New Year's Eve Blog

Good Morning,

I can't imagine any of you will be reading this today. We'll post anyway. I have a couple of new books I'll recommend on the nightstand and I'll put up a new poll. I want to know how many of you will be making some kind of New Year's Resolution.

I don't have a lot to report from the news. If any of you saw the show this morning you know we leaned heavily on last night's newscasts. It's a pretty consistent problem this time of year. There just isn't a lot going on because of the holidays and if you ask me, that's OK. to paraphrase the way an MSNBC Headline put it this morning: no one's going to wish we could extend 2008. It's been a bit of a grind for everyone.

Christmas was, as always, a happy time around family and friends in Chicago. Sally's Grandma Penny had her actual 90th birthday. If some of you are really paying attention you know we celebrated this summer. That was a matter of circumstances and everyone being able to travel. This was a slightly smaller, but just as Happy Birthday on her actual b-day (Christmas Day).

I imagine many of you saw the same thing we did at Christmas. Everyone pulled back a little. It was nice. I imagine it will continue in our families no matter what happens with the economy. It made for a much less stressful week not having to worry if we got "enough" for everyone. We gave and we received thoughtful gifts. That's enough.

The House Divided Bowl, The Prose Bowl, The Journalism Bowl...call it what you like, but Missouri beat Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl. Not that we deserved the win. See Jason Whitlock's Article in the Kansas City Star for an accurate assessment of the game and the post game celebration. Disappointing year for the Tigers.

The push toward two babies continued over our little break. We cleaned out "The Men's Room" and got ti ready for a new coat of paint. Our house it a little bit like one of those numbers puzzles where you slide the tiles around one open space. We had to build some new shelves in the basement in order to store much of the stuff we're moving out of the boys room. To this point, it's been a bit of a dumping ground. It felt a little bit like we kept adding to our "to do" list but I think we're getting our arms around some of this stuff now and we'll be OK. The best part about building things so far...no tools. That's my kind of project.

We also hit a milestone today. 28 weeks. We are told and we read that this is a significant point in the babies development and health. We hope. We also hope they're not ready to meet us just yet. We're not ready for them.

My sister Katie arrived in Des Moines last night and it's good to have her here. Family and friends have been really supportive. Katie is helping me build the shelves.

We're glad to have Katie here!

Have a safe and Happy New year!

PWD

The Buzz is back

Please don't hate me. I have failed miserably at doing the blog while Pat is off. I don't really have an excuse other than I let it slip my mind. I'll blame my momnesia. Regardless, I hope you'll forgive me.

I hope you all had a nice Christmas or Hanukkah and don't have any travel disaster stories to share. I don't know about you, but my body is in serious need of some vegetables or tofu or something like that. I think I ate my weight in Christmas candy... mostly those darn chocolate covered pretzels. Oh yeah, and the chocolate covered Ritz crackers with peanut butter. I don't know if it is an Iowa thing or a universal rule, but they are at every Holiday party, get-together and family gathering I attend. Love those things. Now, I need to work them off.

On to the news...

Water Woes

The ice jams on the Raccoon River are pretty amazing looking. It's not everyday you see something quite like it. But, as a result, the Des Moines Water Works Department is doing some things different with our water. The Raccoon is so dirty they decided to take water from the Des Moines River instead so they don't have to spend extra money cleaning out all the dirt. Luckily it isn't having an impact on us here in Des Moines. But people down in southwest Iowa are boiling their water before they drink it. A boil order is in effect for people in eight counties who get their water from a plant in Creston. Apparently, the plant cannot keep up with all the dirt that comes with the melting we had this weekend.

New Year Resolutions: Cheap Gym Memberships

Every year we overeat over the Holidays and then we decide to start eating well and working out starting January 2, right? Well, this year could be the year of gym membership deals. The economy is forcing a lot of people to think twice about some of their extra spending and many gyms may be feeling the pinch.

Another story of interest...

Sarah Palin is a grandmother. Her daughter Bristol had a baby boy named Tripp. This morning they were talking about the name on the Today Show. The Palin's have a lot of interesting names in their family. What I didn't know is that most of them have Nordic roots and Tripp means "strong."

Pat is back tomorrow but I am off. Happy New Year!

Brooke

A Holiday Goodbye

Good Morning and Goodbye!
I just wanted to post a short blog before we go on a little holiday break. I'll be back next Wednesday before the New Year, but until then, it's time for a little end of the year re-charge.

The News is full of the weather. If you are headed out by road, rail, or air you are going to find you'll need patience. Delays will be the norm over the next 48 hours as millions of people travel to family and friends. Be careful on the roads.
Overnight a truck slid off the interstate and all the way through the front door of a business in Urbandale. It doesn't take long to lose control.



Holiday Songs
Thanks to those of you who responded to the favorite holiday song, though I think someone is stuffing the ballot box. O Holy Night has %34 of the vote right now. I don't disagree, but it seems odd to me that everyone is gravitating to that song. I also agree with our blogger Lisa who said that the song depends on who sings it. There is a lot of wonderful Christmas music, but there are also a lot of artists who can ruin a Christmas song for all time.


