Steve Says

Is your wallet empty from those Post-Thanksgiving Day Sales?

Maybe you're ready for round two?

Either way you can save money and spend some time with your family today with FREE ICE SKATING at Galleria Dallas.  Starbucks is the brand behind the promotion.

To raise awareness during World AIDS Day, December 1st 2008, Galleria Dallas visitors can enjoy free skating at the ice rink from 10am-5:30 pm and again from 8-10pm.   Additionally today, Starbucks will contribute 5 cents for "every hand-crafted beverage" sold at participating US and Canada locations (I guess that means no pre-packaged stuff from the cold case) to the Global Fund to help save lives in Africa. 

No time for coffee or skating today?  Through January 2, 2009 Starbucks will contribute five cents from the sale of any Starbucks Red Exclusive Beverage (Peppermint Mocha Twist, Gingersnap Latte and Espresso Truffle) to the Global Fund.

Remember, there is NO PURCHASE NECESSARY to take advantage of FREE ICE SKATING- (just in case a 3 dollar cup of coffee, is not your cup of tea).

A big thank you to the Executive directors of the Miss Dallas and Miss Longview pageants for inviting me to emcee their pageant yesterday.

Congratulations not only to the newly crowned winners below, but to ALL of the contestants for sharing their talent, their beauty and their wisdom (and let's not forget about that "pageant wave").

Meghan Miller - Miss Longview
Elise Martinez - Miss Dallas
Logan McCormick - Teen Dallas
Larissa Bonacquisti - Teen Longview

Here are some pictures highlighting some of the most magical moments from the stage!

Megan Miller Getting ready for the talent competition.

Larissa Bonacquisti - Miss Teen Longview

And your new Miss Longview is....

...Meghan Miller!

Miss Teen Dallas- Logan McCormick

Miss Dallas- Elise Martinez

With Jason Sheeler, Judge- Miss Teen and Miss Dallas.

This is the body of an email ai got today- some interesting stuff...  Have I looked any of the stuff that's not common knowledge up to confirm? Nope!

TYPEWRITER  is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.  
 

A  cat has 32 muscles in each ear. 

 
A  goldfish   has a memory span of  three seconds. 

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of  time for 1/100th of a second. 

 
 
A  shark is  the only fish that can blink with both  eyes.  

 

A  snail can  sleep for three years.  

  

Almonds are a member of the  peach family.    



An ostrich's  eye is  bigger than its brain. 
 
Babies are  born without kneecaps.  They don't appear until  the child reaches 2 to 6 years of  age.  

 
February 1865 is the  only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.  

In  the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.  

If  the population of China  walked past you,  8  abreast,  
the line would never  end because of the rate of reproduction.  
 
 

Leonardo Da Vinci  invented the  scissors    

 

Peanuts  are  one of the ingredients of  dynamite!  
 

The  winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara  Falls  froze completely  solid.  
 

There are more chickens than people in the  world.    

 

Winston  Churchill  was  born in a ladies' room during a dance.  



Women  blink nearly twice as much as  men.  

Rubber  bands  last longer  when refrigerated.  
  


The  average person's left hand does 56%  of the typing.   


 
The  cruise liner, QE 2   moves only six inches for each  gallon of diesel that it burns. 

   
The microwave was  invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and  a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.  

 
'Stewardesses' is  the longest word typed with only the left  hand  

 
And  'lollipop'   is  the longest word typed with your right hand.  



No  word in the English language rhymes  with month, orange, silver, or purple.  


 
'Dreamt' is the only  English word that ends in the letters 'mt'.     
 
 

Our  eyes  are always the same  size from  birth, but  our nose and  ears never stop growing.   

  
  
The  sentence: 
'The quick brown fox jumps over the  lazy dog' 
uses every  letter of the alphabet. 

 

 
The  words 'racecar,'  'kayak' 
and  'level' are the same whether they are  read left to right or right to left  (palindromes). 
  
   

There are only four words in the  English language which end in 'dous': tremendous,  horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.  
 
  

There are two words in the English language that have all  five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.'

Kiplinger has posted picks for 30 Fabulous Freebies.  Everything from movie tickets to furniture to cultural events.

Check out their 2008 list by clicking here to see which of these budget minded deals  you get can your hands on.

What are your favorite freebies?  Share them below.

It is said that when a consumer is happy with an experience they tell just a couple of people- when they are UNHAPPY they tell anyone who will listen.

It's a theory I use when sifting through viewer email.  I figure someone who hated a story I did is MUCH more likely to write me and tell me about it.  The "hate mail" doesn't come too often, and when it does, the author is usually straight forward- sometimes offering polite suggestions.

