Blogs 12 Long Island

Is Soy A Health Food?

By Mary Mucci

As a vegetarian for seven years.  I've eaten my share of soy.  I had organic soy milk in my cereal, and ate soy hot dogs and burgers with soy cheese on top.  I found that a hot bowl of miso soup was as good as chicken when it came to healing a cold.  But then I discovered I was deficient in magnesium and zinc.  I discovered I have an underactive thyroid.  I now know that these health problems are a direct result of my soy habit.

I became allergic to soy and I no longer eat it.  It tastes good enough and for people intolerant of dairy it can be a welcomed substitute….occasionally.  But it is considered a hormone disruptor and some say a cancer promoter.  There are studies on both sides.  But if you want to eat low on the food chain…there are other ways to do it.

Mariaehel Sammis is a vegan and eats no soy!!!  Instead she eats veggies.  

If you need more variety in your diet…organic fermented tempeh and miso are the best choice.  Enjoy it..but don’t overdo it like I did.

To Your Health,

Mary

Contacts:

Luanne Pennesi,  Registered Nurse, Holistic Health Consultant

973 766 2214 or www.metropolitanwellness.com  

Mariaehel Sammis, Certified Nutritionist

East Northport,  631 262 8505

Learn More About It:

www.Mercola.com

www.westonaprice.org

 

 

Obama and the Economy

 By Scott Feldman

Not a good Friday on the economic front. The government reported the unemployment rate had jumped from 6.1 percent in September to 6.5 percent in October. That's another 240 thousand jobs cuts last month bringing the nation's unemployment rate to a 14-year high.  Long Island numbers come out next week. September showed an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent up from 3.9 percent for the same period a year ago. Long Island Association economist Pearl Kamer expects the new jobless rate number could be anywhere from 6 to 6.5 percent.

So, against that backdrop, President-elect Obama held a news conference saying the country is facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime and "we're going to have to act swifly to resolve it." He said, "immediately after I become president I will confront this economic crisis head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity." Obama's comments came just a short time after he and Vice-President-elect Joe Biden met privately with economic experts to discuss ways to stabilize the troubled economy.

Pearl Kamer tells me Obama shouldn't think about raising ANY taxes, including hiking the tax rate on capital gains and dividends. She says, "when you raise taxes in a severe recession you simply exacerbate the recession because you're restricting disposable income." And given the latest unemployment numbers, she says the government should extend jobless benefits. She'd also like to see an infusion of federal dollars to help local and state governments with infrastructure projects. Things like repairing streets and sewers and construction of the third rail for the Long Island railroad. Subsidies too would be important for our emerging technologies, nano-tech and bio-science.

In talking to Long Islanders on the streets, they hope Obama won't raise their taxes. He's talking about a boost in the tax rate for anybody making over 250K. Small business owners say they need a tax break, not a tax hike to keep afloat in an economy where consumer spending is shrinking every day. And they'd like to see the new administration put some pressure on the banks to loosen credit.

Carl and Dorothy Rennhack from Bohemia were telling me, "there has to be some changes made. 8 years under Bush has been awful." These are Republicans who went Democrat this past Tuesday. They're retirees living on a fixed income struggling to pay their bills, including higher health care premiums. I asked them if they thought things would be better under Obama than Bush.  Carl's reply, " We certainly hope so. Truthfully, I don't think we can do worse." For his part, Obama says Congress needs to pass an economic stimulus package either before or just after he takes office in January. It's clear that right from the get-go, Obama will have to be laser focused on finding ways to remedy the dismal economy.

Blizzards and Hurricanes

By Meteorologist Rich Hoffman

As we approach late fall, we have some interesting weather around the world.

1. We are tracking a category 1 Hurricane named Paloma (pa-LOW-ma) near Cuba

2. A powerful Blizzard is moving through the northern plains.

Tropical Season is from June 1st to November 30th. Hurricane Paloma is moving northeast and will move over Cuba in the next 36 hours. Winds could be as high as 110 mph, which is a strong category 2 hurricane. More from the National Hurricane Center.

