KJ, SJ and a job? (Day 21)

I'm not the newest new guy anymore.

That became evident when Sean Jarrett, who I have taken to calling SJ, stepped on the field for the practice game and Whitey basically said to everyone, "Here's your new teammate."

But that was later in the day. So at least for a little while I wasn't old hat yet.

Whitey picked me up in the morning with intentions for us to head to the bank. I wanted to know if I could get a bank card yet, since I opened an account a week-and-a-half ago and I can't yet access it, and Whitey had to do an international transfer. Unfortunately for me, he had more luck than I did. That means I still don't have a bank card, for those of you trying to do the math.

Before we got to the bank I received a phone call from my mom. For the first time I got a call from home and it was a success! I think the gist of the conversation was that my mom asked if I had a paying job yet and I answered, despite knowing that she is a faithful reader of these journal entries. If you're trying to do the math on that one, I do not have a job. Or at least I didn't when I spoke to her. She also mentioned that my little brother had a job interview today. The 21-year-old Brudnicki has never really been employed and it would be a sad day for me if he had a job and I didn't. So we're both working on that.

From the bank Whitey and I headed to RBWH (Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, I think) for a meeting with someone from the foundation there. At the Ball Park Buster, a huge game event that we're hosting on December 10th, some of the proceeds from ticket sales go to the foundation and a program they support. The program is called P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth) so Whitey and the guy from the foundation were mostly discussing the events of the night and promotions for the event and the like. I don't think I really contributed much but Whitey brought me to talk to him about story ideas and the media side of things. I think.

Before we had the meeting though, because we were early to arrive, for some reason WW and I stayed in his car and listened to his friends who are in an acapella group from Harvard or something. They were definitely fantastic singers and I loved it, but I feel like sitting in Whitey's car waiting for a meeting listening to acapella singers is not something most people can say they do on an every day basis. Just can't be lucky enough I guess.

We had the meeting eventually though and I probably didn't contribute that much. I took notes and chimed in a couple times but that was the extent of my involvement.

When we made it back to the office Gonzo actually called me back and I was able to get the couple of quotes I needed from him for my story on KJ. Gonz called and said I was No. 32 on his list of people to get back to. Can't I get some preference around here? Jeez. 32 in the queue. Come on now. But I spoke to him and got what I needed so I guess I can't complain.

With that I was able to finish the story on Jordan and send it away to various people to look at and edit and give me their opinions on. I got Gonzo to read it and he seemed pretty happy with the whole thing and he thought KJ would be too so that's always comforting. I haven't really gotten used to the whole seeing-the-guys-I'm-writing-about-right-after-I-write-about-them thing. I usually don't have to take the heat if I say something like he has a 6:6 walk-to-strikeout ratio, an indication that he needs to command the zone a little bit better, which is exactly what I said about Durket and then heard about it several times afterward. Oops.

When the KJ story was finished though I felt like it was time for a solid lunch. I went with Carl to the place that everyone in the office calls "Cut in Half". I'm not sure if I mentioned the name before but I have definitely been there before and probably written about it. It's a place with wraps and sandwiches and stuff like that but everyone orders wraps. They make them lightning quick and then ask you if you want it "cut in half"? The first time I was there I didn't understand what the pita magicians were saying but it's all part of the Cut in Half charm. Hence the name.

Not too long after lunch I had to head to a prearranged meeting at Chalk with SJ. Whitey spoke to the owner again about getting SJ a job and I think he threw my name in there as well. And since Carl lives near the Chalk and had to go home before the practice game he drove to get SJ and then drove the two of us to the meeting. We got a little lost heading to find the newest new guy in town but I think Carl got mad at me when I called Whitey to ask directions and opened the conversation with "We're lost." That was apparently not the right thing to do. My bad.

We found our way to somewhere near SJ's place and I eventually just had to get out of the car to go and find it. When I got to where I thought it was I walked right in because the door was ajar and pretty much everything was wide open. Lucky for me it was the right place because that could have been very awkward. SJ grabbed his stuff and some food and we were off to the Chalk.

The meeting was only a little awkward and I don't know what SJ would have done if I hadn't been there. We met with a woman I'd never met or spoken to before and she just kind of approached us and was like, "Hey, what's up?" So I explained that I had met the owner and spoken to him about a job for Jarrett and then for myself and that he thought there might be some opportunity for part-time work. She seemed receptive to all of that and whatever else I was dishing out so that was nice. She gave us both her card and told us to send her our availabilities. She also mentioned that the bar would be busy this upcoming weekend to which I responded that I am available. So I am kind of hoping to get right into things this weekend and start making some money. But the meeting went well and I feel like SJ and I both came out of it with jobs though there was nothing actually done or set or anything. Wishful thinking is what I'm still running on for now.

