We won the shuffleboard tourney

16 teams, me and Ryno -- the "Diablos" -- emerged victorious.

We won a bunch of Bud Light schwag, but what was most fun was simply winning a tournament. We skunked our Final Four team (call them UNC) 15-0, then we fell way behind in the championship before I got hot and scored 15 unanswered points (we played the last game to 21).

We'll be back next month to defend. Good times.

Slush!

I don't know where the term comes from, but I like it. It's the slush pile.

I have a folder on my desktop. Whenever I get a photo that's cool/cute yet kind of random, it goes in the slush pile. For rainy days when I need something to post.

So here's my first post of such slushy items. Included in this post, from top to bottom we have: one of the Nunn twins enjoying Halloween; me holding Evey while desperately looking for Adro at the Mexican Fiesta; more Nunn twins; a very cool and stylish Edison, son of co-worker Jen; Rosanna's son playing on the dishwasher.

If you have great cool/cute but random photos you want to contribute to my slush pile, email them to me.

C'mon, Jones...

This is not your most flattering picture.

S'ok... I'll do better next week. We'll take lots of T-day photos...

Meanwhile.... you get Evey rockin' Dad's specs!

One year ago

Thanksgiving in McAllen, Texas. Evelyn with her Unlce Alex.

Have a fun weekend... but not too fun...

Don't let this be you!

Our victory

Here comes the BIG TRAIN, Marina!

Ahhhh.....

Nothing really going on tonight. Not really. Evey is feeling normal again, thank goodness. I came home today and her hair was in a ponytail. That was shocking. Slow down, Evey, next thing I know, you'll be asking to take out the Z....

Weird thing about her being sick this time: She was able to tell us where it hurt.

Last time she was sick, it was a helpless feeling -- she just cried, and we didn't know what was wrong. We just knew she was sick.

Well, this time, she's much more communicative... she can tell us both in English and in sign language where it hurts...

And you know what? I still feel helpless.

They gave her a shot at the doc's office and that really took care of the vomiting. Poor girl, she was still emotional, she'd still say, "Daddy, hurt," and gesture toward her stomach. It's a bad feeling when your little girl doesn't feel well. It makes you lose sleep.

Thankfully, she's back to sleeping like normal. The Jones family sleeps well tonight.

(Unless I have another Boulevard Wheat, then they all must deal with my incessant snoring!)

Chinese Democracy

So, Guns n' Roses have a new album coming out at the end of this month. It's been almost 14 years since their last album.

Rolling Stone called it "the most anticipated record ever." But is it? Do people really care about Axl Rose anymore?

I'll admit, I'm intrigued, and I don't consider myself a GnR fan. I don't own a single one of their albums, and I sometimes even wince when one of their tracks come on the jukebox.

Yet Chinese Democracy is almost legendary at this point. It has its own mythos at this point. How many times did Axl say this album was going to be released? And it never came to fruition. Finally, at the end of this month, it will be available -- at Best Buy only. Another chapter to the saga of Chinese Democracy.

I enjoy following the music industry. As many of you know, music is one of my passions, especially live music. I like seeing how many albums Nickelback sells out of morbid curiosity. Same thing with the "Now That's What I Call Music Vol. XXX" CDs.

So... how many albums will Best Buy sell of Chinese Democracy? And more important... will they outsell AC/DC's new album, Black Ice?

That's more important because me and the wife have a friendly bet on it. Adro says GnR will sell less albums than AC/DC does in their respective first weeks. AC/DC sold north of 800,000 copies their first week (that CD was available at Wal-Mart only, another exclusive). I say they'll sell more than AC/DC -- I'm thinking they'll sell north of 1 million CDs.

Really, the whole thing is mostly a statement about how pathetic the music industry is right now. AC/DC and GnR are the two hot bands right now? Apparently, the youth of this generation simply does not know how to rock. We need a new rock savior. ASAP.

So, I'll have a new poll up after the completion of this current poll. (And thanks to everyone who has voted in this current poll -- I believe 20 voters is a new record for EspeciallyEvey.) The question: Will Guns 'n' Roses sell more albums their first week than AC/DC (800,000+) did?

Four generations of Weibels

Here are two photos we took this summer while we were visiting Adrianne's Dad and his family in southern Missouri. I have a lot more photos from that trip that I need to post still...

Bad news -- Evey is sick. Daycare called us in the afternoon to come take her away. Apparently, she had thrown up on everything, including her cool Nikes. We got a late doctor's appointment... she threw up on the car ride over, and she threw up while waiting for the doctor. !Pobre sita! They gave her a shot for nasuea and the evening has been going better so far... we'll see how it goes from here on out... now that dad wants to get some sleep too. The plan right now is that I'll be staying home with her tomorrow. So it will be a Shrek 1-3 marathon tomorrow. Whooo!

Explanation of previous post

Sorry for the lack of commentary on the previous post... I intended on going back and adding some details on Sunday night, then never got to it...

So, anyway, the first clip is taken from the new Esquire. The good news is, I'm not the most boring Seth Jones on the planet. Let's move on.

The comic book art is from El Diablo # 2. The art posted all out of order for me, sorry if that was a mess to read. The story is by Jai Nitz. I've mentioned Jai here before. I've known Jai for a long time now, probably ten years? Since before he was writing comics. I also work with his wife, Angela. I also know the art team on the book, Phil and Ande. So I know all these guys... and Jai threw my name in the book! How cool is that?!? Also notice that Bunny, who gets her head chopped off? That's the name of my boss. So we were both mentioned in Jai's comic. I saw him a few weeks ago, and I was like, "Dude, you killed me! ...THANK YOU!"

What's really shocking to me is how many times they say "SETH JONES." It's never, "Man, that dude killed Jones." It's, "Why would they do this to SETH JONES?" "I don't know, SETH JONES is a cool dude." "That's what I think of SETH JONES too!"

"SETH JONES!"

Jai told Angela that he used our names just because he liked them, but I think he was just giving a good ol' shout-out to his pal Jonesy. Thanks Jai, I appreciate it, man!

Seth Jones killed; Seth Jones talks terrorism

Some Friday thought blasts

• The Cork and Barrel story has created quite the conversation on that post. Click here to read the conversation that's gone on so far... 8 comments, I believe that may be a record! Of course, three are my own, but whatever.
• I've posted a new poll to see what you think about the results of the Cork and Barrel debacle. For the record, the last poll had 17 voters, 10 people supporting my boycott, 6 supporting it but wanting to know more, and 1 who thought I was a crotchety old man (thanks Neuty).
• There's been some good come out of this: I've finally learned how to spell 'barrel.' Weird, but I struggled with it. I wanted to spell it barell. I had to really commit to that second 'r' syllable bair-rel, not bair-ul. I can spell weird things like Roethlisberger no problem, but I was at M-W.com every time I had to write about C&B.
• While we're all protesting stuff now, stay away from Jimmy John's. Why? Click here to read Neuty's hilarious adventure with those guys recently. For maximum comedic effect, start reading the second part first (look for Neuty's signature and then read down) and read the post as if you were playing the part of Neuty after a 12-pack while watching the Broncos piss away a lead. Classic.
• TGIF. I've been tired all week. Don't know why. Probably because I haven't been working out lately.
• City League B-Ball team won tonight. I was 0-1 from the floor with three fouls and one ugly turnover. Stellar stat line, but I didn't play too terribly. I actually had one really worthwhile foul.
• They're saying crappy weather for the KU/UT game. Wonder how the game will be?
• I think that's all for now. I'm rambling. Like I said, I'm tired. Remember, I'm aging faster than you, according to the hue of my hair.

GCM hat

Fighting gigantism since last month

I asked Adro and Judy this evening, "Is it possible our daughter has gigantism?" Or however you spell it.

I mean seriously, she's still a few weeks away from her 2nd birthday... and she's GIANT. She's going to be taller than Grandma Judy in another 18 months if she keeps up this pace! She's practically tall enough to reach the tap on the kegerator already! Crikey!

Don't believe me? Check out these photos... taken last week, and taken oh... 21 months ago.

Cork and Barrel owner apologizes, 'appalled'

I got an email from Dan Blomgren, owner of Cork & Barrel, this morning. He asked me to call him at my earliest convenience. I called him as soon as I got the email.

When he picked up, he was in the middle of re-reading my letter, and he was "appalled."

In short, Blomgren apologized and wrote me a check for $50 -- the cost of the deposit of the keg. He dropped the check in the mail and told me not to worry about returning the keg shell, it's mine to keep for all the trouble I went through with his two stores.

The longer version is this: Blomgren was horrified by the treatment I received at his stores. He said he was amazed that he had this many jackasses working for him... that he hoped his employees don't think he'd treat people like that because the service I received is not the service he wants to be reflected of himself... that he was going to use my letter as a training tool of what not to do... that he was going to have his employees read the letter and count up the different mistakes that happened, he guessed there were at least a dozen... he went on, but he used the words "I'm appalled" and "I'm sorry" multiple times. I thanked him for returning my $50, and told him I would be throwing away my letter to the Better Business Bureau.

I'm happy that Blomgren cared enough to reach out to me and settle this situation. I'm really happy to be getting my $50 back, too. I don't like getting ripped off.

41 cents well spent.