Bastian's Blog

July 31, 2005

No Kelly - Day 8,

It's been more than a week without my wife and I'm still alive. The apartment is trashed, I have a beard, the dishes are piled up, the trash is overflowing and I need a shower, but I'm still alive. I've worked more than 50 hours this week and haven't had time to catch up with household chores, yet.

Tomorrow I have to do the weekly notebook for the Appalachian League, the same thing I did last week, and I have to write a short Major League Baseball Player of the Week story. The notebook will consume more of my time, and I have to wait for a press release to come out for the Player of the Week thing before I can do it. Once those two tasks are over I can just chill and relax. Or do the chores that are all stacked up. We'll see what happens.

It was kind of funny. I've been working in Toronto covering the Blue Jays since mid-June and today was the first time I wrote a game story for the Jays. I've been so tied up in covering the away teams that I never had a chance to cover Toronto. With the trade deadline today, the Jays writer let me worry about the game story and the preview so he could focus on his trade deadline deadlines. It turned out to be a really easy story to write today, so that was good. I'm allowed to say that after a game, not hope for it before a game. You saw what happened with the 18-inning game.

Tonight I wrote the weekly report for the Appy League and right now I'm just hanging out and watching the White Sox. I was a big Sox fan when I was really young, backed away in the mid-90s and became a HUGE Cubs fan, still am, but now that I've been working more in baseball I'm becoming just more of a fan of all the teams. I'm more of a fan of just good baseball, now. Probably because I like to cover good baseball, not crappy, 18-inning baseball (Although that was a very well-played game and I did enjoy watching it, just not working it!).

I am a fan of the ChiSox this year. They are a fun, fundamentally-sound team to watch. They really seem to fit right in with the blue collar feel of the South Side of Chicago. And hey, at this point, I just want to see any Chicago team win something. And my ma was a huge Sox fan that grew up blocks from Old Comiskey, so it's fun to see them succeed. I became more of a Cubs fan as time went on because, A. I didn't and still don't like the way Jery Reinsdorf runs things, and, B. Ryne Sandberg was my hero. I was very happy to see him enshrined in the Hall of Fame today. I wish I could've been there, but I got to get paid to watch and write about a baseball game instead. Not too bad either way.

Anyways, I think I'm going to get going. This is obviously the last post for July. It's been a good run. Stay tuned for August...

Posted at 10:19 p.m.

July 30, 2005

No Kelly - Day 7,

I've been on my own for a week and do you know what I've noticed? That I am a little bit lazier and move a lot slower when my wife isn't around. I'm back in my old college routine of sleeping in and having all the stuff that I need to get done just pile higher and higher until I'll be forced to pull an all-nighter or close to it.

I'm not covering the Rangers on this homestand so I decided to take the morning a little slower than usual. I slept in beyond my normal 8 a.m. wake up time and am getting to the park an hour later than I would have otherwise. It's no biggie, though. Today I'll just be handling previews, any siders that might arise and I'll be spending time actually watching a game. Tonight I have to set up all the same Minor League stuff that is due tomorrow -- same as last weekend. I was supposed to begin that on my day off yesterday, but did I? Nope.

Well, I've got to get going to work now. The moral of the story is that Kelly needs to get her butt back here so I can concentrate and get back to my good work habits. I can't explain it. I just am more productive and manage my time better when she's around. Thankfully she'll be back here soon enough.

Posted at 12:17 p.m.

July 29, 2005

The Island Review,

I went to see Michael Bay's The Island on Monday to escape the heat wave in Toronto. I went into the film expecting a good science fiction movie. I walked out of the theater having seen three shorts films combined into one.

After I sat and thought about the film, I read the review that Roger Ebert wrote and found that he said some of the same things I'll be saying here. I told one of the guys I work with that The Island was really like a couple of movies in one, and then I read afterwards that Ebert had written just about the same thing.

The movie started of just as I expected. It felt like a mix between Gattaca and THX-1138 for the first hour. The film opens in a futuristic complex in the year 2019, said to be constructed after the world went through "the contamination." The inhabitants of this complex, who all where the same white uniforms and have names like "Jordan Two Delta," are told that where they live is the only safe place on Earth. Well, there and a placed called, simply enough, "The Island." Each night there is a lottery where one member of the complex is selected randomly -- so they're told -- to leave the complex and head to live in peace and tranquilty on The Island.

It's all just too clean and too perfect. Eventually, one of the complex's citizens is bound to start questioning the routine-like atmosphere. Enter Ewan McGregor's character, Lincoln Six Echo. He starts to ask the authorities why he has to where just white, why can't he eat bacon, and what exaclty is the purpose of his job, which he has worked without question for as long as he can remember. Eventually, Echo becomes more and more curious and it leads to some startling discoveries. I won't spoil the main plot line for those of you who might not know the premise of the film.

From here, though, it becomes a major chase movie. Echo convinces Jordan Two Delta, Scarlett Johansson's character, to escape the complex with him after he figures out that there is no island. Why there is no island, I'll let you find out if you see the movie. Echo and Delta escape with the help of Steve Buscemi, who adds some great laughs in the midde portion of the film. The pair decides they need to get to Los Angeles to talk to one of the people who can possibly help them with the rapidly unraveling plot.

This is where L.A. meets some utter destruction -- VERY COOL to see on the big screen. The head boss of the complex has hired a special ex-military recovery team that will stop at no lenghths to capture the two fugitives. There is an awesome expressway chase scene -- up to par with the second Matrix movie and Terminator 3. From here, I couldn't help but be reminded of Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. There is a good 45 minutes of chasing and blowing things up. Echo even jumps on a hover craft/jet/motorcycle thing at one point. I started laughing to myself because the sound this futuristic bike made was very similar to the pod racers in Star Wars: Episode I. That was especially humorous because McGregor, who plays Obi Wan Kenobi in the new Star Wars movies, was flying the craft. Delta asks him, "How do you know how to drive this?" and he responds, "I don't know." He had leftover memories from Tatooine, duh.

Now, this section of the film concludes with the death of a major character, followed by a nice would-be ending. Whether the producers didn't think it was a good Hollywood ending or whether Bay thought it didn't satisfy Ewan McGregor's character, I don't know. But that's the impression you get. Echo feels he needs to go back to the complex to free the other naive citizens and he must expose the situation to the world and the government, which somehow has found a way to completely miss the top secret goings-on of this multi-zillion dollar corporation. I think the movie could have ended here, but, yes, if it had, it might have betrayed the moral line of thinking that Echo has displayed. He wasn't in it just for himself, but for his fellow complex "prisoners."

There is the final showdown between Echo and the complex's leader -- the CEO and creater of the company -- and there is a lot more destruction. But in the end, even though Bay tries to tie up every possible loose end, you still walk away with questions. Like, where are all these people going to go live now that they are free? You'll see the problem with that when you see the movie.

It is a good movie. I'm not knocking the concept. I loved the story and I thought the acting was great. The action was great and the humor was well done, too. The problem seems to be that Bay tried to squeeze too much in. He made The Island, Escape from the Island, and The Island III: Echo Returns -- all in one movie. With the way sequels are done now, it might have been possible to split this film up.

The best section of the film is the opening hour. But had it ended with the shot of Echo standing in the desert after escaping the complex for the first time, the first hour would have just been a near-remake of Lucas' THX-1138 film.

All in all, I'll want to see it again and I'll probably own it eventually. I'd give The Island a 3.0 out of 5.0.

Posted at 4:54 p.m.

July 29, 2005

In case you didn't hear about Thursday's Blue Jays/Angels game, it went 18 innings. I jinxed myself with yesterday's blog by saying that hopefully Thursday would be an easier day than Wednesday. I'll never make that mistake again.

John Lackey and Toronto's Dave Bush were turning in a great pitcher's duel. It turns out that was just in the first game. Both teams scored in the ninth and then the bullpens shut the other team down until FINALLY the Jays' Orlando Hudson came through with a game-winning single.

The running game story I turned in after the last pitch was crap. I hope not many of you got to read it. And to top off my night, the Angels didn't let any media in the clubhouse for about 20 minutes, which gave all the players plenty of time to get showered, dressed and out of the stadium. That made for an interesting situation. The only quotes we could get were from the manager and from pitcher Jarrod Washburn. That was OK, though, because the story turned into a roster moves-type story after the game rather than just a game story.

I was a little stressed while writing it because the situation dictated that I completely rework what I had already done. So, on the fly, I spit out the story and I don't think it turned out too bad. The Toronto writer told me today he thought I did a good job working with what I had. That was good to hear.

Another irony about the whole situation is that I am currently reading W.P. Kinsella's "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy." The book is about a game between the Chicago Cubs and the IBC All-Stars in 1908 that went like a thousand innings or something. This Angels game felt like it could have gone on forever. There was even discussion at one point about Toronto's city curfew, which was 1:00. Had the game gone until then, they might have had to stop playing and continued the game on another day or just call it a tie. I'm glad we weren't faced with that!

After I left the Rogers Centre, I had to take a bus all the way up Yonge St. to my apartment. The subways only run until 1:30 and I was done at 1:45. The bus didn't take as long as it could have. I was home around 3 this morning and was up till about 5 a.m. because I couldn't fall asleep. I have racked up a lot of hours this week so I took today off. So far, I've just been hanging out in my PJs watching TV. I have to do some laundry and later tonight I might go rent a movie and get a pizza or something.

Tomorrow it should be back to the ballpark for the second game of the Toronto/Texas series. I'm done covering road teams until September. So the clips won't be coming in as fast for the next month. I'll get a chance to do some notebooks and sidebars.

Well, that's it for now. If I get too bored, maybe I'll blog some more later tonight...

Good news: I ran 4 miles today, so my foot is feeling better. I wore my gym shoes to work yesterday and that helped out a lot.

