Is It Worth Dealing With Traffic?

I am at to this library that's not close but close enough.  But I have to use the highway to get there.

While driving here, I see the traffic on the highway coming back completely backed up.  There are road crews that are doing something that requires shutting down the left-most lane.

Thing is, I see all this and have chances to take exits that get me home right away without getting stuck in all that.  I didn't take them.  I didn't turn around.  I figure I can just go on Google Maps and they'll find a way of getting me home.  But if not, I am driving the old minivan and will be stuck on the highway for a while, looks like.

So why am I going to the library?  Well, to blog post on my day off.  But also to sharpen my pencils.  This is the only public place I know close to me that has a public pencil sharpener.  I'm going to see Ohtani and the Dodgers play tonight/Wednesday night and I need to sharpen my pencils to score the Game.  That is enough for me to drive out here and sit in traffic on the way back.  Or am I being foolish?

Expenses Without Receipts

Starting from Saturday, May 9:

• Let's go back to Wednesday, May 6 Thursday, May 7, when, before work, I went to the panaderia close to me and got, um, some pastry that was really good.  Also got a small mocha.  With tip (and rounding down because no more pennies), I paid: $12.
• That evening, after work, I went to the National Sports Center.  Minnesota United was holding a practice open only to season-ticket holders.  I was wondering if James Rodriguez was going to be there.  Didn't see him train, but near the end of the session, I saw him pop out for autographs.  And a horde of people, many of them holding either James Colombia jerseys, the flag of Colombia, or both, swarmed to him.  Really nice ... and apparently, if reports are correct, the last thing he will do in Loons-branded gear.  Anyway, there was a food truck there, KCM Eggroll.  Got a jumbo pork egg roll and a strawberry lemonade.  With tip it came out to: $18.
• Then, after that, I went to Chick-Fil-A to get my free nuggets after the Timberwolves eliminated The Denver Nuggets (get it?).  Got a watermelon hibiscus sunjoy, too.  But I charged all that to my credit card.  I was still hungry, and I hadn't been to Potbelly in a while, and it's right across the way from Chick-Fil-A, so I got a bowl of chili from Potbelly.  I was going to throw in a tip, but something got crossed up because the guy paid me my whole change without the tip.  I was going to round up to give a total of $8, but instead I only paid: $7.45.
• ETA at 1:40 a.m. on May 11 that on Wednesday the 6th I went to My Favorite Stripclub (Cover Edition) to see ******a, who had finally delivered on her promise to rub me down.  Unfortunately there weren't too many girls working the stripclub, so the amount of time she could be doing table dances for me was shortened, so I only got 16 from her.  Add that to cover, tips for ******a and two other strippers and security, and a drink for myself (with tip) and I spent: $186.
• Back on Saturday the 2nd I did my annual sojourn to Wings Financial to add money to my account in an effort to keep it active.  Threw in: $20.  (ETA on June 30 at 1:13 a.m. that I have a receipt for this and therefore I shouldn't have put this in as an EWR).
• That evening, after watching MNUFC win on TV, I celebrated by going to Zantigo.  Now, I know it's not "real" Mexican food, and that notion has been reinforced by all the Mexican and Central and South American mom-and-pop shops in the area.  But in total those restaurants are a force, and now I'm scared that Zantigo will go the way of the nearby Subway and close.  So I went there and got a "double-stacked" (in Taco Bell terms) taco and some ancho fries.  Zantigo also rounds down, so instead of $7.87 I only had to pay: $7.85.  (ETA on June 30 at 1:13 a.m. that I have a receipt for this and therefore I shouldn't have put this in as an EWR).
• We zip back to Sunday, April 26, when ***e* was in town.  Got a quick wank session in with her.  So glad to see her and her hand in person: $120.
• That afternoon I went to this combination antique store/coffeeshop that is right by my house.  If I didn't have to cross a busy street, I would walk there.  Funky place.  The antiques they sell include old Playboys at a dozen bucks apiece.  Didn't buy the mags; instead, I reconciled my monthly expense list there while eating a pesto sandwich with tomato soup as a dip, and I washed that down with an Italian soda.  With tip: $27.95.
