Miss Iowa and Rowdy Ragbrai

Good morning! Patrick is enjoying some time off, so you get me this morning. I can tell this is going to be a good day. We have nice weather on tap and it's a day closer to the weekend! Yesterday turned out to be a steamer. In fact, it was so hot my three year old walked outside and then right back in about 5 minutes later. He said, "I don't want to play outside." I am certain I have never heard him utter those words before. He's happiest when he's running around in the yard, but I guess even kids have their limits! We spent a lot of the afternoon playing in the comfort of air conditioning.

There are a couple of things that got us talking in the newsroom this morning. First one involves Miss Iowa. Maybe you've heard by now about the comment Washington National's pitcher Miguel Batista made during a post game news conference Tuesday. The guy emergency pitched for fan favorite Stephen Strassburg. Some of the fans were so disappointed they couldn't see Strassburg, they started booing Batista. To make matter worst, this is what Batista said to reporters about his not-so-kind reception: "Imagine if you go there to see Miss Universe and you end up with Miss Iowa."

Batista was trying to say he understands fan's disappointment. Unfortunately he didn't pick his words very carefully. Although we probably wouldn't be making a big deal out of this if he had said Miss Minnesota instead of Iowa. He simply made a bad analogy and probably just picked a state. Miss Iowa is taking it in stride. She said the whole thing is funny and takes no offense. By the way, the picture on the left is of Miss Iowa. Next to her, is Miss Universe.

The funny part is that they look alike!

Anyway, Batista sent Miss Iowa flowers.

The other story that got us laughing this morning is about skinny dipping. Ragbrai is often known for its fun-loving bikers. And yesterday things may have gotten a little out of hand. One of the stops included a pond where bikers could cool off by jumping from a crane. It was supposed to be for a good cause. You pay five bucks and the owners gave some of the money to charity. Well, it was all fun and games until some of the bikers decided to take off their clothes. Police found out and put an end to it all. Can you imagine diving in only to see other people in the water naked. Eww!

Alright... I'll write more tomorrow! Enjoy the day!

BB

Overnight, The News We Didn't Get to, and On my own...(sort of)

Good Morning!
Tonight I actually will be on my own for a little while with the boys. Sally will be away for work so I am taking a couple of days off. Overnight shifts present some interesting childcare challenges and this is one of them. Since no one volunteered to come over at 2am this time, I just decided to take a couple days off. It's going to be fun. It's also going to be hard work. The good news is, my wife is still my wife and so she wrote down an entire schedule for me to follow. meals are all laid out...all i have to do it prepare them. In the end, it's only two days. I think I can handle it.

To the News
Overnight
Another shooting near Evelyn Davis Park should be taken in the context of the relative quiet these past few weeks. Neighbors, Community leaders and Police have all worked together to keep an eye on the area and make sure everyone is communicating. I hope we made that clear in our interview with Police. I hope this is an isolated incident and we don't hear about anything more in that neighborhood for a good long time.

Challengers
It should say something to you that no one wanted to even run uncontested in a primary for three of the Polk County Supervisor's seats. All three Dems are up and were, until this week, running unopposed? Cmon, there's got to be someone who wants to take on one of these people? Are they simply doing that good of a Job? Maybe. You haven't heard of any of the massive cuts or loss of services in County Government like we're getting at the state level. They're keeping the conflict to a minimum and news coming out of the Supervisors tends to be photo ops like getting an oversizes check beck cause the Events Center had a good year. They made some hard choices years ago about their own budget and set themselves up for success because of it. Of course having a pot of gold at the end of the Altoona Exit off I-80 doesn't hurt.
County Government is the nitty gritty of public service. These guys work for a living...it's not a cush job.. as a voter I have to ask myself, if you didn't even care enough about the job to sign up when you knew you were going to win a Primary...why am I voting for you now?

Whitewater
I wasn't at the meeting so I can't say, but were people in P-hill really arguing they should spend MORE money on a brand new water park rather than refurbishing the one that exists? I don't know this for a fact, but isn't the major expense of a water park the infrastructure? It already exists at Whitewater University. Change things around...build some new attractions but man...I would think you'd want to use that space. As I say, maybe I'm wrong.

New You Didn't See
If you missed it, there's another article about the Hypocrisy of the Catholic Church on MSNBC. Really? Really Rome?
This is why scores of Catholics my age are having a little trouble going to church these days. The community of faith is sound, I find a lot of value in leaning on my fellow Catholics, learning from and drawing off their spirit and faith. I am troubled by the lack of honesty within Church leadership. They are turning a blind eye to issues they created over decades.

-We had a little debate over Chelsea Clinton's wedding. Does anyone care that she's wearing Vera Wang?

-Men and women handle things differently. We talked about an example in our personal lives this morning. In a group if guys, if the group has a problem with something one of the guys is doing...everyone says, "Dude, that's not cool", and it's done.
Women will talk to each other individually about how badly one of the women in the group is behaving and then soften their stance to the offender's face.
It's much easier the guy way.