The worst Christmas Album of all time? Christmas in the Stars. It's the Star Wars Christmas Album...no joke. Who thought this would be a good idea? It includes traditional favorites like, What do You Get a Wookie for Christmas? (when he already owns a comb). Check it out.
(Thanks to our crack blog research staff for the links)

A Final Note of thanks to our viewers on Today in Iowa. We got our ratings back and they were gratifying to say the least. We all agree that we enjoy what we do. It would be hard to get up every morning if we didn't. Knowing there are people who enjoy the product we work to put on the air every day makes it even easier. As another year of getting up at two in the morning ends, I can look back and say I really still enjoy the work, and more importantly, the people who I work with.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you and your families. Travel safely and we'll see you next week!
PWD

Frigid Start, Toyota Trouble and Shopping Luck

Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a good weekend.

I'm sitting at my desk hoping I'm not bothering Brooke that much with my selection of odd Christmas music playing from my iPod. For some reason I've caught the Christmas spirit. It kind of snuck up on me this year. I'm looking forward to some time in Chicago with family and some time for Sally and I to get organized before the babies come. Usually I'm dreading the final week or so of work before a Christmas break. I sort of slog my way through he final few days and they seem to last forever. This year, I'm actually not ready to go yet. It's a nice switch but it seems more the norm for me these days. Time seems to be speeding up instead of slowing down.

Frigid Start

Cold enough for everyone? I went out for just a second Sunday and it was brutal! I've got three levels of winter jacket. There's the overcoat...good enough for a cold day and nice when you get dressed up to go out. Then there's the winter jacket I normally wear. It's got a fleece shell under a GorTex jacket. It's nice for even really cold days. Then there's the nuclear option. It's a down jacket from Eddie Bauer that makes me look like the Michelin Man. Not stylish but it's sure warm. We've got that jacket out this week.

Stay warm.

Toyota Trouble. You know the saying, "When Mama ain't happy..ain't' no one happy." Well I thought of that when I saw that Toyota announced a yearly loss of 1.7 BILLION dollars this morning! If Toyota isn't doing well, how in the name of all that's holy can you expect GM and Ford and Chrysler to do well?

Shopping Luck

I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked into Babies r Us Saturday morning around 11. No one was in there! We went out to do some last minute Christmas shopping, expecting the busiest shopping day of the season. We were pleasantly surprised to find light crowds. I'm sure the retailers we visited don't agree. Sunday was spent wrapping up the gifts we've accumulated. I say that because Christmas shopping in our house starts the minute the unwrapping ends on Christmas Day. My brilliant wife and her very thoughtful family has learned that in the sitting around and talking that goes on Christmas morning, someone usually blurts out, "I could really use a..." or "you know this time of year I always find I need..." If you listen, you might find a gem of a gift for next year. You buy it one of the days right after the holiday and you end up getting it for cheap too!

Anyway, we listened to Christmas Music and wrapped gifts all afternoon. I was responsible for the square ones. It's about all I can do. Sally observed we have an unusual number of round girts this year. Don't know why.

One more thing I'll throw out there for debate. Best Christmas song. This is where we find out if you bloggers are traditionalists, or you're Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer fans. I'll throw a few up there and we'll see. If I leave your favorite off...post it, and let the debate begin!

PWD

Week Ending Weather

Good Morning
What are we going to talk about this morning....lets see. The President is addressing the nation right now about the Auto Bailout. The guy known as "Deep Throat" from the Watergate scandal is dead at age 95; and the President Elect is going to announce the final members of his Cabinet.
With all of that going on, weather remains our focus and for good cause. The storm slowed down but it did exactly what the meteorologists said it was going to no. Snow, sleet ice and freezing rain were all part of the weather picture and pretty much in the proportions we expected. The good news is that some of the ice fell in pellet form. Bret described it looking like a snow cone truck tipped over. It was bad enough that closing school today was probably the right thing to do.

At the Airport, flights were getting back off the ground today, but the people who's flights were canceled yesterday will still need to find a way to get to their holiday destination. Add to that the fact the Chicago's O'Hare Airport is getting hit hard with weather today, and you can see why anyone traveling over this weekend may see some residual effects of this storm.

I hope you all stay safe and warm this weekend. We'll be home getting the boys room ready. Sort of. I think...maybe.

