Chimptastic

Closing Thought For The Day..

2006-01-22T18:44:00.000-08:00

Grocery Store Chronicles - Part Deux

2006-01-22T17:46:00.000-08:00

I'm cursed, I admit it. It seems that everywhere I go lately, there seems to be an "oh, Timmy.." moment. The gym. The grocery store. Driving to work.

After the gym, I ran by Publix to pick up a few items. Now, as we know, grocery stores tend to be crowded on weekends as that's the time everyone tends to run errands. And I can respect that, I do too. But I TRY to be respectful and above all, a gentleman.

I'll step aside and let you pass me in the aisle.

I'll help someone reach an item on the top shelf.

Only got three items? Sure thing - jump in line ahead of me.

So, I'm going down the aisle when Cholita Sorority Slut.....

with her approximately 46 month old uteran byproduct, slams her cart into mine - as she's YAPPING on the cell phone and staring off into space.

She then barks at me "Choo chould wash where da fu*k joo gowing". Normally, I would have said something truly nasty. Being cognizant of the offspring in the cart, who is likely to parrot her remarks for months, I simply replied "You kiss your baby with that foul mouth?"

I REALLY wanted to bend down and ask the child, in a molasses sweet tone, "Who's your daddy? Oh that's right, mommy doesn't know does she?"

The Grocery Store Chronicles

2006-01-22T17:38:00.000-08:00

Self-Checkout at the grocery store was MEANT to be a blessing and CAN be. But unfortunately, when you have this....

Trying to operate this...

It's a recipe for this...

Back From The Land Of Wilma

2005-11-03T23:03:00.000-08:00

Yes - I'm back to resume posting so I can anthrall Liz, and hopefully a few other, with our amusing (we think they are!) tales of Wilma.

Even The Best Laid Plans......

2005-10-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

Don't go according to plan! Thursday was set to be a day of immense change - a new job, new company. A fresh new start in an entirely new world.

Well, it ended up being a a fresh start in an extremely familar place - the old company! I guess that in the depths of my self-doubt and the mental toll certain factors had taken on me over the past year, I lost sight of how much I love the company I work for and the people I work with and that love is indeed reciprocal. Even more so than I had imagined.

And combined with some other exciting news about new directions, initiatives and growth that we'll be undertaking, an exciting new year lies ahead brimming with new challenges and professional growth.

So, I'm holding on for the end of this year and a truly bright new year!

Sailing Into The Sunset - A New Dawn On The Horizon

2005-10-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

It came today - that much awaited fateful phone call. The one that (hopefully) ultimately means slipping the proverbial lines and sailing off into the sunset. But sailing into the sunset means an entirely new world of challenges, learning experiences and success lies just over the horizon where a new day will dawn.

I'm sure tomorrow will be very much a day of hand-wringing, some hard thinking and draw to a close not just a chapter, but an entire volume. But there is a new volume just waiting to be penned. A larger, more complex work awaits with new characters, story lines and laugh tracks interspersed and laced with moments of drama.

I'm giving up one helm to assume another - and that of a much larger command to boot.

Running on Empty

2005-10-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's been a strange year, one filled with close-calls and some minor chaos, but overall, looking back on it all, one overflowing with good blessings and good fortune. And when I do some deep soul searching and ask myself what it important, what isn't, where I am and where I am going versus where I want to be, it raises some grave issues.

And even more importantly, it brings to the surface answers of what I no longer have room for in my life:

Venomous Negativity

Mean-spiritedness

Complaceny

Selfishness

I've lost my mojo. I'm starting to feel de-humanized and de-moralized; a lack of spirit, lust and passion for the things that brought so much satisfaction and fullfillment to my life. And lately, this image keeps popping into my head:

along with that old Jackson Browne song below; it keeps running through my head and probably best describes my feelings of emptiness and lack of fulfillment. I've been contemplating a big change in my life and with each passing day, the opportunity for change becomes more and more appealing. It means leaving things and people behind that I love dearly. But I'm begining to feel that some things (which will be explained later) are so far gone, it's best to just head down that road and not look back.

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels

Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields

In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-o-one

I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on

Running on - running on empty

Running on - running blind

Running on - running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive

Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive

In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own

I don't know when that road turned onto the road I'm on

Running on - running on empty

Running on - running blind

Running on - running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Everyone I know, everywhere I go

People need some reason to believe

I don't know about anyone but me

If it takes all night, that'll be all right

If I can get you to smile before I leave

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels

I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels

I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through

Looking into their eyes I see them running too

Running on - running on empty

Running on - running blind

Running on - running into the sun

But I'm running behind

Honey you really tempt me

You know the way you look so kind

I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind

You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find

Running into the sun but I'm running behind

The road ahead looks good - but it contains a level of uncertainty. I have a vague idea of where it leads and what I'm hoping to find. I'll know it for sure when I get there.