 
 

As for the blizzard, it hit the northern plains with almost 4 feet of snow. The snow comes just 48 hours after temperatures near 70. The weather in South Dakota Wednesday into Friday had strong winds, heavy snow and roads shutdown. Winds as high as 80 mph per hour moved through the area causing snow drifts as high as 8 feet.

National Weather Service in South Dakota

It will be only a matter of time before our first major snowfall.
Snowfall information for Long Island.

Snowfall from Brookhaven National Lab

Have Yourself a Merry Little...ELECTION DAY??

                                                            

By Christine Insinga                                                               

   I was driving home from work last night (ok it was the day AFTER election day) and YES- 'Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas'  started playing on the radio! Seriously???!  I'll admit it- I sang along for a verse or 2- then I remembered it was 50 something degrees outside and I still had a pumpkin on my front stoop.

 

 

    Three weeks ago- I went into a crafts store in search of more fall/Halloween decor.  I couldn't get to the scarecrows and gourds without pushing through 2 isles of stockings and Santas!  Bah Humbug...& BOOO!

This is not right people!  

 

    Sorry- I don't mean to offend.  The economy is in the toilet- I get it.  Let's get the consumers to the stores as early as possible to buy- buy -buy...spend- spend spend!!  Don't get me wrong- I love Christmas! I'm a good Catholic girl.  Maybe that's why I'm so bothered by all this.    I won't get preachy here- I promise- but I think we need to take a step back and remember what the holiday is all about...and it ain't $$$- toys- clothes or gift cards.

   It's not a time to trick people into emptying their wallets faster than than they should.  Christmas is a time for family and hope and trust and thanks.  Speaking of which- shouldn't we be seeing more butterballs than elves OR nativity scenes right now anyway?

  I'm watching a commercial for a new Broadway show called 'White Christmas'- no joke!  I don't know about you but I think this is the time to start packing away the Jack-o-Lanterns and candy and get ready to gather around the table with family and friends to talk- share- laugh and give thanks.

   

     Thanksgiving is 3 weeks away!  What a holiday to just sort of glaze over- and simply because Tom the Turkey isn't all that marketable.

 

 

Thanks for checking in!

 

 

Organic Fall Facials

                                   Organic Fall Facials

       by Trish Bergin

    Yes, Go Green is usually a series that Elizabeth Hashagen writes.  But for the next few weeks, you'll see a few new faces stopping in here to blog while Beth is home on Maternity leave.  This week it's my turn, so I found some great new organic products that I really like and thought you would enjoy too.

    The facial products are made by a company called Eminence.  They are all natural --yes 100% organic.  And besides smelling amazing, the results are fabulous.  I found out about this organic line of products from a salon called  Amethyst rose in Islip, which is a totally GREEN salon.  Everything they use is organic.

     My favorite product is the yam pumpkin peel, just in time for fall.  It helps to

remove all the damaged skin cells, following a summer filled with sunshine and the salt water.  This product smells fabulous and tingles a bit when you put it on.  But you know it's working!

 

Then there is also the Almond scrub.  Another fabulous fall fragrance, and an excellent scrub following a day or night of make-up.  What I like best about these products is that the ingredients are all natural. And when you are putting them on your skin, they smell good enough to eat!  It is again, one of the products that will leave you with a natural glow and a good feeling that you helped yourself to a day of beauty, as you helped the planet Go Green!

 

Cardiac Imaging

By Trish Bergin

     Hello all my tech friends.  I'm blogging for Elizabeth Hashagen while she is away on maternity leave.  I'm not the most tech oriented person, but I still find some of this stuff to be reallly cool.

     So check this out.  I was at Long Island Jewish Medical Center this week, checking out this new machine that they just got.  This new imaging procedure helps the Cardiologists there to see INSIDE your heart.  They use this new technology to create a 3-D image of your heart.  This allows doctors to get a better understanding of the "electrical system" in your heart. 

