A REALITY CHECK (PART 2)!

In the spirit of being honest, I've never seen this television program. But I've read the Playboy magazine interview with psychiatrist Dr. Drew Pinsky M.D. and I happen to agree with everything he said. By the way, if you've just tuned in, this is Part 2 of a short series of photos I've run with a simple message (see previous BLOG Post). I haven't decided yet if I'll continue it. But of course, if I do (to belabor the obvious) there will be a Part 3. The Focus: At a time when people and behaviors in life render it sometimes nuts, I felt it would be "therapeutic" to run some photos of life's "Reality Checks" back here on Earth. Lets' resume...

Hard to imagine life without The Beatles. After all these years, their music still holds up and sounds great. Many good memories here. Reality.

Biographies have been my favorite books for as long as I can remember. They provide a nice escape from the "rat race" and allow us to reconnect with another place in time.

Jeeps: Always a source of fun to drive on the street or the trails. Every garage should have one. Maybe Chrysler/Fiat will ship me a copy just for mentioning this? Reality.

Arabian horses are beautiful. They are a very nice "Reality Check".

The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp was founded by the late actor and philanthropist Paul Newman. It is a camp for children with cancer and serious illnesses. The name of the camp is a nod to Paul's role in the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". The camp reinforces (in my mind) what's right about the world.

This is how 200 Park Avenue should look today: The former Pan Am Building is an architects dream and I loved walking through it and revisiting the 46th Floor. I doubt that you can do that today. I was very persuasive with the new occupants (Disclaimer: Do not try this). Some good news: The lobby display is an area that is open to the public with a special sculpture not to be missed entitled "Flight". The sculpture honors "The World's Most Experienced Airline". PAN AM was Class that will never be equalled.

Kelly Ripa is...oops! I already mentioned her yesterday. Old habits die hard. Still, I refuse to apologize. I held off on the bikini photo, so there. As William Shatner states in those endless TV commercials: "Now we're negotiating"!

A great moment in time for me: August 7, 2001. I became the first U.S. journalist to interview former NASA Astronaut Colonel Frank Borman in the 16 years after he left the helm as chief of Eastern Airlines. Last year, Colonel Borman returned to Tucson, Arizona to deliver a commencement address to The University of Arizona at Tucson. A 1946 Tucson High School graduate, Frank Borman oversaw many firsts for NASA. Gemini 7, Borman's first mission, marked the longest space flight achieved by NASA in its early history and also became the first space rendezvous of two manned, maneuverable spacecraft. As commander of Apollo 8, Borman manned the first spacecraft to leave the Earth's gravitational field and circle the moon. This mission gave the world its first close-up look at the lunar surface and of the back side of the moon and confirmed new technology that ensured the safety of future manned missions to land on the moon. Colonel Frank Borman is a class act and a living example of Honesty, Integrity, Courage and Patriotism at a time when we sorely need it. This makes sense to me.

Betty Nguyen is the Weekend Anchor at CNN. She and I worked in the same broadcasting market in Texas. We caught up with each other briefly in 2005 at a Pan Am World Airlines Reunion in Washington on the occasion of the 30th Anniversary of the "Last Flight Out" of Vietnam. She also heads up the non profit organization Help for the Hungry, which is featured on my Blogroll. Betty is a great lady and one of the best news anchors in the country.

Three years ago, I almost moved to Las Vegas. While I was there looking around, I caught singer Tom Jones at the MGM Grand. Say what you will, his version of Hoobastank's "The Reason" brought the audience to a long standing ovation. He was incredible. The man still has the pipes! Reality.

Honestly, CBS is a former employer of mine and I loved every minute that I worked there. Even so, if I had the luxury of picking anyone to interview me, it would be Lesley Stahl of "60 Minutes". This makes sense to me. I haven't said this in a long time, but "The eyes have it"! ...Should we continue the series?