• Saturday the 25th ... got a shave from the barbering school close to me.  This dude was much more professional than the previous one.  With tip: $14.
• MNUFC played in the afternoon.  Along the way I saw the local kids selling brownies.  Got one, and this time I did not get a smushed one; see below/earlier.  Cost: $1.
• Later that evening I went to Falling Knife Brewery to attend their Timberwolves outdoor watch party.  Good times, even if it was really crowded.  Saw a bit of the Wild Game before the Wolves started.  That Game was interrupted by Trump's second fake assassination at the start of the White House Correspondents Dinner.  When he came on to do his bullshit press conference, we booed until the brewery changed the channel from ABC to ESPN, where the rest of the Timberwolves' Win over Denver was airing.  Good times all around!  So the Potter's Pasties food truck was parked there, and I got a pastie.  With tip: $16.
• Also there was that woman I see sometimes at the Black Hart.  She sells homemade Mexican food -- tacos, burritos, etc.  Funny seeing her there.  But I like an entrepreneur, so I along with the pastie, I bought one burrito from her at a price of: $5.
• On Friday the 24th I was invited to a party that day (or the day before, can't remember).  I usually don't like doing that, but *****a was hosting it, and I hadn't gotten cranked from her in a long, long time.  Moreover, ****e* was going to be there, and I have seen her at many, many parties, but I have never gotten intimate with her even though I have always wanted to.  I finally arranged to be double-teamed by those two and it was as good as I had hoped.  We three bonded over being water signs, too!  Those two and cover ... wow, that's a lot of money ... came out to: $290.
• And later that evening I went to Bebe Zito for a late night burger and pop (and, well, Caffetto too, but I charged what I got there on my credit card).  With tip, that late dinner at Bebe Zito cost: $8.
• Tuesday, April 21 ... did I talk about the massage I finally got from ******a here on WAF yet?  Maybe I haven't, and maybe I won't.  Anyway, this was the day I finally got a massage from her.  Finally, after ... geez, maybe two decades, I got her to see me naked!  And she was good -- a 90-minute massage cost me: $150.
• On Monday the 20th I went to a stripper party *****y told me the day of.  I have said no to her so often that I felt like I finally needed to tell her yes.  Moreover, ****e was working, and I hadn't seen her in a long time, so I arranged them both to double-team me.  I quivered when I came -- quivered!!!  And man, that costs me a lot of money!  With cover: $320.
• Saturday, April 18: The neighbor kids were selling brownies on my way to the Loons Game.  Got a deformed one this time 'round.  Disappointing, but I figure they knew how to do business, unfortunately.  The brownie cost: $1.
• On Sunday the 12th I got wanked by ******e, who complained about Minnesota again and is planning to leave again.  HJ set me back: $120.
• I bid on this online auction for items from the now-closed institution SexWorld.  I got aced out on several things I wanted, like a few signs and a Shop-Vac.  But I won a hard hat!  It's not branded with SexWorld, rather the construction company that oversaw their renovation.  Yeah, the company just decided to, uh, leave a hard hat there, and it apparently stayed in the back all this time, and the owner made eight-plus bucks off of me so I could very tangentially own a piece of SexWorld.  Anyway, I had to go downtown on this day (and not at the SexWorld site but another place several blocks east) to pay and pick it up.  On my way back, I saw that the Rustica Bakery was open, and I figured I would stop and rest of my feet.  Purchased a chocolate croissant and a small lemonade.  They rounded down.  With tip this light snack was: $10.75.
• Finally, on Saturday, April 11, I went to the library to make copies of my tax forms, both for the state (I needed to make copies of my federal to send to the state) and for myself.  The county next to the one I live in gives everyone who either has their county's library card or has their library card from whatever county they live in linked to their system (like I do) gets five bucks' worth of copies and printouts each month.  (Up until maybe a couple months ago, it was five bucks a week.)  That saves me a lot of money, but I still had to make so many copies that I still needed to shell out money to get all the copies I needed made, even if it was only: $1.

