Doing The Triple? Uh, Nah

It's never a good thing to be woken up by someone mowing the lawn just past 9 on a Sunday morning.  It really sucks when, after considering how close the sound of the mower is, you realize that it's your own Father who woke you up.  He is on his own timeline.  That gives me an excuse to be on my own timeline.

Had a plan of doing a soccer triple today/Sunday: The Women's EUROS Doubleheader, Norway-Finland followed by Switzerland-Iceland, then the Gold Cup Final between the U. S. and Mexico.  The first Women's EUROS Match began at 11; the second Women's EUROS Match begins at 2, and the Gold Cup tonight is at 6.  The problem, and I did not anticipate this, is that none of the soccer pubs I go to were going to be open before 11.  There were some that opened right at 11, but my OCD brain decided that wasn't good enough because that would mean that they wouldn't be obligated to open until 11, so I would theoretically wait until they opened their doors right at that time, so by the time I sit down, I would've missed the kickoff which, because these are Europeans, would start right at the top of the hour, if not close to it.  Beyond that, the pub I go to may not have turned on the TVs yet, or turned to the right channel, or turned up the sound yet.  I could be at my seat before kickoff and still miss it because the pub wasn't ready.

Add to all this that this tripleheader is kind of onerous.  There's a manageable gap of an hour between the EUROS Games, which is fine, but then the gap between the end of the second Game and the Gold Cup Final is two hours.  I would probably go out and eat somewhere, but my initial plan was to watch one Women's EUROS Match at one pub in downtown Minneapolis, walk down to another pub to watch the second Match, possibly go to a coffeeshop or Culver's inbetween, then have a beer at a third place in Midway for U. S.-Mexico.  Not only is that a long time with a car trip between the cities, but that would be a lot of food I'm eating.  It was going to be a laborious soccer-loving Day as is, and I don't know if I wanted to go through all that if (and again, I have OCD) I am going to miss the first very start of the first Match.  It's all ruined if I miss the very first kickoff.

So, I decided to punt.  I'm staying in to listen to Norway-Finland on SiriusXM (without eating at home to save my stomach; I'm telling my parents I am hanging out with a friend all day and evening), then I will leave straight for St. Paul for Switzerland-Iceland.  Hopefully I will have enough in my stomach to go somewhere to eat/drink something, then I'll have a beer or a cider and hopefully see the States come out victorious tonight.

Hopefully, I can stay up for all this since I was woken up by My Father mowing the lawn this morning.

All Dynasties Fall

The United States is losing to Sweden.  I know it.  I feel it in my bones.  And I will not bear witness.  No.

First of all, it'll be on at 4 a.m.  If there is any time of the day I will be asleep (and I have been awake at all hours of the day), it'll be between 4 and 6 in the morning.  They weren't supposed to play and that time in the morning Central Standard Time.  But in this article by Yahoo! Sports, FIFA works with many worldwide media partners in an effort to select the most, uh, favorable time slots for their teams in order to maximize viewership which makes them more money which makes those media partners happy.  (You should read the article.  I assumed something like this happens, but I wasn't sure until I read this.)  And FIFA wants to make sure America, and American media partner Fox, is happy.

But once the times and venues for those Matches are set, it's up to the team to be as good as advertised and play when they're supposed to play.  And they haven't.  Not by a long shot.  I just saw the Netherlands defeat South Africa.  The U.S. was supposed to play this Game, in this time slot: 9 p.m. CST.  It ain't 7, but in this World Cup played Down Under, it's as good as you can get.  Instead, because they finished second in their Group, they play in the ass of the night/day.

Probably better that way, since they're crashing out of this tournament in the morning (I'm sorry about going off on a tangent in the two above paragraphs.  But really, read the article.)

All dynasties fall.  The United States wasn't going to win every Women's World Cup.  But at their best, it seems like they could.  And I thought they had as good a chance as anyone else, even accounting for the injuries and their mediocre form coming in.  But the Portugal scoreless Draw was further proof that their inability to destroy Vietnam, and then the ensuing 1-all Tie with the Netherlands meant something was fucking wrong with this team.

