Cheers, Dad

It's three years ago today that I lost my Dad. Cheers, dad. Still miss you like crazy! (But I dream of you less than ever... come say hello every once in a while!)

Coach's daughter

Here's a pic of me and the kids on Evey's first day of school. I like using my expanding gut as a shelf for Boydee to sit on. Convenient.

***

I'm coaching Evey's soccer team for the first time. She played in the Happy Feet League in Lawrence the last two years, and that league came with its own coaches.

We have 10 kids on our team, from ages 3 to 5. Evey is one of the older kids on the team, and the second-tallest.

Evey is very proud that her dad is the coach. She thinks it gets her all sorts of cool points. She also thinks I'll play favorites for her, and I told her I wouldn't -- and that made her a little mad. But I've explained it to her a few times that that wouldn't be fair.

At our first practice, I sat all the kids down with all their parents and introduced myself.

"My name is Seth. You can call me Seth, or Coach Seth, or just Coach," I told everyone.

And Evey announced, "And you can call me the Coach's daughter!"

***

We got smoked in our first game. Well, we started off poorly, and then things settled down a bit. I get to run on the field with the kids. A lot of my time is spent encouraging kids to get involved. I have a few kids who would rather chase bugs then chase the ball.

After the game, one of the parents asked me, "How's your voice?"

I told him the voice was fine... but my soul was wounded.

A shitty story

OK, so the shit story...

I was in Milwaukee last week (among other places), so Adro was on solo kid duty (with multiple guest appearances by Grandma Judy). I got an email from Adro, a forward from Evey's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Paul. Apparently Evey had mismanaged her bathroom time, and had a little accident in her skivvies at school. But major embarrassment was avoided somehow, so everyone was cool.

I was worried that this was a life-altering event in Evey's life... that she would have a new nickname for the next ten years, and she'd earned it in only her second week of kindergarten. I worried that'd she'd come home distraught, and I was out of town.

She came home, and there was no mention of a shitty day at school. At all.

Fast forward to that evening. Adro was preparing to give Evey and Boydee a bath at the same time.

Evey was already in the tub; Boyd was about to join in the fun. Adro lifted up Boydee, and saw something... what is that? a misplaced Cocoa Puff? Oh shit, that's shit!

So Adro looks around and sees that, indeed, she's been shat upon by her favorite little boy in the world. Poop is everywhere. Adro hollers for Grandma Judy, who comes to help out.

Things are cleaned up, and that's when, nonchalantly, Evey tells Mom, "Yeah, mom... it was a bad poop day for me and Bubba."

And that was the first mention Evey had of her accident at school that day.

What a relief that her shitty day wasn't that traumatic...

Bad Poop Day

There's a story here, and it involves the birthday girl (Adro -- happy birthday!) getting shat upon.

Story after this commercial break...

Help me believe in anything. 'Cause I want to be someone who believes... yeah.

Here's Evey, Adro and Boydee on Evey's first day.

I'm back from Denver/New York. Both were good. Exhausting.

***

Evey loved her first week of school. She's excited to get back into it now, for week two. She tells me that I need to come to school for lunch someday. That sounds like awesome fun to me... better do it before she gets to the age where she doesn't want to be seen with me!

***

We painted Evey's room this weekend. Well, Adro did most of the painting. I helped on day one, Evey did too. Then Adro did day two by herself so it would look good.

We painted the room a nice yellow... the room is brighter now. Evey gets a bunk bed this week. Her room is going to be all new soon.

Believe in me.

Evey on her first day of school.

She LOVED it.

More details and photos later this week...

so come dance this silence down through the morning... sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, yeah... uh-huh... yeah-ahhh-ahhh. Cut up, Maria! Show me some of that Spanish dancing... pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones!

As Borat would say... "GREAT SUCCESS!!!"

This weekend we had a garage sale... and we sold almost every "big" item we had, including a fridge, a desk with book case, a bed, a jogging stroller... even an old tube TV (we gave it away.)

Grand total for our stuff we wanted to get rid of? Guess...

Guess again.

Nope, higher.

The answer: $605 made on the garage sale. Holy shit.

I even sold a box of comics for $6. Adro was impressed for about 5 minutes.

It helped that we had beautiful weather, a ton of kid's clothes, and a giant sign at the corner next to ours that read "MOVING SALE." A lot of people came our way, and traffic was good on both Friday and Saturday.

I'm SO happy we sold the old desk/bookcase. I told myself that this was the last time I was ever going to move that piece of furniture, after moving it in and out of the garage about ten times. I'm also happy to have moved that old TV without having to pay to recycle it. I'm also happy we sold the old fridge, because it was creeping me out.

Great job, Jones family!

***

Evey was enjoying the garage sale, and she was encouraging us to sell her stuff. She wanted to see it go away. She even brought things out of her room and would put a sign on them.

Observe, the lower photo.

She decided it was time to sell her Sesame Street alphabet bus.

Take a close look at the sign on top of the bus. See what it reads?