Good through May 9.

Tax Form Filling-Out OCD

I'm trying to finish doing my taxes, and I keep making mistakes on these forms.  Not big, mathematical ones, but, like, one digit wrong in the tens place, or writing the amount on the wrong line.  My OCD is kicking in big-time, so I keep printing out forms and doing them, only to fuck up again so I reprint more.  I have printed them out at work, which I know is frowned upon.  I also have printed them at the library, where I am typing this blog post right now, but it's 20 cents a copy, which is why I printed them at work while I was at work.

This library sometimes has free copies of the main forms, like the 1040, lying about, which is great and another reason why the Twin Cities is a good, moral place to live in.  But I fucked it up, again, and I'm tired of re-doing it, so I am just going to give the federal government the 1040 where I wrote a whole amount on the wrong line.  Even my OCD, as bad as it fucking is right now, has limits.  Besides, I just printed out another form and I think I did it completely right, so yay, me, be happy with that one win.

Oh, I Need To Care About Other People's Feelings Now ...

I love my sister, and I'm glad she's home, even if it's not under the brightest of circumstances.  But it takes dim old me, who's been doing his own thing socially for a long time now, to recalibrate because, of course, your sis wants to do things with you.  And you realize that, hey, you want to do things with her, too.

The problem is that I have a bunch of days I've already planned for doing stuff, so that means that there are way fewer days for us to do stuff.  Also, I have no idea how long my sister is going to be here.  Finally, she laid out a series of things she wants to do, and I am still thinking about what to do with her and, even more importantly, when.  That is difficult.  For example, Saturday might have been a good time, but I have an eye appointment in the afternoon and I'm going to the MNUFC soccer Match that night.  I'm going to another soccer Match next week.  And I have sporting events I'm working on that'll also take up much of my time.  Meanwhile, she wants to go here, and there, and maybe even up north, and that'll take up a weekend, and I don't know if I have a weekend free.

Still, I need, and want, to take some time I would have reserved for myself and devote it to her.  Contrast that to considering the feelings of My Fucking Father, who blew a gasket and insulted me because I dragged the trash bin to a part of the driveway he deemed too close to the recycling bin.  He thinks those bins have to be as far apart from each other as possible.  Yeah, because the garbage truck and the recycling truck can't tell which bin to pick up if they're too close.  That asshole actually went out and dragged the trash bin to the other side of the end of the driveway.  That's weird.  What makes it even stupider is that he did that as my sister and I had started up my car because we were going to the library.  My Fucking Father dragged the trash bin behind where we would back down the car.  If my sister didn't negotiate around the trash bin, if she just backed down the driveway like any normal human being, we would've hit the bin.  But My Fucking Father absolutely had to move it there, and he couldn't at least fucking wait until we had left.  Childish son-of-a-bitch.

See, I don't want to care about what My Fucking Father thinks.  But I do want to care about what my sister thinks.  See the difference?

And No One Showed Up

So my fantasy auction, for the fantasy football league I run, was last night.  Since most of the other members reside in the East Coast, I have traditionally scheduled it for 6 in the evening before the start of the NFL season, just to get the very latest news in case there are late injuries or cuts or anything like that.

This is supposed to be the most exciting day for the league and its members.  But, and I don't know how or why the juice is gone (although I can speculate), fewer and fewer members have shown up for the auction.  We have dwindled in number of members too, but when the auction starts, there has been at least one other person doing it live with me.

I actually left work early for this.  What I mean is that I usually clear the deck, aka make sure there is no work that is supposed to be done before the new day left over to the new day.  It was doubly important last/Wednesday night because I go from The Third Department to The Fourth Department today/Thursday, so I would literally be leaving any stuff I was supposed to do to someone else.  I hate when I have to do stuff that should have been done the day before, and so I do my best not to do it to anyone else.  Last/Wednesday night was an exception because hey, I've got my fantasy football auction!

I needed to take a crap after I punch out, then I miss my turn and have to take the long way to the library.  I have maybe two minutes to get into the library, swipe a guest pass, login, get to Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, log in there, then enter the auction.  It in fact already started with the first player, Ja'Marr Chase, having been nominated and on his way to one of my competitors.  I was about to apologize for being late until I saw that all of the icons next to all the other teams in the league were represented by the dueling circular arrows.  That means that they're not online and that the computer/algorithm is conducting the auction for that manager.

Everyone except me had that icon.  No one was at the auction except for me.

Looking on the bright side, I had budgeted 90 minutes to go through the auction, but it was over in 35.  On the down side ... well, no one gives a damn about this league anymore.  And we play for money!  It's gotten so bad that there are people who have rolling winnings and debts to the league stretching back years. I (as the commissioner) haven't sent the other managers their winnings because the other managers haven't asked for them.  In turn, I haven't asked people to settle up what they owe because ... well, I'm a toothless commissioner.  And so we just ... play, sorta.  Year after year, and although I love that we have been doing this for at least a decade, the lack of enthusiasm for our league, crystallized by everyone else no-showing for the auction ... ngl, it hurts a bit.

I think we'll just auto-pick from now on.

My Schedule Couldn't Be Any Worse This Week

For the second time in two weeks, I am seeing a Wednesday night MNUFC Match on a day where I have to report early to work.  Because I now am expected to go into the lab an hour earlier than before, I have to get to work at 6:30, much earlier than I would than if I were in The Third or Fourth Department.  Furthermore, my days where I have to go into the lab is tied to my position as keyer, meaning there is virtually no chance I would stay beyond a shift in that position, which is around 3.  If I were in The Third or Fourth Department, not only would I be able to come into work at 8 (meaning I can get 90 more minutes of rest), I am virtually assured that the work that gets piled onto my desk would be enough to stay so that by the time I am done, it would be time to get to the Match.  (Actually, there's a greater chance that there would be so much work that I would have to leave some till the next day if I wanted to get to the Loons Match on time.)

