Got resolutions? Mine include making my tech life hassle-free

"Out with the old, in with the new" is a popular catchphrase attributable to transitions. Perhaps the best-known threshhold is midnight between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Most earthlings celebrate that switchpoint.

In contrast, lethargic and buggy equipment inspires transitions of another kind. Too-frequent downtimes and glitches that plunder productivity, endanger data and require unscheduled, unbudgeted maintenance and repair can push even well-adjusted people to the precipice, make blood boil and transform Dr. Jekylls into Mr. Hydes.

Do your computers make you wanna holler with frustration (rather than celebration), sweep out the old schmutz and buy something new? Yeaaaaa, boooy! I know that feeling.

But sometimes even serious symptoms have simple fixes. So don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

First, take a deep breath (or swig). Then read articles such as:

• Hassle-Free PC: Top Tips for a Cleaner, Faster Computer,
  
• Bootcamp 424: Spring clean and upgrade part 1,
  
• Bootcamp 425: Spring clean and upgrade part 2,
  
• Bootcamp 426: Spring clean and upgrade part 3, and
  
• Bootcamp 427: Spring clean and upgrade part 4.
  

They offer useful advice that'll help you hold 'em longer before you fold 'em and perform (and even look) better in the interim.

My tech resolutions short-list includes:

• Tame my misbehaving Treo.
• Pimp my Blogger blogs.
• Convert analog recordings of my radio shows to digital files and soundchecks.
• Update my websites.

Working With You is Killing Me!

It's 6 PM and I'm behind schedule. Some errands must be run and a hot dinner date awaits.

Dagnabit! I'd resolved to blow this joint. But bag in hand, I was making tracks to turn off my computer and put on my coat when Kate Lorenz's article caught my eye: MSN Careers/Career Advice - Working With You is Killing Me!

The title compelled me to cool my heels long enough to peruse the piece, blog this post, and urge an acquaintance (who sorely needed to read it) to take a look, too.

Here's why the article is so compelling:

The book, Working With You is Killing Me: Freeing Yourself from Emotional Traps at Work (Warner Business Books, 2006), is a worthwhile read. Months ago, I'd read the editorial reviews, seen TV interviews with the authors - Katherine Crowley and Kathi Elster - and resolved to book 'em for an upcoming Lisa Tolliver Show.

The characters and emotional traps the book addresses are, regrettably, all too familiar. Thanks to countless colleagues, clients, subcontractors, students, and even relatives and radio guests I've had occasions to collaborate with in one way or another, I've seen it all. You probably have, too. Consequently, it's common knowledge: all the expertise in the world can't stave off encounters with people and situations like those Crowley and Elster describe.

Hence, the value of the serenity prayer and the book's five steps for effectively handling almost any interpersonal situation at work. The process works elsewhere, too.

1. Acknowledge that there is a problem. Get out of denial. Acknowledge the physical, mental, emotional and behavioral signs that you are "hooked" in an emotionally distressing situation. Once you do, you can make a new plan, Stan, to empower yourself to manage your reactions to stress-provoking personalities and situations. To do so, you'll have to...
2. Unhook physically.
3. Unhook mentally.
4. Unhook verbally.
5. Unhook with a business tool.

You can read the article and book, Working With You is Killing Me: Freeing Yourself from Emotional Traps at Work, for yourself. You might also want to keep your eye on my events calendar so you can join the authors and me on air.

But right here, right now:

1. I acknowledge the need to unhook from work mode and to end this post.
2. I'm donning my coat.
3. I've mentally mapped my exit route. (Out the back, Jack.)
4. I'm saying "hasta la vista" to my colleague.
5. I'm turning off the computer.

Roundup of the Dec. 27 Lisa Tolliver Show

This was our last broadcast in 2006. Hasta luego, 2006. Konichiwa, 2007! Topics:

• Auld Lang Syne: what it means, what it sounds like, and a musical rendition
• Gerald Ford: Highlights of his life and accomplishments
• James Brown: Highlights of his life and accomplishments and selections from James Brown - 20 All-Time Greatest Hits!
• Safety tip: December's the month with the most traffic crashes. Drive safely!

