Deadly April, Heemstra Verdict and Bam Bam Ball

Good Monday morning

I don't think anyone is complaining about the forecast this morning but it was hot overnight. We had a debate about the best way to fall asleep in this weather because Jeriann says she had some problems. Both of the girls and Brad were making fun of my recipe for a good night sleep. It comes from years of not having air conditioning as a kid. On really hot summer nights, I'd just stick my head under a cold faucet for a few minutes before I went to bed. If you don't dry your hair totally, and you have a fan in the bedroom, you can stay cool long enough to fall asleep. Both Trisha and Jeriann say they'd be wide awake after dunking their head in cold water...I tend to overheat a little more than most people so I think it's a good solution. It's funny how your body reacts to certain stimuli...That sequence always puts me to sleep.
Pat - I'm sure Clara would let you borrow her kiddie pool any time! We busted it out yesterday for the first time this season. It kept the babes entertained for hours! I even got a little bit of hammock time in - miraculous!



To the news...and if it looks like I'm stalling I am. The news didn't open in a pleasant way this week. More casualties from Iraq. The combination of this with the new book out today by former CIA Chief George Tennant makes for an interesting day. The upshot of the book is that the VP and former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld pushed for action in Iraq.

In Iowa we had a police involved shooting over the weekend. A man apparently tried to break into a home and when confronted by police he came at one officer with a piece of glass. That is the kind of thing that gives police the right to shoot you. If a man in a uniform with a gun says put down the glass and put your hands on your head...I'd generally comply. Trish was asking about tasers or batons. I've heard the Des Moines police say they do not mess around with these situations. You may have a different opinion of what you want the police to do.

The Rodney Heemstra Murder trial resumed with Jury deliberation this week. No telling how long they'll be out before they make a decision.

There was some sort of a death investigation in Bayard this morning. The sheriff's Office there hasn't really confirmed anything and frankly the deaths they're investigating could turn out to be...well...anything. We'll report more when we actually know some...you know facts...

Spent a lot of time in the car this weekend to and from Minneapolis. Our friend Sarah Elbert and her husband Matt are having a baby so Sally and Sarah's sister-in-law threw her a shower. It was a pretty good deal for me. I got to play golf while the girls had a little lunch. We were both saying on our way home that we are lucky to have good friends. We're even luckier to have friends who have families we like too. We've known the Wyatts for a long time now and they're as close as friends get to being family.

I'm going to grab a good book this morning. The County Board of Supervisors is meeting to talk about the possibility of a new hotel up next to the Events Center. They're describing the talks as "marathon". Oh good! It's an important topic. I hope the Board allows the public (in the form of the media) to watch the proceedings.

Have a good day,
PWD

We got an email from a loyal blog reader Becky today who wanted a reminder on how to sign up for the new blogger accounts so you can post comments. Go to www.blogger.com and follow the directions on setting up a Google account. Then - fire away! We love to hear from you all!

FISHIN FOR TROUBLE

You know I always come back from a weekend with a few tales from the kiddos, and I'm armed with a few good ones today. Cal made me take him back to the fishing pond with his toy Spiderman fishing rod Sunday. Lacking a hook or bait, we used l we used Clara's hair rubberbands as lures, which I told him looked a lot like worms. (maybe)
He was HEARTBROKEN when he didn't catch anything. I don't think he has any idea you're supposed to use a hook and decent bait. The tears were pouring down his face as we left. "But... I ..didn't...catch... any ....FISH!" I told him maybe Grandpa can show him the right way... Mom's no good at fishing.


PLAY BALL!
We had much better luck with baseball. As I mentioned this morning Cal had his first T-Ball game Saturday. They're all 4 years old, so they don't actually even call it T-Ball - it's "Bam-Bam" ball, which is a little more descriptive of what happens.
Here are the rules as far as I can tell:
The kids take a whack at a big rubber bouncy ball.
You run to first - if you can find it - and stop.
The kids in the field swarm around the ball and get confused about what to do with it.
No one gets out.
Everyone bats.
There are more parents than kids out on the field.
And yes - there is crying in baseball.

The first tears were from me.

I was glad to have those sunglasses on as my eyes welled up when Calvin stepped up to the plate for the first time. It was a magical moment for me, and hopefully for him too.
I guess it went as well as I could have expected. #6 Cal Shepherd (doesn't that sound like a baseball name!) stepped up to the plate hit the ball on the first try every time. (even on a tee, a lot of kids have trouble with that!) He ran around the bases like he was supposed to, and didn't put up too much of a fight about waiting his turn, or stopping at first base.
Cal only had one embarassing fielding faux pas, when he and another kid both went after a ball that rolled between them. The other kid got it. Cal tried to take it away. I made a big deal out of making him apologize to his tearful teammate, secretly thrilled that Cal didn't do anything more mortifying!
In the end no one got hurt, and all the kids learned a few lessons about taking turns and sharing. That's what it's all about at 4-year-old, right?



Clara was there to cheer Calvin on, but she had more fun playing football with another player's little bro. You can't really tell here, but she's wearing a Cubs outfit with ruffles on the but and the boy is wearing - (gasp) Cardinals gear. Ian will be thrilled if she ends up falling for a Cards fan like Daddy. I may have to counsel her about the risks of a mixed marriage like ours.


HAPPY 6TH!

Speaking of marriage - Ian and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on April 28th! That day in 2001 was gorgeous and sunny just like this weekend (thank goodness because our ceremony was outdoors in a garden) We've been through a lot of big changes in six short years, but our commitment to each other hasn't changed. I feel really lucky to have found someone who's not only a fascinating and talented person, and a spectacular father - but a true partner who's always on my side.
Happy Anniversary, Ian!
Love,T

Flood waters, blue skies, and baseball weather

Good morning! It's Trisha.

WHO'S HAPPY ABOUT THE FORECAST?! I'm about to burst into song with joy -

Sorry we're running late on the blog today and it'll be a quick one.

It's picture day for the AM team.

I didn't think the old ones were so bad, but we've been out in the studio getting some new photos taken! Brad and Pat are worried that Jeriann and I are outshining them in the shots.

I think we're just better at "flirting" with the camera than they are. I hope the shots turn out okay!

FLOODED

Fleur is still closed today as the Raccoon River keeps rising. Justin Sacher brought us waterlogged live shots all morning (it should crest in the next day or so and start to go down) while Jeriann was out at the Drake Relays with a "fun forecast." Chopper 13 got amazing shots over the last few days of how bad the flooding has been.

ESSENTIAL WATER

How crazy is this timing - "Essential Water" is the title and theme of the concert I'm singing in tomorrow night for the Des Moines Choral Society! We mentioned it a few times during the show today. Every song has something to do with water or rain, including "Old Man River," "Wade in the Water," and... how appropriate.. "The Rain is Over and Gone." All morning long I've had one of the songs stuck in my head... a spiritual that goes "The storm is passing over... hallelu!" I couldn't say it better. I'm sure our rehearsal tonight and performance will have a whole new feeling now that we've just emerged from several days of soaking rains into a beautiful sunny weekend!