But for the second time in three Wednesdays, I am facing a gap of 4 1/2 hours between the end of my workday and the Match for which I am a season ticket holder.  That's a hell of a long time to kill.  What could I do?  Sleep would be best, but in the middle of a broiling summer I doubt I will be able to take a good, long nap in my car.  Do I eat when I plan on eating and drinking at the Game?  I can go to the library and get on the Internet, I guess, but for 4 1/2 hours?  That would make me tired enough to go to my car and sleep.

See, two Wednesdays ago, this wasn't a problem.  The Women's EUROS was still going on, and the Copa America Feminina just started.  Once I realized I could watch women's continental soccer, I actually punched out early so that I could drive all the way down to the Black Hart, catch the Second Half of Italy-Norway, see Brazil immolate Bolivia, then still have 90 minutes to kill, so I went back to my car, changed out of my shirt to put on my MNUFC jersey, then try to nap for half an hour before concluding it was useless and just going to the stadium.  If I was tired, I don't remember.

I will not have soccer to watch Wednesday afternoon/evening.  And I do not want to have a drink at a bar for 4 1/2 hours.  This has gotten to be such a pain in the ass that I have decided I can ... no, need to get a massage in that time period.  In situations like this where I am desperate to fill time with something productive, I want to kill two birds with one stone.  I have needed a massage for a long time, and it looks as though this yawning gap Wednesday is the perfect time to do it.  I even am OK going to the one I have been to a couple times in downtown Minneapolis even though I would have to zip across the Twin Cities to do so, then cross back to get to the Match.  But apparently they have no time slots open then.  I just looked at a Reddit thread of best massage places and I saw a couple on the St. Paul side.  The first one I honed in on also appears to not have space this Wednesday (although they have time slots around that time of the day today/Tuesday and Thursday -- what's the deal with Wednesday?)

The other possibility is a massage school, one I have never heard of.  Like I said, I am so desperate to fill up my time that I think I'm going to do it ... even though there's a good chance that some dude who may not know what he's doing is going to rub me down.  Not a fan.  But hey, I need to kill off 4 1/2 hours ... massage away!

The Weekly Minnesota Sports Survey

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maybe I Should Get Serious About My Doing Taxes

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

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

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

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

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

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

They Did Reply. And Somehow, I Saw It.

So I had to get my timing chain changed in January of 2024, way sooner than I needed to.  Apparently, my car is the subject of a Technical Service Bulletin, or TSB, which maps out problems that appear to be affecting all vehicles of a certain make and model, even though this is not a recall, where cars are supposed to be brought back to dealerships as soon as possible to get a problem fixed.  (I don't know if the difference is the number of vehicles that are estimated to have this problem, the severity of the problem, something else entirely, or a combination of factors.)

There was another TSB for my model that my car actually suffered from, namely a defective starter.  I think I was so incensed at the time that I sent a letter to the car company about this forced replacement -- and, to my big surprise, I not only got a reply but some compensation.  So, even though it took me a long, long time to get around to it, I finally went to the library during Limbo Week (the days between Christmas and New Year's Day) to type out a letter complaining about the bad timing chain and sent it.

And then I didn't hear anything.  For a long while.  I forgot about it, but once I remembered, I remembered that I sent it so long ago that, if they hadn't replied by now, they probably threw it away.  Honestly, I wasn't going to pursue it.  I just have too much on my mind, what with my country willingly falling into dictatorship and all, and besides, if they don't reply, what else could I do?

Thank Buddha, then, that I just decided to look through my spam folder before I went to bed Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  I kept scrolling through all the fundraising e-mails that didn't go into my inbox and saw my car company and what looked to be a case number.  I opened it up and it said, and I'm paraphrasing, "We got your letter and would like to talk about it.  However, if you don't call and reply within five days of this e-mail we will close this matter."

The e-mail was sent Monday, and I left a message yesterday/Wednesday afternoon.  I hope they reply today, but if not, I hope to remember to call again while at work.  But I think about my very fortuitous fortune in finding this e-mail.  It was sent five, six weeks ago.  The reply was shunted into my spam folder.  I just so happened to go through that spam folder, and I don't think I had a reason as to why.  There were so many circumstances that could, even should, have meant that I would not get a chance to get money out of this defective timing chain.  But it looks like I will get that chance after all.

