Sean Jarrett arrives (Day 20)

I'm honestly shocked that I have yet to be hit by a car.


I know I keep saying it, but I keep meaning it. If it took 25 years to teach me how to cross the road at home, looking left then looking right and all that good stuff, then I can't imagine it will be anytime soon that I learn where to look and where to walk here.


It doesn't help that I've been using  my legs to get me everywhere I go. What also does not help is the fact that the right of way works a little differently here. For example, at home if you are crossing a little side street or a road that just doesn't have any signage, the pedestrian always gets right of way. That is not so in Australia. People can run you over whenever they want and it will never be their fault. At least, that's what I have come to understand.


So once again, for those of you not paying attention before, my travel insurance information is in the picture pocket of my wallet, visible for all to see as soon as my wallet is opened. Just making it easier for you to help me. Don't worry mom, I've heard the health care is pretty decent here.


Obviously then it may be deduced that my day started with more walking today. If you managed to deduce that assumption after my rant, you are correct. I made the trek to the office once more, despite saying that I would never do it again. It didn't seem so bad this time, probably because I knew where the end was and I could prepare for the mountain ranges (minor hills) that I was about to embark on.


So with all of my walking and running on the weekend, in addition to the morning jaunt to the office, I believe that I made it the equivalent of a marathon from Friday night to Monday morning. A whopping 42 kilometres of wandering around Brisbane. I am definitely going to need some new running shoes before this trip is over. In case you're willing to donate to the cause (mom), my shoe size is a women's 6.5 or a 5.5 in children's. Kids shoes are cheaper so it's always an option I explore.


When I got to the office and changed out of my sweaty walking clothes I was set to work. With a few minor email and Facebook distractions I was proud of the amount of transcribing that I was getting through. Carl made his way in shortly after I had but he didn't need any help from me so I was free to do what I needed to do.


Pleasantly disrupting my day were several positive comments on the story that I wrote about Bandits third base coach and Development Officer for Baseball Queensland, Shayne Watson:
http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111127&content_id=26044130&vkey=news_t4065&fext=.jsp&sid=t4065
Since Shayne works in the office, he was passing along all the nice commentary he was getting about the story. Maybe if people keep saying all these nice things my head will actually fit into my two-size-too-big hat sometime soon.


Another story of mine went up today as well, the one that I'd written on southpaw reliever Jon Durket last week. He's one of the guys that helped tear down the field during my manual labour phase of this job. He was gracious enough to give me some of his time last week and this is what resulted:
http://web.theabl.com.au/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111128&content_id=26045878&vkey=news_t4065&fext=.jsp&sid=t4065


So some of my writing is getting out to the world of Bandits fans. I'm hoping it can make its way to the Baseball America website when my friends and colleagues at BA come back from American Thanksgiving weekend. I'm excited, and I know some of the guys on the team are too, at the prospect of having more stuff about the ABL run by BA. Actually I'm sure the guys on the team just want their personal stories to show up in BA but I am thinking about the whole league. Plus, my name goes on every article, so I don't have to try as hard as the players do.


Around lunchtime Whitey showed up with the Bandits latest import, Sean Jarrett. He's a right-handed pitcher here from Colorado. He was last seen playing for the Tulsa Drillers and I think I shocked Carl when I knew that the Tulsa team was named the Drillers. But that's an awesome name. Come on.


Carl and I were headed for lunch when Jarrett showed up and since Whitey had been starving him all morning (not factual), he headed for food with us. I proceeded to interrogate him about when he'd last thrown, how much time he's been getting in to work out, how many innings he got this past season, how ready he is to play and more things along that same line of questioning. He didn't seem to mind so I didn't feel the need to stop.


I also mentioned the Jays and Baseball America (come on, if you were me, you would too) and Jarrett told me that he'd played with Brad Mills in college. For those of you who don't know who Mills is, he's a lefty soft-tosser in the Jays organization. He's had a few chances with the big league club but he can't seem to translate his success from Triple-A upward. He actually had an ERA under 4.00 last season with the Las Vegas 51s, quite an impressive feat in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but every time he made an appearance in Toronto he was less than stellar.


So we chatted about that and how I am incapable of crossing the street on my own and then further about the possibility of sleep deprivation. I'm sure I made a great impression on this guy.


We should get to see him pitch tomorrow though because the Bandits have a practice game at night. I am hoping this guy has something good to offer to the team and will further the chances of winning. When he was gone, I think it was Watto who mentioned that he was a nice guy. And I'm pretty sure my reaction was, "Nice guys finish last. And I want to win."


I continued my transcribing for the rest of the afternoon mostly, with the exception of helping Whitey out with some busy work he couldn't get to. It was a welcome change of pace from my constant typing so that worked out for both of us.


After about 3 o'clock I was the only Bandits person left in the office, since that's when Carl left. I decided to stay and try to continue working though. When I was finished transcribing I tried to start writing the story about KJ, the team manager, but my writer's block was interrupting any sort of progress. I also wanted to talk to Gonzo before writing anything to get a couple quotes from him about Jordan but Gonzo wasn't responding.


I started my trek back home at around 5 p.m. It was probably around 40 minutes later that I realized I was lost. How perfect. I thought I could handle it since I'd walked to the office now twice before. Apparently coming back the other way is not the same. Actually, I just wasn't paying attention. I ended up about an extra half an hour out of my way before I made it back to where I needed to be. Oops. Just putting some more miles on the legs. I really thought I could do it though. Another disappointing moment in the quest for independence.


Eventually I made it back. After a dinner of champions, consisting of toast with peanut butter and bananas, corn flakes and chocolate milk, I was back to work. No more writer's block for me. I finished the story on KJ, minus the quotes that I wanted to get from Gonzo. I left Gonz a voicemail and a text so I guess the story will have to wait until I see him. It's only fair to let some other content go up on the website after all.


And since I've managed to figure out the whole sleeping thing lately, I think I'll get some work in on that front.