Six days to Christmas!
PWD

Winter Weather Buffet, NASCAR to Newton Take 2, and Christmas Kindness

Good Morning!
Well you know the forecast is bad when you're praying for 7 inches of snow instead of the quarter inch of ice that's been in the forecast.
As you can imagine the phones are ringing off the hook here this morning with early dismissals. I talked to sever Several school Superintendents who are trying to make the best decision for the safety of their kids. They're doing this based on our forecast and as many of you probably heard Jeriann say this morning...even a little movement of the system this afternoon will make a BIG DIFFERENCE in the kind of precipitation we see.
I just talked to JR and here's a quick little tip she gave me about tonight. Here in the Metro, if you see snow falling already at 5 or 6pm, we're going to get more snow than ice.
If you see freezing rain, buckle up, we're going to see the exact forecast she told you. To the south she's predicting more ice. In isolated pockets...like fort Dodge, you're going to get whalloped with snow.
We're gearing up for tomorrow morning. Brooke and our Producers are making phone calls to make sure we have the latest information tomorrow morning.
I have to say, these kinds of days are the ones we really look forward to coming into work. Our show is a lot of fun for us when we just fly by the seat of our pants.
The issue for us tomorrow morning will be getting into work. Wish us luck!

NASCAR
The Newton Speedway did it again! They got a Camping World Truck Series Race (formerly Craftsman truck series)to go along with their Nationwide series race. This is a big deal for a place no one thought would even be open three years ago.
Great news for race fans.

Christmas Kindness
A few weeks ago I told you we had to put our cat down. Not a nice Thanksgiving in our house because of it. Anyway, just this week we got a wonderful Christmas gift from the people at our Vet. I wrote here before that they are the only people I would trust to care for our pets. I still strongly believe that, but they are also simply wonderful PEOPLE. We received a gift, a sort of remembrance from them in the mail yesterday. It just confirms for me how much they care for the people and the pets that come to them for help. A lot of people can be good at their job but it's a rare and special person who is so dedicated to their work. The folks over at Jordan Creek Animal Hospital fit that definition.

So I hope everyone has the supplies and things they need to ride out a storm. We'll be on the air quite a bit in the next few days. I hope we're helpful. If not, let us know how we can be.
PWD

Slick Start, Secretary Vilsack and Commercial Conversations

Good Morning,
We always have interesting and wide ranging conversations during commercial break. We should sell raffle tickets for some charity and the winner could come in and listen you never know what you're going to hear... Sometimes we use the time to talk about news stories we're interested in, sometimes it's working out a strategy for the rest of the morning and on a morning like today, we have to make sure we're keeping up with some of the accidents as people started their commute to work. Other times it's just funny stuff that happens to us. Brad always has the most interesting stories, Jeriann always laughs the most and Brooke and I generally roll our eyes a lot.

Slippery Start
It was surprisingly slippery on the roads this morning. Many of them were plowed or cleared but still, there were some tricky spots. We had an, "only in Iowa" moment early in the show when a trailer full of horses went off the road. The horses got loose and slowed down traffic. You know you're in Iowa when you have to slow down on a highway for horses.

Secretary Vilsack
Well, I guess we was President Elect Obama's Choice after all. I don't think anyone doubts that Governor Vilsack will be a great Secretary of Agriculture.
Reaction is generally good, David Yepsen wrote in this morning's Register:

It's less clear what Vilsack, a trial lawyer by training, brings to the job. He has never been a dirt-under-the-fingernails farmer. A policy wonk, he won't be much for those backslapping visits to farm shows and state fairs, which is often the fate of an Ag secretary.

That's probably accurate, but the other thing a lot of people don't know about Governor Vilsack is that he's a pretty nice man. He's is certainly smart enough to understand the complex issues facing the USDA.

One more funny story. We were all trying to get together for a holiday dinner last weekend and it ended up not working out. Anyway I was on the phone with Sally and Jeriann called. Jeriann and I were dividing up people to call to let them know our plans. Now, sometimes my brain gets a little wacky and at the end of the phone call I said.."OK... Love you"...I caught myself and said..."No I don't...I mean I like you a lot Jeriann...I'm very fond of you and all but that's as far as we go.". I just didn't downshift from talking to Sally. Totally embarrassing for me but Jeriann said she laughed about it for hours.

Hope that puts a smile on your face.

I'm going to take a nap now. I love you all

PWD

Snow on the Way, Gas Prices Up and Heavy Hearted Blogging

Good Morning.
I'm writing with a bit of a heavy heart this morning. My Aunt passed away last night after a long struggle with her health. the entire family takes some comfort in knowing she's at peace now, but it is no less of a blow to my mom and her siblings. Send a few extra thoughts and prayers their way...

To the news:
Snow
The snow is coming...should be worst around the noon hour. We'll be out live at noon to show you what's going on. That brings up the annual email we get from our viewers, yelling at us to keep reporters inside when the weather is bad. It's a fair point, but you should know we take precautions to make sure our team isn't in harms way. The other part of that, of course, is that this is our job. We signed on to stand out in the cold and snow. You ask why? Cause when you can actually see that's it's a cold, snowy day, we might convince a few people who might otherwise venture out that it really is nasty out. We might slow a few people down in bad driving conditions. And we might show you that while it's snowing, it's not the worst winter weather Iowa's ever seen and that you can in fact go out. All of these things are possible when we actually send someone out. If we stay in the studio, we know about as much as you do sitting at home. That doesn't help you very much.

