I was really impressed with how Evey put together this power point for her class recently. I was there cooking with her and she was snapping the occasional photo as we were working ... quality work Evey, wow! The enchiladas turned out great, too!
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Monday, December 28, 2020
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Front row for Flat Jonesys
So we've seen two home games this season so far (I don't get ESPN+ so no telling about those games) but for the Creighton game and the Omaha game, the kids were rocking sweet seats!
No sign of me yet, but that's all good! My cut-out is probably at Rick's.
Monday, November 30, 2020
Sunday, November 29, 2020
The weekend that was, Thanksgiving 2020
So I'm wrapping up five days off in a row. How was your break?
Wednesday the kids and I got after it and did laundry, cleaned the house, etc. Felt good. then it was easy street for a few days.
We cleaned the basement up and had a double feature. "My Spy" and "Gemini Man." I kinda liked My Spy. It took us 2.5 days to finish Gemini Man because of our slow internet.
Gemini Man started off strong, and ended with a dud.
***
Thanksgiving was chill. Judy cooked the bird and the pig, I made the easy stuff, the stuffing, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. It was a quiet day overall. We ate well and had some awkward zooms. One with my family, the other with Adrianne's. I watched the Jayhawks get ran by Gonzaga (felt like the scored easily on every possession) ... first half in the HOJ, second at the house.
The most notable thing was that Virginia came over, possibly because Boyd wrote her a note inviting her. It was great to have her here and I think she enjoyed herself just fine even though she wouldn't do a tequila shot with me (don't worry, I didn't offer her one.)
The food was great. We ate plenty.
***
Friday felt good. We chilled. Leftovers.
We watched KU win in the HOJ. Came back over. Everyone was tired and cashed it in early.
Adrianne and I watched The Crow on free pay channels — I get the impression that was the first time she's seen it in 20 years — and it still holds up for me, stylistically. Then we did a double feature and watched Go which she had not seen. I think that's a great 90s movie (if it came out in the 90s?) and she liked it, I think... at least, she stayed awake for all of it.
***Saturday the weather was amazing and we weren't going to miss it. I cleaned up and burned a bunch of yard waste. Then I trimmed a tree behind the house. Then I burned that yard waste.
I was exhausted by 1 p.m. on Saturday, but I kept burning stuff, the weather was so nice. The kids came out and helped pick up the yard. Adro was pulling weeds like crazy and it was going directly in the fire.
Then Cathy brought her family over and invited us over for a game of croquet. That was surprisingly enjoyable! The kids were nervous going over, not knowing the rules. But once we learned how to play, we had a nice time.
My bonfire was still smoldering after the match. I came over and started burning the last of the big tree behind the house. Almost burned the whole thing!
My moment of clarity came on Saturday as the sun went down. It was cold. I was alone. But the jukebox was rocking. There was a small bonfire burning. I had a productive day, where I could point to the results. My body was fatigued but happy. My evening pint tasted sweet, like a reward. I sat in my barber's chair and thought to myself, "thank you."
Pretty lucky. Thankful.
Friday, November 27, 2020
Happy Thanksgiving 2020!
It was a smaller group than usual but the day was still memorable. The food was awesome. The company was smaller but still fantastic.
Sorry I cut you off on this pic Bub! Give me a little lean forward next time you Stink McGee!
Thursday, November 19, 2020
Guest star weekend!
The first visit was from one Sean Lipford, who I toasted a few drinks with Saturday afternoon, in honor of what appears to be the end of a political regime. Any change in political regime warrants beers among friends.
Then Ted and Heather and their kiddos came over! Pizzas, drinks, and a bunch of movies on the projector. It was such a nice change of pace. We watched movies, burned sparklers, played foos, climbed on rocks ... and me and Ted drank like we were in college.
The next day we got another unexpected guest star ... I invited the neighbor (Alex) over to watch the Chiefs in the HOJ, because that's what I do. But in these pandemic days, that guest star prevented the appearance of the fam ... and I watched the game with a stranger/new friend.