When I say "Electrical system," I'm talking about the way the heart beats, and sends blood flowing through all 4 chambers.                               

When the heart's two small upper chambers quiver instead of beating effectively, it is called atrial fibrillation. It's a serious problem that the American Heart Association says can sometimes lead to a stroke.

     This new technology is helping doctors better detect and fix this condition.

This is what Vice President Dick Cheney was diagnosed with in November of last year.  But the problem can often be fixed, by burning the spots in the heart's chambers that are misfiring.  It was really cool to see how this 3-D imaging could calculate where the heart is misfiring. 

     Oh, and a quick Thank you to Dr. David Slotwiner, the cardiologist at LIJ, who so patiently explained all this latest technology and science to THIS English major!

Signs of the Times

  Drew Scott

 I am so angry about those political signs on the highways the day AFTER election day!

 I drove up and down the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway today and I counted more than 30 political signs inviting me to vote for democrats and republicans, judges and assemblymen, state senators and propositions. Some people ask why can't somebody drive by the next day and remove the signs that now look like LITTER?

Some towns promised to do this, but others ignored complaints.

Kudos however to John Rouse and his Brookhaven Town Highways Department. They sent out a crew all day today to pick up all the signs and get them off the Expressway, Sunrise Highway and other major highways.

Imagine, say many angry voters, the day after your candidate lost, you see his election sign day after day for months. It just sits there on the boulevard.

Fortunately, elections with mass signs only happen once a year, but drive through just about any neighborhood and you will see signs on telephone poles, fences, abandoned buildings and in vacant lots, year-after-year!

And the signs are expensive.  Candidates could save thousands of dollars by retrieving the signs and saving them from election time to election time, every two or four years depending on their terms!

Call me a grouch, I'm putting on my sunglasses next time I drive the 135, so I can't see all the used political signs!

 

An Incredible Night

By Doug Geed

    Wow.

    As a journalist, not being able to come up with the right words to describe something is not a good thing. But that's the position I find myself in as I look back on my experience of covering Barack Obama on Election Night in Chicago. "Wow" is about the best I can come up with.

My friend and talented co-worker, News 12 LI Photo-Journalist Brian Jingeleski and I were given the honor of covering what we knew would be an historic event. Our biggest fear was coming up with the right way (me with words, Brian with video) to tell this story to our viewers.

    This was the first African-American to be elected President of the United States. The majority of voters in the country placed their trust and their hopes in the hands of a black man -- hoping that he can be the one to lead us out of these turbulent times. We chose a black man to become not only our representative, but the leader of the free world and the single most powerful and influential leader on the planet.

    I think back on the history books I used in school that showed the painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware -- Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address -- FDR telling a frightened Depression-era nation that "we have nothing to fear but fear itself." We knew the election of Barack Obama would be right up there with all of them.
 
  It was my second visit to Chicago and I absolutely love that city. On Election Night, it showed all of its heart in Grant Park -- a massive public park that sits right along Lake Michigan in the downtown area.

    I have so many memories permanently etched in my mind. There was the moment they first let people run up to the area near the stage where Barack Obama would eventually proclaim victory. They ran in -- cheering, screaming, laughing, waving flags -- occasionally just bursting into loud applause or chanting  "Yes We Can!"
    There was the moment when Obama's victory was projected and a thunderous roar was let out.
    Then there was silence as the crowd listened to the incredibly gracious and classy concession speech by Senator John McCain as it was was broadcast live throughout the park. A man the crowd had opposed so vocally during the campaign they now applauded.

Then of course, there was the appearance of the President-Elect himself. The roar was deafening -- like a rock concert or a Super Bowl crowd -- as the next Chief Executive of our country walked out to greet his supporters and deliver his own electrifying speech.

      But there's no question that the number one thing I will remember about that night, for the rest of my life, was a much quieter moment. It took place after Obama's victory was announced but before he made his appearance.

