Transcripts For WRC Today 20100317 : vimarsana.com

now more than ever, the smart choice is carmax. the way car buying should be. democrats may try to kick health care through a direct process without a vote through a process called deem and pass. if top democrats can t come up with the 216 yeas they need. but republicans are calling it a trick. dire warning. forecasters say one-third of the nation is at risk of historic flooding in the coming days and weeks. this morning, as the northeast slowly dries out, emergency crews are racing to get sandbags in place from north dakota to missouri. and, masters plan. tiger woods will make his highly anticipated return to golf at augusta next month. will he be welcomed back with cheers or jeers? will elin be by his side? and if so, why is she still not wearing her wedding ring today, wednesday, march 17th, wearing her wedding ring today, wednesday, march 17th, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and good morning. welcome to today on a wednesday morning. happy st. patrick s day. i m matt lauer. i m meredith vieira. president obama and house speaker nancy pelosi may need the luck of the irish by the end of this week. the health care reform bill they hope to pass coming right down to the wire. nancy pelosi says she s confident the democrats do have a vote. it s not a done deal yet. there is word now the house democrats may call a tactic called deem and pass to avoid a vote on the overall senate version of the bill all together. now this is designed to give democrats political cover in an election year. is t used very often. never on legislation as big as this. and suffice it to say, republicans are not happy about it. we ll talk about all of that with the chairman of the democratic national committee, former governor tim kaine. also ahead, the search for a mother and her 8-year-old son in washington state who have not been seen since saturday. they were on their way to visit family and they stopped twice to ask directions. they never arrived at their destination but their van was found abandoned on a beach. just ahead, the latest on what is a bizarre case. also on a ch, much lighter note, ask away today. the question today this morning, do we all hang out together outside of the work place. the answer to that question takes us way back in time today as we show you a lunch outing that you ll never forget. but we ll begin with what could be a controversial end game move by democrats to pass health care reform without taking a direct vote. nbc s kelly o donnell is at the capitol. kelly, good morning to you. reporter: good morning, meredith. you thought you had seen and heard everything there was to know about the health care debate? well, this morning we do have something new and it is a strategy that could help democrats get past the trouble they re having securing enough votes. but it could be trouble allts own. we will make this famous to the american people if in fact they decide to use this process. reporter: get ready to learn a new phrase in washington speak. deem and pass. the latest flashpoint in the health care reform debate. we will do what is necessary to pass a health care bill. reporter: and determination to stop it from the right. we do not want this bill passed. reporter: conservative tea party activists and republicans protested. if democrats decide to go for it, they would use the so-called deem and pass rule to skip over a politically unpopular, but required, vote on the senate version of the health care bill. and move on to a vote on a package of fixes to that senate bill. democrats would add a line that declares, or deems, the senate bill passed without ever taking a vote on it directly. republicans attacked the democrats strategy. anybody who thinks they can sneak this bill through, deem it, all these other tricks, there s no way to hide from the biggest vote that most members of congress will ever cast. reporter: speaker nancy pelosi called gop complaints a distraction. if you don t want to talk about substance, talk about process. reporter: talking to voters, a new nbc news/ wall street journal poll finds americans evenly divided. 46% say it s better if the bill passes. 45% say scrap it. and asked, if it were possible, would they like to replace every member of congress? 50% said yes. of those yeses, interestingly, party may no difference. more than 70% said throw them out regardless of which party would be left in charge. and fire up the campaign ad wars. but not basketball madness. it s madness in washington. reporter: republicans rolled out a new tv spot attacking what s in the health care bill. special deals for nebraska, florida, louisiana. reporter: for democrats, the hardest work now is behind the scenes. trying to convince their own holdouts to go along. in washington speak, that s called whipping, and speaker pelosi sounded up for the fight. i never stop whipping. reporter: well, that whipping operation goes all the way to the top. president obama has been inviting some of the democrats who are either a no or non-committed to meet with him at the white house. a few are beginning to show their cards. one today, dennis kucinich, is expected to announce which way he will vote. in the next day or two we should hear more from those holdout democrats. former virginia governor tim kaine is with us this morning. did the president yesterday tell you he had 100% confident this bill will pass? he s very optimistic. we know this is the last throws of labor here before something good is happening. he s very optimistic but we aren t taking anything for granted. the president and his team, and we re doing here at the dnc the same, answering congress last questions, but we feel good about the outcome. the president s been going around the country trying to sell this bill. in ohio t other day he said congress needs courage, the word he used, to pass this bill. what about deem and spas courpa courageous? not even voting directly on the bill? the way some of this is reported is not accurate. there will be a vote. not a vote directly on that senate bill though. there will be a vote on the entire package that goes to the president s desk. the house is considering a procedure whereby they won t take two votes, one on the senate version and one on the fixes to the senate version, but this bill will have an up or down vote, hopefully by saturday, where everybody gets to declare whether they re for solving a problem that affects american people or they want to stand on the sidelines and throw rocks. again, governor, this is a vote on the fix-it version not on the senate bill itself. as matt said, this is being done to provide political cover for these democrats in a political year. i don t think there s any cover to be found. everybody s going to be accountable for their yes vote or their no vote. no bill gets to the president s desk if people vote no. the bill does go to the president s desk if they vote yes. everyone will be accountable for whether they want to be part of the solution or continue a status quo where americans are getting socked with 30% and 40% premium increases. the president does support deem and pass if that s the only way to get this bill through. the president has said over and over we need an up or down vote, not procedural tricks to block the american public from getting an up or down vote on the floor about whether should be a resolution to this debate. hopefully an up or down vote by this saturday. if it takes this much persuasion, you still don t havhave the 216 votes. if you still have do that much persuasion and a lot of democrats feel they have to hold their nose to get this thing through, doesn t it suggest to you that maybe this isn t the right solution, this particular reform package? i look at it a little bit differently. seven presidents have tried do health care reform of this kind and not been able to get a single bill through a single committee. the inside lobbyists, special interest forces are so powerful arrayed against reform of this kind. but we ve gotten farther than we ever have, bills through committee, bills in both houses, we re on the verge of what i believe is a historic vote. i believe it is not only the right thing to do to solve these problems for american families, i think it will be great politics because as soon as this bill passes, americans are going to see immediate good, families can keep children on their policy through age 26, seniors are going to get help on prescription drug purchases, abusive insurance practices will be ended. people will see that immediately and all the phantoms that the other side threw up in the air with insurance company money about ath panels and things like that, they will be nowhere to be found. i think the politics of it will be very good. but it is a big, tough, heavy lift. those often done often in this town. sure, people will ask tough questions and it will be a little bit of a nail-biter, but i think we ll get there. dnc chairman tim kaine, happy st. patrick s day. ann is continuing on assignment, natalie aat the news desk. good morning, natalie. top of the morning, matt and meredith. we start off this morning with flood warnings up across parts of the midwest and northern plains. rivers are flowing over their banks and warmer temperatures today will add to the runoff from melting ice and snow. many homeowners have yet to recover from the flooding one year ago. nbc s kevin tibbles is in fargo, north dakota where people there are very concerned about the rising red river. good morning, kevin. reporter: good morning, natalie. april showers may bring may flowers, but in this part of the country, the march melt is sprouting a lot of sandbags again this year. they have 1 million sandbags at the ready, not only here in fargo, which just behind me here, the red river, is once again beginning to creep up as it does every year at this time. what people have their fingers crossed about is that it does not reach the record stages that it did this time last year, 36 feet above flood stage. they are hoping that it stays somewhere in the mid to high 20s and they are hoping to protect their homes. school kids, university students on march break, have been coming out and sandbagging. there is a lot of work to be done. i m just talking about here in fargo. across the river, the red river in morehead, that is also going on. as mentioned earlier in the program, interethere is expecte extreme flooding from the north dakota area to missouri. thank you, kevin tibbles. a dramatic river rescue in arizona where the swift current was too rough for one adventure seeker. his kayak flipped over tuesday on the hela river and he clung to a tree for two hours until a helicopter lifted him safely to shore. it was the second rescue in five days along the swollen river. a new report finds girls outperforming boys in standardized reading tests in elementary, middle and high schools in every state of the u.s. the study by the center for education policy also found girls are now scoring equally as well as boys in math. one educator says something is apparently happening that may be holding boys back and schools need to find out why. overseas markets are higher this morning. cnbc s erin burnett is at the new york stock exchange for us again this morning. erin, what are we watching on this st. paddy s day? it is st. paddy s day. i should have worn green! markets are easing higher. because the fed chose not to raise interest rates and said interest rates will remain close to 0% for an extended period of time. i think that extended is one of the most important words in america right now because, how long rates stay at 0% is important for anyone with a mortgage. today ben bernanke is no doubt going to be asked how long is extended when he testifies on capitol hill. that will be important and he ll also hopefully answer why he chose to use the word depressed to refer to the housing market in that interest rate statement yesterday. back to you. you better go find yourself some green or you ll never hear the end of it over there. thank you, erin burnett at the new york stock exchange. we re going to soon find out if the turmoil in tiger woods personal life has hurt his golf game. woods announced tuesday that he will compete in the masters tournament in april. ending four months of seclusion that followed a car crash and sex scandal. we ll of course have much more on this story coming up in just a moment. 7:12. back to matt, meredith and al. can you guarantee ratings on that will be huge. natalie, thank you very much. mr. roker is here. what about this report about flooding? this is scary stuff. yeah, it is about as bad as it was last year. however, last year it happened er stages. this is going to be happening fairly quickly. over the weekend is really going to tell the tale. from new orleans to tampa, key west, spring breakers are looking at a lot of rain coming down. some areas in northern florida may pick up up to two inches of rain before it is all through. clear skies dominating, showers move into the pacific northwest, sunny and warm down through the southwest. 84 in l.a. 86 in phoenix today. more rain in the soutast. mid-atlantic states gorgeous today. 66 new york city. 67 in washington, d.c. beautiful weather for all the good morning on this wednesday. sunrise three minutes away. there is from our tower vantage point, the sun is beginning to show up and it s still three minutes away. on this wednesday, it s cold. many of the areas are at or belo freezing. in washington near 40. highs reaching the mid 60s and that s your latest weather. acapulco is a popular spring bra break destination for thousands of college students. but that resort city is in the midst of violence between warring drug cartels. at least 19 people have been murdered in three days. nbc s kerry sanders is there. kerry, good morning to you. reporter: good morning, matt. some spring breakers are still out partying here in these early morning hours, but as the drug wars escalate in this country, there s a warning to all americans in mexico beware. acapulco s beaches are as beautiful as ever. but there s an ugly backdrop here. the drug cartel violence. in the past 72 hours, warring drug gangs here have assassinated at least 19 people, four of them beheaded. american kids here on break say it s all a little unsettling. to find armed police protecting them from the deadly violence which in some cases is just three miles away. me and my friends were trying to stick in groups. at nighttime, we re trying to make sure even though the clubs are far away, we re not trying to venture off from the touristy area. reporter: still, the college students are here. not as many as last year, but an estimated 10,000 spring breakers are expected in acapulco this year, lured, in part, by mtv s annual spring break bash on the acapulco waterfront. but with those grily murders and the recent killings of two americans 1,100 miles away on the mexican-u.s. border near el paso, texas, there is no escaping the tension. it s on your mind but i think i feel pretty safe with the military and police all around the hotels. but it is definitely evident everywhere you go. jen, what did your parents say? be careful! my mom said. she s very worried about me. reporter: even the heavily armed police have been targeted by the drug cartels, those on patrol where the spring breakers are gathering say there s little to fear. is it dangerous here in acapulco? no. reporter: no, i don t think so. but in mission viejo, california, this mom says she s still uncomfortable. her 20-year-old daughter and buddies from uc santa barbara are headed to mexico. i m concerned about her going to mexico but i am i think appropriately concerned about a spring break trip. reporter: shannon and her friends are going to go to cancun instead of here to acapulco, but that area has also had its share of problems as the cartels have had their wars there. in the past year, in mexico, matt, it s estimated 2,600 people have been murdered in this drug violence. that s ridiculous numbers. kerry sanders in acapulco for us this morning, thank you very much. 16 minutes after t hour. here s meredith. investigators in washington state have a real mystery on their hands. the bizarre weekend disappearance of a mother and her 8-year-old son whose van was found abandoned and partially submerged on a remote beach. nbc s lee cowan has the details. reporter: the chilly waters of peugeot sound hold a lot of secrets. but in this place that seems ever so tranquil something seems unsett unsettling. on saturday, this woman and her 8-year-old son went on a road trip to visit family. but they never made it. they re my family. the rest of the family s hurting. so if you re out there, please help her get home. all i know is i want to get into the woods and find them. reporter: their minivan was found,oddly, out of place. empty. and perched on a private beach at the end of a dead end road. waves lapping at the bumpers. the sight alone had residents shaking. i mean this is spooky to find a car sitting out on an oyster bed with all its doors and stuff open. reporter: a coast guard search turned up nothing. divers say they found smiley s wallet with her credit cards intact. but nothing else. we didn t see any blood. nothing really askew, nothing damaged. again, nothing that would lead us to believe that something untoward happened to her or her son inside the van. reporter: that beach may have been the end of a very long and wayward ride. the night the two disappeared, smiley called her fiance to say she and her son were lost. very lost. veins video shows the missing mother and her son walking into a mini-mart around 7:50 and asking for directions. around 9:00 p.m. the two stopped off for a bite at this diner. the waitress said smiley seemed to be having trouble staying awake and tripped as she went out. alcohol? investigators have to wonder. finally, around 10:00 p.m., smiley knocked on a stranger s door saying she still couldn t find the freeway. but he says she didn t appear drunk. she seemed nice and just frightened and lost and that s it. reporter: he fears he was the last to see them and worries whether he did enough. somebody knows something, investigators believe. but like the waves, nothing but silence so far. for today, lee cowan, nbc news, los angeles. 