M is for Memphis. And Murder.

I found it interesting that former Memphian (and ex-WREG employee) Jamey Tucker said this in his blog last week, in talking about how the quality of newscasts in Nashville (his new place) seem to be better than here:

Maybe it's the fact that there's not 2 or 3 murders to cover every day.
Every lead story isn't about a murder or an investigation.

Now, I happen to be on Channel 3's website yesterday, and let's look at the local "Top Headlines" section, shall we? Six bullet-point (no pun intended) links to stories. Here were four of them:

• 1 Dead, 1 in Custody in Memphis Murder
• Woman Charged in Deadly Weekend Shooting
• One Injured in East High School Shooting
• Shooting Leaves One Dead

Gee whiz. Now, I know that every city has its problems. It's just that I could never really have Kevin Kane's job over at the CVB. What does your city have to offer? "Well, we got Elvis. And everything comes down to race, usually. Oh yeah, and about 200 murders a year." Heck, we have some relatives from North Carolina that were in town a year or so ago, staying at the Hampton Inn on Sycamore View. Their car was stolen. Welcome to freakin Memphis.

Kevin, I'm glad you're paid to cheerlead Memphis, cause I sure as heck don't think I could.

Happy Birthday Leah!

27 years ago today, my life was changed forever. Sure enough, as an almost-6-year-old, I'm guessing that I was pretty much clueless about what was going on, and my only emotional challenges for the day probably involved mealtime or cartoons. But Michael and Donna Blayock were giving birth to my soon-to-be bride.

I've been around for a few of Leah's birthdays--including the 16th one, when she commenced heavy flirting with me the very second that her boyfriend departed the premises. Or the 21st one, when we went down to Tunica (just because she could!) and she couldn't believe that she wasn't asked to show ID. Her 23rd one found us newly engaged. The next one found us married. But I can think of no more special one than this year--one where we'll celebrate with our 7 1/2 week old son.

A funny little anecdote about Leah and her birthday proclamations. Her parents' anniversary is January 16, just 4 days after her birthday. Obviously a few years elapsed between their wedding and her birth, but kids don't have any concept about this sort of thing. The story is told how someone was questioning her birthday being in January, on the 12th, and how exciting her birth probably was for her mom and dad. She promptly responded, "And then 4 days later, they got married!!"

Happy Birthday, Leah......Nicholas and I love you!!!

Blues Jeans (or Jazz or Country or Rock)

Yes, I am now the proud owner of a black 5th generation "video" iPod (which, due to the rage and post holiday shortages, is very hard to find accessories for these days), but although I'm in the market for some necessary complementary gadgetry, I don't think I'll be buying these new jeans from Levis.

Although this article says that pricing wasn't available, a report I heard on the radio about these said that it would be in the $200 range. For jeans. Call me a tightwad, but no thank you. Heck, and what's up with the "joystick in the...pocket"? Uhhhhh, no. If that's not a joke waiting to happen, I don't know what is.

Selection Saturday

As mentioned in a previous post, Leah and I recently signed a contract for a new construction home. Well, part of the rites of passage for going the new construction route is getting to make selections. I had done this before, with a little input from my mom, for the house that is now a part of the Eric and Leah entity, but this would be Leah's initiation into the whole homebuilding process (Leah and I were dating at the time, but I didn't really have any future plans or relationship direction at that point, plus I didn't wanna prematurely give her any crazy ideas about our future). : )

So anyway, we had decided that Saturday was as good a day as any . . . The contract actually specifies that we must make selections within 14 days, but in our case it wouldn't exactly hold things up because the streets haven't been put in, MLG&W hasn't assigned addresses, and it's just not time for the builder to get going with supplies yet. But it still makes it seem a lot like "ours" by showing up and saying, "By golly, we're here to select the paint color for the storage room door!". Leah later admitted that she was dreading it a little bit, perhaps because neither one of us are really from the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy interior design types. But all in all, it wasn't that bad.

Of course you have the basics: brick, paint color for siding, paint color for exterior trim (which will be garage door color), interior paint, counter tops, etc. But even though I had gone through this process once before, there were still some selections that caught me by surprise--i.e., that I didn't have to make last time. An example: shingles. Geez. I don't know. Aren't all shingles the same color? Nope? I guess I've never, ever driven down the street, looked at a roof, and said to myself, "You know, those shingles sure are a funny color--it just doesn't go well with the brick at all. What were they thinking?!?!" Let's see . . . What else was there? Door color (which is also the same color for the shutters)......tile or hardwood for the entryway, and then specific color/design for the choice. Linoleum.....Out of 3 linoleum surfaces (kitchen, master bath, guest bath), we get up to 2 pattern choices. Carpet. Fireplace accents (i.e., tile color and big tile vs small tile). Cabinets - oak finish, mahogany finish, or tea-stain finish. Hardware or no hardware. Oh yeah, and the standard cabinets used to have exposed hinges, but they just got an email and now all hinges are hidden, which used to be only an upgrade option (I don't know about you, but I know I'm sleeping better today knowing that my hinges won't be exposed). Marble color for the jacuzzi tub. A color choice for the stove (not really the entire stove, just parts of it). For interior paint colors (wall and trim), we have exactly 2 color choices. For 300 more dollars, we could've had 5 more choices, but the little agent-helper-chickee couldn't tell us if the paint was a better quality. Two hours later, we're outta there.

