Golf season... upon us!

Here's a photo of Evey on the golf course, last year -- June 2007.

Happy May Day, by the way.

I'm ready for some golf this year! I think. My goal is to break 100 this year. I shot 100 once last year, one of my first full 18s of 2007. Yeah, I had to suck in a 10-footer for the magical 100, too. Neuty was with me. I think I tripled No. 18 to limp into the clubhouse with a new personal best score...

I've already played a decent amount of golf this year. I've played at the Faldo Legacy Course in the Dominican Republic, Indian Wells (Calif.) CC, where I had my best 18 so far this year (flirted with 100), the Stonemont course at Stone Mountain (Ga.) Golf Club. Friday I'll play in a scramble with a really good crew at Alvamar. Then, this weekend I'm playing a course in South Carolina.

I'm excited to get out to Eagle Bend again. I've got a feeling I can score there this year. I need to play it more often...

And now that I've bored you all to death... (not even my wife finished this post!)

Good morning

Taken this morning, 4/30/08.

Birthday card

Got a funny birthday card from the Johnsons (among many other great gifts). This may look like a typical birthday card, but look a little closer... check out that SECOND image...

That's right. "The Shot." Happy birthday, Seth!

Out-fished by my Dad... again.

You wouldn't think a dad would out-fish a son on his son's birthday... but that's exactly what my Dad did!

My Dad had a good day on the lake on Saturday. Me? Well, let's just never speak of how my day fishing went, OK?

Golden tickets

Here it is, "The Bet" to go with "The Shot!" And a little souvenir from a few years ago...

Cha-ching!

What could possibly make the Jayhawks 2008 National Championship better?

Winning MONEY on said National Championship!

No, I didn't win my office pool. (And as I pointed out to my beautiful wife, this was the one year you really didn't want to win the office pool. If you picked four number one seeds in the Final Four, all that shows is that you lack imagination!)

What I did win... was $80 on a $20 bet I placed in Vegas on the 'Hawks to win it this year.

4 to 1 odds, I know, brutal. I made the bet towards the end of the Big 12 season. I was hoping for longer odds on the 'Hawks, but Vegas, they know their stuff.

But then, there was a twist to this story. See, I didn't buy the ticket in person. A friend bought it for me.

And then, when the 'Hawks started looking better and better in the tourney, I remembered that I never got that ticket from my friend! But I didn't want to ask for it, not wanting to jinx my 'Hawks. I figured as soon as I asked for the ticket, they'd lose. So I kept my mouth shut.

And then we won! And I was in Augusta when I got an email from my friend, wanting to know if I cashed my ticket yet.

I told her I needed to get the ticket from her first!

But then she replied and told me.. she already gave me the ticket. In fact, she remembered me putting it in my wallet, and saying that I was going to "keep it someplace safe."

Uh-oh. I had no recollection of ever being handed this ticket. But you know, I drank a lot during the Final Four. It was entirely possible I killed those specific brain cells.

As soon as I got back from the Masters, I started searching my house for this ticket. I looked in every nook and cranny, places I knew were dead ends, but I hated the idea of losing this ticket!

I gave up on the ticket about a week ago. I figured it was worth the $20 I lost on a would-be winning ticket, to have the 'Hawks win it all. Heck, I was already making plans next year for buying another $20 ticket, and then quickly 'losing' it. If that's the price for a Jayhawk championship, I'm willing to pay.

Then, tonight, my phone rang. It was my friend. "Uhm, did you ever cash in that KU ticket?" she asked. "No... I'm afraid I can't find it." "Uh... that's because it's still in my purse."

Alright! I'm not going crazy, and I'm $80 richer! Whoo-hoo! This ticket is like the game itself, I was resigned to losing it, and then, poof, it somehow ends up roses.

I had a good laugh over the whole thing. My friend had a great line. "Sorry about the confusion... Old people: We don't steal your money, but we might forget where we put it!"

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Gas prices, etc.

I'm a little freaked out. Did I miss a few years? Is it still 2008?

I was driving up 9th Street the other day, and I saw the gas prices... whoa. $3.55 for premium? Since when? $3.55? Look at that number... that's almost $4. Wasn't gas recently expensive when it was in the $2-range? Or is it 2028, and no one is telling me?

Driving down 23rd Street the other day. KFC's marquee reads, "10 piece legs and thighs -- $14.99."

$14.99 for the junk meat? Really? That's the best bargain you can put up on the marquee?

I know it's an election year, and I know we're really going to get it broken off on us in the last year of the 8-year Bush mistake, but, damn, people. It's not like my company is keeping my salary in line with this inflation. And it's only April.

$14.99... for legs and thighs. I don't even care if that's extra crispy, that's not a deal.

• Hey, but I did get one deal recently. Thanks to Wayne and Larry's and their Monday night special. 30 cent wings (I think) and $2.50 big beers. I had 15 wings and two beers, and got out of there for less than $10 before the tip. And had a great time. Thank you, Wayne and Larry's.


• Can't believe that the Suns lost to the Spurs again tonight. And the Hornets -- FOR REAL! Chris Paul, you are the new D-Wade, and D-Wade isn't even old yet! But amare was dunking like crazy in the first half... I'm digging the NBA playoffs already.


• People wanna know what to get me for my birthday. Really? Didn't you know THE KANSAS JAYHAWKS WON THE 2008 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP? I'm set for my birthday, folks. Save your money for $5-a-gallon gasoline.

Spooooon!

Pretty good show!

More soon...

Why bother

Making a blog post today when the funniest thing on the internet already appeared on Solo's blog?

Jeez, I'm still drying tears over here...

While we're at it...

May as well give Shelly's bro-in-law some free pub. This is the T-shirt he designed of "The Shot." If you want one ($20), email me or post a comment and I'll get you in touch...

