Tag: Helaine Fox

30 Years Ago: The Most Important Day Of My Life!

As I barreled around a corner I knocked down a young woman who’d just started that morning. By the time I saw her she was sitting on the floor!

July 7, 1980 was a Monday. It was sunny in Philadelphia. I remember that. I was working mornings as a deejay at WIFI in Philadelphia, an also ran top-40 station.

There was nothing to make me think the day would be special. As it turns out it was the most important day of my life!

I was still on the air when the phone rang. Farrell Meisel. He’s my friend now. That morning he a was offering me a job at WGR-TV where he was program director.

Oh my God! I’d sent a tape with (literally) everything I’d ever done on camera. He was asking me to co-host PM Magazine/Buffalo.

This was my break! Radio was over. I was heading to TV in two weeks. Even though it meant a small cut in pay and moving to Buffalo it was a great opportunity. I am forever grateful.

OK–so far a pretty decent day so far–right? There’s more.

At 10:00 AM my air shift was over. I rushed from the studio to meet some friends and give them the news. As I barreled around a corner I knocked down a young woman who’d just started that morning. By the time I saw her she was sitting on the floor!

That was Helaine.

That’s how we met. It could be a scene in a movie.

Wow! In one morning I changed careers, committed to move and met the woman I’d one day marry.

Helaine and I have known each other 30 years today. That’s half my life and a much larger percentage of hers.

Whatever I am and wherever I’ve gone owes a great deal to her. Plus, I’m still seriously in love.

That was a pretty damn good day!

Why I Love My Wife

The isn’t preseason baseball. It’s pre-preseason baseball! No one’s playing with a jersey number lower than 85.

I got an instant message earlier this evening. It was Helaine. The message was just a link, nothing more. I clicked and saw:

3/3/2010 Baseball at Philadelphia Phillies 7:00 PM Listen

It was the Florida State Seminoles site. They played the Phils tonight. Helaine was looking to listen.
The isn’t preseason baseball. It’s pre-preseason baseball! No one’s playing with a jersey number lower than 85.

And you wonder why I love her so?

I used this as an excuse to buy the yearly Major League Baseball video package. We get it every year and it is well used!

major league baseball blackout map.jpgIt’s a great idea, but talk about a purchase limited by small print! If anyone’s game is nationally telecast the Phillies game is blacked out. If the Phils are playing in New York or Boston the game is blacked out (though we do get those games on cable).

There has been some kvetching recently from folks who are blacked out though they’re hundreds of miles from the nearest team and on-air or cable telecasts aren’t available. That’s just wrong.

I scrolled down the MLB.TV page looking for dirty tricks. Sure enough well below ‘the fold’ there was a pre-checked space expressing my desire to automatically renew next March 1. I unchecked it, as I had last year. Persistent bastards, aren’t they?

I love baseball. It means spring is right around the corner.

A Snowy Pickup At The Airport

By North Haven sleet was mixing with the rain, then a few miles further snow joined in. The temperature was 34&#176 and traffic was light so I pulled out the iPhone to give you a feel for the journey.

It was great Helaine got to see Stef. It’s even better (for me) she’s home! She arrived late Tuesday evening LAX-LAS-BDL.
Her flight was scheduled to land around midnight. I work until 11:35 PM. On most nights I would have screeched up to the terminal as she was getting her bags. Not tonight. We’re in the middle of the annual Mother Nature Slop Fest.

I left New Haven in a chilly rain. The “carmometer” read 36&#176 as I eased up I-91. By North Haven sleet was mixing with the rain, then a few miles further snow joined in. The temperature was 34° and traffic was light so I pulled out the iPhone to give you a feel for the journey (video below).

By Rocky Hill the snow had become the dominant precipitation type. The temperature was down to 33&#176, then 32&#176. The snow was heavy and sticking to the road surface as I throttled back to 45 mph and assumed a firm 10-2 grip on the wheel..
This trip would be a slow go!

I’ve driven in snow for years. It’s just not pleasant even with 4-wheel drive!

What are you going to do? I wasn’t going to leave her there to borrow the State Police’s Segway. I knew with some caution the drive can be made safely.