HEEMSTRA TO THE JURY

The murder trial for Rodney Heemstra should go to jury today. It's such a complicated story it's very tough to predict which way this will go. Jon Cahill is in Red Oak and we'll have the verdict on the air and online whenever it comes in.

DEBATING DEMS

Anyone catch the debate on MSNBC last night? I saw enough to know I'm impressed by most of these candidates, but I HATED the format. Way too short. How can anyone authentically sum up their thoughts on issues like war, abortion, and health care in 20 seconds to 1 minute?

I agreed with some critics who say this debate was more "theatre" than serious politics. When I try to decide who to vote for, I know I won't rely on a debate like that to form my opinion. I'll probably be on every candidate's website looking up the DETAILS of what they stand for, and on sites like our Iowavotes2008 to watch more in-depth interviews, etc.

I want substance - not just style!

CHEAP THRILLS

The kids were restless yesterday (especially Cal) so I took them out for a quick errand and found a 50 cent thrill - a ride on the merry go round outside Kmart. It doesn't take much.

The reason for the errand - needed to get some tightie whities for Cal to wear under his white baseball pants in his FIRST EVER T-BALL GAME this weekend! His tighie "Spidies" as I call his spiderman undies show through.

Ian knows, I really have been waiting for this moment my whole life.... I've always hoped someday I'd be a baseball mom, cheering for my kid, bringing snacks and juice boxes, and cracking up when the kids run the wrong way around the bases and pick dandelions in the outfield. I got this idea in my system watching my brothers play ball growing up - my parents and I were superfans! I cannot play ball to save my life, but I LOVE to watch.

I'm worried though because I know Calvin. Something is bound to go horribly awry this weekend. If I had to guess, it will be that he won't like the fact that you have to hit the ball off a tee...that he has to stand in the outfield while the OTHER TEAM BATS, or that you have to stop at first base instead of rounding all the bases after each hit, etc! I hope he holds it together when things aren't quite how he pictured them.

The game is also RIGHT at Clara's naptime, which means I may spend more time keeping her from falling apart than I spend showing Cal the right way to wait his turn and cheer for his teammates. I'm glad Ian will be in town for the rest of the games because going solo will be a challenge! I'll give you the full report Monday - wish me luck!

Pat's got a big weekend ahead too - I'll let him fill you in.

See you all Monday!

Trisha

Flooding, Debate, Dancing and Alec Baldwin

Good morning...

Flooding is the story again this morning...And again, I woke up to a lot of water in the garage...I felt better when I talked to Trish...I'll let her tell you what she woke up to this morning.
My mom got really worried when she read that! No huge deal - just some water in a basement storage room. I was in there at 3am with a mop, trying to move stuff out of the wet spots! An old snare drum, a guitar amp, and a couple boxes of Ian's old childhood keepsakes got a little wet. (Plus my slippers!) But I think the stuff is salvageable.

I figured out the problem - the long pipe draining the sump pump water out of my house got disconnected - so it was pouring RIGHT BACK down into the ground and foundation. No wonder that sucker was running nonstop the last two days!
AND it had to happen when he's not around. Figures. You should have seen me when I stopped home to check in this morning - Supermom ripped off the suitcoat, put on Ian's huge work-boots and waded through a gigantic puddle behind the bushes to put the pipe back together. Fun stuff. I know a lot of people are dealing with much worse flooding problems today so I won't complain too loudly.

Rising Rivers
By the time I came into work this morning around three there were signs up warning people that Fleur drive south of Ingersoll was going to close. It did right around four this morning. Just before that, our photojournalist Roger Riley caught some pictures from Ames where the Squaw creek is over it's banks. The Skunk River is also a problem from Story county all the way down to the point it intersects the Des Moines River.
A guy came over to me at the gym yesterday and said, "it's like 93". Not quite, but it certainly something for a lot of us to be concerned about this morning.
Here are a few areas to avoid over the next few days:
A walk at Gray's Lake is going to be a little difficult...Fleur Drive is closed from Bell to MLK.
Out in Clive and West Des Moines Walnut Creek is the problem. This one runs close to my house in DSM as well so I am watching it with some concern. It's pretty incredible as you pass over the creek on 235.
Anywhere near four mile creek is going to be a difficult drive or walk in the next few days.
In Ames the South Skunk River is a foot below it's record flood stage. They're having major flooding problems up there...remember that water flows into the eastern part of Polk County.
The long and short of this is you need to be aware the flood stage is going to go up over the next 24 hours. All that water has to drain into the creeks and rivers.

The President's Dancing Shoes
Say what you want, and we could say a lot, about the President's performance dancing in the Rose Garden yesterday. I give the guy points for trying. It a no win for him. If he stands to the side and looks like he's having no fun..it's awkward. If he gets in the middle of it and does his best to mix it up....well that was awkward. I doubt many of us could do any better. One more thought. The people who are showing this just to embarrass the President or because they think it makes him look stupid...ease off. You want to debate policy, go ahead...you want to say he's out of touch with the American people..please make your case, but this does not prove any of those arguments. It simply proves he's not the best dancer in the world. We can have political debate in this country without making fun of people.

Alec Baldwin
Really? If anyone listened in to some of the beauties my parents threw my way when I was acting like a selfish spoiled brat as a kid...well it wasn't as bad as Baldwin's rant, but it's not pretty. Do we have any right to hear this? Does it make him less qualified to play a self-centered jerk on 30 Rock? Is he putting his kids in danger? These are the kinds of stories that make me want to scream...GET A LIFE PEOPLE!
Apparently we could all use stock in Windex. We're all way too prepared to throw stones from our glass houses.
I'd agree with some of that - it was private business that got aired publicly. BUT - to the question, is he putting his kids in danger - I say yes. It's one thing to come down hard on your kids when they screw up. It's another to call them names and basically verbally abuse them. Parents are never perfect, but we owe it to our kids to use some self-control and choose our words wisely, even when we're really mad. Those kinds of things stick with you. No, it doesn't mean he can't be a good actor. No, it's not really any of our business. But yes, it sure looks like a sign Mr. Baldwin needs to work on his parenting skills and anger management!

Speaking of...I'm going to my non-glass house now. I've got some work still to do sending out letters for our Leukemia/Lymphoma fundraising campaign. The first 70 or 80 letters went out this last week. Now it's on to some of our other friends. If you are so inclined...and I hope you are, please donate to the campaign through this website. We've made it as easy as can be. Tell your friends and neighbors. We're really hoping for a good result when the middle of June rolls around!

