So much of life is good people, good luck and good timing. I was lucky to work in an age when most people read newspapers and watched local news on TV.

TPT2 is airing "Broadcast Wars" Tuesday night at 7. It tracks the rivalry of KSTP and WCCO during the '70s, and the unexpected rise of KARE-11 in the '80s.

I'd like to go on record and thank a nearly stationary white EF-2 tornado that stalled over Fridley on July 18, 1986, captured in shocking detail during our 5 p.m. newscast. We were in the right place at the right time with the right team. Paul Magers was a huge part of our success at KARE. He made everyone around him better. That's a gift few people have.

My Thanksgiving gift to you is cold fronts without a pile of frozen water. I'm pro-snow, but preferably not around peak travel season on the roads and in the airports. A stinging wind pulls the coldest air since mid- February into Minnesota. Highs in the teens Friday into the weekend? Ice-making weather. A colder, snowier winter than last year? My spidey-sense? Yep.