After the Chalk, SJ, Carl and I all headed back to the office. Unfortunately for the pitcher he had to hang with us so he could get a ride to the practice game. When we were at the office I wasn't really doing anything either though so I pretty much just asked him an endless string of questions, to which he was very polite in answering them all. I found out that before coming here SJ was in Texas giving pitching lessons, and that his mom is in Colorado and works for the prison there, teaching Excel and Word and stuff like that. She's at a maximum-security facility but don't worry, she's been there 10 years and she's okay. SJ is from Colorado and is an Avalanche fan, just like me (for as much as I love hockey), but we didn't really get into any hockey talk. I was more interested in asking millions of questions. So SJ continued answering while Carl and Whitey tried to figure out where they are going to be staying when they head to Sydney this weekend. I do not believe they found any success.

So off we all went to Windsor, where the exhibition game would take place between the Bandits and the Brisbane All-Stars (I think) and SJ would make his Bandits pitching debut. When the game was about to start I made a beeline for the concession stand. I got a chicken burger and hot chips (french fries) and made sure there was tomato sauce (ketchup) around for them. It was a solid purchase. When Carl and I were standing around waiting for our food we got to talking to another girl in line and it turns out she's from Washington, or somewhere near there. She found the Bandits after applying to some sort of event job at the RNA Showgrounds and decided to come out to the free game. I think I have spoken to more American people in my time here than Australian people.

Prior to the game I was introduced to Greg Morriss, the father of starting pitcher Simon Morriss and also Australian scout for the Houston Astros. We didn't speak much before the game but I did want to see if he had a radar gun with him so I could find out what SJ was throwing. Morriss did indeed have one with him so I told him I was going to be coming to him later for information.

When the game started I went and sat with the elder Morriss and we got talking about players and teams and rules and Baseball America and Australian ball and anything else that has anything to do with the sport pretty much. It was a good talk and I learned more about Simon and then about a bunch of the other Australian players in the game. Greg had insight on most of them and it was nice to learn some more about these guys.

SJ came in for the top of the third inning. He only needed 16 pitches to get through the inning, though I was pretty worried when the first pitch was hard-hit for a single up the line. But that was the only hit allowed by Jarrett. He had two fly outs and a groundout but he topped out at 86 mph. It's my understanding that he does throw at a higher velocity on a regular basis, and he does deserve some slack for pitching basically right off the plane, especially not having thrown to a live batter since September. But we'll see what happens this weekend when he heads to Sydney.

At one point in the game I was operating the radar gun and so Carl came and joined me. He wanted to learn how and look like a pro. Though I couldn't really teach Carl to look like a pro, because quite frankly he doesn't really have it in him (just kidding), I could teach him to point the gun. Not so hard. I wasn't really interested in learning the velocities of many of the other guys though so I didn't really pay as much attention when SJ came out of the game. I've seen every other Bandit pitch now I think so I should be good. Now I just need to familiarize myself a little more so that when they're warming someone in the bullpen all the way behind the fence in left field, I will be able to tell who they are. That's next on my agenda of pitcher-watching.

Post-game I had an interview with Justin Erasmus scheduled. He's a righty originally from South Africa but has played on Australian national teams. He's actually been to more places in Canada than I have I think because he competed in like Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Langley...he went on and on. And I'm pretty sure I haven't been to most of those places. He also pitched against Adrian Gonzalez (if you don't know who that is, stop reading, look it up, and feel embarrassed) when he was 18 or 19 and gave up a home run and double to him. But come on, it's AGonz. So Erasmus and I had a decent chat and then I was off to interview SJ on the ride home.

Whitey had taken off at some point during the game and took the bus home so Carl was giving me and SJ a ride. I decided to try and do a story on Jarrett to introduce him to the Bandits, get his name out there a little bit, and we thought the ride home was a good opportunity to do that. Since I'd already asked him every question in the book at the office I might have been a little repetitive but it was still fine. Except for when I found a big bug crawling on my seat and I took it and put it on him. Neither him nor Carl appreciated me sending that up to the front half of the car. The interview was on hold until I got the bug and put it out the window. I did and we were back on track.

Carl dropped SJ off and I am sure he was pretty glad to get away from me and my interrogations. Then he dropped me off with plans to get me again in the morning. No walk to the office for me tomorrow.