Triple overtime

Makes me tired...

Best post?

You know how we did best photo, best video? Now, best post. I'm asking you to select your favorite post, of the below five.

Qualifications? I figure a post should have a photo of Evey and a story. It should be about Evey.

Here are my five favorites. Which one is best? Please vote using the poll in the upper right-hand corner. Thanks!

Sleep watching (March 10, 2008 -- about the comfort I get watching Evey sleep)

One morning with my daughter (June 19, 2008 -- essay about a typical morning getting Evey ready)

Bad Santa: The outtakes (Dec. 30, 2008 -- photos and short post showing all the photos of Evey's most recent visit with Santa)

Dolls, coupons, princesses (Jan. 21, 2009 -- rant about having to play with girly toys)

One frustrating day (March 9, 2009 -- a look back at a day where I thought everything was against me)

Thoughts on your vote? Post I should have included? Your thoughts welcomed, in the comments section below.

Deegle-doggle, Deegle-doggle... ROBERT Goulet!

Forgive the title, it's been a late night.

Attached photo of Evey playin' some BELLS. Rockin' the bells, if you will.

What else? Oh yeah, me and Bart won the shuffleboard championship! Yeah, you know how we do. Free T-shirt and whatever. Yeah! Won the champ game 21-0. OUCH.

Parting shot? Robert Goulet will punch you OUT, there's your parting F&%$^# shot!

(I will punch you out, Lervik, for saying my drunken posts are coherent! You hear me? They are IN=coherent!)

Vote for Judge Evelyn Jones

"I pledge to you that I will continue to be a fair, honest and loyal judge to this great community. Your vote means we can keep Lawrence a safe place to raise our children. Together, we can make a difference."

Paid for by Citizens for the Re-Election of Evelyn Jones

Back from Wheatfield!

More photos to come... right now, we're tired!

Me and Evey with Bea and Junior here, on my 32nd birthday.

8 laps to go in the nascar race and we just blew by the ks speedway. Nicely timed, Jones family! Glad we didn't stop at 1 more mcdonalds.

Entering kc. In a tornado watch. You can almost bank on that on my bday, the tornadoes. Lookin stormy up ahead. Evey's munchin on grapes...

50 mi to dwntwn kc. Adro took over driving. I'm relaxing w/ evey. She's watching madagascar 2, i'm reading Casanova GN. Is the race going on @ the speedway?

Having no luck with mcD's on this trip. This one was locked for plumbing probs. Last one took 20 min for drive thru. Near st louis now.

Stopped at walmart. Adro wants magazines 2 read while i drive. Evey fell asleep watchin Bee Movie. She will miss her turn driving - no Iron Man 4 me. 6 hrs 2go

On the road home from wheatfield, Ind. Adro driving, Evey watchin Shrek 2. Be home in 7 more hours. Evey has next driving shift so i can watch Iron Man...

BlackJack II pic

I took this photo with my new phone the other day. It can shoot in color, obviously, but this was so easy, I figured "What the heck?"

(I also did a video of Evey swinging on my phone, I wonder how I'll get that off the phone, and what quality the video will be?)

I've never been much of a fan of b&w photography, but Adrianne is a fan, so here ya go, Adro. A b&w Evey photo on the blog. I'll try to get more up here eventually.

Giant 2-year-old living in Lawrence, Kan.

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- A giant 2-year-old has been discovered in the quiet town of Lawrence, Kan., a college town of 90,000 located in northeast Kansas.

The girl, Evelyn Jones, was recently seen by her physician, Dr. Kim McKeon for a 2-year "wellness" check-up. What Dr. McKeon discovered shocked and amazed her -- the girl, at age 28 months, measured in at a height of 38 3/4 inches (98.425 cm), putting her above the 100th percentile for girls of her age.

"I knew Evelyn was a tall girl. I also know her parents bring her in to see me every time she vomits. I'm more impressed with her height than I am her frequent visits for an upset tummy," said the normally dry Dr. McKeon.

Word spread quickly that there was an unusually tall girl living in Lawrence. Her father, Seth Jones, "twittered" the information Friday afternoon. Evelyn's first recruitment letter arrived in the mail Monday afternoon.

"Apparently, Louisiana State recruits young," Seth Jones said. "At least they're honest about it. Somehow, in one of Evey's books, all of the Sesame Street gang are now wearing UConn jerseys. Except for Oscar the Grouch -- he's wearing a Tennessee jersey."

When Evelyn Jones was asked how it felt to be known as the tallest 840 day-old girl in Lawrence, she excitedly replied, "I need fruit snacks!" She then wrinkled her nose and asked, "What's that smell?"

Evelyn's mother, Adrianne Jones, stressed that just because her daughter was tall didn't mean she would be forced into sports. "She can still be a tall veterinarian, there's nothing wrong with that."