This entry is going to be short because I have to get going to work. Today I cover the Angels in the finale of the three-game series at the Rogers Centre. I'm racking up lots of hours this week, so I'm either taking tomorrow or Saturday off. Sunday I'll be back at the park to help out with any game coverage or trade deadline stuff. I also have some more Minor League stuff due Sunday night. I've been pretty busy since Kell left, so it's kind of good she hasn't been here. It would've been pretty boring here with me hampered down with all this work. I'm having fun, though.

Yesterday went well except that the game went 10 innings. It was a well-played game, though. Good pitching, Vladimir Guerrero homered and the game ended on a bases loaded wild pitch. Fun stuff. That kind of game is not easy to work with for the running game story, though. Hopefully today will be a little easier. Not likely. There's a new challenge every day when you're covering baseball.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do on my day off. I'll be setting up the Minor League stuff, but other than that I'm not sure. I might go rent a movie or two or something. Well, I have to get going.

I am planning on writing my review of "The Island" either tonight or tomorrow. I've been thinking about it more and just need time to sit down and put my thoughts on here for you. Stay tuned...

I didn't write yesterday, which would have been Day 3 of my time alone up here in Toronto. I covered the Angels yesterday, but was a little distracted all day because my ankle was hurting worse than it had in a while. I was limping pretty bad around the stadium and three different people asked me if I was OK.

For those of you who don't know, I strained this stupid ligament in the side of my right foot while playing basketball like three months ago. I have been able to start running on it, but it still tightens up sometimes and makes it difficult to walk straight. I didn't break anything in the foot, but the ligament I injured takes a really long time to heal. I might have done myself a favor by breaking a bone!

But I covered the Angels and had a good time. I have some Angels fans in my family and I've always enjoyed watching the Halos, so it was cool to get a chance to write about them. Mike Scioscia was a great manager to talk to, too. He's the first manager that I felt comfortable enough to talk to right away on my first day with a team. Usually, I let the normal beat guys do most of the question-asking on the first day. Today is the second game and Bartolo Colon is pitching for the Angels. He's fun to watch.

I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. I hit the snooze about 10 times and finally called Kelly to have her motivate me to move my lazy butt. Sure enough, she told me how she had already ran 3 miles and biked 9 more this morning. I told her that with all the rolling around in the bed I had done I maybe had moved a total of about nine feet. I was going to go running this morning, but it looks and feels like it's going to rain out.

Well, I'm going to get going for now. This was a pretty boring blog today, sorry. Maybe something cool will happen at the game today. Yesterday's shutout was brutal to write about. Stay tuned...

Today I decided to head out of the apartment to see some more of downtown Toronto. I spotted a few things from the restaurant in the CN Tower that I wanted to check out. So, I hopped on the subway, got off at College St. and began my solitary journey around the streets of Toronto. I walked roughly eight miles on the day. You can follow along my route and I'll talk about the numbered attractions below:

1. I began my trek by heading towards the University of Toronto, which was west on College St. When I reached Queen's Park -- located in the oval, which is Queen's Park Way -- I turned right and headed toward U of T's campus. While in Queen's Park, I snapped a shot of a cool looking building:

What was funny was that, in the background, the building behind the tower on the right was the Sutton Place Hotel. So, the first picture I took bore the maiden name of my wife -- reminding me, once again, that she was gone and I was alone in a big city:

2. I made my way through Queen's Park and onto the U of T campus. I worked my way in and around a bunch of the old buildings, which were done with gothic-type architecture:

This was called the "Soldier's Tower." In this shot, it looks similar to Beaumont Tower at Michigan State, which is where I asked Kelly to marry me. She did marry me, but now she's in Chicago having fun with her family and I'm lonely in Toronto. What was cool about this tower, though, was at the base was a built-in archway that you could walk through. On the other side you could see a nice view of a few Toronto towers:

It was kind of neat to see the classical architecture sitting on front of the modern CN Tower. There were a lot of cool buildings, most with ivy-colored walls -- the way college buildings are supposed to be. I'll just show you one more:

3. After I spent some time in this courtyard, I walked back to College St. to find the U of T bookstore. Kelly said it would be cool to have a University of Toronto T-Shirt. So, since I missed her, I thought I'd go buy her a present. I bought two so you can pick the one you want, Kell. Here they are:

4. I left the boostore and headed to Spadina Ave. A little ways north of where I was at is where Casa Loma is located. I went there with Kelly and her family this past weekend. I ended up walking into Chinatown when I headed south on Spadina. It was kind of cool, though. I walked through what they call the Kensington Market in Chinatown. I think there is another Kensington Market somewhere, but this was the Chinatown version. There were food stands, racks of clothes, and other odds and ends set up on tables along the sidewalks in front of the stores. The sidewalk was crowded with hundreds of people -- it sort of felt like a flea market, but without much English.

5. From there I headed down to Queen St. and took a left - heading east. I remembered that a little northeast of the theater Kelly and I went to was this school of design that was supposed to be pretty cool. I spotted it while Kelly and her family and I were eating at the top of the CN Tower. I walked for a while and then finally picked a street to turn left on. I picked the right one, too! I was greeted by the interesting building immediatelty:

This building is really sweet. You can see how it is a giant rectangle that sits atop these tall colored posts. Only a small square section connects the top black-and-white checkered building from the normal building below. The rest is completely supported by the beams. Among the back squares on the surface are some windows that vary in size and shape. Even close up it is hard to spot all of the windows.

6. While we were up in the CN Tower, I also saw where the City Hall was located. I was pretty much mapping out this whole walking tour while we were up there. I saw the design school and saw that the City Hall was a bit southeast of it. So, I headed back to Queen, took a left and found the City Hall:

I didn't realize until I got home that the building I saw off to the right of this picture was the Old City Hall. We heard some interesting stuff about the design of Old City Hall while we were on our tour of Casa Loma. But I'll head back there again sometime and save that for another blog. I did see another old, classic, Victorian-style building off to the left of this picture, though. I actually walked by it before getting to City Hall. It was called Osgoode Hall:

7. It was blazing hot out and I needed a break. I craved some cranked-up air conditioning. The cure? A movie! So, I headed back to Richmond and John St. to the Famous Players theater that Kelly and I saw "Batman Begins," "War of the Worlds," and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" at:

I was missing her so much that I went to where we have frequently gone on dates. I decided to go see "The Island" with Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor (aka Obi Wan Kenobi in the new Star Wars flicks). I'll save my review of the movie for another post -- maybe tomorrow. It was good, though. I'd give it 3.0 out of 5 stars.

8. After the movie it was time to go home. I was about to head back to the Queen St. subway when I realized I wasn't ready to leave downtown yet and I wanted to go for a nice evening stroll. I have seen Rogers Centre and the CN Tower at night when leaving work before. But I had never really taken a good look at them in on any night. So, I headed down John St. towards the Rogers Centre, took a right on Front, and then a left on Spadina. I normally come to the ballpark from the east side, so I decided to head to the west end to see it from a different angle:

9. And since I didn't have nearly enough photos of the CN Tower, I took a bunch while walking around the stadium. I have a cool daytime shot from the base of the CN Tower, but, now, I took the equivalent at night. You'll recognize the angle as the picture I have on the JordanBastian.com home page:

10. Well, my eight-mile journey around the streets of downtown Toronto had come to an end. I had seen tons of sights and managed to only speak to another human two times: once to ask where the U of T bookstore was and a second time when a family asked if I would take their picture at City Hall. I feel your pain, Kell. I spent about 7-8 hours between walking to and from the subway, taking the walking tour and the movie. When I work, Kell has to spend roughly 8-9 hours by herself at home. Day 2 with no Kelly helped me see a little more of what she goes through with no one else around. I love you and thank you for moving to Toronto with me!

I walked to the Skywalk by the CN Tower and followed it all the way to Union Station:

Tomorrow I begin covering the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the three-game series with the Blue Jays. Earlier today I wrote this week's Minor League notebook for the Appalachian League. The weekly report I did this week, too, can be found on the MLB.com Links page. Not that you care to read that Joe Bloe went 6-for-23 with two homers this week in the Rookie League. But the article is there, regardless. The notebook should be on there tomorrow. I'm going to get to bed right now. I have to get up and do laundry and read about the Angels tomorrow morning. I'll review "The Island" in the next day or two. Stay tuned...

I'm sitting here at the kitchen table and do you know what is strange? The quiet. The cute little brunette that is usually sitting over to my left isn't there today. She was here when I woke up, but her parents stole her and took her back to Chicago! I'm going to be alone in Toronto for the next two weeks.

So, you might wonder, what did I do with my first day of flying solo in Canada? Well, I had the flat tire on my Cavalier fixed, I ate some Chicago Deep-dish pizza, watched a movie, watched some Seinfeld, played a video game, went grocery shopping, bought some printer paper and came back home to do some work for MLB.com. Pretty wild, huh?

I didn't have to cover anything today, but MLB.com has now begun expanding into minorleaguebaseball.com. They cover each league now and have sites for each team. I love the direction this company/site is going. Finding information on any pro team is so much easier now than it ever was in the past.

Anyways, I am slated for handling the Appalachian Rookie League's weekly report and notebook this week. The report was due today when the games completed. Basically, you just squeeze the highlights from the past week for each team into one paragraph. So, I had to weed through box scores and flip through league stats. At least with the Rookie League, it's fun to see how some of these new draft picks are doing. The Greeneville Astros are in the App. League and Koby Clemens, Roger Clemens' son plays for them. Tomorrow I have to do the notebook, which is the more newsy side of what went on this week. It shouldn't take me too long. I'll be putting links of the Minor League stuff I do in the MLB.com Links page.

So, other than the notebook, I'm not sure what I'm up to tomorrow. It's due at 4 p.m., so that gives me the evening to do whatever. I might go see a movie or rent one. I do want to go exploring some during the next few weeks. I'll be blogging more tomorrow. Stay tuned...

