Suddenly approaching 1000 ...

This here blog is nearing an important milestone. It's taken 168 posts to do so, but according to Blogger's very rubbery figures I have nearly had 1000 hits at The Life And Times Of JB, so I wanted to thank you - the readers. The blog started almost two years ago with a meaningless post to basically boast that I was "out there" in Cybersville. We'll it's been a great ride and I hope it will continue.

Luckier than a four-leaf clover in a Range Rover. Sort of ...

I dreamed about getting back to the good life. And then I got sick. I've missed the past couple of days with the dreaded flu and I'm going to rest up over the weekend, which means no golf or other leisurely activities. I've stressed about leaving my workmates in the lurch and even tried to be Superman and went to the esteemed broadsheet on Tuesday, which made it worse and I've been paying for it ever since.

So, I've been stretched out on the sick bed, er, couch during the past couple of days and nights and have watched no fewer than three DVDs and games of rugby league, basketball and baseball. This may sound good in theory and it would be awesome if I felt good, but I don't. Headaches, blocked sinuses, sore joints and muscles. Remember that television commercial from a few years ago? I'm starting to sound like that annoying guy you don't want to sit next to on a plane.

It hasn't been all bad news though. I managed to catch the NBA Draft Lottery on Wednesday and my beloved Portland Trail Blazers managed to snare the first pick, despite having just a 5.4 per cent chance of doing so. I've been wearing my Blazers hoodie ever since and I think it had something to do with crossing all my fingers and my toes. Having Brandon Roy there (right) might have helped a bit, too!

You might be wondering what the big deal is. Well, I can say that having the top pick means drafting either grisly Greg Oden or the babyfaced Kevin Durant next month, both who are considered quality "can't miss" big men. And having either of them will mean Portland can shed the Jail Blazers tag, giving the great people of the Rose City an exciting and successful team to support again. I'm reading how Blazermania is back with 2,000 season tickets sold since yesterday, One team official called it the best day in franchise history. They needed some luck and they got it. If only I knew from where.

"It's time I got back to the good life" ...

I feel like the hamster running around the wheel at the moment. Busily going nowhere fast. Always counting down to the weekend, only to find that I'm busy both days and then regretting that I haven't simply rested. I can't even remember the last time I had a sleep in. In my own bed. I can't say I need a holiday, because - let's face it - I have more vacation time than the average person. A week at Spring Racing Carnival, three weeks over Christmas and New Year, five weeks to travel to the United States and looking, at least, to have another three weeks in Hawaii and Florida in October. And then there's Christmas and New Year again. And my 30th birthday. I might as well never work again. Here's to positive thoughts.

So tonight I'm at home. Poppa Blog got the computer back so I'm frantically putting some of Murf's music collection on my iPod. This evening it's The Arcade Fire, +44, The Notorious B.I.G. and Lily Allen. Murf and me both went and watched Melbourne Storm beat the Bulldogs last night and he's no longer convinced that it's a sport played and followed by boof brains and block heads. Momma Blog even expressed her joy at the resurgance the game is enjoying. The day before I saw Geelong stride to victory against West Coast. Before that I played golf and despite having a lesson with the club pro I still managed to hit 130. Saturday I went to bed very early because of the night before celebrating Murf's birthday - welcome to your 30th year boy - and drinking at the pub up from work where I succeeded in nearly obliterating myself. Hence the subject line, even if it was only for a short time only.

Anyway, here are some pictures. On the left is Cap'n Neilson with yours truly. Anyone who can conjure up a bottle of the famed spiced rum at 1am in the morning is a winner in my books. On the right is one of many pictures that Poppa Blog took at the football on Sunday with his new camera. He's a winner, too.

He never met a picture he didn't like ...

Welcome to Wednesday night here at blog central. Or is that Blog Central? I've been punishing myself with punctuation lately. OK, so Miss Oregon wasn't a winner after all. There were no posts about the latest addition to the Playboy Mansion - or The Life And Times Of JB - so tonight I'll mix it up. I'm still taking entries for The Life And Times (Of The Mates) Of JB - Volume 2, as Volume 1 was a big success. Since then, AC Literally has disappeared, Murf still barracks for Collingwood and Slugg is in London.

His brother, Cousin Davis, joined me and said Murf Man as well as his better half, The Jeweller, at the Dave Matthews Band gig last week. I looked for the review but couldn't find it, so you'll have to settle for one from the first time I saw them in 2005. I only mention it to put this picture up. Or is that below? The art of taking the perfect concert picture is, as Tony Greig is want to say, a tough ask. Everything - the lighting, the band, the crowd, my ever-wavering right hand - has to be right. Then you need a bit of luck. It's an equation where the figures very rarely add up. But I think I did it (below left). Compare it to one of my favourite photographs (below right) I have ever taken - and I have taken a few - of Death Cab For Cutie at Portland's Crystal Ballroom in late 2005. They look good if I don't say so myself.

