Handoff, Madoff and I'm Off

Good Morning...just some random thoughts before leaving today and enjoying Jeriann's beautiful forecast.

-U-S handover of security responsibilities in Iraq is an important milestone. Andy talked to a soldier who served in Iraq last night. He said he was upset we "took our eye off" Afghanistan and al-Qaida. I don't know anyone who disagrees. I, however, am among those who hope the situation in Iraq will end well. Security forces taking over cities is a good first step to getting out of there.
Who knows what would have happened f we didn't go into Iraq. I don't know that it's worth speculating on because you could make an argument the world will be a more stable place if we get a stable democratic Iraq.

-Madoff
This guy got what he deserved. The today show reported his wife was "only" going to have about two and a half million dollars left when it was all said and done. Poor lady. I can't imagine having to live on 250 thousand dollars a year for the rest of my life. How will she ever survive. As Patrick Ewing once said, "We might make a lot of money but, we also spend a lot of money." ...
No tag days for the Madoffs

-Speaking of the Today Show...when did TMZ take over the 30 Rock studios?
153 people are feared dead in another Airbus plane crash and we're leading the today show with the last pictures of Michael Jackson's rehearsals????? A headline on our little preview of the Today show said we were going to see what the rest of the Jackson's have been up to all these years. I for one...do not care.
I admit to downloading a few Michael Jackson's sons off iTunes last night. I'm even interested in the fact that he has hundreds of songs he recorded that haven't been released. He did that to secure the financial future of his kids. That guy may have been a little creepy and totally weird but you can't call him dumb.

-The online community seems confused about the latest Supreme Court ruling regarding workplace discrimination. The case deals with Firefighters from Connecticut. They were given a test to see who would be promoted to Captain and Lieutenant. The results showed more white firefighters would have been promoted. The City threw out the tests results fearing they'd be sued by minority candidates who said the test was unfair.
In the ruling the Court said employers can't throw out the results of a hiring test just because they don't like the results. I use a simple formula to gage my thought on situations like this. What would happen if the roles were reversed? What would have happened if Black and Hispanic firefighters scored higher but the city threw out the results?
Experts say this throws employment law into a sort of no-mans land and raises more questions than it answers. I disagree. The case answered the question before the court. It did not go further. If the Black firefighters think the test was unfair (most people think this is an antiquated way to test for promotions), they should sue the city so it's forced to use a more fair standard for hiring and promotion. The Court can answer that questions when it's presented.
Bottom line I think this is the next major hurdle for discrimination in the U-S. We have to figure out a way for the best qualified person to get a job, regardless of race. I know it's not that simple.

-Richard Engle is the best Network reporter in the field. His reporting from Afghanistan brings home the challenges our soldiers face. Get on MSNBC and watch some of his reporting.

-A friend sent me this article on Marriage that I will share with the group. It's from the Atlantic Monthly, which, I will admit to getting at home; but rarely read cover to cover.
I'd be interested in our readers thoughts on this one. I do not agree with the author.

So there are a few things for you to comment on. Feel free to add anything you like. We love to hear your comments questions and concerns.
Have a good one
PWD

Triathlon, Shawn and Arts Festival

I'm going to post this and get out of here. For a week every summer I get a shorter day courtesy of Wimbledon and NBC. That's this week. Unfortunately I am not taking full advantage of it because I am taking a few days off starting Wednesday afternoon.

Anyway, Jeriann served up a perfect forecast so it will be a great week to do whatever you want to do.

Most of the post is about the weekend

Triathalon

I hope some of you got out to this event. It was impressive last year for the Olympic qualifier. It was even more impressive this year moved completely to Raccoon River Park. I don't follow triathlon but it was an exciting atmosphere at the finish line and the little village of Hy-Vee partners that popped up was great. I've never seen so much free stuff in all my life. The athletes and the organizers say the community got behind the triathlon this year. I agree to a point. I think if the casual observer gets involved next year the event could balloon further into an even bigger party atmosphere...