It all started when I learned I was going to be working in Toronto. I knew that every single day I would be hoofing it to and from the Rogers Centre, which sits directly under the CN Tower -- the tallest structure in the world. Sure enough, every day I head to work, I am greeted by this unbelievable sight of the tower looming over my new baseball writing job below.

Kelly and I decided to wait to head up the tower, though. We wanted to wait until July, when her parents would be in town and we'd have some family to share the view with. But it's been killing me! I walk by it twice a day and, yet, I can't go up it? With memories of heading up the Sears Tower as a kid and now hearing this was even higher, I had to get up it. But, no. I listened and waited, and waited, and waited. I even snuck my digital camera onto the field while I was working so that I could document what the tower looked from inside the Rogers Centre. There I am, trying to concentrate on work and they open the dome and there it is. And I can't go up it.

I was getting kind of annoying with the pictures, too. All in all, Kelly counted 21 different angles I had already taken of the CN Tower before we got to go up in it. I have been a little excited about it. Thank God Kell's parents finally got here! We made reservations for the 360-degree restaurant for 6:30 p.m. on Friday. That means we had to kill time before I could go up in the tower! I still had to wait! So, we head to this really cool castle/mansion that was built during World War I.

We were having a good time, but all I could concentrate on was going to the CN Tower. We took pictures in and around the mansion, but I was more interested in seeing if I could find a view of our next destination:

I climbed on a bench in the garden behind the mansion and there it stood. I could almost taste the gourmet food we'd be eating from our revolving booth in the sky. This mansion was on a hill -- there had to be a higher spot I could go to to see more of the tower. I spun around and saw where I HAD to go:

The Scottish Tower. Otherwise known as the "High Tower." Somehow I had to get up there to see more of the CN Tower. 6:30 was not coming fast enough.

On the way up, inside the former owner's wife's sitting room, I peered out the window and now I could see some of the skyline. I was heading in the right direction. I passed some standing suits of armor, some World War I weapons, up a spiral metal staircase, up a rickety wood staircase, and then I was in a round brick room with some small windows. This had to be the spot:

This was by far the best view of the skyline I had seen since arriving in Toronto. Kell's family was ready to go, but I wanted to stay there and keep snapping shot after shot. Then I realized, hey, they want to get going so we can head to the tower!

We took the subway to Union Station. It was the same route I take to work each day there is a ballgame. The tease was about to be over, but not after a few more carrots were dangled from a stick, just out of my reach.

We decided to take the Skywalk, which runs directly from Union Station to the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre. I've walked this way a couple times, usually when it is raining out. Otherwise, I walk straight down Front St. Kell's family was having a great time in the Skywalk, as you can see here, but the anticipation was still killing me. Especially with the view above my head:

When you step outside of the Skywalk and look up, you realize what you're about to be doing: Heading up this huge spire in a glass elevator that travels at like 25 miles per hour. All that wait and I'd be up to the restaurant in just 61 seconds!

It was getting bad. Even when I looked at my wife while waiting for the elevator, all I could see was the CN Tower. I had to get up to the top -- and FAST!

I had arrived. And at the Glass Floor, no less. I looked below and, for once, I was looking at the Rogers Centre from the CN Tower -- not the other way around.

The view was amazing from the 360 Restaurant. The food was great and we got free dessert because our food took a little longer than usual. I didn't mind. It takes about 70 minutes to rotate all the way around and see every view from the top. We went about 1 1/4 laps around. What you're looking at here is the Financial District. In the top left corner would be towards our apartment. They say that on a clear day you can see the mist from Niagara Falls. We couldn't really tell if we were seeing that or not when we looked across Lake Ontario.

And wouldn't you know it, I still managed to get a picture of the CN Tower when I was in the CN Tower. But at least I won't keep taking a million pictures of the monument everytime I see a new angle of it. Ah, who am I kidding. I'll still be taking tons of pictures. It's not like you're wasting film when it's digital! And, guess what? There is a even higher lookout called the SkyPod in the CN Tower. So, I still plan on making it higher up! Maybe when Kell comes back with her brothers on the day I take them to a Blue Jays vs. Yankees game. So stay tuned...

We visited this huge castle-like-mansion called Casa Loma on Friday and an interesting sidenote was the fact that many movies have been filmed at the place. The most famous movie, with the most shots of the mansion, is the movie X-Men.

In the first X-Men movie, about 20- minutes in -- after Wolverine has been attacked by Sabertooth -- Wolverine wakes up in a medical room in the mansion. He runs down a hallway and into an elevator, after hearing a voice leading him that way. After he takes the elevator up, the door opens and he steps into a dark hall with wood walls:

You can see this exact shot of the hall, chairs and all, when Wolverine runs from the elevator, which would be located at the far right end of this view. He runs towards where I am taking the picture from and hides behind a pillar. He then peaks around the pillar and looks back down the hall, and the film shows the exact view I'm giving you.

After he looks down this hallway, he turns and runs through some doors and into Professor Xavier's office:

Prof. X's desk is where this piano sits and, in the movie, the room is carpeted. But, when you watch the film, you can see the bay windows in back and it is very recognizable as this room. When the camera in the movie turns back to Wolverine and then Storm (Halle Barry), the walls behind the characters are wood with hand-carved sections. It's just interesting to note that the entire room is filled with similar carvings and it took three years for all the walls to be completed before they were shipped from Europe to the mansion.

I experienced my first manager-cussing-out-a-young-reporter event today. Don't worry, he wasn't yelling at me. If you've been reading lately you know I covered the Seattle Mariners for the last three days. Well, today the M's lost, again, and were swept in the three-game set with Toronto.

After the game, a younger reporter -- probably around my age -- asked Seattle manager Mike Hargrove:

He was obviously implying that Hargrove and his team experienced a frustrating series and were probably a little relieved to leave town and put the three losses behind them. That's not how he worded it, though, and Hargrove flipped out:

"After talking to you, yeah I'm happy I'm leaving Toronto. What kind of (BEEP) question is that?"

After hearing and reading about Lou Piniella's mean streaks I expected him to be the first manager I witnessed reacting in that way. But Piniella was fine for the four games he was in Toronto with Tampa Bay. Hargrove seemed to become a little more irritable with each Seattle loss and you could just see he was ready to boil over on Thursday.

I'm only relaying what he said because he said it in the presence of the media and, technically, I could have used the quote in my story. It served no purpose, though, accept to hear the reporter getting yelled at. There are a bunch of other ways to ask that question without ticking a manager off. The reporter missed the mark, though, and didn't get the quote he needed for his story.

For those of you who are curious, here is my ranking, so far, of which managers I've enjoyed interviewing the most during my career:

1. Lou Piniella, TAM
2. Ken Macha, OAK
3. Dusty Baker, CHC
4. John Gibbons, TOR
5. Lee Mazzilli, BAL
6. Mike Hargrove, SEA

I'm off for a few days before covering Anaheim on Tuesday. I'll be doing some Minor League coverage this weekend, too. It's just some extra work while the Jays are on the road.

I'm going to keep it short because I need to get back in bed. I came home from work tonight and all of a sudden my computer stopped working. No programs would open, I couldn't get online and the thing wouldn't even shut down or restart properly. It was really scary -- especially for someone who doesn't know much about ficing computers (No Macs are better comments from the peanut gallery, Karl!). I fell asleep at the kitchen table while trying everything to fix it. I woke up at 5:30 this morning and finally was able to get into my startup options and I changed what programs started when my computer booted. Apparently, there is some stupid spyware or virus installed on here somewhere, because now that I'm back to the most basic boot options my computer is working fine. So, I'm on like 2.5 hours of sleep and I need to leave for work at 9 a.m. Not cool.

The game was an interesting one to write about yesterday. I'll write more about that later. Read the gamer, though, and you'll see what I mean. Kell's parents will be here tonight. Should be fun to see them. OK, this concludes the shortest post ever. Bye.

Everything went very smoothly with covering Seattle during my first day. That was until I went to sleep. I had this crazy dream about covering the game and in the dream I realized that two things that I had written in the game story were slightly wrong. I woke up suddenly at 8:30 this morning and the two items stuck in my head. I jumped out of bed, ran over to my scorebook to locate the two series of plays. I then ran to my article to double-check what I had written last night. Sure enough, I had two things slightly wrong.

Luckily, our producer for tonight's game was online and I asked if he could hop in there and make the corrections and he did right away. Phew! I take very strong pride in getting facts and statistics right and I screwed up. At least I caught it this morning -- before a bulk of readers might have gotten a look at it. And the two things were so small that the average reader wouldn't have caught them. If any of you are curious about what I messed up you can ask me.

Anyways, I went on a 3-mile run/walk with Kelly this morning. Then we sat out on the balcony and sipped ice-cold water while eating fresh watermelon. I have to run right now, though. I'm off to Game 2 of the Mariners/Blue Jays series. Kelly's parents arrive tomorrow. That should be fun. I'll finally get up in that CN Tower! Talk to you soon...

Yeah, it's back to work after being lazy for a day. Today I'll be heading back to the Rogers Centre to begin my coverage of the Seattle Mariners for three games. This will be the second-to-last team I cover this month. I cover the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (I hate that title, still) on July 26-28 and when the Rangers come to town on July 29-31 I'll just be the third man in the booth.

Then, I won't be covering a team solo until September, when I cover the Devil Rays for a second time. That doesn't mean I get a whole month off, though. The Yankees, Tigers, Indians and Oriles all will be coming to Toronto in August, but MLB.com is sending their writers, too. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with how I've been doing, it's actually been surprising that so many writers haven't come in July. It's been good for me, though. I think I'll be writing more again in September for the visiting teams. I know I'll be covering Tampa Bay again on Sept. 2-4, and then Seattle comes back to Toronto and the last series of the season is here versus Kansas City -- I don't know if I'll be covering the mighty Royals or not. The other two homestands of September are the Yankees and Red Sox. If I get to cover one of those team's it'd be amazing, but I don't know if they'll allow the intern to cover those teams during a playoff chase.

