2008: it's been a year alright.....

So, my original plans were to blog once a day in 2008. 366 posts minimum.

Ah, didn't work out so well.

It's kinda like when you start to do to many little projects around the house; six months later, none are completed, but everything looks like a "work in progress" instead.

Well, that's me. I need to update my PH football blog to wrap up 2008 and prep it for 2009, finally really get REW Sports Online up and going (as it looks like I'll be doing all tape delay broadcasts this season), return to MySpace long enough to say hi to my friends there who think I'm dead, and, keep rolling on Facebook (my one success right now).....

.....because if you look at this blog lately, you'd think I was simply a fed up, bitter Republican. I'm really none of the three, but we're not here for that.

When little ol' Rob looks back at 2008, I'll remember the following:

CURRENT EVENTS:

---Barack Obama (congrats to the President-elect)
---Sarah Palin (see you in a couple of years....)
---The loss of ALOT of our 401K.....you know the feeling.....
---SUPER BOWL CHAMPION NEW YORK GIANTS!!!!
---The loss of even MORE of our 401K, et al.....
---2,923 Democratic debates......
---The REAL bear of Russia beginning to rise from its self-imposed Communistic slumber of the past 15 years or so.....
---How nasty the air was in China during the Olympics....
---How many Christians got bullied in China during the Olympics....
---The horror of Mumbai on Thanksgiving Eve and Day.....
---The Puerto Rico primary (c'mon; did you know they had one? I didn't!)
---The Hillary Clinton pantsuits
---The Barack Obama lefty jumper
---John McCain
---Joe The Plumber
---Facebook and Twitter......
---The end of Fannie Freddie Bear Mac Morgan Stearns almost AIG Mac
---Car executives who come to Washington in.....not cars.....private planes.
---Superdelegates, delegates, half-delegates....where were the diet delegates?
---Memphis won the NCA.....oh, that's right, they let Kansas back into that one, didn't they?
---The Phillies beat the Rays for the World Series title and the celebration goes into a three-day rain delay when water leaks into the Phillies' clubhouse.
---The youthful Penguins were flying toward the Stanley Cup....until the old guys from Detroit taught them a thing or two.

AROUND HERE?

---The end of the Wilder Administration
---The ongoing struggle of the Times-Dispatch to survive the media world changes
---The arrival of "radio layoffs" to local TV....
---The buildup of Short Pump is almost maxed out....for the fifth time....and then they'll find more land somewhere....
---The end of the Richmond Braves
---Goodbye to A&N, Shevel's, and we're warming up the fat lady for Circuit City, unfortunately...
---2008 National Football Champions--THE RICHMOND SPIDERS!!!!


2008 FOR THE WITHAMS:

---Goodbye elementary school! Rachel turns 11, ends fifth grade
---Hello middle school! Rachel starts sixth grade, keeps growing like a tree
---Back to school! Two years at Hermitage down, two to go for Mr. Witham, who can't wait for NEXT New Year's Eve! :)
---Mom continues her success with her Lapband, in the best shape of her life, and still helping people with their money at Virginia Credit Union
---Two wrestling events at the Coliseum, with Rachel's dream of touching Jeff Hardy's hand coming true!
---Robbie's second choral trip, this time to Chicago, complete with a game at Wrigley Field!
---Goodbye to our good ol' large van

and....the event of the year for the Withams, BY FAR:

The Trip to New York City!!!

---first time the four of us flew together since 1997
---Mom, Robbie, and Rachel's first trip ever to NYC; Dad's first in 22 years
---our first time in a NYC taxi!
---LOTS AND LOTS of walking in and around Times Square
---BROADWAY! Mary Poppins and Spamalot!
---The world-famous NYC bus tour! Nighttime in Brooklyn, the skyline from across the river, and a funny trip through lower Manhattan and the East Side with a GREAT hometown tour guide (complete with the accent).
---The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
---Rockefeller Center and Observation Deck

AND the two biggest events:

2) Dad's 28 year dream to see David Letterman live comes true!
1) The Withams' first trip to Ground Zero. It revolutionizes the way you think about, not just 9/11, but everything.


Rob? Me?

---dealing with unemployment
---dealing with interviewing
---becoming a first-time ever substitute teacher! I thoroughly enjoyed my work at Hanover schools, especially my adopted "home" school of Pole Green Elementary. I met so many wonderful teachers, made friends, and was moved by lots and lots of incredible boys and girls.
---my short time at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, a WONDERFUL group of people that I would recommend to everyone for employment, networking, and friendship! KD, Tad, Blair, and about 15 other wonderful people.
---my work at Robinson Radio; christening a new position with a relatively new company, reconnecting with some radio friends, making new ones around the country, and much, much more.
---sleep apnea
---lack of sleep
---lots of time in bed

BUT.....

