Remember racing home after school to watch your favorite TV shows?  As soon as the bell rang, my friends and I would break into a full sprint to make it to my house in time for the opening credits of our favorite shows. We'd plop down on the floor with some snacks and drinks and steal an hour or two before one of our parents insisted we start on our homework or do chores or something else we didn't want to do.

None of that would have happened without a Scottish engineer and innovator by the name of John Logie Baird. One of TV's inventors, he was the first to demonstrate a working television on January 26, 1926. Later, he would invent the first color television and the first "purely electronic" color picture tube.

90 years later, I can't help but think that without Mr. Baird's efforts we would have missed so many fun-filled afternoons.  And our parents would have found a way to fill that time — probably with lots more chores!

You've probably already heard about the Friends cast reunion. Not the rumored one where they get together to film another episode, but the real one where they get together to honor the sitcom's director.  Sadly, it will only be a partial reunion. Matthew Perry won't be in attendance because he's doing a play in London, but he will introduce the cast members from "across the pond." Still, I can't wait! I've been watching old reruns for weeks now.

But there's more good news coming out of Hollywood — it won't be just the Friends friends at this huge reunion. Hazy Mills Productions will produce a 2-hour tribute show to honor legendary director James Burrows that will include cast members of The Big Bang Theory, The Bob Newhart Show, Frasier, Cheers, Will & Grace, Laverne & Shirley, and Taxi.

According to Sean Hayes, there will be lots of other special guests gracing the stage on the special that will air on Sunday, February 21 on NBC.

So dig out your DVDs and your favorite TV t-shirts and get ready for a stroll down memory lane through some of television's finest and most iconic television shows!

It's hard to believe that I've been settling in with friends, family and fans to watch the Super Bowl for almost 50 years. Today is the super bowl's 49th birthday and on February 7th, the championship game will celebrate its 50th anniversary. It all started on January 15, 1967 with the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. It was the first AFL/NFL world championship game and it would later become known as Super Bowl I.

With about 60 million people tuned to watch the game on television, the Packers annihilated the Chiefs that day. Packers quarterback Bryan Bartlett “Bart” Starr completed 16 of 23 passes he threw that night leading the AFL team to a 35-10 win.  According to Green Bay coach, Vince Lombardi, the best of the AFL teams (the Chiefs) couldn't compare with the top teams in the NFL. Most people agreed with him -- until two years later when Joe Namath proved him wrong, leading his New York Jets to a 16-7 victory over the the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.

We don't yet know who will be playing in Super Bowl 50, but I know one thing: I'll be tuned in on February 7 to find out. Just like I have 49 times before.

50 years ago on January 8, a Grateful Dead fan recorded their show at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. Since then, over 2,000 live recordings have been made by fans, the band, sound engineers and just about anyone else who could get close enough with a microphone to capture the magic of the epic band.

I owned (and still own) some of those recordings. And I still play them. On a cassette player. Some of them are pretty high quality. Others are "bootlegs", recorded from the audience and full of random snippets of conversations, loud cheering and crowd participation in the singing.  All of them are entertaining, if for different reasons.

Since it's the 50-year anniversary, I decided to dig out all my "Live Dead" tapes and have a listening party with my fellow Deadheads tonight. Everyone's a little older now. You couldn't call any of us  "long hairs" anymore! But most of us still own our old tie-dyed tees. And ALL of us are still dedicated to the Dead.

The new year is the perfect time to reflect on the past (our specialty!) and look forward to the future. As we reflect, most of us make resolutions to change something in the coming year. Lose weight. Exercise more. Clean out the Attic.

For years, I've made New Year's resolutions only to spend the rest of the year breaking them. So this year, I'm making only one. And it's one I know I can keep: I'm going to read more books.

I mean actual books. Paper books. Not the e-versions you can get for your tablets, but the real-honest-to-goodness printed word. But not the long-winded classics, either. After all, I want to keep my resolution this year!

I thought I'd share a few fun and interesting books that I'm determined to read before the end of the year. Maybe one or two will make your reading list for 2016.

Happy New Year!