Bastian's Blog

October 28, 2005

Wait 'till next year,

Yeah, celebrate now Sox fans. Next year, it's going to be a Cubs town in Chicago again. And when (if) the Cubs ever do win a World Series, the party will be 10-times greater. I actually thought the number of partiers in the streets after the Sox Series clincher was pretty weak. It looked nothing like when the Bulls would win their titles. I was rooting for Chicago and I was happy when they won. I was even sporting my Sox hat at work. But I didn't experience the type of feeling that I thought I would when one of your teams win a World Series. To me, it just felt like another Series for another team that wasn't the Cubs. I was happy for my city and one of my favorite teams from childhood, but the 11 years I took off from cheering for the South Siders really hurt my enthusiasm.. I know that when the Cubs win it all...if they win it all...I'll cry.

So, it's back to the real world where the Cubs aren't winners, the baseball season is over and I have to find some way to live with sports until March. At least my 3-3 Bears are in first! Ha. Today I'm back out in the field to cover high school football playoffs. It's been a year since I covered such an event -- back then for the Lansing State Journal. It's been a task familiarizing myself with a new region of Michigan. I'll be driving out to Constantine, which is about an hour southeast of St. Joe.

I'm getting more accustomed to using the page designing program at work and getting used to the people I work with. The newsroom equipment is a bit dated, but I'm surviving.

This weekend, Kelly's parents are coming up here to visit us. I have Sunday off, but it'll be another Football Sunday that I'll be robbed of the NFL! I haven't been able to watch a single NFL football game this season with the combination of no TV in Canada, the move from Toronto, moving to St. Joseph and working. Maybe I'll finally see a game next weekend. I know all you guys out there feel for me. My wife is loving it, though.

As for Barkley, he was really sick yesterday morning. He woke us up at 7 a.m. and he was shaking really bad like he had a fever or was cold. Before we could get him out of the bed he puked all over our new sheets! Good thing we bought a backup set. We put him in the bathtub and he threw up again. He went on to shiver for about 20 more minutes and we wrapped him in towels to keep him warm, which seemed to lessen the shakes. Anyways, he was fine within an hour and has been acting fine today, too. He must have had just a 24 hour doggy flu. It was weird.

Allrighty, well that's about all for right now. Pretty exciting stuff, huh. Stay tuned for more!

Posted at 2:37 p.m.

October 24, 2005

Scotty Pod!

All I can say about that Sox game last night is 'Wow." I'm just glad I got to watch it. I had the day off yesterday and we don't have TVs in our newsroom (don't ask) so I didn't get to see ay of Game 1. I had to keep getting game updates on my cell phone while I was working. So, I was excited to have the day off to watch Game 2. From the 3rd inning on I got to watch it without distractions!

Before that, my sister Lynn made the trek up here to see our new place with her clan of kids. We went out to eat and then we went to this place called the Curious Kids Museum. It was this interactive place for kids with tons to do. We got there 20 minutes before they closed so we kind of had to rush through it, which kinda stunk. But it was still fun. It'll be cool to take our other niece, Tricia, and other nephew, Parker, to when my sister Melissa and her husband Keith make the trip up here on one of of my days off (hint hint). We gave them the usual St. Joe driving tour and then we made a stop at Target because Lynn needed new shoes for Laney, my two-year-old trouble-making niece that probably "lost" her other shoes on purpose. Then we all came back to my apartment and hung out, but I was startin to get stressed because I was worried I was going to miss the World Series game.

"It's just baseball," says Lynn.

"No," I quickly replied. "It's Game 2 of the World Series with a team from OUR city that hasn't won since 1917!"

So, they headed home and I got to watch the game. For one, Jermaine Dye was NOT hit by that pitch. Just like the ALCS Game 2 ball DIDN'T hit the ground (but Josh Paul should've tagged A.J. to be sure ayways). But Dye played off the foul ball like it bounced off his arm and the Sox -- like they've done all season -- took advantage of a mistake. This time with a Paul Konerko GRAND SLAM! The Astros tied up the game in the 9th, which made the Dye thing not as big of a deal. Still a major goof by the ump, but at least it didn't end up deciding the game. Nope, Scott Pdsednik hit a game-winner in the bottom of the 9th off super-closer Brad Lidge. Podsednik -- a guy that had no homers in the regular season and now has two in the playoffs. Crazy.