When You Can't Plan Because You Have Too Much Time

So there are three things I want to do tomorrow/Sunday: Finally watch simultaneous EPL Matches at a soccer bar; watch The Warriors at a boutique cinema in South Minneapolis; and get wanked by *****y.  The problem: The EPL Matches end about three hours before the movie begins, and the bar and the boutique theater are about four miles apart.  I do not want to watch soccer, go back home, then go back in the same area of the Twin Cities to watch a film; that's too much.  And I thought of bringing my laptop and just do work somewhere in the area, but no libraries are open before noon in the Twin Cities and I really don't want to sit in a place I have never been to and veg for three hours.

Moreover, I had *****y slotted in the early evening, but she texted today saying she could cum back to the area sooner, so she can get me off sooner.  I asked her to cum in the early evening because I thought I would need to take a nap, but now that she could cum sooner, maybe I can power through and possibly nap later.  See, everything's up in the air because I can do everything, but I don't want to!

I have decided to watch soccer and not watch the movie.  Why?  Uh ... I don't know the next time The Warriors will be screened somewhere, but I've already seen the film, even though I want to see it again.  Also, I hear this cinema is really cool, but I have never been to it, and today I just feel like doing the familiar rather than the new.  Finally, I have been wanting to wake up early one weekend morning to watch soccer and I have had to delay it for months, first because of my football obligations (college and pro), later because an EPL side with a huge local supporters group will be watching one of those Games at a bar I want to go to, and I don't want to deal with a crowd.  Tomorrow finally works: It's two Matches, and the bar I go to isn't the bar any EPL team watches its Matches at.  I think it's time I do this, and I want to do this tomorrow.  And that means *****y can touch my dick way earlier in the day.

Haven't Been In A Library For This Long In A Long Time

I was kind of grumbling in my last blog post that I have a lot of stuff I have to do here in the library, where I am typing this.  But you know, at least I am feeling productive.  Well, kind of.  The dental claim health form I will have to upload at home because I don't remember my login information.  And I am debating whether or not it even makes sense to send this letter to the company of the make of my car in the hopes it'll give me some financial compensation.

I will be here for an hour pretty soon, and I don't remember the last time I have been in a library for that long.  But you know, it ain't that bad here.  The couple to my left right now is being kind of loud, but they're debating something, so it's not as bad as the people who are just sitting in front of a computer talking loudly into their cellphones.  Also, I am recalling a bunch of skeets on Bluesky extolling the virtues of libraries, and how you should sign up for a library card even if you have no plans to use it.  Yes, libraries are good, even vital places for the community.  They should be preserved, celebrated, and funded.

I should go back to work.

Doin' The Trip!!!

So today/Sunday I plan on going to the Black Hart to see a Tripleheader of soccer Matches, sort of.  The Euros are now in their final Group Stage Matches, so all the teams that are in the same Group play their Matches at the same time so no one knows beforehand what they need to do to advance.  That means that at 2 p.m., two Matches, Switzerland-Germany and Scotland-Hungary, will go off concurrently.  That will be followed with Copa America action, namely the USA! USA! USA! playing Bolivia at 5 p.m., and then, perfectly situated at 8 p.m., Uruguay-Panamá.

And I plan to sit my butt -- whenever I'm not pacing -- at The Only Queer Soccer Bar On Planet Earth to watch this Tripleheader.  #DoinTheTrip, I'm calling it.  This was important enough for me that, when my boss blindsided me last week when he needed someone to fill in at work today/Sunday, I told him I could only come in for part of it.  It would now be customary to "make up" for working today by having one day off this week, but apparently the maximum number of people who can take a day off has been reached for all six days this week, so I will be working the rest of my usual work week (Monday through Friday) and just accruing overtime, which I guess has been authorized.  I would be making more money if I worked eight hours today instead of the four for which I am scheduled -- but I'm not because I am #DoinTheTrip!

But that's not all!  There will be a Doubleheader set of Quarterfinals for both continental tournaments, exquisitely paced at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m., and 8 p.m., Saturday, July 6, and dammit, I am doing that, too!  I call that #DoinTheQuad ... and I've done it once before, if you recall, on Sunday, November 22, 2022, when the World Cup was doing a Quadrupleheader of Group Stage Matches.  I didn't think I would be able to do that again, at least not until the WC rolled around again in 2026, but I didn't foresee the Euros and the Copa America taking virtually the same schedule as each other so that their Matches on a single Day could line up like this.  Yay for a soccer sicko like me!

