good morning. washington shakeups. the obama administration prepares for a major retooling as the new congress gets to work today. and there is growing thought that tea party favorite, congresswoman michele bachmann is seriously considering a presidential run. so, is she? we will ask her in a live interview this morning. damaging testimony. another bodyguard takes the stand at a hearing tied to michael jackson's death. he says the singer's doctor made him help collect drug vials before they called 911. did the delay cost michael jackson his life? and the man with the golden pipes. two days ago, ted williams was homeless.

now thanks to this viral video and his amazing voice, the job offers are pouring in and he is even helping us out today, thursday, january 6th, 2011. >> from nbc news, this is "today," with matt lauer and meredith vieira. live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> and welcome to "today" on this thursday morning. get the order of the names wrong. >> that is the way it was on the script. you need proof that life in this country can change overnight? look no further than ted williams a couple of days ago on the streets of columbus, ohio, asking for money from strangers. he said he had a god-given gift. you know what? he does. >> he sure does. >> he is on our couch this morning. we will talk to that man. >> so many people said everybody deserves a second chance. you meet this guy and this is somebody who sure does. it was a great moment.

it was a nice moment in the audio booth when you came in to meet ted. >> he was recording. >> let's take a look. >> oh, thank you, matt. oh, man, what a class act, man. he is the best, man. his smile and everything is so genuine, just like i thought it would be, man. god, thank you, jesus. >> who was he talking about? >> i have no idea. a little delusional there. >> oh, that's nice for our guest. that's good. ted, i will be doing the interview, don't worry about it. >> okay. also ahead this morning on a more serious note, we will talk about new details on changes that elizabeth edwards made to her will just days before she died of cancer. we learned she completely cut out her estranged husband, former senator john edwards, from that will. we will have details coming up. plus, what if you could remember exactly what you did 10, 20, 30 years ago like it was yesterday? there are only six people in the world who have an ability called superior autobiographical memory. and one of them, actress marilu henner, is here to tell us about her incredible gift. >> a lot to get to this morning.

but let's begin with the guard changing in washington. nbc's capitol hill correspondent, kelly o'donnell, has the latest on that. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, matt. well, the new look of the new congress will play out in a very different way today, something we think has never been done before. the official historian says there is no record of the constitution being read on the house floor like we expect today. it is, in many ways, a nod to the tea party's influence that helped make john boehner speaker. >> if all members could raise their right hands. >> reporter: when all those hands went up -- >> do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states -- >> would you all please raise your right hand? >> reporter: hundreds of members of congress promised loyalty to the constitution. >> do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies, foreign and domestic? >> reporter: today republicans promised to get literal. >> a renewed focus on our constitution. >> reporter: that includes

members taking shifts, reading aloud the more than 4,500 words, plus all the amendments. among the first moves of the 112th congress -- >> on this vote the yeas are 238, the nays are 188. >> reporter: house republicans passed a bunch of new rules. for example, members will now have to explain how their bills are backed up by authority in the constitution, and bills must be online for three days before a vote. >> now, recognizing our roles under the constitution -- >> reporter: democratic leader nancy pelosi cited the constitution, too, but the transfer of power was not completely serious. >> i now pass this gavel, which is larger than most gavels here, but the gavel of choice of mr. speaker boehner. i now pass this -- >> reporter: pelosi herself had carried a giant ceremonial gavel for last year's health care reform vote. boehner aides would only

describe his gavel as a gift from a constituent back home in ohio. >> that includes this gavel, which i accept cheerfully and gratefully, knowing that i am but its caretaker. after all, this is the people's house. >> reporter: and the new congress, led by john boehner, has a flurry of things planned, and today they expect to take a vote that would reduce the budgets that run all the offices of members of congress and around here on capitol hill. meredith? >> all right, kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. republican congresswoman michele bachmann from minnesota is the founder of the congressional tea party caucus. good morning to you. >> good morning, meredith. >> congresswoman bachmann, i know that the first big order of business for the house will be the repeal of the health care law. that is something that you have been a major advocate for, but given the fact that the democratic-led senate will never go for that and the president has veto power, why make that the first big thing on your plate? >> well, because that's an issue that people really reacted

against. they were very upset that very few members even bothered to read the health care bill. most of us didn't even have a chance to read it because it was put in front of us at such a late date, and then we found out that the bill is costing far more than what we were told it was going to. and it is now working to increase people's health care premiums, their private premiums, at astounding rates all across the country. in other words, it's not delivering by cost cutting the way we were told -- >> but if you have no chance to really repeal it, why go through this exercise? >> because it is not symbolic, it is real. we really do want to repeal it. and just like we intend next week to have a full-scale repeal of obama care in the house, yesterday we saw essentially the american people made a decision to repeal nancy pelosi as speaker of the house, and that's why, looking forward, 2012, unless president obama is listening to the voice of the people and harry reid listening to the fact that people want the

government takeover of health care repealed, i think we will also see a rollback and repeal of president obama in 2012 as well. >> another issue is raising the debt ceiling, the amount of money that the government is allowed to borrow. you are opposed to raising the debt ceiling. a lot of people think if we don't raise it, it would be catastrophic. the president's chief economist, austan goolsbee, says a failure to raise the ceiling would mean "a worse financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008," and even a supporter of yours, conservative pundit william crystal, has taken you on saying this is irresponsible. given their positions, would you change your mind? are you willing to see the shutdown of the government? >> no, i don't think it is good to see the shutdown of government. i don't think that is good for anyone, meredith. but at the same time in the last ten years, we've raised the debt ceiling ten times. it is becoming very serious. i brought one chart with me, i don't know if you can see it, but this is the debt over the years during the bush administration. this is during the last two

years of president obama. this is how markedly different the spending levels have become, and it is really why you -- >> but some of that happened during an economic crisis, obviously, talking about stimulus money. there's a difference of what was happening in both periods. what i'm asking -- >> during the bush years you had the 9/11 disaster and the two wars. so the point is we have been overspending, and that has to stop. and that's what people asked us to do in this last election, stop the spending, because we can't continue to raise the debt level. >> let's talk about the spending. you say your staff has earmarked $450 billion worth of areas where you could cut spending. now, we know that a lot of the spending involves medicare, medicaid, defense, and social security, so are those areas where you would have cuts? >> well, we have identified a broad number of cuts. we have gone through the entire budget, and every part of the budget we are looking at

reducing spending in each area. >> so social security, medicare, medicaid, and defense are all areas where you would make cuts? >> well, the areas that we have identified, $450 billion, are not in those particular areas. the areas that we have identified -- again, under president obama, we saw an increase in spending of almost 25% on nondiscretionary funds, and we saw an increase in hiring of another 10% of federal employees. that's just crazy. you can't do that when the economy's contracting, so we have to cut back. and the fact is we can't. and we're not. >> the majority of spending again is with social security, medicare, medicaid, and defense. don't you have to make cuts there? >> i think we have to look at all of these areas, but the cuts we have identified out of my office don't focus on those areas. >> all right, let's -- >> although defense is included. >> defense is included? >> yes. >> all right. let's talk about the buzz that's

surrounding you in the past 24 hours, and it really was generated by your chief of staff, andy parish, when he said that you have not ruled out a presidential run. we know that you're headed to iowa later on this month to give the keynote address at a political fund-raising event. it will be the third time that you've been there in less than a year. i know you come from iowa, that is where you were born, but it is also the site of the first presidential caucuses in 2012. so how seriously are you considering a run for president? >> well, i'm very serious about going to iowa and going to various states and having this discussion about how we can become better again as a country because right now we have 9.8% unemployment and, quite frankly, we can't -- we can't continue to tolerate gas going up to $5 a gallon. >> but how serious are you about a run for the presidency in 2012? >> what i'm serious about is focusing on the issues. i think it's a mistake. i'm not concerned about my own personal ambition. what i'm concerned about are the principles going forward because right now too many people in the media are concerned about who will be the

nominee in 2012, and that's the wrong question. >> it wasn't a member of the media, congresswoman -- hold on for a second. it wasn't a member of the media that brought this up. it was your chief of staff who said you had not ruled this out. >> well, actually what we did is just announce that i will be speaking in iowa, and if you speak in iowa today, most people think that you are running for president. and so the context of the remarks are i am going to iowa because i'm speaking about the issues that i believe will be important for 2012. that's why i'm going to iowa. >> all right. congresswoman michele bachmann, i appreciate your time. thank you very much. >> thank you, meredith. >> it is 7:11. now, here's matt. meredith, thank you. change was also in the air at the white house where press secretary robert gibbs announced he will be stepping down. it is the latest in a series of senior staff changes for the obama administration. chuck todd is nbc's chief white house correspondent. chuck, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> this wasn't completely unexpected that robert gibbs would step down, but he did remark that it was part of a major retooling at the white

house. who's behind the retooling? what are they trying to accomplish? >> reporter: matt, you look at it and look at the senior staff, approximately six to ten folks. it looks like only two senior staffers who have been there now are going to remain. that's dan pfeiffer, the communications director, and then there's pete rouse, and i bring up pete rouse, a question is in what capacity is he going to remain? is he going to go back to being deputy chief of staff or is he going to remain chief of staff? that is the key question today. bill daley, the former clinton commerce secretary, was here at the white house yesterday, along with david plouffe, who is coming to in replace david axelrod, essentially sort of switching spots here, and the question is has an offer been made to daley? it has not been made to daley, we could have an announcement today of a new chief of staff, and if it does, it would be bill daley, could be by the end of the week, but the key question is what does pete rouse want to do? there is a lot of loyalty to

pete both by the president and senior staff and they are sort of giving him room to make their decision. >> let me go back to robert gibbs and that job for a second. the press secretary is a tough job. >> it is. >> who do we think is going to step in behind that podium? >> reporter: it is interesting. this search is just beginning, david plouffe, who is going to be one of the senior advisers inside the west swing going to take control of this process, along with dan pfeiffer, the communications director. somebody said to me yesterday, look, the search is really just beginning. you have internal candidates like bill burton, who is the deputy press secretary and jay carney, the spokesperson for vice president biden, but at this point, they are looking at maybe going outside of the white house, looking for a spokesperson, but one thing folks need to understand it is going to be tough to replace gibbs and tough to get same level of authority at that podium. robert is a personal friend of the president. whoever they bring in, matt, unless it's rahm emanuel, valerie jarrett or david axelrod, they are not going to have the same access. so not to call it a diminished

capacity, but it is certainly going to be a more traditional capacity of the white house press secretary, not in the way robert gibbs was, who was also a senior counselor inside the west wing. >> lots of changes coming. chuck todd at the white house for us this morning. chuck, thanks very much. >> you got it, sir. now a check of the top stories from ann curry over at the news desk. good morning, to you ann. >> good morning. also in the news this morning, a 55-year-old american woman was reportedly arrested in iran and accused of hiding spy quill in her teeth. she wille the first american to be detained in iran since those three hikers were taken into custody along the border with iraq back in july 2009. an omaha, nebraska, high school is in shock today after the 17-year-old son of a local police detective opened fire on wednesday, killing his vice principal and wounding the school's principal. police say the teenager then shot and killed himself in a car about a mile away. the teenager had posted his anger at the school on facebook before the attack. passengers aboard a turkish airlines flight tackled an

attempted hijacker overnight when the suspect claimed to have a bomb, stormed the cockpit and demanded the plane be returned to the point of origin in oslo, norway. after the foiled attempt, the plane was able to land safely at its planned destination in istanbul, turkey. a federal panel investigating last summer's oil spill in the gulf of mexico is now assigning blame for the massive spill. we have got anne thompson who has been covering the story since it began joining us now from washington, d.c. hey, anne, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann. the presidential commission says a series of mistakes and oversights led to the disaster, mistakes that it says can be traced back to what it called a failure of industry management. in fact, the commission says better management by bp, transocean, and halliburton, the companies involved in drilling that well could have almost certainly prevented the accidents that killed 11 workers. it goes on to say there must be significant safety improvements by both the industry and government regulators or such a disaster could happen again. in response to the report, bp says it is working on improving it's deep water drilling, and

transocean and halliburton insist they were acting at the direction of bp. ann? >> all right, anne thompson this morning, thank you again for your report thong story. new surveillance video from wilmington, delaware, shows former pentagon official john wheeler wandering and confused just hours before he was found dead in a local landfill. locals recall mistaking him for a homeless person. a landmark study linking a childhood vaccine to autism has now been discredited as a, quote, elaborate fraud. the study caused some people to avoid the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. now, the medical journal "bmj" says it found the results were doctored in the original study. a little bait and switch with the vice president had a sweet ending for one senator's kid after joe biden swore in the boy's father. the child grabbed his cue sheet from him. when the vice president couldn't get the cue sheet back, he did what any good politician would do, he cut a deal. swap the note, that's right, for candy.

it is now 7:16, back to matt, meredith and al. smart. >> i don't know if he cut a deal or he just kind of grabbed it. tricked the kid. >> that might work with the president and congress. need a piece of legislation? here is a peppermint patty. >> so you have stopped saying maybe we will get some snow and now we are going to get some snow, just a question of how much? >> just how much and exactly where, because we are still waiting for this system to set up. as we take a look, show you first of all tomorrow morning, it is a complicated forecast. we got a frontal system, low pressure over the great lakes, we have got winter storm watches for new york city. now, for tomorrow afternoon, we get low pressure setting up off the east coast with a trough of low pressure spreading back. it's called the norlun trough, named after the two meteorologists who discovered ysthis switem, so what we are looking at is a heavy band of snow somewhere along this trough. it's just where does it set it? we have to keep an eye on it somewhere between new york city and boston. could be anywhere from six to eight inches of snow, the

heaviest snow up toward albany and central new york, on into connecticut. have to keep an eye on this but anywhere again, it's still too early to tell. anybody tell you they know how much snow, they're lying. >> good morning, bay area. we have an uncomplicated forecast. a foggy cold start and temperatures macing out in the upper 50s and low 60s. low visibility. take it easy out there. looking good and clear along the peninsula and the south bay. it's chilly. make sure you bring a jacket out the door. 38 degrees in santa cruz. take a look at the forecast. 60 in los gatos. have a fantastic thursday. weather. meredith? >> al, thank you. and now to the case against michael jackson's personal physician, dr. conrad murray. during emotional testimony at a pretrial hearing, another bodyguard described the chaotic scene inside the pop star's bedroom on the morning of his death. nbc's george lewis has details. george, good morning.

>> reporter: good morning, meredith. in gripping testimony, the bodyguard said he was frozen at the sight of michael jackson lying in bed, eyes and mouth opened, dr. murray leaning over him trying to bring jackson back to life. alberto alvarez worked as michael jackson's advanced security man, clearing the way for the pop superstar as he moved about. on the stand, alvarez testified about being summoned to jackson's bedroom, where dr. murray was working on his patient. the bodyguard's voice became choked with emotion as he described jackson's children coming into the bedroom. daughter, paris, wailing, "daddy" as she started to cry. in the courtroom audience, jackson's mother, katherine, dabbed her eyes. then the bodyguard testified that before murray told him to call 911, the doctor gave him another task. >> mr. alvarez opened a clear

bag, into which dr. murray dropped many vials. mr. alvarez removed another iv bag, which he described as containing a white, milky substance. >> reporter: prosecutors contend murray, who has pleaded not guilty to the involuntary manslaughter charges, wasted valuable time before telling alvarez to call paramedics. >> we have a gentleman here that needs help, and he is not breathing. he is not breathing and we need to -- we are trying to pump him but he is not -- >> okay. okay. how old is he? >> he is 50 years old, sir. >> 50? okay. he is not conscious, he is not breathing? >> yes, he is not breathing, sir. >> okay. and he is not conscious either? >> no, he is not conscious, sir. i need an ambulance as soon as possible, sir. >> reporter: according to the prosecution's timeline, more than 20 minutes had elapsed since murray discovered jackson not breathing. >> the timeline is that when things go bad, conrad murray doesn't have people call 911.

he has them come in and help him clean up the scene. >> reporter: multiple witnesses say that murray never disclosed that he had given jackson the powerful anesthetic, propofol. >> the prosecutors are going to argue that's because he knew he had done something wrong by administering that medication. >> reporter: paramedic richard senna testified when he entered jackson's bedroom, he didn't recognize the singer at first. he was extremely thin, like a hospice patient, he testified. he said he asked murray if jackson was on any medication and that murray first replied no. the paramedic continues his testimony today as the defense tries to poke holes in the prosecution's timeline. the defense hasn't indicated whether it plans to call any witnesses. meredith? >> george lewis, thank you very much. and just ahead, the homeless man with the golden voice. >> something with that great radio voice. >> when you're listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you are listening to magic 98.9.