Soooooo Not True!

2005-09-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

Slut

80%

Abercromibe Boi

50%

Gym Bunny

50%

Politiqueer

40%

Attitude Queen

40%

Out and Proud Queer

30%

Str8 boi

30%

Twink

20%

Circuit Boy

10%

Drag Queen

10%

Drama Queen

10%

Mess

What gay personality are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

You're just the slut - everyone knows your name, and not for the best reason. You've not only been around the block, but around the whole city. If you want to keep on this road, just wrap it up babe, and play safe!

A Week Like No Other

2005-09-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

A Cataclysmic Failure Of Government

2005-09-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Government's primary duty is to protect the citizens from harm, and in times of dire need, provide relief. There's a lot of finger-pointing going on right now and it will continue for many years. In fact, many top political analysts are stating that the crisis that faces the Bush administration is comporarable in size, scope and severity to Watergate.

At the end of the day, no matter who is to blame; the agencies or the individuals; the U.S. Government failed its citizens in their time of need. And ultimately, the man at the top, President Bush, bares direct and indirect responsibility for the thousands of lives that were lost in the days following the storm.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune rattled off an angered yet eloquent diatribe:

An open letter to the President

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism. Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718. How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies. Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city. Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach. We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher. It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President.

So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other ssentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day." Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President. Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job." That’s unbelievable. There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued. No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.

The Farce Of A Nation

2005-09-03T23:45:00.000-07:00

Apocolypse Now

2005-09-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

It has moved off the wide screen and DVD to real life. Life - if you can call it that - and hope came perilously close to the brink for hundreds of thousands of residents of the gulf coast as our illustrious president (I refuse to refer to him or anyone else in his administration as a "leader" at this point) continued to vacation in Texas and Condi Rice shopped for thousands of dollars in shoes and lived the high life in NYC.

While New Orleans drowned, the Secretary of (lack of) Homeland Defense Micheal Jerkoff, er, Chertoff, held press conference upon press conference to assure the nation everything was under control. Then there's FEMA - in and of itself a natural disaster - the director seemed oblivious to the dire situation in New Orleans and across the entire gulf-state region.

They seemed to think that their job is simply to sit in front of TV cameras and spew forth a gross and wholly ignorant rhetoric only rivaled in toxicity by the flood waters plaguing New Orleans.

They seem genuinely surprised that this disaster has approached apocolyptic status - there are plenty of documents and reports on the local, state and federal level that pretty much wrote the screenplay for Hurricane Katrina. This is the "big one" that everyone has talked about for years.

But no, our government has seen fit to twiddle their thumbs, minds stuck in neutral and have let a natural distaster that has been predicted for years, to which they had days of advance warning, fester and swell to a point where it was out of control.

Medical aid, food and supplies were airlifted into Bandeh Aceh within 48 hours of the tsunami last year. Yet it took 5 days to get food and supplies to New Orleans. It's inexplicable and inexcusable.

I do hope we all realize the extreme level of incompetence and indifference that we as a nation have elected into office.

A Chilling Harbinger of a Nightmare Come To Life

2005-08-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

In Harm's Way - The FEMA Study on New Orleans' Vulnerability To Hurricanes

A detailed special investigation from the Times-Picayune.

Beyond Comprehension

2005-08-31T22:42:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since my brain has been unable to compute, digest and comprehend a major world event. Heck, even 9-11 didn't make my brain freeze up as much as the events of the last few days - what Hurricane Katrina has done to the Gulf Coast.

The sheer and utter devestation, the tens, if not hundreds of thousands left homeless and the fact that local, state and federal officials have been forced to literally abandon one of our nation's largest cities. This truly is the largest catastrophe that our nation has ever witnessed, man-made or otherwise.

I haven't been moved to tears in a long time, but seeing the helplessness and despair of these poor people has had me choking back the tears. It's one heart-wrenching story after another, intertwined with tales of miracles and selfless acts of humanity. If nothing else, the huge outpouring of support - monetary and otherwise - showcases that above it all, we are a good people with a steely resolve.

But the mind still reels at the thought of how to take charge of this situation and move forward. It will be months and years before people can attempt to reclaim their lives and rebuild their homes.