Well.. hold on to your hat!  This is the most "spirited" piece of viewer email I have ever received. It is SO verbally colorful- that I just had to share it with you.

Looks like someone saw my story run in Atlanta and didn't very much care for it.

(just a quick note, I have removed some of the most colorful language- and although tempting- did not correct his grammar, spelling or lack of punctuation and capitalization.   Additionally, he makes reference to experts we hired- we did not hire any experts for this story)

hey steve,

I'm sorry to tell you this but I honestly can't believe you did a story on the save a blade, had so much trouble with one type of blade which the unit was not designed to work well with, and had the (expletive) to end the segment with "we didnt test any other blades". oh gee. how so very helpful steve you MORON!!! you may be a wonderful person, I have no idea - I live in Atlanta and we have Clark Howard. But this story was a joke!!! how could you go to all that trouble and expense of hiring an expert and getting the film crew together and going to a school of mechanical engineering. did it ever occur to you to maybe try a gillette and a schick and maybe a few different ones of each?? I've read about three different stories from local/regional "investigative reporters" and they came to the exact opposite conclusion as you. also, how about trying to shave with it you assclown?!?!?! "of course, we didnt actually try shaving with it, we just looked at it reeeeeeeeeeeeal close"

seriously dude, go do a little bit of research on the internet - it'll take you all of five minutes. maybe have one of your gophers do it and then test a few more blades and this time, screw the engineer guy, actually SHAVE with it. novel idea eh?

your (expletive) reporting annoyed me so much that i had to track you down and tell you how much it sucked. THAT's how annoying it was. and if you look at comments on aol, you'll find I'm not the only one who thinks that story blew. you may be a great reporter in general, but from the one piece I saw, you blow.

sorry, just giving you honest feedback

Alex

Did you happen to catch the story this week on the Batman Cake Hoax gone bad?  I mean REAL bad.

A PR firm in San Antonio thought everyone was on board with their publicity stunt to attract movie watchers to the opening of the new Batman film.  Part of the pitch?  Deliver cakes to every radio and TV station in town along with instructions to call a phone number. 

You dial the number and the cake starts "ringing" (actually the phone buried in the cake rings).  It was enough to call out the bomb squad to one TV station that 'didn't-get-the-message' so to speak.

Here's the story in case you missed it:

It got me thinking about all of the crazy things that show up on my desk each week from PR firms and manufacturers who are trying to get their product some publicity on TV.  Some are simple.  Some are very creative. SOME ARE OUTRAGEOUS!  Some of the stuff you are about to see would NEVER make it into a TV segment (others would), but the pitches from those that represent the products were memorable enough to at least grab my attention and make it into my blog.  These PR folks stood out enough that I thought their pitches shouldn't be kept a secret.

(What you can't hear when I open the Batman-themed box is a pre-recorded message from the Joker which automatically plays when the box is opened.  We tried again, but my mic didn't pick it up.)

Click play to see what I'm talking about:

You might be wondering, what happens to all of this stuff?  at the end of each year I hold a free raffle for everyone who works in the building and it is all given away.  You'd be AMAZED at some of the junk people can't wait to "sign up" to "win". 

It's billed as the website that can give women a beautiful beach body without busting their budget.   And speaking of "busts"- that's exactly what those behind the site have in mind.

Myfreeimplants.com connects women who wish they had a few more curves with anonymous donors willing to bankroll their surgery.  When each woman who registers on line raises the money she needs to complete the surgery (through paid-per email exchanges and flat donations), a check is cut directly to her surgeon for her breast augmentation procedure.

Wondering how this all works?  Tune in to FOX4 News tonight at 9.   Maybe you have a comment on this one?

Sound off below- how do you feel about myfreeimplants.com.

We are at it again!  Wednesday, May 14th we will be taking you on a behind the scenes tour of FOX4 News at 9.

It's your exclusive sneak peak behind the scenes and will be exclusively on myfoxdfw.com during the FOX4 9 o'clock news.

The live webcast will be accompanied by a live chat and I'll be answering viewer questions during the webcast.

So... do you have any questions for us?  About us?  Post them below and we'll get them answered on the air!

See you Wednesday at 9 right here on myfoxdfw.com

It's only early Idol season and already the first scandal is in our midst!  It seems the top 24 have been leaked and all it takes is a simple internet search to find out who they (supposedly) are.

So.. did you peek?  Do you have any interest in peeking? Will the leaked info keep you from watching the show?

I have to admit... I peeked.  And.. I have to say.. I'm an Idol watcher- especially with the good talent this year.

What about you?

OK.. ready?

My dad sent this to me today.  Good Luck!

