NancyLoo.net

Ron is going to bat with the facebook team.

Ron Kittle is reaching out to me.  How cool! It’s that Ron Kittle, former Chicago White Sox outfielder, MLB All-Star and Rookie of the Year.  He read my blog post about the facebook friends limit so he messaged to say, “I’m at the same stage with FB and I’ll be speaking with them Monday to work out how to carry over to a fan page.  I’ll keep you posted.”

Ron is an all-around great guy.  I can truly understand why far more than 5,000 people would want to be his facebook friend.  He’s been working hard on many fronts since leaving the world of professional baseball.  When Ron isn’t raising money for the Indiana Sports Charities organization, he’s giving motivational speeches, building unique baseball-themed furniture in his workshop or trying to help out a friend like me.

I wound up starting a facebook “fan page” after noting that my ABC7 pal Linda Yu had to do the same.  She’s been urging friends to move over to the other profile.  (Yes, Loo is a big Yu fan!)  I’m still not clear on how to merge the profile page with the fan page.  I wish facebook would just lift the limit.

Hangin' at Sox Park at the start of the MLB season.

Maybe Ron will have some answers for us after his meeting with facebook tomorrow.  What a thoughtful friend he is.  It makes me an even bigger Ron Kittle fan.

Look, we’re not the same person! NBC5′s Nesita Kwan, CLTV’s Judy Wang, Me, ABC7′s Linda Yu & Joanie Lum, formerly of CBS2

I once told Connie Chung I could probably retire if I had a dollar for every time someone called me, “Connie”.  For a while, I gave up on correcting people.  I mean, what a compliment — she’s a TV news legend!  Connie laughed when I told her that whenever people said “Hi, Connie!”, I would just smile and reply “Maury says hello!”

But c’mon, everyone deserves a closer look and to be known as individuals.  You’d think single-syllable Chinese surnames would be easy to keep straight.  Why do so many people have trouble telling those of us on television newscasts apart?   After 8 years working in Chicago, it doesn’t happen as often.  But once in awhile, I’m called “Linda” or “Joanie” or some mangled version of our first and last names.

Earlier this week while covering a story in suburban Chicago, a man asked, “What are you? Are you Chinese?”  When I answered yes, he asked, “I have a friend in Taiwan. Maybe you know her?”  Are you kidding?!?!  And then he was compelled to tell me, “My son lives north of Seoul.” Uh, that’s in another country and I’m not Korean.  But I do appreciate that he was trying to connect with me and my heritage.

Perhaps this is all pretty trivial given our hectic times and the perilous state of television news. So please keep watching Fox Chicago and all other news sources. Appreciate the messenger. You know, ol’ what’s-her-name!