It was fun! It's all fun. Mostly.
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Happy 9th birthday, Bub
We celebrated here at the house... he's growing up fast!
And yes, he asked for weights for his birthday.
Monday, October 26, 2020
A sorry Sunflower Showdown, a better bonfire
What a Saturday!
Started off with some chores, including taking Virginia's old TVs to recycling... a 90 minute project!
Then we got home and I fired up the bonfire... turned on that lousy KU / KSU game... made some s'mores.. and stayed outside until the last piece of wood was burned!
The sun went down but the fire still smoldered. Called my Uncle Vince and chatted about life in the pandemic (he's doing good!) I was so exhausted I barely made it to SNL.
It was a good day.
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Meet Pierce!
What a cutie! Jason & Jackie's son is 5 weeks old. He was charming the Joneses that's for sure.
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
From the barber chair
This is the first blog post … from my new barber chair!
***
Last day of September. Can you believe it? It’s Fall all of a sudden. I got out the Halloween decorations today. Boyd’s birthday is on Monday. The air is crisp; the sky is bright blue and the leaves are flying through the air. No need to mow the lawn every five or six days.
Breathe DEEEEEEEP.
***
Last night we all watched the first presidential debate. Judy also stopped by and Lupe popped in too.
It was awful. Trump being Trump and Biden trying to navigate the noise.
I’ll be honest, I was disappointed in Biden’s performance. I felt like there were some openings he could have taken, some moments he could have had… but there will be no T-shirts or bumperstickers made using content from that mess.
I take that back, one bumpersticker could be, “Stand Down, Stand By.” That’s spooky.
The whole spectacle made everyone just feel uncomfortable, bloated and old. (Maybe not the kids, I don’t know. OK, that just describes how the debate made me feel.) Evey (and I know she reads the blog now) is really rooting for Biden and that’s sweet. I can’t imagine what the home life must be like for a 13-year-old who watched that and embraced Trump. I would hope that spectacle would make a young teen either 1) disgusted 2) disinterested 3) dejected or 4) a hopeful Biden supporter. That’s just a random generalization.
We’ll watch the next one. Evey is interested for sure, and so are Adro and I.
***
How about those CHIEFS!?! MNF was great! Nice 34-20 W against Baltimore.
Ted and his son Noah came over. As is tradition this season, I made chili dogs. Right before we started eating, Noah asked his dad, “have I ever eaten a chili dog?” To which Ted replied, “I don’t think so.”
I told him, no pressure. If you just want a hot dog that’s fine. Or a bowl of chili. But some combination; this is what I’ve got.
I was self-satisfied to see the kid slam down TWO chili dogs. Indeed, my chili dogs have become quite popular in just three weeks at the Casa de Jones. It’s a recipe I pulled off Google.
We watched some of the game on the projector, on the side of the HOJ, like we’ve been doing with movies. That was pretty awesome, but it got pretty cold that night. Eventually we had to move it inside the HOJ and watch it on the flatscreen in there (still a good TV though.)
Noah is a mirror image of his dad. A little shy like any 12-year-old around adults he doesn’t know well. But he had the line of the night, in my book.
They did a segment of how good a year Mahomes is having — Super Bowl W and MVP; new contract; buys part of the Royals; gets engaged. (Later we’d find out they’re expecting.)
Evey goes, “Mahomes bought part of the Royals?!? Why???” I said, “Because he loves baseball and he has all that money! His dad was a professional baseball player. If I had that kind of money you know I’d buy something cool!”
And Noah, under a blanket, deadpans, “yeah… like a space heater.”
That was a good line, but that kid is good in my book mostly because Ted texted me this morning: Noah is still raving about how good your chili dogs were! He told me again before school today.
A space heater, some day.
Royals first.
***
I just remembered to record the COVID-19 South Park special tonight.
I’ll be watching Game One of NBA Finals tonight. I’m taking Lakers in 6. LBJ/AD are too good together, and LBJ has been a monster.
