I am still here.

I've just been anchoring the morning and noon show.. but my weekend starts in t-minus 1.5 hours and then I'm taking a week off. I can't stand it, I'm so excited.

Let me give you a rundown of the SWEET photos I've been saving up all week.

First, more "Mike's Name That Puppy"..

By the way- we do have two votes for Dolce.

I was joking with Linda who reads this blog that since Dolce means sweet in Italian, we could also call the dog Vino.. to which she replied:

Vino, pasta, gnocchi, gelato, cappucino – the list is endless!!

A dog named Gnocchi. I LOVE it!

Click here with your name suggestion for Mike's new puppy...

Randy writes: It is nice to see you covering the morning show this week. You covered during the Christmas/New Year's holidays too, right?

I remember you reporting during our snow storm earlier, and I was surprised how long your hair is. Especially compared to your online photo. Do you always wear it up when reporting?

I started watching KGW more recently, still learning who is on when.

Hi Randy!! Mind like a steel trap you have.. you are totally correct. My hair is pretty long by TV standards and since I'm not typically "in house" all day (meaning I report) it's just easier to keep it up. Less fuss. YES, someday I will change it. Usually something drastic that makes our Creative Services Department cringe because my photos are immediately dated. In fact.. if you look hard you will find THREE hairstyles for me on our website. Normally, I'm doing health stories at 5. This morning show thing just happens every so often.

Remeber the posting about John Edwards? Roger wrote me this-- it just took me a while to get it posted: He should drop out and stay with his family. That's the most important thing for him right now. The fact that he's not reveals the huge ego the guy has.

Look at it this way, if his wife is in the final fight of her life and passes on, will Edwards feel regret for not being at her side in her final days? I know how I would answer that, and I know how [my wife] would feel about it if it were happening to us.

PHOTOS I'M SAVING: Gorge Scott had an old friend return.. and he has the wild animal photos to prove it!! Sylvia sent me some AWESOME photos of her spoiled brood-- dogs napping on the bed, wrapped in covers, that kind of thing.

We will chat soon.. :-) Click here to email Stephanie Stricklen

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 10:46 AM | Permalink

Wow, that was one fast response about John Edwards.

Let me share with you some of what you had to say. You can still send your thoughts to me here: sstricklen@kgw.com

I noticed this only after I clipped these responses in.. they are all women. Look, I'm all for girl-power but hey guys.. what do you think??

Alice writes: He should drop out of the race. This is not about him now, it is her.

Marta writes: Edwards should drop out if he has any love for his wife. She has limited time on earth and will be going through hell. She needs him far more than the country does.

Karen writes: I absolutely think he should drop out! Family, especially during times of illness, should take precedence over any job. I think he's being very selfish. And what about their children? I'm sure this is very frightening for them. He should be available for them as much as possible, which I doubt will be the case if he's traveling all over the country campaigning.

Marylin writes: That is a very personal and private decision only Elizabeth and John Edwards should be making.

Linda writes: How can he begin to think he can keep his mind on the Office of President when his wife should be his full time job. Shame on him. Perhaps he’s looking for help with her medical bills. Again Shame on him. Your wife is so much more important than your wants.

Leave the important job of this country to those who can devote the time and effort to it. As for you, John, I hope you will give your wife as much and time and effort as it would take to run for office to make her life an comfortable as possible.

Now, let's lighten the mood up a little bit my getting back to the "Mike-Name-That-Mystery-Puppy" contest non-contest. I say 'non-contest' because there is no prize if he picks your name.. only the sweet satisfaction of knowing that he is cursing it under his breath as the little precious bundle of puppy love chews or piddles on something of value.

Make that two votes for "Dolce" as Linda writes: I like the name Dolce too, but it’s not very manly, and he is a boy dog. OMG he’s so cute I just want to squeeze him.

Shirley writes: Hi Stephanie,

I think the puppy should be named Skylar. It doesn’t mean anything to me but I really like it. Also, I think Bentley is a good name. He looks like he’s maybe a Golden Retriever so Aqua might be good because they love the water so much (I really miss mine!).

