Biggest disappointment

About CHEERS in Boston? Only one TV had the Celts/Cavs game on. The rest had World Series of Poker.

LAME.

Just trust me

I'll have some updates later this week.

Right now... I have to pass out.

Flash Forward

Hey, good episode of Flash Forward tonight. Way better than last week's. After last week's episode, Adro had a "Flash Forward" that we wouldn't be watching this show for much longer. But this episode brought us back a little bit. Exciting ending, too.

Some thoughts:

• Why doesn't the L.A. FBI branch just say, "Hey, don't like our stuff? Look at this... at the Detroit Tigers game... see that? That guy isn't blacked out!" That's their smoking gun right there. Use it!
• Is there a more unlikable character on the show that Dr. Bedford? Come to think of it, ALL the characters are unlikable... and that's what had me so mad last week. Who am I supposed to root for? Agent Noh sucks. Aaron can't act. Agent Bedford is obsessed with his wall and his future drinking. The only guy I kind of like is Bryce, and he's seemingly a minor character.
• Back to Dr. B -- why wouldn't she just be like, "Hey dude, you were in my vision... but I'm married, so get out of my life?" Similarly, why wouldn't Agent Noh just say, "You know what? I'm quitting my job, and I'm going to go camping in the Rockies for the next six months, but I'll tell everyone I'm back-packing Europe."
• So, did the President call in the hit, or is that a curveball, and really, it's some Flash-Forward insiders after our LA Feds? Just a thought.

OK, that's all for now. Probably only two other people who read this blog are watching this show over "Survivor" anyway, right?

Hey, anyone know anybody who is looking to buy two adult GA tickets to the KU/OU game this Saturday? I'm leaning toward not going, I think I'm not yet well enough to sit out there in 50-degree weather.

Check out that image from MY Flash Forward. Yeah, like I said, playing shuffleboard, Rick's, my team is winning... but something strange: I don't think I live in Lawrence anymore. And Rick's has added a mirror to their men's room?

These 'flash forwards' can't be true, right?

New camera

My blue camera broke on me a while back. The screen went out. It would still take photos, but you couldn't see the picture you were taking. So every photo I was taking looked like this:

Adro did some QVC shopping the other day and showed me the "Today's Special Value." It was a Kodak EasyShare C190, 12 meg, 5X zoom digital camera. Now I can see what I'm shooting, and photos look more like this:

So far so good. Still learning on it.

The toy in front of Evey is a play cake that you can stack up, 10 layers high. Each layer is numbered. She likes building it up, saying the numbers aloud in English then Spanish, then knocking the whole thing over triumphantly. I have to admit, I enjoy this too. No muss, no fuss.

Evey is also obsessed with Play-Doh. I am NOT a fan of Play-Doh. But Evey thinks it's the best thing EVER.

Tomorrow is Thursday. This week is going by kind of fast...

Happy Anniversary!

Three years ago today.

Love you, babe.

Four quick Evey stories

Feeling better today, thanks!

After a really rough night Sunday/Monday, Adrianne drug me back to my doctor. She even drove me. She was pretty sure they were going to throw my butt in the hospital today, I think. She woke up before me (although my sleep was intermittent at best) and she heard how bad my breathing was... think Darth Vader, with a Yoda-sized loogie trapped in his throat.

Anyway, long story short, Doc agreed I sounded like a mutant, and he gave me a steroid prescription. After one dose, I'm feeling a lot better, able to take much deeper breaths now... I'm planning on going to work tomorrow!!! It's been so long since I've been to work I'm excited!

***

Evey has been really cute lately. Want some cute Evey stories? I'm overdue here, aren't I?

The other day Evey looked at me and asked, "Dad, are you feeling better?" I said, "Yes, sweetie, I'm feeling better." She looked at me and said, "Dad, I'm happy. I'm happy because you aren't sick anymore." And then she hugged me around my neck.

I called for Adrianne to come in to the living room. I had Evey repeat what she just said. "I'm happy because Dad's not sick anymore," she repeated. That caused an instant family hug.

Yeah, that's a pretty general, but her sentence forming is just getting really good (unlike, apparently, my 'sentence forming'). I like hearing her string together longer sentences. Now, she'll still mumble jibberish every once in a while, or talk like a baby, but she also has some really impressive sentences.

***

Real quick one. Me and Evey are driving in the Z. I've got my new Jon Spencer Blues Explosion CD on. Evey is kind of digging it. She's dancing, clapping. So I try to get her to sing along.

"Evey! Say, 'The Blues is No. 1! The Blues is No. 1!'" (A common lyric of most JSBE albums.)

She responds, "No, Daddy! The Blues is No. 2!"

She would not tell me who No. 1 was. I even volunteered myself. But she was only insistent that the Blues was No. 2.

