Fort Albany flooded under

I spoke with a couple of friends in Fort Albany this morning. Things are not good. The entire community of 800 people is being evacuated because part of the town is quite literally under water. Because the airport is flooded, residents are being ferried over to Kash so they can catch a plane out. It brings back memories of when we were evacuated to Moosonee in 2006. Christine and I, along with the hospital patients, took off in a 6-seater at 3 a.m. What an experience that was. Sometimes I cannot believe what we went through living up there. We wouldn’t trade in the experience for the world though.

Christine and I are taking a learn to run course through Northern Sports. It’s a 10-week course and when we’re done we’ll be able to run 30 minutes without stopping. I think I could manage that now, but it is nice to learn proper technique and get advice from experts. My goal is to someday run a half marathon. I’ll be sure to keep you posted.

The Jays are awful, terrible, horrible these days. They’ve lost six in a row and are 10-15 on the season. It isn’t worth commenting on any further, other than to say there’s something fascinating about watching them implode.

A perfectly lovely day

Today it was 25 degrees in Timmins. It is finally starting to feel like spring. It’s amazing how a spring day can make your spirits soar. I decided to take a day off from churning out stories and getting my business off the ground to enjoy the nice weather with Jonas. We decided to go mall walking. As I browsed through the CD shop and bookstore, I thought of the times back in Toronto when I was free to do so anytime I wanted. I actually had deep and meaningful thoughts about music and books. In the CD store I looked through a book called "1000 albums to hear before you die." It made me realize that I’m in a musical rut. I’m not enjoying music like I used to. It seems I spend all my time caring for Jonas, working, and thinking about sports. Need to think more about music...need to listen to more of it.

On Frank Thomas and the Blue Jays

So, I spend quite a bit of time thinking about the Blue Jays, who just today released Frank Thomas, who started the season slowly with a .167 average. The Jays are going to justify his release as a baseball move, claiming that he wasn’t producing. While that’s true, he has always started slowly. He started slowly last year and that didn’t seem to be a big issue. Truthfully, if Thomas came to bat 376 times this season his contract would have renewed itself for next season. The Blue Jays rightfully didn’t want to pay a 42 year old something like $9 million for producing very little.

As a fan, I’m not at all happy that Shannon Stewart, Matt Stairs and Adam Lind are going to comprise our LF an DH positions. The first two always seem to be injured and Lind didn’t play well as a rookie last season. As Buck Martinez put it on MLB this morning on XM, that’s not a championship caliber outfield. I love Buck, but he does have an ax to grind with our GM. Who knows? Maybe this works itself out for the best, but I’m not holding my breath. Of course, I still think they should have kept Reed Johnson, who went 4-for-4 in a game for the Cubs this week.

Here’s what else I’m not happy about re: the Blue Jays:

- This is J.P.’s 7th season as GM and I’m starting to get the feeling that it will be wait til next year...again.

- I don’t like the fact that we have a roided out (OK, possibly) starting catcher you couldn’t throw me out.

- David Eckstein does all the little things right, and he’s scrappy, but he isn’t the answer long-term at SS. Can this organization develop a SS please!!!

- I still feel as though this team is very comfortable finishing in third place. It’s like they’re afraid to succeed. It starts at the top, with Ted Rogers, and works its way down to the players.

- I still think we have a minor-league manager who will never lead this team or any other to the post-season.

OK, that’s it for now...Jays play the Tigers this afternoon. Go BJ’s!

Juno is a great great movie

OK, I’m back. I haven’t felt much like writing the past few months. It likely has to do with the fact that I’ve been doing quite bit of freelance writing. In truth, writing is becoming more and more of a chore, likely a clue that I need to find a new line of work. Let’s just say that I’m looking and will hopefully have some news shortly.

Just wanted to mention that we rented the film "Juno" tonight. Wow, I can’t begin to tell you how much I LOVED it. I was a bit cynical about the hype surrounding it. I feared it would be a glorification of teenage pregnancy, not that I have anything against pregnant teens. I guess in some ways it was. However, the movie simply cannot be criticized for its morality. If anything, it seemed to be pro-life in a subtle, kind of noble and rational way. This movie is a must-see. It’s a conversation starter for a number of subjects. It’s one of the best films I’ve seen in a long long time.