One of Mike's best friends Bill Hernandez writes: mike should name his dog Bill Hernandez

And then followed that up with another make-you-laugh-out-loud one: call the dog STAY….it will really mess him up…come here, stay.

Michael thinks Mike's wife Angie kind of looks likes me (except the darker hair) which is a huge compliment because Angie is gorgeous. And about a foot taller than me. And about 40 pounds lighter. So, THANKS!!!!!!!!!!
She looks just like you. And those pictures of you reading to the kids look just like my mom. Same clothes, same "position". very funny. What's even more ironic is she is a nurse.

What has happened to video blogs? Did your camera break?

I hope you have a nice spring break. I hope the weather will be nice. Tell Matt to make it sunny all week! I'd love that.

Yeah, the camera didn't break. It's just hard to get inspired after the inflatable baby vlog. I just don't think I will get a prop like that again anytime soon.

Rob, who like Bill has a sense of humor, suggests: I say name that puppy “STOP” get it? come here Stop, Come here Stop, Stop come here ….. hahahaha

PHOTO TIME!! Dave sent me this picture of him, Kevin, Emily, and Buster!! Now that's one big happy family!!

Happy Friday. I'm anchoring the morning and noon show all next week. They originally had me doing the morning, noon, going home for a few hours and coming back to do the 5, 6, and 6:30. They fixed that, though!! And I will be a whole lot less crabby-pants because of it.

Click here if you, too, value a good night's sleep.

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 5:17 PM | Permalink

This is one of those stories that really gets people talking.. should John Edwards drop out of the race and spend time with his wife, who today announced she has stage IV breast cancer in her rib bones and possibly her lung?

Click here to SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!

And if you check out my blog with any regularity-- you know I really do read everything you send and post a lot of it!! I got the idea for this question about Edwards after seeing this....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/22/edwards.emails/index.html

I thought WOW.. I wonder what people here think??

I do have more photos and some new names for Mike's puppy, but it just doesn't feel right to switch gears into 'happy-happy' coming right after a conversation about Elizabeth's cancer, you know? So, more fun stuff tomorrow...

Email Stephanie Stricklen

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 4:29 PM | Permalink

So, back on January 15th I blogged about "Fat firefighters".. do you remember that? It was a weight loss competition between Vancouver Fire and Clark County Fire District 6.

The genesis of the story was exactly what we reported tonite at 5. Heart attacks are what kill more firefighters than fighting fires. Most people don't realize that. And like I mentioned at the time, you think of firefighters as being fit and trim-- after all, they have to pass their yearly physicials.. but some can do that and still not be at an ideal weight. To ease the burden on an already stressed out heart, the two fire departments decided to try and trim up.

I've been updating this from time to time and with one week to go-- here's what I know. I clipped this right from an email they sent to me today. They call it their "Biggest Loser" competition after that NBC show.

Vanc. Fire Dept.

Beginning weight: 7630 (38 participants)

Total weight loss: 317

% lost: 4.1%

BL so far: Bill Garlington (31 pounds)

CCFD6

Beginning weight: 6062 (26 participants)

Total weight loss: 217

% lost: 3.5%

BL so far: Devon Reese (38 pounds)

((Hey.. I'm 99% sure he was one of the guys I interviewed. Rock on, Devon!!))

Speaking of "rocking on".. I'm pretty much convinced you guys rock. Thank you for the name suggestions on Mike's new puppy! KEEP 'EM COMING!

I begged Mike to send me this photo. Made me go, "aww.."

And here is one of the mystery puppy and Angie.. Mike's awesome wife.

Here's what we have for names:

Dave suggests Cooper or Isaac. I actually have a photo of Dave's two beautiful dogs which I will try to post tomorrow.
Chris suggests Tripod or Brownie. "Tripod" totally made me chuckle considering I lug one around almost every day. I'd rather carry a furry tripod than a metal one.
Linda likes Roscoe.
Adam likes Dolce (Italian for "sweet".. pronouced dole-CHAY')

And now for NAME THAT BABY!! Just kidding.. but blog-buddy Joe is having a baby! Okay, he's not having it.. his wife will kill me.. but they are having a baby. Due in September!