7:19. here s matt. it s been tough to find good news on the housing front latelybut there could be some light at the end of a dark tunnel of empty condos in florida. nbc s michelle kosinski s in miami with more on that. michelle, good morning to you. reporter: good morning, matt. it almost became the symbol of downtown miami s brand-new skyline, the hulking, damp, empty condo building. just after the bust we saw a lot of developers deadlocked with their own lenders over what to do with these units, how low they could sell them for. now just in the last six months, we ve seen lot of loosening up, sparking a sort of condo fire sale that has worked, better than many expected. it s location, location, location, followed by unbelievable amenities and incredible views. reporter: they are glitzy, brand-new, and oh, so, miami. unfortunately, they are also everywhere. and empty. thousands of condos, the scars of the real estate bust. but with spring around the corner, buyers are finally buying. now that developers are slashing prices. it s really incredible, incredible buy. reporter: sales at the end of last year jumped an astonishing 200% over 2008. the last few months inventory s been flying off the shelves, like 350 units a month. and so it is not that developers are making money, it s not that the banks are making money, but they cut their losses by moving the inventory. it is very cozy and modern. reporter: first-time buyer dina bandman got a 30% discount in one of the swankiest new buildings in miami. perfect typing when they reduced the price when i was deciding whether or not to close. reporter: the icon of billion dollar behemoth loaded with debt. but now that the developer has cut prices up to 50%, they ve been selling more than one a day. the people just came in and arted signing on the dotted lines. reporter: for a long time, these gems in the sky have sat on the shelf. now several buildings have sold out, thanks to some bargain basement prices that are close to the cost of construction, given this buyer neighbors. for a time he was the only resident in his 40-story building. i used to joke about it. reporter: real estate developers are taking advantage of eye-popping deals. this brand-new building, only $63 a square foot. another investors just bought 19 units here and immediate pli flipped them. a $200,000 profit in less time than you can eat lunch. inventory started to get depleted. there are about 23,000 units built in greater downtown miami since 2003. there are only 7,300 left. reporter: more than half of condo sales now are foreclosures or short sales. those will continue. 40% of buyers are paying cash. that means that many are finding financing. and a bright spot or two in the sea of lonely high-rises is more than welcome here. you can ask the question, is this just more speculation starting to rev up in but every analyst we talk to say people are picking these up for very low prices, especially for this market and theylso like the mix of investment. not just vulture funds buying these, but young families, mom and pop from up north, foreign buyers who are actually going to live here. matt. michelle kosinski in miami, thank you very much. just ahead, more on tiger woods decision to return to professional golf at the masters next month. what can he expect from fans? will his wife, elin, also bee there? we ll get into that. but fi still ahead, matt, al and ann and i, do we hang out outside of work? [ male announcer ] as long as we re winding up our doing dials, let s wind em with precision. open our throttle to even more selection. and turn that savings swagger up full tilt. so when the time comes to bust open a can of doing. we ve got all the tools for all the things we need to make em happen. more saving. more doing. that s the power of the home depot. right now, get scotts nature scapes mulch for the new lower price of just $3.88. 7:26 is the time and 47 degrees in the capital on this wednesday, 14th day of meach. breaking news on the baltimore washington parkway. jerry? chopper 4 remains over the scene of the accident and we have been reporting all morning. it occurred around 4:00 this morning. a single car accident. the parkway we mains closed. 212 to route 1 or i-95 is the best alternate. the right of the screen is northbound. the last check one lane is slowly getting by. let s go over quickly and see how we are doing on the 14th street bridge. that is finally out of the roadway. let s g can you go back to the right? no, back here. how about over here? hmm. let s go back to the left. uh. waffling is back at dunkin donuts with the return of the waffle breakfast sandwich. two oven-toasted waffles with a hint of maple, complete with fluffy egg, a slice of melted cheese, and now with delicious sausage. so hurry in today because it s only around for a short time. america runs on dunkin . try our oven-toasted waffle breakfast sandwich today, only at dunkin donuts. sun light off the swollen waters of the potomac river. it s chilly into the 30s in many locations. highs today should soar into the mid 60 wise bright sun. sunny tomorrow, friday, and saturday and afternoon highs in the upper 60s to near 70 each day. could get showers sunday afternoon. joe? we will have another local news update in about 25 but now back to the 7:30 now on thisednesday morning, march 17th, 2010. st. patrick s day. the white house has gone green for the day, dying the water in the fountain on the white house lawn. here on the plaza, our crowd is in the spirit as well. the annual parade is the oldest and biggest in the world. i m meredith vieira, alongside matt lauer. in this half-hour, tiger woods announces his return to professional golf. he s going to tee it up at the masters tournament next month, early april. so is it the right decision? how will he be received by fans down in augusta and around the country? and will his wife, elin, be there after being spotted on tuesday still not wearing her wedding ring. we ll cover it all in just a couple of minutes. also ahead, matt likes to think that he is the king around here you made me call you your majesty. but how would he do as a knight? we found during a recent lunch. our afternoon filled with some less than royal work, some sword fights, even a jousting match. y re going down! also ahead, we ll have a remarkable look at some of the most wondrous creatures on earth. we ll talk to two people behind the discovery channel s spectacular new series called life. but let s begin with tiger woods ready to return to golf at the masters next month. for the first time since that sex scandal erupted, nbc s peter alexander is at augusta national. reporter: good morning. apparently this is where it will happen three weeks from now. tiger woods is coming right here to a site that s one of the most celebrated in all of golf, a sport he s long dominated. this is the home of the masters that he s already won four times and in a statement yesterday, tiger said, after a long and necessary time away from the game, i feel like i m ready to start my season at augusta. it will undoubtedly be one of the most anticipated comebacks in all of sports. here it comes. reporter: tiger woods announcing tuesday he ll return to golf at the masters beginning april 8th. golf has been ready for him to come back. it is up to him when he s ready to come back. obviously he s said it s time. reporter: it will be a new chapter nearly five months in the making. after the golf icon s once-carefully crafted image was shattered by that car crash outside his home that opened a floodgates to a storm of salacious headlines and a stream of admissions of extramarital affairs. on his website, the 34-year-old golfing great says, i have undergone almost two months of in-patient therapy and i am continuing my treatment. add with being though i am returning to competition, i still have a lot of work do in my personal life. woods announcement was quickly followed by encouraging words from both his sport and his sponsors. eager for the return of what s unmistakable ple ablablely thei brand. reporter: that smile hasn t been seen since last time tiger won last year in australia where he was accompanied not by wife elin, but by raithe first in th parade of tiger woods mistresses. he has to recalibrate a new image based on his new mindset. it will be interesting to see what that is. reporter: in the past, elin has been a proud fixture at. her husband s tournaments. but just one day aft new pictures surfaced of the couple together, it s still unclear whether she ll be at his side next month, having skipped his first public apology last month. i wouldn t be the least bit surprised if elin is in augusta, georgia. i d be pretty surprised if we saw her walking along the fairways and following his progress as he plays at the masters. i think there will be so much scrutiny around his golf. not sure she s looking to put herself out in the public right now. reporter: while tiger may be back, elin, his wife s, wedding ring apparently is not. a new photo taken yesterday at a mall in orlando where elin was spotted with their young daughter, 2-year-old sam, and the one thing missing from that shot again, matt, w her wedding band. peter zander erpeter alexan augusta. good morning to both of you. mike, let me start with you. this makes perfect sense to me on a couple of fronts. one, he has excelled in augusta in the past, winning the masters four times. but this is all about controlling the return, his handlers love control and here you ve got the most controlled galleries in golf and probably theost polite galleries in all of golf. correct? yeah. the whole thing about control is completely right, matt. the dumb reality show ends now. elin and tiger plus however many. this is a guy obsessed with control. i think the galleries will give him a great big hug in augusta. he knows that course like the back of his hand. he knows the rules, they know the rules. i don t think the galleries will at all be an issue. this was a very well thought out campaign to begin rebooting the image of tiger woods. so even if there are some who may be watching at home on their television sets screaming at woods, he s not going to hear those screams at augusta. no. you ve been there, i ve been there. no. these are the most well-mannered golf fans in the world. i think that there was this idea that he needed to warm up. he didn t need to warm up. this is the perfect place for his re-entry. he almost turns it into some kind of augusta national pictures itself as being like the vatican of golf. he s turning this into almost a mystical experience by going back to where he won his first major at 21 by 12 shots. janice, in the statement released by tiger woods on tuesday, he s careful not to brush off the scandal and say i m over that, i m moving on. in fact, he says, although i m returning to competition, i still have a lot of work to do in my personal life. is that what fans and critics need to hear if. i think theself-flatulation is going a little too far now. he gave the very emotional press conference, had tears in his eyes. whether or not you thought it was a little orchestrated, i think there was sincerity there. it was on his face. then he keeps reiterating it over and over and i think at some point i think that s definitely part of celebrity rehab, that you need to keep apologizing. but at some point i think the fans will move on. how important, janice, is elin to all this, the reh rehabilitation of his image? is it critical that she shows up at augusta and is by his side? at least even if not on the course, that it s known she s there? i do think it s important. i think if the wife can forgive, then america can forgive, that they can think that this wronged woman, that he s been able to convince this wronged woman that he is a different person. i think it puts her in a very difficult position. i think it s already going to be an incredible circus and spectacle there. her appearance there will be distracting to the event. i m going to guess she makes a very discrete appearance there and disappears. mike, something you wrote in this morning s daily news. i m kind of juxtaposing from coats, but can woods win the masters after not playing competitively since november? sure, he can. just don t make him out to be a hero if he does. you also write, if he wins, as big as he did before, he ll be big all over again and people will confuse athletic character with real character the way we have in sports since the beginning of time. you don t think people can separate the two? no. i think that tiger woods that was sold before, matt, was we did juxtapose the golfer and the person. now we found out we were wrong. do i think he will come back and be a big winner in golf? i do. but i think people will be less inclined to confuse what he does with who he is ever again, which is probably not a bad lesson for us. jace, if he goes to the masters, which he now will, at some point he s probably going to be involved in a press conference. and the questions will not all be about golf. how does he handle that? he seems to be i think he ll be fine with that. he seems to be willing to apologize, talk about the fact that he s working on his personal life. and listen, i think he will have a huge comeback. i think in the same way there are five stages of grief, there are five stages of celebrity scandal and he s in the redemption phase right now. there are a lot of people who will be thrilled if he comes back and comes back and wins and performs well. there will also be people who will be thrilled if he comes back and flops. yes. but i think the general population though people get caught up in these comebacks. i think you ll you saw it with kobe bryant. remember when he appeared at an awards show after the scandal, he got a standing ovation. janice, mike, thanks to both of you. appreciate it. by the way, i want to mention because mike will kill mefy don t, mike s latest young adult novel the bat boy is now in stores. let s now get a check of the weather from al. announcer: today s weather is brought to you by chico s. some women are destined to wear chico s. go . good morning. everybody. we have a lot of wearing of the green out here. everybody irish. unfortunately, we have a lot of flooding to talk about. not only in the red river valley, but also down in georgia. they ve had a lot of flooding we ve got flooding in the northeast. that s continuing as we. the submerges cars in parts of georgia are a real big problem. let s show you what s going on around the rest of the country. here s part of the problem a lot of melting going on up in minnesota, wisconsin, the plains, rapid city, 18 degrees above normal. st. paul, 15 degrees above normal. flint, michigan, 12 degrees above normal with temperatures 40s, 50s and 60s through the ohio and mississippi river valleys. looking at 80s down through the southwest. showers in the pacific northwest. sunny skies from the great lakes on into the northeast. rain down through the good rning. sun is up on a clear sky. the live view from the sky watcher camera. a chilly start. temperatures near 40, but further to the west and the rest of interstate 95 at or below freezing. lots of sun and a warm up sbe the 60s this afternoon. near 40 and sunny tomorrow afternoon and highs near 70. still meftly clear you can check your weather any time of the day or night at weather.com. still ahead, all for one and one for all. meredith, al, ann and i do battle at medieval times. but up next, life on earth. the most amazing creatures on the planet like you ve never seen them before. that s right after this. wore only what i was wild about. had a passion for pink. and pearls. i was a sucker for sequins. always knew what i loved, and insisted on wearing it. [ jazz horns blow ] because expressive is never excessive. i guess some women are destined to wear chico s. chicka boom boom boom, yeah, yeah you d savor exquisite specials and a fine chianti. but rome is like 4,200 miles away. that s why there s bertolli chicken florentine for two in a luscious white-wine sauce. bertolli. italy is served. it s tough to reach in athat five servings a dayce. if you don t always like the taste of vegetables. good thing v8 v-fusion juice gives you a serving of vegetables hidden by a serving of fruit. v8. what s your number? can your moisturizer do that? dermatologist recommended aveeno has an oat formula. now proven to build a moisture reserve. so skin can replenish itself. that s healthy skin for life. save at aveeno.com. good evening ladies and gentlemen. [ male announcer ] for over eight years, a popular actor named ronald reagan hosted a tv program called ge theater. now that s part of living better electrically. 