An actual conversation with my wife

SJ: I already know what I'm wearing to work tomorrow.
AJ: Oh?
SJ: My gray John Wake golf shirt and khaki pants.
AJ: But, honey, you can't wear gray and khaki together.
SJ: Why not?
AJ: They don't go together. It's like brown and black -- would you wear brown and black together?
SJ: (Thinks) Uh... No.
AJ: OK, well, gray and khaki is like brown and black!
SJ: Oh. OK, good to know... I... wait a second -- I wore gray and khaki together today!!!
AJ: I know, honey, I know...

The bad news post

Sorry, we've got some bad news, too.

1) A friend of Adrianne's family, Wayne, died this week after suffering a stroke. I met Wayne and his wife, Jody, briefly at our wedding, seemed like a real genuine guy. Adrianne and her mom are heading down to Norman, Okla. for the funeral on Friday. Our condolences go out to his family.

A nice story loosely about Wayne (keep in mind I only met him once, so I really have no anecdotes about the man): Adrianne was telling her co-worker friend, Rich, about Wayne's death.

"What's his name?" Rich asks.
Adrianne tells him.
"Was he Indian?" Rich asks.
Adrianne says yes.
"Was he a big guy?" Rich asks.
Adrianne says yes.
"Was he really sweet?" Rich asks.
Adrianne says yes.
"I went to school with that guy!" Rich shouts.

2) Evelyn has a hernia.

We noticed it when she was about three days old. But the doctor told us not to worry about it. But we continued to worry about it. Upon the fifth or so sighting of the hernia, I took photos and brought the laptop with me to the doctor to better illustrate what we were seeing. "Oh, she has a hernia," the doctor tells us.

The good news is that this is a really common surgery that isn't supposed to be a big deal. If Evey weren't so young, we'd be able to have the surgery done and get out of the hospital the same day. But instead we have to spend the night, which is a bummer but also good that we'll be around trained professionals following her surgery.

Evey has the operation April 19th.

She's doing great -- the hernia doesn't hurt her at all. She was born with it, and it's just something that needs to be fixed with a stitch inside the muscle walls of her stomach.

Sorry for the bad news post. I hate it when real life gets in the way of cute baby pictures. But we're doing really well. Thanks for your concern.

57

Just what I feared... I'm getting worse with each round.

Me, Neuty and Anj went out to Alvamar for a quick nine holes. I shot a 57, Ande a 50, Neuty a 44, I think. He was on a mission, mad because I posted here that I beat him last week. He finished his round out going par, par, birdie, bogey. Pretty fierce.

I had no highlights. Didn't putt very well. Didn't drive very well. Mid-range irons were mediocre. This is not the direction I wanted to go before heading to Sage Valley next week.

Maybe it was because I had a few beers on the course... but not many, three spread out over three hours. Maybe it was because I was rushing my shots? Or eager to watch them? Or that I was trying to muscle the ball around?

In all honesty, I think my biggest problem was lack of concentration. I just was having a good time, popping off jokes, not really worried about my golf score... and my golf score showed it.

I'm pretty sure Neuty hit a bird on No. 9. He blasted a drive (he was crushing the ball all day) and as it flew off into the horizon, I noticed a smattering of birds approaching from a 90-degree angle... and then, suddenly, it looked like one of the birds suddenly dropped a few feet, only to continue flying. I shouted, "Dude, you hit that bird!" And then Ande and Eric looked at me like I was crazy... so maybe my eyes played a trick on me. Maybe three beers in three hours is enough to make me see things.

Or maybe Neuty is just a bird killer.

(OK, now that I've downloaded my photos, I see why I'm terrible at golf -- look at my form! I look all hunched over, more weird angles than a pretzel. After seeing this photo, I should just quit. Gah!)

Random movie reviews

Some movie reviews from recent rentals and trips to the theaters... this is recycled material from Pulp Legacy (issue 35), so if you happen to read that publication, feel free to skip. The language may be more colorful than usual too.

This is part one of two...