The word "the," then A through Z... and "bus." Apparently for the low, low price of $12.

I was so charmed by Evey's description of her alphabet bus. That little girl spelled out the entire alphabet to describe that bus. So sweet.

We managed to not sell the bus -- we wanted to keep it for Boydee. Evey's outrageous price helped us out.

But her sign gave me perhaps the best laugh of an otherwise stressful garage sale.

***

Tomorrow is a big day. It's Evey's first day of kindergarten.

I'm taking her to school. I'll be sure to document the occasion with a ton of photos, and a full report, here, soon.

with a black-haired flamenco dancer... you know she dances while his father plays... guitar... she's suddenly beautiful... and we all want something beautiful... man, I wish I was beautiful.

Boydee does this move whenever he's fighting sleep... he's laying on his back (like he is above) and he picks up both legs and slams them down, repeatedly.

Sometimes his legs hit Evey in the head... sometimes his legs hit me in the balls. It's never a good time.

So, on behalf of the rest of the Jones family... please, Boydee, stop kicking like this. It's not cool.

***

All of a sudden, Evey is less than a week away from her first day of kindergarten. She's quite excited. We have this paper-chain hanging in the kitchen... each day she gets to pull one link off. We're less 8 links away now. Unbelievable.

Evey gets to meet her new teacher on Thursday (Mrs. Paul.) Then, next Monday, her first day.

Where did the time go?

***

The other day, Adro and Boydee went to bed early (like 7 p.m. early!) Me and Evey stayed up and watched the Olympics.

Evey was playing with this small blanket on the ground, rolling herself up in it like a little churro. I grabbed her and laid her on top of me. The two of us layed there for a while, watching the Olympics together.

"Dad?" Evey said to me. "I'm kind of scared about going to kindergarten," she said to me in the meekest little voice.

"What? I thought you were excited, Evey?" I asked.

"I am! But... I don't know how to tie my shoes yet, Dad..."

"That's OK, Evey, we'll get it figured out..."

"But I try, and, Daddy, every time! -- my brain just can't remember what to do next!"

I told her it would be OK, and that I didn't know how to tie my shoes at her age yet, either. But I wasn't much older when I did learn... and this seemed to comfort her a little.

***

We've been trying to get Evey to sleep on time (8 p.m.) and up on time (7:15 a.m.), as if she was going to school right now. She did OK on going to bed, but she struggles getting up still.

The other day I went in trying to wake up Evey and she told me she just wasn't ready yet...

"Dad! I'm just not ready yet! I woke up with a grumpy attitude!"

Grumpy attitude.

That convinced me to let her sleep for ten more minutes.

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la... oh, uh-huh... I was down up in New Amsterdam... stare'n at this yellow-haired girl, Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation...

Took Evey and Boydee swimming with the cousins, Jess, Mark and Noni today. Evey swims like a fish now. Boydee gets a kick out of being in the water, which is nice. Boyd did a pretty good job at the Johnson's today. He's a charmer. He's a good boy. Everybody loves Boydee.

 ***

Watched Lollapalooza streaming live tonight on YouTube. Jack White melted the stage, but, my friends, he's looking more and more like Robert Smith of the Cure everyday. Not a good thing. 

***

Special thanks to Adro who steam-cleaned all the upstairs carpet tonight. Boydee appreciates that too, as he wants to put anything he can find in his mouth.

***

Felt good to hit one game winner and several threes this morning at pick-up hoops. Also had a great block that got called for a foul, but the ensuing GAME WINNER three I hit made up for it. Karma. Knees feel like crap though.

 ***

They cut off my legs now I'm an amputee Goddamn you!

Let's finish "Harvey Danger lyrics month" with their one real hit. We'll be back next month with "Mr. Jones lyrics month." Stay tuned.

We'll have bigger ones

Highlight of the weekend, according to Evey. Spur of the moment, too. My plan was for Best Buy and finding golf shoes... and instead I called my sister and joined them at the lake.

Aren't Evey and Marina cute?!?

Thanks to my sis for having us out, and for snapping this pic!

The restaurants are closed, so are the record shops, the banks and bars and Bartell Drugs and Half-Price Bookstore... but the movies are always open

Boydee patiently waiting for his dinner the other day.

Evey told us today that she was OK with not ever spending the night at a friend's house (because she's scared to be away from us)... she'll just stick with play dates.

***

Haven't seen the new Batman movie yet. I know I'm going to be disappointed with it. The Christopher Nolan Batman series is broken beyond repair.

But I'll see it anyway.

***

Found an awesome CD at Love Garden yesterday -- "Welcome to Eudora, Kansas: The Redhouse Recording Studio Sampler." You know that's going in the jukebox.

***

Discover Eudora, a magazine I wrote, went out to all the addresses in Eudora on Tuesday. If you happen to come across a copy, snag it for me. I'd like to have some extras to mail out to mom and Jess, you know.

