Playoffs?!? Playoffs.

We are spending more money on "experiences" than physical gifts now that our kids are older.  One such experience was the Chiefs-Titans game and although it was ridiculously cold, we had a really great time.  We had end zone seats and didn't get a great deal of action but we got to see Eric Berry's pick-six perfectly.  A real highlight for Chaz who attends Tennessee, EB's alma mater.

More than 70-inches of snow so far!

I really enjoyed this story about the hardy people in The 'Cuse!  And I thanked God for moving me to Kansas City.

There are areas...where a modest snowfall can be a great white disruption, closing schools and airports, paralyzing businesses and erasing traffic from most streets.
Syracuse is not one of those places. As much as the people here enjoy complaining about the snow, they may take greater pleasure mocking the less hardy citizens, for whom snowfall is a catastrophe rather than just weather.
Through all of this snow, public schools in Syracuse closed for just two days, and the airport shut down for 15 minutes. Piles of cleared snow grew to two-story heights, but the roads were plowed and kept open.

"Hello? My name is Peggy."

Top ten commercials of 2010!

Minnesota journalists, please heed!

We Need Your Help by this Friday to Get Cameras in the Courtroom!

Entertainment Nightmare!

Bizkit the dog supposedly suffers from nightmares and this past weekend, I endured a potential Entertainment Nightmare that almost had me hitting the wall like Bizkit.

I had invited the NBC Action News managers over Sunday for the Chiefs-Chargers game...and decided to follow the advice from The Food Network.  I'd make chili!  But those who know me well, know that I like to live on the edge.  Whenever I invite people to my house for vittles, I like to make something I've never made before.  Untested, unknown.  I generally choose my recipes by typing in some search words and most of the time, I trust The Food Network because...well, I just do.  Cooks.com is also a great resource.

Frankly, it's been awhile since we entertained.  I used to have parties in Memphis regularly but we didn't live in Syracuse or Baltimore long enough to build much of a "friend" base so it's been a few years.  Still, old habits die hard so Saturday morning, I was on the internet, searching for that perfect new recipe.  Testing my culinary skills.  Testing the tenuous bonds between me and my managers. 

The Food Network has more than 2,000 entries when you search "chili" but I quickly settled on this one for "Steak Fajita Chili" because it encourages adding important food groups like tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream to the dish prior to eating.  Now that's chili!  (Sorry gang, I'd never heard of Aaron McCargo, Jr. until Saturday.)

John and I spent an hour-plus at the Hy-Vee, purchasing the short ribs and other items for our party.  We cleaned the house, moved furniture around to seat as many as possible in our family room and Saturday night, I baked two different kinds of brownies because if I'm going to break the diet, I'm going to BREAK IT BAD.

The deep freeze storm gripping most of the Midwest meant about an inch of snow that blew around mightily into the early hours of Sunday and I woke up to find 1.  No newspapers and 2.  Disfunctional cable TV.  I guess I can live without the KC Star and NY Times for one day but the TV thing was disconcerting.  How could we invite people to watch football on the digital mosaic that we were getting on both the analog and digital channels?  (And why the hell do I pay so much for cable, anyway?  I'll tell you why.  ESPN.)

At around 11am I started cooking the chili because my plan was to have it ready for consumption when folks arrived at 3pm.  I got through the first part of the recipe just fine.  I can brown meat.  But then I read that I needed to cook the onions/peppers/spices/flour in one cup of canola oil.  Which for me was two cups because I doubled the recipe.  What?!?!  I broke one of my cardinal rules which is to follow the recipe to the letter and used a cup of oil instead of two but it still seemed like waaaayyy too much.

Meanwhile, John spent an hour on the phone with the Comcast representative who promised to do what he could.  Which ended up to be nothing but as the day unfolded our signal improved and by game time, only a few glitches remained.

At about 3pm, our guests began to arrive and that's when I tasted the chili for the first time.  OMG!  It was like eating Crude Oil Soup!  I tried not to panic.  I greeted people.  I smiled.  Inside, I was freaking out.  And as more folks showed up, I realized that I did not have an edible main course.  There was a hint of flavor to my chili but it was completely masked by grease.

Thank God for the cold.  Outside, the thermometer read 20-degrees so I took the entire pot out to the deck and left it there in the wind and chill for the entire first half of the game.  There were other things for my guests to eat and drink and while the Chiefs were stinking up the field, I was dying a thousand deaths.  With about four minutes left in the half, I excused myself and prayed all the way to the kitchen.