Nice, er, number plate ...

Unfortunately, I didn't see Sara Jean Underwood the last time I was in The OR but this busty blonde beauty from the Pacific Northwest has just been crowned the 2007 Playboy Playmate Of The Year. Hooray! Hef has his hands full but it poses the obvious question: Do Made In Oregon have any girls like Ms Underwood? Like many of my friends, she's a Beaver (a graduate of Oregon State University) and who can ever forget that Playboy "Girls Of The Pac 10" cover? I hear the men typing into Google right now. SJU hails from Scappoose - which coincidentally rhymes with caboose - and is said to mean "gravelly plain". Anything but, pardon the pun.

Now if I can not offend the female readers who will hopefully put this down to JB simply being JB. Chicks dig a guy with a sense of humour apparently.

Music is the soundtrack to life ...

OK, so Blog It: Songs Of The Moment, Volume 1 never quite made the printing presses. But that doesn't mean that the second 20-track instalment, which was marked earlier this week with the addition of Modest Mouse's "Spitting Venom" - a perfect finale to an imaginary album spanning over eight minutes - to the honour roll can't go ahead. Yes, a long sentence.

The decisive list is below, which means I can make Silversun Pickups the only band to get Song Of The Moment twice - a rare feat. I can't get their song "Third Seed" out of my head or their album "Carnavas" off my iPod. Which leads to the question: sould a song or an album be in italics or just "inverted commas". But without further adieu, here's number two:

21. "Hands Of Time" by Ron Sexsmith (September 28, 2006)
22. "Heart Design" by Aqueduct (October 3, 2006)
23. "Human Beings" by Maritime (October 14, 2006)
24. "The Adventure" by Angels And Airwaves (October 22, 2006)
25. "Of Montreal" by The Stills (November 3, 2006)
26. "Blue Bird" by The Rosebuds (November 12, 2006)
27. "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot" by Brand New (November 18, 2006)
28. "I Almost Forgot" by Matthew Sweet (December 5, 2006)
29. "Bandits" by Midlake (December 16, 2006)
30. "Bad Diary Days" by Pedro The Lion (December 24, 2006)
31. "The Upper Peninsula" by Sufjan Stevens (January 9, 2007)
32. "It's Not Your Fault" by New Found Glory (January 24, 2007)
33. "Welcome To The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance (February 4, 2007)
34. "Living So Well" by The Crayon Fields (February 14, 2007)
35. "Vibrations In Air" by Josh Pyke (February 28, 2007)
36. "The (After) Life Of The Party" by Fall Out Boy (March 13, 2007)
37. "Walk Into The Sea" by Low (March 28, 2007)
38. "Hell Yes" by Alkaline Trio (April 8, 2007)
39. "Lazy Eye" by Silversun Pickups (April 11, 2007)
40. "Spitting Venom" by Modest Mouse (April 28, 2007)

It's funny how these songs remind me of specific times over the past six months or so. I was living so well when a girl introduced me to number 34 and then she gave me the album to which number 35 resided. But after dealing with her I feel like number 40. Numbers 21, 24, 29 and 33 came around the time I saw those respective bands live. Number 37 was when I was driving around Hawaii's Big Island and could literally walk into the sea while number 39 reminds me of the Florida road trip with the Murf Man when the iPod iTrip failed me, meaning we were stuck listening to his CDs. Not a bad thing, mind you, devouring what the critics are listening to. In between that, I found number 38 at a record store in San Francisco when I heard that band's familiar sound blast out of the speakers and bought the album when the girl at the checkout confirmed my best suspicions. I also bought "Carnavas" for Murf, hence why I'm listening to Silversun Pickups now.

And on the topic of great music, Murf Man and The Jeweller met Cousin Davis last night at Vodafone Arena for the Dave Matthews Band show, an epic show lasting more than two-an-a-half hours. More for another post. To make things more interesting we bumped into Starbate who went with the Ziffbomb, another esteemed member of the esteemed broadsheet. And then an old primary school friend, Black Dog, walked past and we had a chat. The lady who hooked up us with the tickets was also in this wonderful mix. You just had to be there, I guess. It wasn't a fusion of east and west, but some my of Melbourne friends meeting the gang from Geelong. I sometimes feel like I have a double life.

DMB would be a viable choice for "Song Of The Moment" but they are against some stiff competition. Anyway, to quote Todd Vaden Lewis, frontman for Burden Brothers, a band who has narrowly missed out on such status for the past month: "Always have a good time, all of the time."