At least, in the aftermath of 9-11, people could pick up, move on and move forward. Despite the loss of thousands of lives, it was extremely easy to restore the peace, safety and security of all those affected. And no one went without the basic necessities of life.

If someone had written this a a script for a made-for-tv movie, a lot of people would have scoffed. They would not have believed it could be this bad, nor this complex. But unlike a movie, this doesn't end after 90 minutes and we can't fast-forward to a happy ending with all the characters having happily and successfully rebuilt their lives.

Last night, in an attept to fight off a bought of helplessness, I did the only thing I could do. No, I couldn't and didn't bake a cake nor did I go to buy a stupid rubberized bracelet. I calculated what my discretionary income would be for the next month and divied it up amongst 4 charities. I'll eat out a lot less, won't be buying any new clothes and perhaps, indulge in a little less porn. And I'm still giving serious thought to calling a friend and ex-coworker to see if he's up to loading my jeep with food, water, pillow and blankets and making a road trip to try and deliver a little relief to a lot off people I know would be eternally grateful for nothing more than a cold bottle of water and a soft pillow on which to place their weary heads at night.

I think I'm going to make that call now.

Katrina Sends A Sobering Message

2005-08-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

While Katrina may have menaced south Florida, we were certainly lucky to only have been dealt a glancing blow. It seems that Florida was her warm-up act prior to unleashing her horrific power and fury upon the Gulf Coast states. I've begun to think a bit (or more than a bit) about how lucky we have been and count our blessings. We've certainly found a lot of levity in our hurricane experiences last year and this year - for the most part, it's been a lot of laughs. For some reason, I can't find it in me to laugh about a single image I've seen or story I've heard today. The images flooding (sorry for the pun) out of New Orleans, Mobile, Gulfport and Biloxi are just too haunting.

If a hurricane can do this to a city like New Orleans, I can only imagine the dread and fear that those unfortunate residents felt - and the despair they're likely to feel in the coming days.

Just take a look at the Grand Hyatt - a very modern building in which scores of windows simply blew out. MSNBC

And while the photos of physical damage certainly tell a story, they tell only a fraction. It's the faces that are the most riveting and compelling, they tell the true story - even if you don't know what the story is. And I don't know why this one particular image struck me - it really makes me wonder about the story behind it. I can't imagine for a moment that these too men would have been crazy enough to be galavanting the deserted streets of downtown during the height of the storm for no good reason (unless they're journalists). The looks on their faces, their body-language says a lot. They're without shoes - huddled in what look to be the first or only towels or blankets they can find. At least you draw the conclusion that somewhere, somehow, this duo made it through OK - probably wet, hungry and tired - but hopefully still alive. CNN

And this man - making a later than last-minute dash for the safety of the Superdome after the roof of his house blew off. Once again, we can be somewhat assured that he'll live to tell many tales of this day. MSNBC

Yet it will be the untold stories, the photos that we will never see, of those who undoubtedly perished. Either due to making an unfortunate choice not to seek shelter or those who due to poverty and lacking the means to evacuate, will never live to tell the tale of their day.

I'm not a religious person my any means, but I will be saying a prayer tonight for all those who were directly and indirectly affected and that the loss of human life is lower than everyone anticipates. If it's anything near the grim predictions, I fear it will be outside the bounds of our societal comprehension. And I hope I never live to see a similar scenario play out here. I've born witness to devestation and been part of history once - I don't care for an encore.

Hurricane Katrina - Day 1

2005-08-26T23:43:00.000-07:00

Tim looks pensive - he must be in Smallville. No, wait. Tim senses a storm is coming.

Katrina arrives

Katrina takes down a few trees

The Riverside Hotel's palms trees enjoying the 80 mph gusts

The Riverside loses a tree

Holana Nani braves the storm tied to the dock

Holana Nani took a few good slams

To be continued.....

For Liz - Living in the Land of Most Effect By

2005-08-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

Once again, Homestead, FL is truly "most effect by".

Photos couresty of Florida Sun Suntinel

Thank You Florida Power & Light

2005-08-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Seriously, thank you for restoring MY power in under 24 hours. But I'm no fool, my power was quickly restored due to the fact that the mayor of Fort Lauderdale lives 5 doors down from me.

You'd think, that in the 13 years since Hurricane Andrew devestated south Florida and left many without power for weeks ranging into months, you'd finally realize that you should

BURY THE F'ing POWER LINES

I know it will cost a lot of $$$, but how much have you spent on recovery resources and manpower all the subsequent hurricanes that have hit south Florida in the past THIRTEEN YEARS?