Shawn

I finally got to meet Shawn Johnson this weekend at the Hy-Vee Tri and she is just as advertised. She deals with the Media with grace and poise... She is also really nice. I was a little wary about it but I didn't want to pass up the chance to stand for a picture with her...just as a memento. She agreed of course. A co-worker snapped the pic on my cellphone and when she handed it back to me...I PRESSED END!!!! I quickly realized I'd erased the thing but Shawn was already up the stairs and on to her next thing. I just didn't have the heart to bother her again. So just to prove to everyone that I actually did talk to her. I snapped this picture. Not exactly a memento, but what are you going to do?

Arts Festival.

Thanks to all of you who spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon down at the Arts Festival. Jeriann Brooke and I manned the WHO tent for a while. We are always flattered to have people come up and say they enjoy what we do. Anyone who came by got a balloon and as a bonus...a chance to see all of the boys! Jeriann brought Luke down and I gave Sally a break and took JT and Will with me.

Dinner with some friends capped off a great weekend. I hope you had a good one too. We'll See you tomorrow morning!

PWD

Losing Legends, Packed Weekend, and Haircut

Good afternoon...Hope you are all looking forward to the weekend...

Here are some thoughts to ponder and...hopefully...comment on before you go.

-Is Michael Jackson's death worth an AP news FLASH? That's how it was reported. Just for context...The beginning of the Gulf War, The Challenger explosion, Elvis' death...all reported by AP news FLASH. It's rarely used.

-He was an icon for sure. A game changer...am I so abnormal that I think the outpouring of grief from his fans is a little over the top? I note his passing, I respect the influence he had on music, I recognize the guy Had a LOT of flaws. I do not feel the need to cry, dance in the street, drive down the road with Michal's music blaring, or lay on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- A friend brings up a good point. What happens to the rest of the Beatles library now?

-Arts Festival gets stated this afternoon. I think of Mo Dana, the late Director of the Arts Festival, a lot this time of year. Mo made me laugh, but she also amazing me with her tireless efforts to get Des Moines on the Art World's Map. Get out to Arts Festival and show the artists from around the country what a wonderful place this is!

-Another showcase event gets going at Raccoon River Park Saturday with the Hy-Vee Triathlon. I'll be out there Sunday morning for our AM show. Good luck to everyone competing!

-We gave will a little haircut yesterday. He's had a bit of a comb-over. He reminds me of a few of the teachers I had in High School.

I'm going to have a little lunch with my wife. I hope we'll see some of you at the Arts Festival (We'll be there Sunday) and At the Triathlon. I'll be out there early Sunday as well.

Have a good one
PWD

Catching Up

Apologies...I'm WAAAAY behind.
Sally and I went to Chicago for the weekend. The boys made their first big road trip and Sally and I made it without going bonkers.
We'll get to that in a minute...first a quick fly through of the news...
Weather...
I'm always amazed at the people who are flummoxed by pop up storms on a summer afternoon in Iowa. When it's humid enough that your glasses steam up when you walk outside...grab an umbrella and a squeegee. It's not like it snowed....or they told us it was going to be 60. It's like 101 degrees in the freezer and people who are on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here are glad they're in the jungle in Costa Rica and not in Iowa.

Bottom line, if you don't expect thunderstorms to pop up on a day like that...you're not paying attention.
On a related note, there's an article in USA Today talking about the use of percentages when forecasting the weather. Jeriann was saying we don't use percentages for the reasons outlines in the article.

White House Spin Machine

We get calls from people who want to book satellite interviews with our show every day. We got an interesting call yesterday. According to the person booking the interviews...The President is planning a town hall meeting on healthcare on a major network. The network is going to use the Town Hall exclusively through the day. Here's the problem: The network rejected a conservative group's offer to buy an ad during the town Hall Meeting. They've also declined to have anyone from the Republican Party at the event. This comes from a person pitching for a conservative group who wants to respond to the President's Healthcare plans...but I had some thoughts on this one. I think I've written here before on media bias. I see it here. Why not let the conservative group advertise on the Broadcast. if they're paying customers...don't they deserve equal time? Also, why isn't the media at large screaming from the rooftops about this? If this were President Bush two years ago the story would read something like, "President holds meeting with supporters, opposition shut out" Instead the headlines from this will talk about the "need" for "real" healthcare reform. Real? To whom? Reform? Says who?

