, so I have to restart it so I can login a second time?  Some time yesterday/Saturday it stopped doing that.  I opened it up and I was able to punch in my password to get into my computer immediately, like it's supposed to.  I don't know what I could have done to "fix" my laptop.

It was getting to the point where I would have been so fed up that I would have bought a new lap before the fall, which is when the extension on security for this laptop (it runs on Windows 10 and I cannot upgrade this to Windows 11 because it doesn't have the space for it) that I opted into runs out.  I am getting really frustrated at how much battery life my cellphone is going through, too, so I have thought about replacing that as well.  I was getting scared that both my laptop and cell would lose support in the fall, meaning I would have to replace both in the fall, which would be two big-ticket items I would need to pay for at the same time, and I don't look forward to that.  That made me think that maybe I should take advantage of the deals that might be floating around for a laptop, move up my timeline, and buy a new lap now.  But now, with this thing working "normally" ... yeah, I'll wait.

Cold And Car

Going out for my annual shindig with friends today.  My friend says that whenever we go out for Christmastime, it naturally is on a night where it's extremely cold, and this year (if the adage is correct; I haven't done my research) is no different.

I'm not looking forward to it.  Well, I am looking forward to being out with friends, but I'm not looking forward to going out in the cold.  I'm scared for my car and how it'll work when it'll be below zero tonight.  I saw on the news last/Friday night on tips of how to operate your car when it's this cold -- make sure your tires have enough air (I checked; the fronts are fine and I put enough air, I think, in the backs Tuesday) and have at least half a tank of gas (I plan on filling up after going out tonight).  Also, and this was weird as fuck, my defroster seemed to stop working on my way to work yesterday/Friday.  I was on the highway while it was sleeting, and I slowly saw my windshield ice up, from the top to more than halfway down.  I was crouching in my driver's seat, panicking.  The defroster was on but not doing shit.  I had to take an exit and park at some business.  I was going to scrape the ice off, but then it started melting almost immediately.  Guess the defroster kicked in.  Too late though; I was late for work.  Fuckin' hate that.  I checked the defroster when I got home; seemed to be working fine.  Was it the precipitation that was so bad it overcame my defroster until it stopped sleeting?

So I hope I get to have a good time tonight without worrying about my car.  Maybe that is up to me and my attitude.  I say it's up to my car.

OK, So We Have A Date My Parents Will Finally Leave ...

... and it's about a month from now.  Oh, well. ...

Thing is, they wanted to leave next week.  I would've loved it.  It just so happens, however, that was the same day of the memorial service for the family friend who died a week ago.  I asked my boss before I left work yesterday/Friday if I could take that afternoon off; even though it was short notice, he said yes.  And so I assumed that my folks would want to pay their respects, too.  Besides, it was going to be short -- an hour to mill around and say hi, and then an hour for the service, and I guess there will be stuff to eat afterward, but that's when we could just go home.  But Mother was looking for flights on that day because they were going to be as cheap as they would be before prices went up for the holidays.

Honestly, this was a dick move by them -- and not surprising.  They don't want to be here, especially in the cold.  And when Mother got the all-clear from the physician who performed knee surgery on her, I knew it was going to be a matter of time before they were going to skedaddle.  And still I thought they were going to listen to the angels of their better nature and go to the service.

Was I going to push this?  No.  Technically, the flight Mother was looking at was going to fly out around noon.  I could take them in the morning, come back, get dressed and go to the service by myself.  That would have been fine.  I think that if my boss let me go for the afternoon, he'd let me go for the whole day.  Also, I think it's important that someone from the family go to the funeral.  Ideally it should be all of us, but if my parents' friendship with her was fake, whatever.  What mattered to me was that I go to the service to pay my respects to the lady who lived just a couple houses down from us and who was always nice to us.

Now, I guess I could have headed this conflict off if I knew before yesterday/Friday that next week was the service, but I kept forgetting to check the date.  Also, it is a bitter irony that the day they were going to leave just so happened to be the same fuckin' date of the service.  If the service were the day before, it would've been perfect.  Alas, I am trying not to be angry.  This is about saying goodbye, after all, and this neighbor's death has me thinking about how my parents are still around, though not forever.

