good morning. breaking news. a woman rushed from tiger woods' florida home to a local hospital overnight. we are live with the latest. whiteout. blizzard warnings posted from the southern rockies to the upper midwest. this morning, some areas are bracing for as much as a foot and a half of snow. and mission afghanistan. as the first wave of some 30,000 u.s. troops prepare to ship out as part of president obama's surge strategy, we have traveled to the war zone to talk to the troops already on the ground and the people who live there. matt's live at camp eggers in kabul, today, tuesday, december 8th, 2009. captions paid for by nbc-universal television and welcome to a special edition of "today" on this tuesday morning. i'm meredh vieira in new york. we're going to get to that breaking news involving tiger woods in just a moment, but first, matt has made his way to afghanistan overnight. matt, good morning to you. >> meredith, good morning to you, and welcome to camp eggers in kabul, afghanistan. we arrived here a little bit earlier on today. we did fly overnight on the plane that carried secretary of defense robert gates here to afghanistan in advance of those 30,000 u.s. troops you talked about earlier that should be arriving here in the next coupl of weeks and months. on the flight over here to afghanistan, we had a chance to talk to secretary gates about a wide variety of subjects, including what he needs to do here in afghanistan during these trips, this trip, to pave the way for those troops so that they have a better chance of success once they get here. we also talked to him about the training of afghan forces and many other things. you'll hear that interview coming up in just a couple of minutes. but let me tell you a little bit more about camp eggers. we're in the heart of kabul right now, just across the street from the presidential palace. this is a joint u.s./nato facility. it serves as a headquarters. they oversee the training of all those afghan forces. it is such a critical element to the surge strategy, becse until the afghans can stand up and secure their own country in significant numbers, significant numbers of u.s. forces cannot begin to leave this country. we're going to talk much more about that in the next couple of minutes. but first, i have to tell you also that i have not traveled here alone. al roker has made the trip to afghanistan. al, good to see you here. and the situation in this country is weighing so heavily on the minds of the people back home. >> right. >> but it's weighing heavily on their minds as well. >> absolutely. they are the focal point, these brave men and women. they are going to be the ones carrying out these orders. we're going to talk with them, get a sense of how they're feeling, how their family back home is feeling, and as we're approaching the holidays, what does it mean to be here. >> all right. we're going to do a lot of that as we come to you from camp eggers in kabul, afghanistan, meredith. but for now, i know you've got a lot going on there, so back to you. >> matt and al, thank you very much. we'll check in with both of you in a bit. let's begin with that breaking news, a woman rushed from tiger woods' florida home to the hospital. our nbc affiliate in orlando is at the hospital in ocoee, florida. jeff, what can you tell us at this point? >> reporter: meredith that 911 call came into dispatchers around 2:36 this morning. the call apparently placed from tiger woods' exclusive home here in central florida. we have video of this woman who was transported to health center in ocoee, a hospital here in central florida. cording to the early reports, the late-breaking reports we are getting in all this, that phone call came in about a woman who was apparently in distress at tiger woods' home. now, if we look at that call log, it says at first that the patient refused service, then later in the call log, it does say that somebody was transpord to this hospital, and you can see right here, a middle-aged woman on a stretcher being taken into that hospital by paramedics. at this point, not exactly sure who is on that stretcher, but that person, the ambulance arrived soon after the phone calls came in at 2:45 this morning. later in the video, you see a black cadillac escalade speeding away from health central here in ocoee, and it appears that was a loaner from gm, the exact same registration on the suv that tiger woods was driving that crashed back on november 27th. so again, right now, waiting on confirmation, trying to figure out exactly who was on that stretcher taken from tiger woods' home earlier this morning. as soon as we find that out, of cour we will report it. back to you, meredith. >> jeff lennox, we appreciate it very much. dr. nancy snyderman is nbc's chief medical editor. >> hi, meredith. it seems someone was taken from the home. we know both mothers have been in and out. >> speculation -- >> as to whether one of the moms might be harmed in some way -- i mean, whether she's not feeling well. always makes you think of heart attacks, problems like that. >> right. >> we don't know. but certainly at the hospital will be observed and we'll find out more later today. >> the radio log shows an adult female was transported to health central hospital. log shows a patient refusal, then an advanced life support patient. >> i looked at that -- >> what does that mean? >> i'm not sure that's not three people. i thought perhaps the log just means one person refused, another one called out for this, another call was advanced life support. that's just the log of the calls coming in. it might not all pertain to one pickup. >> to one person. >> right. >> let's turn to tiger woods himself and what happened that night after the accident when he went to the hospital there. was a request of subpoena of woods' blood, shows he consumed alcohol that day, also was taking prescription medications, including sleeping pill ambien and the painkiller vicodin. you combine all those three, what are the possible results? >> so, any time you take a narcotic and a sleeping pill and alcohol, they're all suppressants and they can cause you to not breathe as well, so, the neighbor reported the snoring, but you may have heard instead was not snoring, but the airway just slowly getting a little mushy and obstructing, and that can sound sort of like when you have a deep, deep snoring in your deep sleep. so, the fact that he was taken from the aulance -- from the site to the intensive care unit probably had not so much to do with the status of his health more than it did security. they could make surehere weren't visitors, they could attend to him. if they had to put a breathing tube down him, they could. they could tend to the lacerations of his face. but one thing i will tell you is that in any situation like that, doctors will pull blood and urine for what we call a tox screen. everything from alcohol to medications, because it's just good medicine. now the legal ramifications of who has the right to get that, usually it's a doctor and his patient and it's confidential. it would have to be a criminal investigation to be able to subpoena those records. so, right now that's doctor-patient confidentiality. >> dr. nancy, thank you so much. >> you bet, meredith. >> we'll have much more later on, obviously on this breaking story. now to the major storm pounding a big section of the country. some spots could see up to 18 inches of snow. the weather channel's mike seidel is in johnston, iowa, with more. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. we've already had two inches overnight in des moines, temperature's around 20, windchill's around 10, but it's going to get a lot worse today and tonight. first out west where they've already been hit by the same storm. auburn, calirnia. from above, you can see the snow. this is not far from sacramento. it has not snowed in sacramento since 1976. it almost got there yesterday. not as rare, though, as in houston. 20s this morning and a freeze warning this morning around san francisco. now to the other side of the mountains to reno, nevada, where the ski resorts got pounded with 2 1/2 feet here in reno, 7 inches of snow. the high yesterday was only 21, 30 degrees off their average of 48. you've got to get out and shovel and plow those parking lots. and in the southwest mountains of new mexico, they were hit hard, too. laguna, new mexico, along i-40, notice the plows last night trying to get the snow off the roadways. the mountains there under blizzard warnings with wind gusts projected at 60 miles an hour. now the storm on the satellite and the radar, it's coming out of colorado. it's going to take a track just to the south of chicago, and with that track where we are in a lot of the midwest, increasing wind today, increasing snowfall intensity. the national weather service, meredith, out of the quad cities in illinois saying this could be the wors storm impactwise. the combination of snow and wind and at least 20, if not 30 years. tomorrow morning you may not even see me out here. back to you. >> well, i hope we do, though, mike. mike seidel, thank you very much. it is 7:08. now let's get to matt in kabul. >> all right, meredith, thank you very much. we are back here at camp eggers in kabul, afghanistan. i mentioned earlier that i flew here overnight with secretary of defense robert gates, who told me that shortly before he left for afghanistan, he signed the deployment orders for the first 17,000 of the eventual 30,000 troops that will be a part of president obama's surge strategy here. many of those are marines. they'll head to the southern provinces of helmand and kandahar, where much of the insurgency is taking place. i sat down with secretary gates in a conference room aboard his military jet, and i started by asking him what he needs to accomplish on the ground here during this trip to pave the way for those troops that are arriving to be successful. >> one of the things that i'll clearly be talking to president karzai and the afghan minister of defense about is accelerating the growth of their security forces, both their army and police and really security forces at every level down to the local level. we cannot succeed here, ultimately, unless the afghan security forces are expanded and trained, get some experience in combat with us, and then gradually are able to take over responsibility for the security of their own country. >> let me go back, then to this idea of the training of the security forces. it's my understanding now they have roughly 180,000 between the army and the security forces, the police. you'd like to see that number at 400,000. what i found disturbing by several estimates was they have a loss rate of about 25%. so, they're either dying or deserting or just up and quitting. how is that going to work? i mean, it's like filling your car tank with gas but you keep losing a quarter of the tank every year. >> there are a couple of problems that need to be addressed. one is, we have found that the