Example #2 of this: Last night Nightly news showed video of the President's News Conference. A reporter asked a question and the President dead panned a response. The Press gallery broke out laughing like the President was doing the late set at Ha-Ha's in Cleveland.

No doubt the Obama administration has a better PR Department than it's predecessor. Still, I don't like the seeming lack of healthy scepticism on the part of White House Reporters.

Shower

So back to the trip to Chicago. The main reason for the trip was a baby shower thrown by my Mother and Sister. We're again overwhelmed by the generosity of friends and family supporting us. So many people took time to show up on Saturday and spend time with us. I know guys usually don't but I hung around at the shower. Many of my relatives came a long way to celebrate with us and I am grateful for the effort.

The other reason to hang around at the shower came in the form of some old friends.We've all had kids right around the same time and got the chance to snap this picture.

The first is of our boys flanking Austin Horvath. His Mom Emily, (just to the right here) went to High School with Sally and I.

She remains one of our best and truest friends.

We added Dan and Mary Cox (more high school friends) and their son Kirby...and daughter Ainsley to the group for another photo later in the day.

I was so good to see them all.

I admit to being more than a little emotional about the whole thing. We have wonderful friends and have made a home for ourselves here in Iowa, but I am sure many of you can understand how much history can do for a friendship. I just about busted out in tears when Dan introduced me to his son Kirby as his best friend. Cox and Dix were quite a pair in High School. I still consider myself really lucky Dan befriended me 20 years ago. He is of the smartest people I know and like Emily, will always be on a very short list of people I'd do anything for.

I hope we can dig these snapshots out these snapshots when we're all going to our kids' weddings in about 25 years.

We capped off the weekend with a nice first Father's Day for me.

Church with my parents in the morning, then lunch/dinner with Sally's family.

(I'm going to load the picture later this morning)

Here's three generations of Dix men outside Church on Sunday. It makes us happy to see our parents just busting to show off their grandkids.

My beautiful wife gave me a bluetooth and a car charger for my new phone. Exactly what I wanted. A friend says she's going to rip it out of my ear if she sees me just walking around with the bluetooth not talking to anyone. Don't want to be "that guy".

ADA

Monday morning came really early because we had to get back for the American Diabetes Association golf outing Monday afternoon. We got back as quickly as possible and I joined up with my group in progress. Fun day playing out at Des Moines Golf and Country Club. The photographer snapped this picture of me eyeing a birdie putt. For the record, it was one of the few I made.

Hope you have a good day. Stay cool and don't go outside for a long time unless it involves a very cold pool!

PWD

Weather, What to Get Dad and The National Championship

Good Morning!

Weather

I looked out the window this morning and saw how bad it was...weather like that would usually make me nervous but for some reason I'm pretty focused these days in the morning routine. The boys and I went downstairs...had something to eat, and then back up to put them down for more sleep. It wasn't until I got outside that I saw the limbs and leaves down along our street.

We'll be looking for more damage from chopper 13 this morning and everyone's going to be cleaning up. Good thing I got the lawn done last night!

What to Get Dad

Anyone struggle with what to get your Dad for Father's Day? I'd like to hear your suggestions on what to get Dad. I'll put a link here to an idea we had for my Dad. (No peeking, Dad).

Anything you can do for your Dad is great. I'm sure he only expects that you tell him you love him and appreciate what he does for you.

National Championship

Part of my first Father's Day will be spent in front of the TV. Sally promised me some time to watch the US Open.

We were talking about the schedule changes for NBC this week because of the Open (we start coverage at 2pm today and Friday) and Jeriann asked if people who watched out show really care. It's an interesting question. So I put a new poll up on the blog asking just that. Do you watch the US Open when it's on? Do you watch when Tiger's in contention? Maybe you want to watch but just have too much going on this weekend. Finally, there are probably more than a few of you who think golf is a snob sport for the rich and won't watch one minute of it. If you fit into any of those categories...let us know.

