Friday O'POMP

Here's your Friday O'POMP (Old Photo Off My Phone):



I figure this one would be nice to post now that we're in these hot months of summer.

Remember how much snow we got last winter? It was crazy! It was all around Christmas... man, my Camaro was pretty much lost by the time I took this photo. I'm glad we had nowhere to go! I was on FURLOUGH at the time! Ha!

Fiesta 2010

Here's a photo of the four generations -- Virginia, Judy, Adro and Evey -- at the St. John's Fiesta this year.

Snakes and bees

I bit my tongue at dinner the other day, made the "oof!" sound and Evey asked what was wrong. "I bit my tongue," I said. She laughed and said, "Daddy, watch where you're going."

***

While I was in San Diego for Comic-Con (and yes, I was at Comic-Con, and I'm amazed at how many people care about this nerd-fest... I'll have to give you a run-down/update on things I saw there soon, OK?) Evey kept telling me to "Be careful for the snakes and bees... if you see a snake or a bee, run to the park and get on the slide, OK?" Every time I'd call home, I'd hear this same rant about snakes and bees. I don't know what this is all about.

***

Lastly, since I'm making fun of my sweet, beautiful little girl... let the record show that this blog is NOT just telling you about all the brilliant things she does, but also some of the not-so-smart things she does... for example, though she is good at puzzles, at age 3.5 years, she has no concept for the flat parts of the puzzle being a part of the border. She's working on Toy Story 3 puzzles... pretty good at them... except she won't hesitate to try a jagged piece on the border.

I told Adrianne, "She gets this from her Dad," because I'm terrible at puzzles. Then I tried to put in a piece, and it was blatantly wrong, making Adro laugh at me. "She does get it from you!"

I just bit my tongue. Literally.

***

Photos this post are from South Texas, Adro loved this donut shop when she was a kid. I'm not a huge donut eater, but I do agree that this place was pretty good. As you can see, Evey enjoyed it as well.

Back from Comic-Con

My third year in a row going to San Diego Comic-Con. I'm wore out. I worked 3 12-hour days in a row. Already taken one nap, and about to go to bed early now.

My personal highlight this year, besides managing a group of 30 reporters, was nabbing these photos from the Avengers panel. My boss was pretty thrilled with those shots.

Speaking of super-teams, here's a good shot of Adrianne's family on the Weibel side, taken down in south Texas. The Rio Grande is right behind them in this photo. Adro's Dad says this place has been flooded since we've been there.

Old photo off my phone

This is an old photo I don't think I've posted before, but after 700+ posts, I start to lose track.

Evey and Grey were having a fun play date at the library. Evey was having fun, even though she's giving me some sass in this photo...

Adro texted me an awesome pic of Evey this morning, but I can't figure out how to get it from a text to the blog... hmmm....

Anyway, I have a ton of old photos I've saved off my phone recently, in an effort to free up some memory on my phone. "Old photo off my phone" might have to be a new regularly occurring feature... but it does need a better name. Any suggestions?

Not so Melosa!

Alternate titles for this post:

Hit-Girl ("Kick-Ass" movie reference)

I hit a girl and I liked it (Katy Perry reference)

So, yeah, Evey punched a girl at daycare last Thursday. She used a toy pear, so I guess technically it was assault with a toy.

She hit poor little Isabella (not an Isabella previously mentioned on the blog). Evey brought this toy pear with her from home, and apparently she was not too interested in sharing it with others. After Isabella demanded the toy pear one more time, Evey gave it to her – on the cheek.

How it happened is my speculation, mind you. This is just my mental recreation of the crime, based on the eyewitness report of Elvira, our daycare provider. (It is entirely possible that Isabella made an unprovoked attack on Evey, and Evey was just acting in self-defense... we'll never know.)

I found out from Elvira that Evey hit Isabella at 4:55 on Thursday. Thursday was a rough day… the magazine was due Friday, so work was pretty stressful. My Mom got lost on the way to Lawrence, so I was worried about her (moreso than usual). And it’s 104 degrees outside and now I’m told Evey hit a girl.

As I walked out of Elvira’s I just wanted to let out a primal scream, and I would have except I know that would have scared the shit out of Evey, and I didn’t want to have to change her panties after all the other crap I had already dealt with this day. So I just kind of grunted under my breath as I marched Evey to the Camaro.