So, my ever-parsimonious Mother decided she would look for the next date with tickets as cheap as the one next week.  And that date is ... the first week in January!  Because of the funeral service, my parents will be here for another 3 1/2 weeks!  Like I said, I'm trying not to hate God for this.  There are some plusses to them staying.  For example, even though Mother has been cleared to get on a plane, her doctor advised her to continue walking because the threat of blood clots is still there.  However, the doc also said that risk decreases over time, so I want to think that the chances of her getting a blood clot will be notably less in January than next week.  Also ... well, I guess it's alright that I can be with my folks for the holidays, even though that wasn't their initial plan.  (When Mother bought the tickets, she said Father wanted to spend the holidays with me.  That's ... well, bullshit.)

OK, I can't think of too many upsides to them being here for the holidays.  I would like to them to be gone.  With my parents out of the state, I could go out to this bar on Christmas Eve, but that would be too weird now.  And I guess there are 3 1/2 more weeks of us starting a fight over something or other.  Whatevs.  They've been here since April, I think, so what's another month at this point?  Besides, and I hate to say it, I'm scared that another member of my family is going to fall ill this month.  If that's the case, and if they're off wintering, they'll just have to fly back home.  They might as well be here and save themselves the trip.

Oh, by the way, it looks as though Father will accompany me to the service but Mother won't.  That ain't her bag or some shit.

Just got on sort of a holy roll on Zynga Poker with someone, probably a bot, where, for the past, oh, 15 to 20 minutes of the half-hour I was playing (I have no idea how long I was playing; that's a sure sign of a gambling addiction), it was just me and him.  Usually, people (or bots) come in and take the other available spots, but nope, it was just this "guy" and me.

It's so addicting if you win big pots, like I did early, especially when there were other people besides this "dude" and me.  That hooks you into thinking you can win, and hooks you into pursuing that next winning fix, even though we're dealing with fake money here.  And then, as I really started losing "money" to this "person," I found it very difficult to pull away -- partly because I wanted to win, partly because I lost so much that I wanted to "get right" by winning, partly because the next hand came in immediately after the results of the previous hand because there weren't more "players" at the "table" to slow down play.  I had to leave by folding $100 million (in fake money) because I wanted to stop and I was losing all the money I came in with and then some.

When you get rolling, gambling, even fake online Omaha like I did, is intensely addicting.  Oy.

Got Seven Hours Of Sleep And I'm Still Tired

After working out last night my nose started to run like crazy, so I took some NyQuil before I went to bed to knock me out.

Father woke me up around 10:15, about seven hours after I went to bed.  That's nice and all, but if my body was left to its own devices, I probably would've been out till noon ... and I would've liked it, because right now, I have a damn headache and I still feel tired.

Hate being woken up when I don't have to.  I know, I know, they say you should go to bed and wake up at the same time every day because that's healthiest.  I am healthy when my body is fully rested, and right now, I ain't fully rested, oof.

At Least We Go Through Less Stuff In The Bathroom Now

It's been a few weeks since my sister left, and even though the house is a little emptier and quieter, there is one thing I am clearly thankful for once she went back home: We go through less stuff in the bathroom now.

It is astounding how much a third person churns through.  While my sister (and Mother, who moved upstairs in preparation for her knee surgery) was using the upstairs bathroom, we seemingly used a roll of toilet paper every week.  I remember Grandmother going through rolls that quickly, but I only think she did that because she was using too much on every visit.  Also, we cracked open a bar of soap at a frightening frequency.  Worst of all was the trash.  Father put in a too-small trash can (with a lid you need to open with a foot pedal, and that should be a blog post in and of itself) in the bathroom, and that damn thing filled up, like, twice a week.  I had to empty that thing so often it got absurd.  And by the way, if I ever get an up-close look at used tampons again, it'll be too soon.

Contrast that to when I'm the only one using the bathroom.  I go through toilet rolls maybe once a month.  I throw my toilet paper in the trash, so it does accumulate, but not on a semi-weekly basis.  And if my parents ever leave, I will feel less pressure to actually cleanse myself.  I'm sure I've reached two months before getting a new bar of soap, and I miss that longer frequency.

