Thursday, April 15, 2010

I sold my house today.

It was on the market for more than a year. It was a thorn in my side being in California, with renters in there. And then after they left, nobody. My house was empty. Waiting for occupants. It'll soon have them.

I moved into the house in April, 2000. It was my first home purchase. I saved and saved to get in there and got a loan. Not a subprime or anything dubious. A simple mortgage that was somewhat affordable. I had doubts. Thank goodness I made just enough money to pay it.

It's a great house. The new owners understand that. I hope they find its warmth and coziness an asset like I did. I hope they know it's a tough old house -- one built just after World War II. A place that's been through storm after storm, yet stands as majestically as it did when it was first constructed.

It survived party and grill out and guest alike. All adding character to the walls that make up the great old place. I'm glad I lived there. It made me a better man. It gave me responsibility and pride. It allowed me to mow grass and weedeat everything else. It sensitized me to beautiful red and purple roses that bloomed in the backyard and Azaleas in the front. It offered me a glimpse into family. The order of things that needed to be in their respective places. An office. A playroom. The kitchen, where everyone gathers.

I miss it. Life goes on. And for now, an apartment dweller I am. Until the next time.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

As I drive out of Birmingham -- my home of 30 years -- allow me a moment to thank all those who have sent well-wishes and congratulations on this opportunity in California. I'll be hosting the Marketplace Morning Report, based in Los Angeles, starting later this month, keeping tabs on economic and financial news.

I am honored and humbled by your thoughts and will keep this area in my heart always. I leave with a heavy heart and a lot of mixed emotions. I have near life-long friends I'm saying so long to and, most importantly, I have a family whom I'll miss with every fiber of my being. I am so lucky to have such great people in my life.

Thank you for your kindness, generosity and support over the years. I'll occasionally update this blog to keep you posted on what's going on in my world. I hope you'll keep in touch from home too.

Until next time.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

There's a great line in the movie Moonstruck when the old man Cosmo walks into his bedroom and calls for his wife Rose. She's asleep. He has news to tell her about their daughter getting married. "Rose" he says over and over as he walks toward the room. She opens her eyes, and without hesitation or emotion responds, "who's dead?"

As I get older -- and I guess it makes sense -- that question pops into my mind when old friends call me.

"Who's dead?" My stomach usually flutters when they sound serious on the voicemail or at the beginning of the conversation. "Oh God, here it comes," I think.

Today I found out it was Lou Zaden who died. According to family, he passed away from a heart attack. Sitting in his chair, he apparently fell asleep and that was that. Poof. One minute you're serving beer and taking cash at the bar and package store you created from nothing... the next, it's on to plan B (or maybe plan A).

Of course, this was not supposed to happen.

It seems like the people who are immortal, those who are never supposed to leave you, are lawyers and bartenders. They tirelessly make your life better. Or miserable. And if the devil indeed has a plan to torment you, it will involve either or both. Johnny Cochran had the LAPD. Lou was tormenter-in-chief of 29th Street.

I began popping into his bar shortly after it opened. I really shouldn't have because: a) his drinks were too expensive and b) I was underage. But my wallet -- complete with lack of legal birth evidence or currency -- didn't stop me from congregating with fellow media folk and boozers.

For two decades, I enjoyed every minute in Lou's. I met most of the friends who matter to me today in that bar. I laughed 'til I hurt, cried 'til I dried, wrought havoc on jealous boyfriends of girls I met inside, danced in the foyer to Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan, knocked over a vodka bottle or two -- oh, the look on his face then. And I did it without being arrested or committed.

Son of a gun, Lou is dead. I need a Sweetwater. And somebody call Johnny Cochran.

Oh. That's right.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Sunday, February 17, 2008

With some loud bangs and an earth-rumbling fall, the Parliament is now dissolved. I enjoyed the crowd around 20th Street anxiously awaiting its demise. One woman called it "tacky" and was thrilled that it was gone. It was her first implosion in 88 years.

Friday, February 15, 2008

The old grand, circular staircase is gone. Demolished along with the rest of the foundation of what once was a Birmingham landmark. And the hotel that hosted dignitaries and politicians and sports fans will come to end with a big bang this weekend.

The Parliament House opened in 1964, a year after four little girls were killed in a church blocks away, with the residue of hate and dampness of Bull Connor firehose water still in the air. But the new hotel -- with prominent investors including popular actress Doris Day -- was a turning point for Birmingham. It was something positive in a place that had very little good news to report to the world.

It lasted 30 years, but toward the end as different hotel chain affiliate. There was an attempt in the 90s to give it back its original name, but the glory had washed away by then. The architecture and age of the edifice had outlived its usefulness.

My dad started as a Food and Beverage Director there in the early 80s, after my family moved here from Indiana. He was promoted to General Manager of the place and brought my late Uncle Steve from Illinois to replace him in Food and Beverage. The hotel had lost a bit of its luster by then and was called the Holiday Inn-Medical Center at the time. But still, they put some pretty big banquets together and hosted some important people. I remember dad meeting Bear Bryant during one of his last games. I remember the Sidewalk Cafe and the Moonraker Lounge and tales from the side bar where Bob Cain used to perform for the masses. We crashed in a tiny room during a terrible ice storm in 1982 when we had no power in Hoover and my mom had to walk to Alabama Power down 20th Street in the Daniel Building for her customer service supervisor job.

It was a pretty cool place to be. And then it all went south.

My dad eventually left to open his own restaurant. The hotel eventually closed. Then opened again. Then closed. And opened. And closed for good. After several attempts at breathing life into that odd midtown building, it became too much of a headache and too much of a bank breaker.

I hope I can find a place to watch it come down in an implosion that Birmingham hasn't seen since the old Essex House was brought down on the northside years ago. Remember the old Tutwiler? It suffered the same fate. All for progress. Or movement. Certainly, evolution.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

It seemed like such a nice day for a drive. It was a little windy, but the sky was cobalt blue; there were a few puffy clouds that accentuated the rich color of the winter day. The day before had been balmy and the weather didn't feel right. It was 'warm and February'. Kind of like, it was 'jalapenos and ice cream'. Didn't quite go together. As far as the weather's concerned, we knew what that spelled.

The storms came, overnight here, and tore a path over a lot of the South. Birmingham was spared, but other parts of north Alabama were not. And that's where the news was early this morning.

NPR wanted some help for reporter Debbie Elliott, who had been in Birmingham covering the Obama campaign headquarters on Super Tuesday. When the howling weather moved through, the network decided to place her and me in Lawrence County, where there were reports of several fatalities.

We gathered some interviews in one neighborhood hit hard and walked across the belongings of one family that had been killed just hours before. It was a horrific sight.

I used to think I'd become desensitized to aftermath coverage of tornadoes and bad weather, or even man-made tragedies. Not so. This was a place that really got to me. While members of the National Guard and firefighters and police were trying to find small mementos in the finely pulverized debris of the family, I was walking around gathering sound and taking pictures. While it's my job and that's what I do, it still didn't feel right. It never does.

And what a God-awful smell. There was a Lawrence County Mobile Sheriff's Unit nearby, running on some kind of fuel that mixed with the odor of musty insulation and paneling and kicked up dirt and the normally pleasant fragrance of shredded pine trees. It was an odd concoction.

