Lightning Safety

On Wednesday afternoon an 18 year old woman, Shaneeka Cannon, was in Oxon Hill waiting for a bus when she was struck by a bolt of lightning. That lightning would prove to be fatal for Shaneeka.

I have always loved looking at lightning. It's one of the reasons that I became a meteorologist. The displays are awesome, but the results can be horrific. Thursday, I put together a short piece about lightning safety, as a reminder/refresher about what to do when lightning is approaching. I hope you can spare a couple of minutes and check it out, so that we don't have another family mourning their loss.

They're Chopping Down Innocent Trees in Alabama

I have family in the Birmingham, Alabama region. Upon graduating from medical school, my brother-in-law Jim accepted a position at the University of Alabama Birmingham's Medical Center.

Then in early 2002, after my Dad died, Mom moved to Alabama to be near my sister. Since then, I've been going to Birmingham at least twice a year to visit. Actually, it's Mountain Brook, Alabama. You may have heard that name.....Natalee Holloway, the girl who disappeared in Aruba was from Mountain Brook.

Anyway, it was this past January and I was driving on US 31 in Vestavia Hills, just south of Birmingham and I noticed that all of the trees in the median had been cut down. These were nice trees and I couldn't figure out why they were no longer there.

I asked my sister who lives there and she told me that some parents of a drunk guy who got killed were able to get the state to remove the trees.

I've done a little research here. Apparently, an Alabama man lost control of his car around 4 AM one night and hit a tree in the median and he and his passenger were killed. The speedometer stopped on 60 mph. The blood that was taken somehow got lost, so we don't know if the man was drunk or not, but witnesses placed him and the other passenger in a bar earlier that night.

The dead guy's parents launched a campaign against those "deadly" trees and the Alabama Department of Transportation, in an effort to reduce their liability, is removing all trees with a trunk diameter in excess of 4 inches and replacing them with other plants that wouldn't be as deadly should a car hit them. The department said it was just addressing "clear zone" requirements that are spelled out in federal and state highway guidelines.

On the plus side, these trees were Bradford Pear trees, which horticulturists don’t like because they have weak wood and easily get damaged in storms. (Although they were strong enough to stop a car that hit them at 60 mph!)

I wonder if the next time someone crosses the median in Vestavia Hills, or elsewhere in Alabama, and there are no trees to stop them, will an innocent passerby or oncoming vehicle get slammed into to? It still seems weird that the focus here is on the trees and not the more obvious "drinking and driving issue”, but I can't help the feeling that the trees are “taking the fall”.

Couch Shopping

This is a great time for my wife, Helaine. She's in the zone right now, planning and strategizing her next move. And it all revolves around furniture.

For the last week, we've been shoppping for a couch. And not just any couch. We want something comfortable to sit in the rec room (now that the basement is finished, I'm not allowed to call it a basement) in front of the big TV. Our current couch is a sleeper sofa that we bought when we got married, almost 18 years ago. It's been a great couch, but the fabric is starting to break down in a few spots and it's time to let it go. The couch has been with us from New Orleans to Oklahoma City to Rochester, NY and now Maryland. In all, we have lived at 7 different addresses owning 3 of them.

The new couch that we're looking for can't be too big. The space we have to work with is about 120" and we want to leave about 30" for walking around the couch. 88" is about the standard size for a couch, but many couches are now 100" and if you're thinking about sectionals, then 110" or more is not out of the question. Well, this one area is a little tight, so we've been looking for a small sectional or a couch with a chaise on the left.

Have I mentioned that I really don't like furniture shopping. You know the drill. You walk into a store and the next salesperson in line pounces as you enter. The vast majority of them are actually very nice, but I find myself a little anxious. I'm sure the fault lies in me, but I get guarded when a salesperson starts to ask me the "personal questions". Like being my pal is going to make me spend all my money right now and with you. I think there's a fine art to being a good salesman. Be nice, give me the attention that I want, and know the product. That's it for me.

Sidebar: I had some minor work done on my car today and the service writer was trying to sell me on something I did not think I needed. I explained that I thought a transmission flush was overkill and potentially harmful and that a drain and fill would be fine. I also said that I had concerns that the flush could harm the internal parts of the transmission and if any chemicals for cleaning were not fully removed, then the new fluid could get contaminated. The guy tells me that I'm wrong and that my information is bad. I kept my cool, but I really resented it. Tell me why that service is good and put my fears at ease and maybe I bite. But if you insult my intelligence, am I really going to spend the extra money?

As for the couch, we found a 2 piece sectional that is only 89" long. It's from a company called Catnapper out of North Carolina and we found a dealer near Hagerstown that we'll probably buy from. I was talking with Topper in the weather office about it and told him that the end seats also recline. I then asked him if I was turning into an old man. The answer wasn't pretty... "down stairs, O.K., upper level, you're an old man."

But Topper isn't the one that needs to be happy, Helaine is! This couch will likely mean that we'll need to move some other furniture around the house and possibly add some ceiling lights to a couple of the bedrooms. More fun for my wife and more work for me.

All I want is to just lounge on the new couch with my son Philip, and watch my big TV.