Looking at the schedule I can't believe how fast this internship is going. I've already mentioned the last series of the year in my blog! I'm going to start working at lining up a full-time job after this month. The Jays are on the road for a few weeks in August and that's when I'm going to begin my job search. I'd really like to stay with MLB.com in some aspect. This is exactly the type of work and company I'd like to stay with -- at least for now. You never know how you'll feel down the road. I'll keep you all informed of my job prospects as they come up.

Well, I've got to run. It's almost 11:30 and I need to get ready to leave by 2:00. I want to go for a run, but we'll see what happens. Check tomorrow for my Seattle links. Stay tuned...

I convinced Kelly to help me escape the heat today by heading to the theater to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Well, she and I were a bit disappointed. Neither of us read the book, so keep that in mind with my criticisms here. Some of my comments might be considered spoilers so consider yourself warned.

I liked the kids better this time around and liked the social commentary on the way some parents raise their children nowadays. That, along with some great sets, were the main redeeming factors of the film. I know you're not supposed to compare this movie to the previous Gene Wilder flick, but it is hard to when certain aspects of the old movie seemed better.

You've got to give it to Tim Burton for avoiding a CGI factory and sticking to actually sets for the inner rooms, but the entrance to the factory in the older movie was better -- at least we thought so. For one, the first time you saw Gene Wilder walk down the hallway and the room appears to shrink as he gets out the keys to the tiny door. In the new movie, you don't really feel the tightening of the room until Wonka (Johnny Depp) is already at the door. And the edible entrance room to the factory seemed more yummy in the original.

As far as the Oompa Loompas go, I was happy to see more of the backstory as to where Wonka found them and how and why they were at the factory. Their village reminded me of the Ewoks' forest in Star Wars. On the other hand, when they broke out into song in this movie, they were hard to understand and the songs weren't that funny. And the songs seemed forced to me -- seeing as the rest of the film was not a musical like the original. The music was a bit over the top, too. That's just my opinion, though. I did like how they all looked alike, but Burton seemed to run into Hobbit syndrom, where the Loompas looked bigger in some scenes and smaller in the next. As far as how Wonka looked himself, well, he looked weird. I know he is supposed to be a little off, but they did a great job of coating on his pale-white makeup. I guess living alone in a factory for a decade will make you really pale, but it was a little to much.

I also did not like the added storyline about Wonka's childhood. Frankly, I didn't care about it. I would have rather seen those movie minutes dedicated more to the invention room or any other crazy room. The flashbacks seemed random when the appeared and Depp's inability to say the word "parents" got a bit annoying. One of the last scenes that dealt with Wonka's father was a bit lame, too. And where was the fizzy soda scene with Charlie and his Grandpa? That was one of my favorites when I was a kid - when they floated up by the huge fan.

I LOVED the movie up until the factory, actually. Charlie was great, his family was great, and the part of the story that dealt with the discovering of the Golden Tickets was very well done. I found myself laughing out loud at the kids that were casted. I also enjoyed the boat scene better this time around. The original seemed a little too scary for little kids (I had to be carried out of a library kicking and screaming when I was a little kid because I was so scared during that part). Don't worry. There were no problems this time around. I also really enjoyed the TV Room this time around. There was a funny tie-in to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space Odyssey -- one of my favorite classic sci-fi movies.

Anyways, overall I'd give the movie a 2.5 out of 5 stars. I wouldn't say don't go see it, but I'd say make sure you go into it knowing that it is very different than the original. Maybe it's closer to the book -- I don't know because I never read it -- but parts of the old film did seem more "magical" I guess is one way to put it. I loved the other movie when I was little.

Anyways, I'm off to bed. I have a busy day tomorrow. I'm covering the Seattle Mariners for three games. Stay tuned...

Yeah, I experienced my first big mistake tonight, but, luckily, it wasn't entirely my fault. When I got off the subway at Finch St. -- 40 minutes after leaving the ballpark -- Kell called me to let me know the producer for the last Rays/Jays game was frantically trying to get a hold of me. Uh oh. I called him back and he said that I sent him the wrong file when I sent my gamer in! So, I had Kell pick me up at the station so I didn't have to run the mile home and I sent it again from my apartment.

My boss wasn't totally fuming at me, because I did make sure the producer got my e-mail and he said he had it. He just forgot to make sure everything was cool in the e-mail before I left the park. So, I screwed up by attaching the wrong file and he screwed up by not realizing it until I was traveling underground with no cell phone reception.

It all turned out OK, though. Luckily, too, it was a day game. That mistake might have been a lot messier for me had that been a night game.

Anyways, it just goes to show that not everything goes smoothly all the time. Like tonight's gamer. I was having really bad writer's block tonight when it was time to push out the story. The game wasn't that spectacular and my brain was just working in slow motion. I think I was still recovering from the Nomo thing the day before.

When I got home Kell and I ate tacos, Mmmmmmm, and then we wathced The Rookie. Of course I was the one who convinced her to rent a baseball movie with me. But, being The Best Wife Ever as she is, she agreed. We also rented The Big Sleep -- which Kell has seen, but I haven't -- and The Usual Suspects -- which I have seen and Kell hasn't. Neither of us had seen The Rookie. So it all works out.

I thought the movie was good. It's no Bull Durham or Field of Dreams, but it was a good story. The story is seems to fairy-tale-like that it's hard to believe it's true. Even the parts I assumed Disney threw in to make it better turned out to be true. Like when Jim Morris is throwing for the scouts in pouring rain. I thought for sure the rain was added for effect. Nope, the documentary said it really happened.

I have the day off tomorrow (today, technically) and then I cover the Mariners for three games. I'm not sure what's in store for tomorrow, though. Kell and I will probably watch one of the other movies we rented and I have to do research to get ready for the Seattle coverage. It should be cool to see Ichiro play in person. I'll get to see the Japanese media for a second series in a row. One of the Tampa Bay writers was telling me that the Japanese media flew in for every single Hideo Nomo outing. If they're still like that with him, I can't imagine how they might be with Ichiro. It should be fun. Stay tuned...

Today was a crazy day of covering the Devil Rays. Everything was going very smooth until Tampa Bay decided to designate Hideo Nomo for assignment right before the first pitch.

It was good and bad for me. It was good because the day before I wrote about Alex Gonzalez being ready to play this weekend in my notebook and in the game story I wrote about Nomo's job being in jeopardy. I was one of just two writers to discuss that in the gamer, which was cool. Gonzalez was activated from the DL to take Nomo's place.

The move was bad for me because it sent me scrambling during the game. MLB.com asked me to write a sidebar story on it and this was before I had even started my notebook for the day. The Tampa Bay P.R. staff had Nomo talk to the media in the tunnel as the game was starting. So, I ran down there with them, got the quotes, and came back up to the pressbox to write it up. The sider was done by the second inning and I still managed to push the notes out by the fourth inning.

I was happy because the Nomo sider made it to the MLB.com front page and I got a compliment from my top editor. It was a mad dash to get all that in so quick. It was a hectic, but quality, learning experience. It was a lot more stressful than when Melvin Mora was injured when I covered Baltimore. That was in the eighth inning and it wasn't as big of a story.

It was kind of cool to cover the event, because I remember watching Nomo as a kid and seeing all the hype when he broke into the league. I got a chance to experience a small taste of the Japanese media during this homestand. I was actually a pretty big Dodgers fan back in the mid-to-late 90s when he pitched for them. Remember his no-hitter at Coors Field? Or when he threw a no-no with the Red Sox? That second one I remember watching with my high school baseball teamates. It'll be interesting to see who, if anyone, picks Nomo up. He's a fun pitcher to watch -- even if he hasn't pitched well in years.

I was behind in what was going on in the game until the fourth inning. I had to have the score keeper to my right run down some of the innings for me so I knew what was going on. Covering baseball is a lot different than you might think. Just because you cover the game doesn't mean you get to see every pitch and at-bat. That's especially true in the eighth and ninth innings when you're writing the running gamer. You're busy writing and have have to abandon your scorebook for a bit. Fun stuff. More fun when the teams start switching the score drastically in the late innings and make you write two different stories simultaneously!

For the first time since I started working for MLB.com, a baseball made its way into the pressbox. A writer in the front row was on the phone when the ball was flying at him. He dropped the phone and caught it with one hand. If only it had been ten feet to the right and about five feet higher. Ah well. I'll keep hoping. I just hope no computers get creamed.

Well, I gotta run. Kell and I are going to watch a movie before I go to bed. I cover the Rays again tomorrow in the last game of the four-game set. Stay tuned...

OK, for the last time, my last name is spelled "BASTIAN" and not "BASTAIN." I do not have a big BASTAIN on my shirt to go along with my incorrectly spelled name.

This is getting annoying. First, they hand me my MLB.com credentials spelled wrong and they told me just to live with it -- all that is important is the photo and the bar code they scan. Second, they had my name wrong in one of the MLB.com computer programs that I run to write those game previews. I talked to them and that's fixed now.

But today, when going through my stories from last night, I saw it again. My name had a big ol' stain on it in the byline for my game story last night! Not the notes, not the preview that came later -- just the gamer. And I was really happy with that gamer last night. I thought it was one of my better ones.

So, I e-mailed my top editor and requested that he inform everybody that Jordan comes with no stains, please. It's very frustrating. I had never had my last name spelled wrong like that during my whole life. Mispronounced? Sure. Sometimes people would even say it "Bass-Stain," but never actually spell it that way.