Have a good one!
PWD

Rain Rain go away...Busy Overnight and Drake Relays go Downtown

Good morning everyone...it was hard to get up this cold and rainy morning...harder to get out the door for me. I was greeted in the garage by about an inch and a half of standing water. Apparently we forgot to close the garage door last night when we got in. We lost power yesterday so I had to pull up the door manually.
This morning, the rain had come into the garage in a big way. Oooops! Good thing the snow shovel is still there. I had to shovel the water out on to the driveway.

Bummer! My funniest weather moment yesterday was in the middle of that late-afternoon downpour. Calvin was telling me he was scared of the thunder. He disappeared for a few minutes - I found him in his room , in his pajamas, hiding under the covers! TS

To the news where water is the problem for most of us. Out in Dallas County, some rural roads are already flooded over. All that water has to go somewhere...look for it downstream as the Racoon River Basin fills up. Trish pointed out and Jeriann gave her some kudos for remembering not to drive through the standing water at the bottom of her street. Turn around...don't drown. It's true - I took one look at this huge flooded area full of rushing water at the bottom of a hill, and turned around. A cop car had just pulled up - I'm guessing to stop other drivers from being idiots. I have no interest in totaling my car and scaring my kids to death!

Marshalltown Fire
Overnight our intrepid photojournalist Rogert Riley took a trip over to Marshalltown where a fire broke out at a church. The fire burned for a couple of hours before they could get a bigger pumper truck in. You'd think with more rain falling that might have helped the fire...instead it just made things miserable for firefighters...
The building looked like the front wall was intact, I guess the inside was totaled.

Lightning Strike
One of our best photojournalists, Brian Fiser, is also one of our best story tellers. He knows a good story when he sees one, and last night he took some extra time to put together an interesting story about a house up in Urbandale. Lightning hit it in the afternoon, The Fire Department couldn't find any fire...the guy called back a few hours later and said his house was filling with smoke. Turns out the fire smoldered between the roof of the basement and the first floor.

Not Just Here in Iowa
Weather was a big story all over the country. In Texas, six people died and a couple dozen others were hurt.

Heemstra on the Stand
Rodney Heemstra takes the stand in his own defense today in Red Oak. The case could go to the jury this afternoon, then we'll see if the addition of the victim's (Tom Lyon's) mental history will make a difference in the outcome of the case. Heemstra's lawyers have argued Lyon was prone to outbursts of anger and that his temper is what caused the fight between Heemstra and Lyon to escalate to the point where Heemstra shot Lyon. We'll see. Watch for Jon Cahill's reporting from Red Oak tonight.

Microsoft
We've put some links on the home page that will hook you up with information about how to get you money back from the Microsoft Class Action Lawsuit.

In the Dark
I was yesterday. About 4pm, we lost power at my house. There was a flash of lightning and then I heard this...buzz...then the lights...the TV...the Cable Internet...the whole shabang. SO I tried to use that as my excuse to not go to the gym last night. My wife reminded me when she got home that the garage door does open manually.

Have a good day and stay dry...
PWD
I should add a quick note about the Bachelor for Heather's benefit! (Roll your eyes and log off if you're disgusted by the silliness of the show! I cannot explain or defend my fascination with it. It is pure trash, I know.)
I think I agree with his choices so far - he got rid of the backstabbers and gossipers. I still think Danielle may be a surprise winner, but Tessa is looking like a contender too. Bevin (I can't believe that's really her name) won't be his final choice - I think his interest in her is due to lust and pity, nothing more.
I'm glad he fessed up that the bazillion dollar car and yacht aren't really his. That kind of excess wouldn't impress me - just make me think he's stuck up and frivolous with his cash!
Have a good Weds and keep in mind- the weather WILL get better by the weekend!
TS

UPDATE: I'M ANCHORING THE NEWS AT NOON AND I'M DOUBLY LUCKY THIS AFTERNOON. FIRST, JERRY CLUVER IS HERE AND THAT MEANS I GET A FIFTEEN MINUTE AT THE END OF THE SHOW. SECOND, THE MEMBERS OF THE QUEENS COURT FROM THE PELLA TULIP TIME ARE HERE! TULIP TIME IS A WEEK AWAY AND THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING TIMES OF THE YEAR FOR THE STAFF. WHEN THE GIRLS COME UP TO TELL US ABOUT TULIP TIME, THEY BRING FOOD! IT'S GREAT TO SEE THESE LADIES EVERY YEAR. THEY'RE ARTICULATE YOUNG LADIES THAT REALLY CARRY THEMSELVES WELL. WE'RE EXCITED TO SEE THE GIRLS FROM PELLA EVERY YEAR.
PWD

Crazy Chase ends badly, Coffee with the City Manager, Rhinoceroses or Rhinoceri?

Good morning, blog friends!
It's Trisha today. Pat says he'll jump in later and embellish.
I'm here...I'm here...I spent the morning ascertaining...I'll explain later.

CRAZY CAR CHASE
The strangest things happen in this city at 3am. As you may have heard Elizabeth Klinge report today, photojournalist Roger Riley got footage of the aftermath of a wild and very brief car chase north of downtown. The fleeing driver only got about 4 blocks before plummeting his car partially into a 4-foot deep construction hole in the road. OUCH.
What's even stranger to me - there was a neighbor who saw it happen (he'd been up working on his computer and stepped out to the porch to see what was going on) AND - a passenger in the car who was willing to talk about it on camera. He even told us that driver, who was giving him a ride, was trying to buy drugs when the cops started chasing him.
The fact that there were two witnesses willing to describe this on camera at 3am was almost stranger to us news folks than the chase itself. The PD is still working on sorting out details, and inevitably, charges.
Just a little behind the scenes. When I walk in the door there's usually a meeting going on with our production crew and our producer Heather. They were in the middle of that and over the police scanners I hear a chase going on. Now there are four or five "chases" a night. You train your ear to hear the tone of voice the police officer involved is using...the number of cars involved, and then there's sort of a clock in your head. After it goes on a certain amount of time...it gets interesting. This one didn't go on very long, but you also have to listen for interesting detail. In this case, the police tried to "pit" the car. It basically means they try to run the car off the road on a controlled way. Now I heard the chase end, but it wasn't until Roger Riley got back to the station that we heard the interesting details. Great Job Roger!

COFFEE WITH THE CITY MANAGER
If you have ideas about the future of DM, or burning questions for city leaders, today's your chance to get it all out on the table! Rick Clark is hosting another Coffee with the City Manager from 11-1 today at the downtown library for anyone who wants to come.
WE decided we wanted to have coffee with Rick too, and somehow convinced him to set his alarm extra early for a 6:45am appearance. He told us the hottest topics at his meetings so far have been development projects, and tax reduction. Who doesn't want to see cool things come to their part of town while taxes go down?
I had to apologize to him - of all days to run out of our good coffee, it had to happen today! We had to serve up the humble Folgers stuff instead of our snootier favorites! At least we sent him home with a Channel 13 mug.



