Musings on a Monday Morning

I love Memphis! It seems like at least a couple times a week that some article is written in the Commercial Appeal about thieves stealing copper. Usually it involves destroying an air conditioning unit at some church or some other place of business. Some enterprising thieves have found (at least in my neighbhorhood) that while money doesn't grow on trees, it does grow on utility poles. Just about every utility pole has running up the side of it, a ground wire made of copper. I noticed a couple of months ago as a walked the dogs that someone had clipped the ground wires on many of the poles in our alley as high as one could reach (about seven feet) and then cut the wire off at ground level and made off with the goods. Then a few weeks ago MLG&W crews came back and spliced a new shiny section of copper back on the pole. I figure the thieves are waiting for the work crews to get caught up before they (the ner-do-wells) start their second round of harvesting copper. Nothing like seeing your utility dollars at work.

I haven't heard much from folks at local stations these days. Has a News Director been named at WMC? Are things humming along nicely these days? Will the battle plan to reclaim the top spot be made with the existing troops or will they bring in someone from out of town? I'm not sure of the dates of the February book but I would think that it's started already.

I do know of one announcement from DOTR. Apparently during a conference call a couple of weeks ago, the head of the Broadcast Group told the GMs of the group that he was retiring when the sale of the group goes through. Wow, what a surprise. That sale is expected to be completed around May or June. Not sure if that means construction on the big vacation house in the mountains of North Carolina is finished or not. No word on what happens to everyone else, especially the corporate folks with the Broadcast Group.

And I just read a thread on ShopTalk's Watercooler section about changing one's name to reflect an ethnicity that may or may not exist. The original poster was wanting reaction on what others thought about the idea of changing one's last name from something very whitebread such as Jones or Smith to something Hispanic. Some claim they can do this because a grandmother or mother was from (you fill in the country) to justify this move. An interesting read on the responses. Apparently it serves a growing number of people well to do that. Afterall, what's a little white lie from the people who are supposed to bring you the truth about what goes on in the world.