Gas Prices Up
I was surprised to see that gas prices had gone up even though oil prices have gone down. We got an email about this the other day as well, blaming us (the media) for the rise or fall of gas prices.
Oh.... if wishing made it so!
Since I am not a Sheik or Sultan in one of the oil families of the Middle East or heir to an oil fortune in Texas, I have no control over production of oil in the middle east or in this country.
Gas prices will keep going down. OPEC is trying to get them moving in the other direction but I think as long as the economy stays slow, we will see prices go back down to the $1.35/gallon range, if not lower.

More Cabinet picks
President Elect Obama chose the head of the Chicago Public Schools as his Nominee for Education Secretary. I don't know much about him. His name came up during a discussion last time we were home. If I remember right, my sister the teacher thinks highly of him as does my Mom (also a teacher).

Sen Kennedy II
Caroline Kennedy is apparently interested in the Senate seat being vacated by Hillary Clinton. There are mixed reviews on the prospect of her getting the seat. What do you think? Is she qualified or would this be an appointment made solely for a family name?

I hope you all have a snow brush in your car. You're going to need it tonight on the way home.
As always you can respond to these topics or make up your own and ask a question of us or the group.
Have at it!
PWD

Dangerous Cold, Chizik, and Christmas Shopping

Good Morning,
It was take your breath away cold this morning. I don't often contemplate whether I should get out of the car when I get to work but this morning...I did. The 20 yards between the car and the front door of the studios was brutal!

There's a lot of news to get to this morning but we'll start with the weather.

Dangerous Cold
We often debate how to cover a cold morning like this. Inevitably there will be school delays because of the cold and in some cases there are even cancellations. It may sound like overkill to some of you and that's a valid opinion. I'm not sure I got a snow day the entire time I was in school.
That said, over the weekend we talked to Dr Nancy Seibring of the Des Moines Public Schools. Liz Klinge did the interview. The issue with Des Moines is the number of kids who may walk to school and whether that's dangerous. The other thing I heard last week and that I didn't know is that Des Moines doesn't delay school. The reason (according to a person who identified himself as a teacher in the district) is that so many Des Moines School kids use public transportation to get to school. If they delay school the bus schedule would be off and they can't get all the kids to school at the right time. Makes sense. I'd ask for confirmation of that from any of the parents, teachers etc that may read this blog. That is the reason Des Moines will only cancel school, they won't delay the start of school.

Chizik
If you're a Cyclone fan and you're disappointed...I'm sorry your feelings are hurt but things happen for a reason. Coach Chizik clearly didn't understand what he was getting into in Ames. I'm not sure Auburn understands what they're getting either but time will answer that question. In the meantime, I agree with Sean Keeler's comments this morning on a Register Blog. Cyclone fans should want someone who will look at Ames as a destination, not a stop along the way. Missouri and it's terrible football program in the 90's should be proof enough that success can happen with the right coach.

Shopping
Sally and I did a lot of our Christmas shopping Saturday Night. What possesses people? First, the guy who just stops in the middle of the mall. A lot of the time it's a pack of aimlessly wandering teens. That I can excuse. It's the adult who seems to have no sense of his or her own surroundings that really makes me laugh. Do you not see five thousand of your best friends swarming around you? Apparently not.
We also witnesses the unapologetic line cutter. Certain stores are set up so that it's not clear where the line to the cash register starts. This is especially true if there are multiple registers. So Saturday We were getting ready to check out at one of these stores after patiently waiting our turn. People had lined up behind us, out of the stores flow of traffic. When a register came open at the far end of the counter, a woman just swooped in and started checking out. No No...it's OK go ahead. We all were just hanging out with our arms full of stuff. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Baby Books
I bought another baby book this weekend and after a Saturday reading the thing, I'm not sure if I'm glad I did it. Most of these books are written for singleton Moms and Dads of course because there are a lot more of you out there. This one was specifically a twin book. It basically said, take most of the stuff you've read or been told and junk it. It's nice, but it won't apply to you. The author made a lot of good points and I can only speak for myself in saying, I think we need to revisit our organizational plan for the arrival of these boys. It's a weird combination. On the one hand, having some of this stuff in print gives you a sense of a goal...So many people just tell you you'll figure it out when you get there. This book says don't wait.
So we'll take time the next few weeks to get ready, paint the room we'll use as a nursery, and next weekend's project: Building everything from Cribs to Strollers. Wish me luck, I think the last time I had a screwdriver in my hand it was the kind you drink.

Have a good start to the week and stay warm.
PWD

Auto bailout... gas prices... Secondhand gifts?

Good morning everyone. Pat is doing the evening newscasts tonight so he isn't with us this morning. There's usually a lot of shuffling of schedules this time of year when everyone is trying to take time off for the Holidays. That's why you'll notice it's a game of musical anchors on the set the month of December.

We had a lot of national news this morning and a lot of new developments in the auto bailout legislation. It's getting heated to say the least...