-See my earlier post (like two or three weeks ago). My prediction is coming true. The oil in the gulf "appears to vanish quickly" as one of the headlines put it. Who would have guessed it?
I have no doubt we're going to see tar balls washing ashore for some time, but I think we all just got a lesson about mother nature. She's good at keeping the house clean.
The oil spill was a disaster for a lot of reasons but I don't think we're going to have beaches painted in black for decades to come because of it. We were getting that picture painted for us in the national media as we got into week three four and five of this spill. It appears the National Media may have exaggerated or misjudged the situation...I can't imagine.
You have to give BP some credit for how it responded, and the Government some credit for pushing the company to be aggressive. They don't get a free pass...they didn't do a "good job" they did the job that needed to be done because they screwed up in the first place.

-I'm shocked Des Moines didn't make it on the top fifty best cities for working mothers. Really? Two of our biggest employers are perennially in the top ten best places for Mom's to work. Minneapolis topped the list. It's pretty hard to argue that choice, but some of the other cities... Cleveland? Washington D.C.? New York? Detroit?
If you'd like to spend your evening's listening to your kids play while you're stuck in traffic maybe these are great places to work...but man...

Flood of Questions, Waiting for Food? and When Dad gets left in Charge of Haircuts

Good Morning!

First a Congratulations from the Today in Iowa team to the Price Family. Our own Dave Price and his wife Emily had their first child over the weekend. Hayden Thomas is a healthy and happy (and we hear hungry) baby boy. Great name! Head over to Dave's blog to pass along your own congratulations if you like.

To The News

Flood of Questions

So this private Dam failed at Lake Delhi. First things first, thankfully no one was hurt. Damage is going to be terrible for people effected, but thanks to the quick actions of the Emergency Management teams, no one was hurt or killed.

Now the Governor and Congressman Brailey are talking about repairing or replacing the Dam. Isn't that the job of the Homeowners on the lake? I understand the public interest in making sure the Lake still exists and the homes on the lake hold their value. So isn't this a county matter? Shouldn't the County be looking into low or no interest loans for the ownership group?

Concerned

When I heard the news that two American Sailors came under attack in Afghanistan and that one of the two was taken prisoner by insurgents, I got a little worried it might be our friend Karlos Kirby. For those of you who don't know he's Iowa's only Winter Olympian. He signed up for the Naval Reserve after 9/11 and got called to duty last year. I've traded emails with him a few times and just wanted to make sure he's OK.

He sent me back a quick not from the weekend saying he's OK. In fact he sent back this picture of him with the Commanding General in Afghanistan General David Patraeus.

That's Karlos on the left The General is front right.

BP Changes

So does anyone else think Tony Hayward doesn't care at all that he's going to get fired from his job at BP. That's like getting your very own lifeboat off the Titanic. I see thy the company's Board of Directors would want to do it, but really...this guy is going to be laughing all the way to the bank.

Waiting in Line?

If you saw a lot of people just off of Merle Hay Road this morning looking like they were waiting for concert tickets...they were waiting for something even better. Free Wings! The New Buffalo Wild Wings opens today. The 1st 100 people through the door get free wings for a year. I think I'd get sick of wings by then...or so fat I couldn't stand.

So Jeriann's question this morning was, what food would you stand in line all night for?

When Daddy Takes Charge

So we went to go get the boys haircuts this weekend. I had a feeling it was going to be traumatic...not so much for the boys as it was for their Mother. Will had this curly head of hair...I say HAD because we got most of it cut off Saturday. Here's what he looks like now. Who knows...maybe it will grow back curly too. Maybe not, but he needed a haircut. Sally was watching JT, I had Will...when we sat him down in the chair...I said give em a haircut...that's that. Sally said she would have left it a little longer so there was some curl still to it. I say it will grow back, and I actually like the shorter hair.

Hope you have a good start to the week.

PWD

More Rain, King and #2 for JR

Good Morning!
For those of you who missed it, yes, Jeriann is expecting #2! She made the announcement this morning. She's actually been waiting for a good morning to let people know. We had a guy email us this morning asking why she would spend time telling people she's expecting.
I guess my only answer is, her announcement on-air saves me replying to the emails asking "why is Jeriann gaining weight?".

She's due in January.

More Rain
You have to cringe looking up at the Radar this morning. Fort Dodge and everyone else along the highway 20 corridor got hammered again. As if five inches of rain wasn't enough yesterday...this morning they got more. We'll hear totals later today but I would think it's in the 2-4 inch range. That's twice the rain we usually get in July.

King
It was only a matter of time before Rep Steve King commented on the Whole Shirley Sherrod USDA thing. Here's what he had to say on an Orlando Radio program. Sounds like a lot of "fact" are getting mixed up and squeezed into a perspective that would make it look sinister. At one point the Congressman admits he's never hear the things that the host puts out as "fact" and then goes on to comment on them as if they ARE fact.


I'll let the Congressman's statements speak for themselves.
What do you think?

OK
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
PWD

Flooding Again?, Vilsack's Apology and Big Tease

Good Morning,
The fact that Brooke didn't kill me this morning is a testament to her even temper. I was rushing to finish the Open script for the top of the show. I called the USDA, the FDA, and I said it was Friday not Thursday. Brooke got to read both of those. I told her it's a good thing everyone knows I like working with her so much or people would think I'm trying to sabotage her.

Flooding
So we're basically a flood sandwich. Rain to our north and flooding to our south. All that water up north will head our way and there's no a lot of room fr it downstream. Jeriann says we're going to get some rain here in the Metro but not much.

Vilsack Apology
So there was some agreement in the newsroom this morning that Tom Vilsack stepped up yesterday as few politicians do. There's a reason the people of Iowa elected this guy twice. I thought his apology was eloquent.
Here's a better analysis from the Washington Post.
Not everyone was that happy with Vilsack. Here's a guy from the same paper...trashing Vilsack. Hard to take it seriously when the guy doesn't even know enough about the story to know the Farmer is actually alive.

Events Center
So the County got one of those big fake checks from the Iowa Events Center yesterday. It's the biggest profit the Events Center has seen since it opened. Anyone talked to the people who were protesting the construction of the IEC lately? I am all for accountability in government...especially County government around here; but I am also fond of giving credit where credit is due. The County Supervisors have stayed on top of the management at the IEC and made sure their expectations (and the taxpayers) are being met. All of this happened without an AHL franchise. There's supposed to be a big announcement from the Barnstormers today. I've been wondering if hockey is coming back to Des Moines. Am I reading too much into today's "good news" from the Stormers? I would say that means no hockey for a while.

Big Tease
Jeriann has something to tell us tomorrow. She's going to do it on air. I'd be watching if I were you.

Have a good one
PWD

Jobs, Racisim? and Bed Bugs

Good Morning!
Thanks to Brooke for blogging yesterday! If you want to hear more from her make sure to comment! Positive feedback is good.
I keep telling her she should add more to the blog. People want to hear from Brooke!

To The News...
Jobs
Brooke and I agreed, beyond the unemployment numbers here in Iowa, Dave Price's excellent story about I-Jobs is the talker of the day. Where are the jobs? We've been asking the Governor's office for a while now. We've asked and asked and asked again. Each time, the Governor's office delayed an answer. When Dave finally went to them this last time they estimated the number of jobs created at 7-9,000. That's NOT the tens of thousands of jobs the Governor promised when the legislature debated this program. So where did the money go? My guess is that the answer is not going to be good news for the Gov.

Racism?
A USDA employee, The Director of Rural Development for Georgia, made a speech at an NAACP event last year. In it Shirley Sherrod was relating a story about a white farmer who'd asked for help in the 80's farm crisis. Sherrod related that initially she didn't give the man all the help she could. She said she was conflicted because there were a lot of black farmers who were losing their land. Here's the video of the speech.


Sherrod says full speech shows she ended up helping this man save his farm and they actually ended up being friends. Her point in relating the story was that we all have those kind of biases and we need to learn to set them aside as she did. Secretary Vilsack says he's reviewing the speech and her resignation. The White House says Vilsack did not consult with anyone there before he asked for her resignation, but that The President stood by Vilsack's decision.

A side note to share. Nightly News also ran this story about voter intimidation at a Philadelphia polling place election day 2008.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What do you think?
Bed Bugs
To a person, we all agreed this story made us itch. Someone put a bag full of live bed bugs in a City building downtown. They've fumigated the building twice and now have plans to heat the building to 140 degrees. That also kills the bugs.
Our questions: Who would do this? Why? and How do you get your hands on a bag full of live bed bugs? It can't be easy.
Someone emailed to ask why we were making light of it. We weren't. We were all totally grossed out by it.

Cubs
Carlos Zambrano will pitch in Des Moines tomorrow or Friday. More interesting might be his news conference today. Big Z will answer questions about the temper tantrum that landed him in therapy. Fans can see him pitch tonight or tomorrow.
The other thing Cubs fans are perpetually focused on is the future. "Next Year" takes on new significance because Lou Pinella is retiring at the end of the season. Sh should Ryne Sanburg get the job? Joe Girardi's name is also out there. As someone who grew up watching both play, that's a tough choice.

Temper Tantrums Take 2
We are beginning to deal with some moderate to severe temper tantrums at our house, especially at bedtime.
JT doesn't seem to want to change into his PJs. He's flailing around the room, throwing himself on the ground...and his balance isn't that good to begin with. And did I mention the screaming. Sally describes it as a rusty barn door. I would direct to you Jarasick Park 2. The baby T-rex? Yeah, that's what he sounds like.
Hard to ignore as a parent but that's the advice we're getting. It's hard not to wonder...is this going to be the way my kid behaves? I am confident it's a phase. He's really a sweet kid but he's testing his parents this week.

One more addition thanks to my friend Mara:



Have a good one
PWD

Hello... It's Brooke here.

Good morning and happy Tuesday. I know it's been a while since I took the reigns of The Morning Buzz, but Patrick had to head out so he asked me to take over this morning. The rain is definitely the talk of the morning, but at least the sun is starting to peak out as I write this. I really don't know how people live and thrive in places where it rains a lot. Places like Seattle and London. Don't get me wrong, I ADORE both cities... but it's hard to get excited when you see rain in the forecast for the next seven straight days. And I am sure some of you parents out of there are wondering what to do with your young kids when it rains all day. You can only stay inside for so long before everyone gets a little crazy.

Yesterday, I decided Evan needed to burn off some energy and since it was raining hard in the morning, I took him to a place called The Indoor Playground in Ankeny. It has all kinds of blow-up slides, bounce houses and playground equipment. Not only did he have a ball, but he also came home completely tapped out. This was my goal and he slept very well during his afternoon nap. If there is one observation I have made about Evan and other 3 year old boys, it's that they need to run and jump and be physical or else they end up turning into little monsters. And that's not fun for anyone!

Jeriann and I were talking about sweet corn last week and how to prepare it. I bought some from the stand up the street last week and thought I would try to make it a couple of different ways. I boiled some of the ears in water and put a couple of the others in the microwave rolled in wet paper towels. Pat swears by the microwave. But I have to admit, I still though the boiled corn was the best. Do any of you have any corn on the cob secrets you would like to share? I have heard grilling is also a good way to prepare corn. By the way, there is nothing cuter than a three year old eating corn on the cob. Nothing!

Hope you all have a great day and manage to stay dry!

Brooke

Damage, Benefits, and Weekend

Good Morning. I hope none of you had any bad damage from the storms over the weekend. I feel like we lucked out. My parents called Sunday morning and asked if we heard the sirens overnight Saturday into Sunday. Maybe I was in a deep sleep, but I didn't. It makes me feel better the Brooke didn't either. I guess Des Moines didn't hit the sirens and Urbandale did.

More Weather today...Jeriann says there's a moderate risk for severe weather.

To the News
Damage
I felt badly for the woman in Urbandale who's home burned down over the weekend. A power pole snapped and sparked a transformer. The sparks lit her roof on fire.
It brought up an interesting question. The woman said she'd seen news stories all her life about people who didn't realize they were in a "real" emergency and ended up getting caught in a fire. She says she tried to go back in for a few more things in her house and firefighters had to keep her out. Lucky they were there.
So I ask, do you know what you'd do in a fire or other emergency where you had to get out of the house? Is there something you'd grab? Sally talks about our wedding album. The really irreplaceable documents are in the safety deposit box. My order is kids, cat, I don't care about the rest.

Benefits
I agree with unemployment benefits being extended to people who are out of work long term. Is is so bad that Republicans want the benefits paid for before we hand em out? Maybe now is not the time for the Commerce Department to do a study on the long term effects of European Cheeses in the Midwest. I'm joking of course, but you get my point. There's got to be something that's not essential. I think of that scene in the movie "Dave" where he cuts the federal budget to save a homeless shelter for kids. Anyway, I think we can provide a bridge for people still looking for work without adding to the deficit.

Weekend
We had a great time this weekend with family in town though it didn't get off to a roaring start. Friday afternoon Sally was supposed to be home around 2:30. She got on two different planes in Chicago with mechanical difficulty and finally got home to Des Moines at about 6. Not a good start. Still we went out to a very nice dinner at Biaggis. They do such a nice job with their service and our waiter was particularly nice. As it turns out he is getting married to one of the nurses that took care of Sally in the hospital. Small world.

Saturday we went down to a very warm Farmer's Market before heading over to the Science Center to let the boys run around. Will took his first escalator ride up to the weather studio to see Megan. He thought the whole thing was pretty cool.
Saturday evening we went to 801 for my Dad's retirement dinner and had a GREAT meal. I'm hoping to throw a few of the pictures up here later this morning.
Sunday after everyone left Sally and I took the boys to Ashworth Pool. Fun time but Dad needs a new phone. seems it's not good for a phone to be in your pocket when you sit down in the wading pool. What an idiot!
SO I'm off to see if I have insurance for my phone through Verizon. Wish me luck!
PWD

No More Leak, Politics, and 36

Good morning!
Thanks to everyone who sent me a nice birthday wish via email or Facebook. I feel well remembered and am looking forward to having family in town this weekend(and my wife back home tonight!).

To the news...
Overnight
We got an email from a guy this morning saying he wasn't going to watch anymore if we were only going to do bad news. He said he wanted more Happy News. If you missed it we had a couple bad car accident and we followed up on the drowning yesterday. For the record, we don't run these stories for the sake of running an accident. the accident shut down I-35. That's news...no way around it, especially in the morning. There will be thousands of people in pools this weekend...a reminder that it can be dangerous isn't out of line is it?
Maybe we'll ignore the news Monday and put video of puppies and sunshine on for two hours.

No more Leak
BP has the well capped...Now that wasn't so bad was it? It only took em three months...
They've got to decide whether they'll syphon off the oil to a ship at the surface or just use the containment dome to cap the well for now...

Politics
The story of the day for me is the one coming out of the Republican Primary. We learned what most everyone suspected yesterday when news came out that the Democratic Governor's association paid more than three quarters of a million bucks for ads to try to sink Terry Branstad. One expert interviewed by the Register called it desperation.
Yep, that's about right. What does it say about a Political Party's confidence in its' candidate that you have to get involved in the other guy's primary and try to get the weakest candidate elected?
How do you feel if you gave a thousand bucks to the Dems thinking it would go to help elect...you know... Democrats?!?
How much could $750000 buy you in another race?
The kicker here is that it didn't matter at all. Do you really think anyone is going to remember that Branstad ONLY got 50 percent of the vote? In a general election he's probably going to look better to independent voters in Iowa that he's NOT beholden to the Right.
Your guy, however is going to get slapped around with this one for the next four months. The bottom line for me is that you didn't use the money the way your donors probably expected.

Baskin Robbins Cuts Flavors
BR cut five flavors out of it's line-up. The only one I care about is the French Vanilla...It wasn't cut so much as it just surrendered.

Hope to have some pictures from the weekend celebrations Monday. We'll see.

Audit, Facebook and The Open

Good Morning!