Finally I wanted to congratulate my friends Jason and Ryan Hull. Hully is part of the group I take a golf trip with every spring. Not this year. We're all busy having babies. Hully and Ryan welcomed their little girl into the world last night. Isabel James Hull weighed in at 6lbs 4oz and 19 inches long. Baby and Mom are resting comfortably. Congrats Hully...

Lammert you're next!

I'm going to watch some of the first tee times...See ya

PWD

Home Sales, a Holiday Week in My House and A Long Weekend

Good Morning everyone...

Sorry for the lack of a blog Monday. I was absent, taking a day to recover from what was a VERY long weekend.

Friday just before the Noon news Sally called to say she was on her way to Blank Children's Hospital to get our son Will into surgery. We'd taken him to the Doctor's office Friday morning thinking he was spitting up a bit more than we thought was normal. We thought the Dr would tell us we were crazy first time parents. After a short exam he said he wanted to send us to get an ultrasound of his stomach...just to rule out what he called "a total shot in the dark". Turns out he was right on the money. Showing no classic symptoms he caught a diagnosis of pyloric stenosis. I jumped off the set in the middle of the Noon show (thanks boss!) and got over to Blank to Meet Sally and the boys. The worst part of the weekend was Will not being able to eat for about 12 hours before and eight hours after the surgery. That meant a lot of crying and baby managing for Sally and I...and not a lot of sleep.

Will had the surgery to correct the condition Saturday morning. it took less than an hour and he was back up in the room with us. Saturday and part of Sunday were spent slowly getting his stomach reacquainted with food.

On the continuum of things that can be wrong with your kids...ours was one of the easier things to deal with, but it's still scary to have your kids cut open, and hard to try to comfort him when you can't explain what's going on.

Post-op we have every expectation that he is better than ever and that there will be zero after effects of the surgery. If you or I had this operation it would take us weeks to recover fully. Babies are amazing. Will is really back to his old self already. As I left this morning I peeked over the edge of his crib and he gave me a huge smile. That's just about the best way to start the day after a hard weekend!

I can't say enough about the excellent medical care we got at Blank, and the random caring people we met along the way who helped hold the hands of some nervous first time parents.

Thanks Banks Children's Hospital!

To the news:

Home Sales

As someone who's home is on the market now...I hope this story is a sign of good things to come. Home sales are up about 20 percent month to month from April to May.

Iran

The supreme council of Iran is calling for an investigation of the disputed presidential election. Meanwhile thousands of people continue their protests of the elections. If there were ever an argument that technology, innovation and the global marketplace of ideas is a winning combination for democratic ideas...this is it. The protesters are using twitter, facebook, emails and text messaging to organize rallies. Even the best efforts of the government to shut down all that technology isn't working.

Letterman

Should have made his apology the first time around to Gov Sarah Palin. The joke was bad. The second apology seems insincere coming from a guy who tried to defend it a few days ago.

Favre

I could care less whether he comes back. As a Bears fan I just love seeing Packers fans and Vikings fans in a twist about this.

Holiday Week

We're on a 48 hour countdown in my house to the firs tee times of this year's US Open at Bethpage Black. The master sis a right of spring, I love the tradition of the British Open, and the PGA is always compelling, but no one can bring professional golfers to their knees like the USGA and the US Open. It's simply the toughest test of golf in the world. The best part is, If I want to practice, get good enough to enter and make it through qualifying ...I'm in! It is truly a national championship, and the fact that it's being played on a Public Golf Course makes it that much better.

I hope you all have a good Tuesday despite the gloomy start.

PWD

Friday

This morning...we were a little...well...loose on the set. It's Friday and that's some of the reason...the rest of it...well we'll just leave that on the set.

To the News
Cigarettes and the FDA
I don't like the government coming in and adding regulation to industries of any kind but I think tobacco might be a different animal. We're not talking about regulating the tobacco here...we're talking about the additives that the cigarette makers put into the cigarettes, the advertising and the sponsorships cigarette makers can get into. It's a drug, plain and simple. Smoke if you like, but I can't say I think the regulation of cigarettes is a bad thing.