That reminds me, my co-workers made fun of the fact that I wasn't using a station-sanctioned mug!) I'm totally bonded with my Tim Horton's thermal cup. You'll notice the lid is melted in a few spots because of mishaps with the dishwasher, and I think once a curling iron!

It's the perfect little size, it keeps my coffee warmer longer than a ceramic mug, and most importantly, it has a lid so I don't do what Jeriann did this morning and spill all over my suit! If you've been to Canada, you know Tim Horton's is a great little coffee/donut/sandwich chain (named after a late hockey star). I've become quite fond - Ian even says I have a "Tim" fixation. Every time we visit my in-laws in Ontario, I have to come home with some new Tim paraphernalia.
I admit to using a Cubs Mug, but I go through coffee mugs like I go through scarves and gloves in the winter or sunglasses in the summer. I just tend to lose them.



FINAL SEASON ABOUT TO PREMIER!
Before I forget - here's something we didn't mention on the news today but that might interest you - the baseball movie recently filmed in Iowa, The Final Season, is premiering this Saturday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City! You can see the trailer here. It looks like a feel-good, family movie, with a very Iowa flavor.


RHINOCEROS/ES/I?


It may have been the dumbest discussion of the morning, but it had us all talking for quite a while. A story about a rare rhino caught on tape had us debating the correct plural form of the word rhinoceros. Wikipedia says rhinoceros - no es on the end - is correct - but so is "rhinoceroses. " Captain Traffic suggested Rhinoceri - Wiki says that's sometimes used, but is considered a "hypercorrection."

This is the kind of conversation my wife's family is famous for. In my parents house, we were schooled at a young age...if you have a question like this you go to one of three places and you can usually find the answer to most any question...The Bible, The Dictionary or the Atlas. Think about it... The joke took on a new form when my siblings started to get married. My brother and I both received a bible, and atlas and a dictionary from my parents for our wedding.
Hope you'll sleep better now that you know.

CARPE DIEM
We decided to "seize the day" yesterday and get out and really enjoy the gorgeous weather. I took the kids to a duck pond next to Urbandale Middle school (a great little walking/biking path if you haven't checked it out!) Armed with a stale hot dog bun, the two of them got to feed the ducks (who let them get REALLY close as you can see here!)








That would've been enough thrill for them, but then we spotted some teenage boys fishing in the pond. One of them had a little fish on his line and asked Cal if he wanted to see it. Of course he did - he wanted to see the fish, touch the fish, check out the fishing poles, and pretty much hang out with these guys the rest of his life if they'd let him. Convincing him eventually that it was time for dinner was awfully tough.
BUT - I thought it was really sweet of these guys to be so nice to a 4-year-old. I usually feel like we parent-types and little kids are kind of invisible and irrelevant to most teenagers, so it was refreshing to me to see that they seemed to get a kick out of showing a little kid something cool.
Have a great day, everyone!

Now What's Ascertainment?
Every other month, for longer than anyone can remember, the owners of the broadcast outlets (radio/TV) get together to meet with community leaders. The idea is that we meet with business people or political leaders, or just plain folks to hear what they have to say about concerns or comments about the community. The Federal Communications Commission used to require this of the station. The comments would be put into a public file at the station and we'd use them to direct our decisions about programming. The FCC doesn't require it anymore but this group thought it important enough to continue. It can be a really informative meeting. Anyway they call it the Ames Des Moines Broadcast Ascertainment group. That's where I was this morning.

Trisha and Pat

Back to Class, Back to Court and Watching the Grass Grow

Good Morning....
I hope you all had as good a weekend as I did. Nothing special, just really productive. I'll get into it in a minute, but first, the news:


Back to Class
The Campus of Virginia Tech University gets back to "normal" this morning with the return of students and classes. A ceremony that's already happened marked the first two shootings at a dorm. Closer to ten in the morning our time, they'll hold a second moment of silence to remember the beginning of the second shooting a week ago today.
The students of Virginia Tech have asked the media to stay away today...get off campus and let them get back to normal. I'm really torn about that because there are stories still to tell on campus. I get the desire to have the cameras go away. How can you feel normal with a bunch of cameras filming your every move? I guess I'm going to side with the students here. There aren't anymore stories that need to be told today. They can wait until people on campus are ready to talk. Here's the problem. This only works if everyone plays by the rules. That means the campus media too. If the campus paper begins doing stories daily about the shootings...the national media is going to want in on it. If one paper or one TV station does a story about the shootings...everyone is going to want in on it. I hope the press corps backs off, and I hope everyone respects that space for a while.

I hope so too. I've been wondering, if I were in those students' position, would I finish out the school year or just wait until next year? I'm glad to see they're being given the option of just taking their grade so far, and sitting out the rest of this year. That's a lot of trauma to overcome in such a short time.TS
Back to Court
Rodney Heemstra is expected to take the stand some time this week in his own defense. He's the Milo farmer on trial for the murder of his neighbor. This trial is playing out a little differently than the first, but a jury is going to have to look past a police interview where Heemstra admitted he shot a defenseless man. Jon Cahill is on his way back to Red Oak as I write this.

Help with Chronic Disease

The Polk Co. public health dept. is hosting workshops on helping you live with chronic problems like asthma, diabetes, heart disease, etc. Rick Kozin came in for a live interview this morning, and explained how tackling side issues like fatigue can make a world of difference. Click here for the Health Dept's news releases, and you'll find the info on how to get involved in the next round of workshops starting May 23rd.

Iowa Votes
More content is being added to this site all the time. If you haven't visited...please do. This week They've put a feature in called who's up and who's down. Each week some of our Insiders are going to look at who's fared best in their campaigning and who's slipped a little. Should be fun to keep track of. Also if you haven't seen it, there's a place on the site where you can put your "Dream Ticket" together. Any combination you like. Check it out.


Stars Need your Help
The Iowa Stars come home for game three of their playoff series with Omaha tonight. The Stars stole game two in overtime. These are two really evenly matched teams...if you like hockey or are even the least bit curious, you should really scrap your dinner plans and head over to Wells Fargo Arena.

Watching The Grass Grow. My wife was really excited to see it rain Sunday. We'd spent the day Saturday doing all manor of yard work, and part of that was over seeding and fertilizing the grass. She's invested now and would like to see the lawn green up and the bare patches grow some new grass. Jeriann's forecast looks like it's going to help this week.
We also cleaned off the porch. The screened in front porch of our house was the trade off I made for the place not having a fireplace. We really enjoy sitting out on summer evenings, even when it's really hot. It's nice to watch the world go by, read a book or just sit and be lazy. Now that we've got wireless Internet, I can bring work out there and have a more relaxed atmosphere.
It got some use right away, as we spent the rest of the weekend writing letters to friends and family asking for help with our Leukemia Lymphoma campaign. It's hard to ask the people you know to support this kind of thing. I feel like I'm back in the 4th grade asking people to donate ten cents for every lap I run around the gym. Anyway, Sally left a note on my stuff to take to work reminding me why we're doing this. It says simply:

It's hard to ask your friends for money It's a lot harder to fight Cancer.