Mostly hopeful for a good finals, but also rooting a little for Jimmy Buckets to upset the Lake Show.
***
You know the only thing the barber chair needs?
A cup holder.
But that’s probably not sanitary, is it?
***
Boyd turns 9 on Monday. He’s a character.
He’s a jokester and likes to mess with people. For example, his fake cobra? It somehow follows Adrianne all around all day.
He does a Fortnite walk from time to time, because he likes the attention it brings. It is funny.
And he gets in trouble once in a while for giving one-word answers, not picking up after himself, getting upset when he can’t play on the xBox.
So yeah, he’s almost 9. Good kid.
**
Evey played her last game of volleyball yesterday, as an 8th grader on the jayvee team. She was co-captain and the fulltime setter.
I was really impressed to see her going from never making a set (none of the team tried this concept in 7th grade) to setting everything passed to her, either off a true set or off a bump. Her running bump sets were especially impressive to me. (Too bad she never had a hitter to take advantage!)
She signed up for basketball and I’m excited for that. I was banned from her first volleyball scrimmage (by Evey, true story.) But I was a good (quiet, say nothing negative or positive, just sit there quietly) fan in volleyball, so I’m hoping good behavior(?) gets me good access to basketball.
We’ll see!
But seriously, going to Evey’s volleyball games and rooting for her was a great mental break from the drama that’s going on in the nation, and just being a sports dad.
Evey is a great teammate … and an even better human. (Sorry I didn't get a photo of you for this post Evey!!!)
Beautiful Kansas sunsets
Maybe because of the wildfires, but the sunsets have been especially beautiful lately. Enjoying them in the front yard with the family, watching the sun set, listening to good music. Feels great!
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Play 7810
Pretty good weekend here. I’m feeling mostly normal now, two weeks removed from my surgery. Tested my limits a few times (picked up a package of bottled waters; did some yard work) and felt good!
Saturday was a cool day. I’ll tell you why.
I woke up at a decent hour and went and did the recycling, took the dog with me. We then went and got some tortillas for breakfast. Came home and I fired out an epic Country Breakfast on the flat-top. Scrambled eggs, sausage, breakfast potatoes, bacon… so good!
After breakfast I mowed half the yard, then I watched KSU lose their home opener (I love it when KSU loses football games… and it was also an exciting game.) The girls had hair appointments, so Bub and I would be on our own for a bit. What to do?
We took it easy and just went for a cruise in the Impala, to Sonic. Got lunch, drove around a little bit. I could tell Boyd was getting a little sleepy. By the time I pulled in to the house, he was OUT. I left the windows down, snuck out, and let him sleep right there while I got comfortable at the HOJ.
Girls are doing good at the hair appointment? Boyd is doing good, taking a nap in the Impala? The weather was perfect, there was this layer of clouds that move in, and it was cool, overcast…
I did what any man would do at that moment. I took off my T-shirt, cracked open a beer and played 7810 on the jukebox. Then I heard the thump-thump-thump of a Chinook helicopter. I walked outside the HOJ in time to see two Chinooks following each other, low, flying right at me. Soundgarden’s “Day I tried to live” started playing on the jukebox. I threw my hands in the air, impressed by the moment.
And then suddenly I was soaked in sunlight. There was one little hole in the clouds… and it was beaming on me.
I’m not the most spiritual person in the world, but at that moment I waved at my parents, I thanked God, I threw a first in the air to Allah, you name it. AWESOME. I felt so… alive.
I sat down with an Iron Man comic from 1975. Cold beer, good music, perfect weather, son sleeping peacefully in the Impala 10 feet from me… all was right in my world. I got to page two… looked up… saw my neighbor the Cowboy on his horse in the field across the road. Gave him a wave. He waved back, and rode over…
We chatted for about 20 minutes or so. Nice guy. We don’t have a lot in common (interests, politics, etc.) but I like him and I know he’d give me the shirt off his back if I needed it. We wrapped it up and he rode off.
