Thursday, March 27, 2014

Super Keith Freeze Batman

Hmm, what to report on tonight...?



Boyd has been a bit of a stinker lately. Just acting up. Freaking out over little stuff.

I put on my mad face, spank him, and the one who suffers the most is Evey. History repeats itself (Jess did the same thing for me, I'm told.)

***

Evey asked me the other day, "Is Mom done having babies?" I said yes. "Oh no!" Evey said. "I want a baby sister!"

***

I had a long post written about Evey's new glasses, but apparently the email I sent to blogger didn't pick it all up...

Was worried about the reaction at school. And yep, some girls were mean to Evey about her glasses.

Evey gets really bummed/worried about the way her "friends" treat her at school. I keep telling her that she hasn't really met a true friend yet, the way things go at school (friends one day, mean the next, etc.)

I look forward to the day Evey makes a true friend at school, and I hope she's a good influence on her.

***

Did they find that missing plane yet?

***

I had the good fortune of discussing the KU loss with Bart tonight.

Whenever KU loses, the first person I want to call is my Dad. It's instinctual.

So I have to bite my lip for a few days until I can meet up with a friend whose b-ball intelligence I respect. I was finally able to dump on Bart tonight.

My main questions: how did you not create more plays for Wiggins? Get him to the line! How did the Jayhawks shoot so cold from 15-feet in? How about from behind the 3-point line? Who would have thought that Black and Frankamp would have been our two best players in the last game of the season?

A disappointing end, because it should have been an easy W. And then we would have gotten Embiid back...

***

I watched "Timecrimes" last night. An interesting time travel suspense movie.

It's foreign, and the dubbed dialogue was daft, but the story was pretty solid. Watch it, then let's discuss Hector # 1 and Hector # 2 (and not to give anything away... maybe # 3, # 4, and # 5.)

***

When was the last tiem you visited www.Golfdom.com? Go there and check out some video interviews! See how fat I'm getting!

***

So they found that plane, yeah?

***

Did a photo shoot for our sister publication today. Hope it works out! Would love to have a photo on the cover of a new magazine.

As of right now I've shot covers for GCM and Golfdom... I think that's it. Would love to add Landscape Management to the mix!

Now, I've been on the covers of many magazines... including Lollapalooza Fanbook 2010, Prematurely Gray Yet Studly, Awesome Comic Collection, Wrigley Field's Most Wanted, Cat Fancy and Throw Momma From the Train Fan Club... but it's just as cool to be the one taking the cover photo...

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

At Sunfire

Celebrating a great report card!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Fritz's train

Boyd enjoys watching the train cruise by at Fritz's. Every time it goes by he acts like it's the first time... "LOOK!!!"

Monday, March 17, 2014

Planet Comicon 2014

I'll tell our full comic convention story later, but for now, here is Jett getting Ande Parks' autograph at the convention on Sunday!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

About time!


We had a good weekend last weekend... let's see...

  • Friday night Adrianne and I watched "About Time," and I was surprised that I really, really enjoyed it. Funny, thought provoking, sweet, sentimental, touching... with a nice philosophical ending about life.  
  • Saturday morning, we had our last ass kicking basketball game of the season (thank God that's over!)
  • Saturday afternoon, Jess, Jett and Marina came over and watched the KU/WVa game with us.
  • Saturday afternoon-noon, I went crazy and patched some holes in the walls around the house, much to the surprise of Mrs. Jones.
  • Saturday night, Adrianne and I went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade charity auction, and had a good time.
  • Sunday morning I hooped it up with the guys, and hit a handful of James Harden-like 3-point bombs.
  • Had a beer with Ted after the hoops.
  • Had a beer with Adro after that.
  • Adro and Evey proved to me via a TV show that Mermaids are real.
  • Went out with some friends in the industry and pounded way too many beers at Rick's on Sunday, leaving me in a semi-deceased state all day Monday.
So, as you can clearly see, it was a good weekend.

Monday, March 10, 2014

You and your cousins

Jess nabbed this pic during the KU game on Saturday... They're growing so fast!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Farewell Z; welcome to a new cousin





A lot has gone on since my last (non-) update on the blog (what the heck? Where did the rest of that last post go? Now it's gone forever, and I'll never remember what was awesome about that weekend...) I've been meaning to get a post out, but the magazine was due and I've just been kinda slammed in general. But now, it's a quiet Wednesday night. Time for some updates.

***

Most significant to the family is the addition of another (second-) cousin to the family in the birth of Sylvia Romero, daughter of Brent and Rosalina. She looks beautiful! Can't wait to meet her, and congrats to the growing Vignery-Romero family.

***

The Z has been sold. Long live the Z.

It's a somewhat interesting story if you want to hear it in person. The short of it: I re-posted it on Craigslist a week or so ago... Got some emails... had a father/son take it for a test drive on Saturday morning. Got home, saw another email from another interested party. He wanted to take it for a test drive ASAP, before the snow hit...

Head back to KC, meet this guy at the Bass Pro Shop in Olathe. He's a little younger than me, salt and pepper hair like me. Single guy, a car head. He asked if he could romp on the Z on an on-ramp, I told him to go for it. He romped it hard... and loved what the Z showed him. "I'm sorry, I know that probably killed you," he said afterwards. "Look, there's a reason people are interested in this car. It's not for the gas mileage."