One firefighter who obviously was a first responder had a difficult time coming up with words to describe what he saw when he arrived to find this mess. He was holding back tears and so was I. It is so human. I left him alone to go do what he needed to do. And I went somewhere else to soak it all in.

It's a lot to absorb. In the scheme of things, it is what I do. To make sense of it. To storytell it. Make it digestible to the listener. But it never goes away. All the while I was in Lawrence County, I thought of the destruction I saw in Oak Grove and Edgewater ten years before when a powerful F5 leveled life there. The cleanup in Carbon Hill or Tuscaloosa over the years. The tornado damage always looks the same.

But the lives changed -- or taken away -- are different. And their stories are our stories that deserve to be told.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Today would've been my grandmother's 102nd birthday. We think. She told us she was born in 1906, but we weren't really sure she was telling the truth.

She probably didn't know either. Papers were changed for reasons no one knew, and who the hell had a birth certificate in a tiny Greek village at the turn of the 20th century? They were still talking about the Turkish occupation.

See, she was brought to this country (to Morgantown, WV) as a young teenager to marry a man 30 years older than her. It was a typical Greek wedding arrangement. Not big or fat, just matrimony. Pure wedding bliss. Yeah, it's hard to know what it was like. Times were different then and certain things were expected of people; it's a little different today.

But yaya was strong. She raised three kids from her first marriage and two from her second with limited income. She scrubbed toilets at the U-S Steel Gary works in Indiana. They called her "Midnight Annie" because of her work schedule.

Her husband (my grandfather) died at a young age -- when my mother was 9. So that was how she made ends meet and did that for years and years and years and retired and collected a pension. She lived for so long, mostly with us. She was mom, dad and friend most days to my sister and me; my parents both worked (typical 70s latchkey kids) and she watched us after school. She made wonderful food; God, could she cook! And the sweets... baklava, koulorakia, kourambiedes, paksimadia, everything a cool red-blooded American kid could want.

You know, a growing boy needs nourishment. Topped with tons of flour, sugar and honey.

Hardly a day goes by when I don't think of her and her effect on my life. She was a strong, often stubborn, always loving woman who could tie you up like a pretzel and then melt you like butter. She grew up old school -- without going to school, much. We spoke to her in Greek and English (when Greek didn't work) and she spoke to us in English and Greek (when English didn't work). What an arrangement.

Yaya died more than eight years ago at the age of 93. We think she was 93.

Her life gave me depth and passion and a sense of reality. She overcame poverty and lived the American dream -- even if she was too young on the island of Crete to've dreamt it and too busy raising a family and working to've known it. She loved this country with all her heart, and her life made it and the world a better place.

Xronia Polla Yaya... and Ya'sou!

Monday, November 26, 2007

John Drury died.

You probably didn't know or remember him, unless you had cable television in the early 80s or lived in Chicagoland anytime in the last four decades. Drury was a news anchor. Sort of the "Joe Langston of Chicago."

Drury's career started like other broadcasters of his time. After serving in the United States Navy during World War II, he began a career in broadcasting in radio. He then migrated to the new medium of television in Fort Wayne, Ind., Milwaukee and, finally, Chicago. He worked at several stations there, from WBBM to WGN to WLS and back to WGN. And, finally, back to WLS -- where he retired five years ago. Point is, he was Chicago.

Drury's dulcet tones mingled with Windy City mainstays Fahey Flynn, Jack Taylor, Bill Kurtis and John Coleman. He sat side-by-side for a few years with former WVTM/Channel 13 News anchor Denise Cannon. He worked with current-WGN anchor Steve Sanders (also an alum of 13). Naturally -- as with what seems like everything else in the world -- there's the smallest of Birmingham connection.

I remember watching John Drury as a kid. When WLS anchors had the big round '7' on their lapels and the quintessential gold blazer. A blue wall behind them would infuse the graphics on screen, so it would look like the anchor was on-the-scene. Except Drury often-times was on-the-scene. He was one of the original 'unanchored anchors.'

Drury died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig�s disease, at the age of 80.

He will be missed by everyone he touched in Chicago. And beyond.

There's a tribute to John Drury online at the Museum of Broadcast Communications here.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Yeah, I know. Long time. Hopefully, after the first of the year, I'll have more opportunities to update this thing with pertinent (emphasize pertinent) information.

Life's good. Work's busy. Getting ready for the holidays and all that goes with it.

I do want to take a moment and remember what happened on this date in 1989. A horrific tornado hit South Huntsville killing 21 people and injuring dozens more. Neighborhoods and businesses along Airport Road and Garth Mountain and Jones Valley were destroyed. People in that area will never forget the destruction.

The storm, part of a cold front moving through, formed so fast that forecasters didn't have much time to track it. A tornado warning was issued minutes after it touched down. A lot of people were caught completely off-guard.

I lived in Huntsville for a time in the early 1990s, when the storm was still fresh in their minds. I was a radio news anchor at WZYP and WVNN and I remember my station manager (Bill Dunnavant) and News Director (Dave Stone) telling me how important weather warnings were to Huntsvillians. That no matter what, they said, we had an obligation to get that information on the air in a timely manner. The station, as I recall, even had its own radar weather system in the control room.

You need not read anything else but this blog to know I'm a weather nut. Have been most of my life. And they needed not underscore my committment to getting any weather information out. But I tell you, of all the places I've lived, I did feel like people in Huntsville were absolutely the most sensitive to getting timely weather information and warnings. Hence the fierce fight to reopen a National Weather Service office there when NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) replaced warning capabilities with Birmingham's office.

As chief weather nut at WBHM, I produced a feature called "The Furious Fall" that aired about 5 years ago that highlighted a community that'd been hit by a bad twister that struck in the fall -- a "secondary severe weather season" as categorized by meteorologists. I traveled back to South Huntsville preparing for the report and interviewed some residents there about the F4 tornado that pummeled that area years before.

It goes to show you that while we're still hoping for rain in these parts and that the food-filled holidays are approaching, Alabama's weather can dish out anything this time of year.

It's a part of the holiday season residents here must never forget.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

For those who are new to the Birmingham area, it might seem astounding that this city that hasn't had so much as an inch of snow in the last decade could've been ground zero for a foot-and-a-half on this day in 1993. The Blizzard of '93, as it would be called -- you know, we news people have to name everything -- could be described as Birmingham's answer to global warming.

And what an answer it was. Because if anyone thought melting was going on anywhere in the vicinity, they were in front of a fireplace or were the fortunate souls (maybe a dozen or so) to have kept power that horrific icy weekend.

As it were, almost half-a-million power customers were out in the Birmingham region alone. The Blizzard of '93 proved to be quite the on-off switch.

I was working at WERC and WMJJ Radio at the time, a news reporter and anchor, and we had been well-prepared for something that was coming on the weekend of March 12-14, 1993. Weather models had predicted this thing for 5 or 6 days, so we were ready. And when our power had gone out at the station (our transmitter generator kept both stations on-the-air) we kept going.

The elevator shaft inside the building was making the eeriest noise -- howling as if a tornado was twisting its way through. I still hear that sound today. The winds didn't die down until the next day, when the temperature plunged to 2 degrees above zero (in MARCH!!). Birmingham's reading of 2 was actually the national LOW TEMPERATURE that morning (coldest spot in the lower 48). As I recall, more than a dozen people died and dozens more suffered from exposure to the cold in Alabama. 270 people died across the country as the blizzard moved northeast and dumped feet of snow on the Appalachians and into New England. Florida had snow in the panhandle and tornadoes in the peninsula.