Evelyn's father echoed that sentiment. "I promise you I won't force my daughter into playing sports," he said. "Basketball isn't a sport in our house, it's a religion."

Leo and family

Our friends Matt, Carrie and Leo stopped by the Jones casa two weekends ago. We hadn't seen them in FOREVER. It was great catching up. MJ, CJ and LJ used to live in Lawrence but moved to Wichita a while back, and we just hardly get to see them anymore. But they were up for the KU women's NIT championship game, so they stopped in and then we went with them to check out Local Burger.

Leo is two months older than Evey, so it was fun to see a kiddo so close to her age. Not only are they similar in age, but they also share good taste in jackets.

Testing blogger's blog-from-your-phone capabilities...

Needed: Garage space

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for a garage space, storage space, barn space, outer space, whatever -- somewhere I can store my 1964 Chevy Impala. I'm happy to pay rent. I'd like to spend less than I'd have to at Public Storage in Lawrence, though. If you know of anywhere, anyone, that might be a good fit, let me know, thanks!

(Photo of the Z because I don't have a photo of the Impala handy on me here at work, and because it's dead-sexy!)

Artists at work!

Evey got a new art desk courtesy of her momma! How cool is that?

Evey often sees me at my art board (next to Evey's art desk in the photos) and she wants to draw too! So Adro made it happen and got Evey Jones her own desk for coloring and making pretty pictures... so now we can make pretty pictures together!

I look forward to a long career of making cool artwork with my little girl.

Beers with the 'Booms

Last Wednesday I worked from home. Mainly caught up on emails.

About 4 p.m., Neuteboom calls me. "Hey man, wanna grab a beer later?"

"Actually... I just got a new keg... why don't you guys come over here?"

This was the day it was like 75 degrees out. So Neuty, Trish and Bella stopped by around 5:30 to join me and Adro, have a few cold ones, and watch the sun go down. Spur of the moment, perfect weather, great friends, cold beer, on the front porch... it's how I imagine people did it all the time way back when (because let's face it, people are just too busy to visit each other these days, you know?)

The new keg is "Wave the Wheat" from 23rd St. Brewery. I'm enjoying it, I must say. Good stuff.

Anyway, a rambly post, but man... that first photo is just perfect, isn't it?

Easter dress, Noni and Papa's visit

Yo,

Back at la computadora on this cold Monday night. How've you been?

We had a packed couple of weekends... lots of photos to share. I wanted to start off with a couple pics from this weekend first...

My mom and dad came up for Easter with the Romeros. Great seeing them. They even took some time on Monday to stay in Lawrence and hang out with Evey all day! Evey got high marks from "Noni and Papa" for being a good girl... among her highlights, she spotted Barack Obama on CNN and shouted out, "Yay, Obama!"; she counted to six in Spanish; sang her ABCs; and there was a LOT of dancing. Plus, she never fussed for them. When they left for KC, Evey fell asleep for her nap almost instantly. She was wore out!

Evey is also pictured here showing off her Easter dress. She had a good time on Easter, hanging out all day at the farm. She wanted to play outside but we couldn't let her, it was too cold and wet. Grandma reached a compromise with her, though, and took her out on the front porch -- that's where I snapped that last shot. That shot cracks me up, I don't know why. Probably because it's not posed, it's just a moment frozen in time.

Some news and notes:

• If you watched "Big Bang Theory" tonight, they pretty much nailed all the comic book stuff -- there must be some serious comic geeks writing for the show. BUT, I think the comic store owner would condone Dick Grayson assuming the role of Batman for the deceased Bruce Wayne. Jason Todd should be dead, how could he be Batman? Sheldon, weird as he is, was right.


• Evey has a new favorite song, "Sink to the Bottom" by Fountains of Wayne. I'll link the video here in the future. She actually has never heard the FoW version, but she liked her Dad's singing-in-the-shower version, and it has since become a bedtime favorite.


• They're shooting at each other in Bangkok, and I saw this dude on CNN, and I said, "Will Baxter!" Now, I realize that there are about 6 million people in the Bang (I googled it) but still, how many Caucasian photogs with backpacks like that are standing right there next to the machine gun fire? That narrows it down a lot. But then I looked a little closer and see this guy has a lot of hair and probably bigger arms than our own WB. But still, I recorded it, just in case. I'm sure it'd make Will's mom proud!


• I still have some leftover 500-posts-celebration stuff to get up here -- it is not forgotten, only delayed.
  
  

Please stay tuned...

We'll be back to our regular programming shortly...

Somebody give Solo the "dad of the year" award!

Checkout the soccer field he set up for his kids in the backyard! Brilliant!

I can't wait to get down there and score some GOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLS!

You hold my kid, I'll hold yours (it'll be cute!)

