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jordan@jordanbastian.com
PAST ENTRIES
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Happy Holidays
Bowled Over
I Finally Graduated
King Kong Lives
O Christmas Tree!
How 'Bout Them Jays
Christmas came early
Happy Holidays, Kelly and I are back in Michigan after spending a few days with the relatives in the Chicagoland area. Overall, I was very happy with this Christmas. All the family gatherings went smooth and everybody seemed pleased with their presents. I was just super excited to get the two new Seinfeld DVD volumes. My DVD players is going to worn out and I'm going to be sick from laughter. I can't wait! On Christmas Eve, Kell and I went to my brother's house, where we exchanged presents with all of my siblings and their kids.
Here are the nieces and nephews waiting to come up from Karl's basement to get their hands on all the presents. FIRST ROW FROM LEFT: Andy, Helena, Parker and Ben. BACK ROW FROM LEFT: Tricia and Maddy. Parker and Tricia are my sister Melissa's kids and the rest of the gang belongs to my other sister, Lynn.
Here is Helena opening her Tinker Bell outfit. She loves to ham it up for the cameras. Laney is also going through the "Terrible Two's" right now, so Kell and I fittingly bought her a shirt that simply says, "Trouble."
Here are the Bastian siblings. FROM LEFT: Lynn, Karl, Jordan and Melissa.
We've come a long way in 22 years. FROM LEFT: Lynn, Melissa (holding Jordan) and Karl.
Melissa and I had a good laugh when we realized we had purchased practically the same thing for eachother! Meep (her permanant family nickname thanks to my inability to pronounce "Melissa" at a young age) bought me the Sports SceneIt game and I bought her the SceneIt Disney edition! Kell and I already have the regular movie version and play it a lot. If you haven't Scene It, you should. You can see I'm sporting my Michigan State Santa hat as promised.
Here is Lynn opening our present for her. While we lived in Toronto last summer, Kell made this blanket for our upcoming nephew, Luke. I worked 8 hours per day on average and Kelly dedicated a lot of that alone time to cross-stiching this blanket. Lynn must have really loved it because she rarely smiles that big in pictures! After we ate an awesome dinner, it was back to the ol' Sutton residence on the South Side. We got up bright and early on Christmas morning and exchanged presents with Kell's family. Even Barkley was in on the action.
As you can see, Barkley decided to plop down on my pile of presents. Thanks to his fat lil frame, he put quite a dent in on of my boxes. Luckily, there was nothing breakable in there! He was so worn out from all the Christmas chaos that he actually was allowing us to take his picture. Usually, when he sees the camera, he runs -- we think because the flash hurts his eyes. But on Christmas, Bark's gift to us was a few good photos of him.
Here he is with Kelly after we all opened our presents. I also was bored for a bit and doodled a picture of Mr. Barkley (what I like to call him). Kell loved it and wanted to turn it into stationary. So I drew another one and scanned it into my computer.
Here it the official Barkley logo.
Here is Kell's family in front of the Christmas tree. On Monday, Kell went to downtown Chicago with some of her family. I stayed home to monitor the latest Troy Glaus to Toronto news. I found out Glaus underwent a physical up in Toronto on Monday and a press conference to announce the trade is scheduled for later tonight (Tuesday). Adding Glaus to the list of offseason acquistions is a nice holiday gift for the Blue Jays. They're starting to look like a good contender. Anyways, I hope everyone had a happy Christmahannahkwanzaca! Stay tuned for more... Posted at 1:32 p.m. Bowled Over, If any of you read my away message between around 6:30-7:30 p.m. yesterday, it said, "Out beating my wife at bowling." Well...I lied. It was more like I was out getting my cocky butt whooped by Kelly at the bowling alley down the street. Not even a half-mile from our apartment is this burger joint called Roxy's and a bowling alley called "Kelley's Bowl" (or something to that effect). Since we've lived here I've wanted to get some burgers and go bowling with Kell. So I got some Roxy's for lunch and then we made plans to go bowling when Kell got home from work. So we did and I stunk. The first game she beat me 127-101. Not cool. Especially because I had a strike on my first roll. It turns out it was all WAY downhill from there. In the second game, I needed eight pins. Just eight. Not a strike, not a spare. Just eight pins on my last roll to win. I got three. That's roughly five short of what I needed to win. So I lost, 107-103. I have a few theories why I lost: 1. Kelly went bowling two weekends ago, therefore giving her an edge. I hadn't bowled since taking bowling class my senior year at MSU. I obviously learned nothing in there. 2. I still can claim some injury excuses from my injured foot. It hurt on the first roll (the fact that it was a strike doesn't matter) and so it must have been bothering me the whole time -- throwing my game way off. 3. It's genetic. My Granpa Bastian was an avid bowler -- he was good, though. But he had this problem where when he released the ball it tended to go right, not left, which is odd for a right-handed bowler. I inherited this trait and have yet to master it like he did. I blame improper training as a child. 