First a piece of business, Happy Birthday to our Producer on Today in Iowa Lisa Felton. Lisa has been on this shift for a little more than a year. It's been a big year for her and her husband Jeff as they also welcomed their first child Cassidy. So it was a big year. We are lucky to have someone who can juggle the 1st year of being a Mom with the grind of an overnight schedule. If we have success in front of the camera, it's usually because Lisa is working hard behind camera.

Happy Birthday Lisa!

Audit

SO things go from bad to worse over at the Iowa Association of School Boards. A new audit finds more people getting raises bigger than a lot of people's annual salary. I doubt this was the only one of these organizations pulling some kind of funny business with the books. If you run one of them and you don't straighten up and fly right...you're just an idiot. The days of the Good Ol Boys Network and the unofficial kickback are over. There's just too much information within the public's grasp...too many people who will raise a red flag. That's a good thing.

Unfriendly Audience

The President is going to Michigan today to talk about how the economy is improving. It's like the head of BP going to the Gulf Coast to give a speech on how careful they are to not damage the environment.

I'm not sure the people there are buying what the President is selling. There is a 14% unemployment rate in the state of Michigan right now. Makes you glad to be living in a place like Iowa. We may have a higher unemployment rate than we're used to but it could be a lot worse.

Espys

UNI best comeback...no brainer. The Becker and the Thomas families sharing the Aurthur Ashe Award...well deserved. Seth Meyers blasting LeBron...Priceless!

On another sports note Kyle Korver is moving to Chicago to become a Bull. I'm glad we'll be seeing more Bulls Highlights in our sportscasts.

Facebook

Saw an interesting interview with a guy from Facebook about some of the changes the site has made, some of the challenges they expect in the marketplace and the goals of the company long term. Since a lot of you are Facebook users I thought I would share. It's about 20 minutes but it's worth listening to. What makes it more interesting to me is that this is the younger brother of one of my best friends.

So what do you think? Do you believe him? I do because I know him. Chris is one of those rare combinations of true brilliance and solid ethics. It may sound corny to anyone else, but I believe him when he says the company has a more altruistic motive in the long term.

The Open

Where has ESPN been? I love the start of coverage at 3AM! Perfect for me. What a great start to the day. John Daly goes low, Tiger's in the mix and Rorey McElroy! Phil and Zach haven't even teed off yet. For the second year in a row I get to watch the Open at a venue I've actually played. St Andrews is truly a special place. I got to play it with my Dad and it will always stand as one of my most special golf moments.

It's fun to watch and try to remember where you hit it. I can really only remember a few shots. The first one...the last tee shot and my tee shot off of the famous 17th. For the record I was about where Tiger was this morning...off in the weeds to the left.

Too Hot

Wednesday was just miserable. Katie spent most of the day inside with the boys. She bought them a small pool and wanted to go try it out. Instead she blew it up and put it in their playroom sans water. They seem to love it. We'll try it out today.

We also went to the Science Center to blow off a little steam in the afternoon. the boys have never been over there. I was happy to see Will go right after the golf balls in the Small Discoveries area. Good choice son!

It was off to Drake Diner after that where we the boys ate and ate and ate. A burger, fries, a hot dog, apple sauce, yogurt and some ice cream to top it off!

I've already had a report from my sister that they slept in until seven this morning! What a treat for her.

Mom comes home tomorrow along with Grandma and Grandpa Dix, and Uncle Joe. Everyone's coming to town to celebrate my Dad's retirement.

I hope you have a great day!

PWD

Cap, Vandals, and Y

Good Morning.

I almost closed my eyes last night without changing the alarm. Sally thought it would have been pretty funny if I woke up late again...I didn't.

In fact I woke up and got to work a little earlier than I have been. A year and a half of twin boys has stretch my arrival time into work a little farther than I'd like. So I am going to make a renewed effort to get to work about a half hour earlier. We'll see how long it lasts but I like having the extra time before the show.

To the News

Cap

BP says it's got a new containment cap on that leaking oil well and they think they may be able to get all of the oil coming up from the well within a few days.

So lets take bets, how long will it be before the National Media deserts the Gulf Coast for the next big thing? How long will it take for the Gulf Coast to go from making news as the biggest environmental disaster in American History...to page 10 of your morning paper?

My bet is three weeks. If the skimmers get working, the weather holds and BP continues to pour money on the situation...I would bet the end of this story is not nearly as bad as the predictions. I still hear reporters saying words like "could" and "may" in their stories. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a huge mess and the impact will be felt on the Gulf Coast for decades. I also think reporters and some "experts" said a lot of things to make some headlines.

Vandals

I'm viewing this story about some teen vandals who allegedly knocked over 40 gravestones through the lens of a new parent. What if my kids did this?

So I ask, what would you do? I don't think Carlisle has a jail, but if it did I think I'd want my kids to spend a few hours thinking about what they did in a cell. Either way, I think I'd want them to contact any of the families the cemetery could find and apologize. It's always hardest to ask forgiveness to the people you've actually wronged. A Summer working off the cost of the damage at the Cemetery might also be appropriate.

Y?

The YMCA is dropping the MCA from it's identification...It just wants to be known as The Y now. OK with me but what are The Village People or every bad DJ from coast to coast going to do?

In the words of J Peterman:

PETERMAN: I’ve already left, Elaine. I’m in Burma.
ELAINE: Burma?
PETERMAN: You’ll most likely know it as Myanmar, but it’ll always be Burma to me. . . . You there, on the motorbike! Sell me one of your belts!

