Over the last, nearly quarter century of being on TV and visiting schools, I've heard lots of great, funny and interesting questions. I like using terms like "quarter century" instead of 25 years because it sounds so majestic and irritates my wife. Like saying someone is "starting their 40th year of life" rather than saying "Happy 39th Birthday!" That kind of counting just irks her but, it is also part of what's kept things interesting for us as we approach the start of our 20th year of marriage...only about five short of a quarter century!

Anyway, back to schools. This is a busy time for such visits for a number of reasons. First of all, many classes do their weather units in the springtime. Second, it is, obviously, an active time of the year for weather around here. And, finally, hard-working teachers don't mind turning over their precious charges for an hour or so by the end of the school year...catching their breath a little. Over the last few days, I've been lucky enough to travel to schools in Leavenworth, Odessa, Independence, Chillhowee and Richmond. (Clearly, the staff of Channel 9 is doing all it can to keep me as far away from the station as possible. I didn't really think this effort would get going with such intensity until we were in the fancy-schmancy new building.) All of the visits have been filled with smiling faces, good humor and interesting questions and comments. However, at one of the schools, I was asked a brand new one. It didn't come from a student but from a staffer and not in the assembly but in the hallway as I arrived. The person looked me up and down with a quizzical look on her face and then said "You don't dress that nice on television, do you? I mean, you wear different clothes on TV, right?" I told her that I was wearing the same suit and tie at the school as I had on that morning on FirstNews. She told me she hadn't watched. The fact is, with my particular wardrobe, what you see is what you get...on the tube or in the flesh.

When I was a kid, I thought I was a pretty snappy dresser. I never wore blue jeans...mostly just to be contrary. I had white shoes and a powder blue sport coat for gala occasions. My day-to-day wear was something a golfer in the 60s would've worn. I was reminded of that from pictures e-mailed to me from the France family back in my Wisconsin hometown. When I was a kid, I assumed the France family was from France. I don't know if they have any French heritage or not but you can't really blame me for any confusion since they lived next door to the Belgium's, across the street from the Yugoslavia's and just down the block from the Lichtenstein's. Anyway, Bob France found old photos of me in some high school plays that I wrote about a few blogs ago. (Put those two words together and you have "BLOGSAGO!" New From Milton Bradley!) The e-mailed photos show me as a festival of polyester. There was not a natural fiber within ten feet of me...including my hair, from the looks of things. They are in black and white but, frankly, color wouldn't help. I wore a lot of blues and grays. Hard-soled shoes. Other kids are wearing blue-jeans, t-shirts, tennies. I look like I just fell out of a Metamucil ad in Modern Maturity magazine.

As for TV clothes, while working at WMTV Channel 15 in Madison, Wisconsin, I had a couple of sports-jackets that made me look like an Easter Egg on steroids. One was sort of a turquoise/robin's egg blue and the other was pink. That pink one was potentially dangerous. Once, while wearing it, I walked too close to the river and a trout fisherman tried to hook me. These pieces of clothing were supposedly kind of hip...Miami Vice and all that. But, it's hard to look like tanned, Floridian, rakishly-stubbled Don Johnson when you are a pasty, pale, Wisconsinite me...who, to this day, can't get any decent stubble going. Upon coming to KMBC, I was told to jettison the pastels and go for "friendly professional." That meant dark suits and conservative ties. I was fine with that, having dressed like an old-time mortician at career day for most of my school years. Starting around 1998, on-air dress standards changed a little. Sports guys started wearing mock turtle necks instead of ties. (By the way, as I get older I am developing a real turtle neck.) Weather folks showed up in shirtsleeves. Open collars became acceptable for reporters. It has been a turn for the casual. I tried wearing a sweater deal instead of a shirt and tie one morning but got nervous about it and changed minutes before show time. (In addition to being a bit stuck in my ways, I also noticed that the sweater didn't allow my chins and tummy adequate space.) I also can't seem to go in front of the camera without a suit coat on. I know it would add to the breathless drama of the weathercast if it looked like I was just too swamped to put on a tie and jacket, but I can't bring myself to do so.

My former FirstNews co-hort, Jim Flink, on the other hand, has great clothes and is always getting compliments. He used to wear a yellowish-gold jacket but our news director said it made him look like a realtor. Now, that would've been just fine except Flink was setting up showings for various listings during FirstNews. Mr. Flink also put highlights in his hair once and looked like the world's oldest Backstreet Boy. I think when you are fast approaching 50 but have small children at home, you will try anything to hold onto your youth. This could also be a bit of sour grapes on my part, as Mr. Flink tends to look like he just stepped away from a photo shoot for GQ when he shows up for work...while I, increasingly, look like an extra in one of Matthew Brady's Civil War shots.

The only part of my wardrobe that gets any consistent mention at all are the ties. Thanks to my wife and children, various schools and viewers, I have a pretty good collection of ties. I can cover quite a few of the holidays. I have some for rainy days and some for sunny. I have one I wear when I know the news of the day is going to be particularly sad or troubling. I have several that make little kids take notice. There are some I wear when I have some sort of important meeting...like when the FirstNews team gets together to talk about how to replace the current weatherman. One is a power tie with blue and red stripes. I think it makes me intimidating. Of course, it doesn't so I resort to the tie with all the members of my family displayed...including the dog...looking needy and pathetic. That tie may be the only thing that has kept me employed here for nearly two decades...or, as I like to put it, a fifth of a century.