Crystal City Classic Bike Race

A couple of months ago I was in Crystal City covering Artomatic for 9 NEWS NOW's morning news. Artomatic is really cool and you should get there the next time they hold one. It was there that I met Maurissa Potts. She is with the Crystal City BID (Business Improvment District). It was at that time that Maurissa asked me if I'd be willing to participate in a Celebrity Trike Race as part of the Crystal City Classic. Not knowing what I was in for, I agreed.

As you can see from the picture, 15 inch tricycles are very hard to ride if you are an adult. And this was going downhill, before the race as we headed toward the starting line.I'm only 5'6" and change (5'7" on a really good day) and this thing was tiny. If you're wondering what's on my head, I'm wearing a hat and goggles like old aviators used to wear. Race organizers asked us to wear something fun. The gentleman to the left me in the picture is WJLA and Newschannel 8 meteorologist Joe Witte. Joe is an avid cyclist of the 2 wheeled variety. Joe is a very nice guy and it was a pleasure competing with him.

Actually, I really didn't care how I finished as long as I beat Joe. After all, he's a meteorologist on a cross-town rival. How could I walk in the doors of WUSA if I lost? There was a lot at stake here.(I first met Joe over 20 years ago when he was working at NBC in New York and I was taking the NBC studio tour.)

It was appearant early in the race that pedaling just wasn't working, so I turned my tricylcle into a scooter. The race was close. My wife captured this great action shot of me in second place. That leg you see in front of me belongs to Walter Tejada, Vice-Chairman, Arlington County Board. He was the eventual winner and I was right behind him.

The first place winner was given a trophy. The 2nd place winner(that would be me) and the 3rd place winner were handed ribbons. All 3 of us, were presented with "commander medallions" from Major General Robert L. Smolen, who is the commander of the Air Force District of Washington. The Air Force was the major sponsor of the bike race and the medallion is absolutely stunning. Receiving the medallion was an unexpected surprise and a real honor. The General also particpated in the trike race and had 2 bloody knees to boast about when we were finished.

Even if I hadn't come in second, and even if I hadn't beaten a cross-town rival, it was a great event to be part of and I hope they'll ask me back in 2008.

Do It Yourself

I'm a big Do It Yourselfer. If I can tackle a job, I'd much rather do it myself than hire someone. (Maybe it's also because I'm cheap?) Unfortunately, I seem to care far more than most of the people I could potentially hire and I end up doing a better job than they would. Yes. it's time consuming sometimes, but there is a real sense of satisfaction in doing it yourself. Topper Shutt is also quite the handyman.

Wednesday afternoon, around 5 PM, I went over to my friend Ray's house to help him install a new Bosch Dishwasher. I told him to save his money and that this was a job that we could do.

Appearantly these Bosch dishwashers are all the rage. I figured that we could get this done in about an hour. And I felt that this was a conservative estimate. I had installed a couple of dishwwashers before, so I was pretty confident.

Power off at the breaker panel, disconnect the electrical, the drain pipe, water supply(be sure to close the valve first) and the 2 screws into the counter and remove. We had the old unit out in about 12 minutes. So far, so good. The Bosch was now ready for installation. This was also a chance to clean the area where the dishwasher sits. It's amazing how much stuff that the builder's crew just leaves on the ground. Couldn't they have just taken 2 minutes to clean up after themselves?

Things were going great, and then we hit our first road bump. The way the water supply line is routed under the new Bosch machine ate up most of the 5 feet of hose we had. We did have another 5 foot hose, but we needed a coupler to connect the 2 hoses. Off to Home Depot, about 3 1/2 miles south.

We make record time in Home Depot, finding a bag of 3/8"x3/8" brass couplers. No line at the self checkout and then drive back home. The storms hit just before we get home so we got a tiny bit wet. Inside now and I'm putting the teflon tape on the coupler and the other fittings when the lights go out thanks to those huge storms. Out come the flashlights. That definitely slowed us down.

All the while, Ray has some big square pizza from Costco that he's going to heat up for me, himself, and our 2 sons who are playing while we are working. Now we're working in the dark with no way to even cook the Pizza. The boys are upstairs with their Gameboys, so they had no worries at all.

Wondeeing how my wife is doing I call her to see how life on the other side of our neighborhood is doing and I was also going to whine a little bit about my working conditions. I also wanted to see what we had to eat. To my delight, she tells me that the lights only flickered in my house. I tell her to pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees and we''ll all be over in a few minutes.

Ray and I finish hooking up the dishwasher. It looked good. My estimate of 1 hour, turned into 2 1/2 hours. Did it work? I don't yet know, but I am anticipating a confirmation phone call later today.

The Pizza, which had to be cut in half to fit into my oven, sure did hit the spot. Next week, I assemble my new barbeque. I know that Sears would have put it together for free, but, as I said, I like to do it myself....

A Busy Weekend and a Banged Head

Happy Monday! Back to work and perhaps I can catch my breath. Weekends used to be a time to throttle down and take it easy, but we have so may things going on now.

