Saturday Night Off-season Open Thread 2025-14

I am currently reading Practical Demonkeeping. It is the first book in the Christopher Moore Pine Cove series and I am enjoying it very much. It is also the second to last Christopher Moore book that I have not read. After I finish this, I will move on to Sacre Bleu and then I will have read every novel he has written and that has been published. That is, of course, until I meet him in person at the Vroman’s in Pasadena this month, pick up my copy of his newest book, and have him sign it.

So, aside from literary activities, what is there to talk about?

Current Events

The last time I did my monthly goals update, I realized that I am Alice and I have dropped down the rabbithole into Wonderland at work. The decisions getting made lately have been INSANE.

I decorated my office with Alice In Wonderland stickers and I have now added a jester’s puppet on a stick to accentuate just how ridiculous things are. Retirement cannot come soon enough.

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Sports Update

The most important tournament in all sports rolls on. I speak, of course, of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Round 1 is nearly complete with the Minnesota North Stars hosting the Quebec Nordiques in a Game 7! Curiously, the game is being played in some weird Southern US city called “Dallas” and the sweaters are all different colours. Weird.

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Goals Update

Since today is the first Saturday of May, I’m going to take advantage and provide the four-month update on where I am:

GOLF GOALS: Lower my Handicap Index to less than 21, Shoot an 18 hole score of 89 or better, Win a tournament, and finish in the top three of my club championship.

UPDATE: My Handicap Index started the year at 26.7. It is currently at 26.3. I got it as low as 25.7 but some older scores have dropped off. I did play today and I did well. If nothing weird happens, my handicap should go back to 26.0. I’m also doing well as far as accumulating points towards the club championships.

FITNESS GOALS: Do one NFL Combine Bench Press Rep (235 lbs), Get a PR of 300 in Squat, and run 2 miles in less than 23 minutes (Army standard for my age).

UPDATE: I did not start the workout program as planned. Therefore, my new PR attempts will be delayed. Again.

WORK GOALS: Get 5 non-performers to either quit, retire, or transfer, Get 3 mentees promoted, and institute a company-wide cost-saving measure.

UPDATE: 2 non-performers are gone and 1 mentee got her promotion. The cost-saving measure is in the process of being implemented with a final meeting scheduled for next week. I won’t claim it yet.

INTELLECTUAL GOALS: Read 5 Christopher Moore books, create a 7 episode minimum series of fiction, and do a creative visual project.

UPDATE: The first one is done and dusted. Y’all read the last chapter in my fiction series this month, so that second one is done and dusted. I am still in the process of getting a lunch scheduled with Brick to go over our visual project. I am hoping we can have DJ TAJ present so we can all collaborate on the project.

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In this space, I will tell you what I’m drinking as I type this post. Today’s drink is: Earl Grey tea with Caramel Macchiato creamer.

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Your weekly Psych gif:

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Your weekly hot girl pic:

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Your weekly music video:

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One last thing:

Hat tip to Brocky: