Cute things going on right... now

Something I'm not doing enough is writing about what Evey is doing right at this very moment. Photos of Evey at this moment, yes, but descriptions of what she's doing? Sorely lacking. (This was determined by a blind readership survey I conducted in March 2008.) ((Not really.))

So, Evey likes to try to make us laugh. She's been tickling our toes for a long time. A more recent attempt at humor is her fake sleeping. We'll mention bedtime, or ask if she's sleepy, whatever, and she'll quickly put her head down and make loud snoring noises. Where does she learn these snoring noises? No idea.

She loves to dance. If a commercial comes on with music, she'll start shaking her hips. She's a decent dancer, evidently that's an every-other-generation trait. When we're walking downtown, when we pass that eyeglasses store on the east side of the 700 block of Mass Street, Evey will start dancing (they have music piped outside). I'm convinced we need an XM stereo receiver on our stroller so Evey could bee-bop all the way to wherever we're walking to.

She sings, "shake shake shake!" Apparently Grandma Judy taught her that one. I think it comes from diaper changes and the baby powder. Judy sings, "Shake shake shake!" from whatever that disco song is. Now Evey sings it at random times.

Her favorite word is still "ball." She even points at golf on TV, when the ball is rolling on the green, and shouts, "Ball!" Or she'll point at my 2008 Basketball National Champions T-shirt and point to the ball. "Ball!"

***

I need to clarify a joke I'm making to people, another joke that no one is getting. So allow me to explain. I explained it to my sister tonight, and now she gets where I'm coming from. Time to bring the rest of you up to speed.

When I see a fellow Jayhawk that I know is a huge basketball fan, that I know has been there through everything with me (Arizona, Syracuse, you know), I'll greet them with something like this: Hey, congratulations. I heard your Kansas Jayhawks are the 2008 NATIONAL COLLEGE BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS... You must be very, very proud.

And I get these blank looks. Apparently these people are confused. "I thought Jones was a KU fan as well," they must be thinking to themselves. And then I'll quickly back pedal to cater to their confusion: We did it, it's awesome, isn't it? (While the person asks themself, 'What is Jones smoking?')

But what I'm getting at is this -- I want to be greeted like that now. Whenever I see anyone, Jayhawk, Tiger, Wildcat, Terrapin, Buckeye, I want them to say, "Hey, Seth -- congrats to you and your Jayhawk nation, buddy. You're better than all of us (Or, 'We're better than everyone else' for fellow Jayhawks.)"

So I guess it's too late, I've confused enough people with this way of speaking that I'll let it go. BUT, if you still want to greet me as such, it'd sure make my day.

Back in the office

Today was my first day back in the office in a while where I could just work, and not have to fret about an upcoming trip. I hardly put a dent in my "to do" list, but the May issue hopefully benefited from me doing some proofreading...

Although my allergies were killing me all day today. Sore throat, sneezing. I just popped some drugs, hopefully I'll sleep well tonight.

Included here is a photo I snapped a while back of my nephew Jett, and Isabella. Isabella is the daughter of David and Jocilyn, they're expecting an addition to the family in August. The kids are enjoying some Shinobi here in this photo.

Not much to share right now... feeling kind of run down. More later.

KU's championship parade

We all went down to Mass Street to enjoy the parade honoring our 2008 National Champion Kansas Jayhawks. A pretty good time!

Judy nabbed a parking spot in the ghetto Dillon's parking lot. It was a great spot, but we didn't know it came with a catch: the band and cheerleaders all bailed off of the parade route a few blocks earlier.

It's just not a parade without a band! C'mon, Lew Perkins, give me a break!

We still had a great time, and afterwards, we had the family over for dinner... an impromptu dinner, but one that we pulled off quite well, I'm happy to say.

I'm back in town now -- back from the Masters and the Kraft Nabisco, two golf majors in two weeks. Expect more regular blogging now that I'm back. And expect a long, exhaustive post about what it feels like to finally win the championship! Feel free to skip it if you're a non-Jayhawk, you wouldn't understand!

KU, BABY!!!!

We did it!!! We freaking DID IT!!! We won the big one!!!!

YEAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

My team has never won it on my watch! I was too young to care about the '88 team.

I'll only claim two teams: The Kansas University men's basketball team, and the now defunct Wichita Wings indoor soccer team. So I'm not like those fans that claim the Yankees, or the Michael Jordan-led Bulls, as "my team."

The Wings sure as hell never won it all, and now that they're dead and in the ground, they're not getting any better!

But I sat there and watched, on the edge of my seat, while drinking a beer from my Wichita Wings coozie, wearing my Kansas warm-up shirt. And I saw my team snatch a CHAMPIONSHIP victory from the clutches of defeat! This would have been exciting in a pre-season game! For the whole enchilada?

ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK, BABY!!! I LOVE THIS DAY!!!

Before and after haircut

So I mentioned last week that Evey had her first haircut. It was needed, her hair was getting in her eyes.