Congratulations you two (three)!!

And finally, I read to second graders in Joan Shelton's class at Fircrest Elementary.

There was a man signing to some of the kids as he sat next to me. I picked an Easter-themed story about rotten eggs that was a lot of fun to read. I had a blast and the kids all asked the best questions. They also wanted to know a lot about the weather. Maybe I need to work on Salesky and get him out there since they knew who he was.HI KIDS!!

Click here to email Stephanie Stricklen

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 4:13 PM | Permalink

When I play the lottery I usually buy a quick pick ticket and a self-selected one. There's just something fun about picking numbers that have special meaning to me (in the hopes that my dog's birthday ultimately lands me the winning ticket, right?)..

Anyway: what works better.. quick picks or self-chosen?? Here it is straight from the Oregon Lottery website (right at the very top):

http://www.oregonlottery.org/general/faq/#9

There is actually a lot of fun info on the FAQ page:

http://www.oregonlottery.org/general/faq/#questions

This is an older post, but really interesting AND has a Vegas twist: http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/62485.html

And here is that medium sized winnings study I mentioned: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/papers/twerp_754.pdf

PHOTO TIME!!

My girlfriend Kris sent these along of her kiddos... here is Kiernan enjoying a sundae. The look on his face............... ADORABLE:

And here is Kiernan's Dad and big brother. Handsome duo!!

And any suggestions on what to name this little guy??

Phojo Mike just got him-- he's 10 weeks old and they're trying to pick a name. That little face is so precious!

Click here to offer up your ideas to Stephanie Stricklen on what to name Mike's puppy!!

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 2:31 PM | Permalink

When it comes to your dog, you don't want to mess around with Xylitol. It's funny because it does some good things for us (like fight cavities) but for dogs it's another story entirely.

Now, when I said renewed interest that's because this story has popped up from tiem to time since about 2004. But still, most people don't know this so it's always to good to raise awareness.

Here's a link I dug up: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=press_082106

A xylitol manufacturer's response: http://www.xlear.com/xlearinc/news/display_article.aspx?articleID=57

And for a helpful list of other people-friendly things you should never feed your dog (on the second and third pages): http://www.ukvet.co.uk/ukvet/articles/toxicology%20-%20raisins.pdf

By the way, this same thing might apply to cats, but they don't know since cats don't tend to eat your chewing gum or sugar-free cookies.

And, speaking of dogs... guess which one of these photos of my Milo was taken at the vet. Poor furry beast. And he's headed there again at the end of the week to get his shots!

And "Gorge" Scott sent these new photos of his cats and vitising deer mingling over the feed bowl. LOVE them (as do many of you judging by the email)!!

Roger writes: I was watching a video of a news cast and I realized that your job is
basically to write a term paper in as short an amount of time as is humanly
possible and still make it so you get an A.

I'd rather just stick to writing software. Less stressful.

~~ Yeah, it can be pretty stressful at times. Hitting your deadline, trying to make sure everything is accurate, all of it often for a subject you aren't an expert in to begin with... BUT, it is different every day and challenging every day and I have learned so much. And, I have gotten emails from people who really found value in a various stories for various reasons. Makes it all worth it!! :-)

Happy Monday (and you know how I feel about Monday's).

Click here to email Stephanie Stricklen

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 3:29 PM | Permalink

Fastest blog ever.

No time.

NUTS today.

Last interview at 3:15... UGH!!!!!!!!!!

To check up on your hospital check out these sites:
http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/
http://www.qualitycheck.org/

"Gorge" Scott has a bunch of awesome photos!! Only have time to upload one:

Pretty cute, in a stinky kind of way.
Email Stephanie Stricklen

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 4:43 PM | Permalink

Baby CPR and choking kit info comin' atcha!!

LEARN:
http://www.cpranytime.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3040526

BUY:
http://saturn.igetsmart.com/servlet/loaddaemon?Type=92&Load=ahacpr&Field1=62942&Field2=0&Field3=0&Field4=0&Field5=1

SAVE: (as in "lives")
http://www.cpranytime.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3034352

John dropped me a fast congratulatory note about my 7 miler: Steph,
Wow, that's a lot of walkin'. Good on ya!