I got a new beer (keep in mind I’m on beer # 2 at this point, so the sunbeam wasn’t me just hammered or something) and sit back down. Start back up on Iron Man. Weird comic. Make it about three more pages. And a white Mustang pulls into my drive.
It’s another neighbor, Matthew, I think? Bill’s son. He paints cars. Wanted to show me his new project. It looked nice! We walked around this Mustang three, four times and agreed how nice it looked. At one point I saw Boyd pop his head up; he saw me, closed his eyes and fell back asleep…
Matthew and I wrapped up. Grabbed beer # 3. Went back to the lawn chair. Sat down. Read the most bizarre nonsensical Iron Man comic to the next-to-last page. And then Boyd woke up.
It was a memorable Saturday afternoon. And I didn’t even mention the Mittens story, or the new pigs the neighbors have…
Friday, September 4, 2020
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
No belly moshing this weekend!
 |
| Adro and I in Omaha, last summer. Hello from the Hall of Justice, 9 a.m. on a beautiful Sunday morning. Me and the dog are out here enjoying the weather. I’m catching up on unread emails (I just discovered the ‘schedule send’ button here in 2020) and listening to Pearl Jam live at Benaroya Hall Disc 1. *** |
It was an interesting few days for sure, memorable because on Friday morning I went in and had hernia surgery on my belly button.
The doctors and staff at LMH (Dr. Park did my surgery) were all fantastic… professional yet compassionate. Thumb’s up review all around on how they took care of me.
My recovery at home has been good. Day one was a little rough. It was hard to move around. And the painkillers made me paranoid. I felt like Cheech driving around in L.A. traffic at 10 mph. Sleepless first night for sure.
As of Sunday morning I feel pretty good. I can get up out of the chair relatively quickly, using my arm strength, avoiding stomach muscles. No painkillers for almost 24 hours now, just a little sore. I went to Aleve/Aspirin for a little bit and that was much better than the prescription stuff they gave me.
***
All the family pitched in to help me out. For Boyd, it was not being a wild man around me. For Adro, it was keeping everyone fed, to bed on time, etc. Grandma came over and hung out to make sure we were all doing good.
Evey was the one who was so worried about me and willing to just stay close to me. She said to me Saturday night, “I don’t care what we do, but I want to do something with you.” We played an easy game of foosball, and then played Battleship (she destroyed me in both). Boyd came out later and we played Uno until the sun went down. Such sweet kids! Especially Evey.
She also told me later on that when she grows up, she thinks she’ll come over to check on me and mom often and make sure we’re doing good. I hope she’s right!
Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Watching Royals @ HOJ
Just got done mowing the lawn, relaxing in the HOJ afterwards, couple cold beers and Royals baseball.
I realize how I'm really not much of a Royals/MLB fan when I keep wanting to turn over to NBA.
***
Too bad NBA games were all cancelled because of the violence in ... Kenosha, Wis., of all places. What a sad, tiring year we're having. I'm tired.
***
Went to press on LM today. I wrote both covers stories for both books this month. Not sure if I've ever done that before. Busy month.
***
I'm going to watch a lot of Netflix shows this weekend, and I'm going to read Silver Age Marvel Comics.
It will be a very unSeth weekend.
***
Pic is from this weekend when we went swimming. I actually have a long blog post about this weekend written in Word. I need to grab that.
***
Hope you're well. I'll try to be funny next time.
Sunday, August 9, 2020
The weekend that was 8.7.20
Good weekend here, let's recap...
Thursday night, an unexpected surprise... two colleagues from work reached out (including my pal Nick Strain from Quali-Pro), on their way back to St. Louis/Madison, and invited me to dinner in Topeka. I offered an alternative: dinner at the Hall of Justice. They said "IN!"
I bought six KC Strips and sparked up both grills. Ted coincidentally reached out to see if I could hang out, and I told him to come over. What ensued was a fantastic night (good mild weather, too) in the HOJ, conversing over some excellent steaks and crushing a few beers. (I about broke my arm patting myself on the back overall the quality of the steaks.)