Auto Bailout
Union workers won't take a pay cut, so Republican Senators say, "forget it!"
The 15 billion dollar plan was passed by the House earlier this week but a group of core Republicans say they can't allow the auto industry access to billions of dollars unless workers agree to take a pay cut so their salaries are in line with Toyota's workers. So, late last night the Senators stopped the vote from passing. Now it's in the hands of President Bush. It sounds like he may tap into the 700 billion bailout package for Wall Street to get the carmakers the money they say they need.

Gas Prices
These days holding out for gas prices to go down again before filling up your gas tank is kind of fun game to play. How low will they go? But if you didn't fill up yesterday... it was a gamble that didn't pay off. Gas prices shot up to $1.57 overnight. We still can't complain.

Secondhand Gifts.... Really?
This story surprised me. Our morning show reporter Megan Ruether went out and interviewed the owner of Plato's Closet, a secondhand store in West Des Moines about holiday shopping trends this year. To her surprise, the owner said she is seeing a lot more people buy secondhand gifts this year to give as Christmas gifts. I am not sure how I would feel about getting a "gently used" pair of jeans... but I guess it is the thought that counts, right?

I gotta go... have a great weekend!
Brooke

Hey, Y'all!

Hello everyone, or as they say in the south, how y'all doin? Pat is off to an appointment so I am getting the blog started. I just back from Savannah, Georgia last night and still thinking about all the nice weather I left behind.

I went with my husband who was down there for work and got to enjoy some good food, a wonderful city and lots of sunshine. This was my first trip to coastal Georgia. It is beautiful. Savannah was founded in the early 1700's and still has a lot of the buildings and landmarks from its conception because it wasn't destroyed during the Civil War. So, it's a fun city to explore. And the food is awesome, in a rich, deep-fat-fried kind of way. We ate at Paula Deen's restaurant which is probably some of the most fattening food I have ever consumed in my life. But sooo good. Fried green tomatoes, grits and shrimp and biscuits. The weather was mild with temperatures in the mid-sixties which made it perfect for a walking tour I took that explained the history of the city and some of the spots highlighted in the book, Midnight in The Garden of Good and Evil. All in all, I would highly recommend the city. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow.

In the news..

Bailout

Looks like Democrats want to pass a bailout for the auto industry but just a smaller one. This one is only 15 Billion. Republican Senators are still resisting.

Snow

We could get a break for a few days. In the meantime, Des Moines is trying out a pilot program with the Waterbury Neighborhood that would allow the city to clean streets faster but it will take some cooperation with neighbors. The city will put up signs right before a big snow asking people to move their cars from the street so the bigger trucks can come in and get the streets in better shape sooner.

Principal Layoffs

The company says it will lay off 300 workers in Des Moines. They will get pay until January and a severance package but this is a lot of jobs and it shows you just how the economy is having an impact on Iowa.

Hope you have a nice day and keep warm..

Brooke

Icy Start, Marriage Defined, Three Day Weekend

Good Morning....

Thanks to Dan and Elizabeth for filling in Monday morning. They do a great job on the weekend, I hope some of you who may not have sampled that show will do it now that you've had a chance to see a great team on the air.

Brooke is still off, it was her Birthday Monday so she was enjoying some time with her husband. I was in Chicago with my wife for a baby shower. More on that in a bit...

To the News:

Ice

It's a lot easier to come back to work on a day when there is a lot of news. Today fits the bill and it started overnight with some ice that turned to snow. Dozens of Central Iowa Schools are closed or delayed. It may seem like a hasty decision given the amount of snow, but the ice and snow combo makes the roads too dangerous. Add to that the blowing snow and wind we're sure to see and you can understand why some of the Superintendents chose to shut it down for the day.

Marriage

The argument over the state's role in defining marriage goes to the Iowa Supreme Court today. It's a case that's sure to get national attention. We're covering it for noon. Most of you have heard my take on this one. If the state is going to hand about a license for fishing, hunting, marriage, whatever...you have to have the same rules apply to everyone. This is not a religious argument , it's a legal one. Either way, I'd expect this one to go to the US Supreme Court.

Gov and Budget

The governor will define the cuts he's making in the State budget today. We should know more for the Noon. We will also have an item about Kentucky's Governor who's taking a considerable pay cut to set the example. It would be interesting to see if our governor and some other state leaders will do the same.

Update: as of the writing of this blog, the Governor of the State of Illinois has been arrested on Federal corruption charges. It's about time!

A House Divided

The bad news is Missouri got the whupping it so richly deserved this weekend in Kansas City. I knew it was going to happen, but anytime someone hangs sixty points on your team, it's embarrassing.

The good news is this means Missouri will be playing Northwestern in the Alamo Bowl. I cheer for NU during the regular season because they never play Missouri. Now we will have some serious disagreements the night of December 29th. For those of you who are unfamiliar with both teams: Northwestern is the team that just looks smarter than everyone they play. Missouri is the one that can't spell it's own name. M-I-Z.....Z-O-U!!!!!