I'm not sick but I'm not well

I recently replaced all 100 CDs in my jukebox. Which is fun, to have all new CDs in the juke while I'm working. The pain in the ass is updating the album art and the playlists.

 I'm about halfway through the playlists right now. Then I'll cut out a bunch of album art. Print a bunch of playlists. And start reassembling.

 Before I do that, I wanted to document where the jukebox was at this moment in time. So here you go -- page by page, Seth's jukebox, circa late 2011 to mid-2012:

I made the first page of the juke to display some family and friends... note pics of Evey, Adro, Hendo, Bart and Marlan. Includes Interpol, Elastica, Cage the Elephant, the Urge, Wolfmother, Pearl Jam live, and a tribute to Elliott Smith.

Probably the only juke in the world with two Dredg CDs. Note the Golfdom cover used for Chevelle art, and Evey for Beastie Boys. Also, Cracker, Eels, Crow 2, Cure, Elliott Smith.

Flys, Everclear first and second album, Gnarls, George Strait (only country CD in the juke, for Adro), Harvey Danger, Foo Fighters (2X) Interpol, INXS, Jack Johnson, Incubus.

Jay-Z, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, BBoys, Beck, Counting Crows, 8Stops7, Killers, Harvey Danger, Local H (X3), Marcy Playground. Used Mexican luchadore for Harvey art.

Marcy Playground (X2), Machester Orchestra, King's X, QOTSA, Seether, Pearl Jam (X6)

Saul Williams, People in Planes, Pixies, Poe, Muse, QOTSA (X2), Q-Tip, Radiohead (X4). 100% album art on this page, which is kind of hard to do.

Rage, Michael Jackson No. 1s, Li'l Kim, Ludacris, Sheila Divine, Sublime, Soundgarden (X2), Soul Coughing, Spider-Man 3 sndtrk, Silverman, Slipknot. Note I used artwork from my "What Would Jacko Do?" comic for the Jackson CD.

Star Sailor, Staind, Jimi, Thom Yorke, Marilyn Manson, Toadies, White Stripes (X2) Ting Tings, Tool, Weezer, Zombie

Early Depeche Mode, Vampire Weekend, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, War's greatest hits. 

Some fast facts of the juke, courtesy of the juke's auditing system (asterisks denotes an Evey favorite):

Ten Most popular songs in the jukebox: 

143 plays* -- Ting Tings, "Great DJ"

85 plays* -- Billy Joel, "Tell Her About It"

76 plays* -- Vampire Weekend, "Cousins"

60 plays* -- Ting Tings, "Not My Name"

51 plays* -- War, "Spill the Wine"

39 plays -- Manchester Orchestra, "I've Got Friends"

38 plays -- Manchester Orchestra, "Shake it Out"

34 plays -- Radiohead, "House of Cards"

30 plays -- Toadies, "Tyler"

29 plays -- Queens of the Stone Age, "Make it Wit Chu"

29 plays -- Radiohead, "All I Need"

LEAST popular CDs in the jukebox

52 plays -- Jay-Z, The Black Album

60 plays -- Ludacris, Word of Mouf

62 plays -- Slipknot, The Subliminal Verses

62 plays -- Li'l Kim, La Bella Mafia

67 plays -- Q-Tip, Amplified

98 plays -- Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell

MOST popular CDs in the jukebox

393 plays -- Radiohead, In Rainbows

357 plays -- Radiohead, OK Computer

338 plays -- Beck, Odelay

327 plays -- Beastie Boys, Check Your Head

301 plays* -- Billy Joel, Greatest Hits Disc 2

301 plays -- Soundgarden, Superunknown

300 plays -- Manchester Orchestra, Mean Everything to Nothing

There you have it. I'll tear down all the art/playlists soon, and start reassembling the juke with the new art/playlists. It'll be a process. I am looking forward to having the juke back up to date, though, so I know what the hell I'm playing. Right now, I only know what CDs are in what slot -- no playlists yet.

I timed it once, and it takes about 20 minutes total to replace one CD... you have to put the CD in the correct spot in the magazine... then insert the proper album art... then create the playlist... then cut out the playlist and insert it in the right spot, with the right CD art. Then you have to inform the jukebox it has a new CD in it (by putting the machine in the service mode, then hitting 3, 1, then the CD #) I should also thank Copy Jesus at this time, who created the template for my jukebox cards for me... and he also helped me pick up the juke... in his honor, I vowed to never allow a single Pink Floyd CD in the juke.

And, if you're still reading -- which I'm sure you're not (but I had fun!) -- I would like to again thank my wife for letting me keep a giant jukebox in the basement.

I'm weird, I know. But I sure do enjoy having the juke.

Carjack fever

Saw these in San Diego two weeks ago -- all of the Batmobiles. Pretty sweet!

My favorites are of course the earliest two -- the Adam West version, and the Michael Keaton/Batman car.

For a few years I had a '98 Camaro that was black with T-tops... I put a black and gray Batman license plate on the front of it and called it the Batmobile.

Yes, it was badass!