It'll always be the YMCA to me.

World Cup Shame
I guess one of the best players of all time thought the Dutch were playing like punks too. The kickers is...he's Dutch!

Live from the Open Championship starts at 2pm today on the Golf Channel.

PTSD, Money, and R&A

Good Morning!
This will be the semi-annual edition of Pat's Alarm not going off. My fault. I set the alarm for an early tee time Saturday and didn't set it back last night. I woke up about 45 minutes late and abbreviated my morning routine a bit to get to work at a reasonable (late) time.
Hope your week started off better than mine

PTSD
It's too bad the bureaucracy of the Armed Forces can make it hard for Veterans to get treatment. Some people may balk at Post traumatic Stress Syndrome as a diagnosable disease, but it is clear that many of the Men and Women we send off to do our fighting for us have some issues to deal with when they come back. You can't argue that. These people have sacrificed for our country. The least we can do is make sure their life after the Army is the best it can be. \

Money
Watch today at Noon, we will be announcing the latest Iowa City to be put on a "best place to live" list.

LeBron
Did you Hear Jessie Jackson's comments about LeBron James? Well, actually about Dan Gilbert( Cav's owner). Jackson said Gilbert's tirade about James and his choice to leave Cleveland showed Gilbert still has a "runaway slave" mentality. Man, I don't know. I see the point Jackson was trying to make...that this team owner has no right to expect this player to stay in Cleveland is if the City itself owned him. That said, the comparison is bad. Runaway slaves didn't command 100 million dollars and a one hour special.
Gilbert's point (as I read it) was that James set himself up as loyal to his home city. James built his reputation as an alternative to the athlete who just wanted to make a buck, and some people became fans of LeBron because of it.
I think what Gilbert was trying to say (in his own angry way) is that Cleveland feel duped. They should.
Race has nothing to do with this. White, Black Brown or Purple...LeBron is just another athlete looking to make a buck. You may think that's fine...you may think that's the way it should be. I simply can't stomach him trying to act as if he's something different. He really isn't.

World Cup
I loved watching to World Cup this past month. I am now more of a fan of soccer. That said the final two matches were a prime example of why people in the US don't like the game. It was boring. Early on, there were a lot of goals scored and a lot of chances taken. That was fun to watch.
Also on the negative for me...the amount of flopping going on. Soccer Referees should have the ability to kick someone out of a game if they deliberately fall in order to slow the game down or stop play. That's not strategy, that's just being a tool. Speaking of, sorry Pella but the Dutch team was my least favorite. What a bunch of whiners! And that guy Robbin? weasel is the word that comes to mind.

USGA
I work with all female co-workers on Monday Mornings. So why was it that I was the only one pushing for the Women's US Open Championship highlights this morning? I don't watch every week, but I do watch the women's major championships. What's not to like? These are women who play great golf and many of them have Supermodel looks. If you haven't watched in a while...Check out the Women's British Open.

Speaking of...(or R&A)
The Home of Golf will host the 2010 Men's British Open starting this week. I love this particular major because I get to see the live coverage in the morning. By the way that coverage will begin at 3am Central. I've played the Old Course at St Andrews so it's a lot of fun watching. it look A LOT different on TV, but every once in a while I'll get a glimpse of the course the will spark a memory. Most of them were good...I think I had a decent round that day. I know I had the time of my golf life!

Jersey Boys
Two thumbs up from the Dix family after our Theatre experience Friday night. We both thought the music was a lot of fun to listen to. The back story of the Four Seasons was really interesting to listen to. I found myself thinking about the thin line between success and failure in the career of just about anyone who achieves a lot of fame or fortune. Jersey Boys is a great example of that.

Started packing for the big move this weekend. T-Minus four weeks and counting.
Have a good one
PWD

Marriage, LameBron, and House

Good Morning!

I hope you all have a relaxing weekend planned.

Marriage Ruling

I've said it here before and I will say it again. The Government should not be in the Yenta business.

A Federal Judge Ruled Yesterday that the Federal Defense of Marriage Act is Unconstitutional and I agree. Before you all go crazy on me with replies...hear me out.

To me this is about protection of your beliefs.

You have to ask yourself, if we can define marriage based on one group's faith, why can't another group define it or any other institution based on their beliefs in the future? This is about precedent. A same sex marriage in no way infringes on the ability of anyone in the United States to worship the way they believe and it does not require any Church to recognize a marriage. So what is the harm to society?

If you say same sex marriage is immoral, you are making the same argument the courts have already struck down when ruling on interracial marriage. You don't have to believe it, in fact I support your right not to; but you live in a country founded on the idea that it would never force allegiance to any one religion.

To the people arguing this is another Judge making law from the bench let me ask you this: If the State Legislature here in Iowa passed a law saying it was illegal for any Christian Church to hold a public worship service, would that be the will of the people? Just because the Legislature passes a law, just because a majority of Iowans think it's right, doesn't make it legal under our Constitution. The Court's Job in some cases is to protect the rights of the minority. It's a check on the majority. The Rights of individuals and minorities have to be protected to make our freedom work.

Spy Games

The US sends ten spies back to Russia and gets four in return? I hope we at least got future draft considerations or a Spy to be named later.