---the demise of my depression from 2002 on (not far left until it's GONE!)
---meeting new friends at work and chat friends online
---reconnecting with old friends (thank you, Facebook!!)
---another GREAT season of Patrick Henry football, even though they didn't make the playoffs.

----------------------------------------

2009? Well.....

---I'm learning more answers (FINALLY) in my ongoing physical battles, so I hope there is MAJOR progress (FINALLY) in 2009, so I don't spend days in bed out of complete inability to operate.
---Helping my employer continue to grow into a major player in our industry in the years to come.
---Watching my son off to another choral trip and wrap up his junior and begin his SENIOR year of high school!
---Working on the beginnings of REW Sports Online
---Hopefully watching the Giants repeat as Super Bowl Champs!!!

Who knows what else may come? Well, we will. About 365 days from now. And I would REALLY like to ring in 2010 in Times Square.

You never know....... :)

KB Toys---RIP

This hurts for me personally because KB Toys was based in a place near and dear to my heart, Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

I'm sorry to see this happen.

GLOBAL WARMING INVADES BEAUMONT, TEXAS!

The snow is here, for a short time
By AMY MOORE (Beaumont, Texas "Enterprise")
December, 11, 2008

From half an inch of snow in Jasper to three inches in west Beaumont, Southeast Texans woke up to a white Thursday.

But with the sun and the temperatures rising, Lance Escude with the National Weather Service said the snow won't stick around much longer.

"The temperatures at the airport are at 34, but I suspect with the sun breaking through the clouds, the temperatures will warm up to get the ice off the ground," the meteorologist said.

Estimates of snowfall at 7:30 a.m. were two inches at the Southeast Texas Regional Airport, Beaumont and Groves, and one inch in Nederland, Port Neches and Orange, Escude said.

This is the earliest measurable snowfall at the airport since the late 1800s, Escude said. It is also an all time record of snowfall for the area for the month of December.

The last significant snowfall in the area was Dec. 22, 1989 when just 7/10 of an inch fell.

Despite the record breaking snowfall amounts, Escude said the snow will be melting very soon.

"It will melt in the next hour or two," he said.

And don't think that more will come. Escude said the forecast doesn't call for precipitation again until Sunday.

Michele's Curtain Call

One of my favorite blogs (and a fixture on my favorites list to the right for a long time) has been Michele Agnew.

Her blog has been a great place for fun, meeting people, and most importantly, getting to know and enjoy her.

As I discovered tonight, she has written her final post. Make sure you click on the title and read, but then take five minutes and skim through the archives. Her blog will be a great read for some time to come. I hope it stays available, at least for awhile.

Thank you, "Michele Agnew"! Until we meet again.....

Joe Pa----gotta love him!!!

Now, If Sarah Palin Had Ordered This Ring of Rhodium.....

.....Olby and the likes of the MSM would be peeing in their pants, trying to get on the air with SPECIAL BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE!!!!

You'd see these "headlines" on the bottom chryon:

"PALIN RING PURCHASE RINGS HOLLOW WITH ALASKANS LOSING THEIR JOBS"
"WHAT WOULD SARAH DO? IGNORE THE PLIGHT OF JOBLESS AND BUY A BIG RING"
"PALIN TO GIVE HUBBY CATALYTIC CONVERTER....FOR HIS FINGER!"
"GOP NEVER LEARNS---OUT OF TOUCH PALIN BUYS FIVE-FIGURE RING"
"SHOULDN'T A THANK YOU NOTE AND SOME MOOSE CHILI BE ENOUGH?"
"HEY SARAH! EVER HEARD OF ZALES?"
"PALIN PANDERS TO HER RICH STREAK, CUBIC ZIRCONIA LOBBY FURIOUS"
"A THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLAR RING? YOU BETCHA!"

Instead, the man formerly known as Senator Obama (how much DO Senators make anyway?) gets a pass and this will be a "feel-good" story.

He can give his wife anything he wants if he's got the $$$, but...as libs would say:

"What kind of message does this send our nation, at a time when people making $30K are losing their jobs, The President-Elect elects to spend as much on one gift?"

I guarantee you, that would be headline fodder had a GOP'er been the one purchasing.

FOOTNOTE: For those who read this and still think I'm just furious over an Obama Administration, I've never been furious. I have been (and am still) quizzical over who he really is.

This post goes out to the media wonks who can't get enough Sarah Palin, and would do the very thing described above.......