Anyways, other than the staining of my reputation, covering the Devil Rays has been going pretty smoothly. Lou Piniella is a great interview and great for a good quote or a nice laugh. Hopefully, no one pushes him over the edge and brings out the angry Piniella from the past. He seems to have mellowed this season.

Today I have an earlier start. The game is at 4:00 instead of 7:00. So, I have to leave by 11:45ish to get there a bit before 1:00. It'll be nice to be home before 1 a.m., that's for sure.

I didn't go on my run today. Some of you might know I've been battling an injured ankle for the last 3-4 months. It has gotten better -- evidenced by my running on it -- but it still tightens up and hurts from time to time. Last night I had some sort of dream involving running and I got a big old Jimmy leg in my sleep. My right foot was hanging off the end of the bed and the twitch really shook my foot hard. I was limping a little when I got out of bed this morning. So, I'm going to rest it today and run again tomorrow. I can jog on it, run hard on it, but I can't sprint yet.

Anyways, I'm going to go so I can get ready to go to work. Today is Day 3 of the Devil Rays for me before a day off on Monday. Then, I'll be covering the Seattle Mariners for three games. Keep reading my clips -- if only to see if they get my name right!

After hearing about my sister Melissa taking a tour of Petco Park in San Diego, I thought I'd give you guys a small look into the world of writing baseball at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. I took some photos on the way to work yesterday to highlight my life as a MLB.com writer.

OK, this isn't part of the Rogers Centre, but it is a neat sculpture on Front St. that I walk under every time I head to the park. It is about a block west of Union Station, where I catch the subway.

After walking down Front St. you head up some stairs by the Planet Hollywood restaurant and when you get up a couple of flights you are welcomed by this site. This is the North end of the Rogers Centre. On the right is the Renaissance Hotel, which is built right into the ballpark. Some people staying there can watch a Blue Jays game from their room. A lot of visiting writers stay there when they come. On the left is the bridge you cross to get to the park or to the CN Tower, which is off to the left. There are interesting statues built into the corners of the park -- depicting a cheering audience.

After walking over the bridge I head along the south end of the park and am walking right under the CN Tower. I hang a right at the corner and head towards Gate 9, where the media entrance is. On this side of the park you are greeted by the large Rogers Centre sign and a number of hot dog vendors. Vendors like the one below are scattered all over Toronto. If you have a hankering for a good hot dog, sausage or burger, there is always someone nearby selling them for a buck or two.

This is where I head next: the pressbox (or "Baseball Media Suite" as the door is labeled). You are looking at the view to the right from where I sit. Karl, you'll be thrilled to know that I sit at seat No. 44. This is the second level of the press box. There are three levels for the press -- the visiting writer's usually are in the first row down to the right of me and the bulk of the newspaper writer's are in the row in front of me. In my row are all the MLB.com staff and the Toronto P.R. people.

This is the view I know everybody reading this is more concerned with. This is how I see a game. Not too shabby, huh? This picture was taken with the roof closed because it was raining yesterday. Soon, I'll post some photos with the roof open and maybe I can snap a few from on the field. The CN Tower looms over the park when the roof is open -- pretty cool. The jumbotron in center is the largest one of its kind in the world -- so they tell me -- and below it is the Windows Restaurant. Toronto's Eric Hinkse hit a homer into the restaurant in one of my first games here. To the right of Windows is a Hard Rock Cafe. You can also enjoy a game from some tables in there. We're planning on taking kell's parents there when they come, too.

Here is the last stop on our tour. This is what the subway looks like on the inside when I ride it home at midnight: Empty. It can be kind of eerie to be the only person in one of the cars, but it makes for a good nap or some good reading.

That concludes our tour for today. My first day of covering the Devil Rays didn't go too bad. Lou Piniella was the most animated manager I've worked with so far. We'll see how he is through a full four-game series, though. You can see my first day of coverage in the MLB.com Links section. Overall, I was pleased with the first day, but I don't think it was my best day. I never think it is, though.

Kelly and I went for our 3-mile run again today. It was a little cooler than yesterday because it rained a little. It's still crazy hot, though. It was nice to have Kell with today -- yesterday I did the run alone in the morning. I'm going to try and do the run every morning now. It is good for me and it helps to wake me up and get me moving in the morning. I'm going to get going for now. Stay tuned for more...

"Who are you and what did you do with my husband?" Kell has been basically asking me that during the last two days. I never liked going to the beach that much as a kid and I really never saw the point of going swimming either. We went swimming when I was a kid, but as I got older I just wasn't a big fan. Kell, on the other hand, grew up in a pool and going to the beach.

We went to the Eastern Beaches of Toronto yesterday and today we made it over to the local pool at the community center a few blocks away. The beach was my idea and I joined Kell at the pool without any arguments. A. It's really hot and I didn't mind cooling off, and, B. Ever since our honeymoon in Cancun, my mindset about water, pools, beaches, etc; has changed a lot. I don't think I mind them as much as I thought I did.

We got our butts out of bed a little earlier than usual today and went on a nice 3-mile run. I pushed Kell pretty hard, but it was mainly because I wanted to keep running hard and I didn't want to leave her behind. So, I made sure she was pushing herself harder in order that I could be pushing myself harder. Needless to say, we were quite tired and smelly when we got back to the apartment. After that we headed to the pool.

It was not as big as I thought it would be and it was crowded with screaming, hyper kids. We think a couple of day camps were in attendance, too.

We stayed in the water for about a half hour and then we sat by the pool for another half hour probably. We left when we couldn't take the wild children anymore. We were tired of getting splashed and getting bumped into. It would have been more fun if we had some of our nieces and nephews with us. It wasn't exactly the type of place for adults to go to just relax -- the type of atmosphere we were hoping for.

We're just hanging out at home tonight. Tomorrow I will be back at work -- covering the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for a four-game series. Check my MLB.com Links page for updates. Stay tuned...

I lived up to my promise. Due to the high volume of baseball-watching over the last two days with the All-Star game, I decided to throw in a little fun for the wife, too. Plus, I wanted to escape our current heat wave. I mapped out the route to the part of Toronto called The Beaches last night and took Kelly there earlier today. It was about a half-hour drive -- but worth it because we met our first really friendly Canadian strangers.

"Long way from home, eh?", an old man chirped from the car next to us at a stoplight after seeing my Michigan plates on the way to the beach. "Is it this hot in Michigan?", another guy asked us at another stoplight on the way back. It was nice to finally not feel that anti-American attitude we've encountered a few times since being here. People in our building have been nice, but around town and in some of the shops -- not so much.

Anyways, The Beaches is east of downtown Toronto and actually has the feel of a small country town. There are hardly any franchise stores/restaurants in the town and the business strip is all along one main street -- Queen St., which runs all the way through downtown by where I work.

There is a two-mile long boardwalk along the Eastern Beaches and hooks out onto a small peninsula that is surrounded by piles of huge rocks.

We probably walked over five miles on the day because of where we parked. When we pulled onto Queen St. I wasn't sure where to go, but I could see the lake when looking left down the side streets. So, I picked one to head down eventually. Well, I picked the one where the boardwalk began! I tried to play it off like I knew the whole time where I was going, but Kell could see right through me. Where we got off was the dog beach. Kell got to see tons of dogs, which made her miss her Sammy. I had to quickly move her away from the dogs and we continued our scenic walk. My favorite part was climbing on the rocks and heading onto the trails and getting glimpses of the skyline over the lake.

After I had taken a million digital pictures and we had hoofed it for about two miles, Kell and I headed to the beach for a dip in Lake Ontario. The heat was so unbearable. Thank God the water was cold. But it was just about the coldest water I had ever been in. It took soooo long to get ourselves brave enough to go under. We were spoiled with our Cancun honeymoon! (Thanks Karl and Sara)

This is where we set up camp and fell asleep on the beach. It was called Woodbine Beach.

Kell and I headed to Queen St. to find a nice food joint after we hit the beach. We ate at this place called "Lick's", which was a hamburger place. Let me just say that it was trying to be a Portillo's, but Portillo's licked Lick's easily. We ordered cheese fries and cheeseburgers and they were putting shredded cheese our food! Like what you'd put on tacos. Crazy Canadians. Then we headed back home -- I accidentally ran a red light and we almost got creamed by a taxi -- and we watched the All-Star game.

I'm not sure what we have planned for tomorrow. I created a monster by taking Kell to the beach. Now, she's asking if we can go again tomorrow on my last day off! We'll see what happens. It is pretty hot out. Stay tuned...

Did anybody watch that Home Run Derby tonight? Philadelphia's Bobby Abreu was out of his mind! The record for homers in one derby round was 15, set by Baltimore's Miguel Tejada last year, and Abreu hit 24 in the first round. He finished with 41 on the night and ended up taking home the derby title. Kell and I cuddled up in bed and watched the show. At one point, like the good wife I knew she would be, Kell leaned on me and said, "This is so much fun." I knew I married the right woman! I can't wait to watch the All-Star game tomorrow with her.

Before we snuggle up to the sounds of the Midsummer Classic, I am going to drive Kell down to a part of Toronto called "The Beaches." There is a small strip of shops and small restaurants and a two-mile boardwalk along the lake. We're going to attempt to get up early and head down there to try and stay cool during the 100-degree heat wave we have going on. It was in the high 90s today and won't be getting any cooler for the rest of the week. And when it is 95 outside, our apartment feels like 115.

We've been up here in Toronto for about a month and I've started to get a little concerned about the whereabouts of my first paychecks. I was told I was doing a piad internship, but have nothing to prove that so far. So, I inquired with my boss and he referred me to someone in the right department and I got this answer:

"Your paycheck went out last week. We sent it to the Orchard St. address in East Lansing, MI."

Ahh!! That's my old address at Michigan State. And guess what? I haven't lived there in more than two months! I gave my new address repeatedly to payroll to make sure they knew where to send the checks, but they still sent it to my old location. The East Lansing address is what they had in their files when they hired me because I didn't know my new address yet. So, needless to say, I'm going to be trying to fix this whole mess today and hopefully I'll receive my first paycheck before I leave in October.