These are my next shows on New York Radio WVOX AM 1460 and www.wvox.com:

• January 10 at 11:30 AM - noon, Eastern Time - SCORE Radio: Counselors to America's Small Business - TOPIC: Organizers and writers involved with the 9th Annual African American Writers and Readers Literary Tea, organized by the Westchester Library System. The tea is held annually on MLK's birthday.
• January 10 at high noon - 12:30 PM, Eastern Time - The Lisa Tolliver Show - TOPIC: Interview with Frank Giordano, Trustee of the Thomas E. Giordano Education Fund.
• January 15, time to be determined 9:00-10:00 AM, Eastern Time - Lisa Tolliver Show - TOPIC: Special broadcast in honor of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday.###

How they got rich and ways you might, too: quick reads

In the latest issues of Latina magazine and Latina.com, 10 Latina Millionarias Share Their Secrets (Latina - Mujer - MSN Latino) for how they got rich and Carmen Ulrich gives 10 tips for how you can get rich, too. Although the articles are not quite blueprints to wealth, both are worthwhile, quick reads and might inspire you.

Feliz Navidad!###

Snakesss on the 'glades! Tread carefully.

Yikes: giant snakesss are squeezing out other forms of wildlife on Florida's everglades! Reportage about the reptiles that might make your skin crawl is breeding extensive coverage in the news. For example, are you familiar with the doubly-deadly gator vs. python bout?

Snake stories are slithering into TV-show plots, too. Ophidiophobics should tread carefully when selecting shows, such as CSI: Miami, which has encoiled stories about boa constrictors and pythons into ssseveral episodesss.

Punch drunk with gratitude, Tara Conner tearfully thanked Donald Trump

Whether you care or not, this story's all over the news.

Punch drunk with gratitude, Tara Conner tearfully tipped her tiara to, er raised her glass to, thanked Donald Trump for not saying, "You're fired!" The Donald rationalized explained his decision not to dethrone the disgraced Miss USA by praising her as a "good person" who's been "trying hard." "I've always been a believer in second chances, and Tara deserves a second chance," he said. Trump blamed her unbecoming behavior (allegations of underage drinking, drug use and sexual misconduct) on her being a naive country gal who was spoiled rotten by the Big Apple.

Not everyone gulped that palaver. However, running to rehab has worked to turn the likes of some high profile people (such as swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn, Congressman Mark Foley, movie-maker Mel Gibson, Representative Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) and model Kate Moss) from villains to victims,* and it's worked for Tara too.

* Source: Ann-Marie Dorning, ABC News, "Running to Rehab: When Celebrities, Athletes and Politicians Mess Up, Rehab Offers a Popular Escape" (October 2, 2006)

Trump has spoken, and here's what he said: Tara will hold steady to her Miss USA title and prizes - provided she tee-toe-tals the line from here on. In an article filed under "Train Wrecks, Wacky and Weird," TMZ.com explains:

"She's agreed to go into rehab. She knows that if she makes even the slightest mistake from here on, she will be immediately replaced," said Trump. The carefully coifed billionaire explained that he will use Conner as a role model. "I believe she can do a tremendous service to young people."

Too bad for dethroned beauty queens such as Miss America 1984 (Vanessa Williams, New York) and Miss Earth 2002 (Dzejla Glavovic, Lebanon) The Donald didn't own and preside over their pageants. And too bad for Miss Teen USA 2006, Katie Blair, that even The Donald can't save her MADD, MADD, MADD gig as national spokesperson for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Ratings rule for The Donald, and I believe they affected his decision to let Tara retain her tarnished tiara. Here's my logic: people like watching him fire candidates The Apprentice, and he does so - on that show - in a New York minute. When he allowed Martha Stewart to head a parallel Apprentice household and saw his own ratings being cannibalized, he sent the domestic diva packing and dissed her with a nasty, public post-eviction notice. And sordid stories about Tara's alleged bad behavior, predictions she'd be dethroned, and Donald's final answer got oceans of ink. Not all of it was favorable, but as far as Mr. Trump was concerned, apparently, "it's all good."





Dickens' A Christmas Carol

Oh! You'd better watch out! I'm telling you why: The 'Lisa Tolliver Show' is coming to town tomorrow at noon

Oh! You'd better watch out,
You'd better not cry,
You'd better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
The 'Lisa Tolliver Show' is coming to town.

Yes, Virginia. And Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donder, Blitzen, Cupid and Comet. And Tim, and Bob and Ebenezer. We'll be in your neighborhood tomorrow, December 6, 2006 at high noon, Eastern Time.