Moreover!  There was a possibility yesterday/Saturday that I could have taken in a frickin' Quintupleheader because there was a Tripleheader of Euros and a Doubleheader of Copa Group Stage Matches evenly spaced out at 8 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m., and 8 p.m.  I was going to advertise here that I was #DoinTheQuint, but then I saw that Minnesota United had a Match in the evening, and I'm a season-ticketholder, so I had to go, and I might as well go to the library to fax something if I wasn't going to be able to #DoinTheQuint.  Maybe I should have: The Loons lost a very winnable Game to an extremely mid Austin squad, 1-0, in what was the most lackadaisical performance by MNUFC I have ever seen.  I was borderline pissed to see them not care to play last/Saturday night.  Anyway, I hope there will be an opportunity in the future, possibly if the Copa America and the Euro basically hold their 2028 tournaments at the same time, to stay at one place for 14-5 hours to just watch soccer.

In the meantime, I hope four hours at work won't tire me out to #DoinTheTrip.  This truly is one of the highlights of my year!!!

Finally Going To See My Aunt Today

For the first time since my uncle died, I finally am able to keep my promise and visit my aunt this afternoon.  I'm terrified.  I have no idea what's going to happen, nor what I am going to say.  Hell, I don't know how long I will stay.  I don't want to just stand by the door and chit-chat so quickly that I could just keep my car running.  At the same time, I know my awkward ass could draw out the agony by asking dumber and dumber questions and overstaying my welcome because I want to look "concerned."  I think I need to go to the library tomorrow afternoon, and I'm still figuring if I should go before or after seeing my aunt, which I'm supposed to see at a specific time.  Even fretting about that makes me feel like a colossal dick.

I don't know what I should wear.  I don't know how to behave.  I don't know if I should go in for a hug, for God's sake.  I don't want to be too forward that I invade her personal space, and yet I don't want to be so reserved that I come off as cold.  I don't want to pry if my aunt's feelings remain raw, but I don't want to sound so distant that she thinks I'm trying to leave early.

Oh, God.  I know I have to do this.  I just don't know how to do it.

Dodged One Bullet -- Hope To Dodge The Other

Well of fucking course my dental appointment would be on the same day as the day the city of Minneapolis began to sweep the street.  But the street I was on seemed to be clean.  Isn't the rule that once a street is swept, you can park on it?

Based on that rule, I parked on a street that was clearly marked no parking for yesterday/Friday, even though it was cleaned.  I walked 20+ minutes to the other side of campus to get my teeth done.  Walking back, I thought about checking out a computer lab that I went to a lot when I was out of college and decided I didn't want to waste my life working and making money.  But I thought better of it because, well, my car might be towed.

As I got closer to my car, I walked past a street where a truck was being towed.  And then I saw a tow truck driving down the street with a car on its bed.  Thank Buddha it wasn't mine, but after I saw another tow truck with an unwilling companion vehicle, I started to haul ass, hoping beyond hope that I wouldn't come across my car being towed away.

I ran to the street I parked, and thank GOD my car was still there.  But there was a cop there.  I never felt so thankful just for getting a ticket.  But I wasn't going to wait around in case a tow truck swooped in; I started my car and got the hell out of there with the quickness!  I'm still fucking paranoid that the city of Minneapolis is going to tow my car.  Went to the library and a new dive bar in the area, and I was still scared shitless I was going to come back to my car just to not see it there.

Well, that didn't happen.  So glad I didn't go exploring on campus.  But there is still the issue of the ticket.  I just went online to see if I still needed to pay something, however there is no record of it -- yet.  Technically, I still did break the law by parking illegally.  But, I thought there would be an amount written on the ticket, and there isn't.  I see the city code I broke, and I see the words "TOW REQUEST," but there is no amount to pay.  Also, I remember when I got my car towed that I had to pay everything -- the tow, the ticket, and fucking lord knows what else the city piled on -- at the impound lot.  If I got my car after my ticket was issued but before the tow truck came, does that mean I get off scot free?  Finally, I also remember my friend, who was watching our alma mater's Game with us in downtown Minneapolis while my car got towed, was able to see that her car was about to get towed and stopped the truck, but not before paying a "drop fee."  If that's all she needed to pay (even though that shit sounds shady), and if I got away before the truck came -- well, I don't need to pay anything, do I?

The ticket on the back says I might need to wait a week before calling.  I presume that if I check online, the amount I would have to pay (if I need to pay it) would be up immediately.  I'll give it a week before checking again, probably through the Internet, although I might call just in case.  Hey, I still have my car, so I will thank my lucky stars for that.  But I sure as shit don't want to pay anything just to get my goddamn teeth cleaned.  If I beat the rap by getting to my car on time ... well, I think I saw the cop look at me while I got to my car, and I know he was thinking something along the lines of, "That lucky motherfucker."  Well, depending on what else I need to pay, I might be a lucky motherfucker, indeed.