Other than that, I need to get a haircut today, and go buy a videotape so I can record the Home Run Derby. It should be interesting this year with the international format they're doing. I never thought I'd see Hee Seop Choi in the mix for derby glory, but hey, why not? Maybe it'll get people excited about the World Baseball Classic or Baseball World Cup -- or whatever they're calling it -- which will be taking place duing the Spring. I know I can't wait. I'm hoping for a Dominican Republic vs. U.S.A. championship. I just hope a lot of quality guys commit to it and actually play hard. Unlike the NBAers at the Olympics, who had to scrap to find anyone willing to participate.

Speaking of the Olympics: Did you hear they have removed baseball and softball from the Olympics for the 2012 games? They are the first sports eliminated since polo in the 1930s. Can you believe that? Baseball was the only reason I watched the Olympics -- to get the international feel like this World Cup of Baseball is trying to do. I don't understand, with how many non-Americans are playing the game today, how they can just cancel baseball from the Olympics. Or softball for that matter. The U.S.A. softball team was amazing to watch at the last games. Kell and I were very upset and disappointed when we read that news. I don't know if I'll even watch the Olympics now.

Anyways, I'm going to get going. I gotta get moving if I want to get all the tasks I have set aside for today done before I plop down on the bed to watch some homers. Stay tuned for more...

Kelly and I ventured out of out apartment -- the far North side of Toronto -- went to the Street Festival downtown and even made it to the lakefront -- the far South side of Toronto. We got off at Lawrence, but learned that the "Taste of Lawrence" was far East from where we were. So, we grabbed a couple of hot dogs, hopped back on the subway and headed towards Dundas. The highlight of the Lawrence stop was actually a restaurant called SoHo Bistro. I used to live in South Holland -- sometimes referred to as "SoHo." We almost ate there just because of the name. Anyways, we went to Dundas and had more than an hour to spare before we saw the Giraffe Urban Operetta.

Here is Kelly trucking it during our afternoon walk. We went about three miles before coming home to get ready for our day of traveling around Toronto.

This is a cool graveyard along our walk. We think it is a Jewish cemetary because the Star of David is on all of the gates. It is very surreal to stand and look at this place. The headstones are all about a foot apart and the rows look stacked on top of each other. We've never seen a cemetary like this before and find it very interesting every time.

Anyways, back to our apartment building to get ready for our day. If you look right above the top right corner of the small rastaurant on the left, you can see our third floor balcony. We're about to be heading out to the Finch Ave. subway station -- the station I walk to every time I go to work.

We have already arrived and left the Lawrence Street Festival. It was pretty lame. So, here is Kelly heading down the escalator to the subway again.

While walking around the Dundas festival, we saw this guy working on a huge sand castle. It was pretty cool. I had to smash my way through about 100 people to get close enough to get a clean photo. Hope you like it. We had more than an hour until the famous Giraffe show we keep reading about. So, we decided to keep walking South down Yonge Street towards the Lake.

This is one of the buildings along our walk. I really like it. You can't tell too much from this photo, but the modern part is REALLY thin. And at the top the building is curved -- not squared off -- making for some impressive corner offices. The bottom part is an older style and the newer tower is built right into the side and on top. It's an amazing mesh of old and new.

After the cool skyscraper we ran into the Hockey Hall of Fame. I knew it was in Toronto, but I hadn't found it yet. This is not what I expected it to look like -- very cool building. On the right side the building name was in French and it almost looked like "The temple of hockey." Not surprising. There are a lot of depressed people around Toronto right now. They take hockey very seriously. Two days ago I drove past the old Maple Leaf Gardens in downtown. It reminded me a lot of old Chicago Stadium. I'm going to have to drag Kelly kicking and screaming if I ever want to get inside the Hall of Fame. She is just about the biggest hockey fan ever! (sarcasm)

We could see the CN Tower as we crossed the street by the Hall of Fame. So, I snapped this shot. I'm sure I'm going to have a million pictures of the tower by the time we leave in October. I can't wait to go up in it when Kell's parents get here later this month. There are glass floors at the top that you stand on and look down. Anyways, it was on to the lakefront. We weren't far now.

It was actually kind of hard to find how to get to the lake. I mean, we knew you kept going south and bam you should be there. But it wasn't like Chicago where Lake Shore Drive is right along the lake and the buildings are built almost like a wall along the shore. In Toronto, the buildings are to and fro and Lake Shore Blvd. is actually about a quarter mile north of the Lake. When we reached the lakefront, we had to walk for a while west before we saw the entrance to the ferry that goes to the islands across the way. There is a nice boardwalk along the water and plenty of sailboats and other boats traveling around out there. This was a nice little grassy hill by the lake. A beautiful little quiet spot amid the tall metal buildings. We had to leave fairly quick, though, because the Giraffes were about to start attacking Toronto!

Here's one of them. You can see the person in front who operates the front legs and arms, which moved the head with a couple of wires. There is also another person in the back for the hind legs. The whole thing had a tripod with wheels on the bottom so they could scoot around. You can see another guy dressed in red walking along with it. He kept a hand on one of the tripod legs to make sure the giraffe was heading in the right direction. The animal was having a hard time making its way through the very dense crowd. So we're Kell and I! At one point, I almost got smacked in the head with a giraffe face. The guy was bobbing his head up and down very fast and got a little too close to me. Kell was laughing, though.

You're probably wondering why on Earth there were red giraffes in Toronto. Well, it was kind of an opera/play-type thingamajigger. This clown guy was sleeping in a bed and was singing "Giraffe! Giraffe!" -- like he was waking up in the middle of some crazy nightmare. And there was this crazy lady, who was singing, but not words. She was just belting out sounds and notes like a crazy person and I couldn't help but be weirded out by the whole thing. Maybe that was the point. The clown guy also started throwing these rings of fire up at the giraffes, which Kell and I thought might not have been the best idea in a crowded square with thousands of people. If one of those things lit on fire it would have been complete chaos!

We left a bit early to avoid any sudden fires or stampeding crowds into the subway. Here is a picture of the train that wasn't there waiting for us. It was back to our apartment for a night of sandwhich-eating and movie-watching. I'm off to bed. We might hit up more of this crazy, out-of-control Street Festival tomorrow. Stay tuned...

Yep, there is a Toronto-wide party going on along Yonge St. -- the longest street in the world and the street we happen to live on. It's pretty quiet where we live, but we're about to head to the subway and party it up Canadian style downtown.

There's supposed to be this one section with a "Taste of Lawrence". Lawrence is the street it's on. Hopefully it's somewhat like Taste of Chicago. After that we're hopping back on the subway and going to a street called Dundas, where there is this huge urban street operetta show -- that's what they're calling it anyways -- and it has these 20-foot-high Giraffes that are operated by people on the ground. Sounds interesting, so we're going to go take a look-see. I'll post pictures tonight when we get back.

Yesterday was a lazy day for me. I slept 'til 2:00 and just lounged around for the rest of the day. I was terribly beat after my 15 1/2 hour workday on Thursday. I had to get up at 7 a.m., met a guy at the Rogers centre at 9:30, and then from there we went to this park where Toronto Blue Jays center fielder Vernon Wells was helping kickoff the opening day for Rookie League -- a free baseball program for inner-city kids. It was a lot of fun to see all the smiling kids. Wells stayed extra long to make sure every one of the 400 kids got an autograph -- something that was not planned. It made for a nice story. You can check that out in the MLB.com Links section under Toronto.

After that I had to head back to the Rogers Centre to write up the feature -- all before starting my coverage of the Oakland A's that day. So I was in the pressbox at 1:00. I was in there when they were testing the pyrotechnics and the sound system, too. I had to keep my headphones on to keep from hurting my ears. I also was in there when the tour group for the stadium came through. It was funny to hear the tour guide tell the people about first base and second base and third base and there at the bottom is home plate and in the middle you'll see the pitching mound. I was laughing. A lady kept looking at me working and smiling at me. It was funny. I felt like an exhibit -- like they should have had me behind glass to peer at. "There you'll see what we refer to as a 'sportswriter.' Don't tap the glass. They can become very angry if disturbed while working." It was cool to hear my sister, Melissa, went on a tour of Petco Park with her family and saw the pressbox there, too. It might not be where I work, but she got to take a look into what I'm getting a chance to do here. She said she was proud of me. Thanks sis.

Covering the A's went smoothly again. I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with asking questions to the players and coaches. At first I kind of was watching and learning from the other beat writers, but now I feel a lot more comfortable in there. I even got A's manager Ken Macha to react how I wanted on a question about Ricardo Rincon. You can see it in the game story in MLB.com Links and in the Oakland section for July 7. I had noticed Rincon's struggles and pointed it out. Macha said exactly what I had hoped he would -- even better actually. And afterwards I got a compliment about the question from a staff member. Next week I'm covering the Devil Rays.

I got home Thursday night at around 1:30. So I got about four hours of sleep and then was up for about 18 hours before I crashed again. That's why I was a bum all yesterday. I went for a nice hour walk with Kelly today, though, to get the blood going again. I have some pictures I took of some stuff along the way that I'll post later. For now I have to run. Stay tuned for more...

I mentioned a few posts earlier that I was nearing the end of the book "Shoeless Joe" by W. P. Kinsella -- the book that was the basis for the best baseball movie of all time: "Field of Dreams." Well, that's my opinion anyways.