Have you been naughty? Or nice? Whatever. It's our last broadcast before Christmas. You're all invited. Each and every one. So join in for goodness sake!

Here's how:

• Tune to New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM,
• Listen live at WVOX.com, or
• Hear and share via call-in line: (01) 914.636.0110.

Next shows: December 13 and December 27. Same time. Same station.

Haaaappy holidays!

Experience my podcasts.

My Odeo Channel (odeo/5704db03cd3360a2)

"A Time For Healing" commemorates World AIDS Day 2006

Coretta Bush has organized "A Time for Healing" to commemorate World Aids Day 2006. The event will be held at Walker Memorial Baptist Church in the Bronx from 6:30-8:30 PM, Eastern Time today (December 2, 2006). The address is 120 East 169th Street, between Jerome Avenue and the Grand Concourse.

Among the key topics to be addressed are:

1. The alarming increase in black heterosexual women contracting HIV/AIDS
2. African American churches: What has been done? What is being done? What will be done?

The event will also feature a candlelight prayer and altar call.

Everyone listed on the program has professional experience (of one sort or another) working with HIV/AIDS. The featured participants include:

FEATURED SPEAKER: Reverend Barbara Evans, R.N, N.P., M.P.H., M.Div. - Minister for Health and Wholeness at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, NY; Assistant Pastor and Minister for Christian Education at Faith Mission, Yonkers, NY; and Founder/CEO of the Health Education Institute in Mount Vernon, NY.

FEATURED SPEAKER: A physicianFidelia Tavares, M.D., M.P.H., Director of Women's Health Programs at The Balm in Gilead (self-described as "a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization with an international mission to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout the African Diaspora by building the capacity of faith communities to provide AIDS education and support networks for all people living and affected by HIV/AIDS").

EVENT ORGANIZER/SPEAKER: Coretta Bush, whose father - Reverend Doctor J. Albert Bush - is the pastor at Walker Memorial Baptist Church. Ms. Bush formerly worked as a Corrections Officer in a prison HIV/AIDS ward. What she observed and her conversations with prisoners prompted her to petition the state governor to make condoms and more effective counseling specific to safe-sex and HIV/AIDS available to incarcerated prisoners and those being released.

MISTRESS OF CEREMONIES: Yours truly. I have conducted a number of consulting and research projects addressing various aspects of HIV/AIDS. For example, I consulted with Reverend Evans and other members of the Tri-County HIV/AIDS Coalition several years ago to create and conduct a survey of faith-based institutions in Westchester, Rockland and Orange Counties to address the very questions raised in key topic (2) above. [The survey received kudos from the New York State Department of Health.] In another example, I volunteered as a researcher with Cornell's Anxiety Disorders Clinic to study the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

I look forward to learning a lot today and to fellowshipping with other attendees. Come join us.###

It's getting sent UP the river that's supposed to be depressing. Not driving downstream.

It's getting sent up the river that's supposed to be depressing. Not driving downstream. Yesterday's events, however, flipped that script.

Here's the lowdown.

I'd left Long Island in high spirits and all was uphill 'til high noon. I had scheduled a late-morning meeting in Yorktown Heights and delighted in the scenic, northbound drive across the East River and several Historic Hudson Valley waterways. I've always been a sucker for scenery and open water.

The pleasant, productive sitdown hit high notes, too. The [dare I say, "other"?] smart, upbeat, socially conscious participants and I all left looking forward to collaborating anon.

Unfortuntely, the tide changed during the return trip.

The homebound trek began with my moseying happily down Croton-on-Hudson's scenic waterfront drive, all five senses firing. I'd naughtily savored a Scooter Pie (what they are, where they are), shaking crumbs from my napkin-bib into the trashbag while drinking in the view of the sun-dappled, tree-lined Croton River. Holiday tunes were jingling on the radio. Fresh, fragrant air was wafting in the open windows.

At Underhill Avenue, I picked up the Sprain Brook/Taconic Parkway South. One exit past the Croton Dam, something I saw punctured my balloon of eullience.

I'd switched lanes and found myself behind a tan-colored, late-model Mitsubishi Montero. A quick glance revealed that its driver was a deer hunter. The evidence was a dead deer bound, bellyup, on the backboard, stiff legs tied in a prayer-shaped steeple, hooves scraping the rear window.

