So this is the Master Control Program everyone's been talking about!

In anticipation of Tron: Legacy coming out this winter, I added the original Tron to my NetFlix queue, not expecting to like it, but wanting to know the back-story before I enter the theater for the new film...

Wow, was I pleasantly surprised.

This was the first time I had seen the movie. Why is that the case? This movie just screams for multiple re-runs on channels like TBS, TNT and WGN in the 1990s.

The movie is just gorgeous, first of all. I expected lousy animation... maybe because all I was really familiar with of the movie was the motorcycle race scenes. The people look great, though. The reds, blues and grays mixed with the splashes of neon looked great on my Sony Bravia.

The story is actually intriguing. The Master Control Program makes for a great villain, and Flynn, not fully realizing who he is in the MCP world, makes a great hero. The character of Tron (I always assumed Tron -- pictured below -- was the name of the game, not a character) was also cool... and it was fun following both Flynn and Tron's odyssey through the MCP world.



Maybe it was just a case of low expectations surpassed, but I'll tell you that me, Adro and Evey sat and watched it from start to finish, and all three of us enjoyed it. Evey even wanted to re-watch it... and that was fine with me, as the movie was rated PG, and never got too scary for her.
So add Tron to your NetFliz queue when you get a chance. After all, Tron: Legacy is almost here (out on Dec. 17th), and it's going to be the BIG MOVIE of 2010...

Head for the Cure, hurt for the cause

On Sunday morning, me and my sister and her friend Stacy ran in a 5K race in Lawrence. This was Jessica's idea... I ran a lot of 5Ks when I was a high school kid, but I haven't run one since I was 19.

The good news? I finished 5th in my age division.

The bad news? There were only five people in my age division.

Good news... both Jess and Stacy finished in FIRST PLACE in their age division!

As you can see, the race was called "Head for the Cure," and yes, this was a benefit for brain cancer research. Brain cancer is what took our Dad, so Sis thought this would be a good event for us to support.

Maybe next year I'll support them by just mailing them a check!

Seriously, the 5K hurt. It didn't help that I have/had a bad knee, a sprained ankle, a level 1 hangover and only four hours of sleep when I ran (I was at the Smashing Pumpkins/Cake show the night before). I ran the first mile straight through, but then ran/jogged/walked/farted through miles two and three. I was hoping to finish in 30 minutes... I ran it in a whopping 32:30. OUCH. Jessica and Stacy ran it in 26 and 25 minutes, respectively.

While I was on the first mile, I saw some poor runner stepped in a giant load of dog shit. There was a right shoe-print of dog poo that went on for about 50 yards. Within that same 50 yards, someone apparently got a nose bleed, because there were little splotches of blood on the sidewalk every six feet.

And I thought to myself: wow, there are two people actually having a worse time than me!

All kidding aside -- it was a great cause, I'm proud of both Jess and Stacy for winning their divisions, and I'm happy I actually made it across the finish line and that the camera man documented this occasion for me. (He must have realized the feat of me crossing the finish line was special, as I was the only person who seemed to get a finish-line photo taken.)

I'm also glad I didn't step in dog crap or get a nose bleed. Those two dudes may have had better times than me, but hey -- at least I didn't have to leave my shoes outside when I got home.

Smashing pumpkins@ sandstone

Somehow we r not getting rained on!

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

We upgraded for smashing pumpkins!

Wanna go for a ride!

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We upgraded for smashing pumpkins!

Wanna go for a ride!

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I am ready for the 5k

@ cake concert!

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Home at last

That wore me out! Wore evey out too. She's watching the care bears dvd we checked out from the library. Hopefully napping soon...

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Three hours later, we're back

At the library!

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Called an audible

Decided to make a pit stop by Dad Perry Park!

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Lunch at old chicago

Photo by momma

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Train derailed

We were at the library for all of 5 minutes. Story time was about to start. Evey was playing with the blocks.

"dad, i have to change my pants!"

You. Are. Kidding. Me.

Turns out, some little **** spilled her sippy cup on the blocks table. Evey sat there and let the drink drip on her until she was a mess.

"i want to go home and take a shower," evey said to me.

I calmed her down. We are now at target looking at toys. We are modeling new $4 pants.

We shall return to the library later...

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First stop, Anthony's Diner

My fave restaurant in eudora! I love small towns. Everyone is so nice.