It's a simple way to focus down what we're doing. If you feel like these reminders are getting old....people who are fighting cancer feel the same way about the treatments and doctor's appointments. Let's solve both problems...you can give as generously as you're able to fighting leukemia and lymphoma and We'll say thank you and get to work using that money the right way.
Hope you all enjoy your Monday, Trisha is back from Dayton and has more...

SECRET GETAWAY

Yep - I made it back, after a weekend of planes, trains, buses, and automobiles! Dropped the kids with my parents and snuck away for a few days with Ian in, of all exotic places, Dayton, Ohio. That's where the World Championships were being held for a drum corps group he's been coaching. (through Winter Guard International if you're a band geek and/or just curious what this stuff is all about!) It's impressive stuff to watch! The competition is indoors, but to the left you see a shot of the corps warming up in the parking lot before the final competition.

More impressive than the competition, though, is seeing my spouse in his element, doing what he does best, surrounded by other pro's who appreciate his hard work and talent. Ian really has a gift working with young musicians. It was great for us to have this kind of time together, considering our hectic schedules at home. I had fun schmoozing with his music friends, checking out the enormous scene that surrounds these competitions, and just chilling with a good book out in the sun. AND sleeping in - with no kids or early alarm clock to get me out of bed early! Heaven...

I think our kids missed us for about two minutes. Calvin's arm is sore because he spent so much time casting his new Spiderman fishing pole, and reeling it in in my parents' yard. He even had a chair set up. I don't think he knows there's supposed to be a lake with real fish. Just the pole is cool enough.

Clara got a new block-sorting toy, and also got lots of backyard play time and snuggling. They were "angels" for the most part according to my parents. I wish the same could be said for the long drive home last night! We were all pretty beat, and they sort of let me have it. The price you pay for time away.

SLUDGE MYSTERY

Things were pretty normal at work, until I was on the news desk and noticed a dark brown sludge had somehow dripped onto my scripts. I thought for a minute something was dripping from the ceiling, until I picked up a pen and noticed it was writing in the sludge-like substance.

Here's the mystery solved - Elizabeth Klinge had used the pen to stir her coffee over the weekend! EEEWWWW.

"I was desperate," Liz confessed to me later when I showed her my sludge-covered papers. On the early shift, we've all been there. Coffee is lifeblood.

HAPPY B-DAY, JERIANN!

She's 21 today! (tee-hee.....plus 10!) I'm hoping she takes me up on my offer to share a pitcher of margaritas later tonight! Birthdays on a Monday are kind of a bummer, but at least the weather is nice!

Gotta run - have a good Monday and enjoy the pretty day!

Trish

Day of Mourning, Iowa Speedway and a Morning without Jeriann and Trisha

Good morning and thanks for your questions for the Iowa Speedway folks this morning. That's something we're going to try to do a little more of on the blog in the coming weeks and months. When we've got the opportunity to have a guest stick around and answer some of the questions you might have for them, we'll post it early on the blog and then feed your questions to our guests.
This should get fun when Caucus season really heats up.

To the news:
A National Day of Mourning
The governor here in Iowa joined his counterpart in Virginia and in other states across the country in declaring a Day of Mourning in honor of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. This has been a really heavy week of news. A ceremony outside the capitol this morning may help draw the week to a close and help people move on a little.

My "overplaying the news" meter went off yesterday afternoon when CNN jumped in and called the first video of the shooter's suite "Breaking news". It's not. If any of you laugh thinking we do the same thing sometimes I'm willing to admit over my time here at WHO...we have.
I'll say this (and it's just my opinion)...if I ever have any say in how we're portraying a story, I would say breaking news has to be going on. Someone is in danger, there is an imminent threat or we can see a story unfolding live. The day of the shootings the information was coming so fast...that's breaking news to me.
For me the next stage is a developing story. This comes when we are getting frequent updates but there is nothing that is earth shattering about the news coming to you. I would put us in that stage of the Virginia Tech story, though I think we can see it's very quickly winding down.

Another point on the coverage I saw. I am struck by how many times I've seen a reporter comment on or thank the Virginia Tech staff for it's work explaining the circumstances of the shooting or commenting for the University. I'd put this up as a good model for how almost any organization can handle a crisis in the media.
They had to endure criticism for their handling of the incident. I think they were open and honest and weathered that criticism as well as anyone could have. I think they've been honest about their displeasure with NBC news for airing the tape of the shooter. Again, I think that they were respectful in their disagreement. And finally, they understand that the media isn't just going to go away if they stop talking. controlling the information, and how it's gathered is key to making sure this didn't turn into a circus.
Again, I'm sure some of you already think it is.

Jerrian Earnhardt
Jeriann was live at the speedway this morning with her Fun Forecast. If you have an event you want her to come out to live in the morning or if there's a specific weekend event you want a forecast for...She's emailing you the forecast.
This morning she was talking to the folks at the racetrack...it sounds like they've got a fun weekend planned.

Costas on Campus
Bob Costas came to Des Moines last night to speak to a very full Knapp Center. If Little League players idolize A-Rod, or Mickey Mantle, I idolize this guy in the same way.
It's a little known Pat Dix fact that once upon a time, I wanted to be in the sports chair, not the news anchor chair. Then I realized I didn't have the encyclopedic knowledge of all things sport that people like Costas do.
I still think he is the best sports mind, and maybe simply the best mind of his generation. He's prepared, he's curious, he can mix pop culture with sports or news of the day and he sets a high ethical standard. According to the people who saw him last night he's a funny guy to boot. I agree. I will also say this: I've never worked with anyone who mixes those things so well on a local level as Keith Murphy does. We're so lucky to have him here.

Brother Matt had his house inspection yesterday and it looks like beyond some relatively minor issues, they're going to have a very nice place to live. The best part about it is that the house is close to ours.

I'm looking forward to a little yard work with the MRS this weekend and a lot of work on My leukemia Lymphoma campaign. Remember...tell your friends...every little donation helps. You can give us a leg up to our goal by donating online through this link!

Have a great weekend!
PWD

Early Buzz: Ask Questions about The Iowa Speedway!

Good Morning!

Jeriann is out at the Iowa Speedway in Newton. The first race is this weekend. Do you have any questions you want us to ask at the Speedway? Post them here and we'll read them on the air!

