The baby Blazers ...

Are they the future? For the sake of basketball in Portland, let's hope so.

In the opinion of this Blazer blogger, the only bad news to come out of the NBA Draft was trading Sebastian Telfair. Do you think I wore his throwback jersey (in public and not for show) that I bought last year at the NBA Store in New York? Ugh!

And if you follow The Association, this could, quite possibly, be one of the funniest things you will ever read!

But hail my work colleagues ...

In other news, Geezer had a party on Saturday night and great fun was had. The Truth (formerly Four Example) and Young Beezy (my new alias) had fun witnessing Geezer tear absolute shreds off a guest of Lithuanian descent. He told said Lithuanian: "I'm sure your mates think you're a good bloke, but you're acting like an absolute twat".

Those words, delivered in a beautiful British accent, were thoroughly endorsed by most attendees. Geezer, who wouldn't be out of place in England's front row, simply put God's gift to women where he belonged. In his place. We couldn't contain our excitement in this photo op with the esteemed broadsheet's Aussie flag.

And this from the mouth of Geezer, putting in the hard yards at work last night: "I took the liberty of consulting the CIA world factbook on Lithuania and came up with the following stats ... it has an "inadequate" phone system ... a population of 3,500,000 (so what are the odds of meeting three and them all being twats? There are probably 3,499,997 wonderful Lithuanians) ... life expectancy for males 69.2 years." Thanks to Geezer for that insightful commentary and also the hospitality. Thanks also to The Truth for the varied selection of beers - Budweiser and XXXX Gold.

Ladies, Geezer is available but The Truth is taken after announcing his engagement to a lovely lady from Florida last week. They're getting married in New York's Central Park in August. Awesome stuff!

The night for me ended at 5.30am after singing Elliott Smith songs with Geezer's housemate and liaising with other female guests. It was a big day having earlier attended Princess Ori's party in the city and attending a working bee at the new/old place with Poppa Blog, Cameroon and Cameroon's dad. K-Beezer provided coffee from Gloria Jean's and sandwiches from Subway but, unfortunately, no picture opportunities.

Boo referee ...

Thanks to some dodgy officiating, the Socceroos are out of the World Cup and we all feel like this guy - or girl - in Germany (above left). As I said, we're doing it differently in year two. It's hard to get up at 1am on a school day and then have your sleep ruined by poor refereeing that has plagued this tournament. I'm not jumping on the bandwagon, but I have a huge sense of pride in this team and the way they have played. Maybe the old guy (above right) was responsible for our sudden demise.

It's off the hook ...

Greetings my fellow bloggers and fans of Harry Kewell! Just touching base with y'all. I'm not sure what the cause is - maybe it's the District Attorney's liking for lycra - but the hits just don't stop. Traffic has increased by another 15 per cent in the past few days to the site, so I must keep everybody amused. Any suggestions?

Black power (part two) ...

Don't let my smiling face or the humorous attempt at Action Man Figurine's reverse pose fool you, Let's just say from the outset that I'm peeved!

Woke up this morning to see the esteemed broadsheet's special four-page liftout supposedly listing all the 9500 competitors who ran on Sunday. My name - one that features almost daily on the newspaper's pages - didn't appear and neither did my finishing time or final placing. I have a bad feeling it's not going to appear on the race website either later today.

Competitor 5263 - the District Attorney - finished in 2753rd position with a respectable time of 61 minutes and 27.08 seconds for the 10 kilometre race and I finished just after him so it's safe to say I beat last year's time of 64 minutes and 4.04 seconds for 3154th position by a considerable margin. It would have been nice to have an accurate comparison, however. Next year, I'm aiming to beat an hour and if I wore a watch this time I think we could have done it pretty easily. At the moment, I'm feeling quite good. Must have been the tights, which I have spared you in these photos, although the DA boosted traffic to this here blog by 16.8 per cent yesterday alone. True story. AP also did pretty well in the five kilometre race. Ms 9882 finished in 625th position with a time of 28 minutes and 32.55 seconds.










Overall, as you can tell by the pictures, it was a fun day. The DA and myself stayed to sign autographs afterwards for anyone who wanted them, taking the seats of St Kilda players Aaron Hamill and Nick Riewoldt who just looked so happy to be there as per their contractual obligations.

The day didn't end there, it's just the photograph opportunities did. The Elliott Smith tribute show - the first gig I ever went to on my own - later that evening was awesome. I enjoyed the passion of all of the musicians who did justice to the timeless songs they performed. I caught up with awesome Melbourne singer/songwriter Emma Heeney after the show and applauded her rendition of "Everything Means Nothing To Me" over a beer at the bar. I also saw two members of Hueco, Symon and Julian, both who I know from my days covering the County Court. No, they're not criminals, but rather were judge's associates back in the day and have now have taken a break from their careers in the law and justice field to see whether their music will take them into another interesting livelihood. I asked them to put their version of "Speed Trials", complete with the electric drums and guitar and cello (courtesy of B) on their upcoming CD. Hopefully, my somewhat inebriated request won't fall on deaf ears. They (not my ears) have a website, but it seems to be down at the moment.

I had a few beers with them after the show (along with this drunk Canadian chick who was quite annoying despite her fine taste in music) before Symon, his girlfriend and Julian came to a work colleague's establishment, Ilk Bar in Collingwood, with me to watch the World Cup match between Australia and Brazil. Alas, the Socceroos lost 2-0 and I got "home" to my housesit in Richmond at 4.30am, sleeping through to 4.30pm. Just as well I'm on holidays, but sadly that ends tomorrow.

Then the scenery changes ...