Wanna see some more cute photos of Evey? Click here.

Exciting news for Comic Book Resources, my sole freelance writing outlet. We were nominated for best comics-related periodical/journalism in the Eisner Awards. Congrats to Jonah and the gang. If we win that thing, I can only imagine what the scene will be like on the yacht this summer.

I hope Adro and Lindsey don't mind me poking fun AT them in the headline here -- after all, I think Adro was already holding Sadie when I made Lindsey pick up Evey for this photo.

(I've got the baby monitor on so I can make sure the girls are doing OK upstairs... just now, I heard a barking noise while they're reading "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" together.)

Most commonly asked question in our house these days? "What's that noise?" by Evey Jones. Apparently, every noise is a mystery to her, and she needs explanation. It's not just the train going by outside, or the birds chirping, either. Evey will slap her hand on the couch, beating it like a drum, and while she's beating it, she'll look at us and ask, "What's that noise?" "That's YOU, nerd-o!"

Oh well. It's a better question than, "What's that smell?" Because, let's face it, YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!

Great moments in comic collecting, (moment 3 of 10)

As some of you know, I write for a fanzine called Pulp Legacy. My particular fanzine, called Momento Morti, is a mish-mash of reviews, original comics, random stories, etc. One feature I started years ago was called "Great Moments in Comic Collecting." I gave up on the series some five years ago, only to re-discover it recently.

This is moment # 3. Originally written and intended for the audience of Pulp Legacy APA.

My Mom takes me to Air Capitol Comics

It was early – very early – in my comic collecting career.

Up to this point, my comic collecting meant I regularly bought Spider-Man comics at the local grocery store. My mom would buy me the occasional box of comics she’d find at a garage sale, whether that be West Coast Avengers or Archie. My comic book reading was limited to the 20 titles offered at Dillons and the random stuff my mom would find and buy for me.

Then, one day, my mom comes home from work. She worked at Michael’s, a craft store in Wichita. I remember that I was eating a late lunch at my house on 717 E. Mulvane (where I lived from kindergarten through about fourth grade, this little house right by the junior high in Mulvane, Kan.) The drive to mom’s work from home was a good 30 minutes. She told me to get in the car that moment, there was something she had to show me.

I hopped right up and jumped in my mom’s Chrysler K car. At that age, my mom was always full of surprises for me, whether it be a new G.I. Joe or some Garbage Pail Kids. Maybe we were headed to Braum’s in Derby for some ice cream.

As we drove, it became increasingly clear that we were going to where my mom worked; the craft store. I’d been there plenty of times before, and they did have some cool stuff among the fabric and yarn. This was the place where my mom would get me my Garbage Pail Kids, after all. Also, they had a section devoted to models – airplanes, trains, sports cars, etc. – I was never, ever into that stuff (too right-brained for me), but it looked cool.

We pull into the Michael’s parking lot. It was the first, and largest, store in a big strip mall in east Wichita. Then we rolled on down past the place. There were probably 20 stores in this strip mall, but I never ventured this far down the strip, almost all the way to the other end. There was a road that split the mall, and the road, with its parking lot traffic, was my unofficial boundary. We were a few stores south of the imaginary Seth barrier.

Mom pulled into a parking spot. I looked out the window to see where we were. Radio Shack, maybe? Maybe for a remote controlled car?

That’s when I saw it – the sign. A big square, red background, white letters outlined in black. It read:

AIR CAPITOL
COMICS

I didn’t know what that meant, exactly. Did they have comic books? Or, like, Garfield books? If they had comic books, were they old ones or new ones? Could some place really exist and sustain itself by only selling comic books? Was this at all possible? Maybe it was some sort of art store where you could buy supplies to draw comics?

I do remember running into the store, my heart racing, wondering what I was about to find. As I ran to the door, I saw that the store front had something that looked comic book-y, but I wasn’t quite clear as to what it was.

I opened the door. There were bars on the inside of the glass door. That looked ominous to me. Was I even allowed in here? I was just a kid.

The entryway was narrow – only a few feet wide. But as soon as you stepped in the place, on the left-hand side, was a unique shelving system. There were wood bins that ran practically the length of the building, on a slant, that went up a good six feet in the air, containing stacks of comics. Comic books. This was… a comic book store.

I trotted a few feet into the store. That’s where the store opened up a bit. The place reeked of cigarette smoke. The guy behind the counter, a bearded hippie (I didn’t know what a hippie was at the time, he just looked dirty) gave me a cross look. I got the feeling that I wasn’t allowed in here… something about it just seemed… scary… to me. The bars on the door, the darkness, the character chain-smoking behind the counter … it didn’t seem like a place I should be.

My mom came in behind me. Her presence gave me the confidence that it was OK to explore.

