Good Morning and it appears about time we all went South!

I used to listen to the radio all the time. Now, not so much.
I might flip around while driving to hear a song I like. If there's nothing on the music side, I'll hit the AM button and catch some talk radio.
That usually means the radio is close to being turned off.
Aside from the racist hate radio that fills the airwaves (Rush, Hannity, et al), sportstalk radio is continually heading into the dark range.
Spend any time around people and you know they like to talk. Some like to throw things out there to get a reaction. Some believe they know everything about everthing and need to let you know it too.
Now that the Super Bowl is over, sportstalk radio is filled with callers and hosts who want changes made to the Eagles. They want the coach fired. They want a new quarterback. They want new ownership.
OK, the Eagles haven't won a Super Bowl, but what would you rather have, the doldrums of the 1980s and 1990s or a chance to win every year? Fire the coach and end up with a Rich Kotite clone (remember how bad that was?). Get rid of the most successful quarterback in franchise history and end up with, what, Bobby Hoying?
Then we can venture into the Phillies. All the team has done is make the last two World Series, winning the first.
Now, they go out and get the best pitcher in the game, but nobody is happy. I actually heard somebody say they would never attend a game again after the deal that brought in Roy Halladay and got rid of Cliff Lee.
It almost makes you pine for the blither blather of Rush and his hatred of everything.
Then again, maybe it's time to pull out the CDs.

Good Morning and welcome to the greatest week Ben Gay ever had!

After a full day of sledding and shoveling, the Super Bowl seemed like it would be the perfect elixer to end the day.
Watching the Big Game (as they like to say when they don't want to pay the NFL) with four non-football fans makes it, well, kind of interesting.
The biggest question of the day wasn't, 'Who's going to win?' It was a tie between 'Is this over yet?' and 'Can we watch Spongebob instead?'
Hey, at least there were some entertaining commercial spots this year to fill in between the boring stuff.
After a couple of years of too much Budweiser, Geccos and talking Babies, there was some imagination out there this time around.
I thought the David Letterman/Oprah/Jay Leno spot and the Careerbuilder.com Casual Friday ad were funny. I also laughed out loud at the Betty White/Abe Vigoda snickers ad.
In highly scientific voting at the Super Bowl party, though, there were three clear winners. So, since the game wasn't as exciting, here you go with the top three:
3. Dorito's Tim's Locker: CLICK here to see it
2. Kia's Toys dream: CLICK HERE to see it
1. Google. CLICK HERE to see it
Now, the three worst (once again, highly scientific voting procedures)
3. Denny's
2. Emerald Nuts
1. Bridgestone
What do you think?

Good Morning and welcome to the calm before the storm!

A couple of stories hit close to home yesterday.
First, was the one about the one about the St. Eugene student who took a knife to school.
The other was out of Florida, where a fourth grader was dragged to the principal's office when he was found playing with a Lego figure, which just happened to be carrying a toy gun.
Now, at first glance, these appear to be two different things. A child bringing an Army knife to school, then threatening fellow students (according to the report), is much more disturbing than somebody with an Army Lego man.
The problem, like in all these cases, is where do you draw the line. A threat of violence has to be dealt with to the full extent of the rules. Bring something to school that could hurt somebody else, pay the price.
Bring a one-inch toy to school to show off to your friends, well, that's completely different.
It's up to teachers to know the difference. You can take the toy, put it away and give it back at the end of the day. Even a fourth-grader knows not to bring it in again.
This happens all the time. Parents are now going to have to dump bookbags in the morning to make sure sneaky toys haven't jumped in.
There is a difference.

Good Morning and welcome to a Winter Wonderland!

That snow out there this morning looks nice, but it's not causing many problems. The main streets are just wet.
The big debate out there is the use of cell phones in cars. The state wants to ban the use. You are not supposed to be able to drive and talk in New Jersey or Philadelphia (if you look, though, it doesn't appear anybody is paying attention to that ban).
I try not to use the phone in the car. On the rare exception it does ring, thank you, Caller ID inventor) I let it go through the voice mail.
Now, I know the cell phone has made our life a bit easier. If there is an accident or a problem, it's a lot easier than knocking on doors to make a call.
Driving and talking (or texting!), still doesn't seem right. I know people do it all the time, but we somehow survived all those years without being plugged in.
Then again, pretty soon Apple will no doubt have a phone and lap top right on our dashboard, so better get with the program.