***

At the doctor's office today, waiting to be called in. Evey and Adro with me (like I said, Adrianne thought the next stop was the hospital!) One other couple in the waiting room.

Evey is coloring, chattering away, talking about the pumpkins, the colors, etc. Tells Adro that her favorite color is gray (hopefully not because of a boy named Grey).

The woman next to us smiles and asks Evey her name. "I'm Evey Jones!" Evey proclaims. She then asks how old Evey is. Evey says, "I'm two!" Adrianne agrees, "You are 2, but you'll turn 3 in December!"

The woman was floored. "I would have guessed her at 4! I have a 5-year-old... she isn't that far behind her!"

I smile, and say, "Yeah, she's really tall for her age."

The woman comes back, "Well, my daughter isn't much taller, but I'm talking about how articulate she is! She doesn't seem like a 2-year-old at all!"

So, yeah, I was smiling even though I was sick.

***

Adrianne took me and Evey to Casa Agave after the appointment. Here's some news.... CASA AGAVE might be my new favorite Mexican restaurant in town! Man, that's some good stuff! Sorry, Ixtapa.

Anyway, we get seated. The hostess gives Evey some crayons. "Evey, what do you say?" I say. "Gra-ci-as!" Evey sings back. The hostess looks at us, "She speaks Spanish?" "Poquito, (a little)" I say. The hostess was all smiles. She spoke a little bit more to Evey, I missed that conversation, I was headed to the bathroom at that point.

Apparently word had spread that there was a little white girl with white parents who was speaking Espanol at table 42. Our waiter comes out. "She speaks Spanish?" he asked. We told him to see for herself.

"Quantos anos tiene?" (How old are you?) "I'm two!"

"Como se llama?" (What is your name?) "I'm Evey.... Melosa.... JONES!"

Now the waiter is just floored. "How does she know Spanish?" Adrianne explains that, though he might not believe it, we are a half-Mexican family. So then he looks at us and just starts speaking Spanish. "De donde eres?" (Or something close to that, I knew he was asking me where I was from.) I told him I was from Wichita, but the Mexican side of my family originated from Chihuahua.

We now had a new best friend at Casa Agave. We got some extra queso, Evey got a globo (balloon), and I think we were offered a free dessert, but he severly overestimated our Spanish by that point. (Hopefully I wasn't rude, I just smiled and said 'la quenta, nada mass' -- 'the bill, nothing else.')

So, there are a couple Evey stories for you.

PNEUMAN!

There's a new poll to the right of this post. My question is, basically, "How do you like your fries?" I'm praying that I won't be asking that question professionally anytime soon...

Rough weekend. And not just because of the KU game or because I had to garbage disposal three of my top 10 gross items to garbage disposal (coffee grounds, cold gravy and curdled milk).

No, it's because I've got pneumonia.

Seriously.

I've had to call in sick the last two days. Called in sick again for this Monday. I'm going back to the doc to see how this is progressing. He told me I should feel significantly better by Monday. I think that being unable to take deep breaths precludes me from the "significantly better" category. We'll see.

But, yeah, pneumonia. Now I'm that guy. That guy who was sick for a while, and everyone warned, "Don't come down with pneumonia, man."

Well, I tried not to. But I guess I didn't try hard enough. Doc said this isn't walking pneumonia, but it's not the kind of pneumonia that's going to hospitalize or kill me, either. So at least I was able to half-ass pneumonia. Doc gave me a 7-day antibiotic. I'm on day four.

Anyway. Not much else to report. I've been staring at the walls of my house for four days straight. Starting to get stir-crazy.

Photo is of Evelyn Jones putting some of my comics (DC comics letters A through C, specifically) to some good use. As a step stool.

Email me home remedies for pneumonia. And don't forget to tell me how you like your fries.

The band's back together

I like these photos because they look like those photos bands take when they're doing a shoot for Rolling Stone or Spin or whatever. The cameraman shouts, "OK, Five Solos, act natural! Except for Kaiden and Evey, I want ANGRY!!!" And then another photo, "OK, Five Solos, everyone look at me, except the girls... uhm, Lexie, you play with your hair, Evey, you try to mimic what Lexie is doing!"

"That's beautiful, beautiful! You're all really working the camera now... now, I want you to all to try to project... a giant chicken monster! PERFECT!"

One month today (14th)

It was one month ago that Dad died.

Still pretty shocked.

I think I've had about four, maybe five nights that I haven't dreamed about him.

This photo is of Dad and me at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. This is the game I referenced in my eulogy to Dad. The photo was taken about ten years ago.

Great, great memory! I'll tell you that story sometime...

