I'm home for the first time since Tuesday night. Really, I was technically here on Wednesday, but only long enough to get out the door.

Oklahoma is recovering from a rare blizzard in the state. It wasn't merely snowfall; it was technically a blizzard, albeit a small one as blizzards go. The winds, drifts were all there. Visibility was zero -- and I spent three days in the newsroom.

It's funny, but in the news business, you find that even people who would generally hold disdain for the media love them when it comes to giving them information that'll keep them out of a wreck. I've never been so sure that the fearmongering some news outlets are guilty of really interests folks as much as the practicality of should-I-be-on-the-roads coverage.

Weather is the singular news happening in Oklahoma each year. Sports teams can be good or great at times, but weather happens. Severe storms, tornadic activity and, yes, winter weather. No, it's nothing like Buffalo might have; however, Oklahoma is not equipped to deal with severe winter weather just as we're not equipped to deal with hurricanes.

If one were to come along, we're screwed.

People who live in the north love to make fun of southerners who freak out about winter, but don't understand why we chuckle at their expense when they flip out over an F1 tornado, which in our part of the world is merely a nuisance.

Nevertheless, my colleagues and I put in a ton -- a ton -- of work to disseminate information to Oklahomans about the storm, and adrenaline carried us through it all. And sugar. And caffeine.

So, I sit here exhausted, but had a good time doin' what I do.

What it meant though is that my Michael Richards rant stayed up on the site for more than a week. There were Thanksgiving things to do before the winter storm inconvenienced all of us.

The more Richards' sordid story continues, the more I see a guy in real mental trouble. His reaction to his anger in the mainstream media has been odd at best, but I am not so sure that his issues are anything new. From several news items I've read, he was always kind of like this in his younger days.

Nevertheless, I do think folks should give the guy a break. He's a comedian, not a "leader." Second, I think that when a person has serious mental or emotional issues going on, it's quite ok to dismiss some behavior -- chalking it up to the situation or the meds or the stress.

But on to things that interest me quite a bit more:

1. The whole Clay Aiken-Kelly Ripa cat fight (watch the whole thing). Never got to comment on this. Rosie O'Donnell basically outed Clay as a "gay man" (stunner) by submitting an argument that Ripa's reaction to Clay's putting his hand over her mouth was homophobic. Ripa called b.s., saying that Aiken had been shaking everybody's hands before the show.

I agree with Rosie and Kelly.

First, the tone of Ripa's comeback to the Idol star was such that her inference was clear in my book. She made the reference because she believes, everybody else believes he's gay. You can tell it in her voice. That's merely my opinion considering it's hard to make arguments based on an analysis of vocal tone. It's pretty soft to make a judgment of one's intentions merely by the inflection of his or her voice.

On the other hand, if I were Kelly, I would have been annoyed, too.

1. Having somebody's hand over your mouth is NASTY.

2. A man putting his hand over a woman's mouth as a means of "shutting her up," even playfully, to me, is a GIANT no-no unless you're lovers and you're about to be her gimp.

Nevertheless, as funny as I actually think Rosie O'Donnell is, as much as I think she has improved The View exponentially, as much as I might think she has a point, I do think she needs to get a life on this one.

Who cares.

Alright, time to watch "The Soup" and go to sleep. It's been a long week, the roads are going to ice up in places, the temps are getting down to 9 degrees, and OU plays Nebraska tomorrow for the Big 12 title.

Ahhhh, sleeeep.