>> ted williams speaks out about his wild ride in an exclusive live interview, but first this is "today" on nbc. ring ring progresso

i look great in my wedding dress with the help of your amazing light soups. you know they're the only ones endorsed by weight watchers. they taste so good. now we're adding even bigger pieces of white meat chicken. oh, so when's the big day? oh, we got married years ago. but the point is, i fit in it! are you wearing it... right now? yes! well, good for you. [ shopper ] excuse me. oh, so sorry. you look nice. oh, thank you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

of elizabeth edwards' will revealed. why she reworked it in the days before her death to exclude her estranged husband, john edwards. plus, actress marilu henner and her uncanny ability to remember what happened on every day of her life, after your local news. is and her uncanny ability to remember what happened on every day of her life, after your local news. to our muscles are nerves that send messages through the body. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia, thought to be the result of overactive nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i learned lyrica can provide significant relief from fibromyalgia pain. and less pain means i can do more with the ones i love. [ female announcer ] lyrica is not for everyone. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions

or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior or any swelling or affected breathing, or skin, or changes in eyesight, including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. i found answers about fibromyalgia. then i found lyrica. ask your doctor about lyrica today. as much as i can about a company before i invest in it. that's why i like fidelity. they give me tools and research i can't get anywhere else. their stock screener lets me search for stocks with more than 140 criteria. i can see what their experts are thinking

and even call them to bounce an idea off of one of their investment professionals. a good strategy relies on good insight. if you wanted to learn more about a company, i think you'd actually have to be there. >> good morning. it's 7:26. christina has a look at the forecast. >> yes, it is cold out there this morning. we are at 29 degrees right now in santa rosa. the north bay with low visibility and reports of black ice in the richmond area. take it easy out there. reduced visibility in the east bay and less than a quarter of a mile in fairfield and a half mile in concord. that will be the case and cold conditions rebounding in the upper 50s and low 60s.

at about noon you will be peeling off a layer. 51 degrees and we will max out around 60 degrees in oakland. that's the forecast and high this places like los gatos and san jose. the warm trend continues. back with more news after the break. >> i will do a story right now. the party may be over a a nightclub accused of violence on the dance floor. staffers at club wet in san jose did not call police or paramedics after a woman was choking on her own blood after she was stomped on at a new year's eve party. it could mean they wanted cheaper. it is a string of cover ups at the club. police saw employees mopping up blood after five people were stabbed in the club. they didn't call police then either. they will ask a judge to

permanently close the club in a hearing. the club owners say the changes are overblown. i will have another local news update in about a half hour. the show returns in less than a minute.

matt lauer alongside meredith vieira. and just ahead, we love this a remarkable story of talent, redemption, and the power of the internet. >> talking, of course, about ted williams, the so-called homeless man with the golden voice. in just two days, millions have seen his viral video and now he is getting job offers from all over the world.

he is here in our studio and we'll catch up with him just ahead. >> seems pretty excited on that, too. a much different note, elizabeth edwards' decision to cut her estranged husband, former senator john edwards, out of her will just days before her death. we are going to have details on that. and actress marilu henner on her rare and amazing skill, the ability to remember nearly every detail of every day of her life. >> all right. we have a lot to get to. first the amazing turnaround for ted williams. as we said, we will talk to him about his rough life, his golden moment thanks to his golden voice, in just a moment, but first, nbc's kevin tibbles has his story. >> reporter: he was just another beggar by the highway, but his sign said "i have a god-given gift of voice." so the reporter from the "columbus dispatch" took a chance. >> say something with that great radio voice. >> when you're listening to nothing but the best of oldies, you are listening to magic 98.9. >> reporter: within hours, that video went viral, way viral, millions of hits on youtube alone.

>> i see a lot of things, and nothing has quite stuck like this has. >> reporter: his name is ted williams, 53, from brooklyn. as a teen, he fell in love with broadcasting after a chance meeting with a local deejay. >> he said to me, listen, radio is defined theater of mind. >> reporter: but -- >> alcohol and drugs and a few other things became a part of my life. >> reporter: he says he is clean now but spent the last decade on the streets. >> every weekday morning. >> perfect, man. >> reporter: from the side of the road to inside the studios of local radio, where many callers offered williams employment, even a mortgage. >> i just didn't know anything like this could have happened. >> reporter: the nba's cleveland cavaliers offered him a job. >> we loved his voice. we loved his story. and our biggest priority right now is just to get him in here. >> reporter: but before ted williams did anything else, he paid the "today" show a visit first thing this morning and helped get our day started in the voice booth.

now, that's a set of pipes. for "today," kevin tibbles, nbc news. >> live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >> ted williams, good morning, sir. >> how are you? >> great to have you. >> it is great to be here. this is a dream come true. i'm telling you. honestly. >> it's a second chance. >> yes, ma'am. >> yeah. can you begin to even sum up what these last 48 hours or so have been like? >> outrageous. outrageous. it is just phenomenal. i mean, there's no way in the world that i could have ever imagined that, that i would be -- just have all of this, just all of a sudden just come into this portion of my life. >> you were panhandling? >> yeah. >> two days ago, three days ago? >> yeah. yeah. >> on the streets of columbus, ohio. you're in new york city now and you're on national television. >> isn't that something? i'm still just -- i'm telling got to be a little -- >> unbelievable. >> process it even? >> yes. yes, ma'am. >> you almost didn't make it here, right? you had problems? >> some how the flight got delayed and everything and then, you know --

>> didn't you need papers to prove who you were. >> i had to get an i.d., the i.d. situation, yes, ma'am we had to go all the way downtown and get a proof of residency. i had to go to a couple homeless shelters to get that filled out. and then i had to get a court injunction to prove who i was, you know, date of birth and all, because i didn't have any i.d. or nothing. >> right. >> you mentioned new york is your home? >> brooklyn, new york. >> brooklyn, new york? >> yeah, bedford styvesant area, born and raised. >> how long has it been since you have been here and been in contact with some family members? >> 1986 is the last time i actually set foot right here. i watched the ball come down. i took my -- the mother of my two boys and we came and this was the first time she had ever been here and that was -- i was doing fairly well then. you know, i was working in radio and all, but she never been here. >> so, what happened, ted? help us understand what happened. you say in '86 you were doing well, working in radio. >> and in 1993 -- ms. meredith -- >> that's okay.

>> drugs and alcohol, i started snorting cocaine and then i started smoking it, crack and all that and then drinking. alcohol has always been a part of my life. my parents used to travel down to st. thomas, so i did have an alcohol problem at an early -- but i was a functional alcoholic, at that point, i thought. >> how bad did it get? >> pretty bad i was drinking like a fifth a day. but i was working. you know, i was doing well. i was really doing well. at least i thought, you know? >> was it the drugs then that took you down? >> yes, ma'am. yes, ma'am. >> when did you lose your home? i mean, when did you -- in '93. that's when my life just went to the pits. i was at the homeless shelters in columbus and then i was going to -- i was introduced to the program of recovery. >> you know, i noticed something in that video that we have all now seen so many times that was on the internet and went reporter for the "columbus dispatch" comes up to you and starts asking you about your voice, despite your hard times there is this civility to you, ted, there is this kindness.

there is this grace about you. thank you, sir, god bless you, where does that come from? >> my mom. my mom has raised me that way, to always be polite, treat people as you would want them to treat you, you snow do unto others as you would want them to do unto you. the golden rule, as she always put it. >> you mentioned your mom repeatedly. >> love my mom and i -- here comes maybe some tears, but i always used to pray to god, i'm telling you, religiously, say, lord, please let my mom live to see another year, maybe this will be the year that somebody would, you know, say, hey, man, do you want a job or anything. but -- and i always used to say, god, you never seen fit to take my voice, in spite of all the flames and everything that went down my throat, the voice still maintains some type of resonance. and so, when i got out there with the sign, it gave me a chance to, you know, the public passing. good morning, thank you. and people would roll their

windows down. then it became a situation where the same people that would give me money, they would just come by just to see if i was still there so they could hear me say, you know, listen to more of the best music, and i started using local talent. >> so your mom has lived long enough to see what is going to be, we hope, redemption. >> yeah. >> i hope you understand what i say. meredith and i were talking before the show and we both worry a little that a lot is happening very quickly. >> yes. yes. >> and some people might find that hard to deal with. and so are you emotionally ready to accept this second chance, to do the right things with this second chance? >> this time around, matt, i have god, god of my understanding in my life. acknowledging him on a daily basis, which i've been doing this past year, because i was ready to mark 2010 as another year wasted, until i realized that in 2010, i found a new sense of spirituality. now, i'm not saying i have

become, you know, born again-type person to where i'm going around but i do want to say that the difference between my successes of years gone by, i didn't acknowledge the lord or thank him for anything before, you know? and i have had some great opportunities of various venues and having a great time with all the perks that radio had, you know? but i never not once said, oh, lord, thank you for this or thank you for another day or forgive me for this but this time around i'm acknowledging him in all my ways. >> so you think you can make it? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. >> i think we would be remiss if we didn't ask you about reports that beyond the drugs and alcohol, there were run-ins with the law? >> yes. yes. >> can you tell us about that? we heard about robbery, forgery? >> yes. yes. well, the robberies and all have been broken down and anything, i have never stuck -- no violent crimes at all, it was all theft and fraud-type things and that was just to afford the drug habits and so forth. but i ended up -- the judges

have been lenient, you know, because my -- you know, like, okay, let's do this to him. and i never got anything of any serious time or anything, but i did go behind -- you know, fences with barbed wire and so forth. >> have you had a chance, ted, to stop and think about what is being offered to you now people want you to do voiceovers for them? the cleveland cavaliers have offered you a job, films and -- >> maybe you can help us now. >> they said they are going to give me lebron's old house. >> you are really working them, man. >> how about -- >> no. >> have you had a chance to even think about what you would like to do? >> they are coming in so fast but i do want to say that i did have one offer here in new york. the pine people at kraft macaroni and cheese have offered me to be their official voice of their product. so when i leave here today, i will be doing some voices for the fine people of kraft. >> how would you pitch their product?

>> when you're looking for a cheesy product, a very delicious macaroni and cheese, choose kraft. but i do just want to say one more thing that this is -- man, meeting you two guys and lovely ann curry and al roker, and all that, man, i'm iteming you i watch "today" show religiously, ever since office kid, gene shalit, brian gumble, jane pauley and that and you guys replaced those people the best, the best. >> thank you. thank you. >> i'm glad i got that, got that out. >> let in with one question. >> yes. >> we sit down with you, ted, five years from today -- >> mm-hmm. >> what are you going to be doing? >> hopefully a program director somewhere or -- i will have my own apartment, i will say that. and you know, my kids will have love from me. you know, i'll say, hey, meredith and matt, you know, the kids are over here and this, that i do want to say hello to my children in columbus. >> how many kids?

>> i have seven girls and two boys. >> seven girls and two boys? >> yes. yes and they are all adults. and i have grandchildren. i want to say hi -- can i say hello? >> yeah. >> mark henderson, very instrumental in helping me he with a place to live and i want to say hi to jimmy, jimmy cotrell, my girlfriend, katie, and my children, julie, general neigh, tricia, tangela, keshia and my son, desmond and tyrell and my mom, wherever she's at. i miss her so much. >> i'm sure you will get see her? >> yes, ma'am. >> you also have a greater appreciation for the homeless as well? >> truly, truly, please. >> anything we need to understand? >> please, please, don't judge a book by its cover. everybody has their own little story, you know? and the next -- if you are going to give to any homeless person, give from the heart and then give and say i know they won't do nothing but use it for drugs and alcohol.

and i want to say hi to al battle, the gentleman standing behind the camera. he's the one handling -- fielding all of the calls coming in like you said, matt, they are coming in by the dozens. i don't know which one to choose, which one is the right one, which one is bogus or anything. i'm thankful to be here and taking one step at a time. >> well, you should. >> "today" show, take advantage of all of this. thanks, ted, so much. >> thank you so much. >> good luck. >> god bless. >> congratulations. >> see you in five years, right? program director? >> yes, ma'am. >> we are working for you remember us. >> yes, i will. yes, i will. >> say let's get a check of the weather now from al. go ahead. >> now, it's time to get a check of the weather with al. >> you know, i want him to do the sunday night "football night in america." that's -- >> thank you. thank you so much. >> let's hear it for ted williams, ladies and gentlemen. [ cheers ] >> wow what a great story. these lovely young ladies where are you guys from?

are you a little chilly? what are you guys doing here? >> on our winter trip. >> school trip. >> school trip you just got off of christmas break and now owner you are on a school trip? i want to go back to school. you guys got a great gig. all right, let's check your weather. we have a clipper coming across the great lakes that is bringing in some snow, nothing all that heavy it is going to reinforce some lake-effect snow around the eastern great lakes, basically talking one to three inches of snow, but a band from cleveland to buffalo down to asheville, could see three to six, elkins, west virginia. cleveland 2 to 5. buffalo, 2 to 4. pittsburgh 2 to 3 inches. we have heavy rain moving into the pacific northwest as another storm system comes in there a cold front draping across central florida will bring showers and thunderstorm there is as well. plenty of sunshine through the great lakes, i should say through the southwest on into the southeast with the exception of showers and thunderstorms down in florida. that's what's going on around the country. here's what's happening in your good morning to you in the bay area. reduced visibility in the north

bay and the east bay, but clear conditions in the peninsula and the south bay. watch for freezing fog and the potential for black ice in the north bay reported by the chp. take it easy out there. temperatures in the upper 30s and 38 in oakland and turning over to the 60s later on today. have a fantastic day. enjoy the conditions. >> the storm system come in you might want to check the weather channel, weather.com. matt? elizabeth edwards cut john out of her will days before her death. we will talk about that right after this. [ sneezes ] [ male announcer ] got a cold? [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] confused what to get? now robitussin makes it simple. click on the robitussin relief finder at robitussin.com. [ nose blowing ] [ male announcer ] click on your symptoms. ♪ get the right relief.

♪ makes the cold aisle easy. the robitussin relief finder it's that simple. man: whoa! mom just caught air. not that she'll describe it that way to her book club. she'll probably say something like, "everyone had a wonderful time. the food was great. it was good to get away." but let's be honest... mom just caught air! now, there's a first. tell us what you've always wanted to do, on facebook. [ ship horn blows ] with aveeno nourish plus moisturize.

active naturals wheat formulas target and help repair damage in just 3 washes. for softer, stronger... ... hair with life. [ female announcer ] visit aveeno.com to save on nourish plus. at cousin everett's blueberry farm, to talk about our blueberry juice drinks. they're made with my sweet, ripe blueberries, picked right from the bush, and they're good for you. taste real good, too! to give you an idea, let's whip up a quick sample. or you could just try this. [ chuckles ] yeah. ocean spray blueberry juice drinks -- real blueberries, real good. discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus on travel. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. this is norma. who knows how important it is

to have her medicine in one place. so norma brings all of her prescriptions to walgreens where her pharmacist can watch out for interactions with her over-the-counter medicine. now norma thinks less about her medicine and more about her vacation. tell us what you take just once and we'll check for interactions every time. expertise -- find it everywhere there's a walgreens. we are back at7:47, nearly a month after the death of elizabeth edwards, details of the will she left behind and one person not so much mentioned in it is her estranged husband, former senator john edwards. nbc's norah o'donnell has more on that good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, meredith that's right, elizabeth edward as well has left everything to her children and did not make a single mention of had her estranged husband, john edward as well, in the will she signed just days before her

death. elizabeth edwards died just last month, after battling breast cancer for six years. >> elizabeth edwards dies of breast cancer at the age of 61. >> reporter: in her last will and testament, dated december 1st six days before she died, elizabeth made her three children the ben fish beeries of her estate. all of my furniture, furnishings, household goods, chew joule rib, china, silverware and personal effects and any automobiles owned by me at the time of my death i give and bequeath to my children. elizabeth also stipulated that if she was the only surviving parent of her young children, emma claire and jack, at the time of her death, she wanted 28-year-old kate to be their guardian. for now, their father, john edwards, is their legal guardian. in elizabeth's five-page will there is no mention of john. the two separated last january after 33 years of marriage. >> one thing remains true and will never change, which is that

we are still a family. >> reporter: kate, a washington lawyer, was named executor of the will. she was by her mother's side for her final moments. >> even in her last days, she was comforting us, her family. >> reporter: and delivered a beautiful eulogy that proves she shares her mother's grace and eloquence. >> as as some of you may know, emma, jack and i ended every conversation with our mom by saying, "i love you more" and she always responded by saying "no i love you more" with, as you can imagine, none of us ever won that battle, but today, i have the honor of being the last to say, mom, i really, really love you more. >> reporter: now, sources close to the family tell me that john edward as well has moved back into the chapel hill home to be with the the kids. kate is also there the whole family has stayed together since elizabeth died. as one friend said to me it is very important to maintain as much stability as possible for the kids so that everyone's

focus and goal. meredith? >> norah o'donnell, thank you very much. and coming up, the original study that suggested a link between childhood vaccines and autism an elaborate fraud? a new findings from a prominent medical journal withal, but first, these messages. her. okay. [ cellphone rings ] hey. you haven't left yet. no. i'm boarding now. what's up? um, would you mind doing it again? last time. [ engine turns over ] ooh. sweet. [ male announcer ] the all-new chevy cruze with the mychevrolet app. the remote-control car is finally here. well, now she's just playing with us. oh. [ horn honks ]

to finish what you started today. for the aches and sleeplessness in between, there's motrin pm. no other medicine, not even advil pm, is more effective for pain and sleeplessness. motrin pm. >> man: getting across town to a job interview is stressful enough without being late. i want guidance that takes me where i need to be, without any problems along the way. i feel the same way when i do taxes. turbotax has a unique gps feature that guides me step-by-step. and calculations are guaranteed 100% accurate, so i know it's done right. they even offer representation in case of an audit. which helps me reach my maximum refund, guaranteed. >> try turbotax online now. you don't pay unless you're satisfied with the results. with the venture card from capital one, we get double miles on every purchase. so we earned a trip to vegas twice as fast! [ brays ] and since double miles add up fast, we can bring the whole gang. is caesar home? we get double miles every time we use our card, no matter what we're buying. thank you! thank you very much! [ garth ] it's hard to beat double miles!

if anyone objects, let them speak now or forever hold their... [ bleats ] [ male announcer ] get the venture card from capital one. money magazine's best rewards card if you aim to rack up airline miles. what's in your wallet? cannonball!! [ clang ] would consider the scale my frenemy.osie? ♪ [ woman ] i don't like scales. i've been avoiding this. pride? courage! i like this. [ woman ] that's what it should say! [ female announcer ] take the special k challenge. lose up to six pounds in two weeks, d wheeous y w thh iaitecchspl k allenge, you can have the cereal you love and so much more. design your free, personalized plan at specialk.com. coming up, the real story behind the early days of facebook. what you won't see in the hollywood version. plus, actress marilu henner remembers every detail of every day of her life, after the local news. [ male announcer ] in recent tests, one car was deemed

the 2010 best midsize sedan. it wasn't the ford fusion. definitely wasn't the honda accord or the hyundai sonata. and it wasn't the subaru, chevy, or nissan. ♪ it was a 2010 toyota camry... touted as "best midsize sedan" by motor trend. toyota. quality to move you forward.

no pills, no pain. how can you get pain relief without taking pills around the clock? try thermacare heatwraps, for all day relief without pills. i was surprised, thermacare worked all day. you feel the heat. and it relaxes and unlocks the muscle. you've got to try it. [ man ] thermacare, more effective for back pain than the maximum dose of acetaminophen, the medicine in tylenol. go to thermacare.com today for a $3 off coupon. thermacare. no pills. no pain. just relief.

good thursday morning. it's 7:56 right now. we will check the forecast with christina. still cold in. >> still coal and foggy. perfect visibility on the peninsula and the south bay. registering at about a quarter mile visibility. the situation is improving now that the sun has risen. we will warm up and temperatures are in the upper 30s. oakland 38 and hayward 39. as we head through the lunch break, we will rise up into the 40s and low 50s. 52 degrees in san jose at noon. this is where we will end up today. dress in layers and watch the sunshine. this is the last day of full sunshine. more clouds in the mix. keep that in mind.