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[ man ] for general electric, here is ronald reagan. hey, aren t you. supposed to be following that fidelity green line? well, yeah, but it keeps leading me back to my old office. i think it might be broken. or maybe it s trying to tell you something. yeah, but what could it be trying. oh, i left my 401(k) at my old job. and i left a jacket on the back of my door. but i think the line is talking about my 401(k). leave a 401(k) behind? roll it over with the company that s helping more people reach retirement than anyone else. when it comes to investing, never settle. fidelity investments. back now at 7:44 with the most amazing creatures on earth. the discovery channel s new series life provides a fascinating look at some of the most spectacular and bizarre animals and plants on the planet. the executive producer of the series is here, and one of the cameraman who captured the images. have to say this series took more than four years to make over 3,000 days of filming. all over the world. every continent. how would you describe the series, mike, in a nutshell? what is it about? it is about survival. it is about the amazing ways animals and plants overcome the challenges they face every day in their lives in order to suive. we have some examples of amazing moments in the animal kingdom beginning with the survival of the pebble toad in venezuela. mike, tell us how this little fellow escapes a tarantula. the thing about the pebble toad he lives in a place where there are virtually no predators but one, this that raarantula w a real taste for tooads. he is about the size of a postage stamp. he throws himself off a cliff. unbelievable that he does that. roger, you were the cameraman for the pumpbahumpback whales i south pacific. what is the heat run? the heat run essentially is pretty much the biggest fight in nature. you have 10, 50-t humpback whales all chasing a single female whale. the idea is they want to be the last man standing, the lastan next to the lady in order that they can mate later on. do some actually die in the process? they use tactics like breach on top of each other, smash into each other and they ll even blow bubble trails in front of the other whales to put them off, blind them. this has to be a challenge for you as the cameraman trying to get this on film. it is really tough because i m putting myself in their environment so they re moving very fast. 500 times my weight. i have to free dive down on a single breath of air to then film them rushing past me. it is almost like standing on a freeway and having ten big trucks rush past you. it was scary. moving from the whales to the adorable monkeys in brazil. what makes these guys so special. they are one of my favorites. they s so intelligent. they have this difficult problem, they want to open these nuts that are very, very hard to open. they spend time getting them ready, then use hammers, stones, to smash open the nuts. if they miss they hit their toes. it takes them five or six years to really perfect that. one of the things is that the babies are watching take ages to learn. they drop the stones and they but it shows how intelligent they are. it clearly does. looking now at a baby in israel trying toutsmart a fox. tell me how hard it is to shoot something like this. this is an amazing sequence. these are about a week old. they rjust coming out on their first journey as they have to make it down this incredibly steep cliff. predators know this and are waiting. but as a cameraman, based there, you re required much patience. guys are waiting with a long lens for weeks on end. when it does happen you have to be ready to press the record button. everything s got to be right. high pressure. was there a lot of wasted time in this? you could have waited forever an never seen that. there s always the chance of failure in a shoot like that. but hopefully it will come off. finally, i want to show the audience one of the most beautiful mating rituals. can you describe what they re doing? this is direct contrast to what s going on in the humpback whales. they have this beautiful relationship where they give each other gifts and mimic each other s movement perfectly. they bond tighter and tighter. eventually they get to that point and do an extraordinary dance, running on the water side by side. that s so romantic! that is unbelievable. they look so beautiful. the stamina to do it. they re literally running on water. this is just a tiny taste of what this series has. how many installments of the entire series? 11? there are 11 installments shown over five weeks. 150 stories just like that. what do you want the take-away value to be? animals are real individuals with real characters. they have the same sorts of things we admire about people heroic, they re determined and just wonderful creatures. it is an amazing, amang series. congratulations again. roger as well. life premiers this sunday night on the discovery channel. don t miss it. we ll be back right after this. hi number two, please. would you like that to hurt now or later? 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[ children laughing ] suitcase? huh? where do gummy bears hide? under the seat. look! yeah! [ telephone rings ] [ male announcer ] the all new chevy equinox. [ man ] guess who? dad! [ man ] enjoy the trip! okay, daddy! [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] a consumers digest best buy. with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. it takes you farther. and brings you closer. just ahead on a ask away today, our trip to matt s favorite restaurant, medieval times. but first these messages and your local news. but you already are great at doing that. really? sure! you re made with fiber just like me. but best of all, you re the perfect size for smaller kids. give your little ones kellogg s® frosted mi-wheats little bites™ cereal. in chocolate and now original flavor. they re an excellent source of fiber packed in a smaller size. oh, it s original little bite. we re off to practice keeping em full and focused. yeah, we ve got big shoes to fill. 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[ female announcer ] oscar mayer deli fresh meats. sliced, packed and sealed at the peak of freshness, they re impossible to resist. ah, you gonna eat all that? it doesn t get better than this i love you. make that first step easier, with the nicoderm cq patch. nicoderm steps you down from nicotine gradually. doubling your chance for success. nicoderm cq. three steps, ten weeks and you free. wore only what i was wild about. always knew what i loved, and insisted on weing it. chicka boom boom boom i guess some women are destined to wear chico s. 7:55 is the time. just after sunrise ask 42 degrees and chilly, but it will get warmer. in the news for today, breaking news we have been following am the parkway remains closed from an early morning accident. chopper 4 near route 198 where the delays begin southbound on the parkway. the accident occurred much earlier this morning and southbound at route 193 green belt road. traffic being diverted the 212. you want to forget about the area and use i-95. northbound only one lane is getting by and southbound is closed. virginia is no picnic. a couple of separate accidents on the 14th street bridge. joe? let s go to the gw parkway. traffic along the george washington parkway. closed two hours oofr the morning rush hour between 10:00 aim and noon. police investigate a deadly truck crash that took place there sunny and chilly and temperatures if the low 30s to near 40s. highs in the 60s with lots of sun and lots of sun again tomorrow. upper 60s on friday and moefltly sunny and mostly sunny saturday. could get showers sunday afternoon. we will have more news, 8:00 now on this st. patrick s day, march 17th, 2010. looks like some of the people here on the plaza are already in the celebrating mood. we appreciate them stopping by before heading over to the big parade up 5th avenue in just a couple of hours. meanwhile, out on the plaza, i m matt lauer, along with meredith vieira and al roker. coming up today, we ll have much more on our series of ask away today. this is where we tackle some of the questions we get asked most frequently by our viewers. one of the questions we get all of the time is, do you guys hang out together away from the show. and you know what? sometimes we do. yes, we do. certainly have been occasions. recently at medieval times. it was quite an experience. we ll show you the results of our battle to the death with some real barbarians. i m not referencing ann. nobody got hurt! also ahead, the six secrets to making your child s next visit to the pediatrician more efficient, easier and more informative. we ll tell you what those are. plus in the spirit of st. patrick s day, we ve got a live performance from the fantastic group river dance. that s right. don t forget, we want also to remind you though about your chance to win a trip to this spring s grand opening of the wizarding world of harry potter at universal orlando resort. you can find out all the details on our website at todayshow.com. am i overdoing it with too much green. no. no. you look really nice. you re covering matt. i have a green band i wear every day. natalie at all the headlines. never enough green on st. patrick s day, meredith. in the news this morning on capitol hill today, house speaker nancy pelosi meets with female democrats as the debate over health care reform intensifies. supporters and protesters have been out in force callinghe contentious debate march madness. a new poll finds americans evenly divided on the health care reform bill. in the northern plains, big concerns today along the red liver which is expected to crest this weekend far above flood stage. volunteers have been filling sandbags in north dakota and minnesota. our rivers in the area are also over their banks and people in the northeast are also still feeling the effects of last weekend s big storm. some rivers here remain above flood level. power is still out for tens of thousands of homes. today in northwest pakistan, a suspected u.s. missile strike killed at least nine insurgents. nine others were killed on tuesday. the u.s. is assuring israel the two countries have an unshakeable bond despite a disagreement over a planned expansion of settlements in east jerusalem. that israeli plan sparked clashes again tuesday between police and palestinians in the worst violence in east jerusalem in months. attorney general eric holder says osama bin laden will never face trial in the u.s. because he will never be captured alive. speaking to congress, holder predicted bin laden will be killed either by the u.s. or by his own people so he cannot be captured. now here s brian williams with a look at what s coming up tonight on nbc nightly news. tonight, when storms come and wash away this nation s beaches, the government spend billions to restore them. it is a never-ending cycle of money and man versus nature. is it worth the cost? some say it is another fleecing of america. we ll have that tonight. back to you. in peru, a strange kind of could y cowabunga, dude. a man teaches his small louisiana llama to surf. that wasn t a very nice landing. the things that people do with their animals. doesn t wool stink when it gets wet? that s what i thought of. let s get to the weather with al. this is one of the weirder things we ve seen in a long time. spring time porcupine? that s your mascot? it is our school mascot. where s springtown? springtown, texas. you got a lot of porcupines? yes! this is like a scene from the godfather. wake up and there is a porcupine head in your bed. that s frightening! let s check your weather, see what s going on. parade weather, new york city going to be great. cloudy and some late rain for savannah. they should get the parade in. temperatures in the 50s. chicago, 54 and 59 degrees. washington, 57. dublin, california, 74. clover, south carolina, looking at 58 degrees. st. patrick, missouri, a high of 55 degrees. you could get you might want to get dressed up for st. patrick s day. just a little bit. good morning. on this wednesday morning, we have lots of sunshine, but a chill in the air. 30s in prince georges and montgomery. fairfax near 40, but below freezing in central virginia and sun should warm into the 60s. tomorrow sunny and high near 70. upper 60s and mostly s we got a st. patrick s day birthday. what s your name? zach. zach? happy birthday! st. patrick s day in very nice. up next, matt, al, ann and i take a trip back in time, medieval times, to be exact. the fun we had right after this. you remember how indiana jones ended up with of [ male announcer ] some reminders have a way of disappearing. 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dog: me! i d get it myself but i don t have thumbs! yum, yum, yum. it s beggin ! hm. i love you! beggin strips! there s no time like beggin time! to get more of the fiber you need every day, try fiberchoice. with the natural fiber found in fruits and vegetables and 33% mo fiber per serving than benefiber. go to fiberchoice.com to get savings and rewards. vo: this season, your home can look like a picture in a magazine with the better homes and gardens spring line. and it s only at walmart. get unbeatable prices on the entire line of better homes and gardens furnishings. it s enough to spark anyone s imagination. the look you love costs less at walmart. vo: save money. live better. walmart. back now at 8:09. with more of our special series ask away today. those questions we get asked almost on a daily basis. like, do matt, ann, al and i spend time together on the air. well you know what? yes, we do. we try to squeeze in lunch every so often. let s just say things got a little medieval. hi, it s matt lauer. the usual table at the same time? see you then. bye. how did you find out about this place, matt? reporter: it s a theme restaurant a world away from your average lunch spot. welcome to medieval times. welcome to his majesty s castle. reporter: think king arthur meets professional wrestling. enjoy the tournament, my lord. reporter: for us, a chance to eat, drink, and be merry and take a stab at knighthood. i alwaysanted to be a knight. the four of us are each going to have a sword in our hands if. i think both al and i will probably turn and scream and run like girls. i m not a knight person. i m a dayperson. who do i get to kill? reporter: from the beginning it was clear we were in for the royal treatment. my lords? my ladiedlady? as king of the castle here at medieval times, i welcome you. thank you. the princess and i have been informed you wish to become knights but you must first begin your training at the bottom. back in medieval times. reporter: so it was off to the stables where we began our knight training as lowly squires. start at the bottom. what do they mean by that? i don t know. we got to take care of this lunch, lunch, lunch. you know, i just forgot something. i ll take the rake, you take the wheel barrow. i m going to give you a little brush. i would hate to overshoot the whe wheelbarrow. this is a medieval car wash. you didn t like those shoes, did you? no. reporter: after al and i dug ourselves out of a mess, we snuck into the armory for our first glimpse at some medieval weaponry. this could end up in the emergency room. but before we could do battle of any kind, we had to learn the basics. and by the looks of it, we were in a bit over our heads. whoa whoa! whoa! that s just not called for. yield! die! yield and die. i m going to use that on you in the morning reporter: once we learned the moves leg. and sword. reporter: it was time to come out swinging. please don t kill me! such a sissy. it was only a turnip. this time i ll spare you. reporter: and the sparks began to fly. sparks! wow! reporter: bodies started piling up. al killed a guy! thank you. thank you. okay, we re ready. reporter: all of this death and dismembership has a group of budding knights hungry. now be served! reporter: as the others dug in, my meal arrived in style. hi, how are you? wow, serving wenches. wow, thank you. thank you very much. wait a minute. how come matt gets to have all that? royal purell? tnk you, thank you so much. who do you think you are? james brown? this is too much. just go ahead, dig in, guys. don t wait for me. he s got silverware. oh, thank you. oh, pasha! what can i say? sometimes it is just good to be the king. merriment ensued. we will we will rock you reporter: but the king had other plans for us. barbarians have breached the gates. i call upon the four brave knights of the today show to give battle to the death. to the death? death? death s not good. ann, you re done with your soup. go ahead. don t worry, guys. i ll take care of it. give em hell, ann curry! you go! i m going to miss her. reporter: but ann needed our help in what would become the fight of our lives. once every 500 years, amidst the darkness of evil and treachery, when all hope has faded, a brotherhood of brave knights will emerge. their courage alone will lead a fallen empire into the light of a new day. that day is today. darkness was everywhere barbarians were lurk iing. here they come! ahh! they fought valiantly through the night. ahh! ugh! the fate of these lands lay in the balance. ahh! order was once again restored to his majesty s empire. one for all, and all for one! and he deemed them worthy of his realm s highest honor. i dub thee lady meredith. i dub sir matthew. thank you, my lord. thank you, hot princess. show some respect. lady ann. sir al they were now officially the knights of the today show. you don t see that on the early show. no, you won t. and so it was. peace once again reigned throughout these lands. and our brave knights returned home victorious. nice to be a knight. yeah. what happens now? what do you say we do this again next week? all right. or? or not. welcome to another edition of medieval grist. by the way, we got to keep the swords. it was such a cool place. you guys said you both want to go back with your kids. they would get a kick out of that. actually what you did not see, you folks at home if you re still there what you didn t see after we defeated the barbarians is that we blew of more steam with a joust. i square off against lady meredith. the does doth approach for meredith. we re coming to get you. take that, sir sissypants. curry, you re going down! you re going down, curry! roker, you re roadkill. whoa. i got to remember never to tick her off. man! you okay, by the way. yeah, i was fine. you took some fall. i know. those horses could get out of control. some of them were a little feisty. they were. talking about ann? yeah. thanks you to the folks at medieval times for showing us a good time. we re back right after this. 