Holla!

Ummm, looks like I'm about at the halfway point already. Its been kinda cool or boardline cold lately, topping out at a brink 60 degrees in the sun at best on most days. Being the equivalent of late January/early february, I think its safe to say its the dead of winter here right now. That you can still get away with a t-shirt during the day speaks volumes about the climate here. But I gotta say I'm looking forward to November, when it'll be greener and hot and sunny with longer days to play outside.

Even though (as of this writing) the sox have lost 3 straight, they still should make the playoffs. I've to do some homework on possible world series scenarios. IF they do go all the way (something my yankees friends may scoff at), I've come to the conclusion that I have to be in Boston for it. Round trip tickets look to be about $1550. I gotta figure out if that will go up as we get to mid october, and if so, what type of a penalty will I get if I buy a ticket now and cancel it say 48 hours before the flight (if say they make it to the ALCS but loose there). Then again, one of my mates got a quote for a round trip to London for several hundred dollars less when going through Flightcentre, the big tourism agency here. It only figures that they field their best team in years when I'm 13,000 miles away from the fens.

In Sydney news, I saw what up to now has been the best show thus far last night. Opening up the night was Showbag, indie darlings from Perth who sound a bit like Matthew Sweet and the Pixies. Really catchy, sugary sweet tunes. Then there was El Mopa, sorta rootsy, experimental band from somewhere in australia. They got a cellist, man. Maybe a bit like an aussie will oldham. Then to headline were Mountain Goats came on. Its tough to say they rocked, as its really just John Darnielle and his acoustic guitar, but I was much more captivated by his performance than by any of his cds. All three bands were more than solid, and all were different from each other. There are three more shows coming up in the next 8 days, but I have a feeling this one will be tough to beat. As we speak, Yo La Tengo are walking from the on deck position. Batter up!

Say CHEESE!

New pictures here

OK, could this be the year?

The writing is on the wall.

-With the addition of an above average lefty and 2 legitimate closers, Bostons bullpen has to rank as one of the best in baseball. All three of these guys were picked up during the regular season. What have the guys in pin stripes been up to?Orosco, Benetiz, and addition by substraction with Mondesi. Theo, you're a legend.

-Lets not forget that Pedro is still Pedro.

- "The Red Sox offense. Boston may go down as the best slugging team in history, blowing away the records for extra-base hits (by the 1996 Mariners) and slugging percentage (by the 1927 Yankees). Epstein has been so solid at picking up complementary pieces, such as Bill Mueller, Kevin Millar, Damian Jackson, Todd Walker and David Ortiz, that he was also able to obtain a closer, Byung-Hyun Kim, without compromising the offense. However, questions about pitching and defense remain."
-Tom Verducci, SI

-The boss is pissed off, again

"These 2003 Red Sox are proactive. They're thinking like champions. They're not done yet. And they won't be done until they finally win the whole damn thing."
-Curly Haired Boyfriend

-The view from New York


If anyone knows of any cheap flights from Sydney to Boston around October 18th, lemme know...

Out for a run

On Friday a bunch of us went to the Australia vs New Zealand rugby test match. Australia 48 - NZ 6. Not a very close match at all. Drinks afterward at the neighborhood pub. A Few Mauri's who had a bit too much to drink got a little outta hand. I saw this one guy in particular grab another by the neck. But he didn't get tossed over that. That didn't happen until he tried to climb over the bar. Those kiwis just don't give a fuck.
At some point in the conversation that night the upcoming city to surf run was brought up. My boss won $10 earlier on a side bet regarding the score so he was in a waging mood you could say. or maybe I just wanted in on the action. I dunno. All I do know is that I got $50 that says I'll finish the run before he does. 8 miles. less than 10 days away now. Mind you, my boss who at 6'5" probably weighs no more than me. I hate running. But, theres a $50 on it. So I've actually managed to run 4 out of the past 5 days since said bet was placed. Hopefully I'll go into it knowing I can run 5 miles more or less non stop. The last three are anyones guess.

Vacations Over

I'm back from Far North Queensland. Actually I've been back for about a week now, and I've caught up with all of the crap thats piled up in my absence. This trip was a bit different than the last one. For one, I stayed in a hostel, not under the stars. Cairns the city got old pretty quick for me. Really just a bunch of backpackers on the piss at the pubs. No worries though, because there is so much to do during the day, I really didn't have the energy left to rage most evenings. The area up there is amazing. Even if it wasn't a launching point for the great barrier reef, this place would still draw its share of tourists. It reminded me a bit of Malibu, where the mountains run into the sea. Only it trumps Malibu because the mountains here are rainforested, and there is no smog like malibu. Spent one day mountain biking with Dan the bicycle man. Cool bloke actually. He's got the life, running mt. bike tours up in the hills on world class courses. Totally wore myself out that day. Had to take a jet-cat out to green island the following day and see a bit of the reef. The weather really didn't co-operate that much on that day. It was kinda grey with scattered showers actually. Lets see, I then took a trip to the tablelands. This is the area on the other side of the great dividing range, with rolling hills and unbelieveable waterfalls and rainforests along the way. Did a bit of swimming underneath the Millaa Millaa waterfall, which was full on.
The true highlight obviously was diving on the reef. After surviving the bumpy 2 hour ride out to the outer reef, We dove at a couple of spots. Amazing. Its much better than you'd imagine it, or at least better than I imagined it. There are tonnes of fish all with crazy colors swimming all around you. The water is crystal clear. 2 hours offshore, its alot cleaner (apparently thats why the reef doesn't grow close to shore, go figure!). I've never been diving before, and that in itself was really cool, but to be surrounded by these corals that are over 1000 years old, and to see such diversity in it all was fantastic. You're basically floating around in this brightly colored, completely foreign world. Usually I'll take tonnes of pictures in this type of a situation, but I think I was really too awestruck to even bother (I did buy one of those underwater camera deals beforehand). No picture really does it justice. I generally prefer the land and land sports to the water, but I gotta give the reef mad props, man.