58 for the forecast high. a bit cooler. 57 by saturday and take a look. no rain showers on this extended forecast and mild nights into the mix as we head into sunday. if you have been waiting to take the triplets outdoors, this may be the week. >> don't want them stir crazy. police are looking for more victims of a 60-year-old man accused of abusing a little girl at a daycare. his family ran campos daycare for more than 10 years. he was arrested on lewd and lascivious acts on a child and looking into if there other victims. >> almost 200,000 victims could see health insurance cost skyrocket. blue shield is looking to raise by more than 30%. the rate hike would take effect on march 1st. it would be the third rate

increase since october. if that increase passes, hundreds of thousands of policy holders will see rates go up more than 50% in five months. another local news update in a half hour. the "today" show returns in a minute. bundle up and enjoy the sunshine by the afternoon. have a great day.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television 8:00 on this thursday morning, january 6, 2011. look ac at few of the people who made their way to rockefeller plaza, great spot for taking in some of the best sights that new york has to offer i'm meredith vieira, al rocker and matt lauer. imagine if you can recall every detail of every day of your life. imagine that. >> depends on the day. >> right. marilu henner has this ability, basically it is a blessing, only one of six people discould haved

to every the superior auto by graphic memory. you pick a date, she can tell you what she was doing what she wore. >> extraordinary. >> and she -- everybody had that kind of a mind, memory. >> no realize that's not true what i had for breakfast. a prominent in-depth investigation by a prominent medical journal has now concluded that that study that was released years thanking said there was a possible link between a popular childhood vaccine, the mmr vaccine, and autism was an elaborate fraud. those are the words from this new journal. we are going to have details on that dramatic new turn in a story we have been cover for a long time. >> that is going to set off a fire storm. >> absolutely. speak of controversy, new look for starbucks. the coffee giant has unveiled its new logo, keeping the familiar green siren, but eliminating the starbucks name and coffee, leading a lot to speculate that starbucks will be branching out into other products. >> is she doing that y yo thing?

>> luring ships to the rocks to crash. i think it looks like the logo that a ripoff of starbucks would use. >> yeah. >> seems weird to he me. >> got rid of the name. >> hey. i doubt it will hurt. >> doubt they will be asking for my opinion. >> people are going to bite coffee. >> exactly. head into the news deck, ann curvy standing by with the headlines. hey, ann. >> thanks, meredith. good morning once again, everybody. their first day in power, republicans, who now control the house of representatives, passed rule changes designed to help them repeal health care reform, cult spending and reduce taxes. white house press secretary robert gibbs says working with with posks the on tichbt a lifetime but he is leaving the post next month to step back and recharge before going to work as an outside consultant. nbc news has learned that 1400 additional u.s. marines are on their way to afghanistan. they are being sent in to hold onto the gains made by u.s. and afghan troops ahead of the tall been's spring offensive. police in georgia say the

suspect charged on tuesday with killing a man in front of his son's preschool had ties to the victim's wife with. nbc's tom shrung join us from dunwoody, georgia. good morning. >> reporter: rusty snyderman was gunned down outside this preschool after dropping off his 2-year-old son. the community was baffled by what appeared to be a cold and cool cue lated hit, now police say the suspected killer knew snyderman and also his wife. 48-year-old is now charged with felony murder, accused of shooting russell snyderman in broad daylight outside of this preschool. police are saying nothing about a motive. >> for the integrity of the case, i'm not going to be able to answer any questions. >> reporter: authorities issued this sketch of the suspect. less than two months later, they arrested newman, a father of three who worked as a manager at general electric in atlanta. ge is the parent company of nbc universal. >> this case appears to be a cold and cool cue lated mired. >> reporter: investigators said

from the beginning this harvard-educated entrepreneur was targeted for murder but the big question is why. >> could be some perceived, imagined or even real financial loss that the alleged here is the suffered at the hands of the victim. >> reporter: former fbi pro-vialer clint van zandt says police will look into the connection between newman and snyderman's wife, andrea. they both worked at ge, newman, her supervisor. >> now that they know there is some tangential relationship between the shooter and the victim in this case, the victim's wife, who was supervised by the shooter, now they have to find out just what was that relationship. >> reporter: police say the investigation is ongoing and there could be more arrests. ann? >> all right thanks so much. nobody was injured during a five-hour standoff at a phoenix mall. police say that they confronted a man mistakenly thought to be a fugitive and he opened fire before holding up in a restaurant. now to wall street, cnbc's

erin burnett joins us from the new york stock exchange what are investors watching today? >> trying to make it six days in a row of girns the market. disney, one example, a ten-year high this morning. part of the optimism coming from a key jobs survey which showed that we had the biggest one month of job creation in december than we have seen in ten years some, that is adding to the optimism here on wall street w today, the focus will be on retailers whether people getting those jobs are actually spending the money in the stores that will be key, but context, ann is really important we start to say, are we getting took a new all-time high for the market? is the economy getting took where it was before the financial crisis in the answer is not yet. if you look at the dow, we are still 17 1/2% behe low the all-time high we hit in october of 2007. so we are starting but not there yet. >> erin, thank you so much. finally now, a swedish couple on a long-distance ice skating expedition had to be rescued when an ice breaking ship shattered their rink. they were carried back to land and snapped these phenomenal

photo, one of the reasons we wanted to to bring this story to you this morning. it is now 8:05, let's go back outside to meredith and matt. >> ann, thank you so much. mr. roker, just one word. >> cold. and another one, snow that's to we have nice folks -- what is -- >> here to support the launch of fight, charitable initiative, funding the businesses of 25,000 women world wide. to joinfite.org. >> like microfinancing? that is fantastic. thanks for bringing that to our attention. let's check the weather and see what is going on the pick city today, do you know the way to san jose, nbc bay area, sunny and cool, 59 degrees. as we look at those temperatures, 20s and tee as you get into the great lakes, single digits and below zero in the northern plains, 40s in the pacific northwest with, got heavy rain moving in there more rain in southern and central florida. lake effect snow, a clipper comes across, sunshine due to the southwest with, freezing fog

in parts of i can assure you, al, we know the way to san jose, here it is. good morning to you. a beautiful, clear sky shaping up over the peninsula and the south bay but still dense fog to contend within the east bay and north bay in particular. some freezing fog, that is the case until 9:00 a.m. but the situation is improving. visibilities are coming up and that's going to be the case for the next couple of hours as well. rebounding to 49 degrees by noon. highs in the 60s. have a great day. what's your name? >> david. >> all right where are you from? >> new york. that is a big state, where are you from? we have narrowed it down. what street? only kidding. matt? >> give the kid a break. when we come back, mary lou henner is here. she is going to talk about a remarkable gift, she can remember just about every detail of every day of her life. we will talk about that right after this. kate on that ice. what was i thinking?

but i was still skating on thin ice with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol, stop. lipitor is a cholesterol-lowering medication, fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. lipitor is backed by over 18 years of research. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. let's go! [ laughs ] if you have high cholesterol you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don't kid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk and about lipitor.

t talk to your doctor about your risk discover customersl are getting five percent cashback bonus at restaurants. it pays to switch, it pays to discover. the difference between hiding my skin and showing it off? jergens ultra healing moisturizer. even my driest skin looks healthier, instantly. jergens is the difference between i'm here, and here i am. jergens®. the beautiful difference. but i wasn't winning any ribbons managing my diabetes.

it was so complicated. there was a lot of information out there. but it was frustrating trying to get the answers i needed. then my company partnered with unitedhealthcare. they provided onsite screenings, healthy cooking tips. that's a recipe i'm keeping. ( announcer ) turning complex data into easy tools. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. you good? yeah, we're fine. hey, thanks. [ man ] yeah, man. [ man #2 ] finally. whoo. i'm so glad we're doing this, guys. absolutely. so needed this. ♪ skidamarink-a-dink-a-dink, skidamarink-a-doo ♪ ♪ i love you [ male announcer ] the all-new chevy cruze. with a 9-speaker premium sound system, for whatever you're into these days. slim-fast gives you proven weight loss,

not celebrities. so try the slim-fast 3-2-1 plan. the clinically proven way to lose weight now. slim-fast. who has time to slim slowly? really fascinating story. what if you could remember everything that's happened in your life just like it was yesterday? in just a moment, we will talk to someone you probably recognize, actress mary lou hen her, who has this incredible ability. but first, national correspondent amy robach has details. amy? >> reporter: meredith, good morning. it is an extremely rare skill. only six people have been diagnosed with something called superior autobiographical memory and it is nothing short of amazing. >> i lied about having this

great, steady guy. >> reporter: more than 30 years ago, actress marilu henner landed a role on the tv sitcom "taxi". >> i didn't remember that story, how did you remember it? >> reporter: henner played elaine, a role that launched her career. >> yeah. >> reporter: what most people don't know is that helper has a super-sized memory, a rare ability that allows her to recall vivid details about every singledy of her life. henner talked about it to on "60 minutes" last month. >> these shoes, i wore them october -- the first time, i wore them october 18, 2007. these i wore on april 21st of this year, so that was a tuesday. i was putting in a dvd and it cues up. >> reporter: it is known as superior autobiographical people trick is so uncommon, doctors are still trying to figure out how it works. >> they have memorized their entire script of their life. they can tell you extraordinary detail that is average person wouldn't recall. >> so, i'm looking out -- >> reporter: the only person who has gone public about her

skills, matt talked to a cleveland man with the same diagnosis two years ago today. >> pick one and tell me what happened on that date throughout history? >> 28 years ago to the minute, with the mount st. helens erupting. >> reporter: while this amazing ability may seem like a new discovery, people have been talking about it for years. many marilu henner, who shares a story in 1989 on the nbc show, "late we are bob costas." >> where were you went men walked on the mean moon. >> it was a sunday night. >> i promised you -- >> that was the night i lost my vir join the. >> okay. >> that is the way to end it. researchers are hoping that what they learn from this rare ability can someday help people who have memory problems. meredith? >> amy, thank you so much. marilu henner is swus with us now, good morning to you. boy, i learned something new about you every day. my god. >> i know. >> i saw the piece on "60 minutes". it was great. what is the reaction to all of

this? >> i can't believe what's happened since then. people are so interested in it and it is something that i have been talking about for a long time, i guess i had no idea how rare it was. and i'm sure that now that the piece has aired, a lot more people will come forward. in fact, i was talking to dr. jim mcgaw, who started conduct the whole research and everything. >> he is still studying? >> i have a big session with him in february but he said that there were 300 people that came forward and they started testing and probably from that, they might yield three. they don't know. but they have had thousands of people, after jill price on was, thousands of people come forward and so far, on the six of us. so -- >> when i realized you were coming on the show, i was wracking my brains to try to remember the first time we met, i rivers struck by what a nice lady you were, funny and fun. i think firefighters "the view." >> do you remember? >> no, i don't remember when it was. >> okay, it was friday, february 13th of 1998. and you had just started on "the view" and that was my first

appearance and i did the number "roxie." you were so sweet to me and you told me had that a little bit of each of the host in me and we played game. actually we talked about my memory and we pulled a -- like a -- >> we did? >> valentine's day, i know off good memory so we are going to pull a year and then i wanted to talk about a friday valentine's day of 1986 and i told you a really romantic valentine. >> do i look as young now as i did then? >> oh, yeah, much better. happier. >> do you remember the first time on the "today" show? i have that date, not going to till. >> the first one to on -- >> the "today" show? the first time you were the "today" show? >> you mean ever, ever, ever? >> yeah. >> you know so funny, because i did so much with -- well, i know that i was here, like, october 13th, 1999, for my book, for my brat book and stuff but you are talking about way back then? >> way back then. >> might take me a little while with. see, how toth is how my brain works. >> how does it work?

>> i walk in this building today and think i have been in this building so many times, the first dates that popped into my head, not connected to the show at all, this was not the first time i was in this build bug i was thinking about may 15, 1982, which was a saturday and danny devito was hosting "saturday night live" and we all took our final bow, "taxi" had been canceled the week before and this was before nbc picked it up so then i start seeing -- filling in the dates i around that week, you know, within that week. >> so you see pictures in your head? >> you know what it is, it really is like selected scenes on a dvd and it lines up left to right kind of in a chronological order and it is like the year will come in but some days will come in more vividly than others. >> but your brain isn't cluttered, i would think imp pull civil going to on constantly? >> no is very organized in a way it doesn't feel cluttered, it feels like i can go -- do you remember the last time i saw each other? >> no we don't. it could have been yesterday. >> okay, now i'm going to remind

you when we saw each other last, i saw you, i went, oh, it was back stage at a theater, at play that we both saw and it was saturday, november 11 of 2006. and it was -- >> was i sober? >> the afternoon. it was a matinee. so i hope so so, all of a sudden, i thought of that and i thought, okay, it was "grey gardens." backstage. >> oh, my gosh. >> do you remember who else there was? the guy who played frankie valli in the original "jersey boys" he was also there backstage. >> okay. all right. >> all of a sudden, i was thinking, you know if memory works horizontally and then vertically as well it keeps going deeper, deeper, deeper, i thought, oh, i went to pure food and wipe that night and chelsea clinton was there, a couple days and nice weather the -- a couple days before and then it got super stormy. >> is this a blessing basically or times you wish you could -- the emotion of dates come back,

too, and not every day is a pleasant one. >> i know, but as an actress are, you look for those things, so i never thought it was weird to sort of feel this way, you know to sort of develop deeper and deeper and deeper and get to some really core dramatic emotional things. i am most excited about the fact that the research and the scientific and, you know, the medical community has really taken, you know, this by storm. >> you want to be seen as a -- >> no i yo want it to be, come on, let's marilu do her song and dance about this i'm thrill it had is happening within my lifetime, i can be helpful. >> you are writing a book about that? >> i'm writing a book and be out later in the spring and i feel like if i can help people, because i know what goes on in my brain, now i can maybe help people access theirs because, for example, the -- >> yeah. >> "grey gardens." >> "grey gardens." >> do you remember anything else about it? >> i don't remember it at all. painful for me. >> no it is all there, you know what i mean? it is all there -- >> for anybody? >> yeah, almost like this hard

drive. >> other members of your family have this same ability? >> test all my brothers and sisters and i'm only one so far with kids and i know my two sons are both brilliant, my older someone actually going to columbia starting next year, he is only 16. my younger one, he has it's freshman, joey on the left in this picture and nicky on the right and joey definitely has it he just doesn't want to own it yet. >> we are out of time. give you the date, december 20, 1984. >> oh, well, december 20, 1984 was a thursday, is that when i -- is that what you're saying when i was the "today" show? oh, jane pauley? >> no. >> oh, my gosh. i have better hair now. that's for sure. that was a few pounds ago. see, i didn't remember that. you know why? i probably would have gotten to it that is the other thing about having this people trick self-corrects, like all of a sudden, i would have gone later on in the day and gone, oh, december 20th, december 20th, 1984.

>> you still look great and got quite a mind there. >> thank you. s"as wk gardens" was great. >> wonderful. i don't remember it. we are back right after this. [ bells jingling ] [ snorting ] [ gasps ] ♪ [ female announcer ] too many holiday treats? [ snorting ] ♪ take the special k challenge, with so many ways to lose up to six pounds in two weeks. what will you gain when you lose? get started at specialk.com. at cousin everett's blueberry farm, to talk about our blueberry juice drinks. they're made with my sweet, ripe blueberries, picked right from the bush, and they're good for you. taste real good, too! to give you an idea, let's whip up a quick sample. or you could just try this.

