Merry Christmas!!!

On behalf of Donna and myself... Merry Christmas!!!

It's About Time!

Let me just say that this year has been an extraordinary one for me and I hope that this year has been a blessed one for you, too! While it has been a great year, it has come at a cost for me. I haven't had nearly as much time to spend with my family as I would like. I will be an uncle in a few weeks. My grandfather's health continues to deteriorate. I haven't been able to spend the quality time I would have liked to with either my sister or my grandpa.

Now that the holidays are here, I am hoping that I get one thing with them that money can't buy -- time. While the season is about exchanging gifts and social gatherings for many, for the first time I am more concerned about soaking up those extra seconds, minutes, and hours with the ones I love. I rarely get this much time off during the year, so I need to use it while I have it.

I encourage you to do the same. Spend that extra hour with your sibling, parent, grandparent, aunt, spouse, child, or whomever it is that you truly care about. Some day you will wish you had that hour back so that you could spend it with them. This holiday season the tree is nice, the presents are wonderful, and the food is delicious, but really, for me, it is all about one thing: time!

Could we just have some snow please?

Ok... for what seems like the 88th time so far this winter season, we are under a winter weather advisory for sleet and light freezing rain. My question is this: since when did it become so hard to get an actual snowstorm around here?

I don't want a paralyzing blizzard, but we can't even get a full inch. All we get is this mix stuff, which frankly, I am very tired of. Has the atmosphere instituted a no snow in Southwest Missouri rule or something? Have Ron, Ted, and Kevin made the snow gods angry? Someone must have the answer!

Can we just have some snow please? Thank you. That is all.

Wow. People Are Weird!

Maybe I knew it all along and just decided to deny it. Or maybe I truly thought most people were normal. Either way, I have decided that the vast majority of people trudging through cyberspace have to be half crazy. My reasoning? Look no further than KSPR's Top 10 Most Viewed Stories Online. (You can check out the full list by clicking here.)

Among the journalistic heavy hitters that the KSPR news team has covered in 2008, stories such as a Woman Finding Jesus in a Cheeto Bag along with a Pregnant Woman Being Charged With Prostitution make the station's top ten. No Blunt, Hulshof, Steelman, McCaskill, Palin, etc to be found anywhere... who would have guessed?

Brandon Beck Sends Letter To Viewers

Brandon Beck, who underwent surgery recently, sent a letter to KY3 to let the viewers know how he is progressing. In the letter, he says that he has received of 800 cards and 30,000 online well wishes. He also lets everyone know the struggles he has undertaken during this surgery. The good news beyond the success of the surgery is that he expects to be back on air on January 12th. You can read the full letter by clicking here.

We continue to wish Brandon a full recovery.

The Last Weekend !!!

Well...this is it! The last weekend before Christmas. The weekend everyone is frantically trying to get that last person checked off their list. Unless, you are like me who has only one person checked off their list. Yes, I am behind...big time!

Between work, the holidays, and getting ready to be a very, very young grandmother, things have been more than a little bit crazy. As stressful as it has been, I wouldn't trade a minute of it.

While there will still be presents under the tree, there won't be as many as in years past and instead of feeling bad about it and wishing I could do more, I don't. Because maybe, as we all face these hard economic times we will see this as an opportunity to remember what is and should be more important than anything you could put under the tree.

If You Ever Needed A Reason To Switch...

I have been an Internet Explorer fan since the beginning. I know all of you computer geeks will tell me that Firefox is better, but old habits are hard to break. Well, at least that was until earlier this week. Microsoft announced that hackers had hacked their way into Internet Explorer and were redirecting computers to malicious websites, where important personal information could be stolen. (You can find more about the problem by clicking here. ) This hole in the software affects all IE users, from the 5.01 version all the way up to the latest one.

So... what does Microsoft encourage everyone to do? Switch away from Internet Explorer for the time being. Yesterday, I did just that. And you know what? I like Firefox so much, I might not switch back. If you have ever needed a reason to switch, now you have one. If you are like me, you might find that being stuck in your old ways isn't always a good thing after all.

And to all of you out there reading this saying "I told you so!" to yourself... just keep it to yourself, ok? I really don't want to hear it.

Winter... Here We Come

Looks like this week is going to be very wintery. A Winter Weather Advisory has just been issued for almost all of SW Missouri and so the entire region can expect some sleet, freezing rain, and snow to impact travel conditions overnight and for your morning commute tomorrow. Please stay safe if traveling!

This doesn't look to be the end of the winter weather. More shots of the frozen stuff exist nearly every day this week. Have fun... winter, here we come!

KY3's Beck To Have Surgery

It was announced on this morning's edition of Ozarks Today that KY3 Meteorologist Brandon Beck will be having surgery on his pancreas. Known as the Whipple Procedure, the surgery will require over a week of hospitalization and outpatient recovery time of a little more than a month.

Beck announced his surgery this morning and you can view that video at http://www.ky3.com/. You may additionally leave well wishes for Brandon by sending him an email at bbeck@ky3.com or by clicking here.

Show-Me Opinions wishes Brandon the best of luck with the surgery and will keep him in our prayers.

News-Leader Veteran Kicked To The Street

If you are an avid reader of the blogs Turner Report or Life of Jason, then this story isn't new to you. Springfield News-Leader reporter Sarah Overstreet was abruptly let go by the company in a round of layoffs. Overstreet had been with the paper for 22 years! One has to wonder where the practice of loyalty is rewarded anymore, don't you?

The Turner Report has a good write-up on the departure and comments. You can read them by clicking here.