And in the rain, too!!! Anyone want to see a picture of the blister? Just kidding. I'm not that gross.

Roger writes about the previous blog/VLOG I did: At the risk of sounding picky, the audio track was slightly ahead of the
video. Other than that, it ROCKED!

Sooo NOT picky! Michael emailed me about it once before and the very next vlog I did I held up this little sign that said "LIP FLAP" because that's what we call it in the 'biz. Annoying (and permanent) I think. But, hey, anytime I can show you a blow up baby mannequin and a tree that we got in the mail is a good day!!

Picture time!!

Our 5pm producer Gina hitting the slopes with her boyfriend. She's only recently gotten into boarding and loves it!

Sherrie sent two pictures of Ed. The first one looks like he is doggie-jail:

But with a face like this it wasn't long before he busted out!!

Click here to email Stephanie Stricklen

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 4:12 PM | Permalink

Just imagine me walking into the editorial meeting and putting this on the table:

 Watch Steph's Vlog

Click here to email Stephanie Stricklen

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 11:14 AM | Permalink

Chester's story is just one of those where you hear people talking about it and sooner or later someone says, "Man, could you imagine if that was you?"

What the doctor said right at the end of the story was really pretty amazing. The injury only changes your body. You are who you are no matter what "casing" you come in.

Here are some links to additional information on spinal cord injuries:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/spinalcordinjury/nr259102.pdf

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/spinalcordinjuries.html

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/sci/sci.htm

Click here to email Stephanie Stricklen your story ideas.

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 3:48 PM | Permalink

I really did!!

I actually found a test of your science skills and it's short!! I aced the 4th grade level science one. There are a bunch of subjects you can test on..

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/eyk/index.asp?flash=true

And here is the main website: http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/index.asp

Okay-- here is the press release on OHSU's mouse obesity research: http://www.ohsu.edu/ohsuedu/newspub/releases/030607obesity.cfm

A chiropracter emailed a story idea to me, but also had this to say about Nancy's rockin' posture on her exercise ball: Love the animal pictures on your blog...and give Nancy Francis 2 thumbs up from me for the ergonomics of her desk! Role model for everyone!

And if you would like to email an idea: Click here to email Stephanie Stricklen

John and I went for a massive walk-about this weekend in the rain. This is the mileage:

In terms of the blister, I don't think the length of the walk was as much of a problem as the rain and wet socks. Ugh.

Happy Monday! Daylight saving was okay for me. Hope it didn't kill you trying to get up this morning!!

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 4:14 PM | Permalink

Well, okay, that's a pretty major overstatement. But for a growing number of people that's exactly how it works... we're talking about those AED's (automatic external defibrillator).

Most people don't know this but they won't help you if you have heart attack. Yup. That's because a heart attack is different than sudden cardiac arrest. Sudden cardiac arrest is where the heart starts a type of fluttering or quivering. AED's can definitely help in most of those cases. A heart attack (from a blockage) is a different beast.

RECALL INFO:

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/recalls/recall-021707.html

http://www.defibtech.com/fa2007/

Some extra AED info:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4483

And a writeup on a study I covered when it first came out. It came up in one of my conversations today so I thought you might like to see it.

http://www.defrance.org/artman/publish/article_1626.shtml

Stephen writes to give me a hard time about my lousy olive-toss ((a recent charity event where no one could toss the olive in a martini glass from 20 feet. Drew Carney was there too..)):

Hi Stephanie,
How's the arm, have you thrown any olives lately...I thought you would be down in Arizona for Olive spring training getting your arm in shape,I think everyone is hoping you can at least bounce it off the martini glass,take care of that arm...lol , Haven't herd if you had a good snowball throwing season or not ?
Steven

Verrrrrry funny, Steven. You know, it's not nice to make fun of someone who can't even make a shot with a basketball let alone an olive. :-)

Scott, who used to work at a nutrition and supplement story, writes about the Atkins story: What I noticed from people on the diet was that it worked. I was skeptical at first, but I had the good fortune of watching people come in and buy their supplies (sometimes as much as 3 months worth) and get to see the results when they came back in. A lot of people looked a whole lot skinner, I can actually think of 2 separate occasions when I couldn’t recognize the person when they came back in.

