The Last-Ever Meal At Peter's Grill

I started this blog post just with the title.  It was July 3, 2013.

The place closed for good July 29, I think.  I had never been there, but after 99 years, a place that had a solid connection with Old Minneapolis was going to close, and I felt the need to connect to it.  And sure, maybe the irony of being a first-timer to Peter's Grill on its last day was too much for me to resist, but I went and, after a long wait where all the servers were too busy helping others and, I guess, trying to rectify the death of an institution that was a part of their lives for so, so long.

And I think I hesitated to write this blog post for so long because ... well, I eventually forgot.  But I remember taking a picture of my meal, and I wanted to, for the first time, post a picture I took myself in the blog post, but I never learned how to upload a photo onto Blogger.  And then I think I began hesitating as to whether I wanted to put a picture I took myself onto WAF for identity reasons.  Whatever the reason, I don't know where that photo is now; the ones on my cellphone go back only to 2014.

I remember sitting at the bar and I was told that all the food was gone by the time I got there.  I may have played the woe-is-me card because someone, and it very well could have been the owner, heard my sob story, went to the kitchen (and I could see into it from my barstool), and took what appeared to be a prepared dish.  I don't think it was going to be given to a customer; I got the impression that one of the workers prepared it for him or herself, either because they were hungry over their busy day or they wanted something to take home to eat and/or remember Peter's Grill by.  And this guy, presumably the owner, took that and gave it to me.  It was a tuna sandwich.  Can't say I was blown away, but it was, and is, important to me that I had a piece of Peter's Grill before it shut down.

But assuming that tuna sandwich was for someone else, I feel bad.  Sorry.

It was packed in there.  Which raises the usual issue that if it were packed before it closed, the restaurant wouldn't have had to close, now, would it?  But hey, it's a downtown restaurant, and those are vanishing by the minute because it's so hard to make money when you cater mostly to people coming to and from work.

I just read that the owner blamed food trucks for permanently crippling his business.  Well, this is also ironic, but as I have heard, there are no more food trucks in either downtown since the pandemic.  So many companies decided their employees could work from home during COVID that food trucks determined there was no longer money to be made downtown, either.  Maybe that has changed since we're now six years beyond the pandemic.  But I haven't heard of a glut of food trucks invading downtown Minneapolis every lunch hour.

You know, I assumed I would have more to say about the death of Peter's Grill.  Well, shelving this blog post for 13 years shortens the story, I guess.

Hooters Ain't The Only One

I swear there has been a rash of restaurant closings this year that I lament.  They don't hurt as much as Hooters, of course.  And honestly, I have been trying to come up with a list, but can't think of too many.  I've already talked about the Taco Bell that was near me.  (By the way, nothing has gone in in its place yet.  Taco Bell disappeared, furnishings and signage and all, in a day, but that place has remained empty for weeks now.  The hell?)

The one that comes to mind right now is the local Subway.  When I was in high school, the place where it was, located at a strip mall not too far away from the high school, was the place to be, sad as it might seem now.  But it was dependable and good enough, and so that's where we all went (and for me, to get those stamps you lick and stick on those cards in order to get a free sub).

What the owners of that place more than several years ago was move to an even bigger place across the street.  That's investment, and I love that.  It was clean, and I was treated well every time I went there.  Unfortunately, it was empty too much of the time.  I wanted to go there more often, but there are so many other places to eat out, both in the fast food and the fancy lanes.  I tried to support them whenever I had the urge to, but it wasn't enough.  A few weeks ago, when I drove by during the day, I didn't see their "OPEN" light on and there was no car outside.  And maybe last week, all the Subway signage was taken down.  I feel sad because it feels as though the owner took a risk based on previous success, but whether it was the bigger size of the restaurant, the new location, something else, or all of the above, it, well, backfired.

And even though it's not my responsibility because I can't eat out every single day or else I'll go broke, I worry about the places I eat out at going under.  There's that speakeasy I haven't been to since March Madness.  It's expensive to go there, but I still want it to be around when I want to go there.  And there's a mom-and-pop panaderia close by me.  Their pastries and croissants and baked goods are fantastic, and the layout looks lush and wonderful, and I barely see anyone whenever I go there.  I hate to come across it one day and see it gone.  But again, I'm not made out of money.  What can I do?

I blame Trump.  Seriously, with all the shit he's done in order to line his pockets, I think it's sensible to blame his corrupt ass.

The Hottest Babe In The Hooters Calendar: April 2026

I've gotta admit that my enthusiasm for doing these monthly reviews has completely subsided now that the local Hooters has closed.  It's not as if the women I'm reviewing and jerking off to were working at MOA, but I had this ... well, irrational and vicarious feeling that they could.  Now that the closest Hooters is in, I think, Iowa, the servers in this calendar are just pictures to me.  There was literally no chance that I would meet any of these hot babes in person before, but now that there is no Hooters at the Megamall anymore, there is absolutely no chance.

But soldier on I will till the end of 2026.  Unfortunately, I am seeing a trend that I don't like: The crop top.  I like crop tops so long as the Hooters waitress wearing it isn't wearing anything underneath.  This isn't porn, however, so of the five Hooters girls who are wearing bare-belly shirts, four of them obviously  are wearing bikini tops underneath, and I'll just go ahead and assume that the fifth is wearing one, too.  That is way too much clothing for my liking.

There are a dozen servers for this month, and I can point out four of them.

In fourth place is Maddie, out of Loveland, Colo.  Dark blonde wavy hair, she is sporting a two-piece yellow bikini.  She's got a nice figure, but the things that place her on this list are her smile and the fact that she's wearing a cowboy hat with the Hooters logo.  Yep, that's enough for me.

In third place is Alyssa, from Newark, Del.  Long black hair, she's wearing a two-piece that is light purple/lavender in the important spots and are connecting with lime green string.  She's smirking.  With her left hand she's tugging down at at the middle of her bikini top.  And with her right hand she's placing/fake-tugging the knot that's holding up her bikini bottom.  It's all intimation, but yep, that's also enough for me.

In second place is Taylor, hailing out of O'Hare, Ill.  (Not O'Hare Airport, but the city of O'Hare, which I didn't know until now is a city in Illinois.)  The brunette is wearing a patterned two-piece bikini.  While she's tugging at the middle of her top, she's pursing her lips, and honestly, what I like about her is that she gives off a tomboy vibe.  She certainly doesn't look like a Hooters girl.  That makes her more real, and more approachable.