army and the police in afghanistan are actually more poorly paid than the taliban they're fighting, of all things. and so, one thing we can address almost immediately is increasing the pay of the police and the army. one of the problems that we've had and that they've had is that particularly those that are sent in to areas where there's a lot of combat, there aren't enough of them to rotate. and so, they basically are sent there to fight until they either desert or are killed or wounded. >> but is that 400,000 number realistic? can you accomplish that in two years? >> well, i think what the president has said -- you know, maybe that's an aspirational goal, but what we need are annual goals. so, the goal for the army is to go from about 96,000 right now to 134,000 at the end of 2010. so, let's get to 134,000 instead of looking immediately to the 240,000 ultimate size of the army or the people have talked about, general mcchrystal has talked about. let's talk about getting to 134,000 first. >> the reporting in the last couple of days has been that you and other people at the pentagon were not at all in favor of this exit timetable. is this plan that you're being put in charge of putting into effect right now, is this the best possible plan? is it the plan you wanted? >> in terms of lighting a fire under the afghan government to get on with recruiting the size forces they need and getting them trained and getting them into the field, i don't know a better way to do that than what we have. by the same token, in terms of an assertion, of providing confidence of our commitment, i think that the conditions-based way of approaching the drawdowns after july 2011 is also exactly the right way. >> every single expert i talk to, mr. secretary, said, without great improvement in our ability to fight in that border region between pakistan and afghanistan, and even across the border in pakistan, the afghan solution doesn't work. have the pakistanis given you any indication that they're willing to change the rules of engagement and give us more access to those areas, not with drones, but with people on t ground to go in and get the people we want to get? >> no. i do think that more importantly is what the pakistanis are doing on their side of the border. and you know, if somebody had said a year ago that we would see the pakistani army in south waziristan, as long as you have pressure on both sides of that border, even if it's not perfectly aligned, it creates huge opportunities. i mean, we're already getting information that al qaeda has been -- that certain people in al qaeda have been forced out of south waziristan, that they're being told they should go to afghanistan. so, if we could get al qaeda coming back into afghanistan where we could go after them, that's fine, but i think there is pressure on both sides of the border, and i think that the more terrible things happen, such as this tragedy at rawalpindi and the mosque, the more the pakistanis understand that these people are an existential threat to pakistan itself, and they will begin to do more and more on the border. >> in terms of the taliban, clearly, there are members of the taliban that are going to have to be hunted down and killed, but there are other aspects of the taliban that, it's my understanding, you'd like to make a part of the dynamic in the future of afghanistan. what incentives can you provide and can the afghan government provide to make those people a part of the solution as opposed to the problem? >> the intelligence that's available to us suggests that there is a substantial number of the foot soldiers in the taliban in particular who have joined the taliban either to get money or because they've been intimidated. so, the way you bring them over -- first of all, you have to break the momentum. they have to begin to understand they're not on the winning side, they're on the losing side. and then they have to have some kind of a job to go to where they will be paid, can support their families. so, that's why the economic development part of this and the agricultural part of the president's strategy is so important. >> how do you think the american people will feel after eight years of a conflict and the loss of life and the huge financial expense of this war, to view the taliban as partners in some way down the road? >> well, the taliban are a part of the political fabric of afghanistan at this point at some level, but there is a parallel to iraq. i mean, when we had the turn in anbar, in iraq, we knew that we were reconciling with people who had american blood on their hands. but at the end of the day, that's how this kind of a conflict always ends in some kind of a political accommodation. >> everything you say is dissected these days. you said something else in an interview over the weekend that i think got a lot of attention, and that is that at this date you were asked if we have good intelligence or credible intelligence on osama bin laden, and you're smiling, but when you said we haven't had credible intelligence -- and i believe your expression was, "in years." >> i'm now celebrating my third anniversary and i haven't seen any. >> i think that probably is going to surprise a lot of people. it's the most infamous terrorist in the world. his resume includes events that have taken so many american lives, and i guess the question is, why don't we have better intelligence on his whereabouts? >> well, because he has sought refuge in what is essentially ungoverned space, where the pakistani government has not had a presence of any kind or of any substantial kind in years, if ever, and where he has the protection of local tribes, and it's incredibly rough terrain. and the truth of the matter is, somebody who is smart and who is cautious can elude people for many years. i mean, look at the unabomber in the united states. 17 years or something that guy eluded the fbi, and that was inside our own country. so, if you have a lot of help, as he does, you certainly are able to do that. >> that was secretary robert gates on our flight over here to afghanistan overnight aboard his military jet, which is fascinating in its own right. it's called an e-4b. during the cold war it was nicknamed the doomsday plane, and we're going to tell you more about that later in the show. by the way, i'll be spending more time with secretary gates on the ground here in afghanistan in the coming day. but right now, let's go back to new york, studio 1a. ann curry's standing by at the news desk with all the headlines of the morning. good morning to you. >> good morning to you, matt, and all of you who are listening this morning. in the news, a series of coordinated car bombings in baghdad today targeted government buildings, labor ministry, a court complex and the finance ministry. in all, at least 112 people were killed. about 200 were wounded in the worst attacks this year. meantime in central pakistan, a bomb exploded near an intelligence office. at least 12 people died in that violence. and today the defense secretary, as you just heard, gates, talked about the u.s. ready to help fight militants in pakistan in the country wants it. today at the climate summit in denmark, the head of the world meteorological association said this decade has been likely the very warmest ever recorded. today, president obama announces a plan he hopes will get millions of americans back to work. he's unveiling a jobs proposal involving small businesses, roads and highways and energy-efficient homes. a new report from the national cancer institute shows some progress in the battle against cancer. it finds from 1999 to 2006 the overall cancer rate was down 20% for men and 12% for women. the report also finds deaths from prostate, breast and colon cancer down but deaths from pancreatic cancer in women are still climbing. the consumer product safety commission has ruled that the popular zhu zhu pets robotic hamsters do not violate safety hazards, despite concerns raised by a consumer group about heavy metals. and in boston, a train attendant has been fired and an operator suspended after a woman's purse got caught in the door of the train. when the train started moving, she ran along the platform because it kept moving and she was ultimately thrown into a wall, but she was not seriously hurt. it is now 7:19. let's go back to matt in kabul. ann, thank you very much. that is scary video. i know you've got a big storm barreling down o parts of the country. al's got a long-distance forecast because he's here with me at camp eggers in kabul. al, good morning to you. >> good morning. we are joined by lieutenant colonel james parson, who is a chief meteorologist for the international security assistance force, and we've got a snowstorm coming i here. >> absolutely. that's what we're looking for tonight, a little bit of snow and tomorrow snow as well. soe'll have our first significant snowfall of the season. >> well, thanks for -- your forecast means a lot more, because obviously, here, military operations hinge on these forecasts. lieutenant colonel parsons, thanks so much. let's show you what's going on as far as our big storm back home. it is huge. we are talking about winter storm warnings, blizzard warnings, winter storm warnings from the southwest all the way to the great lakes. as you look at the radar, you can see we've got a huge area of precipitation, a mixed bag of frozen precip down through the south, through oklahoma. snow as you move up into iowa, nebraska, on into illinois. we're talking locally 12-plus inches of snow from sioux city into waterloo, the four corners area, minneapolis, maybe up to 18 inches of snow. oncehis storm system moves past, the lake-effect snow machine gets into effect in parts of the great lakes by saturday night, could see four feet of snow. so, we are talking a >> and that's your latest weather, meredith? >> al, thank you. we'll see you in just a little while. just ahead, much more on that breaking news. a woman at tiger woods' home taken to the hospital overnight. latest details in a moment, but first, this is "today" on nbc. meredith, coming up, i'll take you into the streets of kabul to talk to some of the people who live here. >> all right, matt. plus, one of the most memorable stories of the past decade. we're going to catch up with the hiker forced to cut ofhis own arm. west virginia and it is jammed, barbara? >> all right. jerry, meanwhile we're under a nasty winter storm watch. good morning, mostly cloudy now, temperatures above freezing around the region. tonight could get some sleet and freezing rain west and north of washington. rain elsewhere. barbara? >> thank you. we'll be back in 25 minutes with another update and more information on the outer loop slowdown 7:30 now on a tuesday morning, 5:00 here in kabul, afghanistan. you're looking at some of the troops stationed here at camp eggers in the heart of downtown kabul, enjoying a little relaxation and meal time here amid a very tense situation in this region. i'm matt lauer