The Pursuit of Happyness
… should be called the pursuit of crappiness. Wow, this movie was terrible, I mean, terrible. It’s over two hours of pure misery, with approximately 32 uplifting seconds. If I wanted to feel bad about money, I would have stayed home and balanced my check book.
I challenge you to find a worse Will Smith movie.
Zero out of 10 stars. Just, an absolute piece of crap.

Glen or Glenda?
Got this one from the library. An Ed Wood movie. It was so bad and weird and bizarre… seriously, in the middle of the film, during a critical moment, the picture splits, and inexplicably, a heard of buffalo start rushing across the screen. Adrianne bought me a boxed set of Ed Wood stuff for Valentine’s Day; I’m betting his sci-fi stuff is more unintentionally funny.
Still, better than Pursuit of Happyness.
Three out of 10 stars.

Dukes of Hazzard
I remember Rolling Stone lambasted this film, gave it zero stars, really gave it the business. That disappointed me because I was looking forward to the movie, I was a huge fan of the Dukes when I was a little boy. And I’d grown to respect Rolling Stone’s movie reviews, for the most part.
I saw it at the library and grabbed it.
What the hell? This is exactly what I was hoping for in a Dukes of Hazzard movie. What crawled up Rolling Stone’s collective ass? (Besides George Bush)
The General Lee jumps, Daisy Duke struts, the screen pauses during cliff hanger moments and gives the voice-over, Boss Hog is evil and money-grubbing, Cletus is inept, the Duke boys are our heroes, and it’s all light hearted, cheeky fun.
All in all, it’s a great movie.
There were three laugh-out-loud funny moments for me. That’s pretty solid, considering many comedies barely evoke one laugh from me. The script in this one was smart, clever. It takes the Duke boys out of Hazzard county to Atlanta, where they draw ire for the stars and bars on the roof of the General Lee – a good modern spin on the Dukes. Then they crash a big city college, taking the Duke boys out of their element for more fun. And then it’s back to the farm for the wrap-up.
There are hillbillys, leggy women, homemade explosives, and the General Lee looks great airborne.
One complaint: it looks like the director got caught up in the “drifting” fad and made the General Lee drift on too many occasions. Totally unnecessary. That’s like starting over the Rocky series, but this time he’s an ultimate fighter. Blah.
But a great 2-hour joy ride for anyone that enjoyed the Dukes as kids.
An astounding 8 out of 10 stars.

Rocky Balboa
Speaking of the Rock, I did go see Rocky Balboa when it came to theaters. It’s like Star Wars, folks. We grew up loving Star Wars, well, I grew up loving Rocky movies, too. It’s just that one’s geared to jocks while the other is geared to Star Trek geeks. But all are geeks, right?
And even if there was a Phantom Menace of Rocky Movies (Rocky 5), then you still go see it, just to see what they’re doing with the character.
Well, good news – Rocky Balboa, the sixth installment, wasn’t all that bad. Sure, I was drinking to get through it, and there’s a lot of build up and not much fighting, but it’s worlds better than Rocky 5.
All the silly characters are eliminated, and we focus on Rocky, his business, and his one-and-done comeback.
Not great, but not awful, either.
Five out of 10 stars.

The Illusionist
A rental here, we’ve got Edward Norton as Eisenheim the Illusionist, Jessica Biel as Sophie the love interest. Paul Giamatti is the local inspector.
Norton is a magician of sorts, and his childhood love, Biel, is rediscovered years later, but now she’s the fiancée of local asshole, the Prince. The Prince hates Eisnheim because he’s an asshole.
And the movie itself wraps up like my last sentence. With little explanation and a lot of assumption. And you find yourself going, “What?”
It’s like it was written as a children’s book – say, Encyclopedia Brown – but then it was mixed up and Hollywood tried to pass it off as Sherlock Holmes.
The thing I liked about the movie is it is pretty. The style, the era, the filters – make a good looking movie.
And the movie is interesting for the first two reels.
And then the wheels come off in the end.
Four out of 10 stars.

Photos!

The $5.99* special

We learned a lesson today.

We took Evey to Wal-Mart for the $5.99* special on studio photography. We've never done this, probably for a reason, but Evey's only going to be 3.5 months old for a short time, so... let's take her in and see how it goes.