Finally, in first place is Anna.  The server with very long black hair (it goes all the way down to her hips, in fact) and deep and glistening black skin is sporting a yellow two-piece.  She's first because she is one of the few women from the now-dead Hooters at The Mall Of America I've seen in these calendars.  And, I was lucky enough for her to sign this calendar, right on her own picture.

Now that I've written my thoughts down, I realize that I spotlight all four because of technicalities.  Sadly, that is the nature of a very blah month that is further weighed down because most of the women are wearing too much clothing.  But don't worry -- I have already pleasured myself to this month.  Congratulations to Anna and the rest, and I hope Anna has found new and gainful employment.

RIP, Taco Bell Near Me

So two weeks ago, after seeing my alma mater fall to South Carolina in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, I drove home.  Sometimes I take a path home that takes me past the closest gas station to my home.  Can't complain about the gas station.  It has a Taco Bell there that I go to all the time.

Well, had.  I think it was the weekend where I actually went to this gas station because I wanted to get some Taco Bell.  And it shocked the shit out of me when I saw one of those industrial-sized dumpsters.  I then noticed that all the Taco Bell signage is gone, completely.

This was coming.  The gas station was a Holiday, but several years ago (I don't know exactly how many), it was sold to Casey's Retail Company, so the Holiday became a Casey's.  They are well known for making and selling their own food under their own Casey's brand.  But even after the changeover and makeover, the Taco Bell was still operating in the left half of the building housing the now Casey's.

I heard the story of how this happened shortly after the changeover when I grabbed some Taco Bell by eavesdropping on a conversation between a Taco Bell worker and a customer who may have been his or her friend.  Taco Bell had a lease for this location.  When Holiday Stationstores or Couche-Tard, the company that acquired Holiday Stationstores, sold this particular gas station to Casey's, they did so on the condition that Taco Bell would be able to stay through the life of its lease.  The Taco Bell employee did not know how long that lease lasted, however.  Well, I guess that lease ran out two weeks ago.

This closing seemed fast.  I got home late that Monday, and Taco Bell drive-thrus are usually open late every night.  So I want to think that late Monday night (technically Tuesday morning) was the very last day they were open.  Casey's then shut everything down and cleaned out the entire Taco Bell (including appliances and tables -- seriously, I went into the gas station yesterday/Sunday and there's absolutely nothing there).  I absolutely marvel at how fast they emptied the place of any and all Taco Bell life.  But they can also completely replace that space with Casey's restaurant just as fast, at least I am convinced they could, and it's been completely empty for two weeks.

Is there something wrong?  I would think that Casey's was biding its time before the lease ended so they could then sweep in, clean house, and put up their own signage and equipment.  So, where are the tables and chairs -- and breakfast pizza Casey's is known for?  In the meantime, I am going to miss this Taco Bell.  It is the closest fast food place to me, so I relied on it for dinner and lunch many, many times over the years.  And now it's gone, just like many other places I believed would continue to exist.

Rest In Peace, TB.

Sign Of Inattention Or Sign Of Old Age?

I'm just so mad at myself for fucking up the Horse's Neck I made for myself.

I should back up.  I didn't plan on drinking alcohol yesterday/Thursday.  I should blog post about it soon.  Anyway, I went to Hooters because I wanted to use the March coupon before the chaos of them closing down on Sunday.  The chaos has already begun, however.  I just wanted a Coke, but they didn't have it.  Guess there's no use to order more stuff if they're closing down in three days, but I thought they would still have Coke.  (I'm going back before they close for good Sunday evening.  Let's hope they still have running water.)

Anyway, I didn't want a Sprite to go with the wings and swirl cake I purchased, and I didn't want to just have water.  So, with a bit of regret, I got an Angry Orchard, which they still have.  And since I got one alcoholic drink to drink, I might as well have another one, and I decided on a Horse's Neck because the ginger ale in the fridge has been in there for a long while.

I rely on the International Bartenders Association formula for a Horse's Neck, which is 40 mL (they're international) of cognac and 120 mL of ginger ale in a Collins glass.  That's a ratio of three parts ginger ale to one part cognac, right?  That's important for the story.

So I pour out 40 mL from the ABK6 into a small measuring cup I use instead of a jigger because The Wirecutter recommends it.  Then I pour the Boylan ginger ale to the maximum line, which on this measuring cup is 60 mL.  I add it to the Collins.  I pour to the max again.  I add it to the Collins.  Then I pour to the max a third time, because it's a 3:1 ratio, right?  I assumed I had enough ginger ale, so I was shocked that I was short by 10 mL.  I thought I should maybe use ginger beer to top it off, but fuck it, it's late in the day and I have work in the morning, I'll just have to deal with drinking a messed-up cocktail.

I don't have a huge Collins glass.  It might not be a Collins glass.  But some drinks require a long, rectangular-looking glass, and that's what I have.  And for all the cocktails I can make that require them to be stirred, they all fit into this glass.  But this one was different.  Even though I was short of the 3:1 ginger ale-to-cognac ratio, the last pour of ginger ale brought the cocktail right to the rim.  That's odd.  I'm pretty sure past Horse's Necks I've made weren't that full.

And then I realized I fucked it up.  I was fixated on the 3-to-1 ratio, but I completely forgot about dealing with the actual fucking numbers.  Forty times three is 120.  I just needed to pour the ginger ale out to the max twice, not three times, to get the formula right.  But no, I poured out the cognac once (and not even up to the top at 60 mL, just two-thirds of the way at 40 mL), so I had to pour the ginger ale thrice.  That's how my mind operated.  It's probably how it operates.  And I fucked it up.

---

Later I played Zynga Poker.  I continually make the mistake of misjudging what kind of a hand I have.  I play speed-up, so I only have, like, ten seconds to fold, call or raise, and I still make a decision without completely understanding what I actually have.  A few times I actually think I have a better hand than I do, but more often than not I think it's an OK hand when it's, like, an ace-high straight or a full house.  I didn't see I had a full house on this one hand and I could have taken the other "players" in my table to the cleaners if I had accurately seen that.

Pairing my poker blindness with blowing the Horse's Neck, I don't know if me not paying attention is symptomatic of my old age.  I have been not paying attention all my life, and yet I can't help but think that if I were younger, I would have gotten the formula right, and I would be much quicker at deducing what type of poker hand I've got.