   The crowd was gathering around the stage. I saw an African-American family. There was man, well into his 70's or even 80's. His son, probably around 40, holding his own young son, about two years old, who was completely exhausted and sleeping with his head on his father's shoulder. There was his other son, probably around 5 years old who, unlike his brother, was wide awake. He was dressed in a little suit and tie and was holding a small flag in each hand pumping his arms up and down with a big beaming smile.

    I looked at each of their faces. The grandfather -- old enough to have lived through that disgusting chapter in our history where just because of the color of his skin he could be turned away from a restaurant, forbidden to use a public rest room or denied a drink from a water fountain. It was late at night, he had walked a long way through an enormous crowd and you could see he was tired. But you could also see in his eyes what he felt in his soul: an enormous pride and overwhelming joy in what he was witnessing.

    Then there was the father. He had a subtle, confident smile as he held his sleeping son in his arms hoping that finally -- finally -- the world might change and become a better place for his kids to grow up.

    There was the little boy with the flags -- his joy and excitement uncontrollable as he tried to soak up everything happening around him.

    And even the little sleeping two-year-old represented something to me -- the unknown. Will we all wake up and see that this was a dream? Or has our country really turned the corner and is ready to be united and treat each other fairly and respectfully?

     Barack Obama faces enormous challenges. He may turn out to be a terrible President, a great one or a mediocre one.
     But one thing is certain. Decades from now, there will be a picture of him in a school history book giving his Presidential acceptance speech before a crowd of tens of thousands of enthusiastic supporters on an unusually mild November night in Chicago. And we saw it.
     Wow.

 
    

The Housing Crisis

By Andrew Ehinger

Tammye Rawls just wanted her part of the American Dream. But that dream almost ended  up as a never ending nightmare.

Tammye was one of the millions of Americans who say they fell victim to predatory lenders, and an exotic mortgage loan with an adjustable interest rate. But is she a statistic? Nope, she took action before it was too late. Housing advocates say that's the key to helping people get back on the financial track. The Long Island Housing Partnership is a HUD qualified organization that is helping people during this crisis. In fact they say its one of the most popular things they do now. Last year the LIHP helped about 50  people struggling with their mortgages avoid foreclosure. In just the first 8 months of 2008 they've helped 359. That LIHP's Director, Peter Elkowitz, says truly shows the problem here on the island.

Today Elkowitz got together with County Executives Tom Suozzi, and Steve Levy, mortgage brokers, banks, attorneys, real estate brokers, and others to find a solution to the foreclosure crisis. One idea suggested by Suozzi is to ask lenders to impose a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures, so lenders and borrowers can work out a solution before the house is lost. Steps like these may help, and lenders like JP Morgan have already decided to adopt the moratorium. But will it help everyone. Probably not. There are some people who took out loans they probably shouldn't have. Who's to blame for that? Well I'd say both parties, but its still important for the financial industry to help. You see a foreclosed home on your block can reduce your property value by 6 to 10%. That may not seem like a lot but in this down-turned market that can be huge!

So even with groups trying to address the foreclosure crisis on the island, are we out of the woods yet. Unfortunately I'm told, no. The experts tell me the end of this year and the beginning of 2009 will see even more foreclosures. Its always darkest before the dawn.

Oh What a Night!

By Jill Wagner

Election Night 2008... and I was stationed at Nassau's GOP headquarters in Westbury.  By now, we all know the results:  the county's Republican incumbents (senators and assemblymen) won re-election, but it was not enough to keep the state senate in Republican control.  Thus, it was not a night for major celebration.

So, to lighten the mood, I thought I'd share some secrets from behind the scenes.....

Most of the time, when you see a reporter on tv, it's from the waist up.  So just in case you were wondering what my feet look like----here's a peek:

 

Yes, that's a massive amount of masking tape stretched across my shoes.  You might wondering WHY!!!