And frankly, where do you start with this team's deficiencies?  They can't finish and they can't pass up the field.  They play uninspired and they're not communicating.  The grizzled veterans of the club seem real slow and old.  The USWNT Head Coach, Vlatko Andonovski, seems hellbent on his formation and forcing his players to play within it, thus blunting their natural athleticism in an effort to tailor their Game to how everyone else seems to be playing.  And finally, they're going into the Match without the suspended Rose Lavelle, who may be the squad's most creative playmaker (even though she was on the Pitch vs. the Portuguese and didn't do nothing).

Do you really think the United States is going to pull a Win under those circumstances, against a team ranked third in the world?  You're kidding yourself.  Not only will they lose, there's a chance it's going to be ugly.  These two countries have played in every single WWC.  (Correction: I saw Tom Rinaldi's piece on Fox, so I must make a correction: The countries have met each other every single WWC except one.)  They've been drawn into the same Group in every World Cup (correction: Except one) until this Year, and dammit, they still can't get away from each other.  The U. S. is winning the all-time series, but I think Sweden has won three of their last four showdowns, and the Swedes are going in in much better shape.

I just read an Athletic piece about how the two countries' programs are intertwined.  Another great article which I can't link to because it's behind a paywall, but it's great.  Anyway, I thought this was the time for Sweden to exact revenge on the Americans, who beat them, 2-0, in their last World Cup Game even though Sweden rested most of their starters because both the U. S. and them were advancing.  Still, I think the Swedes are too locked in not to win, and the Americans seem to be so lost that Sweden could stumble into a 3-0 or 4-0 ass-kicking.

Irony is waking up before the sun rises to see the sun set on a dynasty.  That's going to happen in the morning.  And if there is a Buddha, I will be sleeping when the final nail is driven into our coffin.

She Quit/Little Shit At Chick-Fil-A

So what I thought could happen did happen: On Wednesday, the day after I took a day off, I come back and see, through an e-mail, that the only other person in the same position as I has put in her two-week notice.

I'm torn.  Well, maybe "torn" isn't how I feel right now.  "Pissed" ain't it, either.  But I'm stuck in the lurch right now.  The Fourth Department is now me and my supervisor, and that's a very, very precarious position to be in because my supervisor really has more things she could and should do in her position.  (There should be two other people in the same job as I anyway, not just one other person, and I think I've alluded to that before.)  My supe now needs to work at this job at least a couple days every week.  That doesn't necessarily change the work schedule I'm in; I have been working back there at least part of the week and that will still happen, it's just the person who takes the other part of the week will change.  Moreover, and this still kind of sucks, which half of the week now changes.  The person who quit doesn't work Thursdays or Fridays, so I have worked The Fourth Department the back half of the week.  My supervisor doesn't work Mondays, so, and I've looked at the calendar my boss has now had to change on the fly, I'm now back there the first half of the week for the forseeable future.

There is a person who's taking a position that's the same as mine, but that is the one that has not been filled for months now, the one that is five days a week and ends Saturday.  But this person has to get trained in all sorts of responsibilities, so doing this particular job will be months, if not at least a year, down the road.  And, like I said, I'll be back to where I am now until next week, namely two people and a supervisor being capable of doing that job, not three and a supe, which is the ideal number of people.  That feels so far away right now, dammit.

But trying to see past the immediate changes as a result of this quitting, I find myself re-evaluating whether I should keep working here.  I wonder why she's leaving.  I have a sense that it could be because she doesn't like this job.  I've been back there with her working alongside The Fourth Department on occasion.  That position remains a pain in the ass even in its best hours, and she has muttered under her breath from time to time how much she hates that particular job.  Was that the reason she found a new job?  If so, as much as I hate what that now means for me, I understand.

And still I wonder if this new job is indeed better -- not just that it's better than calling people and getting inundated with BS, but is it an easier job that pays better?  There have been many, many people who have quit this company, and I wonder if they, including my soon-to-be-ex-co-worker, sought and found something that truly is better -- not just for them, but better in general, you know?  Where is she going?  How is it better for her?  Could that "better" be "better" for me, too?  And if that is the case, why in the heck am I not going out for that job, too?  I've heard of one study saying that people who have taken part in The Great Resignation, those that have quit for other jobs since the pandemic began to lift, have on the whole gotten better jobs at better pay.  With her quitting, I wonder if she's been successful in finding that as well ... and I then wonder why I'm not doing the same.