The Tape...Guns on Campus, and Where Jeriann's going to be Friday

Good Morning,

Trisha is off this morning so I have to say I was dreading getting up and having to read two hours of news by myself. Then Liz walked in the door. It's not that great a deal for her, but I sure was glad to see her! This is supposed to be her day off so she's on her sixth day of work. She'll take tomorrow off and then be back for the weekend morning news with Dan. Thanks Liz!

The Tape
We begin with the obvious debate about the tape Virginia Tech Shooter, Cho Seung-Hui sent to NBC.
I liked the fact that the Today show laid out some of the obvious debate that should go along with airing a tape like this. They answered the question about why they decided to air it, they acknowledged this will victimize some of the people who lost loved ones and some of the students who survived all over again. They admitted they were playing into the wishes of this clearly disturbed young man,by playing the tape, and they admitted that there was a lot of internal debate over airing it.
Points to NBC for full disclosure.
That said, here's what I think. I think it's horrible to watch, I think it's sad, and I think that NBC didn't really have a lot of choices here.
Before anyone takes the, "You Media types are just doing this for the ratings" argument, I'll take a lame, but I think defensible, position here.
It's is unreasonable to think that this video could somehow stay private. Because there are a lot of people who WANT to see it, someone's going to get it and put it up for public consumption. So I think the question becomes HOW do you air it?
If we do it, as NBC did this morning, with a lot of debate over it's use...with some context about the psychological distress this kid was under, and with some restraint (we're not airing the entire thing); then I think we can look at this tape for what it is, and move on.
That surely doesn't make this any easier for the people who now have had to go through this twice.
I am not this kind of a person so forgive me if any of you take offense, but I found myself wondering about the encounters this young man had over his life. I wonder how many kids made fun of him or picked on him. Kids can be terrible without thinking about the consequences of their words. The trouble is, parents seem set on making sure their kids are never held responsible for anything they say or do.
My kid did what?...well I'm sure it was another kid's fault.
Please read nothing into this that places the responsibility for the tragedy squarely on the shooter and his family. I DO, however, think this gives a good platform to talk again about how we treat each other, especially at a young age.
I was on both sides of this one growing up. I was picked on, and I picked on kids. Part of me wants to say it made me tougher or more thick skinned. Then I think about the kids who couldn't take it. I think of one kid in particular that was so scared of being picked on by the other kids that he would climb trees and sit in the fetal position. I wonder where he is and what he's doing. I wonder how he views this week. I wonder how close we came to setting that kid off. I wonder why I wasn't strong enough as a kid to know right from wrong and stop other kids from giving him such a hard time. I wonder, if we had kids, would I teach them to stand up to that kind of behavior?
If this sounds like a bleeding heart liberal rant to some of you I'm sorry. I guess it's hard for me to go through this week and not try to use it for some sort of reflection. The easy thing to do will be to blame this one young man and call it an isolated incident. Maybe it is.
The harder work will be to really take a look at how we treat each other and work on it. I'm going to treat someone badly sometime soon...I know I will. We all will, but if we're at least thinking about it maybe we'll stop ourselves short.
I don't need more laws, I'm disgusted by the "blue ribbon commissions" (read: Event to score political points), I just need to do what I can.

Speaking of scoring political points
The Iowa Legislature came one vote short of putting guns in the hands of security officers at Iowa and Iowa State. If it was a good idea before this incident, and if it was the will of the people of Iowa, we would have done it already.
This is not an anti-gun position. Has anyone seen the guns this kid was carrying. He wasn't armed like Rambo. He had a very typical handgun. Arming more people wouldn't have stopped him, and arming fewer people wouldn't have helped. If someone is disturbed enough, and if he's motivated enough that person will succeed.
A second question: Do we have any reports of this guy running into campus security or of campus security saying...well I could have stopped him, but...
Someone made the comparison last night during debate on this amendment that the Legislature voted to have armed security in the Capitol building. Well, that a completely different situation. Guarding a building, even if it is a sprawling complex, is a lot easier than trying to guard every building and every room of a campus that stretches out and overlaps with a city. Not even close.
Passing any law...I don't care what it is, because of this incident would be a knee jerk reaction. But believe me...the idea that so and so didn't vote for"your kid's safety" will show up in the campaign commercials next fall...

I'm not sure I've got enough in the tank to talk about a lot of other things. Frankly, this is the big one on my mind.
I hope if you disagree, you will post a comment. I hope if you have something to add, this will be a place where some of this discussion might be aired out.

In the meantime, my brother is back in town to do a home inspection and take some interviews today. Cross your fingers for him.

Just me tomorrow but we've got some fun things planned. Jeriann is going to be live at the Newton Speedway. The first race of the season is this weekend. It should be a fun show so please join us.

The Stories Keep Coming...Microsoft Settlement and You Thought You Filed your taxes...but....

It's Trisha getting started today.
Sorry so late! Pat and I have been swamped trying to get stories together for today and tomorrow.

THE STORIES KEEP COMING
Sad and inspiring stories are emerging about the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings. Have you heard about the Holocaust survivor? Wow.
Gov. Culver ordered Iowa flags at half staff thru Sunday, to go along with the President's federal order.
It's Pat now. Sorry I'm so late, I am at home now after turning a story for the 6PM news.
On the topic of Virginia Tech, I wanted to start by saying if your Father doesn't have your back in a debate...who does? Mine called to say he's just finished reading yesterday's blog and he recommended I offer up the editorial from this morning's Chicago Tribune. It's really well written and says what I wanted to say yesterday in a much more articulate way.

ANSWERS FROM GRINNELL
We hope to learn a cause of death today for Paul Shuman-Moore, the missing Grinnell College students whose body was discovered in a country club pool Monday. This could help confirm that it was a suicide as many suspect, or raise questions about foul play. At this point police say they don't see anything obviously suspicious.

START YOUR ENGINES
My dad will be jealous - we talked live today with former NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace via satellite about the opening race this season at the Iowa Speedway! (Saturday - gates open at 8 - weather looks good!)
Rusty seems fired up about the season and says drivers have enjoyed testing their cars on the track he designed.
He was on a sponsored satellite tour supposed to be talking about family roadtrips and some new Microsoft program to help families on their trips. Of course we were more interested in talking about the speedway, but Rusty managed to squeeze in a plug for the product before we were done.
These satellite interviews are always tricky that way - there's often a legitimate news topic involved, but there's also usually a company with self-promoting interests paying for the satellite time and trying to get free air time. That's why we use those kinds of interviews VERY sparingly. Local live guests are always a plus!
I'll only add that I agree with Trisha and I think we should use these sparingly.

I'll also say this to our friend Rusty: I tried pal. I tried to throw you a softball so you could talk about this Microsoft deal. We weren't doin the Abbot and Costello today buddy.
By my third question I was being wrapped up by my producer and we were on a fullscreen of race times for your new track in Newton this weekend...I don't mind the little plug at the beginning of the story. The big one at the end of this interview was awkward!
The way we get around this a lot of time is to tape these interviews. We can pull out the newsworthy soundbyte and leave the plugs on the editing room floor.