I'm biased, though. You see, my parents could see my love for the game at an early age and decided to combine it with their love for heading out to the country. See, we lived near Chicago during my childhood and an escape to the country was nice during the summertime. After I saw and loved "Field of Dreams" when I was a kid, my ma and dad decided to find out if the field was still around as a tourist thing. Well, sure enough, sitting on a farm in Dyersville, Iowa sat the very Field of Dreams that existed in the movie. On one our trips to Galena -- a nice small town in Northwest Illinois -- we made the detour West into Iowa and went to the Field of Dreams. I remember my parents not telling me where we were going until the last minute, too. It was great.

You would play baseball all day on the field. No out. No score. No lineup. You stood wherever you wanted to in the field. You could play short, roam the outfield grass or try to find the occasional ball that some no-name slugger sent skipping into the cornfield. There was always a line of about 20 people to hit -- ranging from kids barely big enough to lift a bat to adults who probably once believed they'd be going pro. Strangers would help children swing at the plate and anyone that wanted to pitch walked out to the mound. Fathers and sons would play catch on the same field where the endless game took place. There were no outs. You could ground out to the second baseman and still stand on first -- awaiting the next hit. The real Field of Dreams felt like the baseball you might find in heaven. But it wasn't heaven. It was Iowa.

We went there a few summers in a row until my mom wasn't able to make the trips anymore. After she passed away our trips out to the country were more to tie up the loose ends of that life. It was time to move on to the next chapters -- my dad's move to Colorado and my own journey with him and then to college and beyond. But through the pain of my mom's passing, baseball always remained my escape, release or outlet -- whatever you want to call it. When I lived in Colorado I focussed my life around the game, always searching for that feeling you had while on that field in Iowa. My mom would sit on the bleachers where Kevin Costner sat and she would smile and watch me play for hours. In high school, after she was gone, I still would go to the cages for hours, run sprints on our empty high school baseball field on the weekends, and I even joined an 18-and-up team full of college guys and adults I didn't even know so that I would have another place where I felt that feeling that baseball has always given me. Peace.

I'm talking about all of this stuff because reading "Shoeless Joe" really stirred up some old memories. Especially when I read a speech given by the character named Eddie Scissons:

"As I look at you, I know that there are many who are troubled, anxious, worried, insecure. What is the cure? Is it to be found in doctors and pills and medicine? No. The answer is the word, and baseball is the word. We must tell everyone we meet the true meaning of the word of baseball, and if we do, those we speak to will be changed by the power of that living word. ... Walk into the world and speak of baseball."

Now, Scissons made this speech sound very biblical. But, in a way, baseball was like that for me. It was not uncommon for me to skip church and find sanctuary alone at Wrigley Field in the two years after my mom passed. And, now, I am working to become a baseball writer. I am speaking the word of baseball to others.

Baseball wasn't just a game for me. It was the one part of life that was always there, never changing. Particular games may have broken my heart or made me scream with joy, but the game itself never faltered. I always could rely on a diamond being closeby -- either for playing or watching.

I'm reminded of James Earl Jones' words in the film, but the words of the character J.D. Salinger in the novel:

"I don't have to tell you that the one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has changed like a blackboard, only to be rebuilt and then erased again. But baseball has marked time while America has rolled by like a procession of steamrollers."

Some people reading this might say, 'Wow, I mean, It's just a game.' But to some of us it isn't. Baseball has become my life. Those closest to me understand my love for it and sometimes -- as in my wife's case -- sacrifice to accomodate the passion I feel for being surrounded by baseball. I'm getting all deep and emotional here, but, like I said, reading that book stirred a lot of old memories.

If you ever get a chance to read it, do so. W.P. Kinsella is a wonderful writer and his words fly off the page and into your imagination. I'm now reading his other famous baseball novel, "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy."

Hope you all enjoyed the post. I'll write more about my final day -- all 15 1/2 hours -- of covering Toronto and Oakland later. I have a nice six-day break because the Jays are on the road and then it is the All-Star break. I can't wait to break out a classic VHS tape and record the game. Kelly and I will be going to the Toronto Street Festival tomorrow. I'll take some pictures and tell you how it is. Stay tuned...

Today was a breeze! The Oakland beat writer for MLB.com e-mailed me with a good note to lead with in my notebook (it worked out perfectly); I had tons of stuff left-over from the night before; I had my notebook filed before the game even started; I had my lead written by the fifth inning; I had my running gamer in by the eighth; the preview was done before the game was over; and I was able to get perfect quotes to complete my gamer. All in a night's work. It went so smoothly -- a night after an 11-inning writer's nightmare.

Tomorrow will be a long day for me. I have to get up around 7 a.m. and meet up with a guy at the Rogers Centre at 9:30 a.m. From there I'll be heading to this inner-city baseball league opening day thing that Toronto center fielder Vernon Wells is taking part in. Then I have to head back to the stadium and write up a short feature on it -- all before doing the regular beat work for the Oakland A's. That's about a 14-15 hour day ahead of me and I'm not in bed yet.

My car situation didn't turn out to be a serious repair. It cost me a good penny, but it was mostly labor. It was just a broken O-ring inside the thermostat. Problem solved. Kelly went and got it -- running the same 3.36 mile route I ran this morning. Then, like a crazy person -- she wasn't done and ran another mile or so and then ran up and down 1,000 stairs in our building!

I'm going to get going, though. I have a little bit more work to do before I hit the sack.

A funny sidenote: My hand made Sportscenter last night! Kelly and I were laying in bed and they cut to a clip of an interview with one of the A's players and there in the top right corner was my hand with my digital recorder. It was kind of fun to see. I'm big time now. I made Sportscenter.

Well, to be honest with you, I was pretty excited about having the chance to cover the A's. I had heard from others and from reading on the team that they are a fun group to cover. Plus, I just recently had been reading "Moneyball," which details the team quite a bit. When I was handed a press release on Chad Bradford and Scott Hatteberg wound up with the game-winning hit on Tuesday, I couldn't help but recall passages on both players in the best-selling book.

I got to the park extra early because I really wasn't sure what I was going to be doing for the notebook. I had a few ideas and my main one ended up being my lead note. The great thing I noticed about the team was just how accessible they were. With Baltimore, there were guys who were angry with the media, guys who were ducking the media, guys that would only speak in one word answers, etc. I didn't have any of those problems after the game. After one of the Orioles games, I had a hard time getting quotes from more than two people -- and that's including the manager. With the A's, my digital recorder was filled with too many quotes from too many sources! So many that some of the stuff I got I should be able to use in the notebook today.

Coming away with too much information is never a terrible thing except that I had so many quotes and tidbits that I couldn't squeeze it all in last night. I guess that should make my job easier today. I talked with Eric Chavez, Mark Kotsay, Marco Scutaro, Nick Swisher, Bobby Crosby, Danny Haren, Justin Duchscherer and Ken Macha yesterday. I think on my first day with Baltimore I talked to two or three sources tops. It was a good time and they all were very easy-going with the media.

The game was good, too. Not a great one to write, though, because -- like with the quotes -- there was just so much that happened. Toronto's Orlando Hudson hit a homer and pulled up with a lame hammy around second base, but he still trotted around the bases with the help from the trainer. Bobby Crosby hit a inside-the-park homer for the A's. The game went 11 innings. The teams combined for 33 hits. It was a lot to take in, but I got it done -- headache and all.

The one thing that was good for me was with the score staying so close, and the Jays tying it up and sending it into extra frames, I got extra good experience with rewriting leads and having two running game stories going simultaneously. That was stressful, but fun. After the game, I ended up being able to save my lead, but switched around the front end of the story based on what the coaches and players were talking about the most. I wasn't too happy with how it ended up last night, but when I read it this morning I was happier. I'm never happy with something right after I write it. But I guess that can be a good thing, because I'm always trying to please my biggest critic, which is me.

In other news, I took my crapalier -- I mean cavalier -- into the shop today to get the radiator looked at. The coolant keeps disappearing, but we can't figure out to where. Knowing my luck, it'll be something that the mechanic will say, "Hmmm, I've never seen this before," about. I drove it to the shop, which is a little over 3 miles from our apartment. I decided I would run the route home. Whew! You don't realize how some streets are uphill for so long until you run on them! Running a 1.2 miles up this main street called Steeles was very tiresome. The whole way was uphill and my legs and arms were dying. I only had to stop once on the hill and twice at major intersections -- other than that it was a nice jog. I'm happy my ankle is finally feeling better. Well, better enough to jog lightly on it. At one point I even sprinted and I was running towards this bus stop and I think the bus driver was waiting because he thought I was trying to catch the bus. As soon as I flew past the stop the bus let out a poof of smoke, squeeled and went on its way. I can imagine the driver watching me running his way and thinking, "Why on Earth would this dude be sprinting this early in the morning. He must be trying to catch this bus." Nope! I'm just a crazy running American.

Anyways, I'm going to go back to bed for an hour or so because I am tired. I didn't get home until almost 2:00 because of the extra innings and I was up at 7:30 to take the car in. So, I should take a quick power nap before heading to the Rogers Centre for Game 2.

Be sure to check out my MLB Links page to see the updated articles. I would love any feedback about them or my blog via e-mail. I'll write more probably tomorrow. Stay tuned...

If any of you have read my wife's blog -- www.kellybastian.blogspot.com -- you may have read about our new favorite activity together: Playing "Scene It." This is a great board game for any of you movie lovers out there. You can read all about the different products at www.sceneit.com.

You put out this board that you move your game piece along as you get the trivia answers correct. The movie questions range from old classic films to recently released ones. There are trivia cards, movie clips, sound clips and a bunch of other ways that you are quizzed on your movie knowledge.

I defeated Kelly again tonight -- upping my career record to 6-2 against her. But it kind of stunk because a lot of the movie clips were repeats of ones we had seen already since we began playing this week. There is a way to choose a different game set-up and I think we were still playing on the one we've been doing, because there are supposed to be almost 200 movie clips and we definately haven't watched that many yet. Kelly suggested that maybe we're playing it too much!