4. It was just Kelly and I there. Had some of my friends been present I would have had more focus, because there is no way I would lose to my wife in front of my fellow men. But it was just Kelly and I -- so I had no friends there to help me pull myself together. Whereas Kelly doesn't need friends to help her confidence because beating her husband if obviously motivation enough to win. When a man is losing to a woman, he feels humiliated and can't focus. He needs his bros to help call him a sissy and a wimp, so he can overcome it. I was a wimp and Kelly didn't help motivate me. Her gloating and smiles only made me feel smaller. And wimpier. Thus causing my tailspinning performance. 5. The name of the bowling alley was "Kelley's." It is spelled differently than my wife's name, but clearly gave her some sort of psychological advantage over me. Had the bowling alley been named "Jordan's," I could've accessed that advantage. I was obviously already at a disadvantage when we stepped in the door. 6. We were bowling in Lane 2. That number has no meaning to me. Lane 4, 7, 23, 42 -- I would've had the superstitious edge. Lane 2 was useless. 7. Kelly bowled first -- reverse alphabetical order. Enough said. 8. I stink. So, as you can see, I had a number of things working against me yesterday and so it is understandable that I lost to Kelly two games in a row. Next time I will make sure things go a little differently and I will be the winner. After we went bowling we made a run to Target. We went there with one goal in mind: Buy a present for someone. We left with a present, two DVDs, a Patrick (character on SpongeBob) ornament, some labels and a Michigan State Santa hat. I guess we got caught up in the Christmas spirit and got a little trigger happy with our spending. But check out this cool hat!
It says Michigan State on the front, in case you can't tell, and it has the Spartan logo on the green hat. I'm going to wear it on Christmas. It'll be great. Anyways, my first week with MLB.com has been a moderately slow one. There's only been one news item for me to do and, other than that, I've just been monitoring the latest trade/free agent rumors. It was kind of a nice week for me to start. Tomorrow Kell's friend Sarah is coming here to visit. I think we're going to go to the Mexican Restaurant in town for lunch. Then, tomorrow night before we go home for the holidays, Kelly and I are going to exchange our gifts. That way we can have our first Christmas as a married couple in our first "home." We're going to be seeing all our fam on Christmas Eve and Christmas, so we wanted to do our Christmas before we went home. I'm sure I'll be blogging more over the holidays. Stay tuned... Posted at 1:00 p.m. I Finally Graduated, That's what it feels like anyways. Last night I covered the Lawrence-Decatur High School basketball game -- a 71-26 trouncing by Lawrence. Anyways, it was my last time covering a high school event for the Herald-Palladium and quite possibly my last time covering high school sports period. It was a part of my writing career that played a crucial role in getting me to the next level. Dealing with high school parents, coaches and trying to get a high schooler to say the quote you're wanting for your epic masterpiece can all be a pain at times -- but, in a way, I'll miss it. I'm moving on to people with bigger paychecks, and in some cases, bigger egos. Wait, what am I talking about? I won't miss it! Let me see...covering high school baseball or the Toronto Blue Jays? Hmmmm, let me think about that one for a second. It is quite possible that I will not attend another high school sporting event until I have a kid in high school. That is a very happy thought. But I do appreciate all the good things that came out of me covering high schools for the Lansing State Journal and the Herald-Palladium. I wouldn't be the Jays' writer today if I wasn't willing to do high school bowling stories for LSJ. Trust me. It's true. Well, I have to go get ready for my last shift on the copy desk at the H-P. Tomorrow I will be unemployed and Monday I will be the Blue Jays beat reporter. Check www.bluejays.com on Monday to see my first mailbag. I've been flooded with fan questions this past week and my voice must be heard! Ha. Part of me feels bad for the H-P right now. They are going through some tough staff times now with me and another copy editor leaving. The paper is rethinking how much copy it puts out and that could lead to lower circulation now. That is not good. It's just one in the many examples of newspapers trying to survive in a struggling industry. I'm glad to be joining an online news outlet in that respect. So check the Jays site on Monday and every day from now on. All of you should know how excited I am about this great opportunity I've been given. Stay tuned... Posted at 3:55 p.m. King Kong Lives, Kelly and I just got back from seeing Peter Jackson's King Kong and I must say -- despite mixed reviews from my siblings -- I really enjoyed the film. When I was a little kid, I wore out our videotape of the original 1930s version. I went into this movie a bit skeptical about how much the Lord of the Rings director would hold true to the first movie. Take into account the other King Kong remakes and it's easy to see why a moviegoer might expect a disappointment. I must say that I was not let down at all. On my standard Bastian Four Star scale, I would give the film three stars. What knocked it down from four-star status to me was simply the length. The film was a bit long, but not so long that you're looking at your watch (at least I wasn't). But there were a number of scenes that