reporting live from camp eggers. meredith vieira is back in studio 1a in new york city. meredith, good morning again to you. >> yeah, good morning to you, matt. it looks like you've obviously changed locations there at the base. >> i have, actually. i'm on one of the main thoroughfares here at camp eggers. i want to show you something. behind me, this is an mrap, a mineesistance ambush protection vehicle. you've heard over the last couple years about casualties sustained not only here in afghanistan, but in iraq as well because of the ieds, the improvised explosive devices. they explode underneath the troop carriers. well, this is a new troop carrier and the design is unique. see this carriage here? if an ied explodes under this vehicle, the explosion doesn't go up into a flat underby and into the compartment holding the troops. instead, it will be dispersed by the shape of this out to the sides and protect the men and women who ride in here. by the way, these windows here, they're about this thick. one of the soldiers here told me you don't roll those babies down. they're designed to protect against bullets and shrapnel, and they're really hoping that they can lower the number of casualties using vehicles just like this. by the way, something else you hear an awful lot about here is corruption. oftentimes, the government here is painted with kind of a broad brush, but coming up, we're going to show you a specific example about how waste, mismanagement, perhaps even corruption, can impact the situation on the ground here, and it's something taxpayers back home will want to pay attention to, meredith. >> all right, matt, thank you very much. we're going to check in with matt in just a bit. and also ahead, from here in new york, one of the most remarkable men that we have met over the last decade. aron ralston was hiking in 2003 when his hand got pinned beneath a massive boulder. after six agonizing days, he realized he would have to save himself, so he cut off his own arm. we're going to talk to him about how his life has changed since then in just a moment. but let's begin with the breaking news involving tiger woods. a woman rushed from the golfer's home to a hospital overnight. nbc's peter alexander is here with the very latest. peter, good morning. >> meredith, good morning to you. a serious series of events that occurred this morning. this woman was rushed by ambulance from tiger woods' exclusive central florida mansion to health central hospital, the same medical center where woods was taken after his bizarre crash 11 days ago. this happened this morning at 2:36 a.m. witnesses say the woman in this video was a middle-aged woman. the hospital this morning not confirming who it is, but there are reports that elin's mother -- that's tiger woods' wife's mother -- had recently arrived to be with her daughter. immediately after the ambulance left the home it was trailed by a black cadillac escalade, similar to the vehicle elin was seen driving shortly after last month's crash, the driver reportedly a blond woman. as a report of tiger woods' sex scandal, he's been caught up in this tabloid bunker you've been reading about. the number of named women now linked to woods has risen to seven. he is the world's most recognizable athlete, but the tabloid parade of women surfacing as tiger woods' reported lovers has quickly tarnished his carefully crafted image of perfection. the latest name linked to woods, according to the "new york daily news," 36-year-old porn star holly sampson, whose credits include "omg stop tickling me" and "flying solo 2." her lawyer told the paper sampson has no comment. tiger's tabloid tally has now grown to at least seven reported extramarital affairs. >> the best thing tiger woods can do is to ignore every allegation, deal with his wife and deal with the restoration of his career. >> reporter: woods' fans are already weighing in. a just-released poll shows the golfing great's popularity has dropped 24% since june with more than 20,000 new posts to woods' personal website. "what a shame -- this is now your legacy," one writes. "you did it to yourself," another one reads, "what a letdown to our children." woods collects $9 million each year in endorsements, in part due to his image as a high-achieving family man, as seen promoting this north carolina golfing community. >> with a wife and two kids, your perspective in life changes. i want to have my kids experience something like this. i want to be able to bring them up here and feel safe. >> reporter: despite the deepening scandal, woods has yet to lose a single sponsor. >> every corporate sponsor and every corporate deal tiger woods has is iron clad. they're locked in years in advance. >> reporter: nbc news has also obtained new documents that show florida state troopers suspected woods was driving under the influence when he mysteriously crashed his suv 11 days ago. this request for a subpoena of woods' blood shows the 33-year-old had consumed alcohol that day and was taking prescription medications, including the sleeping pill ambien and the painkiller vicodin. the state attorney's office denied the request, citing insufficient evidence woods was impaired, even though evidence showed he was unconscious and snoring on the ground outside his wrecked vehicle. woods has not been seen in public since the incident. his present whereabouts are unknown. and some public relation experts say that's not necessarily a bad thing. >> for him to address it, tiger woods to speak right now would just add more fuel to the fire. >> and again, as for tiger's wife elin, before this morning's developments, one of her friends, tennis great lindsay davenport, spoke out saying "elin's incredibly hurt" by what's going on but is working it out as best she can. of course, that situation down in florida, a woman rushed to the hospital from woods' home, still developing. as soon as we learn more information about who that is being wheeled into the hospital, of course, we will let you know her status and condition. >> the story just keeps growing and growing. thank you, peter alexander, very much. and now let's get a check of the weather from al in afghanistan this morning. >> announcer: "today's weather" is brought to you by kay jewelers, the number one jewelry store in america. >> and good morning, everybody. we are live in the dining facility here on the base of camp eggers. and you know, you guys, you men and women, you are the ones who are going to be the center point of this surge. what goes through your minds as you think about what's going to be coming up? >> well, part of the surge, we expect, is going to be additional trainers, which is really our primary mission is to train both the afghan national army and the police. so, this surge, if it allows us to train these police and soldiers more effectively, then it's a great thing for us. >> what about your families at home, what are they thinking about all this? >> well, they're very grateful right now because we're doing a great job right here. my wife is very supportive. i mean, even though i'm here, even though i'll spend my christmastime here, she is very supportive. >> you just mentioned holidays. the holidays coming up, must take on a special meaning to be here trying to protect freedom while you guys are in harm's way. >> it does, and you know, being over here, we're all like a family over here as well. so, it helps us get through the holidays being away from our own families. >> well, it's great seeing this family together. you guysu guys are a ter good morning, mostly cloudy, temperatures generally brof freezing, we're under a winter storm watch, for late tonight into tomorrow morning. montgomery, frederick, loudoun, fauquier and points west. for today, we'll have highs reaching the low to to mid 40s by mid afternoon. overnight tonight between 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. tomorrow we could be have a storm >> and we've got some folks over here we didn't get to. they've been busy eating. so, want to make sure everybody gets seen. we're going to go out to a courtyard where we've got even more soldiers hanging out. stay tuned, matt. you've seen these men and women. they're doing a terrific job. >> they certainly are, al. thank you very much. we appreciate that. gaining some level of security in this country, rebuilding the country from the ground up and popping up its people, those are major priorities here at this time. but in afghanistan, those things are easier talked about than accomplished. nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel has been covering the war here for years and joins me at camp eggers. richard, good morning. good to see you. >> good morning. good to see you. those things are very expensive. the u.s. has spent about $38 billion since 2001 on development, reconstruction, training, but many of the projects have been marred by corruption, mismanagement and taliban racketeering. final exams at the sardar high school for girls in kabul. it's so crowded, many of the 5,000 students here have to sit outside. >> there are definitely not enough schools for girls in this country. >> reporter: so, u.s. aid is building sardar 53 new classrooms and science labs. but even something as well meaning as building a school can be a major challenge in this lawless country. in fact, many new schools are empty. we sent an afghan crew to a dangerous taliban-controlled area near kandahar to see 1 of 500 schools the ministry of education says the taliban have closed. the taliban oppose education for girls, but the militants only empty the classrooms and lock the doors after they've made a profit. western contractors tell nbc news they routinely have to pay $20,000 to $40,000 security fees they suspect go directly to the taliban, but after the schools are built, the militants just scare away the teachers and students or burn the schools down. a recent report said in districts of southern afghanistan, 60% to 80% of schools are now closed. but it's not only schools where development can go off track here. this camp with 1,100 homes outside kabul built by the u.n. was supposed to be a model public housing project, but the camp is almost entirely abandoned. most people left because the homes aren't insulated, leak and are already falling apart. the ones who stayed behind worry they won't survive the winter. central to the new u.s. strategy is a so-called development surge, but hundreds of projects like this one have been complete failures. $8 million was spent building these houses. the problem is,hey were built badly in a remote area with no jobs and no water. graham hunter, a british architect working in afghanistan for three years, says projects often go unsupervised in dangerous areas. how is $8 million spent on this? >> it's a mystery. >> reporter: and oftentimes, this is the quality of work that is being delivered to the people. >> yes. i mean, i sometimes reflect that the western powers that be active in afghanistan now for eight years. during