Pandemic
Could the World Health Organization have screwed this one up any more? Everything I've read says the criteria for an H1N1 (Swine)flu "pandemic" were met weeks ago...The WHO was pressured by it's member countries not to put out the information so there wouldn't be panic. See now that, to me, is taking care of appearances and not dealing with the actual problem. How about we release the information but do a better job of explaining it?

Prejean/Palin
I wish both of these stories would just go away. If Carrie Prejean wants to be a spokesperson for whatever organization she's working with...go ahead. If Gov Palin wants to run for President...we'll see you here in Iowa in about 10 weeks. I just wish we could stop treating these stories as if they are the most relevant or important things we have to talk about.

Iran
Speaking of, if there's an election around the world that has a chance to changing the course of Western relations with the Middle East...the one that happened in Iran today is it. If there is truly a movement for more openness and improvement of relations with the West, then there's a real shot at making the Middle East a more peaceful place. If you haven't paid attention to this one, read up today.

Walk Now for Autism
I'll put in another plug here for the Walk Now for Autism. Our Megan Reuther will be there tomorrow morning at Valley High School Stadium. 8:30 am registration opens...10am the walk starts.

Super Wife
Shout out to my beautiful wife who has been bearing more than her share of the load lately. Most of it is circumstance but she's been taking a lot of the feedings lately so I think it's getting a little like Groundhog Day. The culmination of Sally's Super Mom act came last night when she woke up at 2:30am...a full hour after I was supposed to get up and feed the boys. I was late for work so Sally got up and did it...with no complain and a smile on her face. It is a constant thought in my head...having these boys is a daily challenge. There's not one I'd rather have on my team than Sally.

Have a good weekend.
PWD

Huckabee, Grassley and Indy

Good Morning...
We had quite a morning on Today in Iowa. It was busy, but that's good. it makes the two hours fly by.
To the News:

Huckabee
Dave Price interviewed former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in Sioux City last night. Huck says he's not decided about running. Who could decide two years out from the election right? I suppose that's sound thinking but Huckabee is certainly leaving the door open and leaving himself in the best position he can. Welcome to Caucus season 2012!

Grassley
We talked to Sen Grassley this morning from Washington via satellite. He has a lot to say and we could talk to him for hours.
Healthcare is going to be a big project for the Sen this summer. He says there could be an agreement on creating a new PRIVATE non-profit organization dedicated to getting the uninsured some coverage. It allows the President to follow though on his promise to get every American health insurance. it also allows Republicans to feel more comfortable with the delivery system (not run by the government)
On Judge Sotomayor, Grassley says he thinks July 13th is too soon for confirmation hearings. He says they have more than 1000 rulings to go through along with all of the judge's public statements and her responses to congressional questionnaires.
I asked if he was leaning toward confirming her or not..In typical form, the Sen responded, "there wouldn't be much point in having a confirmation hearing if I'd already made up my mind. I owe it to the judge to come into the hearing not having made a decision one way or the other".
True

Indy
We banished Brad to the parking lot this morning to try out the Indy Car Simulator that will be traveling around the Metro today. It's going to be at Best Buy this afternoon then out at Prairie Meadows tonight. The simulator is a lot of fun and if you're a race fan you should try it.
I was surprised to hear the Indy Corn 250 still has tickets unsold. If you want em...get em quick cause they said there aren't too many left. The race is next weekend.

Enjoy the weather...
PWD

CHrysler in Court, Stroller Strides, and Skype

Good Morning...
What did we do without stuff like skype? Last night I got online for about 45 minutes with my parents. It's a way for them to see the boys and feel like they're not missing so much. The boys were all smiles yesterday afternoon so I figured we could get a grin or two out of them while the camera was on....no such luck.