Good Morning and welcome to Groundhog Day!

Like it really matters if Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow. We are still going to have a cold February and March.
While watching part of the Grammy Awards Sunday night (could only make it through the Pink performance), I got to thinking about music (OK, I had a little help).
Whatever time we are living in, we think we have either the best or worst music ever.
Those in the 1960s rebelled against the Beatles and Rolling Stones because they become 'too corporate.' Whatever that means.
During the 1970s, Disco became huge, then crashed and burned.
The 1980s brought, well, depending on you, some good stuff, some iconic stuff and, well, some forgettable stuff.
The 1990s, well, when Britany, the Backstreet Boys and Celine Dion dominate the charts, it's better left alone.
The last decade is just too early to judge. Although, that Grammy show didn't exactly capture the moment.
So, all these years later, at least the 1980s brought some interesting things to our ears.
Now, let me know, what is your favorite music from the 1980s.

Good Morning and welcome to a brand-new week!

A couple of years ago, a Nintendo DS entered our home. Liam's Christmas gift was fun and exciting. After all, we had been able to push off the video game generation a little longer.
Now, as a bit of an aside, we did have about 10 versions of different LeapFrog games, but they are more about learning than playing, something that was learned quickly by a child's mind.
So, loaded down with a couple of games, the Nintendo DS (for those not in the know, it's a hand-held video game) quickly became a reason to argue.
Everybody wanted to play it. Liam wasn't to happy, after all, it is his and his alone. Still, thanks to some parental input, the game became something to share.
So, Liam would play it, then Brendan would get a chance and finally Malena (and sometimes Dad). Soon, though, the amount of time everybody was using the game became an issue.
'He had it longer than me.' 'I never get a chance to play.' 'When is it my turn.'
That's when the timer comes in. Now, everybody has a chance to play for 15 minutes. When the alarm goes off, it's time to switch.
Of course, that comes with its own set of problems. Some of the games take longer than 15 minutes, which means you get to hear a lot of 'just one more minute' or 'I just want to finish this one thing.'
Of course, the arguments come and it's time to put it away. The next day, there's a repeat, so it's time to hide the whole thing.
Or, at least give me a chance to play.

Good Morning and welcome to a cold Friday!

That cold this morning is like a slap in the face. Feel a little tired? Step outside and let the wind do what coffee could never finish.
Still, the sun shining down yesterday did give a bit of a taste of spring. Maybe we can move out the grey winter quickly. Come on, Punxsutawney Phil, give us an early spring next week.
This year, 'Phil' will be giving a forecast via instant messaging and twitter. Who knew the groundhog had an iPhone in that hole?
It is kind of amazing, though, how it's so easy to talk about the weather. Somebody could walk up to you outside school, say hello, then say, 'Gee, it's cold (warm, rainy, snowy) out here today!'
You always have a quick answer for that. 'Well, it's going to get warmer (colder, wetter, icy) tomorrow.'
We all like talking about weather, probably because it's maybe the one thing we can't do anything about. It's not like we can look up to the sky and say, 'Get sunny!'
Well, I guess we can, but it won't do anthing.
See, this is what happens at the end of a long week, nonsensical rambling.
So, just listen:

Good Morning and welcome to a new world!

Well, OK, it's the same old world where hate-mongers throw out misinformation about health care and expect the masses to pick up torches.
Talk about partisan politics. How about offering some solutions when trying to rebuff the president's speach? Nah, we'll just throw out unsubstantiated opinions and see what sticks.
Anyway, the bigger news yesterday seemed to be the new iPad from Apple. It really doesn't appear to be the 'kill-all' that everybody predicted, but, seeing what Apple has done to the cell phone, the next generatiion of iPad will do everything.
Think about the perfect strategy of this company. Create a demand, upgrade the hardware, leave everybody else in the dust.
Pretty soon, the iPad will be everything from an e-reader to a phone. It might even cook your dinner. What's been proven in the past decade is you can't count Steve Jobs out. Now, if the rest of the business world would follow this model.

Good Morning and welcome to a Wednesday in a long line of Wednesdays!