First, I can tell you this is mostly a joke (mostly!).  I'm not on the tall side.  I'm about 5'2 and I pretty much wear flat, comfortable shoes when I'm running around in the field.  My photographers usually like to have me stand on an apple crate like this one, so it's a better shot in background. 

In this case, I was standing on, not only an apple crate, but another platform that was about a foot and a half off the ground---take a look:  If I stepped backward too much, I could have fallen about three feet... ouch!                                                               

                                                                

In the end, they took the tape off my feet, but I did stand on the crate the entire night.  The only time it looked a little off was when I interviewed one of the politicians.  I wound up being a couple inches TALLER than them. 

All in all, it was a really fun and exciting night.  My live reports lasted about a minute and a half each, but there's a lot of work and preparation that goes into it.  The crew got to the location in the early afternoon---- candidates didn't start arriving until after ten p.m.  Hence---there's plenty of time to joke around... at my expense!

Behind the Scenes on Election Night

By Shari Einhorn

So another election night has come and gone.  Of course -- we'll be following the dramatic change in Long Island's political landscape for a long time!  But all of that aside -- I thought you might like a behind the scenes look at how hard it can be to get an interview.

Let me set the scene.  News 12 Long Island has been closely following the race in the 3rd State Senate district.  It was longtime incumbent Caesar Trunzo being challenged by Brian Foley.  It was one of the seats Republicans were desperate to hold on to -- a key seat in the majority they've held for 43 years.  We had interviewed Trunzo several times in the past few days and I wasn't expecting to have a problem on election night.

As it turns out -- Trunzo lost -- and it was the first time he had to give a concession speech -- EVER -- in his 43 year political career!  One of his staffers told me he wasn't going to be doing interviews.  Well -- that's fine but as a reporter it's my job to try anyway!  And that's exactly what I was ready to do.  BUT -- one of his staffers -- a big guy -- apparently had other ideas.  They tried to shuffle the veteran state senator out a side door -- and not only blocked my cameraman and myself from getting to him -- but put his hands on my shoulders to try and prevent me from following!!  THAT'S A REALLY BIG NO NO!!  Of course -- as we're trained to do -- we were rolling on the whole thing.  Thanks Brian!

We kept trying to talk to Trunzo -- and ended up following him through a room -- through a side hallway and practically out the door of the hotel before we were able to get a couple of seconds from him!! 

Now -- just so we're clear -- I realize he's in his 80's and I wasn't trying to harass him.  But it's my job to try and talk to him and as a public figure for more than 4 decades -- I believe it's part of his job to talk to me -- not just when he's winning but after he loses as well.

Shari

A Lifetime of Change

By Shari Einhorn

Talk about a lifetime of change!  Today I met Joseph McNeil.  You may or may not know his story.  On February 1, 1960 -- he was 17 and a soldier in the middle of the struggle for integration.

McNeil and three other students from a black college in North Carolina -- sat at the "Whites Only" counter at Woolworths.  It was unthinkable but they did it as an attempt to end the segregation that barred blacks from eating at public facilities throughout the South.

                                                         

They were told they wouldn't be served.  They were told to leave.  The store manager called the cops.  The 4 young men refused to leave.  The store closed early.  The next day 30 students came in -- and as word spread, sit-ins swept across the South.

Now -- fast forward to November 4, 2008 -- election day.  McNeil watches as our nations first black president is elected.  Barack Obama has broken color barriers that Joseph McNeil and his friends couldn't possibly have dreamed about.     

Click here to see Obama's acceptance speech.

So how does Joseph McNeil feel today?  He told me he was glued to the tv screen for a solid 3 to 4 hours last night.  He told me, "In one sense it took too long to happen but on the other hand -- I'm glad that it did happen when it did -- that I was able to see it in my time."

Shari

One Vote at a Time

By Carol Silva

So, I voted yesterday. Nothing new in that. I mean, I once waited behind almost 200 people to vote for Water Commissioner in my community. But I don't think I've been so excited to pull that little lever, ever since the first time I voted - when I turned 18. 