could've been edited down a tad and the film wouldn't have lost its magic. The length of the movie also isn't that big of a deal when you consider how Jackson pieced together the story. He stuck to the classic Three Act form that all directors should strive to display, but rarely do effectively. With "Kong," you had the Pre-Island, Island, and New York acts -- each coming in at about an hour. When you look at each act as a mini-play or short film, the length really isn't that bothersome. Think about Lord of the Rings. Sure, Jackson could've cut the story to fit into a normal feature-movie time frame, but that wouldn't have held true to the books. The same went with this movie. He made sure to keep certain scenes and particular lines in this movie that were in the original. As far as the three sections go, Jackson added a few characters and added more characterization. Some critics (cough-Karl) might ask why one should build on a character that's just going to be squashed by a Brontosaurus stampede? Because it's better to get to know some of the people so you care if they get killed. It also added to understanding the anger of the crew towards Kong, who appears as just a ruthless beast to them. As far as the relationship between Kong and Anne, yes, it is quite farfetched. In reality, a woman wouldn't befriend a gigantic gorilla, no matter how many dinosaurs he killed to win her love. But, this is a movie, and a movie that asks the audience to suspend all reality just in the nature of the story. So, when Kong and Anne begin to show affection towards one another, while it's not true to life, it's magic that only a movie can bring. And it was done just like the original. So I enjoyed that aspect of the film very much. I loved the lines that resurfaced throughout the movie from the original. The last line of the movie was the same as in the '30s version and they even found a way to work in the "Old Arabian Proverb" that is displayed on the screen before the original movie. Also, the coloring of the film was especially good. Given, it's probably 90-percent blue screen and CGI, but it looked great. Some of the CGI wasn't as good as in the Lord of the Rings movies. I was happy with the appearance of the dinosaurs, but when the island tribe is skipping rocks to steal Anne from the ship, it looked pretty fake (similar to the poor CGI in Spiderman when he's hopping from building to building). Also, there were some pretty graphic scenes. The tribe was pretty scary lookin' -- as they should be -- and there were some nasty bugs that I even thought were a bit gross. But no one ever claimed this King Kong was a kids movie. If any little kids are bugging you to see King Kong, show them the '30s version! It worked for me when I was little -- granted I grew up liking a lot of movies that none of my friends ever saw. Anyways, I could go on and on, but the moral of the story is "King Kong" lives again, it's in theaters, and you SHOULD see it. Like Jurassic Park, it's sure to be a film that loses some edge when transformed to a smaller screen at home. If you think I'm a lunatic for loving this movie, feel free to send me an e-mail to voice your thoughts. I know my bro didn't like it nearly as much as I did. Posted at 11:51 p.m. O Christmas Tree! After I got off work today, Kell and I made (hopefully) our last trip around town to finish up our Christmas shopping. We are setting personal records for being done early this year. There still are a few things we may need to go get to complete our gifts, but we are now done with all the major present buying. While we were out we decided to try this Mexican Restaurant called "El Rodeo." Let me tell you, it was by far the closest Kelly and I have come to finding a Mexican food joint that comes close to the one we frequented in Big Rapids when Kell went to Ferris State. We were QUITE FULL when we headed home. Mmmmmm. Anyways, it was time to put up our first Christmas tree! Barkley was primed for the occasion:
OK, so he doesn't look super thrilled to be wearing his little reindog antlers (I played around with the pic in Photoshop because the original was a bit blurry). But he was excited nonetheless. He hung out under the tree while Kelly and I set it up. It was surprising how many ornaments Kell had. Her mom gave her all the ones she accumulated growing up and our tree was pretty full. Here is how our first Charlie Brown Christmas tree looks:
Not too shabby huh? We didn't have anything to put on top so I put a little stuffed snowman that Kelly had sitting on the top of our entertainment center. It topped the tree off very nicely. The total number of ornament that were mine was very low. But there was one that was the most important decoration on the whole tree:
