In the beginning...

... God created a blog.

Actually, it was the heavens and the earth that came first, if I remember correctly. Blogs came on Day 6, I think. I'm a pastor's kid, but I'll admit to being a bit rusty on all the details. I hear it was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Maybe it was Steve who first steered the human race towards blogs.

Whoever is at fault, they finally got to me. Well, that's not true. I used to blog here, and I currently blog for work here, and I occasionally update a marathon-training blog here. I'm really getting ahead of myself, though. I should probably get to some sort of introduction...

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It was about 1:30 a.m., my eyes were bloodshot and my mind was weary after an unusually long night at the ballpark. Sleep-walking alongside Camden Yards, I spun around to head backwards for a few steps, hoping to see a late-night taxi wandering the streets in search of a fare.

In Baltimore, most of the hotels are within walking distance of the stadium. On this trip, I happened to be staying at the one that was located at the very edge of "walking distance." When you head out after a game, unless you see a cab hanging outside the bars by the ballpark, you might as well keep walking.

Fortunately, on this night, I saw my cab in shining armor and flagged it down. Now, I'm not usually one for chit-chat with cab drivers. I'll play with my phone for no good reason, pretend to read a paper, fumble around with my super important work papers, all in an effort to avoid conversation. Yeah, I'm that guy.

On this night, though, I was in a better mood. He asked me what brought me into town. I asked if his shift was just starting or coming to a close. He asked who won the game. I asked if the drunks were going easy on him tonight. The usual back-and-forth. Five-minutes later, I was at my hotel and it was time to say good bye to my new buddy.

"Get some sleep," he said with a smile.

"Yeah, thanks for the ride," I replied. "Got an early flight tomorrow. Don't know how much sleep I'll get."

"Really? What time you fly?"

"I have to leave for the airport at 4 a.m."

"I'll pick you up. My name is Neal."

"All righty. My name is Jordan."

"I'M FROM JORDAN!!!!!"

He was so excited. So excited about something that had absolutely nothing to do with the other.

I had no idea what to say.

"Right. Cool. So... see you at 4."

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I share this story for a few reasons. One, I'm Jordan. Nice to meet you. I cover baseball for MLB.com. As much as I write about baseball for work, though, there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that does not see the light of day.

That's another reason this anecdote applies. Life on the road creates many stories. Sitting in airports, checking into hotels, exploring cities, talking to your wife and your son (sometimes your dog) on the phone, and trying to balance it all together. It can be tough, especially when you also train for marathons in your spare time.

A fellow beat writer friend of mind recently started a personal blog and, I'll admit, his hilarious posts inspired me to finally sit down and create my own. It's something I've wanted to do for a while, and I plan on using it to keep me occupied while I'm on the road this year. I meet lots of funny and strange people, and I hope to introduce you to all of them.

For now, I'm Jordan. And I've never been to Neal's country.