I put her in the backseat as I typically do, then quickly stomped around the car into the driver’s seat. I started the Camaro quickly – I don’t like Evey to sit in the car for longer than a few seconds without AC on when it’s that hot out. But then I put it into gear and started to take off, my mind racing 100 mph. Evey said, “Uh, Dad?” and I turned around to snap at her, thinking she misunderstood my mood at the time and that I wasn’t really feeling like chit-chatting at the moment.

But then I looked at her and she pointed at her seat belt… in my haste I forgot to turn around and buckle her in. “Thank you,” I said.

We got home and told Mom what we did. A lot of crying and a timeout ensued. I told Evey she was lucky I found out first at Elvira’s because if I had found out second at home, she would have gotten spanked. If she does it again, she’s getting spanked, and no more toys from home can go to Elvira’s, especially toy fruit.

At dinner that night Evey was being a really good eater, trying to get back on our good side. She took a big bite and I said, “Wow, Evey, I’m impressed.” She finished and said, “Yeah, but you weren’t impressed when I hit Isabella.” I chuckled and told her that indeed, I was unimpressed when she hit Isabella.

The next day she was back to good behavior. Elvira said she was good to everyone, no assaults took place.

Me and Evey got to the car and Evey was beaming. “Guess what, Dad?” she asked. “I didn’t hit anyone today!!!”

I told her that this really wasn’t anything to be proud of. Everyday should be a no-hitting day.

I think she’s learned. I think just about every kid hits another kid at some point.

Hopefully, the next time she does it, it’s just, and she makes it count!

Jonesy goes to the movies

I saw two movies this weekend, both pretty good.

Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is a Christopher Nolan movie, the same guy who didn’t know when to make the Dark Knight end. His movies are slick and stylish, but I think he sometimes misses out on the most vital element: the story itself.

Leonardo plays Cobb, who is essentially a mind thief. He has the ability to get in your dreams using science – nothing supernatural here.

The science, the thinking in this movie, reminded me of when I saw The Matrix the first time… the whole world is turned upside down so much that you have to rethink everything you know, from your sense of pain to up and down. I find movies that can do that to the viewer successfully to be highly entertaining.

This movie delivers. It’s a great story here. You have to concentrate the whole movie. You have to question everything and remind yourself of the new rules of nature throughout the film.

And Nolan knows just how and when to end this film! Success!!!

I was really surprised and impressed to see Nolan also wrote this story. I really figured he was working off of someone else’s science-fiction/fantasy novel script, and he was just doing a great job with the source material. But the fact that he wrote it and directed it? Bravo! This was a complex story to imagine, let alone visualize and then successfully (that word again) film.

I’d give it a 10 out of 10. And I’d suggest everyone go see it right away – not for any of the special effects or stylish filming, but simply for the awesome mind-bending story.

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes), an Argentinean film, was in the big theater at Liberty Hall. Me and Adro had a babysitter (Grandma Judy) so we went to check it out.

The review on Lawrence.com compares the film to an episode of CSI. That already is a strike against it in my book. But upon watching the film, I wouldn’t say it’s like CSI, though it is a crime drama.

There’s a brutal rape that occurred 20 years ago. The story follows Escrito, the lead detective on that case, and how the case affected his life the next 20 years. The story flashes backwards and forwards, so the main cast is forced to age back and forth 20 years as the timeline changes places. The make-up artists did a pretty good job, you can believe these people are older than they really are.

The movie moves along pretty quickly, but it feels like it’s about to end about three times before it finally does. When it did end, I was mildly satisfied.

We walked out of there and Adrianne was under the impression I was hating the movie. Not so! I was actually enjoying it, and thought overall it was pretty decent. I was hoping for a better end, though, so I only rated it a 6 out of 10. Adrianne went ahead and gave it a 7 out of 10.

Two good movies, both worth seeing. Make it a date night! It’s hot outside, might as well sit in a cool theater for two hours and be entertained!

The price is EXACTLY right

I was telling Adrianne about this the other day... have you ever seen the clip of the guy who guessed his Showcase Showdown on Price is Right to the exact dollar? It wasn't that long ago... Drew Carey was the host...

Check out the YouTube clip...

then check out Chris Jones' story from the new issue of Esquire (my favorite magazine) for an interesting back story.

