Philly Today

When I saw a commercial advertising a TV variety show starring Rosie O’Donnell called “Rosie Live”, I said out loud, “Who in their right mind is going to watch that show?” Apparently, only 5 million people on a Wednesday night, according to the ratings. Here is what she wrote about the show on her website: “There will b no more. No ratings, bad reviews. Yet still — a thrill 4 me.” I could have saved you a lot of trouble if you pitched the idea to me first, it would not have gone far. But don’t worry, there are more variety show projects in the works from Ellen Degeneres (which I think already aired on Saturday) and John Mayer(?).

You hate to hear about stories like this. An employee at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, NY died yesterday on Black Friday. The doors were to open at 5 AM for the sale, and out of control shoppers broke down the door and trampled the worker. They continued trampling other workers who were helping him, and they kept shopping when told that the store was closing due to the death.

Things like this should never happen, yet there were a couple of other incidents that happened yesterday that make you wonder what is wrong with people. All stores are giving these big sales and hype them up so that people line up a day in advance. At some point, some shoppers feel entitled to treat people however they want in order to get something they want.

Well, that’s the end of that. After blogging for 173 straight days since Philly Today started, I missed my Thanksgiving post. My goal had been 365 straight and I was almost halfway there, so not bad. Being a new dad right before Thanksgiving is a valid excuse I think (plus, everybody was probably too busy to be reading on a holiday). However, after turkey in the hospital and sleeping on a chair last night, it is finally good to be home with my daughter and wife and extended family. I will not be shopping today, just resting and re-adjusting. I will be back with better stuff as soon as I can. By the way, the Eagles won last night?!? What is up with that?

Now that Thanksgiving is almost here, it is time to look towards holiday light shows for the season. Even if you haven’t gotten around to stringing lights around your home yet, there are some downtown options that look pretty spectacular. Beginning on Thursday at the Comcast Center, there will be a free holiday show that will be displayed on the giant video wall inside lobby. The hi-tech show uses the video wall, which is the world’s largest LED wall with 10 million pixels. The 15-minute show will run every hour from 10 am to 8 pm every day until New Years Day. It’s definitely worth checking out if you will be in downtown Philly.

Some very important news coming out of the Philly area today. In Phoenixville, PA, a baby was born on November 25, 2008 at 8:46 AM. It’s a girl!! She is 8 pounds, 8 ounces and is 22 inches long. Her name is Emma Claire. The baby is healthy and both mommy and baby are doing very well. On a related note, the daddy is extremely excited to be a parent and cannot wait for mommy and baby to come home and celebrate with family and friends. The family dog, Gabby, is also very excited and she cannot wait to meet the baby. Gotta go now and get some sleep while I still can!

Something has been not quite right the last few weeks for the Philadelphia Eagles. I was eager to see how they’d bounce back after that embarrassing tie to Cincinnati. Against the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday, they continued their freefall. Donovan McNabb was horrible again and threw interception after interception. So with the Eagles down 10-7 at the half, coach Andy Reid put McNabb on the bench for the first time in the 10 years they have been on the team together. You figured the backup, Kevin Kolb, couldn’t do any worse, right? Well, he also turned the ball over and did not put any points on the board.

I have to question Andy Reid’s move to put Kolb into a game in which they were only down by 3 points. The only explanation I could come up with is that the Eagles have given up hope of making the playoffs this year and want to see what the kid can do. But if that is the case, why did Reid name McNabb his starter for the Thanksgiving game against Arizona? It looks like McNabb will be the man until the Eagles are mathematically eliminated. Then, I expect we will see Kolb play for the remainder of the season.

On Monday, daredevil Eric Scott is going to attempt to propel himself across a canyon in Colorado wearing a jet pack. This would be a 1500 foot trip across the Royal Gorge, which is more than 1100 feet deep. The jet pack is powered using hydrogen peroxide. Watching Scott get interviewed this morning on the Today Show was a little bit of a letdown. This guy is not exactly what comes to mind when I think of a daredevil. I’d even go as far to say it was a boring interview. His attitude was, “Eh. The math is right, I don’t really need to practice the attempt or wear a chute.” Seeing as how the jet pack he wears is one of the coolest things ever, a little enthusiasm wouldn’t hurt, would it? And you’d better be damn sure that the “math” is right. At the same gorge in 2003, a parachute jumper miscalculated and fell to his death.

This weekend at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, video games are the main attraction. VGXPO, or Video Game Expo, comes to Philadelphia. The three-day convention started on Friday and runs through Sunday. It is the second year of this convention, and their pre-registration was 10 times higher than it was last year. They’ve added a ton of cool technology exhibits and games to try out, including the classic Atari and arcade games like Ms. Pacman. There is plenty of incentive for professional gamers, with the Intel Extreme Masters Tournament, where the grand prize is $80,000. Not a bad day’s work for moving a joystick around and pressing some buttons.

Back in March, Dr Pepper said that they would give everybody in America a free soda if the long-awaited Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy” was actually released in 2008. The album began recording in 1994 and has been delayed ever since, so it looked like there was a good chance 2008 wouldn’t happen. Well, it did. The album goes on sale this Sunday, and Dr Pepper is staying true to its word. You have to go to drpepper.com on Sunday (for 24 hours starting at midnight) to get a coupon for a free 20-oz soda, which is good until the end of February. I have a feeling there will be more people getting their free soda than purchasing the GN’R album.

While we’re on the subject, did you ever notice that there is no period after the Dr in Dr Pepper? Nobody knows why. Therefore, I never call it “Doctor Pepper” but “D-R Pepper”.  Something to think about while you’re drinking your free soda. Enjoy!

Wednesday night, a lot of people in the Philadelphia area saw some strange lights in the sky. They looked like streaks of light that extended from the sky down towards the ground. Kind of like lightning that froze, I guess. Of course, I am not one of the ones that saw this phenomenon, even though the photo below I found on the web was taken by someone from the town where I live.

One theory is that what we were seeing was Aurora Borealis, but that is pretty rare at our latitude. Another explanation is that we were seeing thin columns of snow, or perhaps ice crystals, that were illuminated by lights on the ground, and that the snow evaporates before reaching the ground. This activity was seen in many towns in Chester and Montgomery Counties, and the theory makes sense to me. Of course, we could also go with a more fun explanation… UFOs!