[ chuckles ] yeah. ocean spray blueberry juice drinks -- real blueberries, real good. for adults, stelara® helps control moderate or severe plaque psoriasis with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. in a medical study, 7 out of 10 stelara® patients saw at least 75% clearer skin at 12 weeks. and 6 out of 10 patients had their plaque psoriasis rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and increase your risk of infections. some serious infections require hospitalization. before starting stelara®, your doctor should test for tuberculosis. stelara® may increase your risk of cancer. always tell your doctor if you have any sign of infection, or have had cancer.

alert your doctor of new or worsening problems including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you or anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. with 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses, it's stelara®. it's your fault. naturally, blame the mucus. well, i can't breathe. did you try blowing your nose? of course. [ both ] and nothing came out. instead of blaming me, try new advil congestion relief. what you probably have is swelling due to nasal inflammation, not mucus. and this can help? it treats the real problem of your sinus symptoms, reducing swelling due to nasal inflammation.

so i can breathe. [ mucus ] new advil congestion relief. the right sinus medicine for the real problem. back now at 8:22, a new report in a leading medical journal that claims a link between autism and vaccines is nothing more than "an elaborate fraud" and they say it was designed by the very doctors who study first raised the controversial idea a decade ago. nbc's chief medical editor, dr. nancy snyderman, has details on this good morning to you. >> hey, matt. >> this is a strong and elaborate turn. >> a damning report. >> what is your response to this? >> the british medical journal call out the lancet, saying he fabricated data, this was fraud, that he willingly changed the detail about the kids he reported on and they really do not mince their words. in the united states, this would be analogous to the journal of the american medical association

calling out the new england journal of medicine this is very big and this is a shock that is going to be heard around the world in the medical community. >> we have sat down with dr. andrew wakefield on several occasion, he has been defiant on every occasion saying he absolutely is being vilified here. now, he has released a new statement saying there was absolutely no fraud. in the absence of adequate data on vaccine safety they can continue to go after the man. what government and pharma fear in the uk is the exposure that the uk government intestimoninified the manufacturer and don't understand why i won't just go away. there is just too much at stake, end quote. >> what is at stake is his medical license, which he lost in england. he does not have the a medical license in the united states. and he has lost his job in the united states. the indemnification of a government to this pharmaceutical company is important for people to understand because there are so many bogus lawsuits that -- we were on the verge in the world of not having any pharmaceutical companies making any vaccines, so the government stepped in to

thankfully save a vaccine supply line. >> so real quickly, when he stays in the absence of adequate data on vaccine safety, you completely disagree with? >> two big studies, one 530,000 kids, $8 million -- $1.8 million kids all throwing the link and let me read to you from the british medical journal. they said, "who perpetrated this fraud? well there is no doubt that was thank it was wakefieldsome it possible that he was wrong but not dishonest that he was so incompetent that he was able to barely describe the project?" no that is not editorial opinion that is scientific opinion. >> as a result work of andrew wake field, the publishing of this work in the lancet, a lot of children chose not to vaccinate their children. >> we have seen epidemics around the world. we should say that brian deer, a nonmedical journalist -- >> working in the uk. >> one dogged journalist, really stayed on this story and the medical establishment, pharmaceutical, government bodies did not, decided not to do. >> for some reason, nan joy,

think it is the end of the story. >> you know what now we can say vaccines are safe, get vaccinated. we have to put this behind us. >> dr. nancy snyderman, thanks, as always. et. ma y, erea w bn remeckmofta a oc lyo good morning to you, it is 8:26. i'm laura garcia-cannon. want to check the forecast with christina. >> good morning to you. great visibility, it continues to be nice and clear in the south bay and along the peninsula this morning but some dense fog and north bay, freezing fog and black ice reported in the richmond area. take it easy through there. low visibilities in concord, fairfield, livermore, down to about a quarter of a mile. the case for just one more hour. then things will start to improve. 36 now in concord. hour by hour forecast shows you by noon today when you take your lunch break, upper 40s, low 50s and on your way home from work,

the 60s, 60s in fremont today. la laura's back with more news after this. [ female announcer ] this is a strawberry pop tart... and this is a warm, fresh baked strawberry toaster strudel. we asked kids what they want... and we got a clear answer. the one kids want to eat. [ kids ] oooooooooooooh. toastestrudel. the one kids want to eat. [ kids ] oooooooooooooh. there'to oursong love more g there's thing we love more than listeningtour favorite. but our favorite thing. but our favorite thiising totin.

♪ we're the kids in arica ♪h,h, o bay area air quality managers that you don't like a fire to keep warmth week. they want the pub tloik voluntarily reframe from burning wood because weather conditions today and tomorrow may trap smoke near the ground causing unhealthy breathing conditions. if pollution levels climb, air alerts may be issued this week

they want people to try to cooperate to keep that from happening. wood smoke is the largest source of air pollution in the bay area and tough to keep because as christina mentioned it's a cold start to the day. live look outside this morning. traffic, moving pretty smoothly, seeing a bit of backup on the golden gate bridge. a lot of folks headed back to work this week. got to go and pay for all of the christmas presents, i suppose. live look outside at the san mateo bridge, traffic moving smoothly. we'll check the morng commute. if there is any tie-ups we'll tell you inhe t ex nhalf hour. have a great day. ex

8:30 on a thursday morning. 6th day of january, 2011. there's another look at the rockefeller center christmas tree with the beautiful star on top. that baby comes down tomorrow. >> yeah. >> friday here on the plaza. then it will be milled into lumber to be used for habitat for humanity.

that's always nice. >> anyway, on the plaza i'm matt lauer, ann curry, and meredith vieira and al roker. some of us have just gotten back from holiday travel. it seems like a long way away to wait for a trip for spring break. we have great ideas for shorter trips. three-day get-aways that you can make between now and spring break. >> okay. okay. also coming up this morning we're employing to be talking about the story behind facebook. you know, there's been a lot of controversy. well, apparently the movie didn't say everything, which they rarely do, so we're going to get down to some more of the details that we may not have heard about. >> coming up tomorrow on "today" in our third and fourth hour, we have special stuff. really special stuff. we're going to kick off a new series "have you ever." natalie, ann, and i are going to try things we've never had the courage to do, including my trip up to the top of the new jersey side of the george washington

bridge. >> that is so impressive. >> on a cold winter day? >> why didn't you do it in summer, spring? >> that's a springtime trip. >> i know. any time that is scary. how high is that bridge? >> about 605 feet above the river. >> oh, man. >> wow. >> did you make you nervous? >> the hardest part was walking up the ladder to get up -- >> did they tell you not to look down? >> no, no. >> and you are harnessed. >> that's on friday? >> actually next friday. tomorrow natalie is on the trapeze wr. >> kathie lee and hoda will spend their entire show working out, and their guests will work out with them as well, and you'll see how many calories they burn. >> that's pretty cool. >> before we get to that, how about a check of the weather. >> let's look ahead towards the weekend. saturday hopefully the snow is over in the northeast. we've gotç heavier snow in new england. snow actually out through the plains. wet weather in the pacific northwest. rain down in texas.

then on sunday, sunday, we're looking at snowshowers along the eastern great lakes. snow in the central rockies. clouds in the pacific northwest. icy conditions in the central gulf coast from alabama, louisiana, all the way to georgia. we're talking about frozen conditions that could be coming up along the coast and we're looking at wet good morning to you. a clear start, just a bit of haze here over the golden gate bridge. we have heavy fog, though, in the east bay and north bay. that will be the case until 9:30, 120:0:00 a.m., then that l break apart, then abundant sunshine and temperatures in the o 50s. the warmest day of the extended period. back in the up 50ers by tomorrow. have a great thursday. sgrirchlgts coming up in our 9:00 hour, ann and i will be talking to mr. ted williams, the homeless man with a golden voice who is getting a second chance.

a really amazing story. and he does some amazing impersonations as well. maybe will he do a couple of those. don't forget can you get your weather day or night. go to weather.com. now let's go to mr. willard scott. >> from the west coast, beautiful downtown fort myers, florida. happy birthday from all the gang at smuckers and wishing you a happy new year. this is muriel. she is from chicago, illinois. 100 years old. thanks her longevity to her scottish heritage and walking on a treadmill every day. harold mccullough, mckee's rock, pennsylvania. 100 years old. lives in the same house where he was born, and he is a world war ii veteran, and he is proud of it. mary loma wells of cincinnati,

ohio. home of the best hot dogs in the world. 102. second try. she says it's her faith in the good lord and a positive attitude. a combination that can't be beat. we have jewel bledsoe. i have a million bledsoes that are down in florida that are relatives. she lives in caldwell, idaho, and lives independently and worked in her late 80s in daycare service. e.d. richard, 100 years old, and we wish him a happy birthday. wonderful. that's it. one more, and that's it. we have gertrudealper from great neck, new york. she volunteers at the hospital. how about that at 100? taking care of stroke patients. that's all from beautiful fort myers at this time, and now back to the great big apple. >> thank you so much, willard. you know what's coming up next?

>> who? >> well, what -- well, how. how to make the most out of your three-day get-away. first, this is "today" on -- >> nbc! [ female announcer ] back to school means back to busy mornings.

that's why i got them pillsbury toaster strudel. warm flaky pastry with delicious sweet filling my kids will love. plus i get two boxtops r their hool. toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. winning isi get two boxtops r their hool. my but we lost toy. no, we didt. ♪ we' t ks in america ♪ oh, oh, o ♪ we'rehe kids in america ♪ oh, oh, o

we can back now at 8:38. >> and we are planning your next three-day getaway. holidays coming up in the weeks ahead so now is the time to sneak away for a nice weekend. conde nast's traveler kate max as well here with great ideas. welcome back. >> thanks, matt. >> a lot long time to wait for spring break. these can get us through. >> martin luther king, presidents' day and valentine's day winter blues there are good deals thought at the moment before peak season. >> before we get to your specific deals, you have a tip for people, before booking a room, you want to take advantage of social media. >> social network your way to a good deal. are you on twitter? >> i'm not a tweeter. >> a lot of people on twitter, a

lot of people on facebook follow and like your facebook brands, hotels, airlines or states and you will be among the first to find out when they have really good offers. >> insider deals that way? >> yeah. >> for people that like to do skiing, keystone resort in colorado. there are a lot of resorts, why that one? >> colorado, you can't bea t keystone 12 inches of. ♪ last week, 135 trails and skiing can be very expensive but they have a buy two, get the third night for free and that starts at $79 a night and includes your ski party. take the kids, really good place to go. >> the forest condominiums there. >> yep. >> secluded setting, great for eninjuring nature, not for the ski in/ski out people but a good deal. >> a good value deal. >> let's move on, you want a city atmosphere, you like chicago? >> yes, maybe might not have thought of chicago the winter break but it really, really great hotel deals, the jane in

chicago, $139 a moment if you book by the 15th of january, really fun things to do in chicago in the winter, bundle up, go for a walk in millennium park, shop on michigan avenue. >> great museums too. >> the art institute is free during the week in january. >> that hotel you mentioned, james hotel has great deals like food and beverage credits, free parking. >> a really lovely minimalist sleep property. >> warm weather, kate, take me to aruba. why do you like aruba? >> very easy flight from new york, direct from jetblue, takes one and a half hours. the radisson there, a 50% off deal at the moment, which means $150 a night. >> in the middle of winter? >> yeah. exactly. aruba is basically all you will get in the caribbean, good sunshine, around 80 degrees at the moment. >> told me for years, virginia for lovers, only vity fifthing you have richmond, virginia, on your list of destinations for three days? >> virginia is for lovers this slogan started in '60s, virginia, mountain lovers, history lovers, now just for lovers. for that reason, they have a

deal at the jefferson, $159 a year, the jefferson, really classic, opened since 1895. 12 presidents have stayed there, people like f scott fitzgerald, frank sin nat tracks fantastic service. >> let's move on to bermuda, the only reason i stopped here, take time with this i loved bermuda, but not that far south, so, what's weather like during the winter months? >> really pleasant, 6, 70s, this is the golfing destination. you are a golfer, would you agree is -- >> good temperature but probably not doing a lot of diving in the ocean in that temperature? >> no a break from new york it is in 390s, this is lovely weather. >> the fairmont southampton? >> i have stayed there, a classic bermuda property and excellent deal at the moment as well, buy one room, get the second one for free, put your children in that room, $269 a night. and that is kids club for free as well. >> ask forticate maxwell suite, you can get a better discount? >> upgrades, upgrades.

>> from the fairmount southampton, east hampton this is in new york the east end of long island, why is that a good winter three-day get away? >> new york verse home notice hamptons swear that went certificate best time to be there is cozy it is uncrowded, you can take a blustery walk on the beach, you can get into those restaurants you might have a problem getting tables at in the summer and 1770 house, i stayed there a couple months ago, really good, cozy place, open fires and wonderful restaurant with local seasonal food, pork belly is on the menu, get t breakfast, the buttermilk pancakes are great. >> odd good weekend there apparently? full disclosure, i haven't stay there had, but i have eaten at the restaurant it is a lovely place. >> good. >> good deals, quick trips, most easy to get to kate maxwell, as always, thanks very much. >> thank you. >> good to see you again. it is 8:42. up next, how to improve your marriage and keep your sanity in 2011. but first this is "today" on nbc.

the moment you feel run down or achy nip flu-like symptoms in the bud, with oscillococcinum. get oscillo and feel like yourself again. oscillococcinum, nip it in the bud.

back at 8:44. this morning on today's relationships, how to stay mar rained stay sane in 2011? if you are in a rut, feeling frustrated with your spouse there are ways to turn things around. how to re-energize ourselves and our relationships, dale atkins and hal rungel, "scream-free marriage, turning common conflicts into a deeper life connection." good morning to you. >> good morning. >> happy new year it is the time of year you start to re-evaluate your life and your relationships. dale, you look at your husband or your wife one day and say, is this what i signed up for? >> very often happens and as hal knows, people ask themselves that question and one of the things we want to know and help people figure out, if you signed up for this person, what was it about that person you loochbd was attracted to in the beginning and how can you re-energize that? sometimes we focus on the things missing and we don't think about the things that we had had, both

in ourselves and in our relationship. >> the dissatisfaction is pretty common among couples? >> absolutely. and so often we find ourselves thinking that we with need to get along well and be comfortable and not rock the boat. what happens is we end up compromising ourselves along the way and forgetting those parts of us that made us edgy or made us attracted to each other in the first place and then that is why we wake with up saying, what happened to me in this relationship? >> our spouse can really help us kind of redefine and find that again within ourselves and what i think we need to do is remember and go inside, instead of blame ourselves for losing ourselves, what happened to me and what i do need to do to kind of re-energize that and how can i use myself to help me find that? >> i think a lot of people in marriages, that is where you put aside the me with the we. >> which is one of the big fallacies, i believe. right? i think we need to recover our i in our relationship, represent myself fully to you. this is who i am.

and i don't know how you are going to respond to this. kind of like the first time you said "i love you" to your spouse it is a risk, right? remember when you were dating and didn't know if you were going to get the "i love you" in return, but that was part of the excitement that brought you together, i'm going to represent this is who i am. sometimes that is negative. my wife coming to me and saying, you know what, i don't like you right now. i don't like the fact that i don't like you but i want to talk about it because i love you. >> i think the talking about you is fantastic, having the support is fantastic. i do think, however there is the i and then there is the we and how can you become more of yourself with the reflection of your partner? and so many couples are finding great satisfaction by expanding themselves through the eyes of their spouse. >> what do you mean? >> let's say you were mar rained i can say to you, you know, i never really would have done that had i not known you or never learned that had you not taught me, because you have done that i have expanded myself, i have learned something new, i have done something different that i wouldn't have done had you not been my partner and now

that you are my partner, i can either take that and take it to the next level or i can do something that i love and you will encourage me because as a great supportive partner, want me to be my best self and you are not going to feel threatened by it because i'm going to include you as much as i can. you use the word threaten because -- >> yes. >> you feel the boredom and resentment are the two biggest enemies of the marriage? >> absolutely or some combination of the two because we shave off those parts of ourselves, if i truly reveal this is who i am or what i want, my spouse will reject me, right? my spouse won't be as supportive as i want them to be, i just tuck that away. every time we do that we build up this resent the, i blame my spouse for not allowing me to be the full me, right, even though i am one making those choices along the way. so i have to get past that and say, you know what, i'm totally responsible for every choice that i make and i'm going to reveal myself to my spouse because i'm not going to let those two enemies, resentment and boredom, kind of take us down. just not going to let it happen.