But back to the night of the frozen tundra here in Birmingham. At about 10 or 10:30 on Friday night, I told our producer William Jenkins to get ready for live coverage; we were going to the phones. He was ambivalent about it at first -- but after we convinced management to go along, I ran into the talk studio, interrupted Bruce Williams or Art Bell or someone who was on at that time and gave a brief update of what was going on. When I told the audience "we want to hear what you're going through," the phone lines lit up as we could see the power go out from atop our snowy perch overlooking Birmingham and Homewood. Hundreds (thousands?) of calls and 4 or 5 days later, Mike Wood, David Tinsley, Shannon Stevens, Matt Coulter, Alan Collins and Tommy Charles and I were still taking phone calls and updating information on the infamous storm.

I remember Ken Kirk, our promotions guy, and I driving the Magic 96 van (and its mast antenna) down from Red Mountain, s-s-s-s-l-l-owly, and along Valley Avenue and 21st Streets, s-s-s-s-l-l-owly, down to Birmingham city hall to interview Mayor Richard Arrington at the city's civil defense shelter in the basement.

At WBHM, 500 people managed to show up at the Alabama Theatre for the Garrison Keillor "American Radio Theater" show that had been planned months and months in advance. Imagine the most famous Minnesotan getting off an airplane to find snow falling in the deep south! But if nothing else, public radio folks are persistent and the show went on (and so did a make-up show later).

I did a story about the "Storm of the Century" (we silly news people name things twice or three times) a few years back and you can see it here. It includes more on the Keillor show and the science (and patience) of having to forecast such a big weather event without causing mass panic.

What a time to be on the radio in Birmingham... It's something I'll never forget as long as I live!

If you have a story about the storm, e-mail it to me, and I'll share the comments here as we commemorate the 14th anniversary of this historic event.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

With all this talk of wintry weather, I can't help but think back to one of my first forays into Alabama winter weather. It was 25 years ago this month.

I was a sixth grader at Rocky Ridge Elementary School, now a Hoover school, then a Jefferson County school. I remember the school system let out early (like around lunchtime?) after the snow started falling. Imagine the surprise (I'm not sure it was well-forecast at the time) for a kid seeing all this snow falling and the teachers saying school was about to be let out. Now imagine a kid who grew up way north of these parts who missed the heck out of seeing snow on a regular basis.

We did eventually go home and my friends and I played in the several inches that had fallen by late in the afternoon. For my mother, though, it wasn't quite so fun. She was stranded on ice- and snow-covered Highway 31, trying to get home from her job at Alabama Power. My dad, then-General Manager of the Parliament House Hotel (then a Holiday Inn), was stuck there hosting way too many people who were stuck there trying to get out of town.

Turns out my mom was rescued by a fellow employee in a 4-wheel drive, and we all were rescued from our home and stayed at the hotel with my dad. The apartment we were living in in Hoover had no power, but the hotel downtown did. It was also close to work for my mom who, an essential power company employee, had to help take calls from irate power-less people in the Birmingham area.

It became known as the "Ice Storm of 1982" (aren't all news and weather stories named nowadays?). It was the same storm that rocked the east coast and Washington DC with snow and brutal cold. I remember the Air Florida flight that crashed into the Potomac (near the 14th Street Bridge) and killed so many people. I watched in horror on World News Tonight the rescue efforts of brave men and women trying to get passengers out of the ice-covered water. What a tragic story that was.

Today's winter weather event didn't even register on the same scale as the one 25 years ago, but it's a reminder of what Alabama weather is capable of.

Monday, January 1, 2007

Monday, November 27, 2006

The official announcement is out. Mal Moore, Athletics Director for the University of Alabama, has confirmed that Mike Shula "will not be retained" as Alabama head football coach.

Let the speculation begin on who will replace him.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

With the frenzy of the Mike Shula stay or Mike Shula go debate, I can't help but look back at another tumultuous period in Alabama coaching history.

The year was 1990 -- seven years after Bear Bryant's death; Bill Curry had bolted (assistedly so) for Kentucky. The University of Alabama was in search of a winner. Someone who could beat Miami in the Sugar Bowl. Someone who could beat Auburn. Someone with ties at least to Alabama, the state, not necessarily one of Bear's Boys. The name Bobby Bowden was flying all over the place. I was hearing it at the station I was working for, over and over and over. There were some at other stations (whom I would work with later) saying the only thing left were t's to be crossed and i's to be dotted for that contract that would make Bowden the next Alabama football coach.

Only problem? It wasn't true. Bowden hadn't interviewed. Matter of fact, according to later reports, he was asked to interview and didn't because he felt like it was insulting to have to go through the rigamarole of an employment application process with the success he had at FSU and the natural fit he thought he would be at Bama. Would he've taken the job? Maybe. Probably. Was he offered it? Did he even interview for it? No.

The facts were wrong. And Gene Stallings, then-coach of the NFL's Cardinals came to T-town, losing record and all (turned that around, didn't he?)

So while the names of coaches all over the nation are being thrown around Tuscaloosa and while the blogs are reporting everything from university aircraft sightings in suspect areas to contracts on the table, let's not forget that Shula -- Coach Shula -- is still at the helm at the Capstone.

Maybe we should speculate about his firing (or retaining) than who will replace him. That way, we're only one step wrong, instead of many steps down the rumor field. I have an idea: how about no speculating at all? At least formally. At least in a 'public forum' as AD Mal Moore would say. At least not in the media -- which is supposed to deal with facts.

If you're the media and you have facts -- straight-up, sourced facts -- then fire away. Well, maybe that's the wrong word given the issue. I mean, go with the story. And stake your reputation on it. That's what journalists -- yeah, you too sports folks -- do.

Let's wait for the facts to come out before we get absorbed in a miasma of innuendo and rumors. Did I say Miasma? I meant Miami. You know Coach Coker was fired from there last week...

And that's a fact. One of the few floating around these days.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

I can't help but notice that the last time I wrote something on this blog, I was hurting in bed. Sick. Bad upper respiratory infection. Thanks tonsils. (Still there 36 years and counting)

Now, here I am -- in all my almost-middle-aged glory, laid up and thinking about what brought me here. Knee is swollen to nearly double the size of the other one. And I look back fondly on a game of "throwin' the football."

Let me start this conversation by mentioning that no one twisted my arm to go "throw the football" at a field near my house. I made -- what I thought at the time -- a rational decision to wake up early on Saturday morning and play with the pigskin, run some routes and enjoy the beautiful weather before the Iron Bowl. A half-hour in, several routes later, my knee had turned the wrong way too fast and I was laying on the ground in fetal position waiting for the medical staff on the sidelines to get me off the field. Except that there was no staff. Only my friends who thought I was half insane because they just saw me (as I was attempting to make a tackle) fall on my rearend. I think there was a scream too. It's all fuzzy right now.

But the fall wasn't what had me in fetal position.

It was the pop, the loud piercing sound, that proved something was amiss, that got my attention and by the time I realized what had happened, my knee gave way. Over in a millisecond. Silly-elderly-Greek-American-man-thinking-he-can-still-play-football, down in record time. Great.