The photographer was an odd sort. She wasn't very good at posing Evey. And the backgrounds were all shoddy. Luckily, the Easter photo we were trying to get did not turn out, because we learned at check-out that the photos won't be available until after Easter.

The photographer really stressed to us that, "This is the $5.99 shot." But she should have said was, "Now we start ripping you off."

We took six different poses, of various levels of success. The $5.99 shot you gotta buy, because that's the only reasonable one. There were two other shots we wouldn't minded having. If we wanted both of them, we'd walk out of there dropping some $80. So we settled for just the one extra shot that we both really liked... and still walked out spending $50.

And then when the gal rang it up, she asked Adrianne for $78 or whatever, and Adrianne was like, "What?" And then the photog was insouciant, "Oh, sorry, I meant... $48.59." Whatever.

And like I said, then Adrianne asked when we'd get the photos at this point. "They should be available the Wednesday after Easter." Wow, maybe you could have mentioned that the moment we asked you to set up the Easter scene for the baby? Do you think that was an Easter shot? Or Christmas? Or maybe we just like bunny rabbits and plastic eggs a lot?

The good news is this has reaffirmed a passion for taking photos of Evey myself... I do just as good a job, and Evey will actually smile for me, and I'm not out to rip us off. Plus, no wait on my photos... they're available right away.

So stay away from Wal-Mart photo studios. Stay away from Wal-Mart in general, you know what I mean, but there's just another reason to detest those guys.

And in hindsight, I wish Evey woulda flipped off the Wal-Mart photographer.

Grandma Judy makes everyone smile

Grandma Judy just finished what she described as her "best spring break ever."

No, she didn't go to Panama City; She was not a Grandma Gone Wild.

She stayed right here in Lawrence, Kan., and took care of little Evey Jones all week long. Me and Adro would be getting ready for work, and in would walk Grandma Judy, usually with a few books, and always with some food she'd cook that day.

She helped with our laundry, our omnipresent dirty dishes, she cooked dinner... she did everything but Adrianne's homework. And she saved us a week's worth of cash that would normally go to our regular daytime babysitter.

And like I said, when it was all over, she called it her best spring break ever.

Another thing that just dawned on me -- both me and Adro got sick this week, me on Monday, Adro on Tuesday. And she took care of us, too.

So you see, she really took care of our whole family this week. We tried to say thank you yesterday by treating her to dinner at Ixtapa, but we're going to have to do better than that to really say thanks for all she did for us this week.

So thank you again, Judy, for being Evey's favorite spring breaker in all of the world this week.

Game day

Happy Saturday.

Big day here. We're going to pick up the house. Then we're taking Evey to Wal-Mart to see about getting some studio photos done. (Hopefully Evey doesn't flip off the camera person, like she's doing in this photo.)

Then, Kansas Basketball at 6:05 p.m.

We're ready, we have our game faces on.

Prediction: Kansas 81, UCLA 72.

Rock Chalk!

Evey has a new friend

Ava Crystal was born on Monday. She was 19 inches long, 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and as healthy as can be. Congrats to Chris and Marie, first time parents!

What a beautiful baby girl!

Look for Evey and Ava to be the starting backcourt for the 2025 Kansas Lady Jayhawks...

Let's go Jayhawks!

It's about game time!! I'm PUMPED!

I don't think the Salukis can hang with us. I think we'll take them out of their game. I think we'll score 81 points to their 65.

I think we're gonna Rock Chalk it to the Elite 8, baby!

Fifty posts!

Fifty posts! Whoo-hoo!

We're still charging hard here at Especially Evey. Thanks to everyone who still humors me and checks in regularly on the Jones family blog.

I've got lots and lots more stories and photos for the next 50 posts.

54

Warning: golf post. But there may actually be an interesting tidbit in here, too...

Shot a 54 on the front nine at Alvamar public last week. Me and Eric got out there right after work on a gorgeous day and found an empty tee box awaiting us. Plus, the kid at the counter gave us both discounts for being GCSAA staffers.

