Kaity Tong

Do NOT Push that Button! Adventures on the Acela...

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:13:06 -0500

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.”

Yankees Victory Parade 1996

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:49:21 -0500

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.

What Do You MEAN You Haven't Seen Our 6:30 Show???!!!!!!

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:40:00 -0500

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?

We HAD a Cat!

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:15:46 -0500

Last night Jim, my partner in crime here at PIX, wrote a blog about getting a kitten for his three little boys. Got me thinking about my cat, Jake. Or rather, my son’s cat. We got him from Bide- a Wee in Manhattan, a tiny little orange ball with big green eyes.

Kaity Runs the NYC Marathon!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:05:21 -0500

The New York City marathon coming up! Mr G is running something like his 28th consecutive one. Okay, he did skip last year, and maybe one other year but my point is he’s run a hell of a lot of marathons. And he’s always among the first…..oh, 20,000 or so to cross the finish line. Just kidding G. Jeesh, he’s so sensitive.

I’ve been to a few marathons myself. Reporting on them. Live, from the comfort of a director’s chair.

Freaky Fishy Foot Fashion Fad

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:55:09 -0500

Okay, could not pass this one up. Story yesterday about a legislator wanting to ban ‘fish pedicures.’ I never even heard of such a thing before. Apparently, women put their crusty calloused feet into a bowl filled with tiny fish with teeth that literally eat away all that nasty skin around your toes! Hope you’re not having dinner while reading this.

It made me sick, too.

A spicy recipe that'll cure any rash

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:29:05 -0500

So there I am, looking through my email and see a message from an old friend at Channel 4. He says something like “Good thing it’s not prom season. Read about your spotty face in the Daily News today!”

There Is Something Seriously Wrong With Me...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:30:39 -0500

I know all of you noticed I wasn’t on the air last Thursday night. What, you didn’t notice? Well, let me tell you then. I wasn’t on the air last Thursday night. I got such a crazy allergy, I don’t know to what, that my face blew up, and there were red bumps and rashes all across both cheeks. Worse on the right side.

Running on Empty

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:36:31 -0500

Well, here I go again. I’m thinking about buying a treadmill. Again. I’ve owned 3 of them in my lifetime, along with an exercise bike or two. You guessed it. Every one of those machines turned into clothing racks within weeks. And yet, here I am going onto various websites, checking out yet another treadmill. As if this time it’s going to be different. This time I am really going to use it. For exercise. Not bras and belts. Right.

Kaity's Addiction

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:58:51 -0500

A frustrating thing happened on the way to the office.

It has to do with these little monitors they installed in the building elevators a while back. One per elevator. When they first appeared, I was annoyed. I swore I would not waste my few precious moments of calm, reading whatever was flashing on that little screen.

Are Pedicabs Being Taken for a Ride?

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:55:17 -0500

So I’m standing on the corner of 54th and Fifth. I am often standing on that corner, for reasons too complicated to go into right now. The point being, I could not get a cab. Why? Well, as any self-respecting New Yorker knows, you can’t GET a cab anywhere in Manhattan between 4PM and 5PM. That’s when, apparently, all cabs change shifts. Oh, you’ll see plenty of them cruising by. With their off-duty lights on, mocking you. As a longtime New Yorker, I know this, and yet, for some reason (Mercury in retrograde?) I found myself foolishly waving my arm at oncoming traffic.

Little Movie Part, Tiny Residual...story of my life..

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:21:36 -0500

And then there was the day director Sidney Lumet came to the Channel 11 studios. I couldn’t believe he wanted to use Jack Cafferty and me in one of the scenes of his new movie Night Falls on Manhattan. The man is a god. Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, 12 Angry Men, Network.

Brace Yourself. Kaity Goes.....Dental...Again

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:28:05 -0500

When I turned 13 my teeth turned against me. The =slightly= crooked teeth I had up until then, were just that. SLIGHTLY crooked. But somewhere along the way, they started becoming WAY crooked. To the point that my poor parents decided I needed braces.

They asked around and were directed to a dentist who was very inexpensive. Not an orthodontist. A dentist. Who was inexpensive, it turned out, for very good reason.

Kaity Goes...Dental

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 19:52:33 -0500

All this talk about President Obama’s health care plan got me thinking about the kind of health care my brother and I got as children. It was iffy, at best. Because we were poor, my parents could not afford to send us to private doctors. I know they did not have health insurance. They could barely afford to pay rent.

One of the scariest memories from my childhood of things medical was dental care. Nothing like the bright and comforting dentist’s office my son went to as a child. For him, video games in the waiting room, a dentist’s chair shaped like a spaceship, a screen on the ceiling to project the video of his choice, a relentlessly cheerful dentist with a degree in child psychology….and best of all, a dab of anesthesia on a Q-tip to numb the spot on his gum BEFORE he got the novocaine injection. Local anesthesia even for a cleaning, if that’s what your little darling wanted.

Weigh In On THIS!

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:43:34 -0500

Have you seen our temporary set this week? It's the coffee bar used on our Morning News. It is kidney shaped and small, so we all feel quite cozy. The stools are really high, though, and again, I must sit on three pillows just so you can see me. Even then, I look tiny. My chin is practically on the desk. They have taller anchors in the morning! And look at how G looms over me, when he stands next to me! It's hilarious.