I felt Brodie Croyle's pain. Except I'm nearly twice his age and -- ridiculously -- playing a friendly game of "throwin' the football. I should've known better. I should've realized something like this could happen.

I don't know if I tore my ACL, or any other ligament for that matter. Maybe I just sprained it or popped a bone out of place. I do know it's ugly and painful and swollen and I'm the more miserable for it. Whatever it is, the road to recovery (and walking like a human again) may be a little while.

No one twisted my arm to go. But I twisted my knee. And it's a painful reminder that with age comes wisdom. Something I was sorely lacking Saturday morning.

Monday, October 2, 2006

I'm sick as a dog, as they say, laid up and watching entirely too much television.

Typical stuff: runny nose, cough, chills, a little fever. But if the aching hasn't gotten to me, it's the bombardment of the 24-hour newschannels that will send me to an early grave. This tragedy at the Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Penna., is so sad. But also sad -- for journalism -- is the coverage of this event. Helicopters, breaking news banners, pictures of kids being led around crime scene tape. Anchors and reporters scrambling to get as much information as possible, while giving us trickling bits between commercial breaks.

I don't have any place to criticize; I understand they have a job to do. I am merely observing. And to be quite honest, a little too much today.

Side note to the "too much television" stuff: I'm watching a cheesy 1981 movie called Senior Trip. Believe it or not, George Costanza's in it as a teenager (one of many) who take a trip to New York City as part of a high school contingency from Ohio. I don't think Jason Alexander boasts this movie as one of his brightest moments on screen, but it's interesting to see just how dated it is. Good Lord, the music in it is straight from an 8-track player.

One scene features two of the kids checking out the mass that once was the World Trade Center. Eery. A friend of mine and I were in the exact same place some years later (in 1992) when we visited NYC for the first time. We ventured to the top of the Trade Center, to the outdoor observation deck. Only six months later, in February of 1993, the parking garage was bombed in an effort to bring those buildings down. We all know the rest.

I really need to go back to work.

October 2nd has been a special day for me and my family for years. Twenty-eight years ago on this date, my mom and dad packed up the old Olds, filled up the U-Haul and ventured south with my sister and me in the backseat. We headed for Alabama (no banjo on my knee) from our longtime home in Merrillville, Ind., a suburb of Gary and Chicago.

Goodbye shopping for pop at the 7-11 on Broadway. Hello, picking up Coke from the U-Tote-M on Lorna. I still miss Indiana to a degree. Well, to about 32 degrees. And then my fond memories of snow drifts and below zero temperatures get me a little shaky...

Ooh, chill city. I need to wrap up and take some Goody's.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

A year ago, I remember waking up to the sounds of the Today Show on NBC. I had fallen asleep the night before watching Saturday Night Live (commentary and fact). The sun was just coming up, however clouds were beginning to thicken over these parts because of a storm that was brewing -- and growing -- in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

"Katrina," the announcer said -- I think it was David Gregory -- "is now a major category five hurricane with 175 mile an hour winds."

As if someone poured cold water on me, I jumped from under the covers and searched for my glasses. Just a few hours before, while I was watching Weekend Update, I'd flipped it on The Weather Channel and they said Katrina was a three tops, with some strengthening to come.

Boy did that storm strengthen.

Along the Mississippi gulf coast, people were preparing for the worst storm since Camille, the standard bearer for extraordinary storms. At that point, that Sunday morning, Katrina was stronger than Camille had been at that storm's worst. Anybody who lived in Gulfport or Pass Christian for more than a few years knew about Camille. And feared a storm like that one ever coming ashore nearby. The target was on them again. They didn't have much time.

Meanwhile, 40 miles west, Ray Nagin, the soon-to-be-embattled mayor of New Orleans, was soon-to-be on television with a plea for New Orleanians to get out. En masse. Now. This is "the storm we feared," proclaimed the Times-Picayune. This storm is no joke, chimed Governor Kathleen Blanco. If you can't get out, get to the Superdome. They had fear in their voices. I had knots in my stomach thinking about what kind of shelter the Superdome would be for the tens of thousands who would likely flock there.

And flock they did. Even as the rain fell, even as the winds kicked up. They were outside, personal belongings in hand. Children in tow. Anxiety in overdrive.

Of course, we know what happened. Levees broke. Neighborhoods -- entire neighborhoods -- and business districts and downtown areas and shopping centers and homes, thousands of homes, flooded. 100+ mph winds knocked down trees and power lines and punched holes in buildings 40 stories up. The Hyatt looked like Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson had a field day. The rescues lasted forever, it seemed. And, whatever your opinion about the response -- city, state or federal -- there were super heroic people doing the best they could. Funny how disasters bring out the best in us.

Inside the dome, the quality of life decreased as the waters rose outside. Rations were small. In some cases nill. No water, little food, overflowing toilets and -- from accounts inside -- little relief. Fights broke out. Outside, where people saw chaos, they looted. Picking up TVs, DVDs, clothes, anything they could find for cheap. As in, free. Nobody had power... or electricity.

Funny how disasters bring out the worst in us.

Back in Mississippi and southwest Alabama, the scene was horrific. Imagine a surge of water three times your height inundating your home. Carrying everything that it picked up from the last home. And the home before that. And the church before that. And the Burger King before that. And the neighbor's car, dog house -- dog -- and whatever else the water could envelope. That's the charm of a hurricane. Completely random, yes. And it doesn't care what it is, it's coming along if it ain't tied down.

One year later, evolution is slow. It looks as if time has been frozen if not for the progress of a few high rise hotel/casinos that are on their way back online. Homes that made up the landscape in neighborhoods just off shore are now just foundations, a few with pipes sticking up to show where there was once a connection to the place. There are few people in the place now. Skeletons of signs that are mangled and twisted and offer no direction are reminders of the once-thriving business community along the highway and sidestreets. Their parking lots are empty, weed-grown patches of concrete and sand; no building stands. And if it does, it's not much.

In downtown Mobile, much of Water Street (how appropriate) was flooded for a time. The water receded shortly after, but not before a rig lost its mooring and crashed into a bridge nearby. Today, things are better. And drier. And the shrimping community in Bayou La Batre and other small towns in Mobile County are just starting to get back to normal after Katrina damaged ships and flooded areas west and northwest of Mobile. But for those affected, this new normal stinks. Half the workers or more in the coastal Alabama seafood industry are out of work. The storm hit the shrimping, fishing and oyster harvesting business to the tune of $112 million, according to a study by the University of South Alabama and the state's Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

More than 1800 people died in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama because of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans now has a population of less than half its 450,000 that were there before the storm. Most of the people affected in coastal Mississippi and Alabama are back on their land or closeby.

Last weekend, I visited that area and snapped a few pictures. A year later, things are far from normal. Scroll down this page (it's a long one) and check out the actual Katrina thread, an amazing National Weather Service doomsday advisory for the coast and, most importantly, links to organizations still providing relief and help to those affected by the storm. One trip down there and you'll be asking what you can do too.

Friday, August 24, 2006

Yeah, I know. It's been a while.

Between RIAS (see below) and work and school and cutting my grass (which is, what I think, worse than any task I can think of), it's been a busy few weeks.