Three Day Weekend
It was Baby mania in Chicago this weekend. We are lucky to have wonderful family and friends who were all very generous with their support and gifts. We're sneaking up on having enough stuff to actually have these children in our home. Here are a few pics from the shower. That's Sally, her Mom and my Mom. Sally and our friend Emily. She's due just about the same time Sally is but she's carrying just one at a time (also a boy!)

This is a quilt we'll use as a wall hanging. Sally's Grandma Penny made it for us. Penny has decided she'd like to be called GG from now on. Great Grandma.

And finally, our friend Colleen gave us a Cubs outfit and Sally's brother and his wife gave us some cubs and bears outfits...all we need is some MIZZOU wear and some Northwestern Outfits. At least my boys will know who they'll root for. No White Sox fans in our house.

Now all we have to do is put a room tether where these kids can sleep...oh yeah, and Sally actually has to have then babies. We hope that happens some time after Valentine's Day.

Hope you had a great weekend.

Stay warm, we'll see you back here tomorrow.

PWD

Late Blogging: Job Losses, Mall Shooting Anniversary, and Shower Power

Noon Friday:
Sorry about the delay for today's blog.

There's a lot going on in the news yet this morning so we'll touch on a few of the things on the list while I'm on the set for the Noon News.

Jobs
Just after the show, the jobs numbers for November came out and they were worse than analysts expected...hard to believe. if you don't know someone who's lost their job or who's in danger of losing their job, count yourself lucky. And the state of Iowa is in better shape than most other areas of the country.

Auto Bailout
The Execs are talking but is anyone really listening? Is this about whether the money would really help or is it now about perception. I don't know which is going to be worse, giving the Auto Industry more money, or rolling the dice and hoping it's not as bad as they say it's going to be.

OJ
OJ Simson is going to be in a Nevada prison for at least five years, probably more. Can we stop talking about him now?

Mall Shooting Anniversary
We asked about Mall Security Changes in the wake of last year's Omaha Mall Shooting and as usual we didn't get an answer from Local Malls. Now a lot of you are probably reading this and saying, "of course you didn't...why would the Malls talk about security procedures so someone can expose any weakness?" We get that and we're not stupid. I wouldn't ever ask a Mall to hand over the Emergency Procedure handbook. We're not here to give someone who would try to hurt people an advantage. But why can't the answer be, "Yes, we're always reviewing our security procedures and this incident was another way we learned how to be better. Shoppers can be assured the staff in charge of security and safety in this mall are better prepared to deal with a security situation today than they were a year ago." Or something like that.
I understand the problems associated with talking about security, I just think there's a way to dance a little closer to the question without saying something you don't want to.

Gas Prices
Gas is down another few cents even since the morning commute. $1.51 per gallon. They're predicting oil prices around $20 per barrel. That would mean gas at prices more like $.99/gallon early next year.

Shower Power
Our First baby shower happens this weekend. It makes all of this a little more real and I have to say, a little more urgent. We're excited to see old friends and celebrate with them. Hopefully Sal will take a few photos. I think this is one I'll stay away from. I'd be happy to see everyone but I have to say I'm just as happy to have a little time to read a book or a magazine. That may be how I spend my Saturday.

I hope you find something relaxing to do this weekend.
PWD

Bailout, Three Dog Night and New Dad Boot Camp

Good Morning.
If I looked a little sleepy this morning...I am. Last night I had The New Dad Boot Camp at Mercy Medical Center until 9pm.
I went in a little sceptical. It was worth a late night.
The class is run entirely by new dads, including some who brought their newborns in so we could get some "real world" practice. Of course I was the closest one to the baby when the diaper changing lesson came up. Interesting to get that personal with someone else's baby you just met. Anyway, baby Evan and I survived. I got a good lesson out of it and he got a clean diaper. Everyone looked happy afterward.
I'm also a certified swaddler after watching a lesson or two in that...and our Veteran Dad David gave us a lot of great advice from a new Dad's perspective. There are about a thousand books for women about pregnancy. I found three at Barnes and Noble for Dads. It was good to hear from a more familiar perspective, how the next few weeks and months may go.


It's got to be hard to come up with a way to teach those classes because you get a group with such a wide variety of circumstances. I may be a Dad that's looking forward to changing diapers or who knows a lot about newborns. There might a a guy across from me who's wife forced him to take the class and really wants no part in the dirty work of child rearing.
I thought this group of Dads did a nice job.

To the News:
Bailout
The automakers brought their Union muscle with them to Capitol Hill this time. They say politics makes strange bedfellows and I would say this is an instance where that's true. That the Unions are now talking openly about making concessions should make everyone stand up and take notice. They may actually be serious about reworking this failed industry into some sort of a profitable business. Buying a car is a good metaphor for this whole song and dance. Congress asked for a better deal than the sticker showed initially...The Auto industry just came out of the manager's office with a lower price. I expect Congress to make the Auto industry squeeze even more savings out before taxpayers put money in. At least that's my hope. I expect Automakers and the Union to hem and haw about how they can't possibly be expected to give anymore...then they'll come out of the managers office and tell us they can't believe he went for a lower price...