This was BARELY a Category 1 storm - look at the outages.

Katrina and The Wave

2005-08-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Time: 1549
Weather: Winds Gusting to 45 MPH - Scattered Squalls

The Red Blob of Death approaches Florida.

Yes people, it's hurricane time in South Florida and once agin, it's time to hunker down at home and as Liz says, "brace girders or whatever it is we do".

The approach of a hurricane in south Florida is like Christmas Eve in NYC. People are scurrying around, and in their crazed frenzy, clearing the shelves of everything they put their hands on. Then there are those that are totally clueless; just hours from the landfall of a major storm, they are shocked and amazed that gas stations are out of gas and the grocery stores are bereft of necessities such as bottled watter and batteries.

The 7-11, affectionately known as "Guatemala Mart" , is appropriately all boarded up with plywood that has spanglish-inspired messages and instructions alerting customers to the fact that they are "Open For Bisness" and to "Uze Othor Door".

Happliy, some people still think of Hurricanes as novel entertainment (such as the Lithuanian tourists enjoying the surf)
Or this happy surfer
Of course, it's no fun for boat owners
As Liz points out, this could possibly be my last blog entry ever. But Chris has been more inspiring, informing me that as long as I have electricity, internet and my entire home is not washed into the river with me in it, my blog will continue.

Support Our Troops - Really

2005-08-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

Whether or not your political views support the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism in Afghanistan or any other of our empirical endeavors, the brave young men and women serving in the U.S. Military deserve our support.

Did you know that the indirect consequences of bombs - concussions, shockwaves, shrapnel and getting thrown from vehicles - results in far more serious injuries and death for more our soldiers than bullets or direct hits?

WHY is this you ask?

Quite simply, they are being supplied with helmets that were developed back in 1934 and have undergone very little updating. And even worse, even though we are spending hundreds of BILLIONS on these wars/military actions, the U.S. military can't afford to supply the troops with adequate head gear.

To show you that ONE person CAN make a difference, the grandfather of a U.S. solider has started a campaign to privately fund and supply soldiers with the proper helmets. Believe it or not, all it takes is less than $100 per soldier.

Instead of buying one of those stupid $1.99 bracelets at 7-11, go to Operation Helmet , where you can make a donation which WILL equip them for survival. Take a look at the site, and if you can, PLEASE make a donation. If you can't afford a donation, perhaps you can buddy with a group of friends or co-workers.

Continental Airlines and Z MicroSytems are two of the largest sponsors of this program, having supplied hundreds of helmets.

Take a look, help out if you can and at the very least, spread the word. You may save some very promising young lives.

Enough Already!

2005-08-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

Really, enough already with these stupid God Damn bracelets. This bracelet craze is enough to drive anyone insane.

-I support professional bycyclists with one ball (Yellow)
-I support the gays (Purple)
-I support breast cancer (pink)
-I support the troops (olive green or red, white and blue)
And believe it or not, yes, there are now bracelets to support the U Miami Hurricanes (Green and Orange) and the jews being evicted from Gaza (Orange)

Do you really support these causes or are they more of an impulse purcahse made in attempt to sho your friends and co-workers how tragically poli-culturally sensitive you are?

You ought to consider that now that there are bracelets for EVERYONE and EVERYTHING, all you are doing is lining the pockets of the manufacturers.

All I Want For Christmas

2005-08-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

All Hail The Trunk Monkey (Click to watch some of the funniest videos EV-ER!)

Since I drive I Jeep, I figure I have room for at least six of them. Man, what I wouldn't do to set them loose all over Florida's roads. With a Trunk Monkey, I'd really be dangerous.

I wonder if they offer an "Office Monkey" as well?

I wonder if it's set to "vibrate"?

2005-08-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

WAX on - WAX off

Lilith Fair

2005-08-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

When did resembling Lilith, from Cheers/Fraser, become in vougue for high-fashion "male" models?

2005-08-18T22:16:00.000-07:00

Potential Darwin Award - Cat Shoots Owner

'Nuff Said

2005-08-17T20:35:00.000-07:00

Like Father Like Son - Why Am I Not Surprised?

2005-08-10T20:14:00.001-07:00

At this headline?

Dwight Gooden's son arrested

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- The 19-year-old son of former baseball star Dwight Gooden was arrested for violating probation and faced additional charges of having marijuana and bullets in his car, police said. Dwight Eugene Gooden Jr. was being held Monday without bond. A jail spokeswoman didn't know if he had an attorney.