That's right! Go Michigan State! I got that one during my last Christmas as a Spartan. I'm sure our tree will look better in the years to come, but this isn't a bad start. Until next year... Posted at 12:10 a.m. How 'Bout Them Jays, In case you were'nt paying attention, the Blue Jays were the most active at the Winter Meetings -- filling three obvious holes they had entering the offseason. A starting pitcher to complement Roy Halladay? Done. A closer to replace Miguel Batista? Done. A first baseman that can provide some offense? Done. Enter A.J. Burnett, B.J. Ryan and via free agency and Lyle Overbay in a trade with Milwaukee for RHP Dave Bush, OF Gabe Gross and LHP Zach Jackson. Here is what the Jays would look like if the season started today: 1B Lyle Overbay SP Roy Halladay Plus a solid bullpen that includes: Scott Schoeneweis, Jason Frasor, Justin Speier, Vinnie Chulk, Miguel Batista, Scott Downs, Dustin McGowan, Pete Walker and Brandon League. With that lineup and rotation, I believer the Jays can build on their 80-82 finish last season. Had Halladay not gone done with injury, Toronto might have won 85-90 games. Who knows. Getting Overbay should add some pop with his ability to produce doubles, but I think they still need another power bat to put in left or right field. The names Kevin Mench, Brad Wilkerson and Milton Bradley have been thrown into the mix, according to MLB.com and ESPN. Out of those three, I think Mench, who hit 25 homers last season, would be the best fit. Anyways, it looks like the Blue Jays are working towards being competitive in the AL East. Time will tell if the lumps of cash they dished out for Burnett and Ryan pay off. All I know is that with J.P. signing A.J and B.J., I'm thinking about changing my byline to J.D. Bastian to fit in! I'm excited about covering this team this year. They're already giving me plenty to work with and if they can actually contend with Boston and New York it'll mean an interesting season. ----------------------------- On the home front, I'm finished with my Christmas shopping for my wife! Woo hoo. I think I set a Jordan Bastian record for being done so early. In years past I've had to go running out on Dec. 23 or so to get the last-minute things. Not this time. The tricky part is hiding the stuff in a one-bedroom apartment that I share with Kelly. She knows where the stuff is and she promises she won't look. Hopefully she keeps strong! Kelly is actually in Chicago right now and I'll be going tonight after work. Her grandpa -- or "Pops" -- is in the hospital and is pretty sick. He's had a history of health problems and we're hoping he can pull through this one, too. Keep him in your prayers. Last night, I had the chance to go cover Benton Harbor High School basktball. What an experience. It reminded me of bball games or pep assemblies at Thornwood. Crazy stuff. The place was packed to the gills and that small gym was one of the loudest I've ever been in while covering high school stuff. The only other time that compared was when I covered Everett during regionals at Kalamzoo Loy Norrix last year. And the only reason that game came close to this one was because, well, Benton Harbor was the other team and I had their whole town pretty much sitting right behind me the entire game. I mean, this gym in the Harbor is so nuts that the local police force is all throughout the place. Anyways, Benton Harbor won and the kid I talked to after the game was a player named Devino Williams. He used to play in Lansing for Everett and I had interviewed him a few times when working for the Lansing State Journal. Kind of ironic. Welp, I think I'm going to chill out now and watch the end of this Duke-Texas college basketball game. Plus, my wife made some tacos for me before she left -- Best Wife Ever -- and I'm getting hungry for lunch. I went out with Neil and Brett from work last night and was out until about 3 a.m. Just hanging out and doing a whole lotta nothing. Good time, though. I'll talk to you all later. Stay tuned for more... Posted at 3:05 p.m. Christmas came early, There's BIG NEWS on the Bastian front. As of December 19, yours truly will assume the MLB.com beat writing duties for the Toronto Blue Jays. The offer came as an unexpected surprise today and Kelly and I are ecstatic about the news! I've only been at the Herald-Palladium here in St. Joseph for roughly two months and I had to tell them the news today. It was quite awkward to have that conversation with my boss -- the first time I've ever had to deal with a job switch (and so soon into my young career!). But I was happy with the way my colleagues at work reacted. Yes, there was disappointment, but at the same time, everyone congratulated me on the career promotion. As my family and close friends know, becoming a beat writer for a pro baseball team was what I set as my career goal from Day 1. I went to Michigan State and majored in Journalism because Baseball exists and someone has to cover it. To receive this job at my age is a tremendous honor and I'm looking forward to the opportunity. Not to get all Oscar-presentation on you all, but I want to thank everyone that has helped me get into this position. From my sports writing prof at MSU, to my editors at the Lansing State Journal, to the people I worked with while interning with MLB.com. Everyone I've met and worked with up to this point has taught me something and I'm always looking to learn more. Thanks for everything guys. I'll work for the H-P for two more weeks and then I'll start working for MLB.com. I'll be traveling to Spring Training down in Florida and working Opening Day at the Rogers Centre alongside my friend, Kelly, who went to MSU with me and is now the Twins beat reporter. We won't be moving to Toronto probably until January. I'm already looking forward to a few of the road trips I'll be making, too. In May, Toronto travels to Colorado, where I lived for two years during high school. I'll get to see my dad's new house and visit Colorado Springs for the first time since 2002. But the bins are staying there! Dad knows what I'm talking about. Anyways, I just wanted to fill everyone in on my early Christmas present. Thanks to MLB.com I just reached my 10-year goal in less than one year. Crazy.
My wife Kelly and I on the third floor of the Rogers Centre this past summer Posted at 2:42 a.m. |