Next up, story time @ the library.

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Friday O'POMP

• Today's Friday O'POMP photo is of my two flip-flops. I left one outside in the car in the heat, the other made it inside in my duffel bag. It was damn hot outside. I got the two flip-flops together, and I blinked a few times. What the hell? It took me about five minutes to confirm that someone hadn't switched me shoes... that the heat made the one shrink that much!
• Me and Evey are taking the day off today (I travelled on Labor Day for work, so work did me a solid and gave me Friday off). So me and Evey are going to get a pancake, hit the library, have lunch with mom, go to Best Buy... it's gonna be awesome.


• I just saw a commercial for Kevin Yoder for Congress. That dude looks exactly the same as he did when he was going to KU in the late '90s with me. And he looked just as awkward on TV as he did in person. Which is kind of cool that that awkwardness sticks with you, even when you're running for Congress.


• True story: The Republicans came by my house recently. They didn't knock, but they left me some candidate pamphlets on my front step. I'm a Democrat, but no problem, I appreciate them trying to spread their word. What I don't appreciate? The dude handing out the leaflets leaving his empty coffee cup behind! Seriously, I thought whoever was campaigning also bought me a cup of coffee! But nope, he just left me his trash to clean up! Jerks.


• One white Russian on a slightly empty stomach makes my brain feel less anaerobic, more aerobic.


• I would go see Shakira if she were playing at the Bottleneck or Granada.


• The View has had 3,000 episodes. There were 102 episodes of Alf. Sometimes there is no justice.


• Evey has been asking us for a pet on the drive into Lawrence the past week or so. Usually it's when we hit the light at 23rd and Iowa that she hits us with the sob story. I don't know why she's reminded that she doesn't own a pet when we hit that intersection. Something about Freddy's? I don't know. But she'll get on the sad voice, and say, "Daddy, why can't we have a pet?" and I'll say maybe someday sweetie. And she'll get sad. Then I'll ask her what kind of pet she'd like to have, if we could get one. "Daddy... I want a baby unicorn." Everyday, a baby unicorn. I've told her there are no baby unicorns. She still wants one.


• Wednesday night Adro crashed out before Evey did, so Evey came downstairs to the Shadow Gallery to go pee-pee* (*see what dad was doing). After she went to the bathroom I told her it was late and she needed to get her butt in bed. She said, "OK, Dad. But when I go to bed... I'm going to dream about Disneyland." Who is feeding this kid these things?


• I emailed my top 100 songs of all time to about 25 friends yesterday. Why? I don't know. I'm not on Facebook, so I need to reach out every once in a while. (This is what people do on Facebook, right? Send each other their top 100 songs lists?)


• Speaking of Facebook, if there has been a group created in support of Jason, formerly of 96.5 the Buzz, will someone let me know? And let me know when and where their next rally is? I am thinking about bringing a tomato to the Buzz Beach Ball on Saturday night, just in case Lazlo takes the stage at any time.


• The Toadies are playing the B'neck tomorrow night. I can't frickin wait! That band in a venue as great as the Bottleneck? You really should come with me.


• My wife dressed as white trash for work today. I was supposed to take a photo, but we never did. It was "wing day" at work, and each wing had a different theme, my wife's wing went with white trash. What did I learn about this? Two things: 1) our family owns a reassuringly small amount of white trash items and 2) my wife also looks hot in a white trash get-up. Giddy-up!


• My wing? We were a wing restaurant. We all wore aprons and had chicken wings available. I don't look hot in an apron, it turns out.


• But in hindsight, I should have been wearing more than just the apron.

Evey at dance class

Evey is taking a dance class down the street from our house at Amanda's Dance Academy (or somesuch). Evey LOVES IT.

We started her off in the easiest class, called "tumbling." there was a higher class for girls her age and older called "ballet" but that sounded a little difficult... If she has the dance moves of her mom and dad, all the other kids would laugh at her, we figured.

We brought Evey to her first session, and she was the only child registered in the class. So it was essentially a 30-minute private lesson, right? We were unintentionally training the next child dance prodigy.

But then we'd leave, and there'd be 8 little girls around her age waiting to go into the next class, ballet. Evey didn't understand -- why couldn't she dance with the little girls, why was she in a class by herself, she wanted to know.

