Time Flies When You are Having Fun...

The last 3 weeks have absolutely flown by... Other than our flop in the playoffs for baseball, I couldn't have written the script much better.

Gone are the baseball grand finals/playoffs
Come and gone but not forgotten are Marcus and Jaime and 10 days of adventures
Survived was the players trip weekend to Lancelin
Here is Mad Monday
Coming is the PL Heat trip to Sydney, travel out east, and the end of work at Lawley's

There is a lot to fill people in on, and before anyone knows it I will be back in the States for my first extended stay there in over a year. So where to begin?

Baseball... After rolling through the first half of the season nearly perfect, the departure of Freeza Time marked a change in luck for THE BEARS top side. We struggled a bit in the second half of the season, but held on for the number 2 seed going into playoffs. Unfortunately for us, sometimes the best teams aren't the team that wins in the end. We weren't playing our best baseball heading into playoffs and ended up getting bounced in 2 games. I feel a fair bit responsible for this meltdown, as I had a poor outing in a game that would have sent us straight through to the championship series. I think everyone on our team feels that if we were playing our best baseball that would could have taken the flag, but we played the worst we have all season and the results reflected that. Hats off to the teams that took us down.

I now turn my attention to the PL Heat team that will represent Perth and Wa in Blacktown, NSW a short distance outside of Sydney. We will be playing against the other states for the Australian Provincial Championships in a 8 day tournament at the Olympic Stadium complex. The trip should be a lot of fun and hopefully we can win it. It looks like this may be my last competitive baseball for a while, so I will definitely be looking to finish the 2011 campaign on a higher note than our flop here in Perth.

Marcus and Jaime's visit: There is not a lot that we didn't do. Freo and the Freo Market twice, camping in the bush outside of Collie, Margaret River beach house, Rottnest Island, Yanchep National Park, relaxing on the beach at Scarborough and Cottesloe, a night out in the CBD and Northbridge, Bears baseball, a season opening footy game in Subi (for Marcus and Jaime), exploring Subiaco, Australian BBQ, Kings Park, roos, koalas, quoakas, and brown snakes, a trip to the movies, trady's lunch and more, all jammed into 10 days. Best of all, it was just great to catch up with old friends and have a good visit. We pushed El Pinto Blanco to the limit and made the most of our time. I wish they could come back and we could do it all over again.

Players Trip in Lancelin: With the season coming to an abrupt and unexpected end, we decided not to waste any time and take our players trip (paid for with fines money from post-game kangaroo court) pretty much right away. We booked a house in Lancelin, about 100Km north of Perth, for the weekend. In true Aussie fashion, drunkenness and bbq ensued for about 48 hours. Mixed in was some beach fishing and 4x4ing in the dunes. It was a good weekend getaway and we got back in time for the exciting Gran Final for the PL2 Bears side, an exciting 16-14 victory that saw the Bears erase an early 9-2 deficit, included a skirmish between the teams and about 8 collisions at home plate. The win was capped off with "winner's piss" and Emu Export (awesome). Today is Mad Monday, the day after the season and we will be getting together with all of the boys one last time for a punt, a trady's and no doubt a brew or two. Thanks for a great season Bears, it has been a blast.

Pictures and more to follow shortly!