Celebrate Fairfax was a blast. Lots of fun and it was great to see so many of our viewers. I also got to meet Randolph Mantooth. If you watched EMERGENCY in the 1970s, he was John Gage. Randolph was 2 booths down from the 9 NEWS NOW tent and he was at the fair with the Fairfax County Fire and EMS folks. It's tough to believe that EMERGENCY is celebrating it's 30th anniversary and that the still boyish looking star is now 61 years old.

On Sunday, I took my son to New Market, MD where they have a place called Adventure Park. One of my son's friends was celebrating his 7th birthday. Things were going great. We had pizza and cake and we were outside on the mini go-carts.

As a parent, I have to learn to let the rope out more and more as my son gets older. It's tough sometimes to sit back and stay out of the way. Anyway, the boys were racing around the course when the birthday boy, Jonathon, was trying to pass Philip. Being competitive (like his Daddy), Philip does not want this to happen. He looks over his shoulder at Jonathon just as they were both coming to a sharp curve. I saw the whole thing unfolding in what felt like slow-motion. Seeing my son not watching where he was going and not being able to do anything to stop him from what was about to happen was painful for me, but not nearly as painful as what would happen to Philip.

Instead of turning, like he should have if he was looking forward, Philip slammed into the guard rail at full throttle and then got hit in the left rear by his friend Jonathon. He was bouncing around like a Plinko Chip on The Price is Right. I immediately ran over to him and unbuckled my crying little boy. I know he was hurt, but it was only a banged head and a little bruise on his forehead. As bad as it looked, I was actually pretty relieved. Philip won't be driving for real for about 10 years so I have time to teach him about looking where you're driving and I also have some time to put money away for auto insurance.

By the way, the young man, Brandon, who was working the go-cart area was very good to walk with us to the food area and get some ice for my son's head. Best of all, they gave Philip some chocolate ice cream so that he wouldn't feel so bad. Chocolate ice cream has some great medicinal value as it only took a few minutes for Philip to recover enough to get back on the race course.

Field Day

The end of the school year is quickly approaching and one of the activities that many schools hold is "Field Day". Today's high temperatures may force an early end to field day activities across the area, but it got me thinking about my own field day heroics. (Having a child often makes me think of my own childhood.)

It was back in 4th grade. Robert Wilson and I were partnered in the water balloon toss. You start out pretty close and get progressively farther apart, all the while, desperately trying to catch that water laden piece of latex. Neither of us wanted that balloon to break. It wasn't so much the getting wet part s it was not wanting to be embarrassed in front of the whole school. I don't know if it was fate or destiny or just athletic prowess, but Robert and I were in sync that day. The best part was after we won. Robert chased after our gym teacher(now called PE), Mr. Fernandez, and nailed him with that water balloon. Everyone laughed and we were then awarded our first place ribbons.

I know I had some tough days in 4th grade, but I remember the Field Day victory far faster than the month I missed from a bad illness. Wouldn't you?

Some Welcome Rains

Sunday was a great day. I know it rained and I know that impacted some outdoor plans, but we really needed the rain. And it was a good rain. Nothing too hard and it rained for many, many hours. This was the type of rain that we just couldn't get at all in May and that will be harder and harder to get over the next few months. (The grass and trees around me really shot up on Monday and Tuesday.)

Now that we are in meteorological summer (June1 -August 31), thunderstorm type downpours will be the likely rainmakers we see. There is one exception, tropical moisture. If we get any tropical systems hitting the U.S., that will bring the possibility of an all day type rain. A bad way to get some much needed moisture in the ground.

With all of the dry weather, many more people have been using sprinklers. Did you know that WSSC charges you sewer usage for every drop of water that comes out of your faucet? Even the water that goes into your lawn or garden carries a sewer charge as well. The only way not to pay is to have a plumber come out and install a sub meter so that they can track the actual usage of your outdoor watering.

It doesn't seem fair to me to charge me sewer treatment for every drop of water that goes through the meter in the summer months. There should be a prorated sewer charge. Perhaps 100% in the colder months to 66% (or less) in the warmer months. I think that some educated guess could come up with a reasonable number. Of course, if they did that, then they would just likely raise the water to rates to make up for the shortfall.

A final thought, I watched the movie "Invincible" on Sunday afternoon. This movie was based on the true story of a 30 year old Philadelphia man who tries out for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976. Very enjoyable, and something that you could even watch with your kids.

Epilogue to the Eye Story

On Friday morning I was at my son's school for a "Donuts With Dad" PTA event. After the event, I walked my son to class so that I could just say hi to his teacher and some of his classmates.

What I did not know was that Philip had spoken with his classmates about my eye injury on Thursday, the day after it happened. On Friday morning, as you can imagine, the eyelid area was a bit colorful and still puffy, so the kids were all curious about it. First graders are pretty cool that way.

Philip's teacher and I thought it would be good if I spoke to the classs for a few minutes about the whole ordeal so that they would know what to expect if they ever needed stitches. I was more than happy to oblige.

When I was done, the "war stories" started to fly. A few kids have had to get stitches, but most of the stories related to a friend or relative. One however, took the grand prize. A young lady said,"Daddy had to get stitches here (as she points toward her groin area), because mommy didn't want to have any more babies".