Music is my religion, for I am iPod god ...

Thanks for that crazy moniker, Kass. But if I am iPod god, what does that make my father, Poppa Blog, who deleted all of the songs from his magical musical device this evening? That's sort of why I'm here, putting the songs back on his portable jukebox as I update this here blog, not that there's much to fill you in with. On a musical sidenote, I was listening to The Postal Service today in the car on the way home and Poppa Blog said they sounded good. I'm not as sure about his taste in music however, as I'm about to put a Bette Midler CD on his iPod as we speak. She makes me cringe.

I returned from that desert oasis known as Mildura this morning after two days on assignment. I like the remoteness of the place: Sydney is more than 1,000 kilometres away, Adelaide 400 kilometres and mighty Melbourne around 600 kilometres. I forgot to take my camera, which was a shame, as all those destinations were on street signs - the blog has been devoid of pictures (with me in them) as of late. I crossed the Murray River and went to New South Wales for a bit but I really liked Mildura, despite the circumstances I was sent there to cover. The place, quite frankly, has seen better days.

I went to the funeral for the last of the six teenagers who were killed in a hit-run collision a couple of weekends ago. It was pretty sad and I found myself tearing up on a few occasions. It was interesting that the service ended with the song, Forever Young - not the new version by Youth Group, but what was probably the original. I love that song and the show that I heard it on, The OC. What else do I love? When the much-maligned Kent Kingsley kicks nine goals - straight - and leads Geelong to victory, albeit in the pre-season. Against Carlton. I also love going out to dinner when the company pays.

Life does suck sometimes, but then you find yourself at the funeral of a kid who was way too young to die and was so unfairly taken from a world where she had so much fun and touched many lives despite only being here for 16 years. I could tell you more, but this article by a reporter at the esteemed broadsheet pretty much sums it up. I apologise for the shameless self-promotion, but it goes to show you should be thankful of having another day to live. You just never know how much time you've got.

Everything must go ...

A very tired JB reports here at Blog Central today. He's beat after getting home at 2am this morning from the birthday party of Paraletic Paramedic's girlfriend, B-Mac. It was at Hubcap, a former garage transformed into a fine establishment for young twenty-somethings in Richmond. There were strictly light beers for this chap but I still had a scare when I drove home along the West Gate Freeway and was almost stopped by the random breath testers. In those situations, I always freak out when I should have no reason to.

Tomorrow was meant to be the day when I would run for fun with the District Attorney. The poor guy had his car stolen at South Geelong train station this week. The VC is now RIP. He's a broken man, a shadow of his former self. But that's not the reason we're running. He also didn't put in any training (not that I have really either) and I'm going up to Mildura early tomorrow by (hopefully not too) light aircraft. I'm covering the last of the funerals from that awful crash where six teenagers died last Saturday night. I'm relieving my colleague, Atomic Bombie, who has been doing the hard yards up there and will pretty soon assume "The Undertaker" tag she bestowed upon me in December. So I'll be going north for a few days and then back, in time for the return of the Rayman and the Commonwealth Games. I've been told I have accreditation for squash, rugby union sevens and, wait for it, athletics!

The footy season starts tonight for Geelong supporters like myself. The Cats play Carlton. I would normally go, but I have to get up early and plans were made earlier in the week to catch up with Cousin Davis and the dynamic duo, beer and pizza.

Apart from that, not much else is happening. The family is cleaning up the house on a daily basis in preparation to sell the place. I was able to fill two garbage bags with clothes that I no longer need to give people less fortunate than me. It's sickening how many clothes I own and even more sickening that I haven't even worn clothes that I bought three years ago. I have a problem.

As for the iPod, it now has 6,283 songs with the addition of Fiona Apple's "Extraordinary Machine" and The All-American Rejects sensational album "Move Along". I borrowed a ton of CDs from my sister, Cousin Davis and work colleague, Four Example, this week. Like the clothes, there are probably some tunes I won't even know I have. The iPod has changed the way we consume music. I'm not saying it's a good thing, either.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. Take care.

Arrgh, fo' shizzle ...

JB HQ now coming at 'cha in high quality Pirate Speak or Keep It Gangsta (the latter is not for the faint of heart). A shout-out to Alaskan Marcus for these. Classic!

Run! Run for your life ...

What else is there to do when you're putting more music on your iPod? As it stands, I have broken the 6,000 song mark and listening to a bit of Better Than Ezra's "Live At House Of Blues - New Orleans" is the perfect soundtrack for the weekly confessional here at Blog Central. Before you ask, Valentine's Day passed without flowers (thanks ladies) and last week - my first week back at work after a brief sojourn - was uneventful.

But a big thing happened to The Blog Family on the weekend. Momma and Poppa Blog are the proud owners of a new (well, actually, it's quite old) house close to the bay. It's not a "renovator's delight" but there will be plenty to do this year if they want to move in by Christmas.

So the house I'm writing from at the moment is now on the market and then we'll move temporarily into the other house outside Geelong while work is going on at the new (sorry, old) house. Such was the unexpected nature of the major purchase on Saturday that Poppa Blog was the only one from the family who attended the auction. Little did he realise that he would be the buyer by day's end (luckily, he took the chequebook). My parents are nervous but giddy and I'm excited for them. I'll post some pictures of the place and the work we'll be doing on it in the coming year.

