Time

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What song was that? "time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin, ...."

Pretty sure it was Steve Miller Band, not to be confused with the Glen Miller Band. (look 'em up if you're confused.)

Kids... (and understand I write this blog in part to help my kids, share one day with their kids, what grandpa was up to) You'll hear it all your life, you won't believe it, but eventually it'll sink in. The older you get, the faster time goes by. I don't think Einstein accounted for this in his theory of relativity. Bottom line: Find your happiness, enjoy each day.

We're late into February and after a brief warm up, the chill has returned along with a couple of chances for snow. One to our south today, ANOTHER Friday. A little early with conflicting models but serious enough to watch carefully. ANOTHER chance for snow Monday. This is the most "snow threats" I've seen in 20 years here in the Memphis and Mid-South area.

It's taken almost 2 weeks, but I'm slowly feeling better. A lingering cold/sinus thing keeps my head pounding, but at least I can work, only missed on day last week to rest my voice.

I can tell when I'm about to tip the scales of health by how I sound. The last thing I want to do is get full blown laringitis. Which has happened before when I "push it" too hard while trying to recover from the head cold. This seems to happen to me about once a year. I shake a lot of hands through out the day, run into alot of folks, so maybe I am more 'exposed' to bad germs than most.

My buddy Tim Simpson, with whom I've worked with for almost 20 years here at the station, do the "Tiger Woods" "fist bump" upon greeting. Does it help? Sure hope so. We don't want to take any un-necessary chances.

In the news this morning, we're talking about foods with "choking-hazards." Should there be labels on things like hot-dogs and pop corn? To me, that's like saying, there should be warning labels on fireplaces. They could be hot. You know, as parents, you just need to be careful and watch your kids closely. I'm sure some big lawsuit will force product makers to put those warning labels up, I think it's ridiculous.

one week later

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It's been a busy, busy week here in Mid-South. Snow, ice, me not feeling 100%. I'm tired and run down and looking forward to the break the weekend promises.

Tiger is making his little speech as I'm writing this.

It's a step. I hope he backs up his words with his actions now. Can you imagine the spot light this guy is going to be under for the next 10 years? Photogs looking for the opportunity to catch him even "looking" at another woman the wrong way. You thought he was a "private person" before. We are talking about serious recluse in the future.

What do they say about building someone up, only to knock them down?

I envision my children reading dozens of years from now, only time will tell whether Tiger was able to recover. My bet would be, recover, and stronger than ever 10 years from now.

But like those base ball players who broke records, and have an " * " by their name because of performance enhancing drugs, Tiger will have an invisible asterik, that may well be forgotten.

Anyway, a slice of americana. He's on the road to recovery. I'm sure sponsors are going to be lining up to jump back on board in about 6-12 months.

But that's just me. I hope this is more about him, and not the $$. Let's be honest, there is a serious amount of money, likely in the BILLIONS here, on the line with this guy.

Friday, break time

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Wow, what a week here in the Memphis "Mid-South" area, with some crazy weather.

We started with a freakish, surprise Snow Storm early Monday morning that dropped 6-8" of snow in the metro, closed every school and business within 100 miles.

Then it started raining... turn a perfect, fluffy, delicate snow, into mush. You had about 5 hours to enjoy the beauty, then the rain.

It was worth it... some of the most delicate, beautiful snow I've seen in a long time. Some of it is still on the ground, almost a week later, but not nearly as pretty as the day it fell.

Perfect for snow balls and snowmen, we received more than 400 pictures from viewers sharing their fun in the snow with family and friends and animals alike.


Then this morning (Friday 2/12) Another storm, but this one was well south and hammered Central Mississippi around Jackson with about 4-6 inches of snow. We saw this one coming a bit more.

All week long, after 4, 5 and even 6 hour shows, some that started at 4am and didn't end til 10, I'm worn down, feel like I'm catching a cold, and am looking forward to some serious rest this weekend. I had a "Feel Good" afternoon as Lifeblood allowed me the honor to MC their annual "Volunteer Awards" banquet at the East Memphis Hilton. We had a good time.


Now, guess what...? Another storm is brewing for Sunday night and Monday morning, I don't see more than an inch or two out of it, but being that it will be on a Monday morning, we'll be ready in full "school closing" mode, I'm sure.

Likely an early wake up call... hope the Daytona 500 doesn't go on too late, I'll need to get some rest.

Reunions

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This summer, will mark 30 years since I graduated High School. Wow did I have some hair back then. Okay, I've still got it, it's just much shorter now.

It was Orange Park High, just outside of Jacksonville, FL. That's my hometown, Orange Park. I didn't spend much of my Senior year actually "in class." I was working at various radio stations and various jobs like selling shoes at Sears, (at the Orange Park Mall) and a brief stint throwing packages for UPS.

Looking back, not going to my senior year was a mistake. I had purposely taken Summer School after 9th, 10th and 11th grades to lighten my load of classes during the year. They were required classes and we were on a credit system. We needed 15 credits to graduate, and going into my senior year, I had 15. I still had to take the required Americanism vs Communism class, so I took it first semester of the year, and hung out for an hour or two in the morning, before heading out. I really wasn't there much for the second semester of my senior year. I was mostly working. I just can't recommend it for most. The last semester of your senior year is where friendships bond, and maybe even last a lifetime. I missed out on a lot of that.

I am in the top row fourth in from the right, next to my close friend Tom Chase
Here's the funny thing, click on the picture, it'll blow up and you can see that
many had already been into the sauce. (not me, I don't drink)

Ten years ago, I went to our "20th Class reunion," it was nice, it was fun, saw many familiar faces, and was able to catch up with friends... many of them still live and/or work in the Jacksonville area.

Which brings me to this summer. The "30th" is being planned, and I'm having trouble getting up the desire (not courage) but desire to go. Why? Well, what do you do at reunions? You catch up with what's been going on. Find out who has the most Grand kids now. Who has "made it," who has been married and divorced the most... you know.

Driving into work this morning, I'm thinking, know what? Social Media may have just killed the idea of reunions. I already know what all my friends from high school are up to, or are going to be up to. They are my friends on facebook, and I can see from their pictures how they are doing, how their kids are doing, how their work is going.

We had a pretty good turnout for the "20th" Then again we graduated like 850 that year, so even 20 percent is a great turnout. This year, I fear, "the desire" will be diminished, and the economy will be a factor in the turn out. I hope I'm wrong. It's always great to see folks you haven't seen in a while, "face to face." But, much of the secret, the mystery will have already been lifted.

I'll keep thinking about it. You hear it, but never believe it, how "time flies." And how it goes even faster the older you get. We'll all be 48 this year. I moved to Orlando, FL a year or two after graduation to go to college at Univ of Central Florida, work at some radio stations and Walt Disney World, before catching on to WFTV-9, the ABC station there. Worked overnight news, weather and producing... before heading off to Memphis. I've been in Memphis now almost a quarter of a century. Here is my bio from work. I work at WREG, the CBS affiliate, where I handle the "weather duties" for the morning and noon shows, and what ever else comes along.

You can find me on Facebook, I'm "Todd on Daybreak" look me up, come say "Hi."

We had to take 2 photos to capture everyone who turned out 10 years ago.