Read: Not ALL U.S. women go wild for hunting. ###

Holiday turkey (tips). Get 'em while they're hot.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Before you and yours gobble, gobble, gobble your holiday fare, let's talk turkey. Feast on these tips I promised on yesterday's Lisa Tolliver Show for preparing food that is both tasty...



...and memorable for the right reasons:

• TURKEY TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAYS from Westchster County Department of Health and
• Resources for safely handling and preparing food.

Today's 'Lisa Tolliver Show' was sponsored by Lend America (November 22, 2006)

Today's Lisa Tolliver Show was sponsored by Lend America (November 22, 2006).

• Learn about Lend America resources and products and how they can help you.
• View Lend America's latest TV infomercial.
• Contact Lend America at (01) 631-944-6977 and tell them you learned about them from WVOX AM radio host Lisa Tolliver.

About Lend America:

• Nationwide Direct Lender
• Loan By Phone
• Pre-Qualify in 10 Minutes - Close in 10 Days or Less
• Refinance and Debt Consolidation Experts
• First Time Homebuyer Specialists
• Special Programs for Applicants with Lending Challenge
• Hundreds of Flexible Loan Programs Available
• Low Fixed Rate Government Insured FHA Loans
• Loans with No Income or Asset Verification

Learn About Lend America Mortgage Programs

• No Down Payment
• No Income Check
• FHA/VA - e.g., the Liberty Grant and Liberty Grant Plus Programs discussed on the November 8, 2006 Lisa Tolliver Show that provide cash gifts, how-low-can-you-go rates, and easy-qualify criteria to make homeownership and refinancing affordable
• Conventional

Lend America Mortgage Resources

• Priority Service
• The Loan Process
• Renting Vs. Buying
• Mortgage Calculators
• Frequently Asked Questions

Lend America EasyMove. A free program that provides:

Help...

• Choosing the perfect real estate agent
• Pre-qualifying for a Lend America mortgage
• Finding the best moving company
• Tansferring utilities and forwarding mail
• Insuring and protecting your new home

Cash back averaging $750 or more!

Contact Lend America:

• Telephone (01) 631-944-6977 and tell 'em you read their ad on Lisa Tolliver On Air and Online or heard it on the Lisa Tolliver Show on WVOX 1460 AM.

DISCLOSURE: Lend America sponsored the November 22, 2006 and November 8, 2006 Lisa Tolliver Show broadcasts but does not otherwise compensate me or my ventures. I accept Lend America's sponsorship because I believe their offerings are beneficial.

ON AIR: Today I'm hosting 'SCORE Radio' and the 'Lisa Tolliver Show' back-to-back

Join my SCORE Radio guests and me at 11:30 AM, Eastern Time and Lisa Tolliver Show guests at noon. Tune to New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM, stream us at wvox.com or hear and share via call-in-line at (914) 636 0110.###

Halloween 2006: Tisha Campbell and TiChina Arnold spoofed Tyra Banks and Miss Jay

Channeling and spoofing celebrities on Halloween is old hat. The trick to standing out among the crowd is to zero in on recognizable, easily caricatured features, or better yet, to pair up to portray closely associated celebs.

Tisha Campbell and TiChina Arnold did just that this year. Treat yourself to a look at these photos at Media Take Out - 2006 -Tisha CAMPBELL DRESSES UP LIKE TYRA, which depict the devilishly funny duo spoofing America's Next Top Model's Tyra Banks and J. Alexander (a.k.a. Miss J. and Queen of the Catwalk).

Coordinating their 2006 Halloween couture was the latest collaboration of the long-term gal pals. For example, in 1986, Ms. Campbell and Ms. Arnold played Chiffon and Crystal [named after two 1960s girl singing groups] in the big-screen version of the science fiction/fantasy/horror film/musical, Little Shop of Horrors, respectively. From 1992-1997, they also co-starred on the small-screen, playing Gina and Pamela on the hit TV sitcom Martin. In 1997, they made tracks on wax, duetting in a remake of the Emotions' hit single "Don't Ask My Neighbors" [on the soundtrack of the "farcical black comedy, Sprung" (1997)].

PHOTO - The Martin cast - "From left to right: Tommy Strawn (Thomas Mikal Ford), Gina Waters (Tisha Campbell), Martin Payne (Martin Lawrence), Pamela James (Tichina Arnold), and Cole Brown (Carl Anthony Payne II)." Courtesy of Wikipedia -Martin (TV series).