this time, we've managed to build a few roads. we've built a few hundred schools, many of which are abandoned. we've built some desolate townships, but we've actually achieved almost nothing in terms of rebuilding the economy of this country. >> reporter: alascan is just a few miles from bagram air base, the biggest u.s. base in afghanistan. local elder senar gule told me that only adds to his frustration. "when i see the lights from bagram at night," he says, "i used to think maybe one day we'll have lights like americans. now i see the lights and i'm depressed." delivering aid here has proven to be as difficult as fighting the war. aid projects, of course, are designed to win hearts and minds, but when they fail, it can actually backfire because people feel they were promised something and then cheated. >> you know, taxpayers back home are going to see your story, richard, they're going to be furious. we hear so much about mismanagement and waste and corruption, and the government officials in our country say they've got to fix that problem here, but it's been going on for years. can they really fix it? >> reporter: it is a major problem. this is a very, very poor country. and now suddenly, for the last several years, billions of dollars are being poured in through a very weak government. it is considered the second most corrupt government in the world. >> a lot of people see that money coming in and they want a piece of it. >> reporter: absolutely, particularly here in kabul, the seat of the government. >> richard engel, thank you very much. still to come from kabul this morning, i'm going to take you out into the streets of this city, one of the most troubled, yet fastest growing cities in the world. we'll take a look around. and from back in new york, one of the stories that was unforgettable this decade. remember the hiker who cut off his own arm to survive? we'll find out how he's doing right after this. ♪ now to our special series "today's buzziest stories of the decade." if one story in the past ten years showed us how much one person can do to survive it was aron ralston's. six years ago, he cut his own arm off when a hike went terribly wrong. first, his story. it was a typical day in april 2003 for aron ralston. >> i was on a solo hike in southeast utah, went into a slot canyon. >> that's when things went horribly wrong. he fell into a crevice and sdlojed a half-ton rock onto his arm, pinning him against the canyon wall. >> i definitely freaked out, though. i'm not going to pretend that i didn't. it was an extremely intense experience, and especially because i was alone and because no one knew where i was. >> trapped for six days, he was unable to remove the boulder from his lifeless arm. running out of water and any hope of being rescued, aron had a decision to make. >> i told myself, aron, you're going to have to cut your arm off, and my response was, i don't want to cut my arm off! who would? >> but that's exactly what he did, as he told tom brokaw in an interview six months after the accident. >> i just dove into this exercise, this surgical procedure and started cutting away. >> after years of rehabilitation, aron returned to an active lifestyle. he still climbs mountains and wrote a book about his ordeal, titled "between a rock and a hard place." today, he and his wife jessica are house hunting, the newlyweds expecting their first child early next year it's a premonition he had while trapped in that canyon six years ago, part of an ongoing transition from daring adventurer to family man. >> i didn't survive from the memory of having climbed so many mountains in my life. i survived because of the love that i had and the relationships i have with my family and my friends. >> and aron ralston is with us exclusively and we're going to talk to him live in our next half hour, but first, these messages. and just ahead, we're going to find out about the diagnos diagnosis -- remember the girl who couldn't stop sneezing? >> that's right. >> well, doctors think they have figured out why she's sneezing. there she is. we'll talk to her and her doctor next half hour. >> and we're also going back to afghanistan. matt, what do you have coming up? >> ann and meredith, i have a lot to talk about, but there are more important people he i want the folks at home to see and say hi to. take a look. these are the men and women of camp eggers, serving their country a long way from home in afghanistan. we're going to have much more from camp eggers and kabul in just a moment. we've got some fog, but a fairly clear sky, 38 degrees the temperature, but some nasty weather is heading our direction. good morning, i'm barbara harrison. 7:56. we're following a developing story. a car fire causing major backups on the outer loop of the beltway. it happened an hour ago near the new hampshire avenue exit in silver spring. we're being told the driver was out of the car before it caught fire in the middle of the road. the scene has been cleared, but still major backups out there. >> this is what it looked like earlier. authorities still putting the wraps on that with the far right side still blocked. outer loop of new hampshire avenue. problems along interstate 270 southbound. accident near middle brook road below german town. and new york avenue is jammed near west virginia because of an accident and a fuel spill. one lane getting by, which means route 50 interchange of the bw parkway trying to filter to the northeast jammed, on the beltway in. tough morning, barbara? >> weather is next. we have a little sunshine around the region. temperatures in the low to mid 30s. and will stay here until around mid morning. by noon time with a lot of cloud cover around we'll be near 40. and all the way into the early evening hours, just cloudy. but by later on this evening, around 9:00, we should have rain moving into the area, it could begin as sleet or snow. then going to freezing rain for an extended period that may cause up to a quarter of an inch of ice on tree limbs and power lines in northern montgomery county, loudoun, fauquier, frederick county, points west. it could cause scattered power outages in the area by down tomorrow. in he rain around the region and that freezing rain should taper off, change to all rain in fact by mid morning tomorrow. then ending during the early afternoon. drying out wednesday afternoon into friday. barbara? >> tonight on news4 at 5:00, the sleep strategy. how one mom got 8:00 now on this tuesday morning, december 8th, 2009. 5:30 in the evening in afghanistan. matt and al have made their way to camp eggers this morning, as we say hello to a few of the 1,200 u.s. and nato forces stationed there. what a great picture. hey, guys. >> hey, meredith. that is, i have to say, very emotional a few minutes ago. we came into the courtyard area here where a lot of the troops have gathered with signs, and they gave us the nicest greeting, and i know they want to in a second get a chance to say hi to their friends and family members back home during this holiday season, but thank you for that nice greeting. that was great. >> really nice. >> we really appreciate it. >> this is a great spot. they normally come together here, maybe not in these numbers, but -- >> not with signs. >> no, exactly. coffee house, a place to rent dvds. there's even one of two gyms right over here. so, this is a really gathering place for these soldiers. >> yeah. we're going to get to talk to some in just a little while. also, we're going to go onto the streets of kabul. it's a fascinating, and in some ways, bizarre place. if you weren't looking at it with your own eyes, you'd think it's right out of a movie. but we'll take to the streets to find out what life is like here for the people who live in kabul. meredith, back to you. >> all right, matt. before i let you go, tell us about your ride over there on the doomsday plane, i think is how you referred to it. >> yeah. that's the nickname from the cold war era. it's the mility version of a 747. it's an e-4b. it's an amazing plane with complete command and control. so, for example, when secretary gates is flying on that plane, he has complete access and communication to all aspects of the military, including this nation's nuclear assets. and one of the really cool things that happened -- we flew from andrews air force base outside washington 14 1/2 hours direct to kabul, and the way we were able to do that is we refueled in midair twice. >> wow. >> they invited us into the cockpit. that's the scene from the cockpit. if you've ever been in a 747 and watched it cody up to a refueling tanker, that is something to behold, and it tells you just how skilled the men and women who fly those planes are. >> speaking of assets, how are the seats flying over? >> they weren't so great. they were not so great. that was 14 1/2 long hours. but we thanked the military for the ride. >> absolutely. >> all right, guys, back to you. >> you got there safe and sound, for sure. thank you very much, guys. also ahead in fr here, remember the girl we met last month who couldn't stop sneezing and didn't know why? well, she is still sneezing. her name is lauren. she's 12 years old. but there have been some fascinating, new developments. a doctor now believes he knows why it is happening. this morning we're going to talk to him as well as lauren and her mom. a little bit of a sneeze still. but first, let's get a check of the top stories from ann. >> hey, meredith. good morning once again, everybody. we begin with terrorism attacks this morning taking a heavy toll in both iraq and pakistan. police say the coordinated car bombings targeted government buildings in baghdad, including the labor ministry and a court complex and killed at least 112 people. some 200 were wounded. in pakistan, officials say a bomb exploded near an intelligence office today, the third attack there in two days, and at least 12 people were killed and 30 were wounded. defense secretary robert gates today offered increased military aid to pakistan. he flew to afghanistan today and said that the u.s. is in the fight for the long haul, despite president obama's 2011 deadline for beginning troop withdrawals. the top u.s. military commander in afghanistan, general stanley mcchrystal, is in capitol hill today, telling lawmakers just how he will use the 30,000 reinforcements the president is sending into the war in afghanistan. early this morning, a woman described as middle-aged was taken by ambulance from the home of tiger woods to the same hospital where woods was treated after the car crash 11 days ago. snowstorms closed schools and roads from washington state to new mexico and are now barreling into the midwest. icy conditions are blamed for at least three traffic deaths and heavier snow and fierce winds are expected as the snow reaches illinois and minnesota. the ultimate thrill ride was unveiled monday in the california desert. virgin galactic rolled out a spaceship 2, designed to be the first commercial space plane. for $200,000, passengers get a suborbital ride with five minutes of weightlessness. service is scheduled to begin within tee years. it is now four minutes past the hour. let's go back to matt and al in kabul. hey, guys. >> hey, ann. >> y. >> thank you very much. i was just going around you here. some of the folks saying they're going home in 32 days back here, in january over here -- >> tomorrow? >> you're going home tomorrow? >> absolutely! >> no, he's making it up. >> no! >> really? congratulations! >> where? >> texas. texas. >> you're your family's christmas present. >> absolutely. >> fantastic. we're going to have to wrap you up. >> with a big red bow. >> there you go! where are you guys from? >> ohio. >> yeah? >> from d.c. >> who do you want to say hi to? >> my mom and my friends back there. >> i want to say hi to my dad. i love you! >> marcia and matt? >> yes. >> not matt lauer. >> no. stationed in south carolina, sumter, south carolina. >> all right. happy holidays. who do you want to say hi to? >> my mom and my son antonio. i love you! >> let's go over to this side here. who do you want to say hi to? >> i want to say hi to my wife bobbie joe, monique, miah and lewis. >> and this gentleman gave me the texas longhorns banner. who do you want to say hi to. >> my wife diane, my daughter kathleen and beloved son andrew. >> all right, longhorns. we've got everybody -- any georgia bulldogs in here? no! all right. i'm just saying. anyway. anybody fody from oswego? good morning, a partly sunny start to this tuesday morning. and temperature generally above freezing, a few locations, central virginia, a little below freezing there. 