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[ female announcer ] oh yes it can! with lean cuisine. they put in real wholesome ingredients like farm-picked veggies, real cheese, and crunchy walnuts. just one of 90 varieties with no preservatives. lean cuisine. keep life delious. you need listerine® whitening® vibrant white™ rinse. the mouthwash that gets teeth four times whiter than the leadintoothpaste. and kills bad breath germs. listerine® whitening vibrant white™. not to let your immune system become a statistic. support your immune system with patented ester-c. ester-c provides up to 24 hours of immune support. ester-c. the better vitamin c. used to make me cry myself to sleep at night. but i gotta say my sienna is great. it s super stylish. oh, and the available dual-view entertainment center? awesome. hold on. i just finished episode 8. oh, boy, if i wasn married. [ laughs ] i tell my husband the more time i spend in it, the less stressed i feel. and the fewer headaches i get. honey, mommy s having a timeout, ok? [ male announcer ] meet the family and the new sienna on youtube. toyota. back now at 8:22. let s head on down to ft. meyers, florida, say hello to our good budly, willard scott. happy st. paddy s day. god bless you. you all looked good dressed u as knights and ladies of the round. an old irish greeting is may the wind always blow up your hoofnanny. think about that, friends. the great e rochester senior citizens are having a big meeting tonight. it is my pleasure to host it tomorrow for lunch. there you go. now let s check our birthdays from our birthday buddies. look and see, here s beautiful sue kuchta-polony from ladysmith, wisconsin. 101. secret to longevity is growing up on sauerkraut! theresa porcella, 100 years old. wedding dressmaker. so excited her great, great grandchild is about to be born. and louis tognoli. 105. drives his car every day to the mall to meet with his buddies and they walk around the mall. great exercise. great place to walk. ione brooks. lovely fillmore, california. 100 years old today. enjoys playing beautiful, beautiful music in the church. attributes her longevity to be head over heels with her husband, bob. how s that? earl weiland of austin, minnesota. 100 years old today. played the banjo for more than 91 years. just cut his first cd with the three good ole boys. hope the thing sells. and kathryn o gara from bellerose village, new york. 100 yearsle old. that s it from smucker s this morning, a little jam and jelly on your o toast. what you can do to improve your child s next visit to the pediatrician. plus, we ll get into the spirit of st. patrick s day with the men and women of the river dance after your local news. 8:26 is the timement sunshine over the nation s capital. we are in for a gorgeous day. we are following wriking news on the baltimore washington parkway. hi, jerry. good morning. the accident occurred much earlier and under investigation. southbound bw parkway blocked back to 212. we are looking at delays there and northbound just reopened and both travel lanes northbound delays on the bw parkway begin at 410. avoid it. i-95 is a better bet. a quick check elsewhere, a trip on the beltway north of town, a deer was struck at georgia avenue and everything is moved out now, but we are loaded up with the sunshine making for a slow crawl. we are going to take a break sunny and chilly thou. highs reaching the mid 60s. sunny and warmer thursday, friday, and saturday morning. lows in the 40 said and highs in the 60s to near 70. 8:30 now on this wednesday morning, 17th of march, 2010. those are the marvelous dancers of river dance. hard to believe it s been 15 years since they first burst on the scene. they ve been seen all over the world. 12,000 costumes have been worn in the show, 14,000 dance shoes have been worn out. that s a lot of shoes. it wouldn t be st. patrick s day without them, that s for sure. we re also going to be cooking up some tasty green treats with the help of martha o stewart later on. also some bagpipers are coming up as well. and we ll talk about what it is like to take your children to the pediatrician. a lot of parents complain they have to wait and wait and wait, then they complain about those germy waiting rooms. we ll talk about things you can do to make your next visit or your child s next visit to the pediatrician a little more efficient. that didn t fit in with anything else we re going to talk about. not at all! except the green stuff that comes out of it is a theme. how about a check of the weather? you bet. let s see what s happening as we look ahead toward your weekend. st. patrick s day, plenty of sunshine throughout the northeast, great lakes. showers in the pacific northwest. we re also looking at rain down through the great lakes. sunny skies through the southwe southwest. for tomorrow, plenty of good morning. a beautiful blue sky over the region on this wednesday morning. i live picture, we are jumping about in a blustery wind. temperatures are near 40 and mid 40 no, sir washington. many of the rural areas in the 30s, but it will warm into the 60 wise lots of sunshine. sunny and warmer tomorrow. lows near 40 and highs near and that s your latest weather. we ve got a very special st. patrick s day treat for us. the nypd emerald society bags and drums band. this is a tradition based on the new york city police department colors. this is the nypd blue uniform and we were formed in 1960. this is the uniform this is your 50th annivers y anniversary. 50th time up 5th avenue. anything special you ll be doing today. we ll be marching, celebrating bryan marra 50th time up the avenue. here we go, the emerald society police department bags and drums. up the avenue. here we go, the emerald society police department bags and drums. the nypd emerald society pipes and drums band. and we ve got martha stewart with some green . announcer: martha in your day. only at macy s. macys.com. this morning on martha on today, we re celebrating the color green on st. patrick s day. martha stewart has four quick recipes focused on seasonal green veggies featured in the april issue of martha stewart living. good morning to you, martha. good morning. and it is green. like you. you re green. what is appreciate right now and how should it be prepared? well, peas, asparagus, snow peas, kale, collards, winter greens that grew all winter and are now being harvested after the cold. and pea shoots. all kinds of really great stuff and all the fresh hbs that are growing. the trick is to not overcook. raw, steamed, slightly blanched some things should be cooked. kale should be cooked. it tastes better, but not overcooked. we don t want to cook things for hours and hours. only thing to cook a long time is an artichoke. to prepare an artichoke, you buy these beautiful, beautiful chokes. these are available, coming in beautifully from california where they grow all these beautiful artichokes. you take off the stem end. it is very easy to prepare. how often do you cook artichokes at home? i mean fairly frequently to be honest with you. yeah? then you trim off. why do you thim that? they re very sharp. you don t cut that off? no, i never do, martha. and i ve never once gotten hurt either. you haven t. they are prickly and they actually make a nice presentation. it looks prettier. that s why i think you do it. try to cut the tip off this one. cut it off straight down here. okay. now that i don t do either. it takes a long time to cut it. just keep going. then you pull the leaves apart and you take out what s in there, is that little choke, i call it the horry core. you can use a grapefruit spoon or just a sharp spoon. you re having a big just keep going. ignore me. don t draw attention to this. then once do you that then you take out that core. take the core out. and then i m exhausted! then you take out all that hairy stuff. i don t do that either. but if you want to serve it with a nice dressing, it s nice interest have that out of the choke. you can also take that out once it s cook. ste steam them upside down for about 30 minutes. to test it, try to pull the leaf out. if it pulls right off see if that s tender. good. perfectly cooked. upside down it doesn t get very wet. ooh! these are still a littlbit hot. we ve got to moveon. serve that with sauteed garlic and a wonderful combination of olive oil, a little butter, lemon zest and parmesan cheese. this makes a great dressing for the artichokes. now blanching is zblish don t know what that is. for peas, snow peas. blanching is basically bringing a pot of water to a boil. add a tiny bit of salt and do you buy shelled peas or or shell them on the back porch? yeah, i shell them, martha. every afternoon. so boil those just until they re tender and that s what blanching means? that s what blanching means. you stick it in the ice why? so it won t overcook? yeah. try that. good. tastes fresh, right? and they re cooked. this goes into our beautiful green salad. asparagus is raw? these baby ones are delicious raw. and the peas. you put anything on that? buttermilk. buttermilk, white balsamic vinegar, thyme, a little tarragon. make that in the blender and you have a very pretty fresh salad. that s gorgeous. it really is. then here snow peas cut on an angle. that will take you a little time. how did you do that? cut the snow pea this way and cut this pretty. right? that should be dressed just with lemon and a little salt and pepper. serving fresh greens with a little bit of acid, light lemon on balsamic vinegar are very good. kale and collards, sauteed in olive oil with a little bit of garlic. after it is cooked add a little bit of cannellini beans if you d like. toss lightly with a little bit of vinegar. it gets the greens on your table, gets vitamins into your family and it is so delicious. really, really good. you have no green so just hold that. i m aware of that. i m not irish but i like the irish so much. and st. patrick s day. up next, how to get the most out of your child s next visit to the pediatrician. announcer: today s moms is brought to you by walmart. save money, live better. walmart. this morning on today s mom, it is a parents guide to the pediatrician. pediatrician and mother of three, dr. jennifer tractenberg is the author of the smart parents guide to getting your kids through checkups, illnesses and accidents. doctor, nice to have you here. recently parents were surveyed and they said what are your may jort complaints about going to the pediatrician. let me show you the list. 51% said long wait times. 26% said germy offices. and 23% said distracted doctors. those results don t surprise you, do they? not surprising at all. i m a mom myself, i he three children. i can certainly understand how hard it can be to wait when you have young children. how do you avoid a wait? once you get your child into the doctor s office, everyone wants time. they want time to talk about all the problems. that means someone s going to have to wait. is there any way around it? oftentimes parents, even new parents, don t know how long it takes to get out of the house. you ve got a newborn and you ve got stroller an the car seat. it really takes a long time. plan ahead. a good tip is to call 30 minutes before your appointment and see how the doctor s runng. if they re late, ask them if you can come a few minutes later. don t assume the doctor s going to be late and show up late because that creates a ripple effect. exactly. germy offices. sick kids are going to see the doctor. any way to avoid that? one thing, bring your own toys. your child can then play with them also while they re iting. disinfectant wipes. we leave them out in our offices but can you bring your own as well. doctors have complaints also. pediatricians complain about parents all the time. first they say parents either don t show up or show up late. but when they do arrive for the appointment, a lot of parents are not prepared. what s a parent have to do to prepare? the most important thing is really for parents to partner with their pediatrician. you need to be prepared. you want to come with your list of questions so you know what you want to speak with the doctor about ahead of time. why is the timing of the questions so important. doctors say parents come into the office, we go through the whole checkup, just as the appointment s about over they start asking questions. not a good idea. i call that the doorknob moment. the doctor s about to leave the office, then you start asking all your questions. if you ask them up front, that s where that list comes in landy, you ll get more complete, longer answers. this is unavoidable for a lot of parents, but doctors complain when parents send their children with a nanny or guardian. again, sometimes parents can t make it but if you can make it why is it so important for the parent to be there? you really want to be at the appointment if you can make it. you ll get more specific information regarding your child s condition but you also can discuss other things like nutrition, developmental issues, emotional and stress. you really want to be there. what i would recommend is call your doctor. sometimes they have hours early in the morning or late evening hours. if you really just can t come in, have a phone number where the doctor can reach you while your child is there. what information is essential for me to bring with me or at least have at my fingertips when i bring my child to the pediatrician? as a smart parent, bring all the information about their medical history. you may not know what s important shouldn t the doctor have that already? if your child is sick, know how long they ve been sick, what you ve given them. include things like over the counter medicines, supplements, even some home remedies. they can have side effects or reaction that you may not be aware of. one major pet peeve, bringing other children again, unavoidable sometimes but if you bring a sick child to the doctor, you want to try not to bring other kids there as well. it s true. sometimes you can t avoid it because you have to watch your kids. but again, don t be distracted. the whole idea is you want to be prepared and get as much information from the doctor. bring activities for them to do. if you have a friend or sitter that can come an watchhem while they re in the waiting room as opposed to bringing them in the examination room. exactly. all right, doctor. good information. 8:49. read an excerpt from the smart parents guide at our website, todayshow.com. a special st. patrick s day performance from river announcer: the toyota concert series on today, brought to you by toyota. toyota. moving forward. it is st. patrick s day so what better way to get in the spirit than a performance from the irish dancing phenomenon, riverdance. the dance group exploded on the worldwide scene 15 years ago and has been thrilling audiences ever since. the group s lead dancers are here. go morning, happy st. patrick s day. cannot believe it has been 15 years. do you believe it yourself? no. no. like 15 years, it s just flown by. both melissa and i have been part of it for 13 years now. we absolutely love what we do. to be part of it here in radio city music hall, the mecca of entertainment and performing and we are delighted to be here. how has the show changed over the 13 years? what have you witnessed? i mean, there s been 19 instructors through the years, different dances are added to the show and costume changes. it s just evolved. but riverdance doesn t need to change because it is so good and there s so much entertainment for everybody and to see and something for everyone in the audience to see. it is a fantastic show. we cannot wait any longer. i ll take the mike from you and you do what you do so well. riverdance.  12340e9 the ladies and gentf the riverdance, thanks and happy st. patrick s day. we 8:55 is your time on this march 17th, 2010. we are following breaking news on the baltimore-washington parkway. good morning. good news. all lanes of the bw parkway are reopened. the crash occurred about 4:00 this morning and they closed while they did their investigation. delays out of laurel and northbound coming up from riverdale. i-95 might be a better bet to give it time to clear out. let s go tomont gentlemenry northbound. a serious crash with an overturned vehicle. fire and rescue vehicles and southbound squeezes by. 395 northbound still struggling to recover approaching the 14th street bridge. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: does charlie daniels play a mean fiddle? fiddle music charlie: vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. the air is fresh and chilly and bright sunshine and a blue sky. into the mid 60s and sunny and a bit warmer tomorrow, friday, and saturday and a chance of rain on sunday afternoon. sunday afternoon. thank you. you re sure about this? i m telling you: on our budgets these are bucket seats. but it rides like a dream. just buckle up and i ll take you for a spin. buckle. i would love to buckle. (announcer) that is not smart. what is smart is getting more car for your money at carmax. our high quality used cars are loaded with the features you really want all for the budget you really need. and with a 5-day money-back guarantee, peace of mind comes standard. now more than ever, the smart choice is carmax. the way car buying should be. we re back now witmore of today on a wednesday morning, the 17th day of march, 2010. tamron hall, jump in any time. i ve been celebrating all morning. i m one beat off. st. patrick s day. a lot of people you are looking at right now like that guy right there will be hding over to 5th avenue for the big parade that kicks off in just an hour or so. couple hours. out on the plaza, i m matt lauer along with al roker and tamron hall. ann curry is on assignment. we ll talk about the comeback. tiger woods has announced that he will return to professional golf in three weeks at the mats ter masters tournament down in augusta, georgia. how will the fans read it in will his wife be at his side? can he win in his first tournament back? we ll talk about that in a couple of minutes. later on, some financial advice in today s money 911. this morning, saving for retirement in your 50s, how to check your credit without hurting your score and whether filing for bankruptcy can hurt your career. answers to those questions and a whole lot more. all things irish. we re celebrating with a great crowd out here. and in celebration of it, we re going to have a good old-fashioned irish cook-off. no corned beef, no cabbage. we re getting down. dishes that are traditional. natalie and i will judge the best dish. you re not cooking, you re judging. no, no, no, i cannot cook, but i can eat. and i m getting down. natalie has all the headlines. good morning, everyone. flood warnings are up this morning in parts of the northern plains where some requires are way over their banks. in centerville, south dakota, roads are under water. along the red river in north dakota and minnesota, students and other volunteers are stacking sandbags. that river is expected to crest this weekend. meanwhile in the northeast, more flooding as the result of last weekend s big storm there. today a court in pakistan formally charged five americans with planning terror attacks in pakistan. they re accused of contacting militants on the internet. the five from the washington, d.c. area had been in custody in pakistan since december. if convicted, they could face life in prison. more critical meetings today on capitol hill for health care reform. house speaker nancy pelosi meets with female democrats as she looks for ways to move the bill forward. democrats are considering trying to advance the bill without a direct vote, something critics are denouncing. president obama is marking st. patrick s day today by meeting with ireland s prime minister brian cow an at the white house. honda is recalling more than 400 odyssey minivans and elements because of potential brake problems. the 2002007-2008 model years. officials say the problem is linked to at least three accidents with minor injuries. today toyota technicians and government investigators are are examining a car north of new york city where the driver s vehicle hit a stone wall but was not hurt. history in alaska on tuesday as cancer survivor lance mackey became the first person to win the 1 h,100 mile iditarod dog e race. he is a hero. let s go back outside to matt, tamron and al. got to like that new truck. let s check in with al with the weather. we re here with a group of university of new hampshire, guys in chemical engineering? yes. that doesn t sound right. i m sure it s a great thing, whatever you re doing. spring break, there you go. they ll do a little alcohol engineering later today. let s check your weather our director can help them with that. we ve got wet weather working its way through the gulf coast where those spring breakers are getting wet. we ve got more rain moving into the pacific northwest. good news for the red river valley and parts of the midwest, good news is sunshine. the rivers are still cresting and they probably won t crest well above flood stage until some time on sunday. warm weather from texas on into the southwest. showers in the pacific good morning. cool and clear and bright sunshine and a cool sky. southern maryland near the bay further to the west in the low to mid 40s and upper 30 no, sir a few locations. we will have it into the mid 60s with lots of sunshine and clear near 40 tomorrow morning. sunny is thursday and highs near 70. the dry pattern continues friday and saturday and highs in the upper 60s that s your latest weather. natalie? al, thank you. all eyes are on tiger woods again as he prepares for his highly anticipated return to professional golf next month at the masters after leaving the game amid a sex scandal. but will he have the support of fans and his wife? nbc s peter alexander is at augusta national. peter, good morning. reporter: natalie, good morning to you. this is where it is all goingo happen three weeks from now. tiger woods returns to the sport that he has long dominated and one of the most celebrated sites in all of golf, augusta national, a place where tiger s already a four-time masters champion. in a statement yesterday, tiger said i feel like i m ready to start my season at augusta. it will undoubtedly be one of the most anticipated comebacks in all of sports. tiger woods announcing tuesday he ll return to golf at the masters beginning april 8th. golf has been ready for him to come back but it is up to him when it is tim to come back, and obviously he said it s time. reporter: it will be a new chapter nearly five months in the making, after the golf icon s once-carefully crafted image was shattered by that car crash outside his home. that opened the floodgates to a storm of salacious tabloid headlines and uncomfortable admissions of extramarital affairs. i am deeply sorry. reporter: on his website the 34-year-old golfing great says, i have undergone almost two months of inpatient therapy and i m continuing my treatment, adding, although i m returning to competition, i still have a lot of work to do in my personal life. i think the first time tiger woods steps back on the golf course is going to be a very emotional experience for him. reporter: woods announcement was quickly followed by encouraging words from both his sport and his sponsors eager for the return of what s unmistakably their biggest brand. woods billion dollar smile and that swagger haven t been seen since tiger played his last tournament, winning the ceremonial gold jacket last november in australia where he was reportedly accompanied, not by wife elin, but by the first mistress. the wholesome family man persona we once knew of tiger woods is gone. he ll have to recalibrate a new image based on his new mindset. it be interesting to see what that is. reporter: in the past elin has been a proud fixture at many of her husband s tournaments. but just days after the pictures surfaced of th couple together it is still unclear if the couple will be together next month. i wouldn t be least bit surprised if elin is in augusta, georgia but i ll be surprised if we see her walking along the fairways and following tiger s progress as he plays at the masters. i think there will be so much scrutiny around his golf. not sure she s looking to put herself out in the public right now. reporter: tiger made a statement yesterday but his wife, elin, was seen on camera in fact, she was seen at a mall in orlando with the couple s 2-year-old daughter sam. one thing not seen in that shot, her wedding ring. she hasn t been seen wearing it since this scandal first broke, natalie. four months ago. peter alexander, outside augusta national, thanks so much. donny deutsch is the chairman of advertising giant deutsche, inc. courtney hazlett is a celebrity correspondent for msnbc.com. good morning to you both. let me ask you, first off, of all the tournaments to make a comeback, this many the most major of the majors, why this one, donny, and is it a good call? few reasons. one, the masters is notoriously contained as far as contained in a bad sense. the last one to let african-americans in and whatnot. so it is a very controlled environment. also on the other side of it is this is the place, this is the spotlight. so in one way it is controlled, on the other hand its a great kind of platform to launch out. i m not shocked. it is also a place he feels very comfortable. he s won four times before. it is a safe place for him, where he won his very first major. he s won there four times in total. to donny s point, it is so, so controlled. if you ve ever been to augusta, not even to just to try to find the golf course from the road, you can t even do it. this isn t going to be a place with paparazzi lurking in the bushes trying to get some sort of photograph to alter his image away from anything but golf. the media will be very controlled. is this a soft re-entry then, donny and a welcoming public? wherever he would go, it s golf. if i m advising him, he s got to get back to playing. the sexiest story in the world is taking someone down. second sexest story is brig them back up. if he triumphs, we re a nation of winners. if he wins, all is foreo given. really? forget about winning, making the cut by the way, on the continuum of scandals in this country, he didn t rape anybody, he didn t kill anybody, he did what 50% of this country does, unfortunately, be unfaithful. if he walks a straight line and becomes a family man again, he will be bigger than ever. i have to stop being so naive. but is this going to work with elin necessarily. how much is that a factor in the public image going forward? we still see pictures of her not wearing her wedding ring. if she s not there she s typically there at his side at the end of the tournament. if she s not there without the kids as we ve seen in the past, what does that symbolize? if she s there, that s great, obviously standing by herman. if he s not there, he s getting punished. he s okay either way. if she leaves him eventually, he suffers the ultimate consequence. if she sticks by him, he s obviously a new man. either way, the tiger brand, tiger will be fine. will all women love him? it is up to elin to say what she wants to do in her life. his team didn t do well up until this point. he didn t do well up until this point. he was secluded in two months for treatment. he s very quick to point out in his statement yesterday he s not brushing that he s not making that part of his past. he says i m returning to competition, i still have a lot of work to do in my personal life. he s certainly acknowledging that he recognizes that there s still an ongoing issue here that he has to work on. it is not like he s trying to he s going to have to say that the rest of his life to protect his brand. you know, we don t always put saints on top of the world. he may not have a family spokesperson type of person. he ll have an evolved brand. michael jordan didn t become an icon, hero in the same climate. we have more video games, more children with access. kobe bryant has all of his endorsements back. this guy was originally accused of rape. that s a good point, will tiger woods see his endorsements come back? absolutely. he will be bigger than ever. first, 70% of his revenue has stayed. he ll get new advertisers. they may not be female oriented products. but not one man is buying one less golf shirt because of what tiger woods has done. with that wholesome image people in their mid 20s, really grew up with tiger men and women, donny clearly we re talking different men, but the men that i ve talked to have said, this was a hero of mine and i am disappointed in him. we re all disappointed in him. i m just saying he s still the greatest golfer in the world, that s his brand, that hasn t changed. he might be the greatest golfer in the world. if he doesn t make the cut the game of golf certainly needs him because they ll need those ratings. i want the names of those m whose lives have changed. we ll do that during the commercial. great job, thank you so much. coming up next, getting your finances in order. advice on everything from filing for bankruptcy to saving for retirement in today s money 911. also, if only you had more time. we ve got the gadgets that are sure to help every busy person get time back. first these messages. that s why there s new danonino. danonino! unlike leading kids yogurts, danonino has twice the calcium of milk, ounce per ounce, with vitamin d. so it s power packed for healthy growth. and its rich creamy taste is. yummy! so they can start building strong bones today. for stronger bodies tomorrow. new danonino from dannon. power packed to help kids grow. to cover up flaws and make skin look pretty but there s one that s so clever, it makes your skin look better even after you take it off. neutrogena healthy skin liquid makeup. 98% of women saw improvement in their skin s natural texture, tone, or clarity. does your makeup do that? 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(woman) for me, pristiq is a key in helping to treat my depression. (announcer) ask your doctor about pristiq. welcome back to o today s money 911, our experts answer all of your financial questions. our crack team today, today financial editor, jean chatzky. david bach, and cnbc s personal finance correspondent sharon epperson. good morning to all of you. you ve got great advice, too, on this st. patrick s day. start off, jean, a lot of viewers apparently responded to a website that you suggested last week in our first viewers from honolulu, writes you recently tolds with creditkarma.com. checking my credit score monthly, will it have a negative impact on my score? that s a great question because if you check your credit score yourself, as you would do with creditkarma, does not affect your score at all. but if you re at the mall they ll check your credit and then it will take your score down a little bit. but you can check your credit or pull your credit report fro annualcreditreport.com without any impact whatsoever. you should do this several times a year. next, sheena from indianapolis, she s on the phone. good morning, sheena. what s your question? well, we filed chapter 13 last year and recently converted to chapter 7. i wondered how long fha would make us wait before we could purchase another home? david? sheena, first i m sorry you ve gone bankrupt. a lot of people are going through what you are. first of all, there is hope for you. you will actually be able to buy a home within fha potentially after two years, that s after chapter 7. in some cases fha will make an exception, say you had a death in the family of a wage earner, they ll look at it after a year. i would tell you before you go to buy a home this time around, the real key is to get yourself enough savings set aside. i d working to put down at least 10% before you buy a home. most importantly, you really need six months worth of expenses to even a year before you buy that next house. don t just rush back in to buying a home. with that said, buying a home is one thing that helps you build your credit score and before you can buy a home, the banks will want to see you ve been paying bills consistently and that you re someone improving their credit score. work for the next 12 to 18 months to pay your bills always on time and build back up that credit report. can we just make the point that people should really take into consideration what this costs to live in that house, to heat it, take care of the lawn. you need backup money. absolutely. and what wil it cost for property taxes that will likely be going up. factor that in. that s a big cost that sometimes people don t factor in. sheena, you have to do some soul-searching before you move forward but thank you for calling. stacy in washington, d.c. with us via skype. good morning. good morning. i received a letter indicating that a credit card i ve had for about 16 years is going to start requiring an annual fee. i m given the choice of opting out of the fee with the understanding once the balance is paid off the account would be closed but i don t get any benefits with this card with an annual fee. i wonder if it will hurt the accountfy close it. sharon, should she? no, don t close the card. how much are you paying for that annual fee? $60. $60 is not a lot of money when you think about the impact it could have on her credit score for closing an account that you ve had for 16 years. credit card companies want to see and credit reporting bureaus want to see a long credit story. by canceling that card you cancel a card you had for a long period of time. also a high credit limit likely. that could be negative on your score. kim from akron, ohio is on the phone. what s your question? hi. i m 54 years old, divorced. i want to know where i should be putting my money now to make it work for me in retirement. i want to wish my mom a happy birthday. got to get that in there! 