G'day from Perth

Hey All,

About time I updated this bad boy. If I wasn't a complete failure at computers than I would have updated the blog to make it a little more flashy, but basically I will look to continue what I started in Belgium here in Oz.

The last two weeks have gone by in a flash. The season ended in Belgium, I worked the spaghetti feed and the next day I was out like a light. I flew into SF on the morning of the 4th and flew out of Sacramento the next day at noon. In between I spent the night hanging with Marcus, Reza, and Erika in Sac. It was great to see them, but way too short. The next morning I flew up to Sitka, meeting Toby in Seattle and to quote my sister-in-law, "the wild rumpus" began almost immediately. We dove head first into a week of wedding festivities... family, friends and tons of fun. It was a great week that gave us two unexpected days of sunshine (allowing us to climb Verstovia), and culminated with what we all got together for... the beautiful wedding ceremony of Tristan and Johanna. The wedding went swimmingly, the reception was a blast, it was great to meet Jo's family and best of all to gain a new family member.

The fun in Sitka lasted a week and with the last of the wedding guests, Rachel and I were headed back to SF where we stayed with Drobny and Mrs. Drobny for a night. We spent the next day walking around SF, met up with Tyler for a drink before it was back to SFO to catch the flight to Sydney and then to Perth. The flight was miserable, but we made it and it was great to be picked up by Debra from the airport. I couldn't even remember the last time I had seen her, but it has been great to catch back up with her. Less than 24 hours after we stepped off the plane I was on the hill and batting leadoff in my first game down under. The game was only a game for about... 1 batter and quickly got out of hand. I doubled to lead off the game... it should have been a triple but I missed second base like an idiot (although it wasn't entirely my fault... I'll explain shortly) and about 15 batters later we were winning 9-0 in the top of the first. We ended up stomping them 35-3 and it was nice to be on the good side of a lopsided victory.

Like in Belgium, it seems like baseball in Australia will have its quirks. Example 1, and why I missed second... A number of the fields are actually converted Australian Rules Football to baseball fields. As such, there are no mounds and instead they use fiberglass pitching mounds. I didn't know this ahead of time and ended up playing in my running shoes. Hence, when I took a hard shoulder lean to hit the inside of the bag at second, and since it actually was an old school bad with a pin in the center of it that made the corners curl up, i missed the inside corner of the bag and almost ate it trying to stop from full speed in running shoes.

It was a fun first Australian baseball experience and more importantly, all the guys on the team seem really cool. I have a good feeling that like in Belgium, there will be plenty of good times down under.

I'm off for now, but more updates to come soon. I have plenty to fill in about the ridiculous ravens, the meathead gym manager, driving on the other side of the road, job applications, and plenty more. And of course a HUGE thanks to Debra for putting me and Rachel up while we get settled here in Perth. More later, mate!