HITCHED!

Here's a shot of Sonya and her new HUSBAND Steve, that I couldn't seem to get posted yesterday. Aren't they a great looking couple!

THANKS, GRANDMA!
My kids got a great surprise yesterday - a box full of gifts for no real reason from Ian's mom, "Grandma Susan" in Georgia! My mother-in-law has always loved
dolls, and I think Clara and her other granddaughter Katie have become her living dress-up dolls! Here's a shot of Clara modeling one of THREE gorgeous new sundresses! (The bow didn't stay in her hair long, unfortunately!)
Cal got a bunch of his favorite things - a bubble blower, a rocket-launching game (they're styrofoam, don't worry!), and a coloring book/marker set.
Thanks, Susan, for keeping them entertained all afternoon!

TIME TO REFUEL
I've been feeling rather depleted lately - I feel like most of the day I rush around exhausted, hungry, and desperate for a little down time (or even time to just eat a meal without interruptions!) Ian's been the same way. So we're treating ourselves to a little "away time"... and letting the kids have a getaway with the grandparents! I'll tell you more about our adventure when I'm back Monday.. but I'm sure Pat and Jeriann along with our awesome producer Heather will keep your newscasts full of interesting items while I'm away. The show must go on, right?
Here's the thing, I love the fact that Trisha gets a well deserved break but I'm drowning myself in hot tea and lozenges in order to prepare myself for the two hour oration that is the morning show. It's a lot of reading to do by yourself, and I'm doin it two days in a row. I know I know...boo hoo. I agree. It's just late in the afternoon and I haven't had a nap yet. I feel like my brother's kid.

Pat's on the run on assignment right now so he says to tell you all "hi!" and he'll blog later!
Good as my word...
We went out this morning to talk to one of the owners of a new downtown grocery store. Anyone remember when we were all wondering when there was going to be just one of these things? Now we're going to have three by the end of the summer. I'd agree we're ready for it. There are enough people who think it's a good idea to live downtown. It's high time they get the amenities to do it. these things aren't going to replace the Supermarket model out in the burbs, but they'll be a welcome addition to the daily routine for a bunch of people with a loft and and urban lifestyle to go with it.

Have a great day!
Trish and Pat

Virginia Tech Shootings, Body found in Grinnell, Graceland Invite

Good morning!


It's Trisha starting out today.


It was a heavy, somber news morning.
The heaviest is a long time. the magnitude of the tragedy started to sink in for me hearing the personal stories of some of the students on the Today Show this morning.


I don't think I need to repeat the facts of the Virginia Tech massacre - there's been wall to wall news coverage on virtually every network and every paper.
The story opened up a lot of internal debate amongst those of us on the morning crew about what steps the University should have taken after that first shooting incident at the dorm.


My thoughts - even if they thought it was a "domestic situation," and assumed the gunman left campus, there should have been a fast process to at the very least notify as many students and staff as possible that there's a guy with the gun on the loose who just killed a couple people. I even think calling for some type of lock down wouldn't be totally unreasonable. It floored me that people all over campus found out about the first shooting through friends and family members who'd seen it on the news. And the email the university sent out was delayed by 2 hours - just in time for the second larger shooting incident. I can completely understand the anger people on campus are expressing about being in the dark about a dangerous incident on campus.
Pat now-I'll paint the other side of the argument.
I guess I had a lot of trouble with the Monday morning quarterbacking going on with law enforcement in Virginia.
I understand what Trisha is saying, and that's the right call if you can see into the future...
By the time Police realized what was going on in the first shooting, let's sat it was 7:30am. Classes had started for the day and thousands of people were already out and about on campus. It's not just a matter of calling or emailing everyone. If you lock down the dorms or try to inform everyone, what happens to the people in class? How do you get a hold of them? Once you do...should those people move or are they locked down? What about people who are just walking on campus. The email or text massaging system is a good idea, but there's another problem.
Reports this morning indicate that a witness to the first shooting took police in a much different direction than you'd expect. The picture of a domestic dispute that sparked the first shooting was furthered by a report from that witness.

"We had information from witnesses and the evidence at the scene that led us to believe the shooter was no longer on campus and more than likely off campus," Virginia Tech Police Chief Wendell Flinchum said of the dormitory shooting, which happened about 7:15 a.m.

In fact the chief went on to say they had information that the shooter was headed out of state.

I guess what I'm saying is that they did the best they could with the information they had at the time. No one thought this was a heavily armed individual with the intent to kill dozens of people. It would not have been reasonable to assume he had as many guns or as much ammunition as he did on him at the time of the shooting.

Also, If this had been just a domestic incident and not a mass killing, and the authorities had shut down campus until they found the person(lets say they found him off campus nine hours later), the national media would hardly have noticed. Virginia Tech officials would have been standing in front of the same microphones they are today answering questions like, "Why did the University decide to shut down operations for thousands of students because of an isolated incident?", and "Do you think you overreacted?"

What I'm saying is it's easy to say now that shutting down the campus would have been the right decision. Of course it would have. Although maybe you would have herded a lot of people into a building WITH this guy and made the incident even worse(if that's possible).

What I'm saying is, from the perspective of a police officer in charge of a murder scene yesterday morning, that didn't look like the right call.

I have a hard time deciding 24 hours later that that person or those people were wrong.

GRINNELL DISCOVERY
There's still no confirmation this morning, only speculation that a body discovered in a country club pool in Grinnell may be that of missing student Paul Shuman-Moore. Watch tonight's newscast for any more developments.

MAMMA MIA!
Opens tonight at Civic Center - it plays thru Sunday. Good luck getting the ABBA music out of your head if you go, dancing queens.
Sally is headed over there tonight. I will put aside my bitterness at eating dinner alone tonight and bring you the best review I can. No promises, I'll be in a sleep induced haze when I ask, "How was the show honey?"


CONGRATS SONYA AND STEVE!
It's confirmed - yesterday WHO13 reporter/anchor Sonya Heitshusen tied the knot with her longtime companion, Steve! I'll let Pat fill in the blanks about how she asked him if he could fill in on the noon newscast yesterday. Getting married seems like a legit. enough excuse. We're all very excited for the newlyweds, and looking forward to a big PARTY in a few months to help them celebrate!
I picked up the newsroom phone to talk to her and she said she needed me to fill in, and that it was kind of a big deal...that she was going to get Married.
MARRIED?
Ya Married....(Apologies to 16 candles)
Sheeesh!

GOIN TO GRACELAND


Graceland is apparently working hard to recruit visitors! I can't believe there are so many Americans who haven't visited the home of the KING. If you're ever passing through Memphis, don't miss the chance to check out the trippy, strange world Elvis used to live in. Wish I had a jungle room!
I've never been...seriously. But then again I've only visited Memphis once. I slept in a hotel and had dinner at a Hooters.
The city looks nice from the air. Remember this is one of the places you can get a direct flight from the DSM Airport!