Chrysler
I heard someone on the radio trying to make the case that Chrysler's plan to dump dealers is some sort of government conspiracy. Really? Really Oliver Stone? Maybe it's too simple an explanation...tell me if I'm way off base here. I don't see this so much as a cost cutting measure as much as it is a way to start strengthening the Chrysler brand. Too many dealers floods the market and then they're competing against themselves. Have you ever walked into a Honda dealership and had any leverage at all? The answer is no because the closest one around her in in Ames. If I'm at a ford dealer, up until about three months ago I could walk into four different showrooms within a fifteen minute drive. Each of those dealers are competing for my business and they're competing against each other instead of competing for my business against Honda. I have no business sense whatsoever...but that seems to make sense to me.

Paying back the Bailout
Some of the Banks that got bailout money want to pay the government back. They feel the money is a "scarlet letter". They don't like the restrictions on executive compensation and other areas of business. The Government has to approve the list. So let me get this straight...they didn't want the money in the first place, they're not using the money the way the government intended anyway, and now they want to give it back. And our government is pondering this. Can anyone answer why?
On a related note, the "stress tests" the government did on the 19 biggest banks were apparently wrong. they used the wrong numbers. I feel much better now about the government stepping in to "save" the banks.

Stroller Strides
It's not just Moms that gain the weight when babies arrive. It's hard for us Dad's too...I'm reminded of that after a visit to the Doctor's office and struggling to get to the gym. I believe this stroller workout would be pretty good. Pushing a stroller around Grays Lake is evidence enough that it's a workout. The web address is www.strollerstrides.com

Have a good one and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts.
PWD

Storms, Sports and Spit-up

We had a bit of each in our house this weekend...
We'll start with the actual news and work our way through it.

Storms
This is one of those mornings a lot of you are asking...what's the big deal? If you didn't live in that Northwest corner of the Metro, you probably didn't get the brunt of the storms. If you did...you're probably asking why we didn't have more? Chopper should show us the path of any potential tornado today.

It was actually a weekend of tornadoes from here to Wyoming. If you've ever wanted to see a tornado form...here's time lapse video from the folks at the vortex 2 project. They're storm chasing all summer to get a better idea what happens inside the storm as a tornado forms.

Sports

Two of the best athletes of all time in their sport won this weekend. Roger Federer won the French open, finally...He completed the career grand slam and tied Pete Samprass for major wins at 14. The more memorable moment came when a fan jumped on to the court. I would hate this as an athlete.

Tiger won too.

He looked like Tiger again...hitting shots when they really count. BTW Tiger also hit all of his fairways Sunday. That's bad news if you planned on stealing the U.S. Open at Bethpage. If Tiger puts it in the fairway...there's no way anyone beats him two weeks from now at Bethpage.

Spit Up

We're dealing with a little spit up problem at our hose. Will seems to feel it necessary to give back a little of each feeding. Sally's a little worried about it and I can see why. It doesn't look fun, it's annoying and he can't tell us how to fix it. He just smiles...pukes up a little formula, and then smiles again... Like many things new parents deal with....everyone is telling us...this is what babies do. I know that's the case...he's healthy and happy in every other way and he seems in no distress at all over the spitting up.

One more shout out to my wife...she's the best. She gave me the green light for not just one, but two rounds of golf this weekend. It's a great way for me to recharge. It's also a huge time commitment for me to be away from her and the boys so I appreciate her effort to pick up my slacking.

Speaking of recharging we also got more sleep than we usually do thanks to the boys. They went a little longer overnight. It allowed for about nine hours of sleep for each of us. We're not caught up yet but I feel better this Monday than I have in a while.

Welcome Back Brooke!

PWD

The Speech, Franchise Fees, and Well Wishes for A Friend

Good Morning
I wanted to start by passing along our well wishes to Graham Gillette and his family. Many of you may know Graham's name as a former Des Moines School Board Member. Graham and I developed a friendship through our wives.
I guess he slipped and fell on some concrete Tuesday night and is in the Methodist ICU. His Facebook page says he has a fractured skull but is recovering. Still...scary. So a speedy recovery to a good guy and someone who genuinely cares about this community.