I walked in and couldn’t quite take in all the comics at once. There seemed to be not just multiple issues of the same title, but multiple back issues of the same title. So I wasn't just limited to this month's Amazing Spider-Man -- I could also grab last month's! And there on the ground in front of me was a cardboard box full of comics. I looked down and grabbed one – G.I. Joe and the Transformers # 3. “Those just came in – the ink’s still wet on them!” the chain-smoker said.

REALLY? I thought to myself, too shy to say anything. Could I smudge it right then? Where did they print these comics that they could get them so fresh here?

I held on to the comic, partly because I was a fan of G.I. Joe, but also because I wanted to be the first person in the Wichita area – maybe in the world – to own a copy of G.I. Joe and the Transformers # 3.

That comic has a cover date of March 1987. I turned 10 in April of 1987.

I bought a handful of comics that day. Probably an issue of G.I. Joe Yearbook (something I probably never saw at the grocery store). Probably the current issue of G.I. Joe (which would have been # 57… I know I own that comic and it’s very familiar, but I don’t really remember picking it up that day.)

After that first trip, going to work with my mom was a joy, because that meant I could sneak down to “Air Cap” for at least a little bit. Eventually I learned every nook and cranny of that shop. On the left wall were the new comics. In the center bins were gaming guides for the D&D people. Behind those were regular back issues, and the guy seemingly had everything. In the very-very back of the shop were back issues of magazines, including Mad and Playboy. Behind the cash register were the really pricey books, including old Spider-Mans.

He always had a price gun out, and he always sealed the plastic poly-bags with some machine that melted the plastic together. With thousands of back issues in stock, I speculated that he circled the store in a clockwise direction, updating prices a box at a time. I figured that the boxes to the immediate right of the price gun were the most outdated prices, and therefore the best deals. So I bought a lot of Human Torch (1970s Johnny Storm) and The Joker before finding my way to Marvel Tales. (Oh, if only I had better foresight.)

It was at Air Cap that my mom and dad did most of my Christmas shopping. Air Cap was where I bought my first Overstreet Price Guide, my first back issues of Captain America, and so on.

Air Cap eventually went out of business (don’t they all?) By then, I had moved on to different stores. I was a customer at Prairie Dog Comics, which was a really good store, but really far from my house. Then I was a customer at Best of the Best Comics, which was only three minutes away from my house in the Wichita suburb of Derby. I eventually worked weekends at Best of the Best, which was this young comic collector’s dream.

There was another shitty comic shop in Derby I started shopping at when Best of the Best went out of business. It was my comic shop when I left for college, and they kept a pull list for me even though I could only get in there a few times a year. I was their customer until the day the guy made some racist comments in conversation (racist in general, not racist toward me). I never went back after that.

Best of the Best, Prairie Dog, Kwality Comics, The Shadow’s Sanctum, Agents of C.O.M.I.C.S. (that name just came to me as I was typing this list – Agents was where the racist prick worked), Astrokitty, Elite Comics…

It all started at Air Cap, my first comic store. Just likes kisses, you never forget your first.

Thanks for taking me there that day, Mom.

T.A. Blues

Here is our new movie (broken into two parts for YouTube). We entered it into an independent film competition at Iowa State University, but it didn't make the cut (only the top five did). I think I know why (extended intro to make the 10-minute time minimum, camera two was grainy, sound problems...) but I also think we did a good job, since we're all new at this. We're getting better.

We had to use the following props: a yard ornament, a ping pong ball, a toothbrush and an issue of Cosmopolitan. We were also supposed to use a few lines, and we used "Can you tell me which way to the weight room?" and "I smell ice cream."

I'm proud of our group. Everyone involved had fun. If you want to be involved in our next movie, shoot me an email -- we could always use extra hands and extra faces.

Hope you enjoy.

Quick hits

• By Monday I'll have our new video up -- we just wrapped it tonight, about ten minutes ago. The deadline isn't until Friday at 5 p.m., so it's nice not to have to worry about it for once. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, overall.
• CJ was greeted by a opossum when he came to my house tonight. Gross.
• For dinner tonight, I re-created the Tippin's taco salad. It's been years since I've even thought of that dish. Now, I think I need to add it to the repertoire.
• It occurred to me tonight that I have no idea how to spell out "d-b*g." (Apparently I tried to spell it in German.) I'm ok with that.
• We threw away Evey's last bottle tonight. Wish us luck.
• Congrats to the Lady Jayhawks, who will play for the WNIT championship at Allen on Saturday. That's very cool. If you have the chance, hit Allen Fieldhouse for the game!
• So, Border's is out-of-business by next Friday, right? Redeem those gift cards while you still can! I saw they had huge yellow signs in the windows announcing clearance prices on all DVDs and CDs. Better hurry, people...