Don't know if you've noticed or not, but we here at delcotimes.com have jumped into video. A few weeks ago, corporate decided we needed to add more video clips to our Web Site. They sent down four Flip video cameras and told us to get with it. (Acutual conversation: 'We are giving you four cameras to add video to your site. Reporters can shoot the video and you can edit it. You know how to edit video, right.' Uh, no not really. 'That's OK, it's not too hard.')
So, there was a learning curve, some backlash, some complaining and even more complaining (hey, it's a newsroom, the only time there's no complaining is around 4 a.m.).
Somehow, probably because most of us know we have to adapt the way we do things to survive. You want video, sure here's video.
Whatever, you have to adapt or die in this 24/7 newsgathering world.
Baby steps? Yeah, of course. We are nothing but slow changers.
So, the editing process isn't so hard. The cameras are easy to use.
Now, when do those Academy Award nominations come out?

Good Morning and welcome to a (hopefully) dry day!

I certainly don't watch as much television as in the past. Part of it has to do with the time my alarm goes off every morning (3:30 a.m.). Part of it is, with three young children, there's not much time to just sit in front of the television.
Well, at least as much time to watch prime time shows. Now, when the television is on, it's usually tuned into Cartoon Network. I know more about 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' and 'Ben 10' than I really ever hoped to know.
I still do try to veg out once in a while, but following any kind of show is a little harder.
I do make time to watch '24' and, starting next Tuesday, 'Lost.'
Now, that's escapism (at least to me).
So, the last couple of weeks I was able to catch the beginning of the new season of '24.' Now, if anybody has watched the show through it's eight years on the air, you know the plot. Keifer Sutherland will have 'the worst day ever' then save the world. Already through the first five hours this year, Jack Bauer's been tasered, beaten while tied to a chair, crashed a car and saved two 'bad guys' so he could get the information.
Just one day, though, it would be interesting to see him eat a meal or take a nap. Then again, the world wouldn't be saved.

Good Morning and welcome to a whole new week!

Despite the complaints of three children, I was able to switch away from Cartoon Network Friday night to catch some of the Hope For Haiti telethon.
While the music was good, if not a bit melancholy, it was the stories being told between the performances that was moving.
Whenever there is a great tragedy, there are stories of survival that seem unbelievable. The only thing is, the survivor is sitting there telling the story.
One they showed Friday night was the rescue of a girl who had been trapped under a building for more than a week. Since, everything is on video these days, this is pretty powerful.
There were stories about people with nothing. People pulling others out of rubble with their bare hands.
There was a story this morning about a man who was able to survive thanks to a app on his iPhone. He was able to find out ways to stop bleeding and keep his head together.
There are plenty of cynical people out there who figure 'it's not America, why do we care?'
Well, we're all connected. We should all care. If you aren't moved by these stories, check your pulse.

Good Morning and welcome to Friday!

I don't remember exactly how they all came together. All I remember is every year during Cub Scouts I had a pinewood derby car. One car was basically a block of wood with a King Kong figure glued to the top.
I don't remember winning any races. I don't remember much about the cars (with the exception of the King Kong). I do remember having fun, though. Well, as much fun as a pre-teen can have while losing every race.
This is the fourth year I've helped build a car with a boy that age. The first year, we didn't get through the first round. The second year, we actually won the first race before bowing out in the second round. Last year, well, let's forget about it.
Each car was built by Liam (with the exception of using the power saw to cut the wood). He designed it. He painted it. He put the wheels on. He got upset when it didn't take first (although we have three trophies for the most colorful car).
This year, he wanted a car that was shaped like a carrot. Well, not having the right tools (or any tools really), we set out to shape the square piece of wood into a circle.
Long story short, he now has something that looks like a carrot if it was run over by a monster truck.
He adapted. Painted it with every color in the rainbow. Glued on a driver. It might not be a carrot, but it looks like a race car.
Now, it's pretty obvious every year which parents are more 'involved' in the building of the cars. Some look like something that came right out a Detroit line. Others, look like perfect toys. They are perfectly balanced. They are perfectly painted. They are impressive.
Liam probably won't win the championship this year. Still, though, he will always know it was his hands that did everything.
That's just as impressive.