Mother still sleeps upstairs because she loves it, so right now we're in a liminal state between the chaotic burn rate of three people and the tranquil stasis when I have the bathroom all to myself.  We go through toilet rolls and soap bars at a slower pace, but they're still too fast for my liking.  So yeah, I can't wait for the day I have the run of the house to myself ... if I ever will. ...

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

#0: Gopher volleyball (Last Week: -4).  The U. volleyballers gain the top spot in this Week's WMNSS, one which overall was good for the local sports scene and the teams are ranked nominally.  What I mean by that is: I obviously put this squad, seeding fourth in their Region, first because they won their first two Matches of the NCAA Tournament, as they were supposed to.  Now, I put them above negative numbers because both Matches were sweeps (of Fairfield and then Iowa St.), something I didn't think this club could pull off.  (Aside: Women's volleyball usually plays to seed, and this season, of the top 16 Seeds, only 15 didn't make it to the second weekend ... and unfortunately, that one is my alma mater.  Fuckin' stupid.)

Now they face the 1-Seed in their Region, Pittsburgh, and they play the Panthers wagon at their place Thursday evening.  The ride probably ends there.  By the way, how in the hell did Pittsburgh, of all schools, get to have a powerful women's volleyball program?  They were nowhere ten and even five seasons ago.  They're in the ACC, whose resources are paling in comparison to the SEC and the Big Ten, of which Minnesota is a member.  What kind of infusion of infrastructure, amenities and/or NIL money has brought about this powerful team?  Whatever.

#-1: Gopher men's basketball (Last Week: -6).  I didn't see what happened last Wednesday night coming, and that was OK, because Niko Medved is still in his first Year.  Disappointments are going to continue to rack up; I am hoping that he was going to be able to clear the decks and implement his culture for a vault into competence next Year.

But he got an unexpected result that has energized the fanbase.  Last Wednesday, the ranked Indiana Hoosiers came into Williams Arena and the Gophers upset them, 73-64.  I don't know how it happened, and who knows if there will be more good surprised like that to come.  But I have to give them credit for this Win by placing them up here.

Now, can they pull off another upset, this one of current #6 Purdue in West Lafayette tonight/Wednesday night?  Probably not.  They then return to non-con play hosting Texas Southern Sunday afternoon.

#-2: Gopher wrestling (Re-Entry!).  Won a pair of Duals this past Week.  The first was over a ranked Arkansas-Little Rock team ranked 25th at the time, 23-9 Thursday at, of all places, a high school in Mequon, Wisc.  Apparently it was a grassroots outreach initiative for the sport, a "Wrestling Night In America" type thing.  Cool, even down to the randomness of a university from Minnesota and Arkansas playing in a gym in Wisconsin.  Then, back at home Sunday afternoon, the seventh-ranked Gophers beat North Dakota St., 26-9.  Doesn't heal the sting of getting upset by South Dakota St. (and I just realized they played that Dual at The Barn, so that's really depressing), but it's two victories nevertheless.

And these boys are done till the New Year!

#-3: Gopher women's hockey (Re-Entry!).  Swept a home-and-home with the school on the other side of the river, St. Thomas, by a combined 9-4.  Fine, but they got swept by Minnesota State-Mankato the previous weekend, so fucking what?  They too are done till the New Year, at which time they will visit Sacred Heart for a two-Game series.

#-4: Vikings (Last Week: -7).  I am going to credit Sunday's 31-0 Shutout more to the fact that The Washington Commanders were mailing it in even more than the Vikings were.  Have to say, though, that I appreciate the fight the Vikings played; it shows that Kevin O'Connell hasn't lost the locker room, although the Commanders losing Jayden Daniels (and, later, Zach Ertz to a torn ACL from a bad and, I must say, unnecessary hit from Vikings Defensive Back Jay Ward) tends to deflate a team.

This is the first time since the 1992 Denver Broncos where a team gets shut out one Week, then shuts out their opponent the next week.  (The Broncos got blanked at Philadelphia, by the way, then shut out Cleveland.  I'm looking up the last time the reverse happened, but Google's Artificial Intelligence apparently is having trouble with my query.)  What a weird thing to happen.  That tells me, if there's anything to be gleaned from it, that there is talent on this club; it just has to be more consistent.  And by the way, J. J. McCarthy is becoming a Game Manager -- he didn't lead the team to victory, but he didn't make any mistakes that led to a Loss.  Right now, you'll take that.