Friday I was pretty worthless, and clocked out at noon from work to watch golf. That evening we had leftovers from the night before, and it was pretty fancy -- steaks, pork chops, asparagus, baked potatoes, corn on the cob. I got some new (old) Captain America comics in the mail, so I read one that night. Then I went to bed early, ready to get going on Saturday...
Storms overnight woke me up but I got moving early Saturday morning and took the dog with me to do the recycling. After that, I went to Eudora to go to an estate sale I saw advertised from a sign... don't know what motivated me to go... probably that it was a Saturday/Sunday only sale (so I didn't have to think that all the good stuff would already be gone by the time I got there.) I scored on some Jayhawks stuff: a bunch of KU coasters; a "KU parking only" sign that is different in that it celebrated the 2008 championship; and the best one, a mini-stoplight that flashes, "Let's Go KU!" All for $6.50! They are all now up and on display in the HOJ. Estate sales are always sad, but I'd like to think the old guy who lived there would be happy that his KU stuff has added to a fellow Jayhawk fan's proud collection. Rock Chalk, sir.
The fam was interested in $5 Subway breakfast footlongs so I went and picked up four. It was OK. The best thing about them though was that meant I didn't have to cook/make a mess. While I LOVE cooking for the family, it's always a drag to make a mess that needs cleaning.
Grandma Judy joined us for the weekend and it was great to enjoy her company. Also, we have a new friend here at the house... a stray cat (pictured) that was hanging out in the yard... we've started feeding it and the cat has taken a shine to Boydee. Boyd named her Mittens and she's been lurking in the front of the house for five days now. Koko isn't a big fan but doesn't go too crazy, either. Who knows, maybe the cat can patrol for mice out there. I'm not a cat person but I do like it that this cat likes Boyd. And that it's outside.
I mowed, worked on the yard a little. I took Evey out for her second driving lesson (she did great.) The big event of the evening was I set up two slip-n-slides behind the HOJ on a big hill. Me and the kids took turns sliding, while Adro, Judy and Koko watched. Lots of laughs. Evey shot way off the second slide a few times, and also face-planted on her first attempt.
That evening Bart came over to hang out in the HOJ. It was the first time I've seen him since Super Bowl Sunday. It was great to see my old friend again and we traded stories, watched sports, laughed out loud into the wee hours of the night. I'm sure the jukebox was too loud playing Pixies and Queens of the Stone age at 1 in the morning, but out here, no one seems to mind. I'm thankful for our slice of heaven out here.
Sunday morning I woke up a little crusty! And it was sweet that Judy made breakfast for us all... pancakes, sausage and scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs from your mother-in-law when you're hungover? That's a medicine you can't put a price tag on.
We all watched St. John's church on YouTube. Some of us (most of us) took naps. Evey's was interrupted as I watched Koko decide she needed to snuggle with Evey, even though there wasn't any room.
It was a good weekend. Ready for a new week!
Friday, July 24, 2020
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Don't you be my neighbor
***
Story in the LJW this evening that they will be rezoning the land across the road and allowing folks to buy smaller 10-acre lots, if they put hobby farms on the land. Kind of sad... we were here less than a year and now the open prairie across the road will be neighbors.
But maybe it'll be a good thing. Just change like that, makes me nervous. Can't control it though, either.
***
Boyd is playing Shark Bite on xBox now. Whatever that is. Looks ok. Girls are upstairs, Evey is watching an animated movie with a fox in it. Adro is on her laptop.
I mowed most of the yard tonight. Also hung up a mirror in the dining room... in the above photo, imagine it centered on that black-and-white wall. The mirror job has me in good standing with the Missus right now.
***
Copy J posted the funniest thing I've seen on Facebook in a long time today, something from Twitter I think...
There are two types of people. The ones that pack six days before a trip, and the ones that wake up day-of and realizes they have to do a load of laundry. And they marry each other.
That sums up Adro and I perfectly!
***
The Guvnah announced today that school won't re-open until after Labor Day this year.
