a late tribute.

PETER JENNINGS [1938-2005]

Such an important journalist in our era and, for my money, along with Ted Koppel, the best.

The 2-hour ABC special "Peter Jennings, Reporter" aired without commerical interruption [not counting the rare 15-second condolence message from the Walt Disney Company] or credits of any kind [when's the last time you saw THAT?!] detailed superbly and entertainingly not only his remarkable skill as a reporter, foreign correspondant, and anchorman, but his great value as a human being. For example, this was a man who would perform his anchoring duties on "World News Tonight" and then would often run from the studio to be picked up in a van and taken, along with other volunteers, to homeless shelters and food pantries. Just as another volunteer, not as a featured guest.

As if that weren't enough, the special outlined how Jennings' TV specials affected national and global change. How many of our newspeople can say that?

There are a lot of kids running around and yelling at each other in the media yard, and God bless them, but it's too bad the true masters of the house can't stay around forever.

I've been doing things.

Yup. VAGUE.

But I've actually been doing some relatively interesting things. I was running a mile almost everyday on the treadmill. It's amazing what that kind of thing can do for you physically and spiritually. I feel so much more sturdy just standing around or walking. Beyond that, it seems to be good to just challenge yourself everyday, even if it's in a small way.

My best time so far: 6:12. I actually ran around a 6:18 or something in high school, and I haven't done it since, so, I was glad to beat my old time finally. It wasn't an exactly pleasant run, but it was still fun to do that. I'll see if I can get a 6:00, or a little better maybe. That would be cool. But that 6:12 was hard enough as it was.

I haven't run it for a while because the clubhouse where the treadmill is incurred some damage last weekend during a storm. A tree branch actually narrowly missed my mother's car. Pretty crazy. Part it did actually land on her hood, but nothing heavy, and there was absolutely no damage. Not even any scratches.

It was actually this same night I decided to take a random drive down a street called Lindbergh. It occured to me that I hadn't gone all the way down Lindbergh in a certain direction. I'd always liked the drive, anyway, when I rode along with my mother and my brothers to the mall or the movie theatre.

It was nice.

All of the sudden, though I felt like I was in George Lucas' THX-1183...and that's saying something, b/c I haven't even seen that movie.

I just know that there's a scene involving a cool-looking tunnel.

I found myself driving through a really cool-looking tunnel that I didn't even know existed.

Then, more Lindbergh, but unlit. Then, a traffic light and a small road called "Missouri Bottom Road."

I non-chalantly looked to my left and, BAM, I felt like I was in the movie "Heat"! A HUGE panorama of lights in the distance. It turned out I was getting close to the airport.

It was definitely the single-most exciting random drive I'd ever taken. I also learned that there's a restaurant called "Lindbergh Bistro". ?? NO IDEA it existed. I'll go sometime.

I'm also working on ideas for a possible school program. It's still just a concept, but it looks like there's a good chance I'll get to try it out on my old school district.

They've started showing "Night Court" on TV Land. I used to watch it when it was on NBC. There's times when it's a little overly campy and etc., but to my pleasant suprise, it's still pretty darned brilliant most of the time. And that theme tune is great! It was even referenced on homestarrunner.com somewhat recently.

And finally, uh...I got a spam as a comment on my last entry. Umm...yeah.