Mike Miller

courtesy AOL sports

It's fairly well-known that while in Memphis, my fan-girl cup was filled to the brim when fellow South Dakotan Mike Miller joined the Grizzlies.  The "fights" I had with BFF Meg Green over him are, of course, legend.  Then he got traded.

In the short time John and I lived in Baltimore, he played for the Wizards so I got to see him on TV often when we lived there.

He got to Miami first, but once again, we are in the same city.  #notacoincidence?

Monday, the Miami Heat was honored at the White House for being NBA champions.  And Mike Miller got a shout out from the president.  Here's the verbatim from his remarks:

In Game Four against the Thunder last year, we saw LeBron carried off the floor with cramps, only to come back a few minutes later and hit a dagger of a three-pointer to put the Heat ahead.  We saw Dwayne Wade, the heart and soul of this team,  continue to do whatever it takes to win, including leading the team in blocks....We saw Chris Bosh get injured, but get healthy right at the perfect time and do outstanding work throughout the rest of the playoffs.

And it wasn’t just the Big Three.  Mike Miller could barely walk.  Mike, you look better now.  (Laughter.)  You looked broke down last year -- (laughter) -- but still hit seven three-pointers in the final game.  I don’t know how he did it because he could not walk.  He looked like an old man.  

 Good job, Old Man.  Good job.

House-hunting hilarity

Here is a feature we have not seen before.  A built-in blender...easy for frosty drinks by the pool!  This house also has a bidet...

We are still looking...

Channeling my inner Edna

I work an early shift.  I get up at midnight and at around 12:45am, I'm generally in contact with the morning team to talk about what incredible stories we intend to put our reporters on.  

There isn't an overnight photographer and we generally don't buy stringer video so when there's breaking news, we have to work the phones and dispatchers, although nice people, aren't always willing to part with meaningful information.

There was a fatal shooting at an Exxon station in Hollywood, about seven miles from the station so I decided to check it out on my way to the office.

Just in case, I instructed Amanda to choose a good photo from my Facebook page for the full-screen (in the event of my death).

Even after talking to the cop and snapping a few photos, I wasn't convinced that it was a huge story worth a reporter:  A bad guy went into a convenience store intending to rob the place.  The clerk shot and killed him.  My concern was that there would be no scene left at 5am and our reporter would be live at a gas station with nothing to show.

I was so wrong.
Turns out, a homeless guy who lives BEHIND the gas station saw the bad guys prepping to rob the place.  He alerted the clerk who had seconds to pull out a weapon.  One bad guy died, the other one ran away but didn't get far before he was arrested.  Thank goodness our reporter did a better job of finding the story than I did!
It was while I was driving back to the station that I thought of Edna Buchanan, a very famous Miami Herald reporter who wrote one of my favorite books.
I obviously spent too much time in the corner office and I need to sharpen my news sense!

Wild parrots on Miami Beach

I haven't been very good about blogging lately even though I see, smell and HEAR things that make me go "hmmm."

Here's one.  John and I were walking to the beach and hear the raucous noise of birds in the trees.  We couldn't see them at all but there were obviously dozens.  Finally, I realized we couldn't see the birds because they are green.  Wild parrots!

Also know as "feral parrots."

I love it here.

Happy to be in SoFla