If it's old age, I don't know what to do.

NO, NOT HOOTERS!!!

Heard it on Common while working yesterday/Thursday afternoon: Hooters and The Mall Of America is closing for good.  Last day's next Sunday, the 22nd.  Goddammit.

First things first: I have kind of an obsession with stores that have been at the Megamall from the start.  (The store can't move from its original footprint.  Also, it can be renovated, but it might not count in my eyes if it, say, closed down in order to make those renovations.  Length of time is important in this case.)  Hooters was one of them.  With it being gone, what's left?  Macy's?  Nordstrom?  Cinnabon on the 1st floor?  That alpaca place that somehow stays in business?

But I am sad about what I think of as an institution closing down.  That breastaurant made me a man.  I'm joking.  Well, only half-joking.  Well, that half-joking part is perverted as hell, because going there was the first time in my life I felt good about being proud of looking at gorgeous women dressed daringly (or at least how I thought daring was at the time).  I think the first time I went to Hooters I went with my high school buddies.  My friend noticed that our (hot) waitress was stuffing a pack of cigarettes in her fanny pack, and I thought that was the hottest goddamn thing ever.

Hooters MOA overcame a flurry of sexual harassment lawsuits early in its tenure to just be the place teenage boys go to begin to get in touch with their heterosexual desires, and for parents to bring their boys to prevent them from becoming gay.  I went from time to time to ogle, of course, but there are a few servers there that I'm familiar with.  No way are we friends or anything, but I think that we are acquainted enough that whenever we see each other, we smile, and that's great.  My "relationship" with Hooters was cemented over the past several years once I decided to buy the Hooters calendar every year and, if possible, get it autographed.  It was nice to have the sexiest Hooters girls sign.  I even took the calendar to other parts of the country if I were vacationing so I could have other Hooters girls in other branches sign it.  And, of course, I came back ... well, not because of the food per se, but for the coupons that came with the calendar.  If I spend $15 when I visit this month, I get a free dessert.

I planned on going Thursday to get that free dessert, and to watch the actual start of March Madness, but now I must go.  And I probably will go that Sunday too, its final day.  Thirty-three years, man, a third of a century, and they said it wasn't making enough money.  I will miss the fuck out of that place.

You know, come to think of it ... I know the perfect place to replace Hooters -- Twin Peaks.  Same concept, they're growing (the company, not my dick), and even though the closest stores are in Fargo and Omaha, it might be time to bring one to the Twin Cities.  And who knows, maybe those Twin Peaks girls will do things beyond my wildest dreams.  No, probably not.  But a lonely hetero perv can dream, and Hooters allowed me to do that.  RIP, Hooters Megamall.

Well, Thanks For Telling Me, Amazon!

No joke, I spent a lot of the last 24 hours thinking about what I would do after work last/Tuesday night.  Combining my principles (or OCD) of trying to use only cash or credit cards a day and not making four trips in my car a day (three is fine, five is fine, four is not because four is an unlucky number), I was figuring out whether I should immediately drive home after work or go out and get groceries.

Beyond the OCD principles above, the thing that factored into my decision was that the measuring cup I bought that I was going to use as my jigger for cocktails.  Amazon said it'd arrive Monday, but it didn't.  If it had, I would have gone grocery shopping yesterday/Tuesday at the discount food store close by to pick up a lemon and a lime.  I would only go there yesterday/Tuesday because on Tuesdays everything is an extra 10% off.  And since I would have gone there, I would have gone to the ATM to pick up cash, probably get gasoline for my car, maybe get some fast food to eat both last/Tuesday night and a future day, and, oh yeah, buy more cocktail items like ginger ale and ginger beer.

But yet, I got to thinking at work.  Why buy a lemon and lime if I don't have the measuring cup?  What I do is slice one of them in half and squeeze them into the cup.  That does two things.  One, I can see how much juice I squeeze, and that dictates which cocktail I would make for myself.  Two, I hear that you leave out lemon and lime juice sitting out because it tastes better about four to ten hours after you squeeze it.  It's a waste buying them without getting the jigger first, especially since this is (I think) the second time Amazon moved the delivery date of the cup.  Amazon said that instead of Monday, it would arrive Friday, and in fact, if it didn't arrive on Friday, I could ask for a refund.

So why am I doing all this stuff yesterday/Tuesday?  I could do it, say, today/Wednesday.  I get out of work early because I'm cutting.  For fast food, I could go to the last Godfather's Pizza in the state, which is going to close on Saturday.  Assuming I leave early enough (and that may be in jeopardy because we have been asked to work overtime because the shipments are still playing catch-up), traffic both on the road and at the restaurant will be easier to deal with.  Meanwhile, I took out a rack of leftover ribs from the freezer to the refrigerator on Sunday.  I see on the Internet that leftovers in the fridge are good for about four days before they should be thrown away.  Why chance it and just eat the ribs yesterday/Tuesday when, by the way, I can watch an NBA Game on NBC?

So just going home it is!  And then, once I get home, I check the mailbox and see a package.  I was able to push my thumb into its middle, so it was the measuring cup.  It was supposed to come last week, then Monday, then Friday, and then for some dumb reason it came yesterday/Tuesday.  I thought I should check Amazon before I started my car at work, just in case, but I still blame Amazon for not getting the precise delivery date right.

But I stuck to my guns and went inside to eat ribs and watch basketball.  My plan on doing everything I thought I would do yesterday/Tuesday today/Wednesday after work is still mostly intact.  Well, besides getting the lemon and the lime, since it's not Tuesday anymore.  And I guess I can make do with the alcohol I have now, so the ginger beer and ale can wait.  I just hope nothing goes wrong, like me falling asleep at the wheel or getting detained on my way home.

The Most Cursed Business Address In Town

So I came home from exercising tonight/Sunday night.  (Aside: This finished up a long, yet productive day for me.  I filled in for work yesterday/Sunday, then I donated my golf clubs, no questions asked, then I went to an industrial complex to drop off all my old glasses but they were closed because it was an early Sunday evening, then I went to my storage unit to drop off the rest of the stuff I need to hide from my folks, then I ate dinner at Taco Bell, then I exercised for the first time in a while.  I put a hell of a lot of miles on my car, and I was afraid I would be too run down to even do all of this, but I made it.  And frankly, giving away the golf clubs and glasses lifted a burden off my shoulders.  Maybe I'll blog post more about my feelings about that later.)  Oh, yeah ... so I take a left at this intersection to get home from the community center.  But shortly after I finish the left, there are train tracks, and sometimes, and especially around 10 p.m. on a Sunday night, a train comes through, and it'll take a while for it to pass.