Let's gang up to kick butts!

Today's the 30th anniversary of the Great American Smokeout. Let's gang up to kick smoking, stomp butts and T.K.O. secondhand smoke!

Why? How? Who should participate? Who's behind this?

Glad you asked. David Levine, American Cancer Society's Director of Media Relations, explains:

On November 16, Americans who smoke and want to quit to [sic] are urged to call the American Cancer Society’s Quitline®, a clinically proven, free telephone-based counseling program, at 1-800-ACS-2345, or to log on to www.cancer.org/smokeout, to embark on a personal plan to quit. In addition, Americans are encouraged to work to protect the public from exposure to secondhand smoke by supporting smoke-free workplace policies in their local communities and states.

“The American Cancer Society is here to help smokers who want to quit. On the 30th anniversary of the Great American Smokeout, we urge smokers to learn more about quitting and make a plan to begin a smoke-free life by calling the Society’s Quitline® at 1-800-ACS-2345,” said Richard C. Wender, M.D., American Cancer Society president-elect. - ACS Press Release 11/13/2006

I've got your back, too. Cancer killed my father - who was a long term smoker - in September 2005. I was helpless to help him, but am lit up to help prevent and alleviate suffering associated with "death sticks" (a.k.a. "cowboy killers" and "cancer sticks") and secondhand smoke. And I'll be thankful - this week before Thanksgiving, and the remaining 364 days - for each individual who stops smoking and who helps create smoke-free environments.

Let's band together to blow smoke - not out of butts - out of the environments we work, play and live in.

Get started. Check out ACS.org and MSN Health & Fitness: Special Guide: Stop Smoking.##

Let's do lunch. Today's the recognition luncheon for the RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) of Westchester

Let's do lunch. Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone else interested in being inspired should join me today. I'll be at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza in White Plains from 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM. That's when RSVP (the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) of Westchester will be hosting the annual recognition luncheon for its 1,000+ volunteers. As you may recall, Marianne Partridge and I announced this event on the air November 8.

Tickets are $50. You can buy them at the door.

More details are available here:

Lisa Tolliver is Mistress of Ceremonies for RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) of Westchester Recognition Luncheon
Nov 14, 2006 from 11:30 AM to 02:30 PM
White Plains, NY

- Event Hosted by Eventbrite. Come see what else I'm up to.

The New York Times: Not too high-brow to dish the lowdown on trash TV

Photo of Flavor Flav and The Flavor of Love, season 1 contestants.

Courtesy of VH1.

INTRODUCTION: Some dismiss trash TV as a wasteland, devoid of value, even damaging. St. Petersburg Times Columnist Jan Glidewell - who admits to watching - defines the genre as "inane, lowbrow, bogus, moronic, exploitive crap," and "schlock television show[s] with absolutely no redeeming social significance." Other communicators (domestically and abroad) characterize the New York Times as high-brow and elitist.

Those claims have some validity, but as sweeping generalizations they are garbahge. Case in point: as Lola Ogunnaike recently demonstrated, the New York Times is not too high-brow to dish the lowdown on Flavor Flav and VH1. The show: VH1's wildly popular, The Flavor of Love. The review: "A Ladies’ Man Everyone Fights Over."

It bears noting: Ms. O's review of VH1's trashy, wildly popular cable TV show was educational. Okay, so only one of the lessons learned was worthwhile. The others, like junk food, were of dubious value but fun to consume.

LESSON ONE (worthwhile) - I'd wondered how VH1 execs rationalized the exploitative nature of The Flavor of Love series and were responding to criticism. Lola O.'s interview pulled the curtain on VH1's reality ratings wizards:

To Michael Hirschorn, the executive vice president for original programming at VH1, the reasons millions of viewers tune in every Sunday night are clear. “The accidental appeal of the show was the play between ‘Are these women for real or not? Are these women there for him or are they there because any fame is completely intoxicating?’ ” he said. “Instead of covering that part of the show up, we decided to make it integral.”

Asked whether the show was exploiting racial stereotypes, Mr. Hirschorn, who is white, said he didn’t think so. “I would also say I’m not in the position to make that judgment.” But, he pointed out, “the show is disproportionately popular among black viewers, and the comedy is very inclusive.”

My response: politically correct rubbish!