I'd like to thank the folks over at the Birmingham Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40 for asking me to emcee their program at the Wynfrey Hotel. More than 400 people showed up in the ballroom there and I had the privilege of announcing this year's class.

As an alum, I can tell you what an honor it is to be chosen. Civic involvement is so important for a city and area to grow. New leaders to take the reigns from old leaders who, quite frankly, want to relax for a little while. Or die (unfortunately). So, the newest class of physicians, researchers, lawyers, businesspeople and the like is a refreshing reminder that Birmingham and its region continues to evolve and produce some fine people in the community. I'm glad I could be the one to proclaim them this year at the podium.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

I can't believe the time is over. My RIAS trip has come to a close. I'm officially a fellow and officially have new friends, new perspectives ... and most importantly, new horizons I'm seeking. This trip through Germany and Belgium has shown me the world is small and the ramifications of connecting us to our friends across the planet are huge.

Two weeks in northern Europe and I feel like I've been here two years. There is such a connection for me here, yet I am also anxious to get home. To the good ole USA. Yes, I love being in a place that I've not been, seeing new things, meeting new people... but home is good. What am I saying? Home is great! After walking off 20 lbs. and using mass transit that caused me to ... yes ... walk some more, I'm looking forward to a six-speed jaunt through the Alabama countryside to get re-acclimated to the place I love.

Of course, I still have a few more stops before getting home. I'm off to The Netherlands tomorrow for some R and R (and a few stops to the Heineken brewery and Van Gogh Museum) and then to Greece to see my family for a short time, so I still have some traveling to do.

But to sound completely trite and campy, home is where the heart is. And my home will always be in America.

Friday, June 16, 2006

NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was set up as a protection from the eastern block -- a unified community to ward off the threats of the Cold War.

We know the ice age has melted, but the challenges remain.

Talking to some of the officials there, NATO has turned from defensive to humanitarian and peacekeeping operation. A military and political agency that organizes and officiates in the wake of problems (human-related) and natural disasters that come and go.

NATO inclusion is wanted. Countries are yearning to be involved and in partnership with the nations that are a part of it.

And NATO is busier than ever. Peacekeepers are still in the former Yugoslavia, troops are helping train Iraqis for protection and policing purposes, they're in Afghanistan trying to root out the drug trade and keeping Afghans safer and NATO's in the Mediterranean keeping an eye for terrorist acts against ships passing through the night. We know those jobs are tough. An uphill climb for sure. And some of these actions I wasn't sure about.

The Cold War is over, but NATO's job is as dangerous as ever.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Brussels is an international city with French flair, New York commerce and New Orleans nightlife.

Cobblestone streets meander through the central part of the city, weaving in and out of major headquarter buildings and hotels. Traffic is a nightmare, but we all know that feeling.

Today we visited the European Commission and discussed US-EU relations, attended a press gathering (that was about as brief as I've ever seen) and talked with officials about the flourishing European community. The United States and Europe trade billions with each other every year and while, politically, the two don't frequently see eye-to-eye, it's a sibling-like relationship. The two need one another. Bickering aside, one cannot be without the other.

Tomorrow, NATO. And much more to come from Belgium.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Days have passed, and I've been through much of rural Germany, seeing the agriculture and windmills, observing the fast lane of the Autobahn and visiting some great smaller cities that don't garner many headlines.

Rostock

This city of 200,000 reminds me of Birmingham a little. It's a jewel on the Baltic Sea. At one time, it's population had increased to more than 250,000, but after World War II (when it was an airplane manufacturing hub and the home of the famous pilot ejection seat) people fled from the Communist block looking for freedom. It's a port city -- very industrial, hence its similarity to Birmingham -- that's on the rebound. In an interview with the mayor, we learned that for the first time since the fall of East Germany, people are starting to move back in. Lofts and other homes are being built near the sea and around the city square. It's called a Hense city because of the pact that Baltic areas had with one another hundreds of years ago. Sort of like NATO, but with a middle age slant. (We'll be visiting NATO tomorrow in Brussels, so there's the connection.).

Shwerin

This is a smaller town with a flair for market squares and a famous castle. The Schwerin Castle dates back more than 900 years as a fortress and home to German rulers in the Mecklenburg state. It is absolutely beautiful (pictures forthcoming). Schwerin Lake (the third largest in Germany) takes up a large part of the town and fishing is big here. There's a massive redevelopment of a socialist housing project that was once home to more than 50,000 people. Today, the buildings are being refabricated and retrofitted to a more modern (and more colorful) look and feel. (The Communists knew one color: gray.) We visited with the mayor and watched soccer in the streets (on a massive big screen). Schwerin is hoping that tourism will help its economy rebound years after reunification. Times are still tough here and people I talked to say they are either trying to leave or to find work in other areas of the state.

Now it's off to Brussels for a whirlwind tour of the European Union and NATO!

Friday, June 9, 2006

My time in Berlin is quickly drawing to a close.

Today our group met with a high-ranking official from a German labor union. He told us the Grand Coalition government that Chancellor Angela Merkel is leading turns out to be the most workable he's seen in years.

Earlier, the equivalent to the undersecretary (minister) of State applauded American efforts to curb terrorism and beef up homeland security. He says Germany is working with the world community to show it has immigration and intergration under control. Despite strict rules that only allow a limited number of illegals in, he says Germans want those who are here to know that they will be welcomed. But they also must know that assimilation into the German society is expected.

This morning I also got a chance to hear from an American, Lou Charonneau, who works as a journalist based here. Charbonneau is a correspondent for Reuters and he says the spin machine works in this country (and the rest of the planet) as much as it does in the states. Interesting talk with our breakfast this morning.

OK, before I go... Berlin-Birmingham, things that are different from home:

• Mass transit. The U-Bahn is fantastic. And cheap (gasoline runs about 6.00 USD a gallon). The SUVs here are the size of a Fiat.
• Mass wurst. Enough already with the Wurst. On every street corner. In every shop. My God, how much sauerkraut can a man take?
• Mass America. Now granted, I'm sitting at a Dunkin' Donuts, eating some munchkins as I type ... excuse me one moment ... OK, as I was saying, munchkins. It's Germany; not Germantown. Would the owner of an American fast food establishment please move your store... to Jersey? Where the hell'd the wurst go?
• Mass hysteria. It's just soccer (fu�ball) folks. (Yeah, explain the Iron Bowl to the Germans...) You'd think the friggin' World Cup was being played here. Geez.
• Mass dyslexia. The keyboards are different. If I were to tzpe at mz regular speed, this is what zou would get' some words look right. Others don�t because the Zs and Ys are swapped. And instead of ; where it�s supposed to be, there#s an �. Unless Dunkin# Donuts added Jaggermeister to its menu, I#m seriouslz needing some help.
• Mass dryness. Humidity, I shun thee... go, discombobulate someone else's hair. Seek perspiration in other bodies. Mine eyes hast seen the glory of the promise land. Amen.
• Oh, and the �, the sound of the harsh S. Don't find many of those across the pond either. Well, it's called 'eszett.'

Maybe they'll rename the American mainstay, �unkin' �onuts. Just a thought.