Thankfully...the weather did its work and my chili was covered by a frisbee-sized frozen disc of fat.  I chunked that garbage out to the freezing birds and other creatures (probably the Basset hounds from next door), returned my dutch oven to the burner and when the half was over, I was just about ready to serve my guests their chili.

They said it was good, some had seconds and one even asked for the recipe.  Even my finicky husband declared it a success.  I think it's a typo and the amount of oil needed to saute those veggies can be 1-2 tablespoons.  You'll like this chili, though.  Dee-lish!

Unfortunately, the Chiefs were not nearly as successful in dealing with adversity.  Three games to go and they need to win out.  Meanwhile, I'm planning my next get-together!

Is There Life After TV News?

At some point, I'll probably be looking for another job.

Not if but when, according to this article on TV News Check.

I'm just about 54 years old, soon to be statistically invisible and insignificant in the eyes of Nielsen.  The question of what I will do next isn't constantly on my mind but I do think about it more than I used to.

Love and joy come to you...

 Instead of a Saturday morning newscast on Christmas Day, we're featuring local high school choirs.   Here's a taste from Ruskin High School which might include former Hickman Mills students who merged with the Ruskin student body last August. (warning. there is a short pre-roll commercial on this clip)

How can you not feel great about our future when you look at the earnest faces of these young people? I'm in love with the kid that you see at about 1:41...isn't he adorable!

Great lessons on leadership

I've got a news management position open and I've interviewed five executive producer candidates in the past month. Finding the right person has become harder because I refuse to settle for "good enough." I'm taking a lesson from the Chief's General Manager and this article helped keep my eye on the goal.

Drawing on a lifetime of lessons and a - 12.06.10 - SI Vault

My favorite quote from Pioli: "Do you want to build a team that will win once and then implode? I don't think that's the job. The job is to make the difficult decisions so you can build the kind of team that can be in position to win every single year."

It helped me focus on what I need to do at KSHB.

Jimmy's 1993 ESPY speech reminds me of Bill Phillip

On the day that America grieves for Elizabeth Edwards, for her incredible grace under unthinkable stress and the pressure of knowing her husband cheated on her while she was battling an incurable disease, I can't help but remember my dear mother-in-law, Bernice Phillip.

We called her Bushy (pronunciation guide Booz-schee) because that's what my father-in-law Bill called her.  It was something they started in high school when they fell in love.  Bernice and Bill never fell out of love, not when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998, not when she suffered through radiation and chemo, not when he was suddenly and unexpectedly felled by a brain tumor.  We lost Bill in 2003, Bernice in 2005.  I hate cancer.  It took both John's parents from us way before we were ready.  And tonight, I realized while watching Jim Valvano's brave speech for what seems like the umpteenth time, that I should be thinking of Bernice but I can't stop thinking about Bill who has been gone for more than seven years.

Jeez, I miss him.  I went back through my files and found the eulogy that I read at his funeral on October 17, 2003:

We've come together today to celebrate the life of my father-in-law, Bill Phillip. Bill was a man who played many roles in our lives. For more than fifty years, Bernice Phillip knew him as her husband and best friend. John and Billy knew him as Dad and Maureen and I knew him as a wonderful father-in-law. Carly and Charlie knew him as Grandpa. 
Bob, Ken, Rita, Richie knew him as a Brother.Janet, Harvey, Sonny, Elaine, Lillian, Frank, Phyllis and Kathy knew him as a brother in law.
Connie, Rainey, Ed, Michael, Colleen, Jim, Barbara, Stacey, Joe. Debi, Terri, Laurie, Jessica and Jennifer knew him as Uncle Bill.
The rest of you knew him too. And you are better for it............But he was so much more. Yes, Bill Phillip was a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle and an in-law but that “in-law” word didn’t exist to him...we were all blood once we got into this family.
Bill was more than that.Bill was a friend, a craftsman, the breadwinner, a care giver, a woodsman and our patriarch. When I think of Carly and Charlie’s early childhood, there isn't a time that I can't remember them not being involved with their Grandparents. Grandpa was as much a part of their life as breathing is. His presence was essential to them, and even though we lived hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles away over the years, I don't feel as if our cord was ever cut.
We've kept in constant touch, and it was comforting to know that if we needed him, all we had to do was pick up a telephone. I especially cherish the memories of our camping and fishing trips. Chaz would throw the line in and pull out a tiny fish, and he always counted on Bill to take off the hook! For that matter, so did John!
I remember Charlie following him around constantly. And Bill followed Charlie around constantly too. What a wonderful relationship between a boy and his Grandpa. But Bill didn’t just hold his love for Chaz–he instantly accepted Carly as his granddaughter and made sure both kids had all the love he could give. He loved hearing about their various triumphs at school and on the soccer and softball fields.
Even John says that Bill’s name was passed on the right son. Billy and Maureen were so very special to him and one of the greatest blessings is knowing that he knew Maureen’s health is no longer an issue and they were going to soon move into their own home.I remember many happy days, just sitting with him and the rest of the family on the deck, telling stories and laughing over some of his antics from his early years, especially when he was courting Bernice.
By his very interaction with Bernice, and with his behavior towards her, he demonstrated to me what true love is. He absolutely adored her and everyone in this family knows it.Watching John’s parents together for the past seventeen years instilled in me some of the values I wanted in our family early on. To be able to mirror their marriage and devotion to each other would be one of the highest tributes we could pay to Bill.
Bill's haven was his garage. He spent a lot of time on his hobby, woodworking there...I recall the paintings of ducks he would show me and how he would always make carvings of ducks and other birds for every special person in his life.. I’m so thankful that my parents were able to meet Bill and Bernice when we lived outside of Boston–and my folks treasure hand carved gifts he sent them after. I’m sure all of you have Bill Phillip crafted treasures somewhere in your homes and I hope you realize the love and care that went into each one.
I hold dear what Bill was able to do with his hands, and while his physical being is not around, his spirit is left alive in the things he created. He truly had a gift and he shared it so well! Bill was a man of his generation. He was the man who provided for his family and who was a stalwart. A rock. That strength was passed along to Bernice, John and Bill as they made very difficult decisions this past week.
He was pretty decent with the cards too. I wish you could have heard us trash talking each other over gin rummy or cribbage. If he was here right now, I’d let him win just one hand. He was a guy who was known for his common sense, quick wit and practical approach to life. He was a man who taught love through actions, not words.
He would give a homeless person the shirt off his back and more than once, got into trouble with Bernice for giving money to strangers.There are so many funny stories to describe my father in law. He was strong willed to the extent of being stubborn if he needed to be. He felt that when he wanted something, nothing would stand in his way to get it. He was tenacious, and never gave up on anything that was important to him. He was committed and had the fortitude to stick to his commitments
I doubt that Bill had many regrets in this life - he lived a great life! He may have wished a time or two that he kept John’s baseball cards instead of the bowling trophies but hey...whaddya gonna do?
As we leave here today, we do so knowing that the love we have for Bill Phillip will not diminish in his death. We will always hold his love in our heart, and his memories in our minds. He was a one of a kind, and he will be sorely missed. Bill would not want us to be sad over his death, rather he’d want us to be joyful in our lives. So, today, as we say "good bye" to Bill Phillip, take a look around the hills and trees of Connecticut that he loved so much. Do you see the myriad of colors before you? Whether it is the feathers of the birds he loved to paint, the flowers he’d pick for Bernice, or the brilliant leaves on the trees in the woods where he loved to hunt... Look at those colors and know that we celebrate the life of Bill Phillip today a life lived with clarity and brilliance, a life that was led in full bloom.

As we approach the holidays, may I remind you to hold close the ones you love?  Rebuild broken relationships.  Tell somebody you care.  Make something.  Live.


Thanks.

I. Have. Made. Address. Labels!

Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com

Remember the scene in "Cast Away?"  Tom Hanks dances around after starting a fire with sticks.  I felt that way today after I worked through ELEVEN pages of directions from the Office 2007 "help" area to re-create my Christmas card address list which was lost in the Great Computer Crash of 2009.  Last year, we addressed our cards by hand but I got real crabby, real fast when I considered doing it again.

So I re-typed the addresses of friends and family from South Dakota, Nevada, Florida, Oklahoma, Washington, Tennessee, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Minnesota into an Excel spread sheet.  That was the easy part.  Step one of the eleven-page instructions.  It took another 90 minutes to create my labels.  When it finally worked, I was quite delighted!  John helped me with the rest and dozens of cards will be in the mail tomorrow.

Jubilation!  (I'm a little embarassed at how pleased I am with myself.)

This is brilliant!

November sweeps -- good for us!

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