If I were GM Ford or Chrysler(maybe most of all the Union) I'd be really worried about the CNN poll we quoted this morning showing two thirds of the American people don't support the bailout. No one's buying the idea that the country will spontaneously combust we let these guys go belly up. I'm not sure the poll's respondents have a firm grasp on the economics, but they sure can smell a raw deal.

Clear your Walkway
It's the right thing to do but more importantly, your neighbors might nark you out to the City.
The ordinance gives you 48 hours to get the snow off your walk in most cities. In West Des Moines it's 24 hours.

Generation Iowa
The recommendations of this panel to keep and attract younger people to the state are:

• PROVIDE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNG IOWANS TO BE INVOLVED IN STATE BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS.


• CREATING MORE HIGH-WAGE, HIGHER-EDUCATION JOBS
  
• AND MORE EDUCATION BENEFITS FOR THE AMERICORPS PROGRAM.

I would be interested to hear if you think this covers it. Frankly I think the State also needs to more aggressively market itself. I think most people outside the state wouldn't be able to identify Iowa on the map. Note: We're the ones with the corn not the Potatoes

I think there are a lot of people in bigger Cities who might consider a move if we could get a marketing campaign out to some of these big city dwellers who might be looking for a little bit more affordable lifestyle.

Register Cuts...

I imagine everyone in every industry is doing the same thing this morning. Looking around and wondering if they're next. The Register is just one more example of a business that made job cuts. I am thankful for my job, and I am hopeful our business can avoid the same fate as so many others. I'd never wish that anyone lose their job, but I will be particularly sad to see Brian Duffy go. He's a talented artist but his real talent may be drawing what we're all thinking.

Three Dog Night

Jeriann likes to assign words to describe her forecast that alliterate the particular day of the week we're talking about. Terrible Tuesday, Wicked Wednesday...etc.

Thursday is a tough one when you're trying to describe bitter cold. I looked...there aren't too many words that describe bitter cold and start with the "th" sound of Thursday. Jeriann went with"Teeth chattering". I suggested "Three Dog Night".

I also asked if anyone knew what that meant. Our viewers never cease to amaze me.

Bobby Lovell from Fairfield wrote:

Patrick, It has to do with up in Alaska, the people up there had sled dogs and when it got cold they would bring their dogs in to keep them warm. A three dog night would be extremely cold.

DC Bland Wrote:

Inspired by an Australian Aboriginal custom of sleeping with a dog for warmth on a cold night - a three dog night would be very cold, plus the band had 3 lead singers

I didn't know this until this morning but DC's version seems to be the more popular origin of the idiom

Of course it's also a band of some note. Joy to the world.

On that note...Hope you have a good day...it's going to be another Three Dog Night.

PWD

Snow, Education Report Card and The Alarm Code is....

Good Morning!

I hope none of you had a bad commute this morning because of the snow. I actually like snow this time of year.

Ask me again in a few months and I think I could do without, but right now it gets you in the mood for the Holidays. Jeriann says 2-5 inches depending on where you are.

I know some of you were sitting at home at 5AM thinking, "what the heck are these people thinking?" or "Here we go again...the news blowing the weather out of proportion..." or some variant of that.

As I write this blog, I-35 is shut down north of the Metro, I-35 southbound is slow because of a flipped semi in the ditch near Mills Civic Parkway and we got a call saying Fleur drive is a skating rink northbound from the airport. We can't keep up with the number of accidents we're hearing about.

It's almost worse when it's an in between amount of snow like this. Two or three inches...we can handle that right? Not so much.

I hope the snow that came during the commute and the bevy of accidents that followed helps you understand why we wanted to give people a heads up.

Richardson for Commerce

It looks like Bill Richardson will be part of another presidential administration. He was Energy Secretary under the Clinton administration and now will take the post of Commerce Secretary. We'll have the highlights of the announcement at Noon.

Oops!

We're hearing more workers are being laid-off at the Electrolux plant in Webster City. I didn't see this cross the AP news wire this morning around 8:30 but one of our astute viewers did. The story crossed her Blackberry with a lead sentence that read: "More workers are getting laid at the Webster City Electrolux plant." Now because I live in a glass house I will not throw any stones on this occasion. The AP had it fixed by the time I called over there to tell them about it. Anyone can make a mistake.

Education Report Card

Iowa and every other state except California got an F in it's efforts to make education affordable according to a new study from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Here's the State's full report card. It's interesting reading especially if you have kids who are getting close to college age.

Also interesting, an article Brooke gave me a heads up on an article in Time Magazine. It features The District of Columbia's new Chancellor of Schools(that's her in the picture on the left).