All in all, it wasn't that bad. For some of the choices, it really is hard to picture an entire wall or floor or room by using a small "swatch" of sorts. But we did our best, and even used some ideas from the model home (read: copied) since we know that professional decorators know much more than us when it comes to that stuff. We definitely left with more anticipation and excitement, and can hardly wait to see things starting to come together in the next several months.

UPDATE: We got a call today from one of the reps at the model home, and guess what's been discontinued? Our shingles!! The color/design that we picked out is now obsolete. Now we have to stress out over our replacement roof selection (I'm so kidding).

T.V. Blogs

Perhaps people like Steve and Jeff, who have worked around the media/journalists/TV stations, don't really see their jobs as any big deal. But I think to the average Joe, the life behind and in front of the camera is kind of intriguing. Throw in some politics, intra-personal discord, management differences, etc. and there really is some interesting stuff that produces who isn't filing stories anymore or why such-and-such used to be on Channel 5 but is now on Channel 3.

I always find the stories that Steve tells quite interesting, but again, if it's going on over at WREG, a lot of what he might be a bit of rumor. Maybe more truth than the average person might have, but I'm guessing there's lots of gossip and "he said, she said." Occasionally I'll go over to a website like Peggy's blog (WMC's news director), but it's usually something like, "We rock, Channel 3/24/30 sucks........We're so much better........We'll always be #1........I caught part of a story by (insert reporter name here) and it sucked......Oh yeah and did I mention how much we rock?" But she did link to Joe Larkins' blog and I have pretty much gone back every day.

It is a very candid and enjoyable read, and isn't all about TV stuff. Some of it is, however, and he talks about stuff like the awkward, uncomfortable position that reporters are often put in to "just get the story", all the while not wanting to be outdone by the competition. Joe is a super nice guy, and I remember meeting him when I was a checker at Kroger.......He came through my line and was wearing a Vanderbilt sweatshirt, and I asked him if he went there (he didn't; his wife did). But Joe left WREG last year and recently began his blog. He blogged very honestly and candidly about his departure and how he's not sure if he'll go back to TV again. I found it very interesting how he says that some in the TV business want to get out, yet there are so many people wanting to get in. He and a FedEx pilot apparently told each other one time that they wished they could do what the other one was doing. Interesting. And I had no idea that 3 has "thrown everything but the kitchen sink at [Joe Birch] to get him to come on over" but apparently that man's loyalty runs very, very deep.

Jamey Tucker also has a new blog....He also departed Channel 3 and recently has moved to Nashville to be a religion-type reporter for WKRN-Channel 2. He too blogs about plenty of TV stuff, but also about stuff in general (today's is how much he doesn't 'get' Howard Stern). He has literally been in Nashville only a few days, but is already experiencing it, like getting lost somewhere on I-24/40/65/440. I feel your pain, dude.

Anyway, add it to your reads, if you so choose. I have found it very interesting, and have even left a comment or two on Joe's. I'm sure he (and everybody else in the TV clique) might be wondering who the &%$#@ I am, but oh well.

Trading Spaces

When I closed on my (now our) house back in 2001, a co-worker of mine said, "Just think....You're now more in debt that you've ever been in your life." Obviously I don't really rate a mortgage the same as a Citibank Visa, but I guess when it comes to debts and payments, you can kinda-sorta lump them all together. Anyway, I guess I wasn't THAT intimidated, because Leah and I just went and started down the road of debt-inducing real estate purchase again.

Yep, we've put down a contract and signed on the dotted line for a new-construction home in Arlington (I would link to the City of Arlington website, but so far, I haven't found an "official" one). The Reeves Williams subdivision already exists, and sits just a 7-iron or so behind Arlington High School. Our soon-to-be house will be nestled in the Phase V of the Village of Summer Meadows, the final phase of the subdivision. Technically, we aren't really busting at the seams in our current place (you know, with a 6-week old kid, 2 cats, and a cocker spaniel), but the pursuit of bigger yards, better schools, and non-attached (literally) neighbors takes us east.

Obviously we have a little ways to go. Namely, selling our house. But time is on our hands, and we'll have to play the cards we are dealt when it comes to any potential buyers, like if they wanna be in our/their place before our new place is finished. But we'll cross that proverbial bridge when we get to it. Just some things that we'll gain in the new place:

* a 2-car garage
* a larger (and level!) backyard
* a laundry room
* an expandable bonus room (read: Eric's playroom)
* city taxes, but it's better than THESE city taxes
* great neighbors, because just down the street are Russell and Heather Baugh, our friends from church
* a Home Owner's Association (hey! No RV camps in driveways, or "Bubba's Auto Repair" signs)

I'm sure there are a few others like, oh yeah, a higher mortgage payment. Details, details. But here's an artist's rendering as well as the floorplan. So memorize it so you can find the bathroom. Stay tuned...