Not much else is happening, but those rambling runners from last year will be back this weekend, parading along the Barwon River this Sunday for another 10km fun run. Come along for a look if you have nothing better to do. I'm sure you don't! I've been in training, but I'm not sure the same can be said for the District Attorney.

Again, the aim will be to run in stunted Cliff Young fashion and finish without stopping whilst wearing daggy fitness attire and getting in touch with our feminine side. After all, we were surrounded by women all day last time!

Cupid keeps missing ...

So it's Valentine's Day, huh? I'm with Sandy Cohen on this one (yes, I have been watching re-runs of The O.C.) in that I don't believe in it. What is hard to believe, or maybe not, is that I've never had a girlfriend when February 14 rolls around on the calendar. Hence, my ambivalence to this Hallmark holiday. Today should be remembered more for the 40th anniversary of decimal currency in Australia. Where's the love? More importantly, where's the money?

Well, I returned to work yesterday and again there's been a bit of upheaval. JB, however, is firmly rooted to where he was before. It feels sometimes that I'm going nowhere fast, but after going almost everywhere last year, that might be expected. I was reminded last week that 2005 was a bit of a dreamworld for me and that now is reality.

Apart from basking in the glow of the Steelers Super Bowl victory, I didn't get up to much during my vacation. I did get a start on the photo albums of my trip and so far I'm up to my train ride to Pittsburgh, home of the Steelers. I hardly went to the gym but I'm happy to report that I'm loaded up with more than 1,000 new tunes on my iPod after updating it during the break. And I played plenty of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 on the Xbox, where I have won almost $US45 million. Again, take me to that dreamworld!

And you will see there are no photos. That's because there's nothing exciting happening, but hopefully I will have my camera replaced or repaired in the coming weeks. Fingers crossed I will have some better news to report next time. Who knows, hopefully I'll get some flowers from a secret admirer, who is female, today? Wishful thinking.

Taking "The Bus" to a Super Steeler victory ...

My big week off from work started with something really big.

THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS HAVE WON THE SUPER BOWL!

I'm elated. Those who know me well should understand what a big deal this is. It's the first time in a long time that a team I support has actually won anything (Boston Red Sox excluded). Paraletic Paramedic came over and we watched the game. Had I known he was barracking for the Seattle Seahawks beforehand (despite wearing an Indianapolis Colts jersey), I would have put him back in his car and sent him on his merry way back up to Melbourne. Just kidding, mate.

For good luck, I wore a Steelers hat and t-shirt, with two other Steelers hats sitting near the TV. I also had the yellow Terrible Towel and my Jerome Bettis jersey close by. It was a shaky start and I'll agree with Steeler hater G.I. Vic (a resident of the Pacific Northwest) that Pittsburgh received some favourable calls, but you can't mess with destiny. Jerome "The Bus" Bettis was making his final journey, all the way to his hometown of Detroit, the site of this year's big game and it seemed like everything else was scripted. There were some amazing plays, like Antwaan Randle El's pass to Hines Ward. El Yeah! I was so proud to be a Steeler fan today and this more than makes up for the times I've seen them fall close to the final hurdle. Being an afficionado of the Pac NW, I would have supported Seattle all the way ... had they not played Pittsburgh.










Was it a sheer coincidence then that I was looking through some old pictures of my time in America today and found these? Here's me and LD wearing some Steelers jerseys when I visited her and maybe it was her awesome birthday present - the "You're In Steelers Country" banner that I proudly have hanging in my room - that got the team to victory. If it wasn't that, then it might have something to do with the fact I went to training camp in August with Premier Brax and Penn State Pete who were both working there and I even saw them on television today. Needless to say, they will be partying it up in Detroit. Mick Jagger might have been singing about getting no satisfaction at half-time, but I'll speak for everyone in Steeler Nation that I am satisfied! This is awesome!

Woo hoo! It's a kangaroo (or three) ...

Greetings! I gather you're pretty sick of looking at my fat photos by now and perhaps bored of reading the story behind them too. G.I. Vic said it looked to him like I had been bitten by a dozen bees. Thanks mate. Apologies for the delay but I have been "on location" in western Victoria for almost a week covering some major bushfires for the esteemed broadsheet. It was then, during some downtime, that I took some of these pictures. Firstly, here's me with my new friends. These kangaroos were just hopping madly around the motel where I stayed for five nights. Having been away for a while from Australia, it was quite refreshing to see some native wildlife again.

And here's me with the lovely Grampians in the background as I down a nice, cold Victoria Bitter after a hard day at the office.

Yeah right.

For those in Victoria, if you want to do something nice this year, then you should pay a visit to Halls Gap. The small tourist town of around 300 is doing it tough at the moment. The town, filled with lovely people, relies heavily on tourism and very little else and there is still a lot of beautiful scenery around the place. It's a bit macabre and eerie to see where the fires passed through, but still interesting nonetheless.

Nothing much else is happening, although today is the first day of more than a week off. I know, I know, I've just had five months off, right? Well, it's hard to believe it, but I have been back in Australia and at work for more than two months now. Time is flying. And I'm having fun.