Lazy Saturday? Yeah, Time To Take A Walk

I rarely use my day planner to write down a daily tasks list, but I did (for the third time this month, granted) wrote one for yesterday/Saturday.  A lot of stuff I had to do outside -- the bank to look at some stuff for my parents, then the library (two of them; the first one didn't have an old Consumer Reports I wanted to look at).  But then I noticed that it was quite warm for late January -- above freezing, no ice to slip on.  Add that while it was damp, it was comfortable to go outside, and hey, it was an overcast sky, something I totally love.

So, while I still haven't gone through my stuff and I guess I could have done my laundry, I decided, after eating Dairy Queen and before I headed out again to take advantage of a $3 Little Caesars pizza deal (dang, this place is basically handing out pizzas!), that I was going to take a walk in the park.  Moreover, I wasn't going to drive to the local park; I was going to park at home, then walk to the park.  I decided mid-walk that I was going to walk down all the way to the gas station to pick up cranberry juice in case the urge to drink a cosmopolitan hit me.

All told, I walked for about 50 minutes, even though I didn't hit 10,000 steps, unfortunately.  I tried to "breathe better while walking," and that will take some getting used to because I still don't quite understand it.  And I still have trouble living in the moment, hearing my footsteps and seeing how quite and peaceful and beautiful my surroundings are, because I'm thinking about, well, breathing and what I should do once I get home, etc.

But do I regret walking outside when it's above freezing in late January when I could be doing something else?  No.  Absolutely not.

New Motherboard, And It'll Take One Week

So, I called the guy late yesterday/Saturday afternoon, about an hour before he closed.  He said it was the motherboard.  Need to get a new one.  It'll set me back $300, and it'll take a week.

Went to the library yesterday/Saturday to research laptops in Consumer Reports.  For what is reliable, I would be spending around a grand, which might be a tack less than what I spent to buy the one I have.  But seeing that the operating system on my laptop is still being supported, I don't think I want to move on just yet, so spending about 30% of the original price of the lap on repairs seems worth it if it gives me, oh, at least a couple years of extra life and use.

So I approved.  But a week?  Now, I'll be so busy with work -- I'll be in The Fourth Department all week -- that I probably won't be able to pick it up until Saturday anyway.  Plus, I've accepted my Plan B, which is to come down to the computer room, fire up both the old and the new desktop, and blog post on the former while surfing the Internet on the latter.  I have come to rely on using my phone if I want to be on the Internet, but I feel kind of abandoned knowing I won't have my laptop to type up my blog post once a day.  Then again, there is a huge adjustment to which I grouse about, and then I adapt to it, and pretty soon I find that the setup I have to resort to now is workable.  But then I'll get my laptop back (hopefully), I'll find it weird I won't have to go downstairs anymore, and I'll eventually learn to use and love my laptop again.  I think I can endure for a week.

Slept through the first NFL playoff Game of the Year.  Didn't think I was as tired as I was.  Woke up around 9, which I think gave me a five-hour sleep.  Did some errands through the cold outside to the library and the bank, got Subway, went home, ate the sub, shoveled, went out to get my hair cut, throw the trash out and gas up the minivan.  Went back home, showered ... and that's when the fatigue set in.  The Game was about to start and the Texas A&M-Kentucky men's basketball Game was going to Overtime, but I put the phone down, turned the TV into Eco Mode (where I turn off the screen but could still hear the audio through NBC -- I basically turned my TV into a radio), and fell asleep.

And I woke up with two Minutes remaining in the Game and The Texans up on The Browns, 45-17.  Hey, the Game going on right now, Miami-Kansas City, is on Peacock (or, as I like to call it, The 'Cock), so I'm not going to be able to watch that, either, so what's another postseason Game to miss?  And besides, it was a blowout, so I didn't miss much.

Sorry, Green Insect

A green insect hopped on to me after driving home from DQ (went to the library first to do some stock stuff for my parents -- after stopping by the gas station for a black cherry Pepsi).  Second one that hopped on to me.  Don't know what happened to the first, but I allowed it to stow away as I drove off.

This second one stayed on my finger.  I took a long time to attempt to coax it on to the hood of my car, and then the garbage bin, any place besides me, but no dice.  Finally, I got it to hop on to a leaf.  I thought it was going to be OK, but at first he had trouble getting all its feet on to the leaf; either it was afraid or it got caught on something.

Then, inexplicably, it swung underneath the leaf.  At first I thought it meant to do that, but then I feared that it felt it was too heavy for the leaf it was on and keeled under.  I tried saving it with the temple of my sunglasses, but it didn't take.  Finally, I bent down to look underneath the leaf.  And it wasn't there.