Me and Adro decided we'd drop the tumbling and let her dance with the girls in ballet. It's great that she wants to dance with other kids. We shouldn't sequester her.

Wait, wait... Evey just learned how to do a forward roll! Awesome! (i'm typing this on my phone while Evey is in dance class.)

Then we told Judy about the class situation. She had a forward-thinking view on it, a view of a true grandma... Why not have Evey take BOTH classes? Grandma Judy volunteered to help out with the additional cost.

So now our dance prodigy is in back-to-back dance classes.

And guess what? Dancing genes must just skip every other generation... Because Evey's a graceful dancer. We should have known this. She loves to dance at home. It's probably her second favorite thing, behind movies.

So next time you see her, ask her to show you some new moves! The girl's got skills!

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Dad would have turned 64 today

He wasn't much of a beer drinker later in life, but... cheers, Dad. This one's for you.

And not to be too melancholy, here's a photo of Evey at the library the other day (I posted this photo on Twitter.)

Evey and J.J. at the news desk

An unusual weekend here. It started out at a gay bar. Yes, a gay bar.

We (me, Bart, Hendren) had tickets to see the Pixies at the Uptown Theater Friday night. We also wanted to watch the KU game. Hendren Google'd it, and found a sports bar right across the street from the Uptown. And yes, it was billed as a sports bar.

But "Outa Bounds" is a gay, gay sports bar.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

We did end up drinking there, I did get hit on when buying a beer, and we were the only three guys who gave a shit about the KU game on the TV. It was, for sure, the strangest place I can imagine to watch a KU football game. I mean, even the jukebox was gay.

Anyway, from there we hit the Pixies show -- they were awesome, of course. I love that band. I was also happy that I didn't have to worry about being hit on anymore.

Saturday morning my sister came and picked us up and we went to Mulvane to see my Mom. I worked on the yard for a few hours. Then we went and had a big family birthday party. There are a lot of September birthdays in our family (including Adro on the 2nd and my Dad on the 21st) and the big one was cousin Sean turning 50. So we killed a few beers and toasted all the old men... of which, I was lumped into based on my gray hair.

Sunday we visited Grandma, then went and put flowers on Dad's grave. Then we hustled home so we could get started up with the week that's coming. Both Evey and Marina were tired and cranky. I was glued to the Chiefs radio broadcast. Jess and Adro were tired.

So it was a strange weekend. Gay bar, Pixies, birthday party, yard work, Dad's grave... this weekend I was frightened, excited, happy, sad, frustrated, mad. And that was all just in the first quarter of the KU game!

***

If you made it this far, make sure you vote in my new poll, on the upper right-hand side of the blog! I'm not voting in this one, I really want to know your opinion on this one.

***

These photos I took when Lervik was in town a few weeks ago. Me and Lerv made a drunken attempt at humor for the Laugh Olympics, attempting to make a video of us at a TV sports desk, predicting who would do well at the LO. But then, the next day I watched the videos... they were 10 minutes long, rambly, F-bomb laden (thanks, Evey....) I deemed then not suitable for something called the "Laugh Olympics," as there were no laughs to be had. Oh well. We did have fun. I think.

Friday O'POMP

This is a photo of Jeff after he won the 2009 Fantasy Football trophy. We have our end-of-the-season celebration at Rick's, and I relenquished the trophy to him last season (keen readers will remember in 2008, I beat Jeff for the trophy... in 2009, Jeff beat Lervik for the trophy).

I told Jeff we needed to commemorate this occasion with a photo, because, after all, he'll never win the trophy again.

Jeff is surely the only lawyer in Lawrence with a football helmet lamp in his office. And that's why he's my lawyer, ladies and gentlemen.

The defense rests.

