2007------THE GREAT!!!!

---FREEDOM! Finally got out of state on January 24th, to North Carolina for my niece's wedding. Drove four hours down, photographed the wedding, enjoyed the reception, met Daniel and family members, drove four hours home, which was four of the quickest hours in my life; it was fun!!!

---Dad turns 75 and Rachel turns 10---the same day! We celebrate in Carolina on the 25th (birthdays were the next day).

---THE MOODY BLUES!!! August 5th at Wolf Trap. What a night; even better than the 2004 show here in Richmond. They're in Baltimore in April. Maybe??

---I turned 40! Yes, I consider this positive, why not? I made it to 40; there are many who do not.

---Robbie's first big trip without the parents. Chorus trip to Orlando. He had a blast, and was kind to call home alot! :)

---Enjoyable visits from Uncle Frank and Aunt Tammy, especially near year's end; a great source of fun during a ROUGH time for moi.

---A final GREAT ten months with my friends at work (love ya Kim, Dionne, Rodney, Desiree, Gina, and Angela!!)

---The chance to spend significant time with the kids since November 5th (about the ONLY positive that came from THAT day...)

---BONNIE LOST 71 POUNDS IN ONE YEAR!! Go, Lap Band, Go! Go, Bonnie, Go!

---Robbie heads to 10th grade; Rachel is elementary queen (5th grader) and becomes safety guard and TV announcer (the morning announcements!)

---WELCOME, HARRY J!!!!!!!!!!!

---Two trips downtown for wrestling.....

---"24": Season 6. Disappointing, but still good.

---The opening of my campaign to open the first Smithfield BBQ outside North Carolina.

---The continual pathetic play in the Raider Nation. (Good? Yeah, it didn't surprise me.)

---The continual pathetic play of the Orioles. (Good? Yeah, it didn't surprise me.)

---Sidney Lowe's red jacket.

---Women's Murder Club

---Jessica Biel

---Rachel's SURPRISE birthday trip to see Rascal Flatts in Charlottesville!

---Bonnie and Rachel to VEGAS, Dad and Robbie do 'da bachelor thing!

---A playoff year for Patrick Henry Football!!

...and the Withams survived another year at Witham Nation.

As Rodney Woody would say, "It's all good!"

Three cheers for my executive assistant!!!

Thank you Rachel! Thank you Rachel! Thank you Rachel!

I know it was an absolute BOREFEST for my little lady, but not only did Rachel spend the day at work with Dad, she completed 17 of her 23 pages of her Las Vegas scrapbook, explained much of her trip to Mr. Rodney (especially Hoover Dam), ate some fries, watched some TV, and generally survived.

She also handled a commercial emergency with complete grace and style. We get a frantic email from an area car dealership needing to immediately change their commercial copy and get the new spot on the air ASAP.

Here's the beautiful thing about radio, friends.....

Dad takes the script, alerts a producer upstairs of its impending arrival, all at 11am. Dad checks the computer system and sees the next scheduled spot at 11:40am. Hmmm, 40 minutes from now.

I write up the production order, staple the script, give to Ms. Witham, and ask her very, very, very nicely to take the order upstairs, and she relents. Hee hee...

I get an email at 1130am from upstairs saying spot is done. Couple of mouse clicks and drags on my desktop and the area car dealership is very happy. :)

I love one more satisfied customer!

Ask a newspaper editor if you can swap out spots in less than 40 minutes.

How 'bout your Account Rep at your local TV station or cable company.

Didn't think so.

RADIO IS STILL THE CHOICE FOR EVER-CHANGING COPY NEEDS!!! Radio can turn commercial copy into an on-the-air product at the turn of a dime.

Newspaper, TV, magazines---they can't turn a change like that in an ocean.

AND (yes, time to ruffle feathers), we are STILL BETTER than the Internet. WHY?

Simple. That commercial we premiered at 1140am this morning was heard by thousands of people.

Make a quick switch on a website spot all you want, but thousands of people won't see it until you, well, have, thousands of hits. For most websites, that takes much longer than 40 minutes.

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Scrapbooks from Las Vegas, proves the power of radio, puts up with Dad and is still smiling at day's end.

That's my girl!

Update from Sin City....

....when they party, they party....

....when they get back to the hotel, they crash.