Eat the salted peanuts out the can!

I was driving home tonight, and on KJHK (the local college station) they played a cover of War's "Cisco Kid" by a band called School House Funk. Pretty solid version, although it lacked the appropriate "Huh-HUH!" moment.

For the record, if something terrible happens to me any time soon, I'd like this song played at my funeral.

And everyone can debate who the Cisco Kid was in my life.

Tonight, Cisco was my friend Neuty.

We killed a couple schooners at Louise's West. Not an inordinate amount, just enough to see how each other's family was doing... enough to argue which golfer had more potential on the PGA Tour... enough schooners to recall the drunken float trip we had in Oklahoma...

So, at my funeral, play this brilliant song. Everyone fill in the "Huh-HUH!" part. And everyone envision themselves as my Cisco Kid.

That's what's brilliant about this song. None of us were friends with Cisco Kid. But we all have a friend who is a partner in crime... who has your back, even when you're in the wrong... and that person is my Cisco Kid.

And I'm happy that the Cisco Kid... was a friend of mine.

Abasolo, it's up to you to figure out who this "School Yard Funk" band is with their cover of Cisco Kid... I Google'd it with no luck.

"HE DRINK WHISKEY, PONCHO DRINKS THE WINE!"

What-just-set?

Wow, where'd I go? A Monday AND Tuesday with no posts? Not cool.

Sorry. Been busy. Work, a freelance thing, more work. Lervik, I owe you an email I've thought about writing, only to get caught up in the next project. Soon, though.

***

So Evey's been doing a lot of strange communication lately. When she gets home she tries to communicate with a lot of "mmm"s and "eww!"s. It's annoying. I tell her to use words. Hopefully it's just a stage.

And then tonight she asked Adrianne to feed her some cereal. Adrianne asked why? "Because I am a robot," Evey replied. "Robots do not eat food."

Huh?

My favorite Evey-speak is when she says, "what-jus-set?"

I can't hear very well sometimes, so I ask Adrianne to repeat things if she's trying to talk to me from three rooms away (does not being able to hear through walls really qualify as 'can't hear very well'? Debatable.) My common "I can't hear you" phrase is, "What'd you say?" But I say it so often, I think I run it together into, "Whaddyasay?"

Evey has taken this phase and added her own spin to it. It sounds like, "what-jus-set?" and she uses it in place of "what'd you say?" and "what did you want me to do?" and "where are we going?" and anything else that would typically require a simple, "what?" It's a catch-all.

I can't complain; Her Spanish is still better than mine.

***

Photos this post are of Evey at Sadie's 3rd birthday party -- they brought out the moonwalk -- and of Evey riding in the back seat with her Uncle Alex, who she just adores.

LeBron's "decision" causes ripples in Jones household

No, it's not like one of us really wanted him in Cleveland while the other two really wanted him to become a Bull. (I wanted him to become a Bull while the girls didn't give a crap.)

I hyped up the show to Adro (and I was excited, even if "the decision" show was crap) so we planned on watching it together. I was downstairs when the show came on. Evey yelled, "Dad, the chicken is on!" i didn't know chicken was for dinner, so i questioned this. "no, the dish-ih-kin!" oh, the DECISION. As in LeBron's.

So i came upstairs. Evey watched the dunks and said, "wow!" and a few "cool!"s. I was proud.

I gave the girls the choices. Evey took "New York!" rather proudly. Adro took Cleveland. I stuck with Chicago.

Then the decision didn't come right away. Evey's patience waned. She was promised Sleeping Beauty after "the decision." Every time the tv said "decision" she clapped and assumed that that meant the show was over. I'd tell her 5 more minutes and she'd scowl at me.

Finally the decision came. Miami Heat. Anti-climactic. Oh well.

I flipped on the blu-ray for Evey. Evey thought that was the best decision of the evening. My vote for best decision, meanwhile, was for the pajamas my wife chose (YOWSA, she also chose "Heat!")

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Ain't no party like a Grandmas-only party because a Grandmas-only party don't start

We had an ultra-exclusive 4th of July party at my house this year. You weren't invited? Well, there's a reason.

