Furlough's over!

BACK TO WORK!!!

Defeated. Stop at burger king. Ease the pain.

Full disclosure -- Adro's $320 shrunk to $220. Damn. You gotta be in it to win it, tho.

I see another guy walking around with a book, like me. But he isnt holding Marvel Team-Up vol. 1, collecting all of Spider-Man's 1970s team-up adventures. Nerd.

...and i'm busted. Lost $40 gambling. Spent $40 on booze. Damn. Somewhere, Mango dives into a plate of green bean casserole, while reesing does another l*ne.

Babysitter (Alison) reports evey is getting sleepy. Good. Daddy is getting broke. (down $34 and looking bad) meanwhile, i must admit -- casino music aint bad.

My mom, still crackin me up. "dammit! I only have 8 cents left on the machine." yeah, mom, it's a quarter machine. Jones is down $30.25. FURLOUGH!!!

Just got off the phone with solo (he buzzed me -- 'r u at the bar?' 'nah, casino.' 'even better.') sadly, he could not get me two more 8s. Tall order, tho.

Just did a shot of Jack with my mom, to my dad. My toast? "to dad!" mom's response? "and to making me feel better." that almost got me... Shit.

Just showed mom how to text. Will she ever use it? Doubtful.

And hello to Abasolo -- sorry i keep missing your call. I'm betting u left me a couple good voicemails after my "eudorians for mark mangino" vm, tho...

Mom reports that she 'messed up her luck going to the bathroom." my machine got a little hot, now down $13.

Mom just missed a royal flush by one card. I'm down $23... Having more fun texting. Hello to copy j, who's poker tourney i could be playing in right now.

Just texted the babysitter. Bought more time. Text messaging is super-cool. (who am i kidding, this is the first time we've ever had a sitter that wasnt Judy!)

Can u tell i'm bitter about the game?

Not much to report. Floundering. Back to $20 down. Bartender in kerry meier jersey just served me a drink. Lucky sign? Unlikely.

8s over aces this time. I'm looking for a gunman. Down $15.

Aces and 8s. Dead man's hand. King of bad omens in cards. I'm going to get mauled by an MU fan, aren't I?

...During the HOLIDAYS.

Now gambling directly across from where i was after 20 minute walk. Trying to gamble slow, let's face it, i have as much chance as mangino on weight watchers.

I'm going down faster than todd reesing in his own endzone. Down $20. A smoker has moved in on the machine next to me. No quicker way to get me to move...

Still losing. Playing video poker, my preferred game. Switching to double bonus video poker...

Seconds later (literally) Adro shows up... She hit $320!!!

At casino. Haven't blogged in a while. Been on furlough. Here to MAKE MY FURLOUGH MONEY BACK. So far? Down $4.75. C'mon, cards...

Back from the future?

I had a disturbing meeting the other day.

I was at Dillons on 6th and Wakarusa. Walk towards the door, Adro is with me. Older gentlemen -- a Dillons employee -- short, salt-and-pepper hair, opens the door for me.

He says something to me. Sounds like he said, "I like your jacket," or something, hard for me to tell -- I'm having this problem hearing. So I just say, "Thanks." Then he mutters something else. I say, "What?" thinking maybe I misheard him. It's at this moment that I realize that the Dillons doorman is somewhat mentally challenged, and perhaps the reason I'm not understanding him clearly isn't just because of my ear.

Then he says, more clearly this time, "You look familiar."

He has a bit of a crazy look at this point, so I just say, "OK!" and move along.

That's when he hit me with it:

"Are you... me?"

I look at him. He looks at me.

"Uh, no, I don't think so."

I walk away.

There's no way this guy was me. From the future. He was shorter. Much shorter. Like, 5'5" to my 6'3".

But you know what? Other than the height... we did sort of look alike.

So now, I'm freaking out. What if my time machine... causes me to shrink? And what if it has an effect on my mind?