It's fun, though. I'm sure many of you have heard about my "Pound of Munic" slip. There is one part where you have to be the first to say the answer out loud and this particular one was a fill in the blanks, like Wheel of Fortune, but the letters keep filling in slowly. So I saw, THE _OUND OF MU_IC right before the final two letters filled in and I was focusing on the last word and for some reason came up with Munic, and then I yelled out Pound for the first part. Boy was I off. Turns out it was "The Sound of Music." Kell and I had a good laugh and I felt extra embarresed because I grew up on that movie with my mom.

Anyways, we just put the game away and I wanted to tell you guys about it. It's fun and if you ever see it, it's worth the $20 we paid for it. It's nice to have a board game cross over into the TV/MOVIE world. It makes it a lot more interactive and entertaining. But then again, Kell and I are HUGE moviegoers. I wanted to take her to see "Bewitched" tonight, but she said that three movies in the last three weeks was good enough for now.

I'll blog tomorrow night about covering the A's and sometime in the next few days I'll write about "Shoeless Joe" -- the W.P. Kinsella book I'm almost done reading. It's where "Field of Dreams" came from. It's an amazing book about baseball. Kell was giving me a hard time because the only books I read are sports books. But as some of you may know, I plan on writing some kind og baseball book in the future. I have a few stories that I'm batting around right now. Pun intended. OK, until then. Stay tuned for more...

Yes, I'm in Canada on the Fourth of July. And guess what? No one seems to care that it's America's Independence Day here in the North. So I decided to celebrate my American holiday with a good ol' Nintendo Gamecube version of the American Pastime. Yes, I'm 22 years old and I still play video games. Pretty sad, huh. Well, I do and I still enjoy them.

I know none of you really care and you might think this is pathetic, but my game today was a little too ridiculous and I had to blog about it.

So, I popped in my All-Star Baseball 2004 -- still, in my opinion, the best baseball video game made to date -- and I started up my ongoing franchise. I created an expansion team within the A.L. East -- the Providence Grackles -- don't ask me why, it just happened one day when I was messing around. Anyways, I've built a pretty nice team and was 15-2 and in first place entering today's game against the Yankees.

Through my first 17 games I had not allowed a homer and my starter, Jaret Wright, was coming into the game with a 0.72 ERA (shows you how realistic the game is!). Anyways, here is the line score of the game today:

OK, I normally score around 6 or 7 runs a game and I usually allow around 2 or 3. This was NOT normal. This game lasted forever! I thought a 9-0 lead after two innings would hold, but those Yankees just kept pouring it on and they hit six homers. I hit nine homers, though, and -- once again to show you how realistic this is -- reliever John Rocker picked up the win!

Maybe this is some sort of indication as to how exciting my Fourth of July has been. Kell and I were going to head out somewhere today, but it has been pouring rain again and so we've been hanging out inside. We'll probably play our new favorite game, "Scene It," tonight. It's a DVD/Movie trivia game. It's pretty cool. You put in this DVD and get out the board game and you watch movie clips, are shown still shots, quotes, movie character, etc; and you answer the trivia until one person reaches the end of the board. So far, my record against Kelly is 5-2. But I'm sure she lets me win so she doesn't have to deal with me after a loss. I can get pretty upset. When I lose I want to keep playing until I win again. That's why the first night we played five games. I won the first two, then Kell won two and wanted to stop. But, of course, I said we HAD to play one more to make it best of five! Had I lost that one I would have turned it into a best of seven!

Anyways, you all probably think I'm pretty lame after reading this blog today, huh. In other news, I cover the Oakland A's for three games starting tomorrow. They are pretty hot right now and will be trying to reach the .500 mark for the first time since May 2. Danny Haren will be pitching for the A's and he has won his last six decisions -- should be a good series to watch/cover. Keep checking my site for updates. I'll add my new links tomorrow night and will surely blog about my second series.

Well, we WERE going to go to church this morning. As it turned out, though, we decided to get some extra sleep because we stayed up late watching movies and TV together. I know, I know...we coulda slept when we got home. We actually kind of decided we weren't going to go last night because of my car. It almost overheated driving to the church last Sunday and our subleaser let us know a good mechanic to go to around here. So, instead of risking hurting the car any more, we decided we'd rest it today (and rest ourselves!) and take the car into the shop this week some time.

We FINALLY got out of bed around 1:00. So we woke up at 7:45 a.m. to see if we wanted to try and get the car moving and go to church and we ended up sleeping FIVE MORE HOURS! What do we have planned for today? Not a whole lot. Maybe we'll go for a walk or I've tried to convince Kelly to walk down to this park close by and play catch with me. We'll probably hang around the apartment today, though. Nothing too crazy.

Last night we watched The Sixth Sense. We got the DVD in a buy 2-for-1 deal when Signs was new released, but we never watched The Sixth Sense since then. It's not a movie you want to pop in all the time once you know the ending. But it had been long enough for both of us where we didn't remember a lot of the details in the movie. So we watched it and, yep, it was still good. We were bad, though, and ate some Rolo Ice cream. It is chocolate ice cream, but with little mini Rolo candies in it. Mmmmm. To top it off, I wanted Kell to feel more at home so I did my best ColdStone impression. I got out two large spoons, and crunched up Oreos inside the ice cream and rolled it all up into one heavenly ball of goodness! Kell was laughing at me, but I missed ColdStone!

I kind of did the same thing last week. After I was being "aggranoying" (Kell's and my word that combines aggravating and annoying), I decided to make up for it with a nice treat. I mixed chocolate chips, fruit by the foot, pretzels and ice cream. It was awesome, take a look:

Yeah, super ice cream suprises like this are not everyday occurances. Plus, we go walking/running to work it off. Tonight, we're going to eat chicken -- with no chocolate chips sprinkled on top. Anyways, I'm going to get going for right now.

Oh, some of you who read my sister Melissa's Blog may have seen her post that Kelly has started a blog now, too. You can check it out at www.kellybastian.blogspot.com. You can get her perspective on all this stuff there. Plus, she's got the goods on me on her site. I won't make fun of myself as easily as she might! Stay tuned for more...

Yeah, so Kelly and I just got back from seeing fireworks to celebrate Canada Day. We walked almost two miles to the park -- in cold weather for once -- and we camped our butts down on a nice patch of grass. Minus the ADD kids that were playing some game that involved trying to stomp on the other kids' feet, we were having a great time.

There was a Spanish guitarist, who actually was really good, performing on stage first. He was followed by some Canadian country singing woman, who was nooo good at all. Despite our burning ears, everyone else seemed to love her and were dancing and singing along.

Everyone was also walking around with little Canadian flags, which we weren't dying to have, but Kell thought one would be nice for our scrapbook. Well, they were all out of the flags. The only thing that could save our night was the fireworks.

"Are you ready for some fireworks?!" yelled out the country singer. Yes, we were. It was dang cold and they don't celebrate the Fourth of July here. We wanted fireworks.

It turns out that they were more like small-flame-works. They looked like glorified fireflies and we sat there wondering why the little kids around us were all screaming "Yay! Yay!" I wanted to lean over to the children and be like, "Stop cheering! You don't know what you're missing!"

You know the fireworks you grew up with that shot up in the air and exploded and had a giant circle of sparkling goodness? THERE WERE NONE OF THOSE. A little ball of light would shoot up in the air and die about 100 feet up and would pathetically die out and fall slowly back down to earth. There were no loud bangs. No multiple blasts at once. No sparklers in the crowd. And a Grand Finale? Don't even think about it. After about 10 minutes of disappointment, the country singer got back on and was like, "Wasn't that great!? Thanks for comin' out ya'll!" Kelly and I looked at each other, in unison said, "You gotta be kidding me." (Probably in a thick ticked off South Side accent if anyone heard us, too) We got up and walked out of there fast.

After the "show", we walked across the street and went to this restaurant/bar called Milestones and ate some awesome spinach-artichoke dip. Yes, I actually ate it and liked it. I went out to the same bar, but in downtown Toronto, with guys from work a couple times and ate it and I love it. Not as much as Queso from Chili's, but it's still good.

The only other two redeeming things of the night were, 1. The cute little Palmeranian dog -- wearing a Canadian bandana and had a flashing red light around his neck -- who kept running over to get attention from Kelly. And, 2. The small Canadian flag that we found on the sidewalk on our walk home to the apartment.

The Jays romped the Red Sox at Fenway Park, 15-2, tonight and we missed it. Never did I think I would be longing for fireworks by the quarry in Thornton or in Vets Park in South Holland. If any of you take good pics from the Fourth and would like to make us feel more at home, feel free to e-mail them to us!

I never thought I would have a reason to utter these words, but here goes nothing:

Yep, today is Canada Day -- the birthday for our friendly neighbors to the North. So, Kelly and I will have to pretend today is July 4th, because today is when we're going to see fireworks and enjoy the Canadian festivities. We're going to leave about 7:00 and walk the 1.7 miles (according to Mapquest) to this place called Mel Lastman Square. They say they are doing fireworks and live music from like 8-10:30 p.m. So, it isn't too far from us and we have nothing better to do than go check it out. It should be fun.

Kell and I were up really late last night. She was reading a book by Tolstoy and I was playing Sim City, both until around 2:30 a.m. We have some different personalities, huh. She's reading classic literature and I'm sitting there entering cheat codes to gain more simoleans so I can build the city of my dreams. Fun stuff.

I did find out for sure that I am covering the Oakland A's when they come here this week. That should be cool since I had been reading Moneyball recently. It should be kind of cool to see some of the people that were written about in there. It's just too bad that Mark Mulder isn't still with the team. I could've mentioned that I went to his same high school and sat next to his brother at lunch in the cafeteria. Mulder is with the Cardinals, now, and I didn't get a chance to speak to him when St. Louis was in Toronto during my first week.

I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July back in America. I'll be posting more later I'm sure...