Manning meets Manning

I don't think I've ever put this photo up here, have I? This is the week of old photos...

Here's Danny Manning, Kansas basketball legend, meeting Manning, future Kansas basketball legend. Manning is the son of my friend Shelly. You know this kid's got game!

Cute things going on right... now

Something I'm not doing enough is writing about what Evey is doing right at this very moment. Photos of Evey at this moment, yes, but descriptions of what she's doing? Sorely lacking. (This was determined by a blind readership survey I conducted in March 2008.) ((Not really.))

So, Evey likes to try to make us laugh. She's been tickling our toes for a long time. A more recent attempt at humor is her fake sleeping. We'll mention bedtime, or ask if she's sleepy, whatever, and she'll quickly put her head down and make loud snoring noises. Where does she learn these snoring noises? No idea.

She loves to dance. If a commercial comes on with music, she'll start shaking her hips. She's a decent dancer, evidently that's an every-other-generation trait. When we're walking downtown, when we pass that eyeglasses store on the east side of the 700 block of Mass Street, Evey will start dancing (they have music piped outside). I'm convinced we need an XM stereo receiver on our stroller so Evey could bee-bop all the way to wherever we're walking to.

She sings, "shake shake shake!" Apparently Grandma Judy taught her that one. I think it comes from diaper changes and the baby powder. Judy sings, "Shake shake shake!" from whatever that disco song is. Now Evey sings it at random times.

Her favorite word is still "ball." She even points at golf on TV, when the ball is rolling on the green, and shouts, "Ball!" Or she'll point at my 2008 Basketball National Champions T-shirt and point to the ball. "Ball!"

***

I need to clarify a joke I'm making to people, another joke that no one is getting. So allow me to explain. I explained it to my sister tonight, and now she gets where I'm coming from. Time to bring the rest of you up to speed.

When I see a fellow Jayhawk that I know is a huge basketball fan, that I know has been there through everything with me (Arizona, Syracuse, you know), I'll greet them with something like this: Hey, congratulations. I heard your Kansas Jayhawks are the 2008 NATIONAL COLLEGE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS... You must be very, very proud.

And I get these blank looks. Apparently these people are confused. "I thought Jones was a KU fan as well," they must be thinking to themselves. And then I'll quickly back pedal to cater to their confusion: We did it, it's awesome, isn't it? (While the person asks themself, 'What is Jones smoking?')

But what I'm getting at is this -- I want to be greeted like that now. Whenever I see anyone, Jayhawk, Tiger, Wildcat, Terrapin, Buckeye, I want them to say, "Hey, Seth -- congrats to you and your Jayhawk nation, buddy. You're better than all of us (Or, 'We're better than everyone else' for fellow Jayhawks.)"

So I guess it's too late, I've confused enough people with this way of speaking that I'll let it go. BUT, if you still want to greet me as such, it'd sure make my day.

Back in the office

Today was my first day back in the office in a while where I could just work, and not have to fret about an upcoming trip. I hardly put a dent in my "to do" list, but the May issue hopefully benefited from me doing some proofreading...

Although my allergies were killing me all day today. Sore throat, sneezing. I just popped some drugs, hopefully I'll sleep well tonight.

Included here is a photo I snapped a while back of my nephew Jett, and Isabella. Isabella is the daughter of David and Jocilyn, they're expecting an addition to the family in August. The kids are enjoying some Shinobi here in this photo.

Not much to share right now... feeling kind of run down. More later.

KU's championship parade

We all went down to Mass Street to enjoy the parade honoring our 2008 National Champion Kansas Jayhawks. A pretty good time!

Judy nabbed a parking spot in the ghetto Dillon's parking lot. It was a great spot, but we didn't know it came with a catch: the band and cheerleaders all bailed off of the parade route a few blocks earlier.

It's just not a parade without a band! C'mon, Lew Perkins, give me a break!

We still had a great time, and afterwards, we had the family over for dinner... an impromptu dinner, but one that we pulled off quite well, I'm happy to say.

I'm back in town now -- back from the Masters and the Kraft Nabisco, two golf majors in two weeks. Expect more regular blogging now that I'm back. And expect a long, exhaustive post about what it feels like to finally win the championship! Feel free to skip it if you're a non-Jayhawk, you wouldn't understand!

KU, BABY!!!!

We did it!!! We freaking DID IT!!! We won the big one!!!!

YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

My team has never won it on my watch! I was too young to care about the '88 team.

I'll only claim two teams: The Kansas University men's basketball team, and the now defunct Wichita Wings indoor soccer team. So I'm not like those fans that claim the Yankees, or the Michael Jordan-led Bulls, as "my team."

The Wings sure as hell never won it all, and now that they're dead and in the ground, they're not getting any better!

But I sat there and watched, on the edge of my seat, while drinking a beer from my Wichita Wings coozie, wearing my Kansas warm-up shirt. And I saw my team snatch a CHAMPIONSHIP victory from the clutches of defeat! This would have been exciting in a pre-season game! For the whole enchilada?

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK, BABY!!! I LOVE THIS DAY!!!

Before and after haircut

So I mentioned last week that Evey had her first haircut. It was needed, her hair was getting in her eyes.

And yes, Travis accosted us for taking her to ProCuts. Next time we'll go somewhere that ranks above the Wal-Mart of haircut shops... this was her first cut, we're new at this. And if you have any suggestions, let us know. ProCuts was on recommendation, but yeah, our "stylist" was mostly lost.

Anyway, the first photo is of Evey two weeks ago... note the hair in her eyes. The next photo is of her while she was getting her haircut. The next photo is Evey on Saturday morning, and the last pic is of Evey at the park Saturday morning. No hair in eyes. She also got it trimmed in the back.

I'm back!

From wherever I was...