That happened, so what I do is drive to the next left, where I pass under the elevated train track.  (Sometimes I wonder it would take less time just to wait, but I am a man in motion, or a shark.)  On my way, I see this business to my left, right next to the gas station at this intersection.  It has signage for a restaurant.  This is different signage from the last time I drove past it.  In fact, this piece of real estate has gone through, and I am not kidding you, at least four different restaurant concepts.  It served hoagies a, long, long time ago; it advertised, so I went there to use a coupon (it was an NFL Playoff weekend, I remember that), and the guy fucked up my change and so I vowed never to go back there again), it went halal, and it was Vietnamese before it became Mexican, which is its current identity.

I am 100% sure that the Mexican restaurant, and no offense to the owners of it, will fail, and this building will undergo yet another transformation.  It will fail because I don't know of a worse place to have a restaurant in my hometown.  We have a couple of main drags in our city, but the street this is on is not one of them.  It's quiet and mainly residential when there isn't a park.  It's really dark.  There is no active business close by beside the gas station (even though there are active businesses up and down the street).  Finally, I don't know how often cars drive down this road, and you need some foot traffic to at least let people know there is a spot here who want to feed you Mexican food.

That footprint should be a small park, or housing, or just a parking lot.  Anything besides a money pit into which people chasing the American Dream throw their hard-earned savings.  And yet people continue to buy the property and try to make it succeed on their terms.  Well, OK -- good luck!

Expenses Without Receipts

Starting from Labor Day, also known as Monday, September 1:

• We start at Sunday, August 31, which was my last of four days at The Minnesota State Fair.  I noticed that did not get too many of the new foods because, like I said in a previous blog post, there wasn't a consensus new food (well, besides the soft serve beer, which may not be a food) that I would wait for hours to try.  (And by the way, the lines to the soft serve beer were non-existent.  It was hyped all over the place, as I did in that same previous blog post, but did it make enough money that justified a return on investment?)  There was that ube lumpia that I waited in line for, but it was getting late and the line didn't seem to move, so I bailed.  What I did get were the Maple Cream Nitro Cold Press Coffee from the Farmers Union; Granny's Green Apple Sucker Ice Cream; the new Aegean Dream beer from Dino's; a Cider Freeze, that iced apple juice in a plastic tube considered to be the cheapest Fair food you can find for many, many years; a corn dog (not a pronto pup, a corn dog, and it's the first time I've ever had a corn dog, I think); and an Aloha Pineapple Haze that was being sold only from the eating establishments inside the Warner Coliseum.  All told, I spent: $40.50.
• And Father paid me for getting Powerball tickets for him.  It's an Infusion of: $10.
• Saturday the 30th was the start of my alma mater's football season, and I'm glad they kicked ass.  This place upcharges for credit cards, and since the State Fair was replete with vendors that also did that, plus the Powerball being where it is right now, and I have used cash like I haven't since before the pandemic.  And this is a good thing because I should want to avoid giving away money if I don't have to, right?  With tip I paid: $32.
• Friday the 29th was my third trip to the Fair.  Had the yuzu meringue Croffle Cloud; the Bama! Lemon Sweet Tea mocktail; the Cherry Bigfoot Limeade Float from Tasti-Whip; the newest apple creation from the University of Minnesota, the First Kiss; a Bee-Nana Pie, one of the stalwarts of last year's rookie class of new foods; and the second time I had that Soft Serve Royal Raspberry Beer from West End Brews.  Total: $54.
• Tuesday, August 26 -- Father, paying me back for Powerball tickets, an Infusion of: $10.
• And I went to my game-watching bar to make sure everything was set for Saturday.  With tip I shelled out: $15.
• Monday the 25th: Father paid me back for Powerball, but I'm sure he didn't exactly pay me back on this date; I just put it here because I used cash on this day and I have a rule that if you are using one form of currency to pay for something, you need to use it again so it won't be lonely.  Anyway, this is an Infusion of: $50.
• To Sunday, August 24 ... I spent the evening going to Palmer's Bar, presumably for the last time, so I could see Cornbread Harris play as part of his longstanding Sunday night residency.  It'll end after three more Sundays because one of the owners stole from the century-old bar to pay for his drug addiction, and the other owners could not make up for that deficit, so they sold them the bar and, I assume, the land beneath it.  Fucking shame.  I tried to see Cornbread Harris play, but instead of the riser at the back of the bar, he just played on the floor at the front.  That meant there was a sea of people just standing in front of me, basically blocking my view of Mr. Harris for the whole two hours.  I was able to fight toward the band as other groups, who were talking to each other and not really there to see Cornbread, backed off.  But I got the feeling that in such a busy environment, everyone had the right to get close to the music as possible, so I cycled myself away, grabbed a second beer, sat outside and just drank through the end of the first set, intermission, and the beginning of the second set.  Not quite what I expected when my friend said we should go (she didn't join me), but I'm glad to have heard Mr. Harris and to be in that Minneapolis institution one final time.  Minneapolis Cider plus tip, tips for the band, and a mild polish sausage from a cart vendor who was just outside Palmer's: $17.
• Oh, before I took the light rail to Palmer's I dove into this, er, really clean downtown bodega called the Players Club.  I got Powerball tickets there totalling: $12.
• On Saturday the 23rd I went to The Great Minnesota Get-Together for the second time, primarily to see the Grandstand concert which was Atmosphere & Friends.  I wish I got the Somali Street Fries, but I had no idea at the time that the reviews would be nearly unanimous in their praise for it.  But I did go out on a limb and purchased the Sweet Squeakers (as well as a trusty small blueberry basil lemonade) from the Blue Barn; a frozen Blu from West End Brews (which I think is just LuLu's); and a Cherry Bigfoot Limeade Float.  Total damage: $44.75
• Thursday, August 21 ... went to the opening day (actually evening) of the State Fair since I got out of work at a decent hour to put in a properly long visit.  I usually go during the first day to knock off the mainstays I want to eat; my plan, even though I didn't really follow it this year, was to devote other visits to the new foods.  So, I got a pina colada from Manny's Tortas; the cheese curds from Mouth Trap; a honey lemonade (with tip) from the honey exhibit in the Agriculture-Horticulture Building; fried pickles; that soft-serve beer for the first time; a Minnecookiedough Pie; and a lychee colada from Union Hmong Kitchen at which I believe I got fucked out of six cents due to a combination of the owner not differentiating between cash and charge prices, the owner not getting dimes or nickels or pennies for change, and a really, really shitty cashier.  They had a new food for the Fair, but I stayed the hell away from them because I was upset.  Anyway, I notice that I usually get my fill of Fair food and drink once I cross the $50 threshold.  On this first day, I blew way, way past that: $72.75.
• To Wednesday the 20th, where I had the day off and spent the afternoon going to get my car washed.  I charged the wash, so I used cash for the tip: $5.
• I then got a shave from the learning school close by.  With tip: $14.
• Father paid me back for Powerball tickets, but I doubt he paid me back on this exact date.  An Infusion of: $20.
• On Tuesday, August 19 I fucked ***i*.  And thank Buddha inflation hasn't hit with her: $120.
• Monday the 18th ... I needed money to buy lottery tickets, so I stopped by the bank to get money.  I then walked over to Caribou to get a small mocha with oak milk, and I thought I might as well pay with cash instead of through the app.  I was shocked at how pricey it was.  Well, mochas these days are expensive, but I thought that oat milk for me was going to be free.  Turns out oat milk is free only if purchasing through the application; otherwise, it's a buck extra.  Well, shit, good to know.  But at least I got the trivia question right.  With tip: $7.03.
• Went to Hooters after work to use a calendar coupon.  Hooters also upcharges if you use your credit card, so I now primarily pay with moolah when at Hooters.  With tip: $32.
• Saturday, August 16 -- after watching the MNUFC Match I moseyed on over to the Midway Saloon.  I had a ton of beer that day, but I was thirsty, so I just bought a Coke.  With tip: $5.50.
• Father paid me back for Powerball tix, but I'm sure he didn't pay me back on this exact day.  Still, an Infusion of: $20.
• To Tuesday the 12th, where I went to my alumni game-watching bar to make sure 1) the bar was still standing and 2) that they would still welcome us.  With tip: $14.
• Father paid me back for Powerball tix, but I'm sure he didn't pay me back on this exact day.  Still, an Infusion of: $20.
• On Monday, August 11 I wanted to go to the Heights Theater to see Waiting For Guffman, which I have heard many great things about.  It's OK; it has those quotable lines ("I hate you, and your ass face!"), but otherwise it has that cringe mockumentary approach that I find somewhat condescending.  Paid money for the ticket, a small pop and popcorn, and tips for concessions and the organ player: $30.
• Back to Saturday, July 26 ... Palmfest was at Palmer's Bar.  It's a weekend-long festival of local bands just, you know, playing, which was Palmer's total reason to exist, and that reason was mover than enough.  Cover, an orange Jameson slushie, a Fulton 300, and tips for those two drinks came out to: $29.
• Wednesday the 23rd: Went to A Bar Of Their Own to watch a Women's EURO Semifinal.  It was raining cats and dogs out there, damn.  With tip I paid: $28.
• Father paid me back for Powerball tickets, and then some.  I think he paid me on this exact date.  An Infusion of: $20.
• Monday the 21st was the last week where **y said she could accommodate my, uh, carnal needs because her daughter was in class.  I hadn't been serviced by her in a long, long time.  Partly it was because of the distance, partly because she had people staying with her for an extended period.  But it was worth the wait because, like I said when I (kind of) blog posted about her, she bit my pee-pee.  Goddamn, that was glorious!  Total: $150.
• **y and I talked for a little bit, to catch up on old times.  She only went topless, but she put her bra and shirt on while I was laying on her daughter's bad, completely naked with my legs open.  But I had to leave, unfortunately.  Not only did she need to pick up her daughter, I had to go meet a friend who was only going to be in town until the next afternoon.  So I had to drive all the way from the south metro to the north to pick her up and decide to have a quick beer at this place I have never been to that's kind of close to where we both live.  She used her credit card for the both of us, so I paid her back for the drink and soup I got: $23.
• Finally, back on Saturday, July 19, after an alumni function, I made my (now annual) tradition of going to Tongue In Cheek to eat.  I was going to go for the steak, but because the guy sitting next to me did, I opted, for the second year in a row, for the ramen.  I think I was there a long time because I remember intently scrolling through my phone.  Anyway, with tip I paid a very, very expensive: $76.

And once again I say to myself I have to do these more often.  Good through September 1.

Went to the Fair again (second of four, hopefully) last/Saturday night.  Yeah, the babes continue to be out in force, thank the Lord.

I did not go out to Palmer's last Sunday after all.  I just couldn't see myself transferring from the light rail to the bus that was there because of light rail construction.  So I am taking yet another shot at seeing him tonight.  It's weird going out this time of year and not go to the State Fair, I'll be honest.  That's the gravitational pull of the Fair.  But there are only three more Sundays to see him before Palmer's shuts down, and the ensuing Sundays will only get more packed.

Funny: I had never even heard of Cornbread Harris playing (for free) every Sunday at Palmer's until my friend, who I wanted to see all summer but couldn't until last month, told me about it.  She is the one, in fact, who suggested we go.  But for the past few Sundays, when I said I would be going, I asked if she was going and she said she couldn't.  So I am now enthusiastic for something another person suggested, and now that person won't be going.  Ironic, isn't it?

Can't Find The Time To Get My Eyes Checked

It's been two years, and sometimes I feel as though I have the wrong prescription, so for the past couple months (off and on), I have tried to make an appointment to get my eyes checked.  But the place I went to the last couple times appears to have closed.  I could go to another eye place at the mall close by me, but they don't seem to have a good time for me to come in, at least not for the next week and a half.  Also, and maybe I should expound on this in another blog post, things have gotten really, really bad at the mall close by me, and it makes me think I don't want to go there anymore.  So, I have checked into dates and times at another mall, one close by my work, but the earliest ones come in the workweek -- not in the late afternoon or evening but during the afternoon, when I'm, you know, at work.  There are weekend times, but I don't want to go all the way out there just to come back to eat.