Jones family news you can use

• Evey is in a dance class in Eudora. She LOVES it. She's been there four times now? The first couple times, she was sad when it was time to leave... so we had to talk to her about being a good sport when the fun is over... she left with class today.
• Adro hurt her neck... maybe a pinched nerve or a pulled muscle? Did it getting out of bed. She's all crooked and can't straighten out her shoulders. Not good, hopefully she's better tomorrow.
• Did you know that the Comets (indoor soccer) are coming back? First game is Nov. 12th. They'll be playing far, far away in Independence, Mo., but I'm excited and ready to road trip!
• The 2010 John Wake Laugh Olympics happened over Labor Day weekend. 73 particpants, 0 arrests. Next year will be the 10th anniversary of the JLO.
• Yesterday (the 14th) marked a year ago that my Dad died. This coming Tuesday would have been his 63rd birthday. We're going to Wichita this weekend to remember him.
• I blew my keg on Saturday night, when we had company over.
• My watermelon plant produced one watermelon, a little bit larger than a softball, but that watermelon rotted on the backside.
• I'm seeing the Pixies this Friday... Toadies next Friday... and Cake and Smashing Pumpkins next Saturday. Drop me a line if you want to join me for any of those shows.
• If you Google "Especially Evey," this blog is the first thing that shows up.
• I just set a personal record for keeping a Netflix DVD. The movie was "Whiteout" and barely worth renting, let alone letting it sit around for six weeks.
• I like rice.

F U, 96.5 the Buzz!!!

I will now be boycotting 96.5 the Buzz -- i have already removed them from my speed dial and replaced them, sadly, with classic country -- because they fired their best DJ, Jason Ulanet. In fact, Jason was their ONLY good DJ.

There's no way i can support a station that fires Jason, yet still employs Afentra and Lazlo. Terrible, just terrible.

F U 96.5 the Buzz!

GREEN MAN!!!

And no, I don't know who the other kid is.

Jett doing homework after school

Working on "word pyramids." he is in 2nd grade, his teacher is Miss Jackson. When did Jett suddenly grow up on me here?

I'm on a private jet!

Well, I've already been, as the SNL crew sings, "on a boat!" Now I've been on a private jet, too.

Trust me, this is the best way to fly. The plane takes off when you get there. The pilots get up out of their seat and say, "Is the temperature in here OK?" And there's NO LINE at customs.

OK, so I flew to Cancun with World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Price. I'm doing the cover story on him in the December issue of GCM. And he helped me play big-time magazine writer by inviting me to join him on his trip to Cancun and back this Tuesday/Wednesday.



Pretty cool. That's me and Nick (and his jet). Nick is WAY COOL. Over a few beers I told him the story of Adro telling me we should buy a keg-o-rator (I've told you the story here) and he cracked up, saying it was the "greatest story (he) ever heard!"

So, yeah, yay me! A really cool assignment! And I'll be home tomorrow by 1 p.m. SWEET.

I really hope you'll ask me about this story over a beer next time we're hanging out and there's a lull in the conversation, because the whole trip was pretty bad-ass!

And yet, I can't wait to get home and see my girls!!!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day weekend… me and Adro saw “Inception,” we hit Shelly’s wedding reception and I hosted the 9^th annual John Wake Laugh Olympics. Had a lot of friends in town, a lot of drinks were consumed… good times.

 

The girls baked cookies tonight. I have a running joke with Evey that I’m going to eat all the cookies, and she warns me that I can’t, or else I’ll get sick. I tell Evey I’m going to put 10 cookies in my boca (mouth) and she freaks out, “No, Dad, you can’t eat 10 cookies or you’ll get sick!” It’s like an auction except she’s trying to bid me down so she can have more cookies. Evey finally settled on four cookies – that was acceptable, and would not make me sick.

 

Mmmm, cookies…

 

(This photo is from our trip to St. Louis back in 2009.)

Friday O'POMP

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful wife. We celebrated her birthday Thursday night by having a quiet evening at the house. That's what she wanted. I offered to take her to a fancy dinner (as fancy as Dave and Buster's, at least) but she preferred grilled cheese sandwiches and the comfort of our home. Damn, I love my wife!

For this installment of Friday O'POMP, I'm once again sharing an old photo offa my phone from this time last year. When Dad got sick, I asked him if he needed anything done around the house to help him out. "Oh yeah, son," he says to me, "I had a tree fall over in the yard, I could use some help getting it out..."

So me and Mike went down to my Mom and Dad's house, not expecting anything too drastic, and we find this GIANT tree in the backyard, mangled, thorns all over the place... it was a crabapple tree, so if you've been around one of those trees, you know the thorns can easily draw blood or worse!

Solo took over the chainsaw and we just got after it. We had three truckloads of tree limbs like this. Worked all day and still didn't get it done!

That was a memorable day. Thanks again to my best friend, Abasolo, for sticking it out with me all day, and showing that tree that we weren't going down without a fight!