OK, that settles it. There's no way in hell I'm ever time-travelling.

I like ballons

You ask Evey a question... like "Evey, do you like grilled cheese?"And she'll reply, "No, I don't like grilled cheese, I like balloons..."

The Super Evey/Daddy Tag-Team

I haven't been able to hear out of my right ear very well since I flew back from Boston. The doctor has me on a slew of meds (again) and if my hearing doesn't improve in two to three weeks (two to three weeks!) I have to go see a specialist.

If I ask you to repeat yourself multiple times, I'm sorry. I can't hear shit, especially when I'm eating (all I hear are the sounds inside my head).

***

This is how you change the time on my clock in my car:

"Press the Mode button (M) and the display will flash mode. Then hold the select button (SEL) until it changes to display something else. Hit left and right seek until you find clock M and clock H. Hit select again and use the volume button to change the time."

Man, that is not easily accomplished.

***

Evey is getting good at Shinobi, my 1980s arcade game. She can shoot the first couple bad guys no problem, and she even knows to duck when the first gunman comes out.

It's my goal that she'll one day rival her father at Shinobi. We'll play two players, and it'll be like two super-hero virtuosos going at it. Like Batman and Robin. Or Flash and, uh, Catwoman.

Evey reads The Simpsons

Loving the new house. On Sunday, I organized the garage, and that enabled me to pull the Impala in. The Impala has a roof over its head for the first in almost five years. This would make my Dad happy. (It makes me happy too.) In fact, everything about my new house would make my Dad happy. I think this thought often, about 200 times a day.

***

I can't understand Evey and teeth brushing. One day she fights it off like we're taking her to the gallows, the next day she does it herself. Teeth brushing, man, it's stressful.

***

I saw a license plate the other day. It said, "A House Divided." One of the logos was a Kansas Jayhawk. The other logo was a Pitt State Gorilla. How is that a house divided? Those teams don't even play each other (OK, they did yesterday). That's like me saying me and Adrianne have a house divided, because I root for the Jayhawks, and she likes World Market.

***

The band TV on the Radio is just too weird for me. I like "Wolf Like Me," but otherwise, I can't get through this CD. The new Pearl Jam CD, btw, is excellent, if you haven't already picked it up. My next CD purchase will probably be the new Muse CD, although that single is getting way overplayed on 96.5.

***

Evey is now a fan of The Simpsons. I'll take full credit for this. The other day, I got in trouble for this, as it was a Halloween episode, and a giant pumpkin was eating people -- it was a little creepy for Evey. Since then, I've introduced her to the comic book. There was a random copy of The Simpsons laying around our old place and she picked it up, started checking it out. Since then, I've given her a few more issues, including an old trade I had. She's digging the trade, we read it at night before bed. In the first issue of the trade, Homer is turned giant by Mr. Burns, and starts eating everything, becoming a public menace.

Evey points to the comic and says, "Let's find out why he's mean!" We'll read a few pages, then she'll ask me again, "Why is he mean?"

It's sort of hard explaining to a 2-year-old that Homer is mean because Mr. Burns shot him in the head with a ray gun that turned him giant.

That doesn't mean I don't try, though.

Pumpkin patch '09

Here are a couple photos from this year's trip to the pumpkin patch... taken a few weeks ago.

(We're still busy getting unpacked over here!)

EUDORIA

Big, big news.

The Jones family has MOVED!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

That's right, we moved on Halloween. We are now Eudorians. We are very proud.
Here are a couple photographs of the house. Front, with Evey proudly standing in her new front yard, and back, with Evey letting herself out into her new backyard.

I'm really excited about that back deck. That's a 350-square-foot back deck there. Yep.

A big thanks goes out to all of our movers:

Sean
Copy Jesus
Danny P.
Bart
Neuty
Jeff H.
Jeff K.
John
Ted
Brent
Chesty
Lindsey

More on all of this soon. For now, we're busy unpacking!