401(k) is key. because she s 54, she can do a catch-up contribution and contribute up to $22,000 in a 401(k). definitely do that through the company match. if she s not working, do a roth i.r.a. she also has the catch-up contribution up to $6,000. then you take that money and put it to work for you by putting probably 40% to 45% into stocks, theest into bonds so that you know you re going to get growth for the future. use a target dated mutual funds. if you use a frk plan look for a target dated mutual fund right around the time you are retiring. fantastic information. thank you all, jean, david, sharon. greatly appreciate it. good advice we can all use. coming up on today, can men and women really just be friends? it is an age-old question. we ll get to the bottom. but first, these messages. spread a little joy and see need a little happiness to be living the life with me spread a little joy and see need a little happiness to be living the life with me wellbeing. we re all striving for it. purina cat chow helps you nuture it in your cat. with a full family of excellent nutrition. and helpful resources. purina cat chow. share a better life. purina cat chow. new anti-aging eye roller. reduces puffiness immediately and also helps with lines and wrinkles. not surgery. this is our way to do your eyes. new regenerist anti-aging eye roller. to stay in your taco? ¿qué si ponemos los frijoles refritos? [ male announcer ] old el paso refried beans. the tasty way to keep toppings in your taco. feed your fiesta. the tasty way to keep toppings in your taco. . calling all dog lovers. we re looking for today s 2010 top dog. if your dog has talent, heart or great energy, submit your video to todayshow.com. we ll take submissions through the end of april. still to come on today, in honor of st. patrick s day, an irish showdown between two hot chefs facing off with comfort food in today s kitchen. whatcha doing, little bite? trying to be big like you, dad. you re so good at keeping everyone full and focused with your fiber. but you already are great at doing that. really? sure! you re made with fiber just like me. but best of all, you re the perfect size for smaller kids. give your little ones kellogg s® frosted mini-wheats little bites™ cereal. in chocolate and now original flavor. they re an excellent source of fiber packed in a smaller size. oh, it s original little bite. we re off to practice keeping em full and focused. yeah, we ve got big shoes to fill. ( man ) last summer my kid made 4 figures. does he need to file a tax return ? they re not just any questions. ( woman ) did we just make a charitable donation ? they re the trickiest, thorniest, questions of all. ( woman ) is this considered a home office ? bring your tax question to the company that helped clients get over 43 billion dollars in refunds last year alone. how can i get more money ? click, call, or come over. h&r block: get it right. snin:26 is your time. sunshine and a beautiful day ahead. the forecast is after the news. it is wednesday march 17th, 2010. metro is stepping up police presence after a rash of robbies targeting students, the latest involving a 14-year-old. the vehicles are being robbed by other teens. most happen along the red line. a heads up for drivers on the gw parkway. lanes close between 10:00 a.m. and noon. please need to close as part of a deadly truck crash investigation monday morning. we will be back with your bright sun and a blue sky warming up and with to near 50. mid 60s mid-afternoon and sunny and warm or thursday, friday, and saturday. afternoon highs in the upper 60s to near 70. end of the weekend, maybe sunday afternoon and evening could get showers. how is the traffic? we will take a live look. 395 is jammed into downtown. a series of accidents from earlier have been cleared, but it will be tough on in. 270 is no picnic. german down to the split is part of the problem. it was the sunshine causing delays. thank you. we will have another update in 25 minutes. for now back to the today sho i found something that has given me peace even in the worst of circumstances, and it makes me know that all of us can find peace, even in the chaos of our own lives. all week we ve been answering the questions that you want answered the most, so you tell us. tomorrow on today, ann is going to tell us how she achieves balance in her life with all of her globe trotting and emotional stories. she shares her strategy for maintaining a peaceful life. that s coming up tomorrow on today. meanwhile, ann is on assignment right now. natalie morales, along with msnbc s tamron hall who s helping us out today. how much would you pay for more time in your day? priceless. absolutely. a lot of women would say that exactly thing. a new survey found that 85% of us found cleaning, cooking and work responsibilities are the biggest time consumers in our day. real simple magazine found some gadgets that will give you extra minutes in your life. this lad and lass are going to need the luck of the irish today. they re going to go head-to-head in an annual irish cook-off in honor of st. patrick s day. appropriately this time, they had to include something green in their recipes. they are ready. we re going to be the judges. we ll see how much they re having after thee judge them. you re going to be the simon, i m the paula? i ll be simon. the wizardry world of harry potter is opening this spring. if you want to be the first to enter into harry s world, your class can enter the contest. tell us why the class is extraordinary, whether performance, community service project or academic achievement. your class might have a chance to win. go to todayshow.com for all the great details. let s get another check of the weather right now. al al. happy st. patrick s day. new york city s parade, beautiful, sunny temperatures in the 60s. chicago, fabulous, sunny, 54. savannah, light rain. shamrock lake, minnesota, 56, sunny. dublin, ohio, sunny, 62. sunny in dublin, california. sunshine. clover, south carolina, 58 degrees. some clouds and good morning. after a chilly start, we are warming up and the temperatures are approaching 50 around the region. bright sunshine and a blue sky with us throughout the afternoon. highs reaching the mid 60s. overnight tonight and clear down to 40. on thursday it should be bright and sunny, but warmer near 70. morning les in the mid 40s and and that s your latest weather. tamron, natalie? thank you, al. life is all about timing, we know that. we ll check out gadgets that can add time to your very fast day right after this. fact: your child could pick up the flu virus, even h1n1, from surfaces. but, lysol disinfectant spray has the power to stop the spread of cold & flu viruses. it s approved to kill more germs than any other brand. it even kills h1n1. lysol is the number one brand recommended by pediatricians. lysol. disinfectant to protect. also use lysol disinfecting wipes to kill flu viruses. why do women like you love activia light? sometimes i have no choice but to eat on the run. and to eat whatever happens to be around. heavy greasy food that s hard on my diet. and my digestive system. so i eat activia light every day. activia light, with bifidus regularis is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system. mmmm. the new taste is better than ever. and with only 70 calories activia light helps make it easier to watch my weight. it helps me feel good and look good too! activia! there s a full serving of vegetables in every manwich. announcer: surprise. every manwich has a full serving of wholesome vegetables. manwich. meat your vegetables. love to see kids spirits shine. superstar and mom, martina mcbride and sunnyd of wholesome vegetables. shine on sunny taste. sunny spirit. sunny d. ladies, raise your spoons. now there s nothing left standing between you and a satisfying breakfast. introducing special k low-fat granola. with 50% less fat than the leading granola. and 5 grams of fiber per serving, it s a satisfying way to help you manage your weight. special k low-fat granola a taste of freedom. let s go to last night s highlights. there s mom and dad cleaning up. and there s the meatloaf. yuck. look what sometimes happens with the ordinary bag. it slips, oh, bingo, it falls in. mom was mad. mom should have used glad forceflex with the new stretchable drawstring that grips the can and stays in place. plus, it has the stretchable strength of forceflex. that s all today for glad tv. both: don t get mad get glad! home, time saving gadgets. if you d love to find a few extra minutes in your already-busy day, we have some items that can help you. the editor of real simple magazine and author of just let me lie down, kristin, good morning. love the title! you probably feel that way. the book is filled with great lists and information on how women can cut back on some of those things that are taking up all of our time. what are some ideas that you have? and a lot of working mom stories. in terms of free time, as i write about in the book, i have this break-through moment a couple of years ago involving an oral surgeon and my son and my blackberry. it is embarrassing, but it led me to see that it was either kind of my blackberry or my life. for a lot of working moms, you have to know where to sort of cut the ties and so that is how i find free time in my life. i think as we re going to talk about here, you also need to have systems. any working mom or any person needs to have systems to kind of figure out how to carve out free time in a week. first thing is being organized. right. a lot of great tools to help you get organized. i know in my house with two boys, balls are everywhere. sports equipment, everywhere. one of the things i spend a lot of time doing is picking up after them. right? just like full-time job. right. i have three boys so i feel your pain. yes, there you go. if you have family members, boys, girls, husbands, wives who do multiple sports, can you get a system like this, and then p.s., try to convince your kids to put everything back in its place. everything goes kind of in o system. you can also do something, if either you do fewer sports or need several of these in different parts of your house, where you ve got kid s playroom, garage, a basement, where you can this is less expensive. half the price. these are two different options. lot of different categories to spend more and save time or spend a little bit es less and still save time. that whole morning routine can be rough. have you things to streamline the process. a huge poll showed 62% of our readers said the morning is the worst time of day in terms of time saving. you can get an incredible bells and whistles coffeemaker like this. coffee, tea and hot cocoa. you can get these little packets at any kind of grocery store. it is programmable for a certain time of day. this is the expensive option. then you can also get this which is about $13. and this is a brew-and-go situation where it just brews right into your to-go cup. particularly for people who commute? this is a really good choice. perfect. now a lot of people like to entertain still and that can be time consuming, especially if you wait for things like your wine to get cold. you have the expensive option and more low-tech option. th is a dedicated wine cooler. you program it based on the kind of wine you want to put in there. the cooling timeepends on the variety of wine. this is the re low-tech version which basically this has like 30 uses. you put it in your freezer. it makes ice cubes here. you can chill your wine in it, you can put a little bit of water in there which would probably make your win chill faster. take it on a picnic, you can put your dips in here. summertime, barbecues, all of it. perfect. now cleaning your house. we love that fresh smell when you walk in the door. you got which is like faux cleaning. we re going to faux clean today. this is sort of the more high-tech, more costly option. which is you just take five drops of this oil with water. plug this thing in and it just creates you can choose your scent. smells wonderful. in any room creates a great scent. less expensive, this is a charcoal device that basically eats odors. it is good for really small spaces, good for your car. it lasts for six months. then after that you put it out in the sun and it basically recharges itself. soaks up odors. then over here, if you do want to enlist some help, this will cost a little bit more but i hear these things are this is the roomba. people are addicted. this can clean four rooms. this can vacuum four rooms while you sit on the sofa. press the button and it goes around. just the corner it can t really quite do. right? this is a dirt devil, much less expensive option. the great thing about this is it does wet and dry spills. great. perfect. particularly if you re a mom with kids, you probably have a lot of spills. cuisinart. mother of all time-saving devices in the kitchen. the less expensive version this unbelievable dash bit of a workout as you can see but you can tone your arms. chef and veggie chop. this is great. finally, we ve got kind of i m sure you ve seen salt is becoming this sort of status symbol. there are so many samts and it s become so fabulous. you can do kind of a salt and pepper grinder which is the more expensive version, or you can get this thing which is from jamie oliver. i have one of these at home. it is a mortar and pestle. it has a ball in here, you can crush herbs, you can put salt in pepper. you have to shake it for a while but it is completely low-tech and an innovative invention. not as much mess cleaning up. true. great gadgets. thanks. coming up next, an irish chef showdown. our annual st. patrick s day cook-off is on right after this. , it helps relieve the pain, stiffness, and swelling of ra with one dose a month. visit 4simponi.com to see if you qualify for a full year of cost support. simponi™ can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious and sometimes fatal events can occur, such as infections, cancer in children and adults, heart failure, nervous system disorders, liver or blood problems, and allergic reactions. before starting simponi™, your doctor should test you for tb and assess your risk of infections, including fungal infections and hepatitis b. ask your doctor if you ve been to region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you re prone to infections, or develop symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start simponi™ if you have an infection. [ female announcer ] ask your rheumatologist about simponi™. just one dose, once a month. as simple as bake them, frost them, devour them. this sunday delight your family with pillsbury. fresh butter taste yes, that s here no hydrogenated oils so there s no trans fats here whoa. turn the tub around talking about nutrition [ female announcer ] i can t believe it s not butter has 70% less saturated fat than butter and no hydrogenated oils, so there s no trans fat. i can t believe it s not butter, butter taste, better health. i can t believe it s not butter, can you believe how fast kids grow these days? and since 90% of bone strength is developed before adulthood. it s so important that they get enough calcium every day. that s why there s new danonino. danonino! unlike leading kids yogurts, danonino has twice the calcium of milk, ounce per ounce, with vitamin d. so it s power packed for healthy growth. and its rich creamy taste is. yummy! so they can start building strong bones today. for stronger bodies tomorrow. new danono from dannon. power packed to help kids grow. new danono from dannon. this st. patrick s day morning, it is time once again for our annual irish cook-off. the theme this year of course green food. facing off today are once again brian duffy. and rachel allen. good morning and ready to showdown? absolutely. explain the cook-off first. couple rules. first thing, had to feature food that was green. not hard to find green foods. look at me! i know. there s my belt. you re ready. you each came up with your own menu and brian, you ve been here twice before. or you ve won twice before. you ve been here many times. this is my fifth, i think. rachel, are you intimidated? this is your first time. yes. he said he has two of these cups at home. going for a third. nothing like a challenge. brian, what are you going to start cooking? a brown crab cake, crab indigenous to ireland. there are no breadcrumbs in here. low-carb. shrimp, egg whites, little bit of cream and shallots pureed together. green onions, green celery, basil, parsley. little bit of mace, the outer grindings of nutmeg. little bit of worcestershire and mustard. irish love their fish. west coast, this is indigenous. add the crab in, fold it all together. you get these beautiful looking crabcakes. this is jumbo lump. recipe calls for a little bit of claw which is a little bit sweeter. nice and hot pan. non-stick pan. pop them right in just like that. now the fun part of this and what finishes this whole dish off is our pasta. you re making this is a black pepper and parsley. you made that fresh? freshly made for me. i got a great guy in new jersey doing an amazing job. black pepper and parsley. then spinach puree. spinach, little bit of garlic, puree is down. add cream and a touch of butter. little bit more than a touch of butter. then you pull it all together and you have this great green dish. beautiful. little bit healthy if you use whole wheat pasta. no carbs over there. but we ll take away the health factor because you also have the irish trinity as your drink. this is irish mist, little bit of cream de mint. in a minute. rachel s ready to bring it. are you intimidated? i am. what do you have? i goat make something this is actually something that anyone could eat for breakfast. it is an omelet basically with spinach in it. good irish butter, irish cheese. lovely cheddar cheese. this will be served with these scones which are green which i cooked when i came in earlier this morning. i think this omelet is a great idea. after partying tonight, this is something you can wake up to tomorrow. perfect. zplif s already rigged it for you. good irish butter. just a little bit. in a hot pan. your spinach is the green requirement for the contest. the lovely green. yum, yum, yum, the butter smells amazing. it is really good. it is rich, of course. saute tspinach a bit. yeah. little bit of salt. i ve going to whisk the eggs, and add in a tablespoon of milk. what s milk do for the consistency? it is going to make it a little bit creamy, a little bit lighter as well. tiny bit of salt in there. you see the spinach is sauteed now. is this considered an irish omelet? well we can call it whatever we want it? it is irish. she s got the irish accent, she s got on green. an irish omelet. then you kind of swish it around. it is in a really hot pan is the egg is cooking quite quickly. add the cheese. sprinkle the cheese onop for just a couple of seconds. the scones are of course irish scones but with lots of chopped rosemary in there. that s it. it s kind of once it s almost cooked on top, sprinkle a little cheese in there. creamy irish cheddar. and then that s beautiful. very nice. i think brian should be worried. we ve got that plated. you explained your scone. you also brought in a little drinky-poo. this is not irish at all. but it is green. this is green melon, some mint, sweet and fresh, lime juice, sugar, and gin. just whip it up. i ll try this first. cold omelet? okay. brian, amazing. here s the elet. this is like speed eating. okay. we have to confer. wait, i need to have that. lovely, brian. thank you very much. gorgeous. the pressure! oh, my god who s going to split the vote? we have a tie. oh, geez. we have to cut the trophy in half. this may be the decider. mm, that s good. okay, the last time. here we go. based on the drink, we give it to rachel allen! > alan thick is 9 time final 56 is the time. tom will have the forecast after the news. it is wednesday, march 17th, 2010. d