Day 52 of our new 6:30 PM newscast. About six weeks now. It’s a kick to do, so different from our News at Ten. Have you had a chance to check it out yet?

The sun will be shining tomorrow as the victorious Yankees celebrate their World Series triumph...again. For the 27th time. Reminds me of covering the victory parade thirteen years ago. The 1996 Yankees World Series win.

It was cold and sunny that day, too. Jack Cafferty and I were among the horde of anchors and reporters sitting check to jowl on hastily rigged risers, with City Hall behind us. Just like tomorrow, that is where the Yankee victory parade will end up, with a big celebration on the steps.

I have heard some unintentionally funny announcements, but the one I heard last night on the Acela going from Washington DC to New York was a doozy. I was returning from visiting my mother, and was almost asleep in my seat when the speaker crackled, and a conductor says the following:

“Riders, please listen carefully to what I have to say. If you are using one of our restrooms, do NOT….I repeat, do NOT…..push the red button on the wall. It is NOT the flush button. If you push the red button, we will assume you are in trouble, and we will come in to save you. So, please, please do NOT push the red button if what you want to do is flush the toilet.”

I got a sad message on my cellphone the week before last. It was from Paul Blum, the husband of a woman I did a story on this past August. Eva needed a bone marrow transplant and we told her story, hoping to help her find a donor match. Here is the story we aired.

For the first few years after we came to America, my mother would cook only Chinese dishes at home, even for Thanksgiving. Then this one year, we went to a neighbor’s house where we were treated to the full Western extravaganza, and my little brother and I loved it.

I remember the next year, my mother decided to cook her first Western Thanksgiving meal, complete with a giant turkey. She really put her all into that turkey….stuffing it, basting it every hour on the hour. And it came out beautifully.

Except for one thing. You probably already know where I’m going with this. Yep, she didn’t know about that packet of turkey guts and neck and God knows what else that they pack in plastic or paper or something inedible. The thing you’re supposed to pull out BEFORE cooking.

We ended up eating Chinese.