That makes sense. Research does show it works. But, I really would love to hear from people who have kept the weight off over time.. that seems to be the area of debate, as well as how thier organs are functioning etc. I will totally look forward to the Kaiser study when it comes out.

Quick pic then I have to jam... A few of you loved the "Joe Donlon" big huge ball pic from a while ago.. except I never see him sit on his anymore ((his jacket is draped over it as we speak)). Well guess who else has a ball and USES it!! Nancy Francis, who now sits next to me. I snagged this photo just 5 minutes ago while she was cranking away on her script.

Now at the risk of sounding too "health-reporterish" look at that posture!!!! I think i need one of those balls!

Happy Friday. :-)

Email Stephanie Stricklen who is going to blaze a fire behind her she'll be moving so fast to leave once she's done with her 5pm hit.

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 4:05 PM | Permalink

Drumroll please......

They drank water.

Now, hang on a minute. Before I get a bunch of eye-rolls and groans, hear me out. The women who lost the most weight on Atkins replaced the sodas with calorie-dense "high fructose corn syrup" with water and THAT'S what the researchers said played a big role in their success. The Atkins diet is also simple and easy to follow, which the researchers said helped as well. Remember, these women read the books and then followed what they read.. it's not like someone was handing them perfectly-measured, cooked portions.

There is one other note worth mentioning, and I touched on it in my story. The women who lost the most weight ((on Atkins)) were also the women who started gaining it back the fastest within the year.

I'll be very interested to see how Atkins fairs against the DASH diet in Kaiser's study.

Links for you!

Atkins diet: http://www.atkins.com/
DASH diet: http://dashdiet.org/
Zone diet: http://www.drsears.com/welcome.page
Ornish diet: http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/9/3068_9408.htm

Kaiser Center For Health Research: http://www.kpchr.org/public/default.asp

Response time!!

Roger jokes about Scott's completely cool animal photos: I wish we could send a few of the deer around our house in Silverton to go into that picture! LOL We get them eating everything in our garden. We put up electric cattle fencing all over to try and keep them out, but to no avail.

I don't know, Roger.. seems like Scott has his hands full judging by the email I got this morning:

Drop me a line: Stephanie Stricklen

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 2:13 PM | Permalink

FIREFOX: In emailing me, my blog buddy Joe helped get to the bottom of an interesting issue. If you use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer make sure you have the latest version. Otherwise these blogs will look a little... distracting.

ORANGES: Note to self: when selecting an orange at the grocery store, pay special attention the stickers.

Yup. Figured that one out the hard way.

COFFEE (oh my!): Okay, it's not really coffee as much as it is caffeine but lots of us get our fix in that cup of Joe.

Here is a link to the study abstract: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/85/2/392

Note that this was an epidemiological study.. in the simplest terms it's kind of like a survey as opposed to a clinical, placebo controlled study. The bottom line with epidemiological studies is that they can't draw "cause and effect" conclusions. Rather they suggest possible associations that researchers can later test in a placebo-controlled trial.

Komen.org has this great general explainer: http://www.komen.org/intradoc-cgi/idc_cgi_isapi.dll?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&ssDocName=3-8-2-2

Here is a bit more on caffeine and its health benefits: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9105892/

And while this (annoyingly) doesn't have a publish date.. I can assume that it's within the past year based on the Enviga reference (I did a story last month on Enviga): http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/pros-and-cons-caffeine-craze?page=1

There you have it.

Scott and his "Amazing Animal Photos" is back!! He sent along this one ((which I know some of you really like based on the emails you send me)).

Happy-Monday-Is-Almost-Over!

Click here to tell Stephanie Stricklen what you think of Scott's "Amazing Animal Photos"

Posted by Stephanie Stricklen at 3:41 PM | Permalink