Off to Rostock, in the former East Germanz - er, Germany - tomorrow. Maybe the keyboards get easier. I'll let zou - you - know.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

I know it's election day in Alabama, and the primaries have heated up (as you no-doubt have noticed on television lately). But let me tell you about politics in Germany.

Today we visited the Reichstag, Germany's equivalent to the US Capitol. A beautiful building, designed for the unified Germany of years gone by. The Germany around the turn of the 20th century. It is an ornate limestone edifice with details unmatched anywhere I've seen (with the exception of maybe Greece). Yet inside, it is modern and open and resembles an Ikea store. Simple accoutrements, fixtures and colors adorn the public and governmental areas to create a clean, inviting look.

Apparently after all the bombs were dropped on Berlin as World War II came to a close, this building stood vacant and unused. Nobody knew what to do with it. The "temporary" capitol had been moved to Bonn after the city was divided into sectors (American, French, British and Soviet), so there was no need for such a place. Plus money proved difficult to raise to fix it because, again, priorities were different. Why fix something that won't be used?'

Enter reunification.

It took years to prepare. Christo wrapped it. Architects designed it. Contractors gutted it. Since the 1990s, it's served as the German capitol and assembly place for the Bundestag - hundreds of members of Congress who have gathered since West and East Germany became united. Since the "sectors" went away.

The dome to it had been hit during those bombing campaigns and a new dome was constructed. Today, a glass and metal dome replace the ornate one that had once graced the top of the building.

In the distance, off to the south, there is a hill that is noticeable from atop the Reichstag. Unlike Alabama, Berlin is topographically challenged; it's a little flat. I was told the hill is where the ruins of old Berlin (from the bombs) were taken and set aside to be forgotten. Ground soil now covers much of it, so it looks natural. It's not. It's a reminder of the past.

You can also see the Brandenburg gate (and virtually everything else in Berlin) and get a sense of the progress that has been made over the years. There's still much to do, but slowly, the open spaces that were once ground zeroes for Allied artillery are being developed into commercial and housing space.

So far, unemployment here is a whopping ten to twelve percent (at least twice that of the United States), but the German government hopes the economy can absorb the even more lackluster former East German economy and recover holistically.

Meeting today with the Minister of Transportation and Urban Affairs, it seems the challenge is before the leaders here. They accept them. More entrepreneurial infusion, more assistance to allow German companies to develop what the world wants and needs, more money. All the while spending on social concerns and government and state needs.

Sound familiar?

Sunday, June 4, 2006

Sometimes I wish Alabama's weather could take its cues from other places. Like, say, Berlin. Today here in the German capitol, it's a blustery 50 degrees with gusty winds. It sprinkled a little here, but it didn't stop us from taking the U-bahn (mass transit) to some sites near our hotel. Listened to some great Latin jazz and fusion on the streets during a festival a few miles away. There were thousands of people everywhere. Made me think of City Stages. With German bier.

I'm here as part of a German-American journalist exchange program called RIAS, which stands for Radio in the American Sector. It was established in post World War Two Germany as a way to reflect (and promote) western values in the communist-bloc East. It's programming started as information only, but quickly became a musical, cultural and news source for people living here. It is an honor to be a part of this program.

I'll keep you updated on the goings-on here in Germany and look forward to posting them here. Pictures are forthcoming (after I start taking some) and little vignettes about German and European culture are on the way too. Thank goodness it's not that busy here with the World Cup soccer championship coming this week (tongue firmly planted inside right cheek) here.

Danka!!!

Thursday, April 28, 2006

I'm looking forward to being a part of the "Pugs on Parade" benefit for the Alabama Pug Rescue and Adoption organization Saturday over at Oak Mountain State Park lake (the fishing center east of the main entrance off of Highway 119). I'll be hosting the costume contest -- which is always a hoot! The event is from 10am to 3pm, the contest starts at 2. If you have a pug or are looking for one, this is the place you!

By the way, Alabama Pug Rescue and Adoption, Inc. is a rescue and home-finding service for pugs, those cute, snub-nosed dogs who have special needs and big hearts. Check out their website and donate if you can.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006

"I am shocked!"

"Oh...my...God!"

"Are you serious?"

It's interesting, but those are just some of the reactions I got from people I told early yesterday that the three arrests in the rural church burnings were of college students at Birmingham-Southern and UAB. 19-year olds Ben Moseley and Russell Debusk and 20-year old Matthew Lee Cloyd are friends and allegedly burned the first two churches (in Bibb County) as a "joke." In court documents, that's what Cloyd told federal agents. But the congregations aren't laughing... nor are the Feds and local officials who connected Cloyd's 4Runner tire tracks to 6 of the 9 fire scenes. His special order knobby, back-woods tires, could be spotted easily in the red clay of rural Alabama. Hence the appeal for more information about a 'dark colored SUV' at the height of the investigation.

This is a tragic story on all counts. It was a long day too. We await more court appearances and trials in these cases and we hope -- no matter what happens -- we can leave this sad episode behind.

I produced a national story for NPR on the resolve of those folks in Bibb County, where the earliest church fires happened. Traveling through that area the last week or two, I got a sense that people were sad and hopeful all-in-one. Sad that the world's like this; people will burn your church down for whatever reason and hopeful that no matter how bad the damage, no matter how much was lost, redemption and rebuilding comes easy for the faithful.

Listen to the story here.

Monday, March 6, 2006

There weren't very many seats to be had at the Carver Theatre Saturday. That's because many of the creative folk in Birmingham -- filmmakers, song and music writers, cinematographers, photographers, actors -- were there watching some mighty fine short flicks made by some mighty talented people.

And the Sidewalk Scramble didn't disappoint.

Our film, Internal Combustion (see below), didn't win anything, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed. Some technical glitches took the music track out of the digital transfer (from us to them), so that was a little unnerving. But all that aside, I must say there were some awesome pieces of work! Congratulations to the folks at "Team Bloodjet" who won Best Picture and some other production categories. Check out more about the Sidwalk Scramble here.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Let me say first that this past weekend was excruciatingly busy. Between counting sleet pellets and a very long Associated Press meeting (I'm a board member), I had the opporuntity to make a little movie. Actually, it took up nearly my entire Saturday. But, I loved every minute of it.

Lissa Legrand (of WBHM fame) and I had a chance to work together outside of the radio station for a change as part of the 2006 Sidewalk Film Scramble. We made a short horror flick called Internal Combustion, which will make its debut at the main Scramble event on Saturday, March 4 at the Carver Theatre.

Allow me to personally thank all those who were involved in the making of the movie and who made me feel at home and comfy in the confines of the set. Scott Gordon, Joe Zellner, Hunter Bell (WBHM's Membership Manager), Barry Marks, Caroline Exum and Laure the costume design and creative director. I had a blast!

I've worked with many of those same people in another scramble movie that we made back in the fall (The Otter's Whisker) and had a great time with that as well!

You can see the trailer for the movie, along with the other Scramble shorts here: www.hardpillfilms.com.

And, no, I don't plan on quitting my day job...

HELLO AGAIN!

Yeah, I know, I haven't updated this thing in quite a while. And I can come up with a million different excuses. Work, school, Christmas, Work, School, blah, blah, blah.