With summer just about gone, I am feeling some urgency to get this done.  I did pay for vision insurance this year, after all.  Hope to find a good date and time soon.

Fasting Before Screening Starts In The Morning, I Guess

I have my workplace health screening in about ten days.  To make sure I meet enough of the metrics that will get me a price break on my health insurance, I thought I would get healthier in the lead-up.  I thought I would ease up on my pop, eat less and work out a little more.

Well, last/Sunday night, after the MNUFC Loss (oof, BTW), I was going to go to the Culver's across the street from Allianz Field, buy and eat a Deluxe Burger there, maybe get either a salad or a mashed potatoes and gravy and drive to BlackStack Brewing to eat that and chase it with a beer.  But then I remembered that STEPCHLD, a place I've eaten twice before, was going to close in a couple weeks.  I thought that I would make an evening out of it, but I figured that I could go to BlackStack Saturday inbetween the Lynx and United FC Games, and maybe I should go to STEPCHLD instead.

It closes at 9 on Sundays and the Match got out at 7, but I made it there with enough time to eat wings ... and then a burger and fries.  I ate the wings the first time I was there and the burger and fries the second time, and both were fantastic.  And I don't know if I will get another chance to eat at STEPCHLD again.  So even though the bowl of wings was more than enough, just in case, I got the burger and fries, too.  It was getting sketchy there at the end, but I ate the burger and fries with little difficulty.  And oh, after I downed my glass of orange wine I ordered alongside the wings, I bought a Mexican Coke to go alongside the burger and fries.

Good thing my screening isn't tomorrow.  And again, I had to do it in order to honor a place that had really good food.  But my plan on getting into shape will have to wait until morning at least.  Whoops.

Sorry I Missed You, The Conners

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

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

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

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

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

Next Weekend Will Be Hella Busy

I am so distracted with what is going to happen next weekend that I probably will forget something I should be doing this weekend.  Things are always crazy for me around this time for me, and it usually has to deal with sports, mainly events I want to see.  But my alma mater's women's basketball team will start NCAA Tournament play next weekend, and that pretty much upends everything I have in place next weekend.  I have to organize game-watching events for that team, I just have to.  But that pushes aside pretty much anything I want to do if there is a time conflict.  Is there a conflict?  That's the problem.  I won't know until game dates and game times are determined, and they won't be determined (by ESPN) until, probably, some time Monday.

That's bad enough, but even if my alma mater's women's basketball team weren't in The Big Dance, next weekend would be plenty busy.  To wit:

• Friday: I have designs on attending the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff -- basically the conference men's college hockey conference tournament -- both Days, with the Semifinals beginning late in the afternoon.  This is important to me because this will be the last NCHC Frozen Faceoff at The Xcel Energy Center ever, or at least for a while; starting next season, the conference is switching to campus sites only.  For nostalgia reasons, I want to be here ... but since it's the Semis only, I can skip it if my alma mater is playing in the late afternoon or evening.  It would help matters a lot if they played in the early afternoon; I checked tipoff times for the First Round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament last Year, and the first one started at 10:30 Central Time.  I doubt that I would get that break, however; my alma mater is out west, so I really doubt that they'll have my team play at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time.  (Moreover, even though I asked for this day off, my boss scheduled me to work all day on this day.  I think it's a mistake, seeing that he authorized the day off about six weeks ago.  However, it is a type of special day where everyone who can work is supposed to work.  There is a non-zero chance that my request not to work on this day is taken back for this reason.  I'll know when I come into work and check my e-mail ... some time today, since my boss has authorized overtime for a Sunday, which is quite uncommon.)
• Saturday: The most important day.  There is a big volunteer event at noon that I am spearheading, and I cannot move it and I sure as heck can't cancel it.  If there is any one event that supersedes watching the Game, it's this one.  Beyond this volunteering event, which will end around 2, MNUFC plays at 3:30.  I want to go to the Match, partly because I (duh) have a season ticket for it, but also because it neatly fits into my day, even with the huge driving distance, and my OCD likes the order this brings into my schedule.  Saying that, I have skipped at least a couple Matches every season, so if the Game happens after I volunteer, that's fine.  Beyond that is the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Final in St. Paul at 7:30.  It would suck that the Game could be scheduled then.  But since it's a time when people watch sports on TV, I can also totally see the Game scheduled exactly then, so that would bum me out.  The only, and I mean only, thing I would consider about not holding a game-watching event is the fact that it's the First Round.  My alma mater is going to have a #1 Seed, so they almost certainly will beat the crap out of the poor #16 Seed it draws.  Seeing that it'll be a curb-stomping, do I really, really need to hold an event at our place in downtown Minneapolis?  Probably I do, but maybe I'll be selfish and say no, I want to go to the hockey Game in St. Paul instead.
• Sunday: There is probably the second-biggest thing going on that day: The Women's Frozen Four Final.  The NCAA women's college hockey national Semifinals and Final are being held in town at Ridder Arena.  (The Semifinals are on Friday; they're happening around the same time as the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semis, and so I decided that if I had the time, I would go to the X instead of to Ridder.  The Women's Frozen Four will probably come back here in 5-7 Years' time, whereas this is the last time the NCHC will be at St. Paul, or at least that's what they say.)  I already bought a ticket to the championship Game.  Monetarily it's not a loss; as an aside, paying only about $15 for a top-flight collegiate title Game in any sport is a pretty good deal.  But it's at 3, a really bad time if, including getting to and fro, my alma mater's Game begins any time from the mid-afternoon to the early evening.  Another wrinkle to all this: Sunday and Monday are the Days for the tourney's Second Round Games.  If my alma mater plays on Friday, I won't know when they play on Sunday until after the last women's tournament Game Friday night finishes.

My team is not only one of the best teams that'll be in the field but also one of the glamour teams.  Most of the Games will be on ESPN, but ABC, the over-the-air network that will get a bigger audience, will probably showcase a pair of Games Saturday and Sunday afternoon.  I don't know for certain, but chances are my alma mater will play then.  And if I am thinking along those lines, I really am hoping my team plays Saturday at around high noon so I have an excuse not to have a Game-watching event.  I then can go about my day of volunteering, then going to the Loons Match, then going to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Final.  Then the Second Round Game is on Monday night, when I have no conflicts.

So you see my predicament?  The verdict comes in about, oh, 36 hours from now.

My Christmas Tradition Going By The Wayside (?)