Top 10 things that gross me out

when I put them down the garbage disposal:

10. cottage cheese (I don't eat it, never will, because it's just plain ol' GROSS)

9. spaghetti noodles (looks like brains or something)

8. refried beans (mostly because it makes me sad)

7. cold gravy (I know someone who drinks that stuff, too... and she reads this blog!)

6. cheese and beer (just kidding, we don't let those go to waste here)

5. mashed potatoes (especially if cold)

4. scrambled eggs (especially when I'm hungover)

3. Coffee grounds (I HATE COFFEE!!!)

2. Bread (wet bread is slimy)

1. Curdled milk (thanks Evey Jones!)

Did I miss anything?

3-D!

Me, Adro and Evey went down to Wichita last Saturday to visit my Mom for a while. We also stopped in to visit my Dad's grave.

Saturday was a good day. I got up early and got a haircut. By the time I got back, Evey was still asleep, so Adro took off for the 6-hour sale at Hy-Vee. She came back in less than six hours with a TON of food. Good stuff, at a fraction of the price.

Her best deal -- she bought a bunch of the sausages, you know the ones, they're either "smoked sausage" or "polska kielbasa" or whatever -- they're all good. Regular price, $3.99. A price I'm happy to pay.

But that price is WAY TOO MUCH FOR ADRO!

Because she bought them on sale, half off! Only $1.99!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

There was a $1.50 off coupon right there next to the things! So she grabs a stack... and checks it out. She grabs four of these sausages on round one. Cha-ching! They ring up at 50 cents each.
So she goes back for five more!

Hell yes, I've got a lot of sausage!

After the 6-hour sale, we jump in the car to head to Wichita. And yes, I'm freaking out. Because I wanted to be rolling by a certain time, and we were now about 10 minutes off my certain time. How quickly I forget 50 cent sausages. Sorry, Adro.

But we got to Wichita in time! In time for what? For Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3-D, that's what!

I bought tickets on-line the night before and we met my Mom at the theater. A good time, Evey enjoyed it but she wouldn't wear the 3-D glasses (DORK!) We ended up staying for both movies, something I wasn't sure we'd be able to do, but the girls were all ready for more, so we stayed.
The 3-D looked pretty good and I think everyone enjoyed the movies. The jumbo popcorn and Pepsi both came with free refills, so we all were overdosed on those, but still, a good time.

After the movie we went one block East to visit my Dad. They still have the green netting on top of the spot, no headstone yet. Left some flowers, exchanged a few hugs with Mom, Adro and Evey. It's still shocking to go there and think... this is forever, I'm not seeing that guy again except for in dreams, in photos and a few videos. We have a football game this Saturday and... Dad isn't coming. Shocking, I was there, I know, but sometimes it just doesn't seem real.

From there we went a few blocks West. There's all these fancy restaurants out in this area (13th Street) of Wichita. Like P.F. Chang's and... other stuff. I'd rather they just had some normal food out there. But eventually we decided on Fox and the Hound, which is LAME-ASS. I'd like it if I was a young guy trying to act/look cool. But I'm not that anymore. I'm an old guy who wants to get some food. If you fit that demographic, then I'd suggest you avoid Fox and Hound, if possible.

After dinner we went back to our respective homes, Mom to Mulvane, us to Lawrence. I had a 6 a.m. flight to catch the next morning so we couldn't stick around any longer.

A great trip, with the usual sad moments sprinkled in here and there that we're still not used to.

Do yourself a favor and pack your bags, buy a ticket and get on the train

That's Thom Yorke's advice, and that's what I did.

Here's where I was on Monday night.



This show -- Thom Yorke of Radiohead -- at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. (Thanks to OTAInc for the video.)

More details later but, yeah... it was so worth it!

Thanks to Adrianne for watching Evey while I took a 3-day trek to see Thom's new band.

Here's the review the New York Times did on the show.

(By the way, I was at the Monday night performance... and we had box seats.)

Some photos from Dad's Mexican wake...

I'm proud of Bauer and Nunn... those two dudes showed up with that giant bottle of Patron! And it was gone in just two rounds. Wow.

After the funeral and everything, we had a party out at Richard's house in Rose Hill. It used to be a tradition every September that we'd have a party out there to celebrate everyone's birthday/anniversary -- there are a lot of birthdays and anniversaries in that month in our extended family. Over the years the tradition faded... and we hadn't done it in a while. My Dad told Richard (he's the one holding the tray of shots) that he wanted to bring the tradition back this year. You know what? The tradition came BACK.

Besides lots of food, horseshoes, pool, fooseball, play-doh for the kids and loud Mexican music, we also had a big-screen broadcast of the Final Four games for KU's championship. Abasolo brought his projector and we broadcast it on the back of the party barn. AWESOME. The next day, Richard saw his neighbor, and he told him, "You know, I woke up at like 1 a.m., and I could have sworn I was hearing like... a basketball game, or something..." Yup, that was us!