When my buddy Larry acquired this domain for me, I thought it would be cool to keep a place where I can talk a little about the things that are important to me, like speaking to kids about the future (theirs and mine), mentoring budding journalists who might teach me a thing or two, even post some personal pictures of me and my family (last summer's Greece trip comes to mind). And all the while I would be able to put geeky weather stuff up here and give an idea to the people who listen and can tolerate me for more than a moment a chance to catch up on what's going on.

Well, I have to say, I never thought so many people would think to look at SteveChiotakis.com. I get conversations all the time about 'when are you going to update your website?' or 'I can't believe you have a website!' The fact of the matter is, I get asked about it a lot.

So, I'd better keep it updated. All I can say is I'll try.

Over the coming months, you'll see some changes. A freshening up if you will. I hope you enjoy it!

Remember, you can e-mail me at steve@wbhm.org with your suggestions and comments for what you'd like to see here.

Monday, November 7, 2005

I'm really looking forward to meeting Anne Fadiman tonight.

Fadiman is the author of the book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and will speak tonight at the Alys Stephens Center. Her book deals with the clash of two cultures in California, centered around a little Hmong girl, Lia. The story is brilliantly told and underscores the differences between worlds that are based on tradition and technology.

Fadiman's lecture is at 7 tonight at the Stephens Center. I'll be on stage with her for a question and answer session after her comments -- you're more than welcome to jot down a question or two and we'll throw those her way for discussion. I also had an opportunity to interview Fadiman before her arrival in Birmingham. That aired this morning on WBHM. You can hear it here.

Hopefully, I'll see you tonight!

Friday, October 7, 2005

Had a great time last night karaoking with some of my friends at WorkPlay. Anybody who was looking for a horrific version of Don McLean's "American Pie" should've been there. However bad it was (and it was bad), we did raise a little money for The Exceptional Foundation, where children with mental and physical challenges have a place to socialize and play, and Birmingham's Summerfest Musical Theatre, which provides educational, training and performing opportunities for aspiring and culturally diverse artists and a quality theatrical product on-stage.

From Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot singing "I Will Survive" with GOP master Marty Conners, to Fox 6's Janice Rogers performing Patsy's "Crazy"... we had a blast!

Special thanks to Fox 6 General Manager Dennis Leonard for playing guitar during "American Pie" and for our impromptu butchering encore of the Eagles' "Hotel California."

And to my friend the photographer, Arik Sokol: too much coffee? (but thanks for sending them to me!)

Sunday, September 25, 2005 10:06 PM CDT

Remnants of Rita have given us some storms to deal with today. Actually, there were probably 7 or 8 tornado warnings at one time. Heard about some mobile homes in Tuscaloosa County that got pummeled by several tornadoes. Even some evacuees of Hurricane Katrina at Lake Lurleen State Park were affected by a twister that touched down. Several trailers the evacuees were staying in were damaged. It seems like they can't catch a break wherever they are.

33/40 TV had some terrific live tornado footage from their Tuscaloosa tower. Was riveted. Also, a photojournalist from 13 shot one of the Tuscaloosa tornadoes that touched down today. It was great video.

6 had a tower shot from atop Red Mountain showing the beginnings of a rotating wall cloud north of downtown Birmingham. That was wierd, considering I looked out my window and saw how dark it was over downtown.

Of course, most of the TV stations were in "severe weather form" today. But the funniest (or most tragic) thing that happened came on Channel 42. During the CBS Pats/Steelers game, 42's meteorologist jumped in as the Steelers were driving to set up their last touchdown to tie the game. 4th and 11, 1:31 left on the clock, Roethlisberger steps back to throw... and... another tornado warning for Tuscaloosa County. I could hear the moans from bars and living rooms all over metro Birmingham. To their credit, they did finally split the screen -- but not after the play was done (which turned out to be a pass interference call against New England and an ultimate TD for Pittsburgh).

In the end, there was just a little too much time on the clock and Tom Brady sent the other guys down the field fast. Patriots win by a Vinateiri field goal with one ticker left.

This Sunday... exciting sports, draining weather.

Thanks Rita.

Saturday, September 24, 2005 11:12 AM CDT

Once-powerful Rita's made her way ashore overnight, dumping lots of rain and blowing hurricane-force wind on Beaumont, Port Arthur and Lake Charles. There is widespread flooding and some damage from wind.

The storm will move north for a time today -- then stall. Right over East Texas. And that means they'll be measuring rain in feet around there over the next few days.

She then takes her time moving north, then northeast with the help of a cold front, and should affect Alabama's weather next week. The National Weather Service Birmingham office says it could be a "drought-buster." North central Alabama's been bone dry for much of the month of September. Well, at least since Katrina.

Friday, September 23, 2005 04:12 PM CDT

After a period of weakening yesterday, strengthening last evening and overnight, Rita appears now to be losing some of her steam. Probably because she's encountering cooler water and land nearby. Landfall comes past midnight along the Sabine between Texas and Louisiana. Toss the dice, the eye could strike anywhere in that area... but make no mistake, everyone within 100 miles will feel it.

FLooding in New Orleans. 3-5 inches of rain, but it looks like it's tapering off there for now. Let's hope.

Thursday, September 22, 2005 07:42 PM CDT

Rita's weakening streak is stabilizing now. The National Hurricane Center reports the central pressure is status quo or up just a tad and winds are still at 145, gustier at times to 170+. Some fluctuation in intensity is possible over the coming 24 hours and forecasters warn this storm could come ashore as a strong category 3 or even strong category 4. Rita's moving West Northwest now, and the track has changed to the north and east. Landfall is likely to be on the Texas-Louisiana stateline.

It needs to be emphasized that because of the more eastern trek, New Orleans is in danger of anywhere from 3 to 5 inches of rain. There've already been reports of water rising in some parts of the city that were dry yesterday... and that's only after a few feeder bands moved through earlier. Much more significant rain could reflood parts of New Orleans under feet -- yes, feet -- of water. Those levees have been compromised pretty badly.

For the folks in the Crescent City, when it rains... well, you know the rest.

Thursday, September 22, 2005 07:03 AM CDT

Rita's been doing a little weakening over the past few hours. Minimum central pressure's up to 907, up from the 897 late last night. Good news. The storm's intensity will fluctuate over the coming hours.

Also noticed the National Hurricane Center has re-evaluated its track and now puts Rita east of Galveston Bay, instead of its original Corpus Christi-to-Galveston landfall idea.

Good (better) news for Galveston and Houston. Bad news for New Orleans.

The farther east the landfall, the closer to New Orleans the storm will be. Forecasters are predicting 2-4 inches of rain in association with Rita for Metro New Orleans. Now granted, hardly anybody's left in the Crescent City (except media folk), but any significant rain there will work those damaged levees hard. And water could be on the rise in New Orleans this weekend. A scary thought considering what that city's been through the last few weeks.

Thursday, September 22, 2005 12:10 AM CDT

Dangerous Rita now has a minimum central pressure of 897 millibars. That makes her the third most powerful storm in the Atlantic basin. Ever recorded. To put it in perspective, Rita is now more powerful than Katrina at her worst.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that Rita is super powerful now and there's a chance she'll weaken before landfall in Texas. If this were to strike the coast at its strength right now, the area of devestation would be horrific.

Let's hope she's showing off right now and has plans of fizzling a little before her ultimate destination.