>> what if your spouse doesn't listen? they are not ready to hear it? >> so much of what we are talking about has to do with good communication. one of the things is you have to learn how to really communicate in a way that will be effective for both of you and as van table juice to move your relationship where you want it to go. so many of us are busy telling what we want and what we feet other person needs to know about us, we need to pay atension what it is they need to tell us and what is missing from their perspective, so you have to listen, you have to try and pay attention and have empathy. before the person finishes a sentence, don't start your sentence, find out what it is they are feeling and go to the feeling level. and also, try to talk at times that are positive times, not negative times and remind yourself of the reasons why you mar laid it person in the first police and how you can be supportive, how they have enhanced your life. you talked about boredom and resentment, most people want to be appreciated, so if you can show your appreciation for your spouse in ways that are

meaningful, they will probably want to talk to you more. >> even just saying thank you for viewing something negative to me. you know, i want to hear that from you. my wife revealed to me that i had got an little jiggly. >> telling the truth? >> absolutely. >> and you wanted to hear that? >> well, not right away. not right then and there, but not like i didn't know that not like i didn't watch myself when i brushed my teeth, sought jiggles, but i wanted to know from her that she felt good enough about our relationship she could tell, she preface it had great, i know is kind of shallow and pet tirks i want to say this to you, at the same time, i love you, but i'm going to reveal myself to you as it comes up. one of the big mistakes, you see this, too, you think, well, let's talk and gosh that scarce couples to death, you know what i'm going to reveal myself to you and try to find the best time to do it but i don't need a particular response from you, i don't need to you welcome me, i don't need to you forgive me, i don't need to you thank me, i'm just going to let you know. >> i don't need my husband to tell me i'm getting a little

jiglism thank you so much, hal. thank you as well. again, the book, "scream-free marriage" and comes out on february 1st. up next, the facebook obsession, the real story behind the making of the internet giant. first this is "today" on nbc.

more than half a billion

users, there are now more than people on facebook than the entire u.s. population. nbc's lester holt exposed the power of the global phenomenon in a new documentary "the facebook obsession" airing tonight on cnbc. lesser? >> reporter: if you are not on facebook it is still probably affecting your life in ways you may be unaware of, from the white house to police departments. we taken a inside look at facebook's growing influence on society. and even if you've already watched the movie "the social network", you haven't seen the real story of facebook's early days. just two months after facebook's dorm room launch, harvard sophomore mark zuckerberg appeared on national television, on cnbc. >> when we first launched, we were hoping for, you know, maybe 400, 500 people. now we are at 100,000 people. so, who knows where we are going next. >> reporter: that summer, zuckerberg and his roommate, chris hughes and dustin moscow visit, landed in palo alto, california, the heart of the silicon valley.

armed with over $10,000 of capital from harvard classmate and business partner, eduardoself rine r soon after they arrived, they connected with sean parker, the co-founder of the music file sharing service, napster. parker, portrayed in "the social network" by justin timberlake became facebook's first president. their home office was a four-bedroom sublet. >> it was run like a frat house, it was like kids sleeping two or three to a room, basically like mattresses on the floor, everybody kind of crashing everywhere. >> reporter: but during that crazy summer, a lot of serious work was getting done. >> we were all seated around a dining room table and everybody is just either coding or talking, coming up with ideas. >> we are a site that needs a lot of people to register as quickly as possible. >> reporter: from facebook's earliest days no detail was too small for its creators' radar.

>> [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: jeff hammer backer built and led facebook's data team until he left in late 2008. was it the kind of organization where anybody could say i got an idea? >> it wasn't kind of culture where it was a good idea to say i have an idea. it was a kind of culture where it was a good idea to build a prototype of these idea and have these things called hackathons, every would be stay up in the office and that one single hackathon, facebook chat and facebook video were built. >> reporter: and facebook continues to build new products and grow with hundreds of thousands of new users joining every day. june into cnbc tonight at 9:00 for "the facebook obsession." >> i got to get on this face book. i am like the only person who suspect on? >> i am not. >> one thing i haven't figured out, are the pictures you post on facebook belong to you or facebook? are we still a debate aboutab that? i want to note answer.

>> i don't note answer. >> more news and weather, coming up. good morning to you, 8:56, i'm laura garcia-cannon. let's check that forecast with christina, another cold one. >> another cold one, the sun is out now and only uphill from here temperature-wise. dense fog in the north and the east bay right now.

napa, still at least than a kwaesht mile visibility, same for concord. still want to travel cautiously for the next hour or so, things are very much improving when it comes to the black ice situation in the borth bnorth bay as temps get out of the freezing mark. here what is we expect throughout the day today, noon 50 in concord.he 60s, in b laura is back with more news after the break. but you're still banking like pilgrims! it's time for new school banking, bubbie. interest plus savings at capitalone.com. why earn bupkis, when your savings can earn three times the national average!! three times the national average!!! new school banking at capital one bank. with interest plus savings, go to capitalone.com!!!!! what's in your wallet? somebody help me down.

>>. >> a mystery in marin koupty, tar balls found on point reyes next week. spokesman says volunteers found them over two-mile stretch. a representative from the national sea shore said they may have come from natural seepage

in the ocean or shipwreck. brent will have another local news update in about a half hour. "today" returns in about a minute. have a great morning. shift your weight forward onto the left foot. take the right leg up, holding the inner arch of the foot... introducing instant action alerts, only from chase. left arm up... manage your account and help avoid overdrafts with a click of a button. just reply to the alert with how much you want to transfer. inhale, all the way up...

so you always stay in balance. ...to crescent pose. chase what matters. just four more times. ♪ we are back now with more of "today" on a thursday morning, the 6th of january, 2011. we are hoping these folks have a nice, warm place to go after the show, because it is chilly out there, about 27 degrees in the background there that's the backgr. say hi, brian. wave, you are on camera. it's going to snow here tomorrow. al is going to tell us exactly how much. >> i am not. >> i'm matt lauer along with al roker and amy robach. amy is filling in while natalie is taking the day off. just ahead, the man with the golden pipes. up until a couple of days ago this is how ted williams made a living, on the side of the road

in ohio, panhandling. now he is living out a dream, a second chance. he is getting another chance at life with job offers pouring in. we are going to hear from him about his dramatic rise and fall and rise again, just ahead. >> what a great story. >> it was. it was is inspiring. his voice, it really is beautiful. it's magical. >> you know, i don't know if you do this i know you and i are a bit of hypochondriacs. >> i'm a germophobe. >> when you feel sick or some weird pain, do you sometimes self-diagnose? >> >> go online, google. >> that's right. >> why would you do that? >> yeah. no, yes, i do, al. >> okay. >> did you know, matt, 80% of computer users admit to doing it? one in four say they don't check the source. this morning, dr. snyderman is here to tell us why that can be actually dangerous and what you should be checking out if you're going to turn to internet medicine. >> you and i also like both wearing women's sandals.

>> yes, we do. >> wow. >> go ahead. all right, if you've vowed to get fit in the new year, maybe you will want to take up yoga, like jennifer aniston and alan mad or get some diet tips from halle berry or turn vegetarian like carrie underwood. this morning, we will share the diet and fitness strategies of the stars. >> do you take a tylenol before you get a bikini wax? >> okay. just include me in any group you want to form. first, let's send it to the news desk, ann curry standing by with the headlines. >> crazy this morning. thanks, you guys. let's get to some serious news this morning. a 55-year-old american woman has reportedly been arrested in the past week in iran and accused of having spy devices implanted in her teeth. iranian state-media identified the woman as hall talian and says she crossed into iran from armenia without a visa. new surveillance video from wilmington, delaware, shows former pentagon official, john wheeler, wandering and confused

just hours before he was found lying dead in a local landfill. locals have recalled mistaking him for a homeless person. a woman known to millions of television viewers made her first court appearance on wednesday, charged with lying to police about being attacked by a stranger. let's go to nbc's mike taibbi joining us from central park where the woman claims her ordeal began. mike, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, ann, how are you? the woman for 37-year-old heidi jones says she never actually used the words attempted rape when she told police what happened to her in central park but prosecutors say the word she did use were a lie and a crime. outside court, lawyer paul callen spoke for jones, repeating his arraignment plea that she is not guilty. there has been a frenzy of press coverage in this case and she has been unfairly characterize and vilified in many press reports. >> most of the activity in morning is from the city north. >> reporter: but according to the complaint, based on the police report, the rising star

meteorologist at abc's huge new york station -- >> hi, you guys, and good morning, everyone. >> reporter: also filed reports for abc's network morning show and whose website celebrated her love of running was specific in what she told police a hispanic man had done to her. that i was attacked in central park on september 24, and i was also aed on november 21 outside of my home. >> going to try to make a run on to it really get as far as about syracuse, down to pittsburgh. >> reporter: police say they were skeptical for two reasons, that jones didn't file a complaint until more than two months after the initial alleged assault, and her facebook post just two days after incident was, "good day. how was yours?" jones never stopped working but in the complaint against her, police say the two weeks after she described the two assaults, she recanted. "i did make this up" the police quoted her saying. "i made it up for attention. i have so much stress at work with my personal life and with my family. i know there is no justification for it."

jones' lawyer says that so-called confession should be inadmissible because he says she was never read her miranda rights. >> i also would urge everybody to understand that there is a presumption of innocence that applies even to heidi jones in this case. >> this front will be a focus for severe weather -- >> reporter: the problem for jones is that it isn't just a legal case. it could well be a professional disaster. she has already been taken off the air indefinitely and whatever the outcome in court, a broadcast career based on credibility may now be out of reach for her, says ricky kleman, a legal analyst and broadcaster herself. >> we love to see people who have a second chance, but it's very difficult if what your job in life is is to get on camera and have people believe you. how can people ever believe her again? >> reporter: well, jones is charged with two counts of filing false police reports. they are misdemeanors but if she is convicted, she could face a year in prison. ann?

>> mike taibbi, thanks. a landmark study linking a childhood vaccine to autism has now been discredited as an elaborate fraud. it caused some parents to avoid the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. the medical journal "bmj" found that results were doctored in the original study. there may be new hope for millions of americans, particularly young women who suffer from irritable bowel syndrome. clinical trials funded by a drug company have found that a two-week treatment with certain antibiotics may ease symptoms for at least ten weeks and that is a finding that would support the theory that intestinal bacteria may play a role in ibf. and you wouldn't have to panic if you leave something valuable in your pocket if you go to this san diego dry cleaner. the workers there recently returned a stack of $100 bills left in a jacket, totaling $2,000. by the way, this business has a reputation for good, clean honesty because several years ago, they found and returned $10,000 in cash to a very

absent minded but grateful customer. there you go. it is now 6 minutes past the hour. now back to matt, amy and al. >> ann, look who else is here this morning? >> back. >> hi. >> talk more to ted in just a little while. ted williams. meanwhile, mr. roker has a check of the weather. >> i absolutely do, although it would sound a lot better from ted. as we take a look, here is what's going on with this forecast here in the northeast. we have got low pressure that's going to develop late tomorrow afternoon off the coast after we get low pressure over the great lakes. now, we have already got winter storm watches for new york city. tomorrow, low pressure extends in a trough, we are calling it the norlun instability trough, named after the two meteorologists who discovered this, looks like a 40-to-60-mile wide band of heavy snow in this area, problem is we don't know where the area is going to set up. it could be anywhere between new york and boston. how heavy is the snow going to

be? how intense is the system? we don't know yet, we just don't. then we know it moves off the coast by saturday morning leaving behind a lot of wind, not a lot of snow, certainly a lot of wind. the heaviest snow somewhere we think is going to be central new york on into new england with moderate snow back through pennsylvania and on up into central new england, but, again, still no way to tell. we're just going to have to wait good morning to you, bay area. take a look at your beautiful sky overhead, san jose, but look over the city, san francisco, w still have some patchy, dense fog out there, for the most part it has lifted above the main lines of the highway, no longer going to impact your commute in places in the valley, just keep that in mind, hazy for the first part of the day and as we head through this afternoon that fog will lift, break apart and abundant sunshine everywhere and 60 degrees. have a great day. latest

weather. now to the man with the golden voice. just a few days ago, ted williams was homeless. he was looking for work when a local reporter in columbus, ohio, recorded his god-given gift of voice. >> within hours, this video went viral and now, williams has become an overnight sensation with offers from all over the country, including from this show. good morning. >> good morning. >> it has been quite a morning, since you talked earlier this morning to matt and meredith because everyone has been wanting to talk to you. >> yes, couldn't even go and out and spoke smoke a cigarette. >> what happened? somebody grabbed you? >> kidnapped by another morning show. >> yes, oh, god. >> so what is it like then to just have everybody be grabbing at you like >> we should probably tell people this is just a few days ago. you were -- >> i was on i-71 in columbus, ohio, in hudson asking people for money. and just outrageous how all of this has just come to be.

i thought, god blessed in increments. he gave me a deluge of blessings. i feel like a billion dollar lottery winner or dorothy landing in oz or susan boyle must have felt the same way. >> that is an amazing analogy. >> i'm from brooklyn. >> you have a wonderful voice. as a teenager you were enraptured by radio. >> at wwrl, that was a big station here. >> soul station. >> that's right. that's right. with hank span and all those guys. we went on a field trip. the guy i met was hank span. his voice didn't match the character i witnessed. it was described to me as being theater of mind. radio was theater of mind. i wanted to give people an illusion. sometimes when i was in my hay, al, people would -- i would say,

come on down to the latest venue that we're having. people would come down and say, hi, is ted williams around? i'd say, i'm ted williams. huh-uh. they'd look at me, like, no, they expected something -- a bigger person. most cases a darker comeplected man. i got a kick out of that. i would make my voice deeper and deeper. >> can you go further lower than that? >> let me see just about how far. >> okay. we get the picture. >> yes, ma'am. >> it's amazing. one of the most poignant moments this morning when i saw you talk to matt and meredith was when you started talking about your mother. >> i love that woman. >> when was the last time -- >> 20 years ago. >> when you saw her. >> when we actually kissed and hugged and all. >> have you spoken on the phone with her? >> yes. >> how long ago was that? >> i think last week was the first -- she had found out that i was flagging the sign, so to

speak, and didn't please her too well. >> you haven't spoken to her since all this has broken. there is a statement, i think you got to written down here, that she's made this morning. >> from your mom julia williams. she said she's thrilled her only child is turning his life around. my son has so much talent, i hope this will be the thing for him. he came from a nice family then he went poor, poor. build him up and let him see there's more in life than hanging around with the wrong people and taking drugs. >> that sounds like mom. that sounds like her. >> what did happen? >> well, you know, again, in 1993, you know, i just started taking everything for granted. all of my, you know, successes and all. and ran into some people who would introduce me to cocaine. and prior to that i had an alcohol problem, but it never took away from what i was doing. you know, i'd get up in the morning and did morning shows in

columbus. and i would take a little drink and good morning, everybody, five minutes after 6:00, 6:05. i kept going, then when the cocaine was introduced to me, and of course, bless his heart, john and all his guys, i thought that was a drug that, you know, only certain people get hooked to. and you know, what i mean? and i tried a little of that. eventually the crack came in. that's what killed apple jack. >> that pulled you down. >> yes. >> what pulled you up, is because there was somebody -- a reporter from -- what was the name of the newspaper in. >> the "columbus dispatch." >> he pulled out his camera -- >> what happened is he came back a week or two before he did this. him and his family were driving on their way to church on sunday, this particular sunday i was standing out there. he rolled his window down and gave me a $20 bill. for people to give you $20 in these times, that's like, wow, that's almost like the feeling i had right now.

that same feeling. so he gave me the $20 then he wanted to -- he was curious about the sign. so i did something, like, you know, when you're listening to nothing but the best of oldies. his family and everybody was mesmerized. he drove off. a couple weeks later, he said he had been going trying to find me again. so he gave me a couple dollars and i was happy. then the very next day, here he coming out of nowhere with this camera and says, i work for the "columbus dispatch" i'm a web designer, is there any way you can do something for me? when i come off the ramp, hold your sign and do what's normal. he gave me a dollar. i wanted that dollar. >> this goes virals. you end up here. >> isn't that crazy? >> what is your dream job? >> my dream job? >> yeah, what would it be? >> i'd like to be a music director of a radio station. you know, a popular radio station, a.m., f.m., whatever. i want to have an input on

programming so that i feel i have a taste for what people like to listen to. >> so to all those people, because the -- >> god, i can't get over this. i'm sorry i had to say that. i'm sorry. i'm feeling this. >> all these people are -- >> yes, ma'am. >> that's what you're really feeling, then, is the intensity of this moment. it's all coming down on you. >> yes. >> here you are. >> yes. >> are you going to be able to handle this? >> how is this feeling? >> this lovely lady you referred me to, she's a psychologist. she was telling me -- i believe her name was miss atkins. >> she's wonderful. >> she's given me this little exercise of breathing, you know, and giving me this advice. i told her, this is so crazy that being the recovering alcoholic and addict that i am, she said meditate before medicate. i told her, i could use a nerve pill about now, nice little sedative of some sort. she took me to a place, most

happiest moment in my life. when i was young, my mom took me to bermuda. i think that's -- i love bermuda. i don't know what's going on with bermuda now, but in the '70s that was the hawaii of the atlantic as far as i'm concerned. being from new york, bermuda is the closest thing to hawaii we have. she's told me about how to deal with this situation with breathing. so it's something i haven't done before and want to try it. >> you have every right to feel overwhelmed. she's absolutely right you should be -- >> i can't tell you how much i look at you, man, on tv. this is outrageous. >> we're going it give you a chance to compose yourself. we're going to go to commercial. we'll be back and talk to you a little more. ted williams. >> this is outrageous, man. [ boy ] with box tops for education,

you can make a big difference. did you know that by march 1st, more than $50 million can be earned by schools just like yours! buy participating products now, to earn your school's share of more than $50 million! and give it a whole new life! with the aveeno nourish plus moisturize collection.