And yes, Travis accosted us for taking her to ProCuts. Next time we'll go somewhere that ranks above the Wal-Mart of haircut shops... this was her first cut, we're new at this. And if you have any suggestions, let us know. ProCuts was on recommendation, but yeah, our "stylist" was mostly lost.

Anyway, the first photo is of Evey two weeks ago... note the hair in her eyes. The next photo is of her while she was getting her haircut. The next photo is Evey on Saturday morning, and the last pic is of Evey at the park Saturday morning. No hair in eyes. She also got it trimmed in the back.

I'm back!

From wherever I was...

Evey's first haircut!

We took Evey to ProCuts over on 25th and Iowa in Lawrence and got her her first haircut. She did pretty good up until the very end, and then she got squirmy. Lots of "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Wheels on the Bus" singing ensued.

She looks different... even cuter, perhaps? Hard to say. She does look a little bit more boyish with even bangs and even hair in the back. She looks older, for sure. I'll get photos of her and her new 'do up on THURSDAY.

A friend of Evey is a friend of mine

Say hello to Gabriel Scott, son of John and Stacey!

The official Easter dress

OK, so this is what Evey looked like upon entering Memow's house on Easter Sunday... and what she looked like at church on Sunday (I know -- I was THERE!)

We got a new couch today. I'm looking forward to kicking back on it and reading here in about 5 minutes. Special thanks to Copy Jesus for helping me pick it up. And Neuty, I'm hoping you can help me out tomorrow still... yeah, I forgot that Adro bought TWO new pieces of furniture.

We watched the Oprah show on "hording" tonight... pretty depressing. I put a few comics up on eBay in an effort to start getting rid of some unnecessary stuff. To quote the one guy, "If everything is special, then NOTHING is special." Whoa, dude, you just blew my mind you sagacious $&%#. Now I have less Green Lantern comics. Thanks for that.

Oprah still scares me, and I think she has an abnormally large head. But that's not why she scares me.

Why am I still typing? There's a new COUCH...

Rinnert baby?

I'm calling for the arrival of Rinnert Baby (possibly named Alejandro) today. At 11:59 p.m.

It was all fun and games

Until the moment Evey pulled one out of the box!

Easter ramblings

Hmmm... Easter.

Well, it was early this year. Really early.

Easter's kind of a spooky holiday. Maybe if you're better educated about it, it isn't so scary. In my mind: a little creepy.

OK, so we're either celebrating the first (and only, so far as we know) time someone came back from the dead... which is cool, because it was JC that came back, and not someone like Strom Thurmond (he's dead, right?).

To little kids, I'm going to say resurrection is creepy. Just a guess.

OK, so let's make it about a rabbit that lays eggs.

Isn't that kind of creepy too?

Christmas -- we have this lovely Santa Claus spreading toys around the world. Thanksgiving -- we have this image of pilgrims and Indians momentarily not killing each other. Fourth of July -- well, we blow stuff up, because that's the American way (sorry Iraq).

Easter... bunny.

Well, chocolate is involved. We can agree that that is good.

Do we get gifts? Little kids do. So at least they're on board with a resurrection. Heck, it could be an insurrection, give them pastel coated gifts, and it's all good. Viva la revolucion, daddy.

So what am I really trying to say?

I hope you had a wonderful and not-at-all-creepy Easter. I know I did. And so did Evey.

Thank you for suffering a fool with a keyboard. Good night.

(Photo attached: Evey in what was probably her Easter Sunday outfit... I'll share actual photos down the road, once they're downloaded.)

Jett-Man

Jett-Man says: Have a Rock Chalk weekend!

Evey's first trip to the comic book store!!!

To Daddy, this was a bigger deal than her baptism, folks! (What a thing to say... days before Easter Sunday. I'm sorry, Mom!)

But, yeah, me and Evey went to Astro Kitty this evening to see what was on the shelves. Evey loved it there in the comic store... I had to be careful pushing her around because she wanted to grab every comic, just like her dad does.

We couldn't leave empty-handed (especially since she was really good for me there) so we got Evey her first comic -- Super Friends # 1. (Sure, I've given her some of my crappy old comics before, but this was her first comic all her own.)

Evey wasted no time tearing right into that comic... and as the last photo shows, she could not contain her enthusiasm for Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Aquaman... by the end of our walk, she had torn that comic to shreds!

Oh, well. We're teach her how to properly treat comics down the road. For now, I'm just glad she enjoys looking at them.

Evey's first... junk mail?

Only 15-months-old, and already Evey is getting JUNK MAIL.

Apparently Spectrum Technologies thinks Evey might be interested in some light meters, or soil moisture sensors. She can't speak yet, but she knows what the pH of the soil in the backyard is!

We're thanking Grandma Judy for this one... see, I know where Evey would have met up with some Spectrum sales people: at the Golf Industry Show. And apparently, Evey even had her badge scanned at the Spectrum booth, so she's now on they're mailing list.