The Speech
The President spoke at Cairo University today. He made good on a campaign promise to go to a Muslim Capitol and speak directly to the Muslim world.
The highlights are as you'd expect:
-We'll leave Iraq to the Iraqi people and make good on a promise to pull combat brigades back this summer.
-The attacks of 9/11 scarred the American Psyche and lead to a lot of negative feelings against Islam. It also led the US to do things that Obama said were against our traditions and best ideals.
-He said there must be a peaceful solution in the conflict between Palestinians and Israel. He went on to say that calling for the destruction of Israel is unacceptable and that the Muslim nations need to be more tolerant.

So no major ground broken here. He said what you'd expect. The harder part will be the reaction and building actual trust among nations.

Franchise Fees
If you're at home cheering the franchise fee ruling as a victory for the taxpayers...hold on to your wallet. The court ruled. Smarter people than me decided the City was charging too much. But that doesn't solve the problem. The city is now going to have to give back 43 million, to say nothing of the hole the loss of franchise fee revenue leaves in the budget. The City doesn't have enough money. So there are a couple choices...the one that will likely happen is an increase in your property taxes. So congratulations...you get a $200 check back from the franchise fees...your tax bill will go up and the lawyers get rich.
The suggestion box is open, fix the problem. The City of Des Moines, more than any other city in the state, is full of government offices, hospitals and non-profits. All of these organizations don't pay property tax but are a HUGE burden to the taxpayers. How do you charge the organizations that don't pay for their property tax so the homeowner isn't burdened. Des Moines still needs to be a place that a family can afford to live...

Feel free to comment...
Liz is around for one more day. Maybe we can get her to blog tomorrow.
PWD

O-Town Layoffs, Cell Phone Elbow and Good News

When my cell phone rings at 5pm and the boss is on the other end, it's generally not good news. That's why I was so pleasantly surprised to hear he was calling to tell me Liz Klinge would be filling in for Brooke while she's on vacation the rest of the week.

I don't mean to sound like a candy ass here, but it's a long two hours anchoring by yourself, and then an even longer noon hour. So we were glad to have Liz here this morning and for the rest of the week!

To the News:

O-Town

The news wasn't good from Ottumwa last night. Nearly eight hundred people laid off at the Ottumwa John Deere works. There's a chance these folks could be re-hired in the fall, but only if the economy, and demand turn around.

Air France

Search teams found debris from the missing Airbus yesterday right after our show. There's not much but it's a start for crews looking for the voice and data recorders. The discovery lead to an interesting conversation with a pilot friend yesterday. He tells me most commercial jets are not carrying any kind of a GPS locator system. It would seem to be a logical addition, especially to trans-oceanic flights where radar monitoring is not an option. Many private gets use GPS to navigate but not the big commercial jets. Look for changes in the way these flights are monitored and in the way the "black box" is attached to the plane. If the box would float, it would be much easier to find. We may never know exactly what happened unless they find both the voice and data recorders.

President Overseas

We took a live picture of the President arriving overseas in Saudi Arabia. I'm not sure what the President is going to say in his speech in Egypt tomorrow that's going to change minds or hearts in the Arab world. I give him credit for addressing the animosity toward the west directly but to what end?

Cell Phone Elbow

Are you kidding me? The Cleveland Clinic identified this new condition as a pinching of the nerve in the elbow brought on by keeping your arm folded at more than a 90 degree angle while you hold a cell phone. So the Bluetooth people are ecstatic. The next condition will be people with shoulder injuries as they try to hold the phone to their ear with their shoulder rather than their hand.

New Pics

Jeriann and I are both reluctant to share pictures of our kids. Our kids are no more important than anyone else's kids...and we try to keep that in mind...

I'm sure some of you are spraining your eyeballs as they roll to the backs of your heads every time we talk about our new families. That said we've both been asked to share some more by people we run into on the street. So here they are.

The first is of young Luke while Jeriann and Rob visited his Grandparents in Detroit last week.

Mine come from a photo shoot we did at Jolesch Photography. Some friends gave us a full year of photo shoots with the kids to document their 1st year. The photographer we worked with did a great job!

Hope you all have a great day.

PWD