38 in washington. winter storm watch, all of these counties in blue west and north of washington for late tonight into tomorrow morning. for today, cloudy throughout the afternoon. but highs reaching the low 40s. and then tonight, starting around 9:00, a little light snow and sleet and mostly rain around washington. turning to freez >> i love it here! >> what is that? >> new york! >> that david hasselhoff poster is very disturbing. yes! >> oh, god. we want to tell you that kabul is located in east-central afghanistan at an altitude of about 5,900 feet. that makes it one of the highest capitals anywhere in the world. and earlier today i had a chance to hit the streets and take a look around. ♪ >> because security is such a huge concern in afghanistan, there are weapons everywhere. the afghan military carries weapons. the afghan security forces carry weapons. u.s. forces have weapons. even private security firms here carry weapons. and yet, the people who work for us here, our producers and correspondents say that, in general, they feel fairly safe within kabul. yes, there are attacks. some have made headlines in the last couple of week and there are threats. there was a threat as we arrived here today of a suicide bombing. but the people here say that in general, within the bubble of kabul, they feel safe. outside that bubble is a very different story. ♪ >> this is the seventh district here in kabul. it's a booming, booming neighborhood. they're building all kinds of homes and villas around here. some of them are incredibly elaborate by kabul standards. now, people here will be very quick to tell you and very open to tell you that these buildings are being built by drug lords and drug money, corruption money, and that's the reason they're much more elaborate than what you'll ninth other parts of the city. people here like to call this narchitecture, architecture driven by narcotics. and yet, even as the buildings here are above average, look at the streets. no pavement here. they're dirt roads, little in the way of sewer systems. the infrastructure in this city is horribly substandard. the population of kabul is exploding. at the start of the war there were 300,000 people living here. today there are 5 million. many of the new arrivals are refugees from other parts of this war-torn nation. the traffic, foot traffic, vehicle traffic is intense. the life expectancy in this country is 44. and what really strikes you is when you look at the faces of the people. they seem old beyond their years. an expert on this area told me before i arrived that in his opinion, just about everyone living here has some form of post-traumatic stress disorder. decades of war have taken a terrible toll physically, emotionally and financially. ♪ >> it really is an assault on the senses and the focus of so much of our efforts in this region right now, and we're going to have more from camp eggers and kabul in just a little while, but right now, let's go back to meredith in new york. >> all right, matt. we'll see you in just a bit. and still to come on "today," why is the girl who can't stop sneezing sneezing? 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>> i especially like talking about responsibility and acknowledging and being the author of your life, that we get to create this life, and i think that our mental mindset is a lot of what goes into that. seeing things that could have been a tragedy and seeing them as a blessing and maximizing the opportunities that come. >> it certainly could have been a tragedy. six days. at one point, probably at several points, you thought you'd never get out of there alive, but you did by removing your arm, by cutting off your arm. but after that, aron, what amazed me is you kept going on these pretty risky adventures. some people even thought you might have a death wish. why did you push yourself so much after the fact? and now that you're about to have a baby, have you scaled back on the adventures or started to look at them in a different light? >> being married and having a baby is definitely the new big adventure in my life. the psychology as far as why i was doing the things i was doing is very complex, but a lot of it has to do with trying to fill up a void of esteem in my life and to accomplish things. i had a lot of fun out there, too, but at the same time, finding an inner source of that happiness and fulfillment is the real achievement. >> and now you're going to have a baby boy, and i know that is extraordinarily significant to you because of something that happened while you were trapped six years ago. can you tell us about that? >> indeed. it bakinde of the first half of a deja vu or some might call it a prophecy, but i certainly feel that this little boy is perhaps the same little boy that i saw the very last night that i was stuck in the canyon, when i thought i was going to die, and there was a little child about 3 years old, blond hair, that i picked up and was interacting with with my left hand and a handless right arm, and i saw myself holding him there, and i can't wait to see him. he helped save my life in the canyon and i get to tell him thank you in a couple more months. >> he'll be born in a couple more months? >> yes, yeah, just after valentine's day. very excited. the year anniversary of the engagement that jessica and i had. >> you have said, and i find this -- i find it almost hard to believe that if you had to do it all over again, you wouldn't change anything. given what happened to you, why do you say that? >> it's been such a blessing for me in my life, for my family, for the people around the world that still come up to me on a daily basis to say thank you for the story that has inspired their lives, for people -- i would never take any of that away from someone to have my hand back. so, yeah, if i had it all to do over again, i wouldn't change a single thing. >> and now your story's being turned into a movie. danny boyl who directed "slum dog millionaire" is directing it. who do you want to play you, aron? >> we're still picking out the actor, but it is a fun thing. the classic kind of dinner table conversation. if you're going to be in a movie, who would you have play you? i don't, it's a fun thing just to banter about, but i'm excited about the whole project. >> we're excited to see you, and congratulations again on your marijua marriage and also the upcoming birth of your little boy. >> thank you very much. it's a pleasure to be back with you. >> aron ralston. and tomorrow we're going to catch up with tillie tutor, the florida grandma who survived in a swamp for two days. she's well over 90 today and still quite the character. we'll talk to her tomorrow on "today." but up next, remember the girl who can't stop sneezing? well, it looks like a doctor may finally know why. we're going to talk to both of them right after this. the seven passenger toyota highlander. this is a little seat, i'm a big girl. well this is the eight- passenger chevy traverse. which offers more room and an epa estimated 24 on the highway. that's a big girl car. i want the big girl car. a very smart little girl. the chevy traverse. america's best crossover. compare us to anyone and may the best car win. the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches! the magic's in the mix. my favorite part? 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>> well, pandas is an acronym. as a bunch of letters that stand for a bigger thing -- pediatric autoimmune disorders associated with strep cookis. and following a strep infection, a child will develop a sudden onset of either ticks or ocd-type behavior. >> is this a tick, then, what we're seeing? >> i think so. at this poin i would call it either a habit or a tick. >> so are the ticks underlying and the strep infection just brings them to the surface? >> in many patients, they have a tendency towards ticks and the strep infection can make it much worse. >> nancy, why is this controversial? i understand a lot of doctors don't believe in this. what is the controversy? >> it's controversial because it's new and it's sort of easier in medicine when you have a true cause and effect. and here, what we have is sometimes histories that don't always look the same. we met a young boy on this air who had strep, had severe ocd -- >> right. >> treated with antibiotics and got better. and lauren sort of falls in sort of the in-between category. not all the blood tests really sort of spell out things clearly. so, whenever there's a new syndrome in medicine, you're going to have doctors on both sides of the fence who are going to say yay or nay. >> and i want to point out that dr. nancy was not part of this diagnosis -- >> not a treating doctor at all. >> right. lauren, they put you on antibiotics and steroids. are you feeling better? it seems like you're not sneezing as often. >> yeah, i'd say that. i don't really notice. everyone else does. they say it's a little less often than usual. >> but to you, it's still a problem. >> not really. it's a little better. >> a little bit better? lauren, i know when i asked you about the diagnosis in the commercial break, you said to me, it's sort of bittersweet. why do you say that? sdwlrks we >> well, it's bittersweet. we have a direction to go towards, but there's not a lot of answers. there needs to be more research done, more funding for research, more answers so