The pandemic rolls on. We're all doing well here. Hope you are too.
Monday, July 6, 2020
4th of July
We went to Rod and Lupe's pool twice... went for one bike ride/picnic with a great view... and hosted a pretty sweet 4th of July party on Saturday!
Turns out the kids grew bored with the fireworks. So I set up the projector and put on the newest Star Wars. That got everyone's attention! And it also allowed the adults some time to relax and converse.
This was our first 4th of July at the new house and it was a memorable one. Above was my favorite moment. Great seeing all the kids hanging out together!
Sunday, June 21, 2020
Monday, June 15, 2020
The weekend that was, June 12-14, 2020
 |
| Judy and Evey on a walk, Friday morning. |
Wow, it was a great weekend here!
Not many photos though. Shows you how much I do things without my phone in my pocket these days…
***
Weekend started off a little early. Friday afternoon everyone was clocking out early. I had to run a few errands so I went to Eudora. Post office, grocery store, gas station, liquor store. Knock it out, fast. Get back home. Kids were home alone for a little over an hour (Adrianne had to go to the office.) Got home, kids were great. Finished doing what I needed to do at work, then went outside and started mowing. (Mowing is relaxing now.)
Judy and Adrianne pulled up. I said hello. Then went to grilling some chicken, drumsticks and breasts. Tried cooking four drumsticks in the air fryer. Hate to admit it, they turned out pretty good.
But wouldn’t it be weird if I sat outside, drinking a beer, while staring at an air fryer?
After dinner Adro proposed we watch the “series finale” of Schitt’s Creek. Turns out it was not the finale, but it was $hit. That show isn’t for me — sorry Babe.
Good news though, there was enough daylight I was able to finish mowing.
After mowing I came inside and watched the first 10 minutes of Johnny Mnemonic with Keanu Reeves. Movie takes place in 2021... and there is rioting... and everyone has to wear a mask...
OK, I made it 10 minutes in and fell asleep. But maybe I should revisit that flick?
***
It's Saturday!
Woke up feeling fine. Lots to do, but it's Saturday morning ... the world is my oyster.
My oyster started with a trip to Lawrence with Judy, to visit the … dirt pile? Mulch pit? What this place is called, I don’t know. But it was fun. Me, Judy, Koko, on a mission to pick up dirt. And pick up dirt we did.
I think we'll go back next weekend, and I'll bring the kids. I know Boyd would have a good time digging in a 20-foot hight pile of dirt. Shows you where my mind is at now, when visiting a dirt pile is high entertainment.
Got back home, parked the truck in the backyard. Adro made an amazing breakfast. Breakfast burritos! Then, outside to work on what I've been calling "the farm," Adrianne is calling it "the Jones Gangster Garden," I think. It's this kit Adro bought... and we filled it up with the appropriate ingredients, I hope, that we can grow some vegetables. It was fun until it got hot. Then we bailed. (I'll post photos soon.)
From there, I relaxed, watched PGA Tour golf (yeah!) and then I unpacked a few straggler boxes looking for my Marvel Visionaries and Essential Spider-Man books (missing since the move... did the movers steal them?!?) I was unsuccessful finding the books, but I did look at some cool old magazines, etc.
I mean, I think they're cool. When I'm dead and (hopefully) the grandkids are going through my stuff, they'll say, "why the hell did Grandpa save this issue of Esquire?" (They'll ask Evey, and hopefully, wise soul that she is, she'll have a guess.)
Saturday night we went back outside to finish off the farm/Gangster Garden. Knocked it out, the kids did a great job pushing the dirt towards me and Adro's shovels, so we filled that thing up, Momma planted her plants, we high-fived. I pulled the truck out of the yard (took the kids and the dog on a quick drive around the 'hood, saw a wild turkey) then back home.
As the sun was setting, the temperature really dropped. I suggested we get a game of Uno going. Before any cards were thrown, Adro proposed we make s'mores.