And I love the volunteers at my polling station. They've been there forever - and yesterday - years into volunteering - they were shocked themselves at the thick lines of people caught up in the electric feeling of this historic election. (As an aside - they told me an older gentlemen in our community had voted earlier in the day. Then they said, "I think he also voted for Lincoln!")

But yesterday was all about that other Illinois politician - Obama, and McCain, and the possibility of the first African American President or the first female Vice President - and the young people who registered and voted in record numbers, and economics and Sarah Palin and George Bush.

Exit polls show about 66% of younger Americans - 18 to 29 years old - voted for Barack Obama. John McCain got only about 32% of that younger vote. Today, Republican leaders across America are looking for ways to re-energize their party - including with a stronger presence on college campuses.

There are big questions about whether Sarah Palin helped or hurt John McCain. She certainly brought some youthful vitality to the Republican ticket. But she got more attention for her interviews - and on late night television - for some of her answers on American policy. That's not to suggest Joe Biden didn't bump her out of the spotlight with some of his flubs. McCain recently said something like, "Every once in a while, Joe Biden stumbles his way into the truth."

Then there's America's financial crisis. Wall Street went bust, just when the candidates were   approaching the final stretch of their 2-1/2 year campaign. Desperate Americans, including the tens of thousands losing their jobs, and losing their homes to foreclosure, made a strong connection between the policies of the President George W. Bush administration, and his Republican colleague John McCain.

In fact, the economy overwhelmed all other problems. It was picked by more than six in 10 voters as the most important issue facing the nation. Obama had a clear edge with those voters. He led John McCain among them by about 9 percentage points. Four in 10 said their family financial status is worse now than four years ago - when George Bush's second term began.

Significant in all of this though, was the man who said - growing up black, he'd always been told what he couldn't do - what he couldn't be. Now he says, we all know anyone can do anything - because this is America.

Breaking Into Jail?

By Lily Stolzberg

William Walsh has been charged with Second degree murder. According to Nassau Police, he strangled his 29 year-old wife to death. Now less than a week after his arrest, his younger brother Tommy found himself on the same side of the jail cell.

 

Police say Tommy tried to break INTO jail to see his brother. He allegedly went past the security gate, was told repeatedly to leave, and then struggled with officers who tried to arrest him. 

 

Now I've heard of people breaking out of jail, but breaking into one? I asked Police why Tommy would allegedly go to great lengths to get into the jail. They didn't know.

 

Tommy's lawyer says his client has been going through emotional turmoil since his brother was arrested. During his arraignment in court, Tommy looked behind him several times, possibly looking to see if his family had shown up. From what I could tell, they didn't. Later that evening he was still in jail. The $3,000 bail had not been met.

 

Now The lives of two men hang in the balance, especially that of William Walsh who is charged with second degree murder. Unless you have lost a loved one in the brutal, horrible way Leah's life was lost, it's impossible to imagine what the families involved are going through.

Overpower Pain without Drugs or Surgery

By Mary Mucci

Physical therapists are taught that pain is the result of structural abnormalities like bulging discs.

One physical therapist I know of believes that’s dead wrong.  Mitch Yass says most pain is the result of muscular weaknesses and imbalances.  I’d say Yass has it right and the rest, however well intentioned, are wrong.   I have personally spoken to dozens of people who’ve told me that Yass has relieved their pain and saved them from surgery.  Also, I suffered with a hip pain for ten years.  After meeting Mitch, I asked him to put me on a strength training program, and, wow, my pain is gone.  It’s amazing to me because I have been working out in a gym for years….the past seven or eight…and I did many of the same exercises Mitch prescribed.  So what’s different?  Well, I was exercising the weak muscle the same as the strong one.  So nothing ever changed. Now the weak muscle gets exercised more.  It took a few months for the pain to go away completely, but I found relief after the first couple of sessions.  I think now that all physical therapists should be trainers and all trainers should be physical therapists. 