the only hair care with active naturals wheat formulas, that target even the weakest parts of hair with hydrating proteins to help repair damage in just 3 washes. for softer, stronger... ... hair with life. [ female announcer ] aveeno nourish plus. discover the power of active naturals. see this sunday's paper for $25 dollars in savings, including a free full-size lotion offer. i won't. ♪ [ female announcer ] clear some snow. ♪ or spread a little warmth. maxwell house gives you a rich full flavored cup of coffee so you can be good to the last drop. maxwell house gives you a rich full flavored cup of coffee nothing starts your day like honey roasted, honey bunches of oats. the perfect balance of crunchy flakes and clusters, with a kiss of golden honey. delicious.

and the same calories per serving as special k original. so, try honey roasted, honey bunches of oats! heck try 'em all. this is "today" with matt lau lauer. >> will you get this done already? >> mr. matt lauer. oh, god. oh, god. oh, man. i'm with matt lauer. >> we are back once once again with ted williams this morning, record, the open to our program. >> yes, sir. man what a -- >> amazing job offers, cleveland cavaliers want you to -- >> some radio station, i forget the call letters but in honolulu and they have invited me there, all expense paid and do some voices for them that's all. you know, and then -- and then the ryan seacrest show, earlier, i did some drops for him and

""access hollywood"" and the fine people at kraft macaroni and cheese offered me a little deal, being the official voice of kraft macaroni and cheese. even the cavs deal was a two-year signing with them at home and that's been so long, in and i have had an apartment of my own, let alone a home. of course, i don't think i will be able to afford the bills that -- >> i don't know, you get one of these jobs, you probably will be able to afford a home, you can have. and to think about that. >> oh, and i'm going to jimmy fallon tonight. >> you are? >> yeah. jimmy fallon. it's jimmy fallon live from -- yes. yes, i'm going to jimmy fallon and jay leno, from what i understand. i don't know. >> speaking of jay len know, i understand do you a jay leno impression. >> no it is a poor impression. alcoen put me up to this one. but, oh, god, i don't even know what line. it is a little thing, a little quirkiness about jay len know, you know the way he talks.

and here is a guest -- you know that kind of thing, but my favorite one, al got a kick out of was richard nixon. >> do you nixon? >> my fellow americans, let me make one thing perfectly clear and he would -- >> we have got tweets to a loft people -- do you know that you look like president obama? >> yeah, some people have actually -- you know, took my picture for that reason alone and i didn't want to disgrace a president, commander in chief by saying, here is obama holding a homeless sign or whatever. >> so you -- >> 63 b 10. >> there you are. >> i was in south korea, my overseas assignment, but i have also been at fort bragg and fort jackson, south carolina, fort

dixon, jersey. >> we wish you so much luck and i think that you are absolutely right that what dale said to you, that you have agreed, go slow, but and that you're here and your people are celebrating you, they all want a piece of you because you have something to offer. >> yes, ma'am. yes, ma'am. >> you have value. >> what do you want to say? >> i want to say that i want to thank the fine people at nbc for everything that they have done affording me this opportunity and everything. and if it wasn't for you guys, i probably wouldn't be here, sitting on this couch or the gma thing they did a little while with ago and all, but i do want with to thank the fine people -- they put me up in some top-notch, top-notch accommodations and all. thank you all. and this is -- really neat. really neat. >> well, enjoy, take the time. >> and i want to say hi to one with more person? >> sure. >> the people at -- wait a minute, i have a little piece of paper, i don't know if i still have t. >> say hi to your kids too? >> i'm sorry. >> say hi to my kids?

>> julie, general neigh, tricia, tangela, emmanuel, demonty, my grand children, and ray la and mumu and boots and all of my grandchildren and cali ya and patty and her husband, yth m'sty ex-wivg motor of my daughters and she is remar rained her husband, thomas, and with that, i pass. >> all right. ted williams, it has been a great honor, thanks so much for coming to visit us this morning. we will be right back, right after this. two incredible lash looks, one genius brush. twist to one, for length and drama... or two, for length and definition. it's mascara, with a twist.

new revlon, customeyes mascara. imagine what it can do to your skin. but dove isn't soap. it contains pure 1/4 moisturizing cream because, everyday moisture is the key to beautiful skin. and who knows moisture better than dove. pediatrician recommended pain reliever for children. plus, children's advil® brings fever down faster than children's tylenol®. choose children's advil®. relief you can trust. and this is a warm, fresh baked strawberry toaster strudel. we asked kids what they want... and we got a clear answer. the one kids want to eat. [ kids ] oooooooooooooh. toaster strudel. that's why i got them pillsbury toaster strudel. warm flaky pastry with delicious sweet filling my kids will love. plus i get two boxtops for their school.

toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. plus i get two boxtops for their school. we always make time for just us cousins. like the other night at olive garden. tech gadgets. plus celebrity diet strategies from stars like halle berry and generaler in aniston. >> today after the local news. in a lemon-herb glaze. or sauteed pork in a creamy white wine sauce. both served with asiago filled tortelloni. along with our unlimited fresh salad and warm breadsticks. this is like being back at the kids' table. [ laughter ] olive garden. when you're here, you're family. just got more powerful. introducing precise pain relieving heat patch. it blocks pain signals for deep relief precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. precise.

why do women like you love activia light? sometimes i have no choice but to eat the kinds of foods that are hard on my diet... and my digestive system. so i eat activia light every day. it helps me feel good and look good too! ♪ activia good morning, everybody. 9:26. i'm brent cannon. we ch check your forecast. still chilly but we'll warm up today. >> yes, under full sunshine but still a little fog to get through this morning. the good news is the situation in terms of visibility is improving dramatically in the east bay right now. you can see for a mile in concord and fairfield, where we were quarter of a mile most of the morning. north bay, take it easy out there. temperatures are rising into the 40s now and hayward at 33 in livermore and as we head through the afternoon once that sun makes the appearance in full

force we're talk about 60s today and this will be the warmest day of the week. a little bit more fog to contend with. brent is back with more news after the break.

a man who lost his 3-year-old daughter and the girl's mother in a deadly apartment fire in oakland will be able to attend their funeral services before he's deported to el salvador. he was in the custody of immigration officials in san diego when electrical cord sparked a fire that swept through the apartment complex on 82nd avenue as his daughters and their mother slest inside. his 7-year-old daughter is the only one to survive that fire. she and her mother were in the country illegally. san francisco police chief says the latest officer involved shooting is a clear indication the department needs stun guns. the chief says officers may not have to shoot a man in a wheelchair if they had stun gun as options. police say the man was armed with a knife and stabbed another

officer earlier in the day. officer tried to use a bean bag gun on the man but that didn't work. they wound up shooting and wounding him. the chief plans to push for stun guns again at the next economics meeting in february. >> pg & e facing more lawsuits after the explosion in san bruno, lawsuits accuse them of negligence, nuisance and other claims. the september 9th blast killed eight people and destroyed dozens of homes. more local news in half an hour and "the today" shows returns in a minute. see you here in a bit.

i want you to take my hand and come with me on this adventure. >> i will go with you but i don't want to touch you. >> okay, you don't have to take my hand, but will you come with me on this adventure? >> we will go with you, seth rogan. we will go with you. >> i can't wait for this movie, "the greenhornet." seth rogan will bring his crime-fighting skills to studio 1a tomorrow on "today." . that is right. meanwhile, in this half hour, talking about celebrity diets. >> that's right. you need a little inspiration to kick start your new year's resolution, maybe you can turn to the stars, halle berry to

carrie underwood. we will share the exercise and eating tips that keep them looking so good. and vegas, baby, we are heading out to the international consumer electronics show, we are going to get a firsthand look at some of the best new tech gadgets of the year courtesy of our good buddy, paul hockman, becoming a super hero. those my be spy grasses. those that make you see through somebody's clothing. >> the x-ray glasses. also this morning, making another turn, talking about gardening expert pete alan smith. he is moving the garden, look there, into the kitchen to share his favorite recipes featuring some of the fresh produce that you can grow in your own back yards, tell us all about that, but first a check of the weather? >> all right. let's look ahead toward your weekend, starting off with saturday, going to show you, we have rain in the pacific northwest, snows in northern new england, snow showers around the gables, wet weather down through texas, mild in the southwest and sunday, sunday, we are looking at rain along the gulf coast. you go into mississippi, alabama, on into georgia, central park, those states could be looking at icy conditions, cold as you get on into central

nevada, frigid our neck of the woods is clearing up. good morning. we had densy fog in the east bay but the situation is dramatically improving and now that the sun is out we'll warm up nicely today in the 60s, 57 degrees today, in the city by the bay. 60 for oakland and that's pretty much the popular number you'll find in san jose, fremont and concord as well. temperatures staying nice and warm and dry, all of the way throughout this weekend. have a great thursday. and that's your latest weather. >> thanks a lot. coming up, celebrity diet secrets, hmm, right after this inner beauty is important. but not nearly as important as outer beauty. ♪ that's why i use covergirl's simply ageless makeup with olay regenerist serum. a liquid makeup can glob up in lines and wrinkles and make you look older. simply ageless stays suspended over lines

and makes you look amazing. simply ageless from olay. and easy, breezy, beautiful... covergirl. ♪ and to look really amazing, start with my serum primer. ♪ took some foolish risks as a teenager. but i was still taking a foolish risk with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more... and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol...stop. along with diet, lipitor has been shown to lower bad cholesterol 39% to 60%. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease

or risk factors for heart disease. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people with liver problems and women who are nursing, pregnant or may become pregnant. you need simple blood tests to check for liver problems. tell your doctor if you are taking other medications or if you have any muscle pain or weakness. this may be a sign of a rare but serious side effect. let's go, boy, go! whoo-whee! if you have high cholesterol, you may be at increased risk of heart attack and stroke. don't kid yourself. talk to your doctor about your risk and about lipitor. just joined? new year's resolution! we want a healthier lifestyle... so we can have more energy to do more stuff. healthy lifestyle? well, you should also start enjoying activia or activia light. activia, for us? sure, it's for people who want to feel good inside. when you feel good, you're more likely to get out there and enjoy life! mmm! mmm! i like this resolution. mm-hmm! here is the activia promise-- love how you feel or your money back! ♪ activia

and eating well means getting enough whole grain and calcium. general mills big g is the only leading line of kid cereals with at least 8 grams of whole grain and a good source of calcium. help your kids get more of what they need, with general mills kid cereals. with relief from dry, uncomfortable skin. only aveeno skin relief has an active naturals oat formula... to improve all five symptoms... of winter skin in just one day. discover the beauty and comfort of skin relief. only from aveeno.

[ female announcer ] there's a place called hidden valley where kids not only eat their vegetables, they can't get enough. ♪ hidden valley ranch, makes vegetables delectable. and now make lettuce a real salad with hidden valley salad kits! everything you need all in one bag, like garlic croutons, lemon pita bites, parmesan cheese, and caesar dressing. turn plain lettuce into a hidden valley salad. this morning on take it off today, celebrity diet secrets f your new year's resolution is to get in better shape but you need a little inspiration, look no

further than the latest issue of "us weekly" with. jill martin is a contributor there and "today" contributor and we are all contributors, yeah. celebrities, we look at them, yeah, right, they have personal trainers and chefs and all the help they can possibly need. i can't do what they do but is there anything something that we can incorporate into our daily lives? >> definitely. jill and i went out of our way to feature a-listers that make solid, smart choices with diet and exercise that everybody watching can do as well. >> we start with carrie under wood, she is now a size 2. she wasn't always a size 26789. >> in her american eye aidol das after wing, she keeps a journal which really helps her, conscious of what she it's and on tour, doesn't eat out, we know is the killer when you go out and don't keep track of what you are eating. she is also married to a hockey star they can train together.

>> always helpful. now a size 26789. >> and a vegetarian. >> what that means is automatically, she is blasting her body with vegetables and beans and lentils, filled witht fiber, keeps her feeling satisfied she is not constantly grabbing a snack every couple of hours and also gives her a whole lot of vitamins and nutrients, boosts her energy and keeps her skin looking radiant. she hikes regularly and i'm going to tell you, a vigorous hike burns about 500 calories her hour. that is why she looks wait she looks. >> we should mention she is young. now turn to jennifer aniston in her 40s, 41, her body is amazing. anyone inching up there in age, she can do it i can do t. >> one of her snacks, string cheese and white peaches that is not all of our splurges, but she was filming "just go with it" last february in hawaii and said she worked out in the gym up to two hours doing cardio, which you can't do every day. she says she does up to 20

minutes and just getting that burst of energy really helps her. >> you say she eats low-calorie foods that are clean. what do you mean by that? >> she is basically a nutritionist's dream she doesn't eat processed food, she eats real food and makes it diet friendly boys chooing low-calorie items, for example, breakfast, nonfat yogurt a piece of fruit. lunch, a salad with protein and grilled fish and steamed veggies for dinner, she is always institute protein throughout the day, keep hearse metabolism humming along. >> i said jennifer aniston hasn't had kids, of course her body looks like that i can't say that with halle berry, 44, a 2-year-old. jill, talk about her figure. >> having a 2-year-old who she chases around is enough of a workout, as you know, having children but she is a diabetic, so she is working with out, not an option, it is a necessity. so she is walking in the golden

globes, nominated this weekend, always looks gorgeous. her workout, not in the gym all the time, four times a week for 30 minutes with a trainer, really intense, which shows you don't have to live in the gym, you just have to really work out. >> exercise is really key for people that have diabetes because it improves insulin sensitivity in terms of her diet, she is very committed. she doesn't eat carbohydrate alone, always coupling it with protein, keeps her sugars even keel and avoids the foods that will spike her blood sugars, the soda, the cakes, the candice and the white stuff. >> mom of one to mom of two denise richards, her body to die for as well. you said she is a fan of the minimeals throughout the day? >> her friends make fun of her she carries around a minicooler, always eating. >> always eating. not just for her kids but her. that is what works for her and mixes up had her workout. she was on dance become the stars she trained with louis van amstel, does cardio dance classes and a lot of pilates.

makes her body look great. >> not necessarily for everyone, a lot of people prefer the three square meals a day, if you want to do minimeals, you want to portion them at 200 to 300 calories, you got to be careful. >> that is the hard part. >> you overshoot your calories with these minimeals, at the end of the day, eaten too much, you wind up gaining weight. an appropriate minimeal with would be two rice cakes and coltage cheese or half of turkey sandwich with. >> we appreciate it. coming up next, live from las vegas, a look at the hottest tech gadgets. but first, these messages. ♪ ♪ [ bells jingling ] [ snorting ] [ gasps ] ♪ [ female announcer ] too many holiday treats? [ snorting ] ♪ take the special k challenge, with so many ways to lose up to six pounds in two weeks.

what will you gain when you lose? get started at specialk.com. what will you gain when you lose? revlon has something cool for your skin. infused with hydrating coconut water, new colorstay aqua mineral makeup feels cool on your skin leaving it smooth and luminous. i've never felt makeup like this before. new revlon colorstay aqua mineral makeup. just joined? we want a healthier lifestyle. well, you should also start enjoying activia. for us? it's for people who want to feel good inside. when you feel good, you're more likely to get out there and enjoy life! mmm! mmm! i like this resolution. love how you feel or your money back! pediatrician recommended pain reliever for children. plus, children's advil® brings fever down faster than children's tylenol®. choose children's advil®. relief you can trust. i won't. ♪ [ female announcer ] clear some snow. ♪ or spread a little warmth.

maxwell house gives you a rich full flavored cup of coffee so you can be good to the last drop. my old contacts would sometimes move and blur my vision. then my eye doctor told me about acuvue® oasys for astigmatism. he said it's the only lens of its kind designed to realign naturally with every blink so now, i'm seeing more clearly. [ male announcer ] learn more at acuvue.com. the moisturizer in other body washes sis on top oskin. caldove hasutriumummoture, which can nourish deep down. dove body wash with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin.

um dove body wash with nutriummoisture. we always make time for just us cousins. like the other night at olive garden. hey susan, you gotta tell the aunt jessie story again. ok, ok. joe: love that story. come into olive garden for our two new scaloppini dishes. pan-seared chicken breasts in a lemon-herb glaze. or sauteed pork in a creamy white wine sauce. both served with asiago filled tortelloni. along with our unlimited fresh salad and warm breadsticks. this is like being back at the kids' table. [ laughter ] olive garden. when you're here, you're family. that's why there's lubriderm® daily moisture. it contains the same nutrients naturally found in healthy skin.