Oh YEAH! This caused me to start a fire... and deliciousness ensued. Boyd asked if he could have "one more," and he meant a wet wipe. We went from "take a shower, go to bed!" to "one more s'more!" Very clever, Boydee. Evey was in charge of s'more creation. This was an absolute blast. The music was good, too.
***
Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!
Woke up feeling like a champion. Watched a little Sunday Morning (downer.) Then I got ready to make breakfast, pancakes and sausages, on the flat top grill.
Turned out nice! The flat top is still the boss, sorry air fryer.
We "went" to church by watching it on YouTube. Amen.
 |
| Photo I found of Mom and Dad, mid-80s. At McConnell, an air show. This image has no context here. |
At noon I had a Facebook video chat with Crazy Uncle Willy. Good to see my old roommate/best man. He's in Kenya now. Fun conversation, I look forward to doing it again. I made the kids pop on the call real quick so he can see them. He's the only Crazy Uncle they have. OK, there's Vince.
Picked up groceries. Smoooooth. Koko rode shotgun.
Came home. Chilled out. Watched professional golf. Lousy ending. Burger won and deserved it, but Xander (I won't even try with his last name... OK, that's a lie... Chauffele?) had one of the most painful lip-outs I've ever seen. I've met Xander and his dad before, good people. (Woodland had a bad stretch that took him out of contention but he looked good.)
Then I went and picked up dinner... we decided to take it easy and even though the fridge was stocked, get take-out. Jason's Deli. It was good.
From there? I went back to the storage wars, looking for those Marvel Visionaries books... And guess what? After a few misses.... FOUND THEM! Also, Adro told me she wanted a coffee table out of the downstairs living room... what to do with it? It's PERFECT for my comic book collection... now it can breathe easier, instead of being packed like sardines.
(Aside: I should go to bed, but I'm caught watching/listening to this great Soundgarden concert. Almost done.)
OK, let's bring this blog post around and wrap it up....
It was a great weekend. Lots of chill time. Kids were helpful around the house and with chores (especially Evey.) Adro got tons of stuff done. I had a good time revisiting some memories while I opened random boxes of my stuff (Grandpa, why?)
AND I FOUND MY MARVEL VISIONARIES COLLECTION!
This week is gonna be busy, but a good week. I'm going to go to press on Golfdom... and I'm going to buy 5 of the 32 remaining Captain America comics I need to complete my run.
I hope you're well, and safe. My sister celebrated a landmark birthday this weekend... but I'll write about that later, when we get to actually celebrate with her!
Cheers. Soundgarden show just ended. They closed with "Slaves and Bulldozers."
Sunday, June 7, 2020
Is that a Mustache?!?
 |
The Jones boys on May 3, 2020, seven weeks into the pandemicand two full months without haircuts. |
Note: this post was written in late May, as I was nervous about an LM deadline. The photo is from early May, the day before Boyd and I would get our first haircuts in over two months, and I had a mustache for the first time in my life.
***
Hello from the Hall of Justice. Just clocked out. Cleaned the kitchen because I needed to do something different with my brain. Decided to bring the laptop next door, in case I get motivated to write that advertorial.
But when have I ever been motivated to write an advertorial?
***
Who puts mayonnaise on a hot dog?
***
I haven’t been blogging much these last few months. Kind of a weird time to make that move. I haven’t been going anywhere, but I abandon the blog?
I think it’s because I’m mentally exhausted a lot, and also, I don’t have as many photos of us out and about, to share. “We went for a walk today!” Is only exciting maybe once or twice.
But at the same time, I’ll bet I look back and I’m disappointed that I didn’t document the first few weeks of the pandemic/stay-at-home more.
***
We have been doing good here. Staying busy. Work has been kicking my butt.
Here’s what I’ve been doing to occupy my time when I’m not at work:
— I put new CDs in the jukebox, along with new playlist cards, which I drew/designed by hand
— I cut a path out of the woods to the creek, replete with a dirt staircase
— Yardwork, mowing, string trimming, branch removal. It’s a solid three hours to spruce up the yard each weekend.