Lately, The Dallas Cowboys have been the bane of the Vikes' existence.  They'll play in Dallas Sunday night with a chance for the Cowboys to get back into serious playoff contention.

#-5: Timberwolves (Last Week: -2).  A 2-1 screening Week.  Would've made it a clean sweep Monday at home, but a couple Woofs had bad shooting nights, then Rudy Gobert got thrown out of the Game for throwing an elbow on someone while he was trying to dunk, so they lose to Phoenix, 108-105.  (My usher friend had a ticket to the Game, but I decided to stay home.  Made the right decision, for the snowstorm blowing in Monday evening as well as the defeat.)  Still in sixth in a tight Western Conference.  Still hoping to see them gel.

They failed to reach the NBA Cup Knockout Round (again), so this Week are the Games the NBA scheduled for the Woofie Dogs just so they have something to do: At Golden State Friday, home to The Bastard Rochester Royals Sunday evening.

#-6: Gopher men's hockey (Last Week: -3).  Split at Ohio St., doubling up the Buckeyes, 6-3, Thursday, then losing in Overtime, 6-5, Friday.  Took a quick gander at the PairWise ... yeah, they're not going to the NCAAs this Year unless they start dominating league action.

I kind of like the fact that all these college teams are taking a break for a month.  Well, besides basketball because it's a moneymaker.  This squad restarts B1G play at Penn St. in 2026.

#-7: Wild (Last Week: -1).  The team that was maintaining Twin Cities dignity the past Month or so had a bit of a stumble this Week, getting beat handily at bottom-feeder Calgary Thursday and at Edmonton Saturday, only to rout the Kraken in Seattle Monday.  They now go back to the GCA for a four-Game homestand with, of course, a few guys hurt.  But at least they're still third in the Central.

They will play that homestand this Week: The Team That Was Stolen From us tomorrow/Thursday night, Ottawa and Boston back-to-back this weekend, Washington (and the ageless one, Alex Ovechkin) Tuesday.

#-8: Gopher women's basketball (Last Week: -5).  How miserable, how shameful.  I was driving home from the Vikings Game where I saw the home team inexplicably pitch a Shutout, only to hear on the radio these Goofers taking a big lead on seventh-ranked Maryland at Williams in Overtime, only for them to blow it and go to a second Overtime -- where they had a nine-Point lead with about 40 Seconds remaining and choke on that, too, losing by a score of 100-99.

I don't fucking care that they're playing a Top 10 club.  You have a nine-Point lead with 40 Seconds left, you better goddamn win that Game.  Instead, the players pissed down their legs, throwing the ball away precisely when they couldn't, then giving up wide-open layups and Three-Pointers that allowed the Terrapins to come back and win.

I checked Charlie Creme's bracketology for the Week: This fuckin' team's still in, and as a 6-Seed.  I don't how the fuck that's happened when they shit the bed in their three most high-profile Games of the Year so far.  And if they continue to screw the pooch come money time, they'll fall out of Big Dance contention soon enough.  I'm sorry, but I am just about off the Dawn Plitzuweit bandwagon.  She's had more than two Years to fix this.  Players that have been under her for more than a season don't do the bullshit that I heard on Sunday.  And at fucking home, too!!

Host Alabama A&M and Wyoming this screening Week.

Too Much Fucking Snow

I've said before that I would have the cold than the snow.  I am getting less and less tolerant of the cold, but my preference still holds true.  Especially as the winter has started with much activity, namely frequent bursts of an inch of snow here, a few there, etc.  (Aside: The forecasters saying the La Nina weather pattern out in the Pacific Ocean will mean a colder and snowier winter for us in Minnesota is, so far and unfortunately, correct.)

If you really want to split hairs, those types of snowstorms are manageable, and I understand that the snow we get during the winter replenishes our water supply in the summer.  Doesn't mean it's safe to drive on it, and it gets tiresome to prepare yourself for so many days of driving in risky conditions.  For example, I wanted to go to my local Barnes & Noble last/Monday night and work on my receipts.  But I was blindsided on the snowstorm we had in the evening -- were we supposed to have one?  I needed to send some mail, I bought a Coke, and I tried putting air on my tires.  But the gas station I went to yanked the air hose out, and it was snowing so bad that I decided not to go to B&N and instead went home.

