News and notes

Yeah, it's 10:40 p.m. and I'm wired. I think it was our basketball game tonight that did it -- we took our first loss of the season, and yeah, we lost fair and square (the other team shot better in the second half) but the refs were ATROCIOUS. I'm too old to get worked up about stuff like that... no I'm not. They were really that bad. I used to ref, and it's not that hard. The fouls were 22-8, and we're not a dirty team. 22-8!

So, anyway, here's a news and notes blog post. I'm going to spew words here. You're forewarned: there may not be much of value here. But tomorrow is Friday, and maybe you need a time-killer...

• Exciting Evey news: We're on night four without the binky. Also known as the pacifier, Evey has not so much as seen a binky in over 72 hours. The experts say if your baby can go three straight days, they're off the binky addiction. So far, so good... wish us luck. It'd be great to have an easy binky weaning. Evey has been pleasant without the binky so far, but she has been complaining of headaches, and says she's more often stressed out...
• Who steals pumpkins? We live by Charlie's East Side, so we need to learn to expect some drunken foolishness every so often... Recently, Mike left a ladder outside in our side yard, a nice ladder, and someone walked off with it. I can understand that a little bit... that's a tool, and tools are appealing to a thief. But pumpkins? I bought three pumpkins for the front porch. Someone stole two of them. Who steals a pumpkin? I mean, really? Smashing pumpkins, I can kind of understand. You're a kid, you want to be cool. But someone actually walked off with my two biggest pumpkins. Whoever stole them, I hope they at least gave them to their kids.
• Sad news -- our friend Shelly, mother of Manning, lost her mom recently. My magazine staff, we're all going to the funeral, in Holton, Kan., tomorrow. Our thoughts are with Shelly and her family. This comes on the heels of my pal Clark's mom passing, and my other friend Clay's grandma passing. Our heart goes out to all of them.
• Adrianne is sick now. I'm not quite over my bronchitis yet, and now I've gotten Adro sick too. And as you know, if momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy! Seriously, I'll take care of Adro, because she took such good care of me when I was sick.
• Baby Sadie is coming over to hang with the Jones family tomorrow. We're pumped. It's going to be a baby party at our house! Break out the juice boxes!
• Speaking of juice boxes, Evelyn just learned how to drink from a straw. Well, she hasn't quite figured out the difference between "suck" and "inhale." As in, she inhales on the straw, gets a little juice, and then spends the next 10 seconds coughing. And no, there will be no Bill-Clinton-can't-inhale-either joke inserted here.
• Speaking of former presidents, I can't wait for our current president to become a former president. Hey, I know, let's poke Iran with a stick before we turn out the lights...
• I'm reading an H.G. Wells book, "Food of the Gods." It's not bad. But when I read it in bed, it knocks me out pretty quick. I need to read it when I'm sitting upright. That would allow me to get further than a chapter at a time.
• Best magazine I'm reading (besides my own)? Esquire. Rolling Stone has been decent lately. Sports Illustrated, always good. ESPN the Magazine I can do without.
• I'd like to say hello to anyone in FMS reading this (especially if you've made it this far!). Thanks so much for reading this. You guys rock. You guys bust your tails at work, I see this. I look forward to one of you becoming the next CEO... and then there will be hell to pay!
• Check out my daughter's wingspan in the above photo. She's going to be a baller. A serious rebounder. She might even dunk.
• I think KU loses this weekend. That's just my gut. I'm rooting for them... I just got a bad feeling. I'll say A&M 28, KU 21.
• Funny moment in tonight's Chicago Fire/DC United game... a player takes a swipe at another player's face, sort of a slap that whiffed. But it caught the guy's eyeball just perfectly to where it shot his contact lens out of his eye. The guy is looking for his contact, trying to figure out if it's still in his eye, or what. And then they show the slow-mo replay. And you can see just perfect, the contact lens shooting out of his eye, and then spinning away in the wind. Bizarre-o. (OK, you probably had to see it.)
• Who was your favorite Muppet Baby? I think mine was Rolf. Because he was cool.
• A bunch of people have been asking me, "who sings that song in the 'Goodnight Evey' video you posted?" (By 'a bunch,' I mean the voices in my head.) That song was sung by the very underrated Marcy Playground. Yes, of 'Sex and Candy' fame. That song is called "The Angel of Forever Sleep" and is actually a MP B-side, so I went way, way rare on you. Great song though, huh? MP is actually one of my favorite bands ever.
• I better go to bed before I start listing my favorite bands...