— I started organizing Mark LaFleur’s CD collection he gifted me in a bookcase (about 600 CDs)
— Grilling, cooking dinners. The flat-top grill has been IN EFFECT on the weekends, especially for breakfast.
— Watching movies with Adro and the kids (I, Robot; Mr. Mom; Hobbs & Shaw; Wonder Woman (terrible) Groundhog Day; Young Frankenstein; The Shining; Good Will Hunting (awful, it should have been called Jenius Janitor); Vertigo)
— Playing Jones Creek National with Bub
— Cleaning/organizing the Hall of Justice
— Cleaned the garage a few times
I started watching Breaking Bad, but gave up on it… again.
***
Beautiful Kansas evening tonight. Me and the kids have been outside since about 5:30 or so. I was picking up while the kids rode bikes. Then we got out the tennis ball and saw how many times we could keep it in the air, hitting it to one another. After we worked up a sweat, I sat down in my lawn chair. Evey rode her bike a bit more. Then she got a juice box, Bub got a freezer pop. I suggested we get out the Uno cards, and it was GAME ON. I’m on a three-game winning streak. Evey also has three. Bub has one. Next game coming soon…
***
Shinobi went on the fritz! SHIT! So bummed about this. I talked to the guy who replaced the screen about… 18 months ago? He’s going to take a look at it, but I have to take it to him… ugh. Could be a $30 part. But if the monitor went out again? That might be the end of Shinobi for a while…
***
I’ve said this a few times, and I do think about it often… the pandemic is awful and scary. But I think about where I am in my life right now, and I think that in terms of my age, and the age of my family, it’s not the worst timing. My kids are both still at fun ages (13 and 8) they both are young but not too young… and we just moved out to the country eight months ago. So we’re still in the honeymoon stage with our new house and the adventure of living in the country. I recently turned 43, and without a doubt, age 42 saw me in more cities in a year than I’ve ever been before… and away from my family a lot.
I think about one of my co-workers who just had a baby, her second, and now she has two little ones in the house, and I think that has to be stressful. I think about the empty nesters who are used to getting out and about to enjoy themselves, and this has to be a damper on their new lifestyle. Or the people who are even older, maybe their kids are grown up and moved far away, and they have grandkids they can’t see. That’s terrible.
For me and Adrianne to be here at a new house, with a 13-year-old-girl and an 8-year-old boy? I think it’s just about the best case scenario of a quarantine experience.
Evey and Boyd might disagree but that’s my take!
***
The kids are swatting bubbles now. Adrianne is inside relaxing. I’m going to keep going.
***
I do think I’ll regret not being more productive in the first 10 weeks of the quarantine. I could have finished Moby Dick. I could have created a YouTube TV series. Or made a year in review video like I used to do when Evey was a baby (someday I’d like to get back to that… I can see doing it.)
I look at the above list of stuff I did, and it’s really pretty weak sauce. I’ll give myself a bit of a pass based on the overall stressful mood, it kind of stymies creativity. And also I’m in front of my laptop so much during work hours, I don’t want to flip it back open again when I’m off the clock!
I’ll say this: as someone who worked from home for nine straight years… it was a cool gig. I could keep up, mostly. Then put everyone else in the same boat? It’s amazing the work people have created for all of us that really is just busy work… because they’re frightened that they won’t look busy working from home.
We produce two magazines a month, and we also host three websites. We deploy between seven and 15 emails a month for our various readerships. We do videos, social media, webinars. It’s sufficient, it’s plenty. We have a combined readership of 100,000+ that we worry about, we worry about their businesses and how we communicate with them so we respect their time.
So we don’t really need to create new ways of burning business hours, just because some people are skittish about the idea of everyone working from home.
***
I don’t know what the kids are doing now. I half expect Evey to have an apple on top of her head here in a minute, and Boyd with a Nerf bow and arrow. That’s what it looks like from here. And by the way kids… it’s clearly raining out right now.
***
End blog post, May whatever-whatever-whatever, 2020.
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