It snowed in the morning, too.  It was the nice, fluffy snow you imagine when you have good memories of Christmas, of being home with family, cozying up to a fire, drinking hot cocoa and unwrapping presents.  It's pretty to look at if you're inside and not needing to go outside.  But like I said, if you do need to go outside, that innocent-looking snow is deadly.

And all this moderation goes out the window because, apparently starting this/Tuesday afternoon, we're getting a big snowstorm, the second-biggest of our young winter if not the biggest.  It's hitting before I leave work, and it's going to get bad quick, so my drive home will probably be dangerous.  Worse than that, I have to get up early for work tomorrow/Wednesday.  There may be fewer people on the road, but I will not relish driving in what could be half a foot of snow early in the morning and in the dark.

Fucking hate this.

When You See Your Mother Scared For Her Life, It Changes You

So the weekend after Mother got her knee replaced, I was woken up by Father knocking on the door.  My sister, who was still home at the time, told him to wake me up.

When I got myself together and went to the dining room, I saw Mother sitting straight up but with her eyes closed.  My sister asked me to hold her because, according to my sis, she was feeling really dizzy, and she wasn't responding.  While my sister called the clinic at which she got her surgery, I started to hold her in case she fell over.  Mother continued to close her eyes, but all she could do was mumble.

Father thought she was just tired and needed to go back to sleep.  But after getting only the clinic's voicemail, my sister decided to call 911.  That's when, I think, Mother's mumbling started to get worrisome, like she was trying to tell us she was scared, but couldn't say the words.  Suffice it to say, I have never seen her like this before in my life.

The paramedics came.  They saw that her blood pressure was very low, caused by a combination of dehydration, constipation, and the pills she was taking.  But this wasn't a case where they give her some medicine and she'd be OK; they decided they had to take her to the ER.

Then, I saw something I'd really never seen before ... and something from Mother I had never seen before.  The paramedics needed her to get on this hammock they laid on the floor; from there, they would carry her into the ambulance parked outside.  We reminded them that she had just gotten her knee fixed; they knew, but this had to be done.

So, like ripping off a bandage, the only way to get her to lie on this hammock was to do it right in one straight shot, even though it would hurt like hell for Mother.  And it did.  Finally, Mother was able to speak, and loudly; in Chinese, she screamed, "Ow!  It hurts!"  (All this time she didn't speak English.  She must have been in some pain so deep that it made her revert to the long-term memory spots in her brain where she only knew Chinese.)  And she was really, really screaming, as if she was a little girl, howling for her suffering to stop.  I have known My Mother all her life as a domineering and even mean woman, oftentimes indifferent to other people's feelings.  But her she was, begging, even pleading for help, almost to the point of tears.  I've never seen her sound so ... well, helpless before.

---

We met Mother at the ER about an hour later.  Her eyes were open, she seemed awake and lucid, and she could even speak English again.  She was released several hours later with advice that she should drink water and electrolytes a lot more.

Mother hasn't been in that dire straits since, thank Buddha.  But the memories of that day are flooding back now that our family friend passed away unexpectedly.  While I was seeing her act like a little girl, I was thinking, "No, this can't be serious.  She can't be in real danger, can she?"  And while I don't know all the details about our family friend's death, I wonder if her relatives thought the same thing.  Maybe I haven't appreciated how close Mother was to the end.  But maybe her cries for help are something I have to heed if ... no, when the time really comes.  And that scares the hell out of me.  Because I am not ready for that, at all, and I don't think I ever will be.

The Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

So last week Mother was told by her physical therapist (she was taken by my brother) that she was progressing so well that she doesn't have to do any PT sessions anymore.  That's odd.  That is five total sessions cancelled because she was doing so well.

Therefore, what we were hoping for may still be true: Once the doctor looks at Mother's knee, if she gives her the OK, she is, for all intents and purposes, fully healed.  And, presumably, she is good enough to fly to somewhere warmer for the winter.

If so ... honestly, I have mixed feelings right now, but eventually, it'll be thank God.