skin absorbs it better and it lasts for 24 hours. later gator. lubriderm. your moisture matched. later gator. nothing starts your day like honey roasted, honey bunches of oats. the perfect balance of crunchy flakes and clusters, with a kiss of golden honey. delicious. and the same calories per serving as special k original. so, try honey roasted, honey bunches of oats! heck try 'em all. this morning on "today's tech, a sneak peek at the 2011 consumer electronics show. tamron hall is in las vegas with paul hockman, the found of the new simple.com with exclusive first looks at innovative products. good to see you guys. >> good stuff there this is a techie heaven here, but the mystery is we have the items will be hot, the thing that everyone will want? paul has put together a list of items we will run down. we start off with these tablets,

paul, everyone wanted an ipad. now there is competition on the market. it is exploding. >> is right. people have noticed that the ipad has taken over, they are the new category but now there is competition, new people competing, of course, one of the most notable examples, motorola called the zoom. >> what is the most notable thing about the competition? >> the resolution of the screen is higher, the screen is big it runs faster, a faster processor and has video output and things, basically get content here on the -- >> i like the camera, have a camera. >> these have a front-facing camera, if you like to look at yourself and others, you can actually have video conferences, we did that with al this morning. >> pretty cool. now, also the smartphone, bigger, better, faster and pretty cool apps you can get as well with. >> one i love, this app is from nuance, nuance communications. if you are a mom and carrying something like a kid or groceries and you want to shoot off a quick text, tough say i'm going to be late, now you can

use the voice activation, tap on it i'm going to be late. and basically, what happens is it transcribes it immediately. >> like -- that is awesome i love it. >> 4.99. >> this is a today show exclusive you have coming up. >> lady gaga teemed one with polaroid with her style, the gl ten, gray is her favorite color, has leather on the bottom it has brushed steel on the top. >> inspired by lady gaga. >> helped with the exterior of the design. >> another camera helps underwater. >> this is pretty -- before we get to that, exclusive, samsung this thing is fantastic, you can share your pictures by pressing a button and wirelessly upload them -- >> wirelessly? >> don't have to plug them in. if you should fall in the water, you don't want to in the water with that. >> happens every day. >> this is from kodak, plate sport, waterproof down to ten feet, go on vacation, you can swim, take pictures of your kids swimming you and connected to

something i love, it is a tripod that you can connect to any -- >> this is a tripod? >> a lot of times set it up for family photos, now it is stable, the tripod can be attached to anything that has any photo device, universal connection. >> that is pretty cool, small enough you are traveling, throw it in the bag, vacation, boom. >> love it. >> speaking of this he can nology, gets expensive, this gets lost this is tie. >> what does this do? >> too far from your phone it sets off an alarm or if your with phone gets too far from the keys it will -- >> if you are the person who always loses your keys or your phone, bada-bing, here is your holiday gift next year? >> you got t. i want to move to the 3-d rage, televisions slow to take off because of the price and people aren't sure. >> the co-axials, it doesn't look that good, tough put on these glasses. well, finally lg display has come up with a way that actually film panel retarders what is really cool about it, it doesn't

require those flat panel glasses. >> this is one of those 3-d tvs. >> the glasses, you have to be in front of it. >> i'm going. >> oakley makes these, these are simple polarized glasses will decode it and turn the 3-d image into something beautiful. the bottom line, you don't have to have something elect tropic on your face. >> this is ridiculous, al, you have a whole year to save up for christmas for me, paul can give you a good discount, i was scoffing at the 3-d tv this is awesome. >> you look so good wearing those. >> yeah you know, it bunt work with the outfit but i will take the tv. i will sacrifice. >> i notice she put it on first. >> there you go. thanks so much. we should note, nbc universal is the official broadcast partner of ces. coming up next, home grown ingredients from our good pal, pete allen. first this is "today" on nbc.

shift your weight forward onto the left foot. take the right leg up, holding the inner arch of the foot... introducing instant action alerts, only from chase. left arm up... manage your account and help avoid overdrafts with a click of a button. just reply to the alert with how much you want to transfer.

inhale, all the way up... so you always stay in balance. ...to crescent pose. chase what matters. just four more times. ♪

this morning in today's kitchen, using seasonal home grown ingredient, garden designer peter alan smith, he is taking expertise to the kitchen to show his favorite recipes. his first cook with book is called "seasonal recipes from the garden". i think it makes a lot of sense. of all the gardening and farming that you have been doing for many years this makes a lot of sense. >> that's right. >> this comes from your grandmother this love of cooking. >> this's great cook and my great-grandmother was, too. you learn these things shall don't? >> we do you are going to teach us something, all learn something this morning,make a lentil soup. >> is a great base soup and i will talk about that in a minute, swardt a couple tablespoons of olive oil and get them heated up.

what i'm doing, i'm pushing in a couple of tablespoons of garlic, one stalk of celery, one carrot, chopped up, you can see here. and then i've got one white onion, sweeping it all in here. two bay leafs and then these are leeks we brought from the farm. you want these to cook and soften for 15 minutes. >> fantastic. >> isn't it great? >> the thing about this very precise telling us what goes in the soup so far is that this -- these ingredients, you add them all up in terms of how much everything costs -- >> i'm crazy about that guy through the grocery store adding things up all the time. you can create this soup for six people, you can cook it for about $7.20. for the entire pot of soup? >> for the entire pot of soup. >> i like these, redolentles, one cup of redolentles, i'm

speeding this along because, you know, it's television and one quart of tomatoes. >> normally, would you let that cook? >> i would soften them, you want about 15 minutes until they are clear. you can use green lentils or redolentles, in my abortion i call for redolentles, i like either one with, it doesn't matter and then take about four couches vegetable stock, use chicken stock if you like. you can see here what we have going in is beautiful. >> what is also great about cooking with lentils, they don't cook as long as regular beans, they cook up -- >> they are so small that's right. and here is the soup, look atment this. >> how long does this take? >> about an hour. you want it to simmer about an hour, isn't that great? >> the aroma is fantastic. >> you can add like a pork tenderloin that you grilled, another bit of flavor, chicken, ham what ever. this is a base soup to work from. >> you like to garnish it with something green? >> i do what i like to do this is the rustic version here. you just take it right out of the bowl. >> i like to taste that bowl. >> isn't that great?

>> we take a little fresh parsley that we grow in our garden, i love to grow fresh herbs. >> it looks like italian fresh parsely. >> we only have a little time left. >> the sweet poe tate trees simple what i have are four pounds of sweet potatoes, two onions quartered, what i'm going to do dump these to -- >> i think we only have ten seconds. this is going to take longer than that you are mixing sweet potato, onion, cook those. >> they look like this when they come out of the

wi with. good morning, i'm brent cannon, checking your forecast with christina. >> good morning to you.

we are looking good. clear skies for the most part. over the bay area, san jose, i just took a peek outside, looking good. 37 in oakland. we're down to 30 degrees in santa rosa but the good news is, not as much fog to contend with. we can see about three miles in the north bay. down to a quarter of a mile for the most part this morning. enjoy ttds that will gradually climb up into the mid 40s, at 10:00 a.m. and this afternoon, talking about the 60s. so, a big warmup today considering we've been in the 50s over the past few days, lots of sunshine. hopefully get outside and joint today. brent, back to you. >> thanks. puppies are dying and getting sick in alarming right in the guide dog for blind headquarters in north bay. five have died and 25 are sick after parvo outbreak at the kennel, our cameras were not allowed but we're told only the youngest puppies that haven't finished all their vaccinations

have been affected. >> strikes quickly, hits intestinal tracts hard and they become very, very sick. >> a team of veterinarians from uc davis is there to help control the outbreak, hydrating the sick dogs and isolated the dogs that appear sick as quick as possibly can, because that does spread quickly. the pipeline explosion in san bruno having a ripple effect across the country. federal regulators have a stern warning telling energy providers to review and identify pipeline risks and suggest operators consider lowering the pressure in the pipelines. the move comes on the heels of review by pg & e on their own system that led to the discovery that their records were not always accurate and did not correctly describe the san bruno segment of the pipeline that ended up blowing up. more local news in half an hour, "today" return in about half a minute. see you in a bit.

you... don't have a choice of getting breast cancer. i had no choice. that 3-day gave me that opportunity. and i can actually do something to help. 60 miles in 3 days-- i can do that. we can rid the world of this terrible disease... so that no mother... granddaughter... sister... daughter...

mother... go through what my wife had to go through. (man) register today for the... and receive $25 off your registration fee. because everyone deserves a lifetime. captions paid for by nbc-universal television wee it! we made it all the way to thirst-day. >> we're so looking forward to friday. >> january 6th. >> dry-day. tomorrow is a big day for us. >> we're going to lose it. we lose it a lot here but this is losing what we don't want. >> a lot of you were telling us you like to watch our show on treadmills and stuff in the gym

so tomorrow we'll be with you in solidarity. we'll have bias calls up here and treadmills and we're going to do every segment on a bike, treadmill or an elliptical machine and we'll talk about how many calories we burn off. >> are you going to work out at your regular gym in the morning at 5:00 anyway? >> probably -- well i don't know. that's when i get pick up. >> there is such a thing called a telephone! you can call him and say guess what? >> the only thing that gets me out of my apartment, if i were to work out in my own apartment or somewhere nearby i wouldn't go but because i know that we get pick up in the morning, i know jack's downstairs, i'll always -- that's the only reason do i it. >> you only do it for jack. >> yes. i love jack. that's the reason i do it. this is going to help us. because it is slim line vodka. >> they have different flavors but this is elderflower liqueur, white grapes and lime. up to 40% fewer calories than

other leading vod kaz. good news though is it claims it contains electrolytes so you don't get dehydrated. >> really. let's see. that's nice. what do you think? >> i'm not a liquor drinker so -- i like wine lot but not a liquor drinker but it is good. if you do like vodka and you want to get rid of the pounds, 40% less calories. you can order is at volispirits.com. >> it is not easy to stick with those new year's resolutions. >> i've already broken it. i was going to continue with the no bread but then we had that panini the other day and i hadn't had bread and cheese -- but i had a little bit. yesterday we all went out to lunch at the palm. it was so good. my favorite thing at the palm here in new york is -- they have the most incredible chicken

parmesan with ling wiuinlinguin. slaerth slather myself in it. i went around and tasted -- hey! >> antoine came in and tried to take something off the table. >> who told you to go over there and take the vodka? >> antoine, was there a little voice in your that he'd said do it? >> there are many. >> we're on to you, buddy. there was a really great story today that we've been talking about on the earlier hours of the "today" show. a guy named ted williams. this story sort of defines what america is. you can be on your knees on monday, then on tuesday your life can make a whole 180 and change. that's what happened to ted williams. he was a homeless guy who used to be in radio. has the most beautiful voice ever. >> lost everything because of a drug -- >> except his voice. >> wouldn't you think that that would have been -- that would have gone. i guess a reporter from the

local newspaper in columbus, ohio came up to him and heard his voice. >> you're listening to magic 98.9. >> it's stunning. >> it is crazy to hear that voice. he's such a sweet, sweet man. one of the great moments that you were pointing out today is when he and matt had sort of a meeting -- >> let's look at that. i didn't see that. >> hi, mr. matt lauer. how are you, sir? man, what a class act, man. he's the best, man. his smile and everything so genuine. just like our daughter would be, man. god, thank you jesus. >> is he not the sweetest, spirited man? i met him right before our show started. he was exactly like that with no cameras on him. just darling. >> all these job offers are rolling in. he got one from kraft macaroni and cheese. kraft foods. the cleveland cavaliers offered

him something. >> a full-time voiceover job. and maybe a house. he has been homeless, let's remember. >> his mom he's really looking forward to seeing his mom. we're excited for him and his whole new life. >> one nfl play yo said my boss said to me if you don't get him hired, you're fired. >> he's been offered all kinds of stuff. we just wish him the best. it is "everyone has a story" day around here. he even said that to matt. everyone has a story. everyone's stealing that from me! you've got to stick around for the whole though today, you guys. for the first time -- david and i always write these songs for the people that send in their letter. this is the first time we've ever had the person that was written about in the letter actually performing for you. >> here's what makes it unique among all of the other "everyone has a stories," this one has

hip-hop in it. rap is in "everyone has a story." it is a moment! >> it is hip-hop rappin', slappin', slap yo mama. >> you wrote a hip-hop song. >> yes, i wrote the lyrics. >> how did you know how to do that? >> i don't know how to do it. it is called an act of faith. words rhyme. you just get into a meter and it's called "keep on rhymin'" or "keep on climbin'." i wrote it a couple weeks ago. i can't remember. it's a really great guy. great guy. >> we've got to do a songs since we're talking songs. because it is thursday. since we're talking songs -- now this one before we get to it, this has a little bit more you and a little bit more me. it's got a little bit of old school for you and a lit of ah-ah-ah for me. >> what's this old-school? ♪ old school." if the shoe fits. this is by the black eyed peas. it is called the time "dirty

bit." go. loud as you can go, jimmy. this is for you. ♪ >> ready for me? here we go for me. ♪ ♪ dirty bit! >> come on. see? a little for a you, a little for

me. do you like it? they mixed it up. >> all right, so that's a great song. that's one to download especially for tomorrow when we're working out throughout whole show. >> oh, my gosh, something to look forward to. >> a little "dirty bit." >> working out and that kind of music. what's happen to me is i couldn't stand frlo rida's musi. i met flo rida and he is a doll! and he like his music. i never really liked the black eyed peas, until i met will.i.m. and fergie. >> download it. it is $1.29. >> why would i download it? >> because i wouldn't listen to

it. ♪ dirty bit." >> i get enough dirty bit around here. >> we should do what we said first. >> let's do it. this says basically is it okay to pay more than $500 for a haircut. i said -- anyone who earns their own money deserves to spend it as they please. >> isn't that in the constitution? >> i think it is. what do i say? >> hoda said more than $500 for a haircut? just the thought makes my hair stand on end. >> the thought of anything. who did that? >> dirty bit! dirty bit! so anyone this kid is the newsstand junkie. >> so he was writing about kathie lee. he says on page 23 of okay-not okay, hoda and kathie lee debate whether it is okay to spend more than $500 on a haircut.

your quote anyone who earns their own money deserves to spend it however they please. is his line, mr. patrick. "but kathie lee, imagine how much 10:00 a.m. chablis you could buy with $500." she took umbrage with that. why? >> i don't drink chablis. i had a dog named chablis but i don't like him ever. >> she drinks chardonnay, patrick. >> and pinot grigio. let's get it right. but patrick, we wish you all the best. still to come -- >> she's looking better than ever. just saw her downstairs. jane seymour's here in a new movie from hallmark and her husband and her daughter, katie. >> and she has a great book out. >> and she's got ty"dibi rt" hair. then we go out on to the plaza to find our two ambushes.] i don't like scales. i've been avoiding this. pride? courage! i like this.

[ woman ] that's what it should say! [ female announcer ] take the special k challenge. lose up to six pounds in two weeks, hd w geeou w ai ith l e eciaspk challenge, you can have the cereal you love and so much more. design your free, personalized plan at specialk.com. - definitely the one on the right. - yeah, are y-- - seriously, the clorox one. - oh, okay. the difference is obvious. for the whitest whites, use detergent, plus the advanced whitening formula of clorox bleach. ♪ doggie in my chair is not thrilling me... ♪ ♪ woof, woof [ sniffs ] ♪ boots fit well but they are killing me ♪ [ groans ] ♪ oh, something on this bed's got the funky smell ♪ ♪ oh, no [ sniffs ] ♪ all this mildew is just not going well ♪ ♪ what's worse, this couch... [ sniffs ] ♪ this closet... ♪ this bag, ohhh! [ male announcer ] eliminate 7 everyday odors in the things you can't wash with febreze. febreze gets rid of odors... and leaves a light fresh scent. never a harsh smell. [ family ] ahhhhhh... ♪ [ male announcer ] it's a breath of fresh air.

time for a special thirst-day esignificance of "today" "today's" plaza "ambush makeover" pz. >> yesterday's contributor and stylist to the stars -- ♪ louis licari ♪ >> and jill martin. they've been working hard for the better of three hours to show off their work. we're doing it today because tomorrow you guys didn't want to get on treadmills with it. we're doing you early. tell us about today. >> it was great. we had -- a small crowd because of the weather but we found ladies with the best sign ever. there's louis and jill and our pictures. i think those are our high school pictures, right, jill? it was just fantastic. >> that's going to grab your attention for sure. >> and get us to pick them for sure. >> you have to. >> start with miss sheila. she's 48 years old from new york new york city, married to her husband michael for 24 years. they've got two kids together. the way she learned how to put on makeup was by watching her

students when she was a middle school math teacher. take a listen to her story. >> well, sheila and celia had us at hello because look at this sign. ♪ louis licari la-la-la-la-la ♪ and they have a picture of me from ten years ago so we love you guys. we're doing two friends today. tell me why you think sheila deserves this makeover. >> i've known sheila for 15 years and she is one of the most creative, fantastic, great people i know and she's always giving to other people even on the sign it says the food bank. she just deserves to have a makeover and we both just feel like we both need it, we both want to fresh and she really deserves it. >> all right. are you ready to go? >> yes! we are so ready. >> you have to give to people that just give of themselves. >> she's so sweet. she's here with her son collin who has his bandana out. >> he's very cute! i thought it was cody standing there when i first walk in.

>> keep your blindfold on, collin. here's sheila's before picture. okay, sheila, let's see the new you. wow! wow! collin, are you ready? take off your blindfold. >> wow! that's awesome. >> that's good. >> boy, do you two look alike. >> sheila, you ready to see yourself. turn around. >> i love it. >> you look awesome. >> oh, my glad. i don't have my glasses on so i have to look -- >> tell us about the hair. >> well, obviously she's born blonde ready for a change so i wanted to keep it subtle so we've just given it this subtle strawberry color. >> subtle, that's va-vavoom! >> she's va-vavoom. the color is subtle. vanessa gave her bangs that are off the face now which opens it up. she's so gorgeous. >> i love it.

