What is it, bad shirt day? (Day 10)

Honestly, I think you know it's going to be a good day when you can wake up and put on a tuxedo t-shirt.

It says I'm formal, but I'm here to party.

Obviously my day started well then since, of the less-than-10 t-shirts I brought with me to Australia I just had to bring the tuxedo. As you might have been able to guess, the rest of them all probably have a Blue Jays logo on them somewhere.

And on that topic, let me take a moment to talk about the new Jays logo. Here's the story on the team website, but more importantly, there's a video. For those of you who get your daily quota of reading in right here with me.
http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20111117&content_id=25996396&vkey=news_tor&c_id=tor

My first thought is, sooo...I'm going to spend all my money next summer on new paraphernalia. The other 30-plus Toronto hats I have are now all old news. Even the ones with the original logo are no longer in play because this new logo is so similar, yet slightly different. With that said, I just realized that the organization's entire marketing plan worked. They've already got me saving up for new hats, jerseys and whatever else I think I need. At least I know where to go Mother's Day shopping. Act surprised when it happens mom.

Then my thoughts revert back to the video. Why have Yunel Escobar in there at all? Just a cameo appearance without a speaking role for the Cuban shortstop? Come on man, I know you've been taking English lessons. You could definitely spew out a sentence about baseball. Even 26 seconds into this video, http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=17061335&topic_id&sid=t435&tcid=vpp_copy_17061335&v=3 that guy got in on it. The Escobar appearance really threw me off. Just sayin'.

"I just really think next year's gonna be our year," said Brett Lawrie in the video.

Really dude? First of all, have an original thought. Second of all, who do you think you play for? The Cubs? I'm sure the uniform will definitely turn a .500 ball club into an AL-East winner. A new bullpen might help, but yeah, I'm sure the uniforms will actually make the difference.

So, do I like the logo? I don't know. They seem to be making a big deal about adding the word 'blue' back onto the jerseys. And I do like blue. My preference probably would have been just to go right back to the original logo but then the brilliant marketing plan would have been foiled. I get it. All in all, it's not so bad. It could be the logo from 2000 with the flexing bird wrapped around a big T with a maple leaf tattoo on his arm. Time to make room for more hats I guess.

Back to my day then. With my tuxedo t-shirt on I was pretty much ready for whatever the day had in store for me. I had some free time in the morning before I was supposed to meet Whitey and Carl at the park, so I decided to go walking around again. But just as I was ready to leave I remembered that I was waiting for a call from a guy from the league. I was supposed to come up with writing ideas for him and discuss with him what his thoughts are.

When I did  talk to him it didn't go that way at all. I told him what I was thinking and he seemed too busy to want to deal with me anyway. He did want to fill me in on some complaints he had and inform me on how we can fix things, so that was very helpful, seeing as I don't actually deal with any of that stuff.

I actually don't really know what I do deal with around here. I just wait to hear what needs getting done and I do as I'm told. It's worked out so far. I would love to know what my  job title is though. Probably something like Treasurer of Awesomeness. That's definitely it. Only the treasurer for now though. I'll work my way up.

The most productive thing that came out of that phone call was our plans to have another phone call a few hours later. This time Carl was to be involved though. I can't handle those kinds of things on my own yet. That's why I'm just the treasurer.

So I finally got out of the apartment to start my journey around the neighbourhood and I realized I actually should do some important things. Since I've already lost two nose rings since I've been here (how does that happen?), I thought I would go to the tattoo place around the corner and get another one, and then get a spare as well, just in case. I need to anticipate the play for next time.

And then I thought it might be a good idea to get a bank account sorted out. I went back to the Westpac Bank I had been to last week, where they'd given me a customer number and an appointment time. Unfortunately the appointment was for last Friday, so I was a little late. I ended up having to deal with their "Migrant Specialist", which made me feel like the guy was actually a bird watcher, but I thought I'd give it a go.

I'm not sure what was the worst part about the whole thing, the fact that I could barely understand a word the bird watcher said or the fact that his hair was so distracting that I wasn't listening anyway. I feel like I can handle the Australian accent for the most part, but the dual-accent that he had going, with a little bit of Asia and a little bit of Australia in there, was too much for me. And on top of that he had half his three-inch-long hair spiked up, half curled and the other half in his face. Wait, that was too many halves. It was a tough time.

But I think I have a bank account now. Actually I think I may have several and I also might have signed over my entire life. I guess it's a good thing my life here doesn't consist of much.

During the excessive amount of time I spent at the bank, the time I was supposed to meet Whitey and Carl at the field came and went. I'd texted Whitey though and he said it was okay since we weren't meeting there anymore. Our morning off had apparently turned into a disaster for Whitey and he had more things to do than when he was supposed to be working. I don't know how he does it.

I eventually met up with Whitey and we were off to get groceries for our staff meeting. And by staff meeting, I mean a barbeque with Carl and Gonzo. We went to the market-type place where Whitey's girlfriend Julie (Kleenex, according to my phone) works and I got to meet her bosses. That was great because I could possibly be asking them to give me a part-time job in the future. And by great, I mean I was wearing a tuxedo t-shirt. 

From the grocery store we picked up Carl and we were on our way. Of course the entire time, Whitey was on the phone trying to deal with all kinds of work stuff. That didn't help his mood, and neither did the fact that we were hitting every red light and were already late to meet Gonzo.

I must take this time to inform you that Whitey Wallace's arch nemeses are red lights. Their relationship is incredibly hostile.

I should also tell you that Carl was wearing an incredibly loud yellow Hawaiian shirt when we got him. I think Hawaiian shirts are pretty much the theme for his house. They just make people happy. Saving lives, one screen-printed palm tree at a time.

By the time we made it to Whitey's place for the barbeque meeting, Carl had to leave and go give someone tickets. And Gonzo, Whitey and I sat around discussing whether or not Justin Verlander should be able to win an MVP Award while Whitey struggled trying to get the grill started. He eventually had to call the building manager, but it worked out and we were on our way to a meal. This all happened obviously after Whitey had gone and changed into his Hawaiian shirt. That sparked the comment from Gonzo, "What is it, bad shirt day?"

As soon as Carl got back he and I had to have our conference call with the guy from the league. It felt like it took hours and I'm not sure I contributed anything. They did ask me though what protocol is for writing 'right fielder', so I wasn't completely useless. You're welcome Carl.

When we were done the call, Gonzo had to leave, so the meeting part of our barbeque was essentially finished. But food was had, more beers were had and I'm sure something was accomplished. Since being here, I've definitely accomplished drinking more beer than I have in probably the last five years altogether. When we left Whitey's, Carl and I had even more. We went out to meet his roommate and some of his friends.

The best part of the night, despite having a conversation with the bar owner and trying to convince him to like baseball and perhaps actually convincing him to give the team some sort of deal (I got his card and we'll see what happens), was running into another Canadian. When Carl and I stopped for post-bar dinner (slices of pizza and extra large spring rolls), the girl who served them to us was from Markham, ON. I think I probably asked her too many questions and tried to talk to her too much because Carl told me I was awkward. But I'm over it.

I also might have drunkenly told Carl essentially my entire life story. I am sure though that after hearing my voice nonstop for the last nine days, that was exactly what he wanted. My bad. I wouldn't want to make my best friend sick of me haha. Then what would I do?

And I guess that marked the end of "bad" shirt day. Depending on your opinion of shirts. You know mine.