LeBron

Whatever...What a joke. This guy just sealed his legacy as a player that can't win or build a dynasty on his own and a player that is nothing more than a gun for hire. See Keith's post from Murphy's Law for a spot-on break down of the announcement.

Also here's The Cav's majority owner's open Letter to Cleveland fans. Ouch! But also spot-on. There's no I in Team...There are now three I's in Miami.

59

What a round! Paul Goydos shot a 59 at the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities. Having Played TPC Deere Run a lot, believe me when I say...that's hard! Goydos shot 28 on the back 9. Last time I played, I think I had 28 strokes by the time I played five of the back nine.

Goydos is also one of the main characters in John Feinstien's excellent book A Good Walk Spoiled. If you like golf and haven't read it, you'd love it

House

We bought our house yesterday...thanks for your well wishes. Now comes the hard part...packing up and moving. We have about a month. Of that, Sally is out of town five days, I am out of town five days and we have guests in town one of the weekends. I hope they're ready to pack!

Date Night

Speaking of guests, thanks to my Mother-in-law, Sally and I get a Date Night tonight. We're going to see Jersey Boys. Reviews Monday.

Hope you all have a good weekend

PWD

Jobs, Deere and Done?

Good Morning..
Waiting on the edge of my seat this morning to find out if our offer for a new house was accepted. Cross your fingers for us.

To the news
Jobs
Wells Fargo announced it's eliminating it's Financial Division. That's about a thousand jobs here in DSM. Too bad. I hope a lot of those people can find a similar position in another Wells Division like Home Mortgage. If anyone is looking for signs the economy is still up and down...

Deere
Zach Johnson is back as one of the headliners of the John Deere Classic in the Quad Cities. Zach got second here last year behind Steve Stricker and he's been playing well as of late, so look for his name on the leaderboard come Sunday. If you've never been over to Silvis and TPC Deere run, it's a really beautiful layout.

Labron
I could care less!

Done?
We hope we're done negotiating for a new house. People say this is the part that's more fun in the home buying/selling process. Both are stressful if you ask me. The home we're after certainly has it's advantages, but we're also looking at some work that needs to be done, painting, maybe a few more pieces of furniture. All of that starts to add up quickly. The worst part about it is the emotion on each side. When someone is moving out of their house, generally, they're either moving cause it's time to upgrade or because they're leaving the area. Either way a well cared for house has probably had someone living there that loves the home. That means they're attached to it. I will hate to leave our current house because it's where we brought our boys home for the first time.
The problem with emotion is that it doesn't translate to the market value of the home. It's hard to look at it simply a s a business transaction.
Hopefully we can meet somewhere that everyone feels like they've "given" a little bit. If so, we'll walk into a new home happy to have a place to make new memories, and the seller will walk away with enough cash to find a new place.

Hope you have a good day
PWD

Determined to Blog

Before my parents think I've been abducted and issue an Amber Alert, I think I'll blog.


Back to "Normal"
I think the City Manager in Des Moines said it well, we're not out of the woods yet. River levels are dropping though. It seems we get better and better at this each time it floods here in Iowa.
Jeriann says more rain tonight into tomorrow but the Corps of Engineers don't believe it will be enough to make a huge difference in the flood forecast.


Back Home
Good to see a little girl is back with her family in Missouri. Scary to think someone took her from her front yard. When you have kids of your own you start to see how parents become a little crazy about safety. You can never protect your kids from everything or everyone but its hard not to try.

Hard to Believe
Did you see the video of the guy who fell from the stands at the TX Rangers game?

Amazing. Two things. The guy is OK. Second, I am hearing the response from the staff and emergency personnel at the Ballpark was top notch.

World Cup
So with the Dutch in the Final are we going to Pella to watch the Final Match?
World Cup Take 2
Simon Estes will be singing at a Concert during closing ceremonies. Pretty cool.

Jersey Boys
It opens tonight at the Civic Center. I think we're going to go Friday. Ever since this show opened people have been telling me I "had" to go see it. I'm excited both for the show and for the excuse to take my wife out on a date!

The Negotiator
So we're looking for a new house. We finally sold ours. I think we're making some progress and will let you know when we find something, but I don't get to be part of the negotiations. When I find something I like, I'm not the best with the Poker face. Sally likes to tell the story of the first time we went shopping for a car. I believe I lectured her on playing it cool with the salesman and then proceeded to totally blow it when we got out tot he model we were looking at. I'm rummaging around in the back of the thing and I yell up to Sal, "Cooool! Sally come look at this it's got a picnic table and a place to put beer for a tailgate!" Not the next negotiation tactic.

Hey stay cool and have a good day
PWD

Seeping, Monday Morning Quarterback and Judging

Good Morning!
I hope you are all having a good day...another hot one and the humidity returns.

The News:
Seeping
The Birdland levee started acting like a Brita filter this morning when it leaked out the lagoon side. Not making light of it, they actually talked about the fact that the clear water coming out of the levee was a good thing. it tells you the flow of water isn't taking the dirt on the levee with it. that would be bad. While this isn't an imminent flooding situation, it's still serious and will be for the next few days. The pressure on those levee walls is pretty high right now. Once the water goes down, the pressure is alleviated but that also means pieces of the levee...big pieces can come off...that's when we tend to see the major breech of the levee. So if you've got a busy weekend for the 4th, you might want to check in on the news every once in a while just to see what's up.