>> how nice. >> this is an indoor-outdoor coat. people always want a great black jacket for a winter? invest in a cashmere camel coat. this is not exorbitant. if you going to outdoor to in, you can still look great. >> you're going to go stand over there and turn your back. okay? >> which cody would hug me. i get nothing. i get nothing. all right. woman number two is celia rodriguez. she's 51 from new york. been married to mark for 26 years. they have four children. she's going to start working again for the first time in 23 years. wow. and asked us to give her a brand-new look. she's here with her friend sheila whom we all just ambushed and collin who can't keep his hands off his mom. we're going tory her story. >> this is like a dr. seuss

rhyme because now sheila, it's celia's turn and tell us why she deserves it. >> she deserves it because she is a great mom, friend, wife, and she deserves to be pampered for hours and even though she looks good right now, i'm sure she'll look even better. >> and your last child is going to college so empty nest syndrome is about to hit. so we're going to give your husband a great gift. are you ready to go? >> yeah, sure. thank you! >> i think they're cheating. no cheating. close your eyes, sheila. >> let's take one last look at celia. now let's bring out the new celia rodriguez! >> oh, my gosh! >> you turn your back, too. okay, are you guys ready? ready, on three -- one, two, thr

three. >> now you get to see yourself. celia. got a minute? here you go, babe. >> oh, my gosh. oh, wow! >> turn around here. we'll get a split screen of you. >> hello. >> hello is right. what we did is number one, when people have dark hair, they start to go a little bit gray. she's just a little bit gray, people progressively go darker and darker. this was a huge faux pas. i softened it, made it more a medium brown, added a few highlights. >> you look a little bit by meredith vieira now. >> what about the outfit, jill? >> again, vanessa gave her this great haircut, smooth out the curl. she could wear it curly or straight because she used a razor that took off the excess. >> darling. jill? >> a flirty skirt with this velvet blazer from ann taylor, showing how you can mix an match

pastels for the winter. >> sheila, come on out. >> are you happy, celia? like it? >> you are a sweet kid. keep hugging your mom, honey. all right? up next, the newest video burning up hoda's internet is going to make you say "aww." right after this. with pantene nature fusion shampoo. experience cassia essence fused with pantene pro v science. the advanced formula conditions damaged hair to unlock radiant shine today and up to 10 times more strength in 14 days. nature fusion from pantene. healthy makes it happen.

>> man: delivering a 200-pound ice sculpture means i don't have any margin for error. one wrong turn, and i could end up unloading a puddle of water. >> gps: turn right ahead. >> man: so i make sure i have the right guidance to get me exactly where i need to be. it's the same with taxes. turbotax has a unique gps feature that guides me step-by-step. automatically double-checks along the way and even lets me talk to a tax expert so i'm never alone. which helps me know it's done right and get to my maximum refund, guaranteed. >> try turbotax online now.

you don't pay unless you're satisfied with the results. whenever the whole family gets together, we always make time for just us cousins. like the other night at olive garden. hey susan, you gotta tell the aunt jessie story again. ok, ok. joe: love that story. come into olive garden for our two new scaloppini dishes. pan-seared chicken breasts in a lemon-herb glaze. or sauteed pork in a creamy white wine sauce. both served with asiago filled tortelloni. along with our unlimited fresh salad and warm breadsticks. this is like being back at the kids' table. [ laughter ] olive garden. when you're here, you're family.

we are back with "webtastic." sara's special series that puts you ahead of the curve on the next big internet video. >> this might be one of those. >> this week's video shows the power of youtube. it features the baby charlotte, originally only sent to three family members, and now has more than 700,000 hits. >> did you have a good christmas? >> no. >> do you love your mommy? >> no. >> do you love your daddy? >> no be, no, no.

>> do you love your uncle devon? >> no. >> do you love your grandparents? >> no, no, no. >> do you want a million dollars? >> no, no. >> do you love your ducky? >> no, no. >> do you want to go night-night? >> no, no. >> do you love bath time? >> no, no. >> is there anything you like? >> no, no. >> i want to eat her with a spoon. >> at first i thought that was all she could say. she speaks. it was just her saying no, i don't want a million dollars. >> how adorable -- thank you, sara pmpbl sara. how jane seymour's husband feels about her chemistry with another man. plus, the everyone has a story. a brotherly love that would make any parent proud. [ female announcer ] most women in america aren't getting the calcium they need.

only yoplait original has twice the calcium of the leading yogurt. that's 50% of the daily value to help close the calcium gap, we're giving away a million free cups at yoplait dot com. new natureluxe silk foundation. flawless coverage... with a light as air feel. we took out a heavy synthetic, and put in a light touch of cucumber. new natureluxe foundation. easy breezy beautiful... covergirl.

good morning. it's 10:26. let's check your forecast with christina. >> we got an echo. good morning to you. things look good, we're warming up into the 40s. it's getting more and more mild as the sun is out in full force. 43 degrees in san francisco, east bay. still cool in concord at 38. high pressure keeps things nice and sunny today. temperatures ending up in the 60s, looking toward 58 in santa rosa, 60 in oakland, same for fremont, concord. a beautiful day in the bay for us today. here what is you can expect

throughout the remainder of the afternoon. temperatures are going to really, really be pretty much toward the upper 50s as we head throughout the remainder of this week. cloud cover to contend with on tuesday and wednesday but mild nights for t area. brent's back with more news after the break. pillsbury toaster strudel. why i got them warm flaky pastry with delicious sweet filling my kids will love. plus i get two boxtops r their hool. toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat. winning isi get two boxtops r their hool. my but we lost toy. no, we didt. ♪ we' t ks in america ♪ oh, oh, o ♪ we'rehe kids in america ♪ oh, oh, o

new sketch will be released this morning in help students at stanford university find an atta attacker. a man attacked a woman monday night as she was walk near the busy interest e seshgs of campus

drive and sara street, the man came up from behind and grabbed her. she tried to bite him and did get away and was able to call for help. students are advised to walk in groups and stay on designated paths and sidewalks. we'll folleow the story. a bay area on community is on alert after a mountain lion is suspected of mauling a deer in hillsboro, a dear was lying in the road near robinwood lane. emergency officials are now advising people to keep an eye on small children as well as pets in backyards, especially if they're in wooded areas. cal trans throwing a curve into east bay commute to crews can update a bay area free way. fifth avenue closed between the embarcadero, support beams being built under nimitz freeway, closed until 4:00 this afternoon. part of eight seismic safety

projects go iing on along the 8 corridor. have a great day. see you again tomorrow morning. we're back on this thirst-day with more of "today" and the beautiful and talented jane seymour. >> and her fans of "dr. quinn medicine woman" we wish have to have the star rehad-unite with sully, the actor, will come true this saturday night when they pair of a up in hallmark move, "perfectly prudence." about a strong-minded tv host. >> imagine. >> i'm proud of what i do. i make a difference in people's lives. >> you should be. because without people wouldn't know how to take an old sock and turn it into a heating pad. >> you've been reading my column and watching my show. >> not if my life depended on

it. >> what life? you sold yours. >> happiness is overrated. >> have you ever been happy, jack? >> yeah. once. >> when? >> when i was in love. >> not you, jack. you'd have to have a heart to be in love. >> oh, prudence! >> he was in love with -- her! >> yes. the secret is out. >> good to see you, sweetie. this is fun. you're not only reunited with him, your husband james is in it, my daughter katie is in it. >> plays my daughter. i think at one point they wanted to do it in my house and my husband said over his dead body. >> how is that working with so many people really close to you. >> it was really fantastic. katie was fantastic. she played a major lead. james and i have acted together often. we're used to that. but it was really fun because we shot the whole thing in 12 days

which was crazy. >> in grand rapids, michigan. >> which was beautiful. >> my new favorite place is michigan. >> joe and i have known each other now for it's almost 20 years now. can't be that long. >> let's just say it is frightening. >> but we're like family. joe, james and katie and -- >> what's it like for james when you have a love scene with him? >> yes. >> we had many years to get over that because actually i did the part -- >> coming in -- >> we had practiced that for many, many years. we've done that for a long time and we've got that one down. and mostly james and joe are really close friends. >> you were fun when you talk about your own projects because you are always very effervescent but i see you've become a thousand times more when you talk about your kids' projects. i know your son is in a band. >> he has a band called pt-5.

comes from plead the fifth. they're unbelievable. they're already recorded five songs which you go on my website you can actually download them for free. he writes them. he's the lead singer and -- how old is he? >> just turned 15. the rest of the band, some are 14. we've been told they're going to be on tour this year. >> are you going to be a mother roadie? a moadie? >> probably the band's worst nightmare. >> i saw jane at borders at columbus circle and you were doing a book signing because you have a book about angels. >> it is called "amongst angels" and it talks about angels in every faith there are angels. every faith there's ever been but it mostly talks about angels being what comes within us. the moment we decide we want to help someone else we open our hearts. this is my artwork, of course. it is about also recognizing

angels amongst us and if you aren't open-hearted you wouldn't receive that blessing. >> jane was the very first person i think worked with child helper. they have celebrity ambassadors and we've all worked for this incredible organization. >> child abuse. child help. >> your necklace, that's so eye catching. >> that's my open heart. you can see there is a ring here. i've even got the little bracelet on right here. the whole idea is that if your heart is open you can let go something tough of your life, be in the present moment and by reaching out to help someone else it will open your heart and it will fill with love. >> don't you love looking at her eyes? one's brown and blue. >> green. >> oh, my gosh. >> it is just fun to look. >> i did a movie once where i had green contact lenses for one character and brown for the other. but i don't look like me when i have two eyes the same color.

>> even though i've known you forever, i've never noticed that. >> did you know prudence had short red hair? that was a wig. >> prudence gets a makeover. >> it is on saturday night. check it out. >> joe and i have been trying to do what you've guys do. we've been doing a little web talk show. i got the fans to give us all their questions and i actually got joe to sit down with me in my kitchen and we answered the questions. it was hysteric cal. >> fans love that sort of thing. happy new year to you. >> thank you. >> say hello to katie for us. up next, you know you've done a good job with your kids when they understand the power of giving. we'll meet an unbelievable young man right after this.

in a more delicious world, there would be more smoothness, more creaminess, more rich just-for-me-ness, more hershey's bliss-fulness. hershey's bliss. it's not just chocolate. it's bliss.

♪ everyone has a moment that changes their life ♪ >> today our newest "everyone has a story" contest winner. >> his friend wrote in to tell us about a very special young man to inspires him. first let's listen to argie's letter. >> i'm writing this letter about a young man. devon glover and his inspirational story. devon is an incredibly giftd teacher and poet whose purpose in life is to teach, inspire and raise the consciousness of young people. i met devon last winter when i

was producing a hip-hop way of studying shakespeare. devon studied the songs for eight months, recorded them true to the brilliant words, then offered his brilliant hip-hop interpretations. quite arcable. what's even more remarkable had sis story. raised by a single mom, he grew up in brooklyn, educated in new york city schools. he worked hard, attended college on a full college to ithaca. his lath credits were three credits remaining for his bachelor's degree. his mother called. his mom and grandmom needed devon's support to deal with the family crises. devon dropped out of college and went to work to help out. without a bachelor's degree, devon earns minimum wage as associate teacher but pushes on, writing, performing, tutoring, and teaching determined to raise

the twiuition so that he can go on. i'm very proud of devon the way he gives back to the community determined to make a positive difference in people's lives and to young people. >> i so, so, so love this story. argie is here with devon and devon's mother. welcome, everybody. i'm already crying. >> i love the connection between you two. argie, you described some of the things that stood out about devon but what was one thing that really sold you? >> i think he has tremendous compassion and love for the arts. he's got phenomenal -- he's got a sleepy way about him on the outside but on the inside is something burning really, really strong and the fact that he does not complain. i said when do you write your lyrics? he said, oh, midnight, i was walking home, couldn't get a bus. so his determination inspires him inside. >> you were working so hard in college, working multiple jobs to pay for thinks. then you had to make the

ultimate decision to leave college. how tough of a choice was that for you to make? >> well, it wasn't that tough a choice. i had a chance to -- when i first started college i was playing around a little bit, switched my major and that's the reason why i didn't graduate in time but it wasn't that difficult once i found out my little brother needed me. didn't want him to go the same path as me and i didn't want any financial issues going on with my family, even more bigger financial issues because my mother was helping me out also as i was going to school. >> that had to be a hard call, huh? >> it was a hard call. he's very devoted to his younger brother and to the family so we were very thankful for him and we were hoping he would continue on. >> how are the two younger brothers doing now? >> they're doing fine. >> watching your son blossom must be such a great pleasure for you. tell us about that. >> oh, it is. it is. i mean watching him work and how

he performs is just -- because he wanted to do this from a young person and to see him now, it's just wonderful. >> that shakespeare is not easy stuff. i have to say. to get it all down and make it fit in the music in the right way. >> i remember trying to read shakespeare in high school, it was hard. and once i started studying again i realized shakespeare, you know, maybe had a thing. you know? he wrote to a rhythm. seems like had he his own rhythm. >> the man was good. we're going to be right back with a very special performance for you. this is a challenge. hip-hop.hop e'ipop-h we >> b.llckba can i see how the cow get milked?" [ children shouting ] you should see the eyes of the kids in the barn.

when the cows give their milk. or even i squirt milk to the kids. they actually love it. you know where the milk come from! all right, wa!n' s moki[ !dr ilhrch s]enk e ok al, ghayri you know where the milk come from! l t.uh-oh. okay, all right. all right, wa!n' s moki[ !dr ilhrch s]enk e - definitely the one on the right. - yeah, are y-- - seriously, the clorox one. - oh, okay. the difference is obvious. for the whitest whites, use detergent, plus the advanced whitening formula of clorox bleach. plus the advanced whitening formula how can expedia now save me even more on my hotel? well, hotels know they can't fill every room every day. like this one. and this one. and oops, my bad. so, they give expedia ginormous discounts with these: unpublished rates. which means i get an even more rockin' hotel, for less. my brain didn't even break a sweat.

i look great in my wedding dress with the help of your amazing light soups. now we're addingven bigger pieces of white meat chicken. oh, so when's the big day? oh, we got married years ago. but the point is, i fit in it! well good for you! [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. [ speaking spanish ] ♪ [ male announcer ] old el paso stand 'n stuff taco shells. old el paso.

feed your fiesta. ♪ everyone has a moment

>> we're back with more of our special series "everyone has a story." >> now it is time for a first, here with a duet called "keep on rhymin'" which i wrote the lyrics for, featuring devon glover himself and featuring our backup singers. ♪ so many people got it hard just trying to get ahead ♪ ♪ try to stay alive until they're old before they're dead ♪ ♪ so many things against them, things they can't control ♪ ♪ so many enemies competing for their soul ♪ ♪ so many people told you boy you'll never get away ♪

♪ nothing's going to change for guys like you ♪ ♪ don't even pray ♪ you got too much against you things you can't control ♪ ♪ but something even bigger said you got to save your soul ♪ so you listen to the voice and make the hard choice to leave the past behind with the ties that bind ♪ ♪ to find the discipline and a brand-new way to be the man you are today ♪ ♪ we are strong ♪ than any circumstance ♪ we can change our lives ♪ if we take the chance ♪ we can reach the mountaintop if we just keep on climbing ♪ ♪ you can change the world if you just keep on rising ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> world, keep on rhyming. this is devon. thank y'all. >> woo! yes! way to go, devon! devon! that's it! >> we'll be back with more of "today" on nbc. honey...? [ mom ] yes.

honey, i can't find my internet cord. oh, i'll borrow hailey's. you're downloading movies. fast! from here? where is her cord?! we switched to at&t high speed internet and got wireless access. no more cords. wireless, okay, honestly, can i just get a cord, please? dad, the cord's invisible. [ female announcer ] for a limited time, call to get high speed internet for just $14.95 a month for 12 months with select services and a 1-year price guarantee. it's our fastest internet for the price. oooh. videos online? here? how much is that? nothin'. at&t high speed internet at home includes access here. our invisible cord is really long, dad. oooh. [ female announcer ] get access to the entire at&t national wi-fi network for no extra charge.

so for a limited time, get high speed internet for just $14.95 a month for 12 months with select services and a 1-year price guarantee. aren't you glad we switched to at&t? yes...but i want my own invisible cord. you already have one. oh. ♪

we're back with everyone has a story honoring a very, very special gentleman. >> darius has just joined us.

darius apparently has his own cd. i'm sure it is available. >> yes, it is. >> what did you think of your song, buddy? >> i enjoyed it. i liked it. >> we liked you in it. >> mom, i was nervous for you. she said, he's fine. >> you were a 10. we love to give stuff away so at this point we're going to give something to devon. we know you have to travel all over and rely on whatever spare money you have to record music. there is a cool little thing from sam ash music, you can record your beats wherever you are. we have that over here along with some other musical things that you could use. >> dave wild has built me a beautiful studio in my house, if you guys want to do some recording at my house, i offer that as well to you. okay? don't bring everybody! don't bring your whole posse. don't bring the whole hood,

okay? >> you guys, thank you. >> thanks, god bless. everybody. tomorrow we're going to tell you about divine sister which we didn't get a chance to. >> it is a great show. also don't forget tomorrow we're on the treadmills. the whole show start to finish. >> oy. oy.

shift your weight forward onto the left foot. take the right leg up, holding the inner arch of the foot... introducing instant action alerts, only from chase.

left arm up... manage your account and help avoid overdrafts with a click of a button. just reply to the alert with how much you want to transfer. inhale, all the way up... so you always stay in balance. ...to crescent pose. chase what matters. just four more times. ♪