As I walked past the putting green, I spotted one of those obscene Taylor Made golf bags with a name stitched in it -- the kind you see Tour players toting around. It was Chris Thompson's bag. Chris is a former KU golf standout who went through Q-school last year and walked away with full-time Nationwide, part-time PGA Tour credentials. He's married to my work colleague Jessica. I covered him on the GCM blog a little bit, talking to Jessica about the stresses of going through Q-School.

I introduced myself and Chris recognized my name and thanked me for the exposure we gave him. He's heading to Le Triomphe CC in Louisiana for this weekend's Nationwide Tour event. Real nice guy, we wish him and his family all the luck, naturally. I told him to remember GCM when he's hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy some day, he said he hopes he gets that chance.

Anyway, it's not everyday you bump into a Tour player at Alvamar public's putting green...

The other notable from this afternoon round? I beat Neuty. I've probably beat him at the Orchards before, but that doesn't really count. I think I bested him by... two or three strokes (you owe me one, Neuty).

My round was not nearly as good as my previous round at Eagle Bend. Mainly, my putting was terrible. But the good news was I still hit some good drives, and I also hit a couple of solid second shots. My only par was on No. 2. And then I got cocky, and then blistered a drive on No. 3. As we walked up that fairway, I told Eric to remember this moment in the golf season later this year, for when I'm terrible again. And then I instantly became terrible again, skulling my second shot, and walked away with a bone-chilling triple bogey.

Neuty, on the other hand, derailed his round when he made mention of the Lervik meltdown of 2006 on No. 5. I know not to mention said event anywhere near a golf course, for fear something similar will happen to me, and I'll then have to take my clubs to an exorcist.

Anyway, a little disappointed to shoot 54, but it's a tougher course than Eagle Bend, and my putting was lousy, so I'm happy with just the 'W' over Neuty.

My hope is to post my golf scores here all season, so I can chart my regress. Those posts will be denoted by just a number as the title (54). That may be embarrassing to me later this golf season, but it's designed to protect the innocent (read: Stacy Rinnert) who check Evey's blog everyday and could give a crap about my lousy golf scores.

At least I'll be able to include pretty golf course pictures with these posts, like this one, from Augusta National during the 2005 Masters, on the par three course.

10 minutes to game time

I'm PUMPED. I feel good about our chances. Prediction: Kansas 83, Kentucky 70.

Just talked to my bro-in-law, MJ. He's nervous. He thinks since this UK team has been having a rough go of it, that Tubby will have his team fired up for us.

Game time, baby. Game time.

The next address

Yesterday me and Adro went over to 9th and Pennsylvania, where we hope to be moving into a new house soon. Well, the house is 120 years old but, you know, new to us.

Adro's grandparents own the house, and the Romeros are rennovating the casa. It's a three-bedroom, three-level house. We got Evey's room painted, and half of the master bedroom painted.

Grandma Judy will be right across the street, and Adro's uncle Mike will be right next door. A good place for the Jones Family to be.

I love the house we're in now, but it'll be great to get in this new house... it's bigger, has a basement, an extra bathroom... it'll be a good, welcomed change.

Be prepared for me to be asking you for help moving in a few months.

The world is a canvas

Wow, folks. I've got one of those I'm-never-drinking-again hangovers from St. Patty's Day. Whew!

Me and Evey are chilling today. Evey knows that Dad was a little crazy last night, so she told me, "Silly Daddy!" and then agreed to take a long nap with me. What a good girl.

She's talking a lot lately. Making new noises. Experimenting with different volume levels. My favorite noise is a "cooooooh!" she makes. I've decided that's her, "I love you!"

Check out that photo. I'm drawing a comic book, and Evey is mesmerized by the pen strokes on the paper. Everything is so new. She was enthralled with the aquarium at the bank the other day. This morning, she watched as a Coke poured over ice fizzed then became fluid.

She likes to watch TV, apparently. Especially college basketball and cartoons. Brightness along with movement, I think, is the key. She hates American Idol.

The Jayhawks tip off at 4 p.m. Evey's got on her red KU Jayhawks T-shirt, KU socks and KU pacifier. We're ready for game time, baby!