we can help treat her effectively. >> doctor, you're shaking your head. there is no cure, then. if she takes the antibiotics and the steroids, will this end the problem for her or not? >> well, i think it depends from patient to patient. there's some patients that have acute onset of ticks that a single dose of antibiotics, they're miraculously better, and if they're maintained on prophylactic antibiotics, that will be enough to prevent it from coming back, but some other patients need stronger treatments. in lauren's case, she has an unusual condition that, really, by now you've heard that doctors have been puzzled by this. we're not exactly sure what's going to happen, but if it behaves like other ticks, we expect we'll be able to cure her completely. >> is there a -- >> i was going to say, a reminder, meredith, most kids have ear infections or strep throat and don't have anything like this happen. >> absolutely. >> right. >> this is a very small, select group of patients. nonetheless, bankrupt abrupt on anxiety disorders, trouble separating from parents, all underlying problems, and if your child has any of these, ask your pediatrician for a referral to a pediatric neurologist. >> because i'm sure a lot of children are undiagnosed at this point. >> or have other things. >> thank you very much. >> you bet. just ahead, the legendary bill cosby. the eighth day of december. we're following a developing story affecting a lot of people's morning commute. all lanes of the outer loop have been reopened after this jeep fire this morning. about two and a half hours ago near the new hampshire avenue exit in silver spring. the driver told wgop radio he turn on the heat in the jeep grand cherokee and flames started shooting out. the driver, 20-year-old john williams, was able to get out oak. the scene is now been cleared, but there are still minor lingering delays. we'll check in with jerry edwards now. we will in a minimum to check out this morning's traffic troubles. right now we'll take a break and be right back. temperatures now in the low to mid 30s, with cloudy skies. an tonight between 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m.tomorrow, we could get rain around washington, sleet changing to up to a quarter of an inch of icing west and north. the trip on the outer loop, still heavy and slow. but the car fire is out. another big problem, new york avenue inbound was essentially closed for a while this morning because of an accident and fuel spill. it's cleared and the lanes are open. bw parkway and 50 are jammed for those trying to get into the northeast. joe? >> we'll have more news, weather and traffic in 25 minutes, now we'll go back to "the today show," first all take a short break. back now at 8:30 on a tuesday morning. it's the 8 day of december 2009. you're looking at some of our newfound friends here at camp eggers in kabul, afghanistan, the men and women serving their country. a lot of these people will, unfortunately, not get a chance to be home for the holidays. a few lucky ones will, but it's a good chance for us to stop and say thank you, folks, for what you're doing. we're proud of you. i'm matt lauer here at camp eggers. i was here with al roker a second ago, and all of a sudden, it got quiet. he disappeared. and i understand the reason is he's at the grill? al, is that right? al, are you at the grill? >> i actually am, matt. i am right now with drew hunter. he is the grillmeister here on fridays. matt, do you like steak? >> yeah, i like steak. >> you're going to love fridays, because that's when drew here does 650 pounds of steak. right now he's grilling -- how much chicken are you grilling up, drew? >> about 400 pounds. >> 400 pounds! now, everybody likes the grilled stuff, right? >> oh, absolutely. a lot of soldiers have these grills in their backyards. so, when they're over here, they're envying me. >> now, what's the specialty here? how are you doing this? >> this is grilled curry chicken. put a little curry spice on top and let the grill marks happen after i turn them. >> ooh. can i try a little bit? >> absolutely. >> ooh, that's what i'm talking about. i'll let you just, yeah, ooh. just a -- oh, yeah. oh, that's good. oh, that's good. how good is this man? how good is this man? oh, that is tender! this is the food of the gods! >> yeah. >> that's right. >> come on up, matt. >> hook a brother up here, al, all right? come on. >> as soon as i find one, i will. >> yeah, thanks. meanwhile, let's go back to new york. i understand we have meredith and ann. >> i thought the troops were going to riot. eating their chicken, man. we have a group here as well. john krasinski is collecting toys for our 16th annual toy drive and we're going to talk to him in just a moment. also ahead this morning, the one and only dr. bill cosby is in the house. he's got a new project, one you may not expect from him. he's actually got a hip-hop cd, one with a message, and he's going to be talking about that in just a moment. it's great to see him. >> always great to see him. but let's bring on our little elf -- or not so little, john krasinski, star of "the office" and now "it's complicated ". find out what realizes when the star of the show realizes his divorced parents are reconnecting, so to speak. [ coughing ] >> harvey! >> i'm really sorry. i didn't mean to spit on you, i just had to kiss yo >> while you were choking. >> but it worked becau i'm not really choking. >> who did you just see? >> no one. that was weird. i thought it was your cousin from -- oh, my sweet lord. >> and as mark traub pointed out, you are smooth. >> thank you. >> smooth with the ladies. >> yes. >> the movie looks incredible, and now you're working with meryl streep. so you have arrived. >> you have to work with indie actors, people who are up and coming, you have to support them as much as they support you, so -- >> but it had to have been fun. >> yeah. it's totally surreal and we're doing press for it and the fact that they even remember my name -- >> let's talk to people about the movie. it's basically about two people who divorced -- >> yes. >> -- who are getting back together -- well, sort of not really getting back together -- >> they give it a shot. they sort of wonder what if and they give a run to the what if -- >> well, she becomes the other woman, right? >> exactly. >> because he's remarried. >> to a younger woman and yet, she is the one who's desired, so -- >> so, you're a big movie star, but you'retill on "the office" -- >> sure, "the office" -- >> married now, going to have a baby. >> yes, exactly. on the show. >> on the show? you're having a baby on the show? wow, that's intense. >> yeah. we're casting now, so -- >> for the baby. >> yeah. >> it has to be cute. >> exactly. >> have really big eyes. >> he's not a good enough actor. >> we are mentioning wedding, baby, emily blunt -- >> oh, how'd that come up? >> we weren't talking about that, meredith. >> is there any news? no news? >> no. >> darn it. >> she seems great. >> we're planning. thank you. >> john krasinski, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> "it's complicated" with john krasinski opens on christmas day and "the office" is right here on nbc, where else? now let's go back to matt in afghanistan. >> hey, matt. >> meredith and ann, thank you very much. and john, thank you as well. the american station here at camp eggers come from all branches of the military. one of their jobs is to train members of the afghan military and police. i'm joined by army sergeant thomas mcgrady and specialist brad hughes. thank you for being here. you're stationed at camp blackhorse, outside kabul. what has been the reaction out there from the troops there about this surge that the president is putting into effect? >> from my opinion, the reaction s been really great reaction. everybody's thinking it's a great plan. it's what's needed to get these guys trained up, more troops coming out here, kind of helping out with the mentorship of these future combat soldiers. >> and you serve as a mentor. tell me how the training is going. you hear all kinds of mixed reports, one that it's not going so well, it's not happening fast enough, that the afghan soldiers are not up to par. i know you have a different point of view on that. >> yeah. the training's going great. i mean, we're doing our best to get them combat effective, and they are -- they're really eager to learn and doing a great job out there. >> specialist hughes, you're with force protection. your job is to help get these folks out to these forward bases. and it's my understanding, one of the things you do is get out and drive one of these fuel tankers. is that right? >> no, sir, we escort the trucks. we don't actually drive the fuel tankers or any of the supply trucks. we're out there in the humvees making sure the people driving those trucks are getting the supplies here safe and without getting commandeered by any taliban fighters. >> what is it like to be around one of these tanker trucks? basically, it's gallons and gallons of fuel going through hostile areas. it's like a bomb on wheels if something goes wrong. how nerve-racking is that? >> at first it was nerve-racking and now it's just like another day at the job back home. >> you've got a brother who is deployed to iraq. you've got another brother who i understand could be coming here to afghanistan. how is your family coping? >> i guess everybody's doing all right. we're just hoping my older brother comes here after i go home, but hopefully, anthony's going to be home soon because he found out he should be coming home pretty soon with his unit. >> wow. want to say something to your family? >> i want to say hi to my parents and everything, but most of all, i want to say hi to my wife because we've been married for a little over four months now, and i miss you, baby. and we've only been -- >> i'm sure she misses you, too. >> since we've been married, we've only been together two days, so i miss her a lot. >> we hope you get back together soon. sergeant, want to say a quick hi? >> yeah, hi to my mom in california, my brother, my friends nick, mallory and lydia. how's it going out there? >> good luck, guys. happy holidays. nice to see you. let's go to al. >> thanks a lot, matt. again, they're expecting some snow, their first major snowfall here in kabul some time starting as rain tonight and then moving, turning into snow. so, we'll be keeping an eye on that. but back home, we've got big weather going on. nevada, in parts of nevada, they got dumped, anywhere from six to eight inches of snow in some areas, and this system is making its way now into the midwest and causing huge problems. let's look at the "today" map, show you what's going on and where it's going on. you'll see that basically we're looking at that risk of strong storms ahead of this system. that's bringing a possibility of tornadoes down through the southeast, snow from the southwest all the way into illinois, indiana, minnesota, sunshine in the pacific northwest. tomorrow