---

No other place to put this.  Want to vent my spleen about this little shit, but I don't think I'll remember to blog post about this if I don't do it now.

So I talked about how I wanted to not spend money either Wednesday or yesterday/Thursday, but because of Able Seedhouse closing and National Coffee Day I have gone in the opposite direction and spent all sorts of money.  Well, I got a couple rewards from the local Chick-Fil-A, one of which was for a free autumn spice milkshake or something which expires either tomorrow/Saturday or today/Friday, and I thought I might as well use it before going home to see the Law & Orders.  (The other Chick-Fil-A reward, by the way, is for a breakfast biscuit I thought I used Tuesday but still pops up in my app.  I have till Monday to use it [again, I guess], but Saturday morning will be the only time I can use it, and I'm still torn as to whether or not I want to wake up early to use it, especially since I might want to watch soccer.)

So I go in and I'm thumbing through my app.  I notice there wasn't really a line (one guy was waiting), but I just hung out near the entrance.  I then hear a woman's voice behind me: "Are you in line?"  And there was what I presume to be a mother and a son.  For the time I was on the road yesterday/Thursday there were drivers who were aggressive and so I was aggressive in turn, so I was not about to give up my position in line, even though there was no line, so I said, "Ope!  Yeah, I'm in line," and I moved up.  And when I moved up in line, this little shit harrumphed.  He was harrumphing me?  For not moving up in line?  And you should have seen this little shit because frankly, he wasn't so little.  He was definitely younger than 18.  He could have been in junior high.  And yet he almost as tall as me, he may have been heavier than me, and he was rounder than me.  Yeah, this little shit, harrumphing me because I spaced out just a tad.  There's a good chance I outlive his fat ass.

Expenses Without Receipts

Since Friday, August 2:

• Caribou ... took their deal of oatmeal with coffee.  Forgot to pick up some money before going, so I charged it.  Had enough money for a tip though: 25 cents.
• Then caught the tail end of the first round of the 3M Championship being played at the TPC Twin Cities about ten minutes away from me.  Goose Island -- is that a craft beer from Chicago, or a craft beer-sounding conglomerate beer?  Anyway, I've heard of it and never have tried it, so I did while walking the grounds and watching the golfers.  With tip: $7.
• Wednesday the July 31 -- I started my day at another Caribou, the one closest to me.  Have I referred to this place by name before?  Coffee only, but with tip: $2.
• On Tuesday, July 30 I took in two movies for the second time in three weeks.  First one was The Lone Ranger -- not as bad as people say, but it was kind of slow.  Plus, I never thought that the end scene playing over the credits could have a disproportionate influence on how I feel about it, but it did.  Specifically, that scene basically made me think Johnny Depp, an executive producer of the film and the actor who plays Tonto, wanted to make this a screed about the historic injustice The White Man inflicted upon Native Americans.  True, very true -- but that does not make it a good movie.  Grade: B-.  The second film was supposed to be The Heat, but the sound card busted on the screen, so I had to pick another flick.  Fortunately, not only did they not charge me for that film, Pacific Rim, but in fact they gave me a refund for The Heat!  These guys are good.  By the way, PacRim was pretty good.  The narration at the beginning -- in fact much of the beginning -- was slow, but once they got past explaining the world the film was in, it was pretty good.  Grade: B.  And the cost of a Tuesday popcorn and pop, plus admission for only one film because I got a refund for the other: $9.25.
• On Monday the 29th I went to the library to work on ... naw, just to screw around and blog on WAF.  Took advantage of this library's cafe, which hosts a Happy Hour: A buck off all large drinks.  Large coffee with tip: $1.25.
• Driving to the library I remembered most of the roads there are under construction.  That means that if I wanted to get home at a decent time I would have to leave earlier in the afternoon in order to beat the traffic, or at least sit in traffic in order to get home in time.  I then figured that since I woke up late (long story, I might touch on that in my next blog post) it would behoove me to go home late.  That meant I had some time before I had to go home ... which made me think it was a good time to visit my junior year prom date at the cemetery.  Have I ever written about this?  Anyway, I did, and it was good that I was able to fit that in because I didn't feel rushed to get home.  As I always do I stop by the flower shop to cobble together a couple flowers together for her.  Nothing expensive, just: $2.95.
• Sunday, July 28 ... Went to Nomad World Pub because 1) I had nothing else to do and 2) the Gold Cup Final between the United States and Panama was on.  I wouldn't normally go to something like this because I don't think it's as important as a World Cup match, a Woman's World Cup match, or maybe even the Champions League Final.  But I went to enjoy myself, and indulged in a Fulton and a foot-long corn dog from Mr. Mustachios.  With tips: $12.50.
• Saturday the 27th ... day ended with a large mocha at Caffetto.  Can't really afford a large mocha after I dropped so much money to get the hood of my car fixed, but I often do after spending a lot of money I didn't want to spend, I just say "fuck it" and spend money because I goddamn want to.  With tip: $4.75.
• Father wanted me to buy tickets for him.  He paid me back, but he gave me twenty bucks instead of fifteen, which was the total cost of the tickets.  Mother then chimed in and said that a part of it was for the chicken I bought for dinner Monday.  OK.  An Infusion of: $20.
• ETA to add that I definitely remember getting a dance from a chick named Danielle, I just didn't know when.  After some deduction I'm pretty sure I went to My Favorite Stripclub (Non-Cover Edition) on July 27.  So tips, coffee and lapdance: $31.
• Friday, July 26 was the day I picked up my car from the auto body shop.  In case I misplaced the withdrawal receipt when I had to go to the bank to get money to pay for these guys -- would they accept chickens instead?  I should have asked the guy that -- I need to note that, just in case, I took out a little extra beyond what I had to give the guy ... an Infusion of: $50.
• Thursday the 25th: Spent the first day in non-car limbo going all the way to the Mall of America via bus and light rail, a round-trip total of: $3.50.
• Funny though: I didn't really go to the Megamall.  In fact, this may have been the first time I went to one and only place at MOA before directly going back down to the transit center: Hooters.  Still have that Mug Club Membership I have to use before it's done.  With tip: $18.
• Wednesday the 24th was the day I dropped off the car.  I then went to the coffeeshop next door to bide my time till I had to walk over to the experiment at the U.  What did I get?  Medium coffee, I think?  Damn, have to write these expenses down.  Hell, I've been to this place so often you'd think I'd remember.  With tip, and this is an educated guess, which is much better than the shots in the dark I sometimes take: $2.25.
• Then I took the bus home.  Good thing the experiment finished in time to reach the bus before it went to rush hour rates: $1.75.
• Tuesday the 23rd ... after coming back from the tube experiment at the U., I raced over to the theater to watch World War Z.  Kind of slow, and the "key" to solving the zombie outbreak seemed a bit easy and pat.  Nice scene on the plane, however.  Grade: B-.  Ticket, popcorn and pop: $9.25.