I told you JB was going to mix it up on the blog this year. No longer do I have to appear in a picture for it to be displayed up here! Hot off the e-mail are some photographs that (Not So) Single Forever sent me from my American high school reunion over the weekend. Word on the street is that this picture was actually taken for me! I feel so special! You should know this alkaline trio, but in case you don't from left to right is G.I. Vic, (NS) SF and my other friend, The Other G-Squared, who ironically shares the same birthday as moi. I didn't attend obviously and it makes me sad looking at these pictures that I wasn't able to show, but on the other hand, I spent some quality time with them last year. Thanks guys!

As for the weekend's events in my neck of the woods, including The Age Run To The G, you'll just have to tune in tomorrow or feel the judicial wrath of the District Attorney aka Action Man Figurine in reverse pose - proudly sponsored by Mount Franklin - who wore the same gear last year, namely a contradictory outfit of black lycra and a grey wifebeater, if you're into that sort of thing. Had he washed his clothes since May 2005? What was JB wearing? As I said earlier, stay tuned, for the pictures and, more importantly, the results. No doubt, these photographs will prompt a volley of talkback from the dwindling number of readers out there. And they said the blog was going downhill!

Geelong's newest tourist attraction ...

Remember England and when I visited Stonehenge and its ghastly ghetto equivalent? Well, Poppa Blog and I created a temporary rock formation out the front of The Blog's new, yet-to-be renovated home after moving several large pieces of bluestone from the back yard of the new hacineda earlier today. Indeed, it was tiring work. Hard and heavy labour. I thought some people, the early followers, would see the funny side of this so I decided to put it up. Laugh as you wish.

I'm heading to bed now. I have the big run tomorrow and it's my hope that the DA and I will finish in under last year's time of 64 minutes ... without stopping! I just got off the phone with AP and she's keen as well, so hopefully I'll have some cool pictures to post up. Word.

Far from a boast, here is another post ...

Not a lot happening in or at The Life And Times Of JB as you can probably guess. I've enjoyed my last three days off by doing not a hell of a lot. Today, I got a haircut and all the girls will be flocking to me and my sweet new do. You can either say "hell yeah" or "yeah right". I have also been cramming some last minute exercise for The Age Run To The G this Sunday. I know I'll be a bit sore and, in hindsight, I believe a little bit more preparation is needed. Stay tuned to see how I fare, along with AP and the District Attorney.

It's hard not to be trapped in World Cup fever at the moment. Like most Australians, I stayed up until the early hours of Tuesday morning to see the Socceroos beat Japan. It was pretty awesome. Given that I have some extra time off, I think I'll head to Federation Square early Monday morning to see the Brazil match. Anyone with me?

Along with the run and the soccer match, Sunday promises to be huge, with the Elliott Smith tribute show at the Corner Hotel in Richmond that evening. The Corner is an awesome venue and The All-American Rejects will be playing there later this year. I have seen some quality acts there over the past few years, including Death Cab For Cutie (before they made it big here), Hot Water Music and Alkaline Trio.

I'm getting ready to paint the town a light red this evening at The Barking Dog with a few peeps but in the meantime, I thought I'd update y'all on what is happening in my life. Is there still anyone out there? Apparently, the blog can be either friend or foe. Luckily my time here on this cold winter's evening isn't going to waste - I'm also updating Poppa Blog's iPod with the Bee Gees' "One Night Only" currently playing. Classic stuff.

Be very, very quiet ...

Have blog, will write - just not sure what I can say. Yes, it has been very, very quiet. Ho hum. And no photographs either!

I've got two more days at work before a week off. I hear the blog brethren shout: "More holidays for JB? He's always on vacation?" Not true. I've been busting my buttocks and other anatomy starting with the letter B and now firmly believe it is my duty to relax and take stock. The assignments have been long and arduous. It doesn't get much worse than being sent to Miss Universe Australia last Friday night, does it? As a result, I missed a Geelong victory but plied myself with free booze after having to watch 19 bikini-clad babes strut their stuff on a catwalk clad with rose petals.

It's a tough gig.

General musings and turning 100 ...

M'learned friends.

JB's just kicking it here on a lonesome but lovely Sunday evening in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond where I have been housesitting for a month for colleagues of the Paraletic Paramedic. It's been fun being a bit closer to work and visiting the various pubs in the area. I've been hanging out with some old friends and others in the new crew. And, like now, I've just been by myself. Yes, just me.

I'm currently streaming the Barsuk Records Songwriters Show from April 2005. Awesome. Do yourself a favour and have a listen. Earlier, I kicked the footy with my good mate and fellow good music aficionado, Four Example. It used to be a common thing for us to have a kick at Fawkner Park on a weekend for a couple of hours before I went overseas. We both had hoped to see Dashboard Confessional this week for a not-so-secret show, until the lead singer decided to cancel owing to illness. The next big gig is Death Cab For Cutie in mid-July at The (fabulous) Forum and I'm hoping Four Example can help me out there. No pressure, though!

Let's not talk about footy. I believe I made the right call yesterday when I chose to miss my first game this season after going to the first nine games, instead choosing to hang up here. I could have jumped off the James Harrison Bridge yesterday into a chilly Barwon River after learning Geelong relinquished a 54-point lead to West Coast. I had set the VCR to tape the game after watching a very promising first quarter but wasn't too disappointed when I came back to see it didn't record at all. Instead, I saw the Melbourne Storm beat the Sydney Roosters 20-16.

What else? I'm still working (like there is an alternative - insert smiley face here) and I reckon things are going good. Having been back for more than six months from my trip, I can now confidently say that I don't believe I suffered a post-holiday hangover as much as I did last time. I'm looking forward to going to Geelong tomorrow for work and then visiting my family over a nice dinner - not to sound too demanding, but Momma Blog has been put on notice!