I'm going to get lambasted for this when I see my Mom and my sister next but the issues brought up in this article are, in large part, the answer. As a brother and son to two of the best teachers around, I've often argued about teacher pay. Teachers should be paid more...more than professional athletes, more than news anchors, and more than lawyers. Here's the catch: You've got to make teaching something only a select few people can actually do. You pay the outstanding teachers and you tell the ones who are nice people but can't actually teach kids anything...good luck with your career elsewhere.

Until we demand excellence from the people we trust to teach our children, how can those people expect to be paid an elite level?

The Alarm Code is...

Whenever we talk about the holidays, there are usually a few days where we make it back to Chicago to celebrate with family and friends. Preparations for that trip also usually involves asking someone to take care of our house. I have this bad habit of giving the people who take care of the cats the wrong alarm code. I'm not sure why but I get the numbers mixed up. I almost did it again this morning. I caught myself but it's always embarrassing to get a call from someone with the alarm going off in the background asking for the right code.

Hope you all stay warm and safe out ther in the snow today.

Welcome to Winter!

Auto Bailout Take2, Tale of the Tape and Thanksgiving to Remember

Good Morning and our apologies for not writing a blog for so long. It's been quite a week. I'll get into that in a minute but 1st...the news of the day.

Bailout Take 2
Auto Executives will drive not fly to their appearance at a Congressional hearing today. We expect we'll hear an actual plan for the use of the 25 billion dollars they're asking for. I'm skeptical. I can't imagine the executive pay cuts or union concessions can amount to the kind of sacrifice it's going to take to make these companies profitable. I hope I can write that I'm wrong tomorrow morning. My Mom may have summed the feelings of the American people up on this one when we talked about this over the Holiday when she said, "If even one of the executives working at any of the companies that took taxpayer money get a BONUS this year I'm going to go nuts!" I agree and I think we'd all say the same thing. It's not the year for bonuses and if you expect one, You're crazy. If the Auto Execs expect Congress to accept anything short of a fundamental change in the way all three companies do business...we'll that would be just like Congress. I hope Congress has grown a spine over the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Tale of the Tape
20,000 hours of tape from the Nixon Oval Office will be made public today along with thousands of classified documents. It should be interesting reading. Think what you like about Nixon but this should be some pretty remarkable stuff. He's talking about Vietnam, the tapes may include conversations about his re-election...and we know how that one got done. Whatever we hear, it should include the kind of humanity we don't often associate with the decisions our leaders make. There were people in a room that made decisions that changed the course of this country's history. These tapes will put us all in the room with them.

Merge!
Let's review one more time...
You go down the ramp and press the pedal on the right. It makes you go faster. When you get to the speed traffic is already traveling on the highway, you find a spot and move into it.
If you are already on the highway it may be necessary for you to take your foot off the gas to make room for your fellow driver. It's probably not necessary to slam on the brakes so the rest of humanity behind you backs up for no reason.
I review these rules because it seems we still haven't learned how to enter and exit the highway here. The backup on 2325 at four every day. It's because people can't seem to merge off the 63rd street ramp on to westbound 235. My head may explode the next time I see someone floor it to the bottom of the ramp only to slam on the brakes and put it into park waiting for a mac truck sized opening to merge into.

Thanksgiving to Remember
I have so much to be thankful for this year. Not so much what I have or have accomplished this year...simply to lessons learned along the way.
On that theme, a week ago today I was waking up in a hospital room with my wife. Late Monday we had a little scare and the doctors told us to head over to the hospital. We quickly learned Sally and the boys were OK but the entire experience raised the blood pressure.
I told my parents later in the week, I often walk around still thinking of myself as a kid...my parents son, younger brother to my older siblings. Last Monday night driving my wife to the hospital in the middle of the night was an adult moment. For some reason it brought a lot of clarity to upcoming responsibilities and life changes.
They let us out of the hospital but Sally had to take it easy for a few days and that meant a big change of plans for Thanksgiving. Everyone from her family and mine still came to Des Moines
but we prepared a scaled back Thanksgiving meal (the turkey was still 28 pounds) shared on the floor of our living room. Everyone handled it beautifully and we'll all have a good story to tell these kinds after they're born.

Saturday night we kept our tradition of decorating our Christmas tree. It's a beauty! I spent the better part of a day stringing 1200 lights on a seven foot tree. It was a good distraction from watching Missouri Blow a fourth quarter lead and losing to Kansas. A reality made even more painful by the fact that my sister, a KU grad, was in my living room. I will post a pic f our finished tree when I get back home and can send it from my camera. Family left Sunday morning and made it home unscathed, though they said the drive got dicey there for a while. We are lucky to have so many people who love us and would go through the effort to drive all that way.

I hope that covers most of the missed week of blogging for you. I hope you'll understand my attention has been elsewhere and can excuse my absence. I also hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend.

I'll post a new poll this morning and I have a few new iPod apps for you iPod owners. Have a great day!
PWD