By Hartford the snow had stopped.and the temperature had risen a few degrees. The rest of the trip was cautiously uneventful.
It was good to see Helaine. She’s got a sore throat and I’m sure the coast-to-coast commute didn’t help.

On the way back we did see one car off the road near Middletown. The road widens and the north and southbound lanes aren’t visible to each other. A sedan just slid into woods stopping nearly 50 feet off the road.

Winter is brutal. This storm is just getting started. We still have three days to go!

Tracking Helaine

I am looking forward to seeing her, but not her reaction to the snow she’ll be seeing!

I’m on FlightAware tracking Helaine’s flight across the country. She’s just left Colorado and now over Kansas.

This is how Thomas Jefferson followed Lewis and Clark, right?

I am looking forward to seeing her, but not her reaction to the snow she’ll be seeing!

Election Day 2005

It’s election day. My town is electing a mayor and a few other posts. Before I went to work, I went to vote.

It’s always the same. I walk into the lunchroom at the local elementary school, find the table that matches my street, show my drivers license and get my ‘ticket’. Then I vote on a machine which looks like every voting machine I’ve used since 1971 (Nixon-McGovern at Mallard Creek 2 in Charlotte, NC).

I looked down at the list today as they crossed off my name. Beneath Helaine Fox and Geoffrey Fox was Stefanie Fox. How cool is that, Steffie is a registered voter.

Steffie didn’t vote today and that’s fine. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, she did the right thing by not voting!

Voting is the final step of a long process. Unless you take all the steps – don’t vote. Steffie is at college where it would be impossible for her to know what’s going on locally.

I was passing by VH1 last night while some folks were talking about Paris Hilton’s participation in a “Vote or Die” program in the last election. As it turned out, Paris neither voted nor died.

I worry about get out the vote programs. They concentrate on the wrong part of the equation. You shouldn’t vote because there’s guilt involved. When you vote, it should be because you’ve got an idea what’s going on and an opinion you want heard.

Like I said, voting is the final step of a long process.

Just Call Me Greg

This is a strange story. It begins, I suppose, in July 1950. My parents named me Geoffrey.

In the Jewish religion, it is common to name a child after a deceased relative. Of course all my deceased relatives had odd sounding Eastern European or otherwise arcane names. My parents did what so many others do, they used the first letter, “G”, to connect me with my ancestor.

Did they know Geoffrey was a British spelling? Based on what they told me while I was growing up – no. It just looked nice, and I’ve mostly liked it as a name.

It is not without problems. When I was a kid, and Geoffrey wasn’t quite as well recognized, I would be called Godfrey or Goofrey or George. People saw the “G” and stopped reading.

I could never walk into a store and buy a cup or license plate or pencil with my name on it. There are no mass merchandised items with “Geoff” on them… at least not here in the United States. Helaine has the same problem.

Alas, we’ve cursed Stefanie with an unusual spelling too. Sorry Stef.

With time, my problems have diminished. More people have seen the name Geoff. Fewer people stumble when they read it. Life has become easier… until a few months ago.

I answered a question from a classmate at Mississippi State. He responded, addressed to my email address on this domain: geofffox.com. It began, “Thanks Greg.”

Then,. Helaine and I received a check from some failed investment. It was addressed to “Helaine and Gregory Fox.”

A few weeks ago I was playing poker at Foxwoods Casino. While you play the casino keeps track of you (and gives a few dollars in return for your patronage) by using a “Wampum Card.”

I handed mine to one of the poker managers. A few minutes he came back and handed it to me. “Here you go Greg,” he said!

What is going on? Nearly 55 years old and, all of a sudden, my name is changing before my eyes.

Steffie has caught on. To her, I am now Greg.

“So Greg,” she will say, “are we going out to dinner?” Or, there will be a note about something she’d like me to do sitting on my computer keyboard. “Greg,” it will say, “can you do this for me?”

I’m not alone. Stef has taken to calling Helaine, a name which is constantly mispronounced and misspelled, Helen.

We’re now Greg and Helen! How the heck did this happen?