Probably fell to its death.  Tried searching for it on the ground, though, but I couldn't see anything green down there.  No, I didn't look all that hard.  But I still feel bad.  Should have chosen a leaf closer to the ground, or the ground itself.  Or, considering its probably fate, I should've done what most people did and killed it myself.  Don't know how cruel that would be from what probably happened to it

Sorry, green insect.

New Desktop As Paperweight

Father bought a desktop a year or so ago, but he put it back in its box because he wasn't going to be home much nowadays.  Instead, he keeps using his very old desk, one that I think still runs on Windows 7.  That does make a kind of sense if you're OCD.  Then again, would it really hurt to just, you know, use a new desktop, even if you're only going to use it sparingly, if the old one is using a no-longer up-to-date operating system?

Anyway, even though I think they're not going to be here for more than a month, yesterday/Friday Father took out this new desktop.  On our way home from the airport he said something about Microsoft automatically updating the very old, Windows 7 computer.  Anyway, after dinner and before I wanted to take a much-needed, start-of-Memorial Weekend/start-of-long-holiday nap, Mother shouted out from the basement to Father about asking me for his help with something.  That something was helping Father get into the new computer because he forgot the password.

I don't remember the circumstances for why we needed to set up a password to get into it in the first place because if he was going to mothball this new desk, why set up a password to get into it when we all know we're going to forget it?  Maybe there was no way to use it without it.  Anyway, I remember seeing this new computer one day and not seeing it the next.  When I brought it up with my parents, Father showed me that he stashed it back in its box.  I thought that would be trouble later because we would have to re-learn and remember everything, including the password, but that's a problem for when that day comes.

Well, that day came yesterday/Friday, and I spent a frustrating several minutes trying to type all of our pet passwords we regularly deploy (I know that's not secure, but c'mon, everybody does that, and if you say you don't, you're a liar) and keep getting rejected.  We brought up the security questions, but we forgot the answers, including the pet answers we regularly deploy.  We could use a password reset disk, but we don't know where that is.  So now there is a new, barely-used desktop computer that might as well be a paperweight because it's not doing anything.

I just looked up a way that I might be able to circumvent this all, but I'll do that for my parents after I get home from watching the EFL Championship Play-Up Match this/Saturday morning and going to the library.  Hope it works; otherwise, this computer is pretty damn useless.

Addendum To: Taxes -- Down The Stretch I Go

I did another run-through of my tax forms last night.  And I forgot that the extra pandemic bonus I got from the state, which means I need to correct my federal form, spits out new numbers that I hadn't updated on my state form.  I don't remember that whenever there is a change in dollar amount on one line item on one tax form, that causes ripple effects on other line items on other tax forms.  That makes me there's a possibility and maybe even a probability that there will be other tweaks in the numbers that I simply won't catch before I file them.  Yeah, sometimes I think I should hire someone to do my taxes for me.

But, assuming that I have now done my taxes right (and I think I have the fortitude and patience for one more check tomorrow at the library, where I need to print a few forms [two for which I need to redo because of these updates and one for which I now realize I need to fill out] and then make copies of all the ones I fill out), I am a bit amazed at how small the amounts are.  It looks as though I owe about $90 federally -- no big deal; I have paid a lot more and have gotten in years past.  But the state amount is a trip.  Again, assuming I did it right, I will get a refund of, get this, one dollar.  And that's a rounding error.  

You see, the state of Minnesota does not want us to send in W-2's.  Instead, there is a state tax form to fill out where, in line by line, you put in the state tax withheld for every company you worked for the previous year.  However, Minnesota does not care for cents; I am supposed to round to the nearest dollar (.50 goes up to the next dollar) for each W-2.  If I added the real numbers for state tax withheld  for each company I worked for and then rounded the total, I would have come up with the same amount of taxes I supposedly own.  It would be a complete wash, a zero out.  But, by rounding each W-2 individually and then summing them, I eke out a buck.  I think the state will "refund" me that buck.

I'm good with a net loss of about $90.  They actually say that owing taxes is a good thing because that essentially means that you have money that "belongs" to the federal and/or state governments.  If one were savvy enough, they would take that money and invest it; the interest is then theirs to keep, unconditionally.  Conversely, getting a huge refund means that the "government" has money that really belong to you, so why are you allowing "them" to handle it for an entire year?

A few years ago I tweaked my allowances to cut down on getting money around Tax Day, and since then my refunds and/or debts have shrunk to a not-eye-popping level.  While I guess it's advantageous to pay money this time of year, having an insignificant amount to either pay or get back is better because I don't have to deal with the anxiety of either parting with another huge chunk of cash or anticipating, forgetting, and then remembering that I have a huge chunk of cash coming my way.  This not being a big deal every year is something I probably want.