Took it back to the Bass Pro and he asked me to hang for a bit, his mom and dad were on their way to take a look. They got there, the dad grilled me a little... and then took me aside and told me he was prepared to pay me close to what I wanted, but not the asking price... in cash. And not a dollar more than what he had with him.

I pondered it for a little bit and then took the offer. It was bittersweet.

Adrianne, Evey and Boyd met me at the Longhorn Steakhouse. I'm sitting there at the bar, crying in my beer, with $7,000 cash in my pocket. It was a strange moment.

I wanted to sell the Camaro, and I'm happy I did. It seems like it went to a good home, too... the guy texted me telling me how happy he was with the Z, that it was driving great, and that he had already waxed it and it was in his garage looking great.

But at the same time, my dad was with me when I bought that car. I felt like I lost a little connection to my old man when I parted ways with it...

I reminded myself over and over that right now, I'm driving my dad's old truck... that would make him happy. And it's a better car for my family.

I had 12 great years in the Z. Maybe I'll get back in one again in 20 years or so. An SS this time...

But probably not. I'm still hopeful to own a Corvette before I die.

***

Evey had a check-up recently. She's doing great.

Quick aside: Is it reasonable to wait an hour and 50 minutes to see your doctor? The appointment was scheduled for 4 p.m. The doctor finally entered the room at 5:50.

Bullshit, right?

Anyway. She was in the 95th percentile on height at 4'4". She also had 20/40 and 20/50 vision (or somesuch) and it's the doc's belief that she'll need glasses soon.

No surprise. Adrianne needed glasses by 3rd grade, I needed them by 6th grade.

Evey seems curious about the whole thing, but not bummed. We did have this exchange on the way to school this morning:

EJ: Dad, do you think I'll need glasses?
SJ: Probably, eventually, sweetie. Your mom and I both needed glasses...
EJ: OK...
SJ: Does that make you sad?
EJ: No, but... I kind of like my look right now.

***

More Evey randomness...

While playing around with Boyd the other day, Boydee asked Evey if he could play with the Kindle (he's currently serving a 5-day suspension from the Kindle, for being mean to his sister).

Evey told Boydee that he could play with the Kindle... so long as he PROMISED HER... that he would embarrass himself on his birthday for the rest of his life.

What the?!?

***

Evey and Boyd were getting ready to rumble the other day. Play-fight.

Boydee loves to "fight" Evey. They throw pillows, stuffed chairs, balls at each other. Sometimes Boydee just launches into fight mode. We've told him that he has to ask Evey if he wants to fight before he can start fighting her.

So now we often hear Boydee say, "Evey, want to fight?"

I was sitting in the living room when Evey accepted Boyd's challenge. She then began narrating, or maybe doing a play-by-play of the fight.

"Who will win?!?" she asked out loud, in a dramatic tone. "Evey? She's beautiful... but doesn't know it... or Boydee?"

Uhm, I think someone might know it... or at least think it...

I blame Disney Channel and especially the show "Jessie."

***

Brother-in-law got a big promotion at work. He's now a Vice President.

Very cool, M.J.! Keep doing good.

***

Hendo went to Vegas recently, so I gave him $60 to make two sports book bets for me:

Jayhawks to win it all (13/2) and Trailblazers to win it all (20/1).

I put $25 on the 'Hawks in 2008, when they won it all. I forget the payout, but it was a fun hit for sure.

The Trailblazers? I figure, what the heck. Take a longshot to make the playoffs a little more interesting. I'll be rooting for the Thunder, but... if the 'Blazers make it out of the first round? Guess who will be watching every one of their playoff games?

That entertainment is worth losing $30 any time.

(For the non-gamblers, if the 'Blazers found a way to win it, that $30 would become $600.)

((Why the Blazers? I saw them in Cleveland, and I was so impressed with the Damian Lillard/LaMarcus Aldridge combination. They're the # 1 offense in the league. AND there's a new commissioner for the first time in 30-some years... so this could potentially be the first year when the NBA Finals isn't fixed.))

***

Speaking of hoops, Evey's final basketball game... perhaps of her career... is this Saturday at 9 a.m. at Eudora Rec.

You're invited.

***

I got a new passport. The new passports are good for 10 years. The State Department sent me my old passport back, with some holes punched in it.

I think it'll be a fun keepsake.

***

Adrianne is taking me to see Morrissey in Lawrence. He's performing at Liberty Hall. That's cool.

"How Soon Is Now?" came on my Pandora channel while I was doing the dishes tonight. It should be a fun show, even though I'm not a huge fan.

It'll be the second time Adro and I have seen Mozz.

***

Rented World War Z the other day. Was fully prepared to be terrified out of my mind. (The book is brilliant, and scary as shit.)

Amazing what the studio's need to stick to a PG-13 rating can do to a movie.

This should have been the scariest movie I've seen in a loooong time (even scarier than Love Actually). But instead it was rather vanilla.

And the story wasn't scary enough on its own.

A mild thumb's down.

***

Saw Gravity at the theater with Copy J.

The movie was beautiful. The story was barely passable.

By the end of the movie, I was rooting for outer space.

That's not good.

***

We've got about 10 new couches in the house. But that's a post for another day (I've got a photo ready for that post.)

But needless to say... this next garage sale is going to be HUGE.