(I'll post the answer after y'all have had a chance to take a crack at it)

There are 7 girls on a bus
Each of them has 7 backpacks
In each backpack there are 7 Big Cats
Each Big cat has 7 little cats
The bus driver left to go on his break

How many legs are on the bus
Enter your answer on the attached- you can add your name before forwarding it

I must confess- I was not smarter than a 5th grader

This morning was my Radio City Music Hall debut!  Well.. kind of.. it was my debut in a RCMH production as we teamed up with the cast of a Christmas Carol- opening at Bass Hall- for some high flying fun.  As I mentioned on the air, being in a RCMH production has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little boy. 
Here's why:

To me, it was quite a normal childhood growing up with a mom like mine. She went to work every day just like everyone else's mom. However, the start of her day wasn't what was so interesting. It was how it ended. While many moms I knew (and even more that I knew of) ended their work day quietly, my mom's day often ended in a round of applause!

For many years my mom was a Radio City Music Hall Rockette. If you're not familiar with them- they are the most famous precision dance troupe in the world. Their signature eye-high kicks have been amazing audiences since 1925. At that time they were known as the "Missouri Rockets" and made their show business debut in St. Louis. They were brought to Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the venue's opening night on December 27, 1932 and eventually grew to a 36-member Rockette kick line. 

Growing up I remember not only seeing my mom perform at Radio City Music Hall, but also with the Rockettes on The Late Show with David Letterman, at the Super Bowl, at the rededication ceremony of the Statue of Liberty, for Comic Relief on HBO, in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and at the Rockefeller Center tree lighting ceremony (just to name a few <-- she was a busy lady... still is!) 

I can recall one summer I came home early from summer camp (we won't get into why right now... lol) but my unexpected return meant there was not going to be anyone home during the day to take care of me. My dad worked full time and my mom was dancing with the Rockettes in a show called Disney Summer Magic at the Music Hall. My only option was to go to work with her- something I did HAPPILY!

I remember sitting there... I was probably about 11 years old... looking up at that grand stage (RCMH is a very ornate theater- a reference for you younger folks it was the site of this year's MTV VMA's). Anyway... there I sat... in awe of the whole production. Some days I sat through multiple runs of the same show- it was certainly OK by me! 

Remember we're talking about 20 years ago, but I remember, so clearly, there was one routine that they did where the last pose left one of their arms extended straight up over their head- hand fully open. Now remember, this dance team is all about absolute precision- it is supposed to look like all 36 women are dancing as one person. But while every one of the other 35 Rockettes stood there in that last pose absolutely frozen... arm extended... hand up... my mom's hand moved!

It was quick and it was deliberate. Close... open... close... open. She was waving hello. She was waving to me. I loved it! 

There was a movie after the stage show- something that was a throwback to the early days of RCMH when a performance by the Rockettes was followed by a film. During that summer the two movies were "Return to OZ" and "The Black Cauldron". Everyone would stay to watch- but not me.

I would leave the 5,000+ seat auditorium and make my way outside on to the busy Manhattan street and around the corner to the stage door (boy did that make me feel important!) That's where I would meet my mom and we'd spend her "break" shopping or grabbing a meal. Maybe she wasn't just like everyone else's mom after all.

She retired from RCMH in 1997, but she certainly didn't stop dancing. Today she owns multiple dance studios and was recently named President of the Rockette Alumni Association- I'm very proud of her.

Since 1932, more than 3,000 women have danced as Rockettes. All have been between 5'6" and 5'10 ½" tall, all have had to demonstrate proficiency in tap, jazz, ballet and modern dance.

But only one... was my mom.

(I've added a picture of her from the Radio City Music Hall Easter Show to my on line album)

There's one day a week when I can say- if you're looking for me- there's a pretty good chance I'm sitting at Mama's Daughters' diner in Dallas.

I'm probably having the veggie omelet, egg whites only, no onions with a bowl of fruit- oatmeal and a diet coke (what? breakfast is the most important meal of the day- better to feast in the A-M than in the P-M).

This is my one of my favorite breakfast spots in Dallas.  Don't get me wrong I also love the fancy brunch spots and a good outdoor cafe... but there's a reason I keep going back to Mama's Daughters' diner- (aside from their delicious slices of pie that seem to stand a good 8 inches tall -- oh how I would LOVE TO dive into one of those some one of these days!) - it is for the show from my favorite waitress Barbara!

I usually sit in Barbara's section- and even when I don't, I can be sure she'll stop over and say hello.  She is as Texas as oil with her rhinestone sunglasses big jewelry and big hair and I just adore her.  She's a straight talking shoot-from-the-hip kind of woman who makes my meal always worth mentioning!  You've probably read about her and her sister Natalie (who works over at Market Diner) - as they have created a cult following making them CERTAINLY among the who's who around here.

But just in case you haven't seen here... well.. take a look.  You can't miss her!