we're looking for that system to make its way further into the midwest, bringing anywhere from 6 to 18 inches of snow. and then by friday, the lake-effect snow machine kicks on full time and parts of the good morning, it is mostly cloudy now, temperatures in the region. clilg into the low 40s today. winter storm watch into effect from late tonight to early tomorrow morning, for significant icing for the counties in blue. including montgomery, loudoun, frederick, fauquier, rap han ok and points west. we could have a quarter-inch of >> and this is the secret ingredient that goes onto the chicken. matt? >> don't worry about us down here, al. >> i'm not. >> we're fine. >> we're not. >> we're fine. much more from camp eggers in kabul and we'll have more from afghanistan tomorrow on "today." but first, this is "today" on nbc. ♪ now to one of the most influential names in entertainment, mr. bill cosby. his many achievements in business, including creating and starring in "the cosby show," the award-winning sitcom that highlighted messages of family, love and education, and he's passing on similar messages on a new hip-hop album called "bill cosby presents: the cosnarati state of emergency." co-produced by patterson and features jason the great, brother haz and supernova slom and all of you gentmen, good morning. >> good morning. >> dr. cosby, you write on the sleeve jacket of this cd, "please listen to the words. we worked very hard to tell you about the state of emergency. thank you." describe the state of emergency. >> we're trying to have people look at those particular areas of cities, some called inner city, but then there are other parts outside where people are not paying attention to the plus factors of if you abandon your child, you cause your child to think that he or she did something bad, and that when you leave your child up to being raised by someone else, that thinking, too, goes awry, that people don't understand why they are where they are. and so, we've done lyrics to help them think, lyrics to help them listen and talk to each other to become better and have higher self-esteem and realize that life is just wonderful and you needn't look at it as a place that has no light for you, no help, and that's what this is about. >> it's about all those lofty messages, but listening to the cd, you hear some groovy music. i mean, maybe i'm using the wrong adjective, but it is powerful and it's strong and it's very much of today. you helped write, i understand, many of these hip-hop tunes, and you also perform in two of them. how was dr. -- i mean, here it is. let's let them hear it. ♪ crime rate is going up, but i need you to settle down ♪ >> william "spaceman" patterson. talk to me about the creative process to create, taking these lofty ideas and making them into something real that young people cannot only hear, enjoy, but also learn from. >> well, you know, all of us come from a lot of different musical backgrounds and we have experience in creating music that's contemporary, that's right now, in any given situation. when dr. cosby presented the concept of "state of emergency," it wasn't too far away from what's going on and even from the way that he expresses himself. >> jason haas, you both are from newark, new jersey, i understand, and supa, you're from brooklyn, new york. how have these songs come from your own experience? you want to take it? >> well, i mean, coming from the city of newark, a lot of the songs, like the one we just was played, "sent from your heart," we lived this. so, it's easy to come out and feel good coming out, and it's addressing our city. so, we're talking not just to our city, but to the world, but the passion is there because we walked those shoes, we lived that, and we want to see a change. >> and haz, you performed in something called "dads behind the glass." >> yes. >> very powerful song. >> yes. >> does this come from something you know about, something you heard about? >> just from a lot of my friends not having their fathers. i grew up without a dad, but friends i had that i was close to, they grere up with their fathers that was in prison and they had to deal with growing up in the streets without a father figure. so, it was a very touchy topic and it was a very serious topic. i really wanted to be that voice for them in this song to express their feelings towards their fathers. >> i don't mean to bust you, dr. cosby, but supa, i've got to ask you this -- how is dr. cosby, who is not himself in your age group, how was he in writing the songs, reaching out to the young people in this groovy way? >> one incident that i remember in the studio, he called one day and said "where's the parade?" and we were like, where's the parade? he was saying, we need a parade to celebrate women in history who have done profound things that a lot of times go unnoticed, and we have to have a song that really catches that. so, he started telling space, blat, blat, boom, boom, and channeling the songs and the tones and giving us a charge. so, we took that vibe and we was right with him because we recognized, coming from where we come from, women do need to be uplifted, and they are the backbone and the supporter. so, he just charged us up and we got it together, put it back out and he was really inspired. >> it was really beautiful -- it is beautiful. ♪ ba, da, where's the parade and then they say, you know, calling women out of their names. you don't call women out of their names. then they start to throw out names of women who have done wonderful things in different areas and parts of life, and it made my face fuzzy. >> you know what, you've done something wonderful, dr. bill cosby. thank you, yet again, for enlightening us and also entertaining us at theame time. i recommend it. the album is called "bill cosby presents: the cosnarati state of emergency." bill cosby, william "spaceman" patterson, jason the great, brother hahs and supa slum. >> and a hooray for you saying those names. and coming up next, who will be crowned "t biggest loser" on tonight's finale? we'll have a breakdown of the ♪ this morning on "get fit today," who will be crowned "the biggest loser"? after more than 3 million calories burned and more than 1,000 pounds lost, it's down to the final four for tonight's live finale. amanda, liz, danny and rudy. alison sweeney is the host of "the biggest loser." alison, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> okay, let's start with the men, because danny and rudy, they are both confirmed finalists because they had the largest percentage of weight at the last weigh-in that they lost. right now, they started both over 400 pounds, pretty evenly matched, but danny holds the record for the most consecutive weeks of double-digit weight loss. so, is he the one to beat, essentially? >> well, i mean, danny really is on a roll. he just figured it out, and he had tremendous success at home. he lost almost 60 pounds at home when they went home for two months before he came back to the marathon, which is amazing, and he is a sweetheart. he's a wonderful guy. so, i think he's going to do really well and i'm so hammy hr him. >> on the other hand, rudy started with more weight on him than danny. so, is that going to help him a little bit? >> yeah, i mean, traditionally, it gives him a little more of an edge. he has a little bit more to go. he's a big, strong, amazing guy. and he's been able to take the weight off, too. he broke some records as well. he lost 100 pounds the fastest ever on the show. he's really set some amazing records. >> when it comes to the women, it's up to america to decide whether amanda or liz was going to be the third finalist. strategy for those, quickly? >> liz, obviously, is the oldest contestant ever, if she makes it to the finals. she's a sweetheart, has her charm. and amanda already had america's vote one time when they voted her onto the show. we'll see where america's heart is tonight. >> we'll all be watching. alison sweeney, as always, thank you very much. >> thanks! >> and again, "the biggest loser's" two-hour live finale airs tonight at 8:00/7:00 central right here on nbc. we're going to have the winner live in our studio tomorrow on "today." back in a moment. this is "today" on nbc. let's head back to matt and al at camp eggers in kabul, afghanistan. matt, you had a chance to walk around the city. is the mood as tense there as one might expect it would be? >> it's hard to tell what the people who live here are feeling in terms of tension, but i will tell you as an american, and clearly someone who does not look like everyone else who lives here, it is tense. we have security here. we didn't just go out by ourselves with a crew. we took precautions and they were careful to put us in certain circumstances and not in others. so, as an american, there is some tension here. and as i mentioned in one of those pieces, there was a threat this morning, somewhat of a specific threat about some kind of a suicide bombing. so, we were extra careful, meredith. >> and one othe things that you notice is just the simple things we take for granted, like traffic lights. >> yeah, no. >> non-existent. [ laughter ] and it is a free for all out ege our time now is 8:56, 38 degrees, some sunshine still over the nation's capital as we look at the jefferson memorial on this tuesday, the 8th of december. in the news today we're following a developing story affecting a lot of folks' commute this morning all lanes of the outer loop of the beltway have been reopened after this car fire this morning, a little over three hours ago near the new hampshire avenue exit in silver spring. the driver tells wtop radio he turned on the heat in his grand cherokee and the flames started shooting out. the driver, 20-year-old john page, was able to get out okay. the scene has been cleared, but there are still some minor lingering dras, we'll check in with jerry edwards in a minute to check out this morning's traffic troubles. in other news, more details in the arrest of a woman accused of attempting to take another woman's baby. 40-year-old veronica duramus kept the unidentified pregnant woman hostage in her home for five days. she bound the woman and used a razor and box cutter to try to cut the baby out. duramus that include first-degree attempted murder. the woman and her baby are expected to be okay. we'll come back and lookt weather and traffic. stay w good morning, mostly cloudy today, afternoon highs low 40s. tonight we could get some sleet and freezing rain west and north of washington. may accumulate upo a quarter-inch of ice may cause power outages by dawn tomorrow. >> in addition to the car fire, a couple of problems on 270, those are starting to ease out of germantown. elsewhere along 95 northbound, still packed in tightly most of the way lorton to 14th street bridge. headed to points south, that's moving very nicely. joe? >> we'll have more news, weather and traffic in about 25 minutes. now back to the "today show" after this short break. what's your