TS+PWD

Plane Crash, Nor'easter, and You Can Never Go Home

Good Morning

Back from Chicago, I was glad to see the weather had improved a great deal in Iowa while we were gone! Funny, story, I posted on the blog late Friday afternoon while I was sitting in a Panera in Chicago. About two minutes after I posted, my phone rings and it's my Dad. "So are you still sitting in Panera?"...

Ahhh technology

To the news where we began with a very sad story to start the week.


Federal Investigators identified weather as a possible contributing factor of a plane crash in Missouri that killed an Iowa family. Randy, Amy Weber and their son Tyler all died in a plane crash south and west of St. Louis. Authorities say Randy radioed in just after takeoff to say they were in a heavy headwind and that visibility was down to zero.


The Nor'easter hitting the east coast this morning is a nasty one and the timing couldn't be worse. The rain is causing flooding along the coast. Tornadoes ripped through parts of the south and Midwest over the weekend, and it looks like they could be getting one to two feet of snow in upstate New York and the mountains of New England.


The bad timing comes in today for anyone who thought it might be fun to run the Boston Marathon. A 20mph headwind is expected for the runners as the head up the famed "heartbreak hill". It's supposed to be the big hill right before the finish. I heard them talking on the radio this morning about how this will possibly be the worst conditions they've had in the history of the race.


Speaking of the weather out east, Mr Masters... Zach Johnson will finish up play at the Verizon Heritage Tournament today. Windy conditions shut down the final round of the tournament Sunday. They'll try again today. Zach Johnson is four off the lead by the way.


It would be tax day today, but this year it was pushed back another day by Emancipation day. It's a Federal Holiday that only Washington DC observes. The bottom line is tomorrow night before 11:59, you have to have your Federal Taxes in. April 30th is the Iowa income tax deadline.




Today's news included a mention of new research that says race can factor into risk of getting a more aggressive form of cancer. The most interesting part of the research says African American Women are more susceptible to an aggressive form of Breast Cancer. It was one of MSNBC's top stories this morning.





It's also a reminder that I'm continuing my campaign for the Leukemia/Lymphoma Foundation. You can make donations right online using this link.

9:50 am-I just got an email from my buddy Tim Payne out in Boston. He Sent me this note about another great fundraising effort out there for Blood related Cancers. I share it with you to make the point...You never know what you can do until you try.

I've been passing along a story to people when cancer comes up just because this particular form does not receive the attention that other forms do and it mainly strikes small kids. You might recall at my bachelor party there was a big red headed guy that played golf with us named Pat Lacey. He and his wife have a two year old little boy named Will who has a form of cancer called neuroblastoma. Pat has maintained a blog chronicling there heart wrenching journey over the last couple years. Will's disease is stable right now but he has been deemed incurable by the cancer team at Children's Hospital in Boston. Since that point they started working with other children's hospitals around the country to find alternative therapies. The blog is really amazing. It's depressing as hell in some ways but the way this little boy has continued to fight is remarkable. If you have some time give it a read. There is an archive section so you can go back through it. You mentioned the Boston Marathon this morning, there is a guy Pat and I used to work with that decided to run to raise money for neuroblastoma research in honor of Will. He raised over 60k and is out there running today!

READ MORE AT:http://www.willlacy.blogspot.com

Thanks TP-Amazing story!



As I said I made it home this weekend to see my Mom's public presentation of her Doctoral research. It was really interesting. It's a little complicated to get into in this short a period of time, but she says she's going to write a book that will springboard off of the research she did.






I also got a chance to see my folks new place Saturday night. Their new condo is on the 20th floor of a new building in downtown Evanston Illinois. I snapped a few pics so you could see the view. Even with a bad camera phone, I think you can tell it will be a cool place to hang out. The Lake is off in the distance in the pictures and the area off to the left side is Northwestern University.

A couple of people asked if I'd be sad to see my parents sell off the only house Ive ever known in Chicago. I won't. My folks renovated their house a few years ago and it's never looked or felt the same to me. It was right after I got out of College. The changes really improved the home, but it was a nice way to transition away from the old house.

This is the right move for my folks. They're downsizing in a big way. It's hard to wrap my brain around all of their stuff in this small place, but it's easy to see why they love it so much. The views of the Lake, and the Campus are phenomenal and Downtown Evanston is booming! The restaurants shops etc make this a great place for urban living. Incidentally, for those of you who remember him, Eric Anderson was the City Manager in Evanston before he came to Des Moines. He's credited with helping the redevelopment of that downtown while he was in Evanston.



So...a good weekend in Chicago





Finally, I finished a better than average book I think I've told you about before. The Few is a good read if you're into WW2 History.





Have a great Monday!

PWD


Hey - it's Trisha with just a couple of things to add. It sure feels like a Monday - I think I got about 3 hours of sleep last night!
Doesn't Pat's parents' place look cool?

BETTER STATE OF MIND
We had a really interesting guest on this morning, who's in town to do "State of Mind" training mainly for employees of Iowa Health. Their ideas were really interesting - teaching people how to control their state of mind and make themselves happier and more productive.
The website is here if you want to check it out. They do lots of corporate training.

One thing our guest, Kristen, said that stuck with me - we need to SLOW DOWN our minds and thought process a bit to get more clarity. That takes effort in a fast-paced work environment like mine.
She also says in an emergency situation many of us find that our minds function incredibly well - it's later that we second-guess and doubt and overanalyze.
Have any of you had shocking moments of calm and clarity in a crisis? I know I have.






Took the kids to opening day for the season at Snookies Ice Cream Shop Saturday. It was a little bit chilly, but totally worth it. YUM.


Last night some of our neighbors got us all together for a barbecue - a gorgeous night! Here's our good friend and neighbor Josh with his mini-me - newborn son Liam. We are SO lucky to have awesome neighbors. Josh and his wife Emily seem to know everyone in town, so we feel well-connected to be friends with them!

The fashion show for Junior League went pretty well.
A photographer from Juice was there taking tons of photos, and I offered to pay him off NOT to publish any photos in case I tripped! Luckily I made it down the runway safely, as did all the other volunteer models!

I'm having trouble posting the one and only photo I have, so maybe I can get it from home later, but it's not what you'd call a teriffic shot. My friend Mary had the camera, and couldn't get the timing right since the camera has a second or two delay! The only shot of me is my back when I spun around- but at least it proves I did it! Stacy Horst from KCCI also modeled, and Lisa Carponelli from Channel 5 was the emcee - it was nice to have all 3 stations represented!

I'm hoping to get the whole family out for a picnic lunch today - I LOVE Jeriann's forecast!
Have a great Monday, everyone!
Trisha