I've been a die-hard Cubs fan since 1993, when I was became angry at Jerry Reinsdorf for how he allowed the Sox to handle Carlton Fisk's retirement. But these White Sox this year have found that kid in me that grew up loving the South Siders. Some People are giving me a hard time for rooting for the Sox, but it's about time Chicago gets a trophy. I'll be 100-times more excited when the Cubs go, though. Wait 'till next year.

Anyways, enough about that Instant Classic from last night. Tonight Kell and I are meeting our friends from college -- Chad (my best man in our wedding) and his wife Julie -- for dinner in Battle Creek. We haven't seen them since the wedding so it'll be nice to hang out with them.

Well, that's it for right now. I'll be posting more later. Stay tuned...

Posted at 1:54 p.m.

October 22, 2005

Poor Barkley,

Yeah, our poor dog. Kell has been in the Chicago area all day finishing up some much-needed errands and she ended up having to spend the night because of some tasks she couldn't get done on Friday. I left Barkley at 5:45 p.m. because I had to go to work. Tonight I wrote my first article for the Herald-Palldium. I covered the Hartford vs. Martin high school football game.

Anyways, Kell was supposed to be home relatively early because I knew I wasn't going to be home till around 1 a.m. She had to stay overnight and I got home a little before 1. Barkley was on the kitchen table when I opened the door. He was jumping all over the place because he was super excited to see somebody. And then, over in the corner, I saw a little pile of poopy :( But I wasn't mad. He's still adjusting to his new home and life here in St. Joe and his mommy and daddy left him all alone for 6+ hours!

Here's Barkley sitting in our "reading chair" in our bedroom.

Since I showed you that pic, I might as well put the other photos of our apartment on here for you to see. We live in a pretty nice place. It's tucked back in a small wooded area and the view out our windows are of trees, which are beginning to change colors now. We also live less than a mile from Lake Michigan.

Here is the beach in St. Joseph with the lighthouse in the background.

This is our living room.

Here is our kitchen with Barkley's food dish in the center.

Tomorrow I work at around 4 p.m. I may be heading in a bit earlier because I have some other work to do, too. The football game I covered tonight was pretty good. It ended up being 42-41 and the losing team missed a 37 yard field goal with 12 seconds left. That's about all that's going on right now. If you would like to see Kelly's blog you can visit www.kellybastian.blogspot.com. Stay tuned for more...

Posted at 1:28 a.m.

October 20, 2005

Where was I?

Wow. A lot has happened since my laptop crashed! That's the reason behind the sudden inactivity on my site. While Kell and I were in Toronto, my computer decided to go into a "continuous reboot cycle" and everything had to be wiped clean off of it. That means all of the photos I took in Canada were gone! Luckily I had been putting the best ones on my blog here.

To keep a long story short, I finished working for MLB.com in the first week of October and then accepted a sports writing/copy editing position at a paper in St. Joseph, Michigan called the Herald-Palladium. It's only an hour away from home and it's a good job to start out with right out of college. Plus, the location will help Kelly get her career back on its path. We've been up here for about a week now.

The stuff I wrote for MLB.com that you missed is now on this site. You can find them by browsing through the MLB.com Links section. There is new stuff under Seattle, New York, Toronto, Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco, Houston and Cleveland. I almost witnessed a no-hitter by Seattle rookie Felix Hernandez on Sept. 21 -- my 23rd birthday.

I need to keep this short, though, because I have to get ready for work tonight. Our apartment here is nice -- I'll post some photos later. We also inherited a wonderful little black and white shitzu named Barkley to keep us company in Michigan. My awesome sister Lynn graciously decided that he would be happier with Kelly and I than with four kids, a bird, two other dogs and four cats that liked to torment his small life. I'll also post some pics of him later as well.

Anways, you can keep reading now and see what we're up to. I'll be back at this on a regular basis. The only section of my site that will be changing is the "My Schedule" section. I haven't figured out quite what will go in that slot, yet. If you have any suggestions let me know. I thought of maybe having a photo section there. I'll talk to you later. Stay tuned...

Posted at 5:30 p.m.