• So Monday, July 22 was the day the hood of my car popped open ... spent most of my day at the cafe next door while they worked on it.  I was able to nurse one small cup of coffee, I think, for five hours.  With tip: $2.27.
• Back to Saturday the 20th: Took advantage of a sale at a haircut place.  I thought, however, that it was company-wide when it was only a sale given by one franchise.  First time I've ever seen that.  Mother warned me that the sale was going on only at that one place close to home.  Have a receipt for the haircut, but not for the tip: $2.
• On may way back I had to stop at the grocery store to buy lotto tickets for Father.  He paid me back once I got home, an Infusion of: $15.
• To Friday, July 19th, where, after that abbreviated experiment, I consoled myself with Happy Hour from Dairy Queen.  Hmmm, chocolate shake: $1.61.
• Wednesday the 17th, I started my day eating at McDonald's.  I ordered twice, like I do in White Castle, because ordering too much food all at once will leave the food I leave later cold.  So I first ordered hash browns and orange juice, and after I got done with that I ordered oatmeal.  Unfortunately I cannot find the receipt for the oatmeal.  I forgot, however I am eating at Mickey D's because of the Monopoly game running for the next couple weeks.  I went to McD's this past Wednesday just so I could order oatmeal in order to find out how much I paid.  And I paid: $2.13.
• I then had coffee at the library.  Happy Hour special, with tip: $1.25.
• Finally, I went to Dairy Queen and treated myself to a DQ Sandwich on that hot day: $1.07.
• On Tuesday, July 16th I did my first movie double bill for the first time in ages.  I think it was when I just out of college, moved back home, and went down to the Mall of America to see two.  One of those was The Shadow, staring Alec Baldwin.  Anyway, the first movie I saw was White House Down, which I had high hopes before because I thought there was going to be a lot of chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx.  But there wasn't.  It was downright serious at times -- what the fuck?!  I really thought it would be more madcap than the straight-up shoot-'em-up that it turned out to be.  Sad.  Grade: B-.  I then watched This Is The End for a nightcap.  It's based on a short story, and I can see how they tacked on scenes in order to flesh this out to movie length.  It doesn't hang together, and there was just too many weed references.  But it was often funny.  Best part was the scene where James Franco confronted Danny McBride about ejaculating all over Franco's copy of Penthouse.  Grade: B.  I accrued enough points by buying two tickets that I earned a free pop.  After going through the pros and cons of waiting to use the coupon for a day other than Tuesday, when prices for the food and drink would be higher and I would get a bigger bang for my (non-) buck, I decided I wouldn't pay regular price for popcorn just so I could make a special trip on a different day of the week.  So, two tickets, stimulus-priced popcorn and free pop equal: $12.50.
• I had some time to kill; got done with both movies by 3:30.  I hung out at the mall closest to me and took advantage of the mall Dairy Queen's Happy Hour.  Hmmm, chocolate malt: $1.61.
• Monday the 15th ... my day started off with the first of two experiments at the University of Minnesota, at the business school in the West Bank.  For 25 minutes (less than that, in fact) I got a payment/Infusion of: $6.
• Then I went to the coffeeshop that went from the mall closest to me to the U.  And goddammit, I forgot how much money I paid for a waffle and coffee.  Shit!  OK, I'll just think up an amount, which includes tip: $5.75.
• I then walked back to the outskirts of campus, specifically to the place where all my MRI experiments are done, to do an experiment that has nothing to do with going into a tube.  For less than a half-hour of time I got income/Infusion of: $20.
• Did I not do anything after this?  I had to.  I was done well before 3 and I couldn't have gone home till 5 at least.  I'm just going to fucking say that I got DQ Happy Hour.  Fuck, I have to keep track of this better: $1.61.
• Saturday the 13th: EWR of going to work out: $3.
• I then treated myself to what I think is a small hot fudge sundae (?) at DQ: $2.45.
• Friday, July 12th was the day I brought my car to get that power steering pressure hose replaced.  I bade my time by first hanging out at the café next door.  Oatmeal, coffee and tip: $5.50.
• I then went to have pizza for lunch.  First time in a long time the I only got free water to go along with my food.  It was just too expensive!  With tip: $7.75.
• The car still wasn't done, so I ate some more.  Cupcake, which has a shingle at the Mall of America (and where I've eaten a couple cupcakes) has its original store about a third of a mile east of the car repair shop.  Decided to stop in for a cupcake and milk.  With tip: $4.75.
• I ... don't remember why I wanted to, but that evening I just wanted to go.  It was only down to Dairy Queen (there's one in the mall closest to me, but there's another one within walking distance), I wanted to go down there by foot, but for some stupid fucking reason My Fucking Father didn't want me to do that.  So stupid.  So I took the car ... and I took the car to My Favorite Stripclub instead, where I had coffee and threw down some tips and even got a dance from ****e*, who, by the way, I had a texting conversation with Friday in the possibly subliminal hopes I could get sumpin'-sumpin' from here.  Didn't work; she needed to drop her car off at the shop, I asked if she needed a ride, and she never texted me back.  Total for the nudie bar: $29.
• I then went to DQ, just because I wanted something cold.  Got a Blizzard in a larger-than-small size: $3.74.

Everything else before then till the last time I did this was when I actually had work and had no time to spend money.  Therefore, thank Buddha, I am done through the 2nd.