Drive 55? No Can Do.

Seriously.  Today I had one of the Best. Birthdays. Ever.

I can live with being 55.  Double nickles.  The speed limit.

Birthdays that end in 0 or 5  are more momentous than the rest..  When I turned 50, I was unemployed. OMG!

I was fresh off of an eight-year-plus stint at WMC-TV in Memphis.  Legacy station.  Long time number one.  Ratings leader.

Some background.  I was hired in at WMC in 1998 by Bill Applegate, one of the most brilliant minds in the business. He moved on to Cleveland and was replaced by Howard Meagle.

Howard and I had a difficult beginning, to say the least.  We learned to appreciate each other.

I was invited to leave (fired) after the November book in 2006.  Not that it was a surprise.  Howard was dispatched in July, 2006 and when the new I-want-my-own-puppet GM arrived, I knew my days were numbered.  I lasted four months before hearing the words..."we need/want to make a change....blah blah blah."

Two weeks after a great 50th birthday celebration (January, 2007) in SD I traded in my beloved Mustang convertible for a Ford 500 (I am still driving the white Beast) and headed to Syracuse for a job at WSTM.  Fifteen months later John and I moved slightly south to the Scripps station in Baltimore, WMAR.  Forty-nine weeks later...west to Kansas City and KSHB.

I have now been at NBC Action News for two years, eight months.  Learned some things.  Hard things.  Survived another general manager change.  Learned to appreciate my strengths and to fix some of my weaknesses.

I let go of Memphis.  I began to appreciate Kansas City.  We bought a house here.

Most of all, though, I recognize the competitive spirit of the folks at 4720 Oak.  Today, I saw evidence of a high-functioning newsroom.  There have been glimpses before.  Today, I saw it clearly.

It was a great birthday present.

We can be winners.  I know it.  I believe it.

And I'm now 55 years old.  Wow.

Finally, some good news

Laptops, gadgets too old? Trade 'em in at Target.:

Laptops and other electronic gear can be turned in at nearly 1,500 Target stores. Target and other stores are offering gift cards or store credit for used laptops, iPhones, iPads, and other gadgets.

Karma

Today, I was patiently waiting for a shaded parking spot at the mall when a guy cut me off and stole the parking spot I had been waiting for with my blinker on. I let it go and just parked farther out in an non-shaded spot. While I was shopping, a windy, loud thunder storm passed over the area. When I left the mall, a huge fallen tree branch had crushed the roof of the guy’s car who stole my spot. MMT:

The March to Irrelevance

I am one week away from a day I've been dreading since I became aware of the importance of demographics in the life a TV news director.

We-Who-Run-Newsrooms live and die (get fired) based on the number of people ages 18-49 or 25-54 that watch our newscasts.  Those ratings are figured every February, May, July, November.

Next Wednesday, I will no longer matter, according to Nielsen, the company that determines who watches television and when.

I will be 55 years old.  And I'm not alone.

I have more disposable income than I did at 18.  More than I had at 25.  More than I had at 35.  I have more buying power but the Powers-That-Be who determine my professional fate.  Still, they say I'm too old to matter.

I say, "Hold the bus headed the old folks home."

I'm still here, I'm still buying stuff.

Most of the time with cash!

I want a new kitchen and a deck and I want to turn my unfinished basement into a Man Cave for John.  He wants a pool table.

Don't stop paying attention to me, retailers.  I still matter.

I'm not the only one who thinks this way:

"...the current state of media evaluation and advertising targeting is dominated by a fundamentally flawed, and increasingly anachronistic, age-based process. This process is resulting in the misallocation of billions of dollars in media expenditures and in an imbalance in the programming mix of the media."

It's time for Nielsen to realize that 55 is the new 47.

Got an iPad for Christmas, thought it might be an incentive to blog more.

not.

This is my first and last post via the blogger app on iPad

App is terrible.

I get it, Apple.  You hate Google.

I get it Google.  You hate Apple.

No prob.

I can live with you both.

2011. My year...in pictures

 

Started the year with Reno Friends.  Sharon Spangler and Denise Clodjeaux.

I love these two kids.  A lot.

And here we are with the Bests.  Debi was Carly's babysitter back when I was a single parent.

Family Reunion in Las Vegas.  Here are sisters Penny and Paula

Papa-Daughter Moment

My Dad and his Nephew Tom Wiechmann, son of my Uncle Earl Wiechmann.  

Just a couple of years separate them; they grew up as brothers.

Trying to rally folks for a group photo

Our children are beautiful

This was a bad idea.

Dad initially didn't think he could climb the hill to the bridge.

But he did.

Attending "O"

My crazy cousin Doug and equally crazy Uncle Wilbur

Dad scared us a bit in February.  He was in ICU for awhile and then rehab.

Summit League Tournament Hijinks in March

Overtime.  Lady Jacks.

Dad was feeling good enough to supervise in April.

That Bob is a brute

Pat, also.

Typical cutthroat card game at Easter.

Spoons.

We vowed to always take pictures, whenever we gather

Even if we are dressed in traveling clothes.

The Twins were a disappointment but we still enjoyed lots of Royals games starting in April

I think the Royals won this game.

In June we bought a house.  And started looking carefully at every receipt

The kids came to help us move and to celebrate...

John's Birthday!  (Also in June)

We splurged on a tailgating canopy

Team colors.

Carly helped paint the kitchen

In tight spaces

And managed to paint herself too.

The Missouri River flooded, hampering our trips to South Dakota all summer long

Dad and Mom came to Kansas City to visit and see the WWI Museum in July

Two of the three most important men in my life.

Pat's 50th Birthday was an opportunity for us to wear our fancy hats in late July

He was surprised!

My sibs

John and I went to Joplin in August.  This is tornado damage a little more than two months later.

Also in August, I walked in the Komen Race for the Cure in honor of my mother-in-law Bernice Phillip.

And Cynthia Newsome

Here's Carly after a mountain biking mishap. 

She rehabbed in KC for few days and we took in a Sporting KC match.

So cute, that Jimmy!

Carly had a birthday

Charlie met friends in The Cauldron

Small Class of '75 reunion at Two Spurs in September

BFF!  Cheryl (Broz) Deibert is the person outside my family who has known me the LONGEST.  And she still tolerates me.  We had fun catching up (again)

The Chiefs season soon went south.

September conference in New Orleans

Two incredible women.

John hit a jackpot!

Attended a wedding in Memphis in October.

Rekindled a friendship with Miami pals in November

Charlie at a bouldering competition in November

Charlie helped decorate the tree in December

Dottie ornament.

Best. Game. Ever.  Chiefs stun the Packers at Arrowhead

Christmas number one in South Dakota

Christmas number two in Kansas City