LESSONS TWO and THREE (fun to know) - Flav removes his dental grill(e) before eating, and in addition to his dental jewelry, pendant clocks, Viking hat, Dame Edna sunglasses and flamboyant togs, Flav sports another trademark, one that is meaningful to him. As Lola O. documented:

“A lot of people favor Flavor because I have good karma,” he said. A giant cream-colored clock hung around his neck (he has close to 100 of his signature accessories), and his nom de rap was engraved on a gold dental grill, which he removed as if it were a retainer when it was time to eat. He also carried an assortment of more than 50 keys. “These are the keys to my future,” he said, cackling loudly.

I'm sure there's more to know about the keys. I'll have to ask Flav about them when he returns to my show.

Yahoo has a yodel. But Google's got Flavor!

SOURCE: Youtube:Video: Flavor Flav gives Google the clock - Valleywag

National Veterans Awareness Week (November 5-11) is a good time to participate in the Veterans History Project

November 5 through November 11, 2006 was designated by the 109th CONGRESS (2d Session, S. RES. 507) as "National Veterans Awareness Week." The objective: to emphasize the need to develop educational programs regarding the contributions of veterans to the country.

National Veterans Awareness Week is also a good week to participate in and learn from existing programs, such as those described on the official Veterans Day webpage. I am particularly passionate about one program listed there: the Veterans History Project.

Here is how the Veterans Day webpage describes the Veterans History Project:

The Library of Congress invites you to join it in collecting audio- and video-taped oral histories, along with documents such as letters, diaries, maps, photographs, and home movies, of America's war veterans and those who served in support of them during World War I, World War II, and the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars.

Come participate.

Remembering Ed Bradley

Photo courtesy of Ed Bradley - Wikipedia. Read permissions.

I was saddened by reports like this one by New York Times' Jacques Steinberg:

Ed Bradley, a pioneering black journalist who was a fixture in American living rooms on Sunday nights for more than a quarter century on “60 Minutes,” died today. He was 65.

- SOURCE: - Ed Bradley, Veteran CBS Newsman, Dies (November 9, 2006)

Edward Rudolph "Ed" Bradley, Jr. (June 22, 1941 - November 9, 2006) died from complications associated with a form of cancer called lymphocytic leukemia. He was my hero. Watching the MSN video: Remembering Ed Bradley explains, briefly, why.

The rest of the world admired the veteran newsman, too. The multi-talented man made numerous contributions to society and his profession. And on and off camera, "Big Daddy" was serious when called for, and at other times displayed a passionate joie de vivre.

Ed Bradley's accomplishments earned numerous honorable distinctions. Two awards had special meaning, as described in this excerpt from New York Times - Ed Bradley, Veteran CBS Newsman, Dies. (The bold type is mine)

Last fall, the National Association of Black Journalists honored Mr. Bradley, who was among the first wave of African Americans to break into network television news, with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I grew up in Philadelphia rather protected from life in the South,” Mr. Bradley said at the association’s awards ceremony in Washington. “Emmitt Till and I were the same age when he was killed, and that was my introduction to the reality of life in this country for a black person in the mid 50’s. When we were awarded an Emmy earlier this year for this story, I said it was the most important Emmy I had ever received. I would say the same thing about your recognition tonight.”

Another award in the same vein was a 2004 Broadcast Excellence Award for Coverage of Race and Ethnicity. The prize-winning CBS, 60 Minutes piece in that case, was: "Alice Coles of Bayview."

I was in attendance when Columbia Journalism School presented the award to the teacher-cum radio personality-cum TV correspondent. The venue was a three-day, Ford Foundation-sponsored, "Let's Do It Better!" workshop for outstanding journalists and media gatekeepers. I was thrilled to participate, and even more thrilled to meet my media idol.

My affinity for Ed Bradley extended beyond his work on television. We shared many interests (although his shoes were far bigger than mine). Both of us have worked in education, advocated for civil rights, enjoyed stimulating conversation and good music, and began broadcasting (professionally) on radio.

Ed Bradley, after earning countless kudos and 19 emmies, broadcasting for 25 years on 60 minutes and living 65 years on earth, has moved onward and surely upward. However, the mark he made is larger-than-life and fond memories will be everlasting.

RE: "10 things you can do in the library that will really annoy the other patrons"

Reading "10 things you can do in the library that will really annoy the other patrons" made me chuckle. At the library, though, those annoyances - and a few others, like loud snoring - don't seem so funny. ###