dot had months of bad luck, but they think it will get its face-lift. they are shutting down the bridge over the weekend until monday. if this sorry sounds familiar, there is a reason. they planned the shut down and keep having to replan because of bad weather. lovely day. warming up and we are around 50. we should hit the mid-60s by mid-afternoon with lots of sunshine and overnight tonight, clear and chilly, but not as cold. bombing out around the 40s. tomorrow should sore to near 70 degrees. on friday in the morning in the mid 40s, highs in the upper 60s near 70 again. we will have lots of sunshine and a sunny day on saturday afternoon. highs near 70. could get showers late on sunday. how is the traffic? a live look and we are dealing with delays along 95 northbound towards the capital beltway and jammed to the 14th street bridge. over on 270 southbound, they decided it was a good time to set up road work. join us for mid-diat 11:00 a.m. until then, have a hey, everybody. it s wednesday, march 17th. also known as st. patrick s day. we re celebrating this st. paddy s day with an irish canadian. allen thicke is with us today in for kathie lee. hello to you. where else would you want to be? maybe dublin, on st. paddy s day, than new york city. i m irish canadian. family name is brennan on my grandmother s side. first son s name is brennan. i m with my the favorite irish egyptian of all time. you ve got that right. and i ve always wanted to know what it felt like to be kathie lee for a day. how does it feel so far? so far i m into it. to really feel it, you must take one sip. i ve heard that. that s how you can feel. you re a guilty pleasure of mine ery day. it seems to be a drinking theme here every day. happy hour the last 90 minutes. just a tiny sip of tha that was real! they re all real. this is going to be closed caption for the chardonnay impaired now. we had yes, kirk. do you think about the old days? i do. it s called the residual days. no. i do miss them. we had a great ole time years ago. we re still in touch. we wouldn t have a big family celebration, a birthday party or halloween party or anything without getting the group together. i know you re proud of this family. your real family, we had your real life son on, robin, a few weeks ago. he is one terrific singer. look at him! look at him. he s quite fabulous. that brings me my real reason to be here today. which is? robin thicke is performing at madison square garden tonight with alicia keys. he s on tour with alicia. madison square blooming garden. i always wanted to pla madison square garden but as a power forward for the rangers. this is the video. i m sorry. your son has a very sexy video there. hold on. called sex therapy. when you watch your son in a situation like this, what do you think? well, you know, i couldn t teach him much about music. so i encouraged his hobbies. but i m a tv dad, right? i thought it was sax therapy. but, no, everybody s naked here. do you ever his music is very, very romantic. not to sound a little weird. but do you ever listen to his music when you know, in that situation? i m just curious. well, no. if you re having i think we all do. you re having a romantic evening. you have a little of the kathie lee chardonnay. you ick your favorite music. and i m an unabashed fan. robin thicke is a great artist. ordinarily when you hear you re getting your cuddle on, you wouldn t want to hear your son s voice. that s usually when you say mommy and i were wrestling. that s usually the enemy of love when you hear a kid s voice. in this case, it is romantic. it s not like he s singing go, daddy, go, daddy. it s a mood setter. so you do like it? i m very proud of his artistry. his wife you re about to be a grandfather for the second time, sfligt. i already have a perfect grandson, tyler. the notion of having a second perfect one there s tyler. i like the mohawk. i couldn t possibly be so lucky. all indications we re going to have another fabulous male. three sons and two grandsons. no women in sight. your youngest son is how old? carter is 12. 12. so you have a 12-year-old son and two grown men. and two grown men. there s robin years ago. that s a lot to deal with. how do you deal with, you know, still a 12-year-old and then the rest of it. i have great support at home from all of them as siblings and from the fabulous tonya who takes care of all of us and keeps our lives together. and corny as it sounds, it is a priority in my life. carter pretty much runs my schedule in my life. and i m so proud of and thrilled with the relationship i have with all my children. you re going to make me cry. i couldn t be more fulfilled. the funny thing, your son, we re talking about robin again for a second. very talented in the music world. what people may not know or may know, you yourself, you re a musician. the theme song from different strokes, that was yours. i sang that. i wrote that. i wonder if we have that. what is right for you may not be right for some that s your voice? that s me. that s me singing, yeah. how come you didn t listen to it again. people do ask about the apple falling far from the tree and, you know, with robin s music. the truth was h kind of talent skips a generation. i was a bit of a hack. i had about six chords. i kept moving them around in different orders until they caught me. i had a lot of fun with music. i enjoyed it. i think my contribution to robin was simply to say, you know, go for your dream and be sure to listen to all the music that s out there. everybody from my old canadian influences from gordon lightfoot to springsteen. i took him to see run dmz and prince and michael jackson. tried to just expose him. i think it s interesting. his son s number one, you guys, but he s number one on top of the urban charts. urban. numero uno on the urban charts. urban, r&b, hip hop. he wasn t black by birth. he s black by choice. he converted. it s so wonderful the way the urban community originally embraced robin. they made him a star. they took him in. they appreciated and got his music and then it spread. certainly we didn t have an urban background. i was born in the far north of canada in a little village. urban was a town that had an intersection. right? so he really got none of that from me except, as i said, exposure to music that i think he has simulated into a very originalartistry. what have you been up to these days? i act when they call me. i write books. look at your book. how to raise kids who won t hate you. i m pretty busy on the corporate front. i do a lot of appearances for corporations and speeches. i had an interesting commercial offer for a male enhancement pill. that s on tv a lot. i was very flattered, but then i thought, wait a minute, maybe i shouldn t was this a lifetime achievement award or was it, you know, i need help and maybe you do, too? did you do the commercial? i thought of what i would say, you know, it s awkward to talk, fellows, about male enhancement. you wouldn t want to be in my views. which by the way are size 19. nothg to be ashamed of. you are so bad. i had my i couldn t pull the trigger. let s go to sara. nice segue for male enhancement. dee yan from iowa wants to know were your real life kids ever jealous of your tv kids? my real life kids were nicely integrated into the growing pains family because they were approximately the same age. they would come over to the studio after the school and eat whatever was left over at craft service and occasionally even sit in on a scene of growing pains. then they would get paid for that. they could sit in a classroom scene. and they becameriends with the cast members. some of those friendships have gone on into adulthood now. all right. we re going to head. we ve got a great guest next. she is the former girl next door. her name is kendra wilkinson. she s going to talk about her new reality show now as a wife and mother, right after the messages. but you already are great at doing that. really? sure! you re made with fiber just like me. but best of all, you re the perfect size for smaller kids. give your little ones kellogg s® frosted mini-wheats little bites™ cereal. in chocolate and now original flavor. they re an excellent source of fiber packed in a smaller size. oh, it s original little bite. we re off to practice keeping em full and focused. yeah, we ve got big shoes to fill. let s go to last night s highlights. there s mom and dad cleaning up. and there s the meatloaf. yuck. look what sometimes happens with the ordinary bag. it slips, oh, bingo, it falls in. mom was mad. mom should have used glad forceflex with the new stretchable drawstring that grips the can and stays in place. plus, it has the stretchable strength of forceflex. that s all today for glad tv. both: don t get mad get glad! ( man ) last summer my kid made 4 figures. does he need to file a tax return ? they re not just any questions. ( woman ) did we just make a charitable donation ? they re the trickiest, thorniest, questions of all. ( woman ) is this considered a home office ? bring your tax question to the company that helped clients get over 43 billion dollars in refunds last year alone. how can i get more money ? click, call, or come over. h&r block: get it right. click, call, or come over. what if you could get 4 yogurts for $1? wow. and not just any brand.dannon. yay! introducing dannon dollar packs. creamy, tasty yogurt with calcium and vitamin d priced for the whole family to enjoy. dannon dollar packs, 4 cups, one dollar! ntene ice shine advanced o-vitamin systems polish strand by strand. for twice the shine. twice the cool. even leading salon brands can t beat these healthy shine results! ice shine from pantene. time yesterday. i used to wear size 23. what are you? like a 4? 27. oh, well that s jeans. that s what i wear. that s what i wear. i d kill for a 27 waste. reality star kendra wilkinson traded in life in the playboy mansion as one of hugh hefner s girlfriend for a life in indiana as wife of nfl wide sever hank baskett. she and hank have welcomed a baby boy into their lives. congratulations. thank you so much. how is it switches gears from being in the playboy mansion to being wife and mother, whole new life? it s amazing. i think my life has changed with the perfect timing and everything. i think, you know, i was that party girl. that party playboy girl. now i m a wife and a mother. and i m just enjoying every chapter of my life. this is where i should be in life right now. i ve always said the word i ve always said the number 24, 24. that s the age i ve always wanted to have kids and be married. it all worked out. it all worked out. i have the best husband, the best baby i could ever imagine. you ve been doing it all at once, though. the baby, the move. you were in l.a. and indianapolis. now you ll be in philadelphia soon. how do you juggle it? our chapters are in six months. every six months is a new move, a new it s great. it s crazy. an adventure. a lot of moms struggle with getting the weight off. there s one scene i loved. you were in one of those sauna suits. it s a blue thing you put it on, you were trying to get skinny for your husband. i think we have this is the sauna suit. tell us how that thing worked out. well, i really don t recommend that. because it s unhealthy. that was just a funny gag for the show and for my husband and everything. but, you know, that just really, you know, loses water weight. what are you laughing at? you have to lose it in a really good way. exercises and a good diet. that s what i like about you. you re not afraid to put on the suit. after pregnancy everyone expects you to look a certain way. you didn t mind showing your belly. i didn t mind it. i said to my show, if i m going to have a reality show i want it to be real and want my fans to know i m real. the cameras didn t think they could shoot that. i m like, no. press play. shoot this. this is something i really want on tv. is that something you wore on date night? i know you re concerned about getting that spark back. i found the perfect dress for date night. i still felt insecure, though, because i you know, it was right after having the baby. i just you know, i was really insecure around that time. you look like you ve lost a lot of weight. how have you done it? every day is changing. every day is a new day. i wake up and see something different about myself. i m not trying to lose i love my body now. i love the weight. it s so funny you see celebrities all the time, i m not a size 2. i m like, yes, i m not a size 2 anymore. that s a good attitude. so many people in hollywood, they want to be as skinny as that. you think women sometimes put too much pressure on themselves to get their shape back too quickly without enjoying the moment? it s truly one of the best experiences in life. why not let it go. during pregnancy i enjoyed everything. i was eating everything. i was just having a good time. jou still like theidea, just real quick, that you are doing this reality show, that you have cameras showing everything? do you still think it s a good idea on season 2? i definitely thk it s a good idea. the show will end one day. they re not going to follow me when it s time to take him to preschool, elementary school. that s when it s going to end. right now we re having a good time. you know, it s all fun. but, you know, i will i will the show will end, you know, one day. it seems so difficult to find new things, new adventures to show on reality television. beuse there s just so much of it. and so many of those storylines are kind of played over. will yours be different and what will make that special? you know what s funny? i was just about to tell you, you know how kate is on dancing with the stars ? i just told my publicist today if i were asked to go on dancing with the stars i don t think i would do it. i would say no to it. i m that mom that wants i want to be there every step. i know i m here for three days. i don t want to spend three months away from my kid, my baby. we wish you the best of luck on season 2. catch it sunday night on e. up next, we finally got the answer to that age-old question, can men and women really just be friends? what do you think? i got two friends right there. there you go. right after this. reagan hosted a tv program called ge theater. now that s part of living better electrically. 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[ roars ] [ female announcer ] only walmart has the two-disc new moon ultimate fan edition with exclusive footage from the twilight saga: eclipse. save money. live better. walmart. why choose between delicious or 100 calories? with yoplait delights. .now you can finally have both. it s the perfect parfait. .with two indulgently rich layers. .of chocolate. .and raspberry yogurt. .and only 100 calories. yoplait delights. get rid of the or . this morning on today s relationships, the questions that span the generations and generations and created quite the reaction here when we touched on it recently. can men and women be just friends, or does it always come down to something sweatier? we st our very own sara haines to see what you had to say. do you think men and women can be friends? absolutely. yes? oh, yeah. definitely. do you believe men and women can be friends? no. do you have male friends outside of this marriage? yes. are they single? yeah. are they good looking? oh, no. no? definitely not good looking. i don t want her friends to be good looking. if it s an ugly friend it s okay. it s okay. i think one party of the friends always has a different interest. once told no guy can be friends with a woman. do you question the motivations of a guy that wants to be friends with your wife? of course. were you guys friends before you started dating? yes. we were friends for a year. did you always want to be more than friends? always. all right. the contributor dr. hello, you two. hello. what s the answer to the question. can men and women really just be friends? with a lot of parameters. it s very difficult. i think there are a lot of there s often attraction as part of a friendship. so both people have to be very honest with themselves, very clear about what their intentions are, and they have to be honest and clear with each other. i think men and women can be friends, but they also have to be friends o your relationship. my wife and i, we have a lot of friends. sometimes we see them together. sometimes we see them individually. but those are friends of our relationship. there s nothing i would ever talk about with one of those female friends that i wouldn t discuss with my wife. do you think men and women can be friends? i think so. i think the rules and you got to be careful if you re planning to run for president. you know, watch those everybody should plan to be running for president and behave accordingly. because that s how you stay out of trouble. what if the other person brings up their wife and the problems that they re having. it seems like there s a point where it s bad. yeah. do not discuss if you are starting to discuss with your friend the problems that you re having in your marriage or if you re frankly discussing anything that yououldn t discuss in front of your spouse, that should be a big red flag. this guy had a you had a situation, didn t you? well, i ve been reading your material. i recall what happened to me back on growing pains with my wife on the television show. both of us were single when we headed into that television show. and the poor girl couldn t keep her hands off me. we liked each other a lot. we were kind of attracted to each other. but we did have the talk. that s important. and because, you know, given our track record, we figured maybe the show would last longer than our relationship. but it was in the enquirer. they said we re an item. i cleared that up. we re not an item. it s not a romance. the relationship is purely sexual. i told you. trouble. by the way, we became the best of friends as a result of straightening all that