I also read a study a few years ago that pointed out there is little correlation between pain and physical abnormalities.  Some people who have disc issues have no pain.  Any some people with pain have no abnormalities. 

It’s no surprise that Mitch has a waiting list several months long.  So he is actively searching for PT’s who are open to his approach.  He’s willing to re-educate, they just need to be willing to learn.

Meanwhile, if you are on medication for pain, you might want to consider whata two times a week strength training program could do to change your life.  I know it changed mine!!!

To Your Health,

Mary Mucci

Contacts:

Mitch Yass,  Physical Therapist

PT2, Farmingdale,  516 420 2900,   www.PT2therapy.com

“Overpower Pain, The Strength Training Program that Stops Pain without Drugs or Surgery”

Fun At The Fair

By Erin Colton

Ok, I'm going to get a little nostalgic and maybe even borderline corny in this blog. So bear with me.

One of the best feelings I think I've ever had is giving back to my community. (No, I'm serious.) It just makes me feel good to show people how much of a good influence my town and the people in it had on me. I grew up in Wantagh, so stopping by the Bellmore Fair to meet and talk to people in my neighborhood was something I really wanted to do.

But when I was there, I think I experienced an even better feeling than giving back when someone said they were proud of me. (I know, I know, break out the tissues.)

I'm lucky that my first on-air job is in the area where I grew up. The stories and the people just mean all the more to you. So being able to sit at a booth at the Bellmore Fair (an event I started going to  when I was probably around 2 years old) talking to people in the community -- was great.

But since I don't want to put you to sleep in this blog, going on and on about how great I feel, I figured I'd just let you know about some of the funny things that happened.

Let's start out with my gigantic face. On my way to the News 12 stand I ran into a former classmate of mine from Wantagh High School. He said, "Erin, there's a huge picture of your face over there!" Then, a Nassau County police officer passed me and screamed my name. No, I wasn't getting arrested, turns out he was a former classmate too. He also commented on the fact there was a life size picture of my face right in the middle of Bellmore Avenue. Turns out I didn't need directions to where our booth was, I just followed the face, and found it. (Note: The picture above does not even remotely come close to how big my face actually was.)

 So after everyone got over how enormous my face was, we had time to focus on how cold and windy it was. Note to anyone planning a fair, high winds and rain -- no good. At times I felt like I was in a car wash and I was the car. It was a good thing I was surrounded by a group of awesome people. Madeline kept me company under the tent, while Ryan and I cracked jokes all day long. I especially liked Ryan because he was decked out in all News 12 gear, and I'm not sure if he even knew there was a News 12 Long Island. He was from Optimum and we share a tent because we also share companies. But that's ok because he was wearing a "LI Challenge" hat. (Scott Feldman's game show.) I liked it because I sometimes sport the hat myself around town. (But don't tell Scott that, it might go to his head.)

I'm going to be honest, sometimes the fair was a little bit boring. I was seated in one spot and because not a lot of people showed up because of the weather, nobody was around us at times. So I drew things on my face. One time a little boy walked up and I didn't see him and he goes, "what are you doing?" I responded by saying, "Oh, just drawing on my face. Do you want an autograph?" He goes, "Why?" That may have been the best line of the day, but he took one. He'll probably find it 5 years from now and ONLY remember the fact that some idiot anchor was drawing on her face. 

Our competitor's booth, Verizon, was directly across from ours. (Like THAT was some sort of coincidence.) I thought I'd have a little fun with it. Unfortunately nobody at the Verizon booth was nice enough to hold up the nice sign I made to the left there. Oh well, there's always next year. (Cablevision's better anyway.)

All kidding aside, the day meant more to me than I thought it would. Getting out in the community and hearing people tell me they appreciate the work I do, really made me feel good. I don't think hearing "I watch you every morning" from someone with a huge smile on their face will ever get old to me. So when you do watch me, know that this hometown girl appreciates where she came from and the people who surround her.

 

(No, these people are not fighting for my autograph, we were giving away a free TV.)