11 March 2006

The girl and I met after work for dinner at one of our favorite places -- Skewers. Great Mediterranean food, great wine, great ambience, even great prices. It was warm so we sat at a table on the terrace overlooking P Street and the 17th street "gayborhood." It was fun because everyone was out on 17th Street at all the outdoor cafes, bars, and restaurants. Will have to kick back at my favorite 17th street "haunt," Fox & Hounds soon....a true rite of spring!

10 March 2006

Ok, so I just saw this video on our air and I went nuts. It's so f*(#ing CUTE!!
China has opened up a "kindergarten" for baby pandas in its Sichuan province. The video from Reuters is HERE.

10 March 2006

Spring is DEFINITELY in the air. It's gonna be close to 75 degrees today. It's a little overcast and windy, but I'll take it. The National Park Service says the Cherry Blossoms should peak in about 2 weeks and all is right with the world. Will get some golf clubs either tonight or tomorrow -- can't wait to hit the links!

9 March 2006

The Associate Producer of my show, Andy, was just called upon to "be" the voice of Iran's crazy-ass President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a piece to air later tonight. We just got in fresh video of Ahmadinejad from overseas where he allegedly made new threats against the int'l community, but it's all in Farsi. So, our foreign desk had it translated into English and now Andy's is the voice you'll hear when you see the soundbite. The magic of TV!

9 March 2006

I've been SO distracted the past two+ hours. GW and Syracuse are BOTH on the tube playing in the the A-10 and Big East tournaments. I had to miss SOME of the action because of news being committed --i.e. the Dubai ports deal gettin' blown up. MAN, I love having a TV on my desk.

The only problem is that it's hard to keep my emotions to myself--the Syracuse game is in overtime and I'm reacting to the occasional missed shot, 3-pointer, loose ball, etc. I don't think anyone's buyin' when I say: "Oh, I'm watching the Senator Schumer press conference. It's VERY exciting."

8 March 2006

Two items of note:

Visiting the Gulf Coast, Pres. Bush said: "There's still a lot of work to be done, no question about it" (AP). No-freakin'-DUH.

"It's very exciting" -- teacher Kathy Frick, "struggling to hold back tears" after the NH House voted to make the pumpkin the state fruit (AP).

7 March 2006

Good to know that after several years living south of the Mason-Dixon line, I'm STILL a yankee. Take the YANKEE or DIXIE quiz for yourself.

7 March 2006

Okay, just for fun. Two stories for you.

1) President Bush obsessed about a RUG in the Oval Office. That's right. A rug. The Washington Post has the story HERE. So to review, here are the things our President is NOT obsessed about: his crap job approval ratings, Iraq imploding, Iran giving the finger to the U-N over its nuclear aresenal, and his fellow Republicans in near open rebellion.

2) The British paper, the Daily Mail, has a story about a Turkish family that walks on all fours. No shit. It makes my back hurt just looking at the picture. The story is HERE. There's a documentary on the family in the works.

7 March 2006

I love, love, love the story about Madonna saying her daughter--Lourdes--is obsessed with gay people and wanted to know if mommy was gay because of the girl-on-girl kiss with Brittney Spears. Here's Mommy's explanation: "I am the mommy pop star and she is the baby pop star. And I am kissing her to pass my energy on to her." Fabulous. The story, by the way, is HERE.

7 March 2006

I don't know HOW I missed this -- since I'm bordering on an unhealthy obsession with Sasha Cohen -- but she apparently served as a special Academy Awards correspondent for Inside Edition last Sunday night. Apparently Ben Stiller even approached her about being in a movie -- a comedy about figure skating. ABC News has the story HERE.

7 March 2006

From the "Life Isn't Fair" files: Christopher Reeves' widow --Dana--passed away today from lung cancer (even though she wasn't a smoker.) She was only 44. And they have a 13-year-old son. It's REALLY sad. I usually don't let myself get upset at this sort of news. I've built up a sort of "immunity" to sad news stories -- you HAVE to in the news business. If you'd let every child abduction, every murder, every death of a soldier or civilian, every poor person, every disenfranchised person, you'd just sit and cry at your desk. You FEEL, of course, but you "compartmentalize." You just move on and get the job done. It's a useful tool for me. Especially when I had to produce live TV on 9/11. Something just "kicks" in. You fall apart later, but at the time, you're totally focused. Anyway, I've just been carrying around this sadness all day because of this news. I guess it's my own homage to Dana and Christopher.