out. the term that gets bandied about a lot nowadays is my work boyfriend and work girlfriend. you ve got to watch out when you start using that language. even that language alludes to an intimacy you probably shouldn t have in the workplace or in a friendship. if you re having an in-depth conversation even with a work friend, it may be a conversation you end up not needing to have later when you get home because you ve already had it. when you invest emotionally in intimate things in that friend, yes, it can siphon it away from your relationship. and let s face it. it s easier to be your best self with a friend. it s not the hard ride of the marriage. people get seduced into more with their friendships because they feel they like who they re being. they like how that friend sees them. it s easy to delude yourself into really i feel more and more and more for this person. oops. now we re alone drinking. isn t it sometimes real quick having the talk awkward? the other person may not be feeling it. is it sort of weird to say i think it can be awkward. i think you can inadvertently introduce that element to the relationship and then the relationship is changed from there. all right, kids. we got to go. but you were great. you were even better. friends forever. hello. still to come, meredith vieira tries her hand at managing me and kathie lee. it was dangerous. plus a great band, the script, is with us. can you believe how fast kids grow these days? that s why there s new danonino. new danonino has twice the calcium of milk, ounce per ounce, with vitamin d. so it s power packed for healthy growth. yummy! new danonino from dannon. power packed to help kids grow. ( man ) last summer my kid made 4 figures. does he need to file a tax return ? they re not just any questions. woman ) did we just make a charitable donation ? they re the trickiest, thorniest, questions of all. ( woman ) is this considered a home office ? bring your tax question to the company that helped clients get over 43 billion dollars in refunds last year alone. how can i get more money ? click, call, or come over. h&r block: get it right. . coming up today at midday. we are following a developing story out of pakistan. young men from our are are charged with terrorism. we will have the latest. also coming up on midday, we will take a peek at a new musical sitting soon. the kid-friendly show will get your toes tapping. we begin at a few minutes at 11:00 a.m. i want to be a producer we re back on this wednesday with a special series called ask away where matt, meredith ann and al have been asking some of your questions. today it s meredith s turn which explains why she s here. if you re wondering why alan thicke is here it s his turn to fill in for kathie lee. it s very confusing. getting back to meredith now, the question she s here to answer, if you could do any other job on the show, what would that be? and she said it woulde to oversee this hour of the show. taking over for our lovely producer. uh-huh. why did you do it? why did i do it? i actually thought it would be sort of fun to do. it s one thing being in front of the camera. the people behind the camera, they re doing all the work. we know that. they make us look good. i figured i d try. what show needed more help than yours? i m kidding you. i m kidding you. i joke with the one i love. let s take a look. all right. one minute. have a great show. from nbc news, this is today . it happens each morning. the clock strikes 10:00. a broadcast begins. it s one of those shows that starts and you really don t know what s going to happen. hi, everybody. it is tuesday and black and blues day. there s dancing, destruction and dnking. cheers, my darling friend. lots of it. and now they re my responsibility. as their new executive producer. i can handle these two. meredith thinks she s going to tell us what to do? no, seriously. you bet i am. my new gig came with a new office. in case we forget who really matters around here. there we go. and an incredibly sportive staff. here s to the happiest of happy hours. woo! keeping track of the segments on the show, the pacing of the show. that show was fast approaching. hello, ladies! and it was now my job to prep the anchors. i want to class this show up just a little bit. with my reputation on the line, i went into the studio for my big debut. i m a little nervous. about yourself or us? about you delivering. let s do it! yeah, people. let s do it! the countdown begins. where are the cards? there s no wine. i m the producer. i m producing. now you re getting on my nerves. let s really screw it up for meredith. three, two, one. music. from nbc news, this is today. is there any ritual? are you talking, meredith? with executive producer meredith vieira. hey, everybody. it is monday. not around here. it s funday! meredith vieira is our producer for the day. from the start it was clear i needed to take charge and reign these ladies in. . what are you looking at? just finish the story. even law and order s anthony anderson got in on the fun. ms. producer lady. are the inmates running the asylum today? anthony, that was great. as with any live show, time is of the essence. answer the question! 125. nice job, guys. how can you not want those? but there are perks to being the producer. can i take the rice-a-roni? are you stealing them? i m not stealing them. they were give tn to me. i m not stealing them. i m the producer, for god s sake. 15. you don t like animals? a good producer is encouraging. you guys are pathetic if you can t do this. and always leads by example. good job, meredith! i had a handle on the animals. but certain guests were downright difficult. are you ready? will you leave me alone? please, get out of my face. oh, i m so scared of mr. lauer. and we re back to play who knew? today with a very special guest, the only, the only matt lauer is here. thanks for sticking around. for meredith meeier ra joined today in 2006 who was matt lauer s cohost. we ve got to wrap. what do you mean, wrap? it was good, though, matt. she barks at a lot of people. i think she s taking that producing stuff as meaner is better. that matt lauer annoyed me. he was honing in on what was my show. with everything running smoothly, i headed to the control room. the command center of the show. by the looks of it the party was just getting started. our favorite vino vixen is here. what did she say? take a sip, not a gulp. meredith, how you doing? i m reading kathie lee s book. 99 cents right now, barnes and noble. you need a drink in this show. the show ended just like it began. total mayhem. and out of my control. all right, guys. that is a wrap. thank you so much. thank you. not an easy job. what did you really think? can i say that on television? i actually thought it was a lot of fun. i give tammy a lot of credit who produces it every day. she s awesome. she s awesome. where is she? tammy s over there. yeah. put the camera on tammy. this is the real producer of our show. this is tammy. go ahead, alan? that looked like an episode of celebrity rehab. the only show that needs a designated driver. that s the theme here. you do drink a tremendous amount. a little. you re welcome any time. thank you very much. you guys are pros though. thank you, honey. still to come, we have a terrific, terrific band. the guys are called the script. you don t want to miss it. first these messages. ziploc presents ziplogic. 4 pounds of sirloin. but only wrap half. i ll just throw it out anyway. we throw out over $500 worth of food every year. help save more of it with new ziploc freezer bags featuring smartzip. it s a seal you can actually hear close. from edge to edge so you know your food is protected. now that s ziplogic. ziploc freezer bags with the new smartzip seal. get ziploc. and get more out of it. s.c. johnson. a family company. christopher columbus sailed the ocean blue. in 14 hundred and 92. nice! follow me, the missouri river is this way! lewis and clark expedition of 1804. oh, he ll never get this. magellan, 1520. awww, my 8 layers must ve given it away. help keep your kid full and focused with 8 filling layers. of whole grain fiber found in kellogg s frosted mini-wheats cereal. this is one giant leap for mini-kind. keeps em full. keeps em focused. hoo hooo! keeps em full. keeps em focused. where is it written that classes only take place in a classroom? or that a traditional education is the only way to get an education? what if there was a different kind of university? one that s changing the rules. that comes to you, even adapts to how you learn. where is it written that you can t change your life? it isn t written anywhere. we re back with today s kitchen and we are getting saucy with chef coleman andrews. he s going to show us how to make a traditional irish meal in celebration of st. patrick s day. considering he wrote a book about it, the country cooking of ireland, he s probably a very good choice for this. you re not from ireland. i m not from ireland. it s kind of in you. i have a little bit of it in me like most do it seems in america. it seems ke you ve got an irish accident. i m not going to do that. i m not going there. you re making a potato dish. really a classic, classic dish that is basically no more than potatoes mashed with kale. this is kale. wonderful, very healthy. very good for you. they say my irish fans say the reason is that the kale is a late season crop. it s still growing in the winter. the sheep when there s nothing else to eat in the fields, they ll slip under the fence to the kitchen garden and nibble on the kale. leave little tufts of wool behind. it s cooked in this substance unique to irish cooking call ed butter. no. irish butter is the best in the world. so good. a little bit of butter. kale. sauteing it for five minutes. come around this side. i ll put you to work. is there an irish dish that doesn t include potatoes? there is. there are none that don t include butter. i m going to let you do the work. i heard you re an expert cook. this is milk. some scallions. okay. and more butter. okay. i like. i like how you re thinking. we re going to mash these together. all right. that s all we have to do. okay. don t be afraid now. don t be shy. i m in there. think of somebody you re kind of angry at. oh, yeah. i got somebody in mind right now. and she s not even here. all right. we want to leave we don t want it too smooth. is that good? that s beautiful. we just got to make it leave a few lumps in it. this is just a small amount. this would feed half an irish just to give you an idea. does kale have a strong flavor? you ll find out soon enough. it does. but it goes very well with potatoes. this kind of thing is done all over the world. greens and potatoes. germany. we re going to take it back here? take it back here. we ll take this with us. okay. all right. all right. what do we have on tap here? what we have on tap here, first we re going to do something to the kale. we re going to make a little lake. you re not putting more butter in it, are you? yeah. you have to. oh, my god! how much butter is in this? he said a lake of butter. you want to let it melt in there. when you eat it generally you d do this on your plate. it s so sticky. this is great irish butter. i don t know what irish butter is. is it sold in grocery stores? it s sold in grocery stores all across america. this is made by hand. barbara hardy milks her cows every day and makes this butter by hand. we have just about a minute. this is what the irish call bacon. it s cured pork loin. this is pint glass bread. brown soda bread. what do we have on the end? the best irish dessert. ice cream. h i put guinness on it. today we thought we d do irish whiskey. you ve got to taste this. coleman, thank you. we re going to dip our spoons in it as we go to break. coleman, good luck. thank you. coming up next, we ve got a lake of butter. yeah. we ve got the script coming up. incredible. great performance coming up. ( man ) last summer my kid made 4 fures. does he need to file a tax return ? they re not just any questions. ( woman ) did we just make a charitable donation ? they re the trickiest, thorniest, questions of all. ( woman ) is this considered a home office ? bring your tax question to the company that helped clients get over 43 billion dollars in refunds last year alone. how can i get more money ? click, call, or come over. h&r block: gett right. [ bella ] i love you. [ roars ] [ female announcer ] only walmart has the two-disc new moon ultimate fan edition with exclusive footage from the twilight saga: eclipse. save money. live better. walmart. go-gurt is specially made to freeze and thaw by lunch time? so kids can have theifavorite yogurt in their lunch box go-gurt. freeze it. thaw it. eat it up. thaw it. it seems like people are always losing socks in the dryer. we don t know where they go, but what we do know is that bounce has lowered its price. so not only do you t more freshness in one sheet of bounce outdoor fresh than two sheets of the leading store brand, now you get that freshness for even less. so choose bounce outdoor fresh, and never lose out on freshness. the toyota concert series on today, brought to you by toyota. toyota, moving forward. it was one year ago today the dublin born band the script released its debut album. and to celebrate that anniversary today the group s second cd hits the stores, appropriately called the script. the fourth guy is with us, too. hi, guys! who s the fourth guy. this is ben. hi, ben. how are you? congrats on the song breakeven. it s incredible. it s topping the charts. it s gone crazy since we were last on. it was a year ago. you guys were literally one of the first ones to ever ask us, invite us on the show. since then it s just skyrocketed. it s been an amazing year. we ve supported paul mccartney, we ve supported u2. the song breakeven is rocking the american charts. you guys have a connection, don t you? i just found out that you wrote a song with robin some years ago. myself and mark, years ago. excellent. i know from reading your bio, you guys believe that soul comes from anywhere. it s not a black thing. it s not a white thing. we believe that soul is a human condition. we want to hear you sing. very soulful song. if you d let us. we d love it. take it away, guys. yes, indeed. thank you. i m still alive but i m barely breathing, just praying to a good that i don t believe in i ve got time while she got freedom, cause when a heartbreaks no it don t beak even her best days will be some of my worst, she finally met a man that s gonna put her first while i m wide awake she has no trouble sleeping, cause when a heartbreaks no it don t break even, even what am i supposed to do when the best part of me was always you, what am i supposed to say when i m all choked up that you re okay i m falling to pieces, i m falling to pieces they say bad things happen for a reason, but no wise words gonna stop the bleeding cause she s moved on while i m still grieving, cause when a heartbreaks no it don t break even, even, no what am i supposed to do when the best part of me was always you, what am i supposed to say when i m all choked up that you re okay i m falling to pieces, yeah, i m falling to pieces, yeah, i m falling to pieces one still in love while the other one s leaving oh you got his heart and my heart and none of the pain, you took your suitcase, i took the blame no i m trying to make sense of what little remains, oh, cause you left me with no love and no love to my name i m still alive but i m barely breathing, praying to a god that i don t believe in, cause i got time while she got freedom, and when a heartbreaks no it don t break even, even, no what am i supposed to do when the best part of me was always you what am i supposed to say when i m all choked up that you re okay i m falling to pieces, i m falling to pieces i m falling to pieces, one still in love while the other one s leaving i m falling to pieces, cause when a heartbreaks no it don t break even it don t breakeven, no, it don t break even no, it don t break even, no woo! wow! better every time. we have a little surprise for you. as if this wasn t a happy enough st. patrick s day. you guys hit gold. this is a scertificate to show your breakeven certified gold. congra congrats. we ll be back. first, this is today on nbc. male announcer ] now the best seat in the house is in your house. in fact, with the fios total ticket, it can be in every room. unlike cable, only fios gives you a multi-room dvr that lets you record shows in one room and watch them in up to six other rooms. no one will ever have to miss their favorite shows again. and now you can get a multi-room dvr plus set top box free for six months when you sign up for fios tv, internet and phone. you ll get tv with three times more very satisfied customers than comcast, america s top-rated internet, and phone. get it all together for just $99.99 a month a great low price guaranteed for two years. it adds up to savings of $419 over two years. fios total ticket is an awesome value that makes every seat in your house the best seat. so why sit still for cable? call now. 1.866.685.fios. call the verizon center for customers with disabilities at 800-974-6006 tty/v. this is beyond cable. this is fios. alan has gotten a huge, huge facebook response. people want to ask you questions. you re very important. i m happy to answer. let s see what they have to say. kelly from indiana wants to know, what is your favorite memory of the growing pains years? i try never to talk to kelly from indiana. honestly, it would be the friendshi friendships. we really did forge some friendships there. we game an extended family, as i mentioned. both joanna and i had the same age kids as the growing pains actors. it has encured. michelle from texas, what do you think of the reality tv craze such as the kardashians? we all thought maybe it was a phase that would pass. i don t think so. i think everybody will have their 15 minutes of fame.