Robin Meade

January 23rd, 2007, 5:30AM PST. Do you remember what you were doing then? If you were like most people on the west coast, more specifically, in my residence hall and on campus, you were probably sound asleep. Not this guy.

I've always been an early riser. I used to get up at 5:30 just to watch "I Love Lucy" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" as I would eat my cereal. As I grew older I woke up later and later. But not by much. Throughout High School I would get up at 5:55 on the nose. Why not 6:00 or 5:50? I don't know. I think I liked seeing the straight set of fives on my clock. It also gave me an extra 5 minutes to get dressed. Whatever the case was, and at times still is even though now it could be considered worse since I set my clock 17 minutes ahead on purpose but I digress. To make it shorter: I get up early.

This particular January morning was a special one. One that takes place every year and I can remember watching everything unfold live on my TV in the wee hours of the morning. I'm talking about the Academy Award nominations. Yes, I'm obsessed to such a degree that I watch the nominations but this morning was different. My roommate, I didn't realize this until I woke up (but it's not like it hadn't happened 80% of the quarter - oh wait, yes it did) was in his girlfriends room down the hall. I had placed the remote next to my bed the night so I wouldn't have to get out of bed the following morning. I usually went to bed watching Conan so having the remote near me was not uncommon.

I woke up a little bit before 5:30 and immediately turned on the TV. I clicked through channels hoping to find some sort of coverage for the nominations. The local stations were still covering traffic, weather, and anything except what I was looking for. Then I turned to CNN. They were talking with an "entertainment expert" about what she expected and then they cut back to the studio...If I told you that this woman I saw moved in slow motion when I first saw her I'd be lying because everything was moving at normal speed. I sat up in bed and half-asleep said "Who is this?" Then she said "We'll be right back on Robin & Company". I was hooked.

As some of you may know I have a fondness for news anchors. One of which, my favorite, deserves a post all to herself - which she will get in the future. But this is about Robin Meade. Robin has a certain charm, style, and overall sexiness that she exudes even when it's early in the morning. She's one of my favorite anchors, and if you're ever up early enough, 6-11AM on HLN to be exact, I recommend you tune in.