More on Rita from the pros at the National Hurricane Center.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

And so it goes... another storm. This one, Rita, has her eye on the Texas gulf coast. That's where thousands are evacuating right now, an order from Governor Rick Perry and mayors all along the coast.

New Orleans lady? Probably not. Although outer bands could graze the western suburbs. And any rain that falls in the Big Easy is too much. Three inches adds feet of water in the big Mardi Gras soup bowl.

If it all works out, the city of New Orleans should send a big thank you card to the high pressure that's in control of the midsouth. It's keeping Rita on a westward push. Away from the area devestated by Katrina.

BUT...the high is moving. As it heads east, Rita will make a right turn: northwest, then north. If the high moves faster, Rita will turn faster. Slower, and Rita turns slower. That could put landfall anywhere between Brownsville, TX and the Louisiana line.

We here in Alabama should send that same high a different message. it's the reason we've been hot and dry for the last two weeks. PC and low 90s today and there's a better chance Vulcan will hop off his perch and do the moonwalk than there is for rain in Birmingham today.

Bad visual. Sorry.

Monday, September 12, 2005

26 years ago this morning, I awoke to Greg and Courtney at Kicks 106 radio, playing recent hits such as Nick Lowe's "Cruel to be Kind" and the Bee Gees "Tragedy." I was an old man of 9, just settled into Alabama (had moved here the year before) and about to experience my first hurricane.

Frederic was his name; a category three storm with 145 mph winds and a horrific storm surge. He was a mean one and his eye went straight up Mobile Bay.

I remember Carl Daniels doing the news on WAPI-TV/Channel 13 and Joe Langston on WBRC-TV/Channel 6. Gulf coast residents, they said, were getting ready for an inundation of water and wind, the likes of which the coast had not seen since deadly Camille ten years before.

Now, let me say this right out of the box: I was (and still am) a weather freak. I was born and spent the first 8 years of my life in Indiana, where tornadoes were your neighbors. And this hurricane thing fascinated me. If you're a weather nut, Alabama is a great place to live!

I can still see "color weather radar" that Carl featured on his newscast and the prognostication of bad weather here as Frederic made his way north. We had school that day -- and I spent most of it at Rocky Ridge Elementary in Ms. Lambert's dark 4th grade school room. The power had gone out early and stayed out all day (until they let us out at 2). They never cancelled class. I guess they didn't want people to panic and have to go pick up their kids or find someone to take care of them for the day. Tornado Warnings were in effect for much of the area. Winds howled and lots of rain fell. Trees snapped like toothpicks and power went out over much of the area for a good while.

Frederic was my first foray into bad Alabama weather. In Indiana, we didn't have storms like that. We had snow. Lots of snow. But no tropical systems. So it was a change for me. And I can honestly say it made me more curious -- more interested -- in weather. Not until a few years later during the ice storm of January 1982 was there such a disruption of utilities and life because of wild Alabama weather.

Of course, nobody knows the power of Frederic better than the folks on Dauphin Island and Gulf Shores. Those places along the coast were devestated. It took the area years and years to recover from Frederic.

Funny thing though. Now I work with Greg and Courtney (in production circles) and worked at AM 960 WERC with Carl Daniels for many years. I took pleasure in mentioning to Carl about how I watched him when I was a kid. He took it in stride and gave me a hard time when I took the WERC Ford Bronco and covered Hurricane Andrew years later as it swept through southern Louisiana. But that's a story for another day.

Of course, Andrew (when it hit Louisiana) was no Frederic. And Frederic was no Katrina. We all know what Katrina did. Scroll down and find the organizations that are helping Katrina victims and give some support. Like in 1979, those folks along the coast really need our help.

Thursday, September 1, 2005

You no doubt know what's going on in New Orleans and the Mississippi and Alabama coasts. It's a natural disaster of historic proportions. I'm including a list of charities you can donate to to save lives and get your neighbors on the Gulf Coast back in business. Even if it's $1.00, it'll mean something!

This list will continue to grow, so keep checking back.

The American Red Cross
Post Office Box 37243
Washington, DC 20013
(800) 435-7669
www.redcross.org

America's Second Harvest
35 East Wacker Drive, Suite 2000
Chicago, IL 60601
(800) 771-2303
www.secondharvest.org

AmeriCares
88 Hamilton Avenue
Stamford, CT 06902
(800) 486-4357
www.americares.org

Baton Rouge Area Foundation
402 North Fourth Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
(877) 387-6126
www.braf.org

B'nai B'rith Disaster Relief Fund
2020 K Street NW, Floor 7
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 857-6600
www.bnaibrith.org

Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund
Office of President George H.W. Bush
Re: Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund
10000 Memorial Drive, Suite 900
Houston, TX 77024

or

Office of President William J. Clinton
Re: Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund
55 West 125th Street
New York, NY 10027
www.bushclintonkatrinafund.org

Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities USA
Post Office Box 25168
Alexandria, VA 22313-9788
(800) 919-9338
www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

Christian Disaster Response
(941) 956-5183
www.cdresponse.org

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee
(800) 848-5818
www.crwrc.org

Church World Service
(800) 297-1516
www.churchworldservice.org

Convoy of Hope
330 South Patterson Avenue
Springfield, MO 65802
(417) 823-8998
www.convoyofhope.org

Corp. for Nat'l and Community Service Disaster Relief Fund
(202) 606-6718
www.nationservice.gov/about/donations/index.asp

Episcopal Relief and Development
815 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10017
(800) 334-7626
www.er-d.org

Feed the Children
(800) 525-7575
www.feedthechildren.org

Gifts In Kind International
333 North Fairfax Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 836-2121
www.giftsinkind.org

Habitat for Humanity International
121 Habitat Street
Americus, GA 31709
(229) 924-6935
www.habitat.org

Humane Society of the United States
Disaster Relief Fund
Deptartment DRFHBM
2100 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20037
(888) 259-5431
www.la-spca.org

Islamic Relief
Post Office Box 6098
Burbank, CA 91510
(888) 479-4968
www.irw.org/donate/

Lutheran Disaster Response
(800) 638-3522
www.lwr.org

Mennonite Disaster Service
(717) 859-2210
www.mds.mennonite.org

Mercy Corps
Deptartment W
Post Office Box 2669
Portland, OR 97208-2669
(888) 256-1900
www.mercycorps.org

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
Post Office Box 151973
Alexandria, VA 22315
(703) 339-5596
www.nvoad.org

Nazarene Disaster Response
(888) 256-5886
www.nazarenedisasterresponse.org

The Network for Good
8615 Westwood Center Drive Suite 1A
Vienna, VA 22182
(866) 650-4636
www.networkforgood.org

Noah's Wish
Animal rescue and sheltering in disasters
Post Office Box 997
Placerville, CA 95667
(530) 622-9313
www.noahswish.org

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
(800) 872-3283
www.pcusa.org/pda/

The Salvation Army
Post Office Box 4857
Jackson, MS 39296-4857
(800) 725-2769
www.salvationarmy.org

United Jewish Communities
Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief
Post Office Box 30
Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113
(877) 277-2477
www.ujc.org

United Methodist Committee on Relief
Post Office Box 9068
New York, NY 10087-9068
(800) 554-8583
www.gbgm-umc.org

World Vision
Post Office Box 9716
Federal Way, WA 98063-9716
(888) 511-6548
www.worldvision.org