"We're old."---that's an exact quote from my wife this morning. Rachel should have corrected her. :)

Today was, I think, Red River Canyon, Old Vegas, and they were trying to get to the observation deck of the Stratosphere Hotel tonight.

Tomorrow is travel day to the Grand Canyon. I want pictures. I think the Hoover Dam is thrown in for free, too.

Robbie and I are hanging pretty well; I am so proud of how he has persevered his dad being at the office more hours than his dad wanted to be. He has made a big friend in Harry J. (our new dog), who now listens and obeys his instructions.

Rachel may have some catching up to do in that department. :)

And now, time to do a few more things for work, then something for ME.

Bed.

P.S.---What about that conference she went to Vegas for?? Hee hee.....

Well, what they do now will stay where they are, I guess.....

....that's what I've always heard, at least.

Bonnie and Rachel touched down in Las Vegas about 115pm ET, or 1015am PT.

Rachel described her first flight from New Bern to Charlotte as "magnificent", which surprised me. They were on one of those SMALL planes, and I thought it may scare her (it would me!)

After the flight from Charlotte to Vegas, the pilot let her come in, sit down and get a picture taken. WOW! What a day for Rachel, and she hadn't even left the tarmac yet!

They've called to say they are in their hotel, where the bariatric conference began today; Bonnie's met people who've lost over 200 pounds thanks to the Lap Band.

Oh, and Rachel reports there's an aquarium, and a white bengal tiger....INSIDE THE LOBBY.

I asked if the tiger helped carry bags to her room. She snickered. Guess not. :)

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So, I'm grateful to God for a safe journey for them, look forward to hearing "The Rachel Reports", and until their return.....

It's THE GUYS AND THE ANIMALS!!!!!!

Rob, Robbie, Cody, Zoe, Harry J, Chloe, the fish and the itty bitty frog sharing the fish tank with the fish.


.....wonder if I should call the ladies tomorrow at 8am when I'm getting ready to leave for work. Yeah, I know, it'll be 5am there, but what's a few hours among family members? Hee hee.....

Two, Two, Two Races in One!

With apologies to Certs' classic ad slogan....

The IRL came to town Saturday night (I can't get that "I Am Indy!" song outta my head, though...) and I watched the Indy cars live for the first time. Fascinating experience. They run so fast on the 3/4 mile track, they almost go too fast to follow.

Now the actual race, on the other hand, was pretty much a bore. Dario Franchitti led 242 of 250 laps and won. Yawn. Very little excitement.

Danica pretty much stayed about 1/2 lap behind Dario all evening and finished sixth.

Dario had the car; no doubt about it, though the two Target cars were looking to spoil the party near the end, but they couldn't.

Time of the race: One hour, 24 minutes.

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We head out, I call a friend on my cell who also attended and we swapped reviews. He was already in his car heading towards the exit. I would later wish I were, too.

Uncle Frank and I start the van at 930pm. Songs played on the radio, conversation came and went, and, for a little over an hour, I kept my cool really well.

Usually you would think they'd empty the parking lot from back to front. About 1:10 into the wait, I look to my left and see almost an entire row of cars gone...and they were near the very front of the lot.

What??!?? That was my thought. Finally coming to the end of the grass row to hit the road leading out of the place, I watch the parking person let alot of the row to my left go out (wait, they're closer to the front, too!), and out, and out. Finally, we get to move a few feet.

Quandry. That aforementioned row was directed to the left lane, which hopefully allows one to turn left onto Carolina Avenue, which I needed to do in order to, well, go home. We were being placed in the right lane. In front of me, in between the rows, is the parking guide and a police car.

"As soon as I pass the police car, I'm heading to the other lane", I said.

And I did. Worked out well; didn't put anyone in danger or tear out in front of anyone at the last second.

Finally we make it to the gate, get out of the lot.

Time of the parking fiasco: One hour, 31 minutes.

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Lesson---I never dreamed it would take 90 minutes to leave RIR since only, maybe 45 or 50,000 people were there, if that. Remember, Nextel Cup Races bring well over 100,000 people there.

Thus, RIR's less than stellar job in getting fans out Saturday night will affect my future decisions as to whether to go back. You'd think with all the years of experience, they would do better. Oh, well.

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Another birthday in the Witham Nation--tomorrow! Wifey!! No confirmation given on new age. And I ain't asking either!

And, P.S.---less than six days now before the ladies take their big trip.