Gooden Jr. was already wanted on an outstanding warrant of violating probation from a 2004 crack cocaine conviction. He was jailed early Sunday after officers found him outside a downtown Tampa club with 16 grams of marijuana and .44-caliber ammunition in his car, police spokesman Joe Durkin said.

Complete Story at SI.com.

Not surprising considering what an upstanding individual and role model his father is. Suspended twice for cocaine, once in 1994 and again in 1995. Yet we unfailingly glorify these a-holes, I mean "athletes" who epitomize societal scurge and greed. I'm sorry, I consider him, his son and all the glorified drug abusers, borderline psychopaths and multi-million dollar ghetto trash goons (Daryl Strawberry comes to mind)who can toss a ball nothing more than common scum.

What ever happened to athletes who were true role models. Why do we no longer glorify cowboys and astronauts? Why don't we teach our children to look up to them?

It's a sad commentary on the society in which we live in.

It's Always A Joyous Day When...

2005-08-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

Cliff Yablonski publishes six new pages of mutants!

For those uninitiated or unacquainted with Cliff, his site is not for the faint of heart.

http://www.somethingawful.com/cliff/ihateyou/

Power Up and....Die

2005-08-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

In yet another case of social darwinism, video games claim yet another innocent life. I can't say I'm saddened as I've never quite understood the (in this case, literal) death grip video games have on some people. Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider a video game something that is worth giving my life for. But then again, if you spend 50 hours straight in front of a video game, you really don't have much to live for.

Man Dies After 50 Hours of Computer Games
Reuters News Service
Updated: 6:43 p.m. ET Aug. 9, 2005

SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean man who played computer games for 50 hours almost non-stop died of heart failure minutes after finishing his mammoth session in an Internet cafe, authorities said on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old man, identified only by his family name Lee, had been playing online battle simulation games at the cybercafe in the southeastern city of Taegu, police said.
Lee had planted himself in front of a computer monitor to play online games on Aug. 3. He only left the spot over the next three days to go to the toilet and take brief naps on a makeshift bed, they said.

We presume the cause of death was heart failure stemming from exhaustion," a Taegu provincial police official said by telephone.

Lee had recently quit his job to spend more time playing games, the daily JoongAng Ilbo reported after interviewing former work colleagues and staff at the Internet cafe.
After he failed to return home, Lee's mother asked his former colleagues to find him. When they reached the cafe, Lee said he would finish the game and then go home, the paper reported.
He died a few minutes later, it said.

South Korea, one of the most wired countries in the world, has a large and highly developed game industry.

In The Spirit of National Underwear Day

2005-08-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

God Bless Rugby

2005-08-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

If it leaves me speechless, it must be true...

2005-08-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

Cheerleaders Use Chant to Help Police
By Associated Press Posted August 8 2005, 3:38 PM EDT

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A man who left an accident scene was tracked down with the help of some cheerleaders who witnessed the crash and turned his license plate number into a cheer, police said.

If only I could blog the visual in my head.

Passing Of A Legend

2005-08-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

Larger than life, iconic, epic, the list could go on, but Peter Jennings was a man that defied superlatives. He is one of the few people whose passing struck me cold, dead in my tracks. Unlike the news of some "other" celebrity passing, the sense of loss was, to me, palpable.

As strange as it may seem, it was one of those "do you remember where" moments. I was at the gym, in the midst of my steadfast, mind-numbing morning run when the story flashed across the TV. I hit the "stop" button on the treadmill and for a moment, it seemed as the world had stopped.

I had the honor and privilige of meeting him several years ago. I had always admired him but when I met him, I admired him more. He was real. He was warm. He was a true human being. One of the few people I have ever met that when he walked into a room, everyone liked him. A true gentlemen, a statesman.

He not only brought the news into your living room, he brought it to life and presented it with a unique view and insight that challenged you to think and made you want to delve into the subject matter. He brought humanity to the news and his work. Never was the humanity more evident that during his marathon coverage of the 9/11 attacks. His emotion was carried through the TV screen, his voice cracking and his borderline weeping on camera.

His passing leaves a huge void and one that I hope is simply not one of ratings. I would hope the challenge here will be how to best utilize his legacy of wisdom and sense of true humanity that he imaprted upon so many of us.

How sad that evening news is now bereft of the big three icons - Cronkite, Brokaw and Jennings. It will be a long while before I rush to catch the evening news now.

"I'm Peter Jennings, and from all of us at ABC News, Goodnight."