I'll Make It

We are paying for the pleasure of last Winter (when temps were abnormally high, and rain was scarce) with the complete opposite.  This is, we are told, what we should be having.  (Well, the rain, not temps THIS bad.)  Rain is something good, something we need, life giving - I'm not annoyed by that.  It's just that I'm freezin' m'ballz off the past 3 months, and it doesn't look positive as the calendar turns to March.  Then again, ol Droughtbuster Darvez left a 5-gallon bucket out on the patio to capture that rainwater.  Look at me go!

I've been taking in more college basketball as this countdown begins, and speaking of...

Cash Window Closed

As college football ended and basketball warmed up, I had doubled my initial deposit in my spite gambling, and I was feeling fat and sassy.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I lost large (for me) amounts of money back-to-back on very suspicious events.  Games where top teams from small conferences get favored by like -2.5 and then absolutely wrecked by some group of randos at home no less!  It was enough to give me pause and say "wait till football."  This is not a phrase I wanted to turn, but fiscally responsible, and since $1 nutty parlays don't happen south of the border (any border, you choose) that's another reason.

Since this occurred, I continue to look at the scores of similar games, and sure enough, I continue to see the same issues.  For example, last night in the WAC, conference leader Utah Valley was visiting Tarleton State, a team which has not performed nearly as well this season.  UVU was favored by -2.5.  Both schools had winning records against the spread, so I would have passed on it despite the odds.  But the game was played and 

So...UVU lost by 19?!  Look, that kind of shit happens, right?  That's why games are played.  My gambling stoppage this season was because I realized rather quickly (and unfortunately, to a degree) that it's harder than usual this season to find good, professional schools - even more so to find the deep gems and, when you do, near impossible to ensure they aren't fool's gold.  

This should mean that March Madness should be even more entertaining and upset-filled than ever.  Well, only one way to find out...

Dine-In

Occasionally the YouTube algorithm is right on the money, and earlier this week it suggested a video titled something like "Inside a Burger King, 1986" that was B-roll footage of food cooking and the interior.  The interior took me by surprise: it was gigantic.  Yes, there was a portion with ashtrays (try explaining that to the younger set) but plenty of people were dining in.  It then hit me: pre-Covid, if it was a fast-dining restaurant, I'd eat in.  Then it was drive-thru only for a long time, but those days are over.  When was the last time I did that?  I couldn't recall, so for the research of this blog, I visited a nearby franchise just to see what it was like.  

For half of the meal, I had the place to myself.  The drive thru was doing medium, steady business.  A guy came out when I arrived almost surprised someone was there.  He handed me napkins, a fork, a cup and straw because none of those things were stocked anymore.  What was the point?  Hardly anyone comes in.  Those who do, it seems, are of the food delivery industry, so they don't need that shit either.  The food was given to me "to go" because they no longer give out trays.  Another sign, I realized.

With such anonymity I initially thought it would be pleasant but then I thought "if you're really the only one eating, wouldn't you rather be at home?"  Thus, I rushed through the rest of lunch.  When I cleaned up and dropped it in the trash, it was a "THUD" as it landed at the bottom of the can.  Nothing else in there.

"Thanks for coming in!" I was told as I left.  "Thanks a lot!" I said back.  I wondered: did I just waste time?  When I told The Big Scoop about "Burger Towels" she didn't understand.  Then I took her to In N Out and after going through the drive thru had her put the beach towel over her lap.  "Dig in!" I said.  "We have places to be - this way you can have lunch and not worry about any spilling."  This blew her mind.  "This is awesome!"  You do a lot of those kind of ideas to make ordinary things fun, and for a while there we had no other option.  But now we do and, aside from In-N-Out (that drive thru line can be murder at dinnertime) when faced with the proposition, I'm met with "UGH, I don't want to get out of the car!"  That's progress, but which way, I couldn't tell you.