Monday Morning QB
Saw an article in the Des Moines Register this morning with Senator Harkin saying something needed to be done about the way the Corps of Engineers controls water at Saylorville. I'm sorry were the floods of 93 and 08 not enough to prove that point? Aren't these guys hamstrung by the very laws your body passes about flood control? And where were you the last three years while this project was stuck in Federal red tape MUCK? Don't criticize the City or the State for this one. this falls squarely on the shoulders of our Federal officials and Sen Harkin sounds a little foolish saying "something needs to be done" after the fact.

Friday Silliness
I saw an article on MSNBC this morning and I think I actually killed a few brain cells reading it. It's about one of these guys from Jersey Shore. He had a birthday this week and they gave him a "beefcake". It's a replica of his now famous six pack. Here's the brief, sorry if I kill some of your brain cells

Jersey Shore’s’ The Situation: Let him eat cake
When “Jersey Shore” standout Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino rang in his 28th birthday at New York hotspot Tenjune Tuesday night, he indulged in a little ab cake. That’s just one
of the perks of being The Situation, who is in New York hawking the Nox Edge creatine tablet. But the ripped reality star is concerned about obesity in
America, too.
“I believe obesity these days is at an all time high at the
U.S. ... That’s not a good situation,” Sorrentino told TODAYshow.com. “So, six small meals a day. I think parents should look into their kids’ future and get them involved in sports younger, rather than their video games and their computer, which obviously is good technology but when you are younger you want to be active.”
And as “Jersey Shore” fans know, part of being active means
“GTL” — or gym, tan and laundry. But don’t worry, the regimen isn’t as stringent as it sounds.
“It can really go in any order,” he said. “That’s why the GTL
phrase was so popular because everybody sat back and said, ‘Hey, I actually to
that too ... I just put three words together, and it became a popular national phrase that celebrities follow. That’s pretty awesome, you know.”
Yes, it is


Glad to hear I can do my laundry after I tan and still expect my creatine shake to have it's massive effect on my gut. Now I've read this twice and I think I may be losing powers of speech.

Judging
So I had a blast at the Wing Ding Talent Competition last night. What a bunch of really nice people!
Some Highlights:
-We had two Elvis impersonators. One of them actually won the judging. He also got a compliment from the emcee on having a nice butt.
-Between each act there was at least one blond joke. Funny and generally clean.
-Finally, there was a woman...I'm not lying here, she was a Scottish woman from Texas...what an accent! To top it off she sang "ForYour Eyes Only". I've NEVER heard that one done in any talent competition. We need to send this woman to Hugh's Jungle Room.

One last note. There was a woman who is trying out for America's Got Talent. She's got a Youtube video and asked that we look at it. So I'm sharing it with you. Keep in mind she's 69 years old!

Good Luck Anita!
Have a good Fourth of July
PWD

Uncontrolled, Maggots, and Judging

Good Morning...
The best laid plans and all. I intended to blog yesterday, I think I even picked some stories. Turns out I left without doing it. I felt fine when I left here...went home and intended to lay down for about a half hour. Two and a half hours later...oooops?!?!?!
I guess I didn't know how tired I really was. So the good news is, I feel better today and I have some better stories to blog about.


Uncontrolled
Chopper 13 again gave you a live view of the emergency spillway at Saylorville that you couldn't get anywhere else. It really makes a difference on a story like this one. So the river levels are going to go up significantly with this release at Saylorville. We have to see what it is going to do to the levee system in Des Moines. You would hope the levees, especially where it broke in Birdland back in 2008. An important note, All of the downtown Des Moines events going on this weekend for the 4th of July are still as scheduled...except for the concert that was supposed to be at Simon Estes Amphitheatre. Those are at the Val Aire instead.

New Laws
Not that you should have been doing it before...but stop texting and driving. It's illegal in Iowa now. Here's a list of other new laws from this morning's Des Moines Register.

Maggots
Yes that's right I said Maggots! They were on a plane bound for Charlotte. I guess someone had put a container of rancid meat in the carry on luggage compartment. So we need to have a talk with TSA about what they're letting through these days right? I get cavity searched for having baby formula and this guy can bring the Zombie Cattleman's Association goodie bag into coach?

Anyone?

If you were watching at the bottom of the 6am hour about 6:30, I slipped a Peter Gabriel reference into the start of our script. 100 points to anyone who can tell me what it was. This won't be a hint to most of you who read this but I actually did an interpretive dance to this song when I was a Senior in HS...yep I took dance instead of PE. Wrestling class with a bunch of sweaty guys or girls in leotards....hmmmm I think I made the right choice.

Judging
So Tiffany Tauschek from the GDMCVB asked if I would judge something for the Wing Din about three months ago. I said yes...plenty of notice and I like Tiff so why not right? So I thought it was going to be a WING EATING Contest or some sort of taste contest...best wings in town. Nope. It's the Gold Wing Road Riders Wing Ding 32 Talent Show. How I am qualified for this who knows (see my dance experience below)?
Anyway this thing starts at 6pm at the Polk County Convention Complex. I would assume it's open if you want to come see.

I finished this off this morning from home buy Lynette is here and I am going to take advantage of the nice weather and get OUTSIDE! I'll have my cell on standby just in case work needs to call me back and I'd suggest you do the same if you are anywhere near the river.
Have a great day!
PWD