Before you could get into this 4th of July party, you had to meet the following requirements:

-- you must remember when the Lucille Ball Show wasn't in reruns
-- you must have bought gas when it was less than 40 cents a gallon
-- you must be a grandma
-- more specifically, you must be one of Evey's grandmas
-- extra bonus points if you walk with a limp, oftentimes misplace your glasses or sometimes call people a series of different family member's names until you get it right.

That's right, it was a GRANDMAS ONLY party at the Jones casa. My mom ("Noni"), Adro's mom ("Grandma") and Adro's grandma ("Memow") all came over. Evey was thrilled. Me, I'm always happy to be able to say I'm the best basketball player in the room.


Sadly, with this crew, Evey was the best Uno player in the room. Of the eight or nine games we played, Evey won FOUR of them (notice how she's humbly holding up a "No. 1!" with her hand?). Maybe she won so many because she was the only one not drinking? I don't know, she had the cards... sure, we helped her play, but she won all her games fair and square.

I make jokes about the requirements for getting in, but it really was great to have this group of wonderful ladies with us at our house. I was especially happy to have my Mom there, as it's still weird to not have my Dad in the room with us for these things. We talked about last year's 4th, I remember it well... Dad was having headaches at this time, but we had no idea it was something so serious. We grilled at our old house on Pennsylvania Street (photo of my Dad that day included). Me and Dad walked to watch some of the bike races downtown afterwards. Hard to believe that was just last year.



...Anyway, it was a memorable 4th of July, even though no one wanted to do a keg stand with me.

***

So, about those first three photos? Can you believe the disparity in quality? I took these three photos, boom-boom-boom. Blurry, focused, blurry. I'm taking the camera in to get it serviced, I think something is wrong with it (but I realize it could just be me).

The camera got screwy on me in Texas... and I still haven't taken it in for service yet. I'll try to make that happen soon.

Quick idiot box reviews

I'm not into fireworks, it's not my thing. And I did very little moving around this 4th of July weekend. I mostly watched a ton of TV. It was kind of nice. Here are some quick reviews:

Hot Tub Time Machine: Kind of funny, not a bad little popcorn flick. I chuckled more than once.

Shutter Island: Not as good as I hoped it'd be. At first I was really disappointed, then I saw it was a Martin Scorsese film and I was like, "Wow, that didn't suck as much as his films usually do."

Last Comic Standing: Why are the judges giving their opinions after every comic goes on? It totally breaks up the flow of the show. And the judges (who are all nobodies anyway) keep saying the same thing over and over again! I get why there are judge's reactions in American Idol... I kind of like to hear what an expert thinks. But do I really need someone to explain to me why something is or isn't funny? Am I really that stupid?

Pawn Stars: I watched literally ten episodes today. I love this show. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a chance. I made Adro watch this show a few times, and now she's hooked too. And she's the last person you'd expect to watch a show about people selling junk (wait... does QVC count?) But this show has a lot more than people selling stuff... the employees of the pawn shop make for a great cast -- you got grumpy, funny, jerky and dumb... and the items people bring in really are interesting. Like buried treasure, an NBA championship ring, a cannon, etc. This might be my new favorite thing on TV... besides Sunny in Philadelphia.

Dad, can we get that?

Tonight's post is a quick one because i've been playing magazine journalist on-and-off since 9 a.m. this morning...

I'm tucking Evey and Adro in bed (they typically go to bed together if i'm staying up late) and Adro has QVC on the bedroom TV.

The product this evening was some type of seasoning dispenser... Like a black pepper grinder but for all the different spices.

Or, as i like to call it, "junk."

So Evey asks me, "Dad, what's that?"

"that's junk, Evey," i inform her.

Adro adds her two cents.

"that's made by (name), the same guy who made (useless kitchen product that we own)!!!"

"junk," i repeat.

Evey looks at it as i'm trying to give her her goodnight kiss.

"Dad?" she says. "Can we buy that?"

Someone help me, there's TWO OF THEM now.

***

I wrote the skeleton... Or a first draft, at least... Of what will be the August cover story for my magazine. I wrote about 3,000 words... And feel pretty good about the story. I hope i don't ever take these moments for granted. That story will eventually get printed 25,000 times and be shipped to 80 different countries. I hope i do this story justice. Because these are the days -- when i get to be a real magazine writer -- that my job is just awesome.

I'll post the story when it's published in august.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.