Big Ben’s Seal of Approval May 3, 2007

What I thought was an innocent conversation has become the most-talked about interview in town. Those are not my words. This comes from my friends at WDVE’s Morning Show who have plenty of fun with the audio from my Blue Angels flight last summer. If you have not heard the laugh-filled interview, you can download the podcast from WDVE:

http://www.dve.com/cc-common/podcast.html

Still, I wondered if the bit was really that funny. Well, today, I got the seal of approval from none other than Big Ben himself. He usually rags me for plenty of stuff, but he was listening before the segment and … well I will let you here what number 7 had to say about it. Here’s the link to the video: http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/video/13249151/index.html

Hey, let me also make sure some people get credit for having placed this one moment in time on the world wide web – via YouTube. Local bloggers Tunesmith & Anthony created a version of my flight which cuts between myself and another reporter in town — and the results are both hilarious and risque. It’s been viewed some 2,600 times already and here’s where you find that piece of creativity: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q4Y2jsCzXp0

On Board ( Forgive Me for Notr Coming Up with a more clever title ) May 2, 2007

I have discovered that I have many titles: Co-anchor, Husband, Father ( for my dog, Boobaloo ). There’s one more title I hold that unless you had seen my bio on our website, you probably were unaware of: Trustee.

The past three years, I have served as a trustee at Chatham College – which Wednesday officially became Chatham University ( http://www.chatham.edu/ ). It may be the title with which I am the proudest. While co-anchoring the morning news is a great responsibility, I really did not feel like an adult until the day I was asked to join the school’s board of trustees.

Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of how it all happen. As a sports anchor, I had done stories on the all-women’s school hockey team which led to meeting school President Esther Barrazone which led to my involvement in the school’s girls and women in sports program which led to me skating onto the ice at a home game wearing the Chatham College Cougar mascot outfit ( don’t ask ) which led to being asked to join the board.

Chatham College is the oldest women’s college in Western Pennsylvania — but despite it’s rich history, it was on the verge of going out of business in the early 90’s. That was until Esther Barrazone took over as president. She has led the school into the modern day while maintaining the essence of this historic college and it’s beautiful campus hidden away in Oakland.

Tuesday, Chatham took another step in its revitalization with the upgrade to University status and a celebration on campus which included the mayor and several students and alums. While it’s a name change, it’s so much more and I’m so glad to be a part of it. My three years as a trustee has allowed me to play a significant role in the development of the women’s undergraduate program as well as the co-ed graduate program.

While I can’t trumpet my association with the school on TV, just know that I’m proud to be a part of the school – and proud to hold the title of “trustee”. I used to think only adults with some hubris could hold such status. I guess I am an adult.

Ranking Madness May 1, 2007

I must admit. Kelly and I were a little giddy one morning last week when reporting that Pittsburgh had been ranked by Places Rated Almanac as the nation’s most livable city. Hey, it’s something to celebrate – being the number one place for something so positive. I thought a little chest-pounding was in order. That was until I saw the latest polling.

The American Lung Association now says that Los Angeles has the most-polluted skies in the country. Number 2 on that list? You guessed it, Pittsburgh. Now, here comes my question. How is it possible that Pittsburgh is both the most livable city and the second-worst when it comes to air quality. Don’t the two kind of cancel each other out?

That contradiction brings me to this conclusion: There are way too many rankings and polls out there. Each week, our newsroom gets ranking for the city of Pittsburgh from being 13th on the most humane to pets to 50th when it comes to the life expectancy of its male citizens ( and yes, those are actual polls and actual rankings ). I’m not only surprised by the number of polls, I’m absolutely shocked that organizations actually spend money to rank cities on everything from parking spaces to number of pet stories done by the local media. I mean who pays for this stuff?

I’m not saying let’s get rid of these rankings, but I’m beginning to believe that they are less worthy for their news value and more important as a topic of water cooler conversation ( BTW, who stands by a water cooler and talks to people at work ). I think we shouldn’t compare ourselves to other cities, but rather judge ourselves by our own standards of who we are and where we want to be as a city. Still, I do get a kick out of being the most livable city in the USA. Makes me feel better about my decision to move here 12 years ago — and stay here.