One of the traditions I keep for myself is going occurs on Christmas Eve.  I go to the Mall Of America and eat lunch at Hooters, hopefully seeing that really cute blond who's been there for years.  I then go to Southdale, and I make sure I lap every single level of the mall.  Finally, I drop by The Cheesecake Factory attached to Southdale and get a few slices of cheesecake, one of which I eat the next day (Christmas Night), the others when I can.

I didn't do it last year.  Christmas Eve 2023 fell on a Sunday, and I was working a Vikings Game.  I could have fought traffic to at least get to The Cheesecake Factory, but ultimately I didn't think it was worth it.  Besides, I had already "broken" this tradition the year before because I was in Hawai'i taking a vacation with my family.  I don't quite remember if I was able to do all three things in 2021, and I think I did do all three things in 2020, even though we were still in the middle of the pandemic and there was no vaccine to at least guard me against COVID-19.  And beyond all that, the first "tradition" of going to Hooters isn't something I have steadfastly done every year since I started.

So I guess I am confessing that these aren't time-worn traditions that I would move heaven and earth to make sure I do.  And that is the blase attitude I have going into Christmas Eve today.  I'm not sure I can do any of the three "traditions."  In fact, I don't think I will.  I did not ask to take the day or even the afternoon off (like I did in 2020, at least according to my Franklin Planner).  And with this new crush of forms we're getting because another lab decided to shut down, things are going berserk in The Fourth Department, where I will be all week (besides tomorrow/Wednesday/Christmas Day, of course).  I remember years past where I was in The Main Department and things were so meager that we were dismissed really early.  Because of the confusion and dot-connecting we need to do with these new forms coming from this closed lab, I know we won't get to leave early.  In fact, there's a real good chance I'll be staying late, like I have ever since this lab shut down.  I know that The Cheesecake Factory will have different hours from Southdale, which will close at 5.  While I may have gone to get cheesecake and not walked around the mall in years past, I cannot imagine doing one without the other.  Then again, I considered doing it last year after the Vikings Game.  Once again, I'm admitting my "traditions" are pretty fungible.

Ah, to heck with it.  If by some miracle we get done by, say, noon, I'm doing everything.  If it gets to, like, 2 or 3, it's off to Southdale.  Any later and I don't know if trying makes any sense.  I'm guessing I won't be leaving work till way past then.  Nope, I might get some fast food and go home ... before leaving late in the evening to head off to the only place I know in the Twin Cities that is open late on Christmas Eve.  I have gone to this place to drink their scotch and whiskey for several years now, and even though I skipped this two years ago, I have committed to doing this moreso than the Hooters/Southdale/Cheesecake Factory roundelay.  Yeah, gotta admit that this is my Christmas tradition! 

Goodbye, Minnesota State Fair. Goodbye, Summer.

Went for the third and final time to the Fair last night/Labor Day.  For the second time I met a friend and her friends there.  Did a lot of walking, to the point where I was dog tired, maybe more so than Thursday.  Maybe that was because I was doing a lot of walking around with my friend, but I figure that even if I was alone, I'd be doing as much walking, if not more.  My feet would hurt, but it probably is a product of old age.

So I said goodbye to the State Fair by hanging by the benches for Soul Asylum's free show at the Leinie Lodge, then realizing that there were many seats available at the dedicated benches for the stage if I just walked around to them.  I stuck around for a few songs I didn't know -- I was walking to the Lodge as they were playing "Somebody To Shove," my favorite tune of theirs, but I recognized "Misery" -- but I decided to leave before they got to "Black Gold" or "Runaway Train."  Wanted to beat the rush of final fairgoers, plus the authorities are moving up the close of the Fair because there have been in the past fights and other disturbances.  Mostly, though, while I wanted to honor and commemorate the end of the State Fair and summer, I didn't want to stay till the very, very end, because that would have been too sad for me.

Have to say, though -- the female talent out in force ... goddamn, man.  Lots of babes showing their bellies all three times I was out there.  Especially for Labor Day, where I think we set a record high.  If I could remember one or two, I would stroke out to them.

Expenses Without Receipts

Starting from Wednesday, May 17:

• OK, we're going back to Monday, May 15, where, after a long day at work, I decided on the fly to hit this basement hotel bar called Constantine for a second and presumably final time before it closes (no hard feelings; there's a new management company and apparently they want a new concept for it and Monello, the ground-level restaurant on top of Constantine) at the end of the month.  I have been mentally mapping out my evenings for the next couple weeks before my parents come home, and I've been stressing that I would not be able to go back to this place and its dark and funky vibe before it's gone forever.  Thankfully, as bad as work was that day, I was able to get out before I stayed too late as compared to other dates.  Anyway, I'm not doing an EWR on Constantine because I used my credit card.  I am doing an EWR for Caffetto, the coffeeshop I like to frequent because, unlike with Constantine (which I went to before Caffetto), I had planned to go to Caffetto to work on my receipts.  Chocolate cake, small hot chocolate, and tip comes out to: $9.32.
• Back to Thursday the 4th, where I went to Hooters for lunch.  This was the week where I filled in second shift and I had a May coupon, and this date felt like the perfect time to use it (even though I found myself at Hooters the first day of the NFL Draft, so in retrospect I maybe didn't have to go there on this date at all).  Had a Jedi Juice instead of my usual Angry Orchard -- May the 4th be with you -- get it?  Plus tip: $24.
• While I knew and planned about Hooters in advance, I only was told about this stripper party the week of.  I didn't know if I could squeeze both in, but I needed to get my fuck on so bad that I made the trek from the Mall Of America to North Minneapolis.  There I was greeted by *****y and *****y, both of whom I had once gotten a tandem dance from a house party close to my house.  There, I whipped it out and both women looked at me luck I had a mushroom for a dick.  (Since then, *****y has warmed to me to the point where she gives me handjobs.)  This time around, they were both, uh, more handsy.  Maybe they are just going by house rules.  At any rate, even though I didn't cum much, I came.  Both beautiful women don't mess around; they jacked me off as though they were angry with me, and I couldn't have been happier.  Now, I didn't really appreciate both of them taking all the money I had taken out of my wallet out of my hands, but doing mental math after eating at Hooters, I don't think they ripped me off.  I didn't come in to the party with enough money for a proper door fee for the guy who's hosting, so I owe him ten bucks the next time I see him.  Total: $210.
• To Monday the 1st ... went to Great Clips to get my hair cut.  Guess I could've waited, but I had my day free, so I thought it was a good time to get it out of the way before I get too annoyed with what's on top of my head.  The girl who cut me was Asian, so when she talked about my "Asian afro," she seemed to know me better than I did.  I mean, "Asian afro" is a perfect way to describe my hair once it gets long!  But as soon as I paid, she shut down as if I was physically in her way.  I would've taken a buck off your tip if I knew you were gonna be like that.  But I didn't.  Have the receipt, BTW, so this EWR is just for tip: $5.
• OK, back to Saturday, April 29, where there was this food truck festival that seemed cool, plus I didn't have much else to do, so why not enjoy a day being alive?  The weather, unfortunately, was unsettled; I went into my car once to avoid the hit-and-miss rain.  Thank goodness the food trucks circled the wagons around one end of a parking lot, the rest of which was parking for us festivalgoers.  After seeing which places did have lines and targeting the ones that didn't, I started off at Sweet Taste Of Italy, where I got its Ken's Club.  Plus tip: $15.
• Then, for dessert, I went to Pretty Great Cheesecake.  Had its key lime.  Man, I'm always down for some key lime.  Plus tip: $11.
• Wednesday, April 26 -- this was the day I took off to bring my car in for service.  What I thought could have been an all-day repair took only a few hours.  That gave me time to get my face shaved at Moler.  With tip: $13.
• After that I went to the Black Hart, the only combination soccer pub and drag burlesque place in the world, I think.  It is serendipity that I took a day off on the same day that one of the most anticipated Matches in English Premier League history, first-place Arsenal at second-place Manchester City, took place.  Glad to have a free afternoon to watch this with my people.  The Game itself was a rout; Man City crushed the Gunners, 4-1, and finally it looked as though the pre-season prognostications from many people who said the Cityzens were going to win the league this year were going to be proven right.  I was thirsty as hell, so I got me a Coke to go along with a Bloody Mary (with beer chaser, of course).  Plus tip and it came out to: $10.
• Finally, on Thursday, April 13, I went to the classic movie theater close to me to partake in that theater's Hitchcock Festival.  They were showing Rebecca, the only Hitch-directed film to ever win the Oscar for Best Picture.  It is not the psychosexual or action-packed thrillers like Vertigo or North By Northwest are, so I can't say I loved the movie, but I appreciate finally seeing it.  (A long time ago, Entertainment Weekly came up with a list of 100 films every film buff should see before he or she dies; Rebecca is one of them, and I'm glad I can cross that off my list ... as soon as I can find that list.)  The problem was that everybody seemed to have caught wind of the Hitchcock Festival; I had to wait in the lobby before the ushers and manager decided there were enough seats for all of us on the waiting list to get in.  Never seen that before at this theater.  Anyway, cost of the ticket and to tip the organist who played before the show equaled: $13.

Good through May 17.

Retail And Food Therapy In Lieu Of Exercise

Wanted to go exercise after work last/Tuesday night.  But work kept me for my maximum ten hours, and by the time I got home, I didn't feel as though I had enough time to work out.  I would have had the time, but I was working late yesterday/Tuesday because of all the work I didn't get to on Monday.  I was afraid something like this would happen.  If I were able to stay a ninth hour on Monday, I could have left work an hour earlier yesterday/Tuesday than I did, and so then exercise would have been a more feasible option.

With that being said, I spent my evening running around.  First, I was trying to grab an insulated bag at T-Mobile, but they were closed and besides, they are closing for good soon, so there's no reason for them even give out those bags.  Anyway, I then went to Target for provisions and then, after that, Total Wine to grab a few small bottles.  I have not found a favorite spirit, let alone brand, so I'm sampling everything as fast as possible.  This costs me a lot of money; buying bigger bottles would cost more, but the price per, uh, milliliter would be much lower.  (I keep hating myself for spending money; that's one of the things for which I'm pissed at myself.)  Finally, I ate at Taco Bell because I think last/Tuesday night was the last night to order a Quesarito, at least for the time being.

Retail and food therapy in lieu of exercise?  It's not an exact tradeoff, but it'll do.

Reset; Addendum To: Still Leaking Water

First time in some time I went home and immediately went to bed.  No TV, no computer.  I was out after work, going to the Auto Show and then stopping by this hotel restaurant that's closing next month.  The two glasses of wine probably were the main reason I was able to immediately crash in bed all night after coming home, but I was burning the candle and both ends, too.  Feel refreshed now, something I need to do since I will be up on my feet for most of the first half of work today.  That's worth missing a day of Zynga Poker, going from just short of Day 7/400% and tumbling all the way back down to Day 1/whatever percent that is.

(By the way, I love the service at the restaurant, but one entree, one desert and two glasses totaling $90 is kind of pricey especially given the portion sizes.  That's one thing I noticed many of the reviews critiquing this place.  Regardless, I'm glad I went.)

---

Meanwhile, I just woke up to hearing drips of water in the basement.  I did look downstairs after getting home.  All the pipes were set up.  I thought all was fixed.  Nope.

RIP, COVID-19 Testing Place

So I went to the community COVID-19 testing place on Saturday.  Nowadays I drop by there just before visiting Grandmother's best friend in the nursing home.  What I do is swab my nose there, drive all the way down to either a Burger King or Dairy Queen (oh, wow -- king or queen ... I just got that), eat while getting the results of the test and, assuming it's negative (it was never positive), I could then proceed to see her at the nursing home.  Did that monthly for the past ... oh, many, many months.  It became a ritual, and this site became a place I didn't mind visiting to get a test because it was the state government's way of providing me with a means to see that I'm healthy enough to visit someone very old without fear I could give her something that could kill her.

That place is closed now.  Didn't know it when I went there Saturday, but I saw a sign saying that it closed ... well, I think it said January 30, which is a Monday, which is kind of a weird day to close up shop.  That place wasn't going to stay open forever, and with this impending end to the emergency declaration for the pandemic on May 11, its days really were numbered.  But I thought it would be open until then.  Moreover, this is Minnesota, a blue state completely run by Democrats.  I think they'd be smart enough to keep this community testing site open as a service to the public.  But it's closed, and I miss it because schlepping out there became a part of my life that used to be a pain the behind but became a familiar beat to my routine.  But it's gone now, gone forever.