first name? we're back now with more of "today" on this tuesday morning. it's the 8th day of december 2009. just take a moment to stop and appreciate the hard work of some of our men and women who are serving here at camp eggers in kabul, afghanistan, on a chilly evening here. it's now, what, about 6:30 in the evening. >> that's right. >> 9 1/2-hour time change. it's a little bit bizarre. >> yeah. if they wanted to mess with people, why didn't they make it like 9 hours and 17 minutes? you know, really mess with people's heads. >> why would you suggest that? >> i'm just saying, if you're going, just really mess with people. >> i'm matt lauer along with al roker starting trouble here in afghanistan, as if there isn't enough trouble. there's a guy back here. where's luis? luis fred back there. he just wants to say happy birthday to his daughter monique, who's turning -- >> 11! >> on the 11th of december? happy birthday. >> and this gentleman's mom, your mom is turning 70? >> happy birthday to my mom who is turning 70 on january 5th. happy birthday, mom, i love you! wilkes-barre, pennsylvania! >> anyway, ann and natalie i know back there in new york. it's been a very moving experience for us to be here with these people, and i think it's nice for us to take a minute and stop andust say we really appreciate what you folks are doing. >> thank you. >> and we're sorry you're not with your families at this time of year, but we really appreciate your efforts, we really do. >> we have a big, new family. >> we have a big, new family. that's a nice way to put it. ladies? >> matt and al, it's really very moving for us to see you give them a chance to say hello to their families back home and their children. how is the mood there when you walk around and talk to the troops, knowing that -- >> i think it's, you know, it's pretty upbeat. >> well, if you're curious -- ann is asking back in new york, what's the mood like? and i know we have a camera here, so there's a lot of hooping and hollering, but in general,ow are you feeling? they're upbeat. >> considering a lot of these folks, they haven't seen their children, haven't seen their loved ones, and they're holding it together and we're just so proud of you. >> and ann and natalie, i was especially moved by specialist hughes, who we talked to a little while ago. said he had been married four months and he and his wife have only spent two days together during that time. that's a story that's repeated around here. they really miss their families. >> the service they have given us and their families as well. you have done such a good job today and we look forward to your reports tomorrow for day two in afghanistan. stay safe. and al, we'll check with you in just a moment for the weather. meantime, we'll see you tomorrow, matt, okay? >> you got it. >> for many of them, also, it's not just their first tour of duty. they've been called back over and over again, so, having to really serve. coming up in this half hour, switching gears a little bit, we'll have the latest on the tiger woods saga and developing woods overnight, as we've been reporting that a woman was rushed by ambulance to the hospital from tiger's florida home just after about 2:30 this morning, this as the names of even more women and alleged affairs are surfacing and reports that his wife elin has moved out. we're going to have all the latest for you. also, we have your "eat this not that" holiday survival guide for eating out, like knowing which omelet is the equivalent of eating 11 scoops of ice cream? can you believe that? >> hmm, in one omelet. >> wow. >> i think we're not having an omelet. >> that is the mother lode of the omelets, i would say. you have the news headlines for us. in the news, we begin with a series of corrugated car bombings in baghdad that killed at least 112 people and wounded about 200 others. it targeted government buildings, the labor ministry, court complex and the finance ministry in one of the worst attacks this year. defense secretary robert gates is in kabul this morning, as matt has been reporting, meeting with president karzai on the war in afghanistan and the troop surge, and he says in his words, "we are in this thing to win." general stanley mcchrystal, meantime, is testifying before congress about the troop surge. at the world climate conference in copenhagen, developing nations said that wealthier nations, especially the united states, must make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming. today, president obama announces a plan he hopes to get millions back to work, a jobs proposal involving small businesses, roads, highways and energy-efficient homes. a new report from the national cancer institute shows some progress in the battle against cancer. it finds that from 1999 to 2006, the overall cancer death rate was down 20% for men and 12% for women. the report also finds that deaths from prostate, breast and colon cancer are down but the deaths from pancreatic cancer in women are still climbing. the consumer products safety commission has ruled that the popular zhu zhu pet robotic hamsters do not violate safety hazards, despite concerns raised by a consumer group earlier this week about heavy metals. those are the top stories at five minutes past the hour. let's get a check of the weather from al in kabul. >> hey, guys. you've never seen a zhu zhu before? >> i have. >> that's right. well, we've got somebody here, we've got -- >> my wife is about 9 1/2 months pregnant and due any day now. >> 9 1/2 months. >> yeah. she's due soon, so, i'm hoping that it comes out soon and i can see it on skype. >> do you know what you're having? >> a girl. her name is going to be kayla. >> all right! you want to say hi to your mom? >> yes. i would like to say hi to my mom and my fiance jordan back in utah. >> there you go. let's take a look, show you what's going on as far as your weather's concerned. we've got this big storm we've been talking about. it is a monster of a storm. it's got winter storm warnings, watches, blizzard warnings all the way up from the southwest into the great lakes. this thing is going to really start to rocket. you can see it's got a mixed bag of precipitation. rain and heavy thunderstorms down through the southeast. we've got frozen precipitation as you get into the midwest, from omaha into green bay. we're looking at 12-plus inches of snow. some areas may pic up 18 inches of snow. and by saturday, lake-effect snows may dump up to good morning, mostly cloudy now, we've had a little sun this morning. temperatures in the mid and upper 30s, we'll climb to low to mid 40s by mid afternoon. tonight, we'll have the storm arriving here in the form of rain around washington. west and north could be an ice storm. all ending by midday wednesday. and turning windy tomorrow. the effects of the storm, mostly rain around washington points south and east. from 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. west and north, sleet beginning with a little snow. changing to freezing rain, >> and natalie, we're expecting our first snowfall here in afghanistan tonight in kabul. we may see about three to six inches of snow before it's all over some time tomorrow afternoon. >> wow. well, we hope that they get to enjoy it, at least. thank you, al. now to the drama unfolding around tiger woods and the developing news overnight that a woman was taken from his florida home by ambulance. nbc's peter alexander joins us now with the very latest. peter, good morning. >> natalie, good morning to you. know this woman was rushed by ambulance from tiger woods' exclusive central florida mansion to health central hospital. that ithe same medical center where woods was taken after his bizarre car crash just 11 days ago. this morning's call came in at 2:36 a.m. the witnesses say the woman on that stretcher is a -- or was a middle-aged woman, as they saw her being rolled into the hospital. the hospital not confirming to nbc news who that patient is, but there are reports that elin's mother -- that's tiger woods' mother-in-law -- had recently arrived to be with her daughter. immediately after the ambulance left the home it was trailed by a black cadillac escalade. that one is similar to the vehicle that woods' wife elin was seen driving shortly after last month's crash. the driver there reportedly a blond woman. as a result of tiger woods' sex scandal, the golfing great has now been caught up in this tabloid bunker you've surely read about. the number of named women now linked to woods has risen to seven. he's the world's most recognizable athlete, but the tabloid parade of women surfacing as tiger woods' reported lovers has quickly tarnished his carefully crafted image of perfection. the latest name linked to woods, according to "the new york daily news," 36-year-old porn star holly sampson, whose recent adult film credits include "omg stop tickling me" and "flying solo 2." her lawyer told the paper sampson has no comment. tiger's tabloid tally has now grown to at least seven reported extramarital affairs. >> the best thing that tiger woods can do is to ignore every allegation, deal with his wife and deal with the restotion of his career. >> reporter: woods' fans are already weighing in. a just-released poll shows the golfing great's popularity has dropped 24% since june, with more than 20,000 new posts to woods' personal website. "what a shame -- this is now your legacy," one writes. "you did it to yourself," another one reads, "what a letdown to our children." woods collects $90 million a year in endorsements, in part due to his image as a family man, as seen in this promotion for a north carolina golfing community. >> with a wife and two kids, your perspective in life changes. i want to have my kids experience something like this. i want to be able to bring them up here and feel safe. >> reporter: despite the deepening scandal, woods has yet to lose a single sponsor. >> every corporate sponsor in every corporate deal tiger woods has is iron-clad. they're locked in years in advance. >> reporter: nbc news has also obtained new documents that show florida state troopers suspected woods was driving under the influence when he mysteriously crashed his suv 11 days ago. this request for a subpoena of woods' blood shows the 33-year-old had consumed alcohol that day and was taking prescription medications, including the sleeping pill ambien and the painkiller vicodin. the state attorney's office denied the request, citing insufficient evidence woods was impaired, even though witnesses report he was found unconscious and snoring on the ground outside his wrecked vehicle. woods has not been seen in public since the incident. his present whereabouts are unknown. and some public relation experts say that's not necessarily a bad thing. >> for him to address it, tiger woods to speak right now would just add more fuel to the fire. >> as for tiger's wife, elin, you just saw in that shot, before this morning's developments, one of her close friends, tennis star lindsay davenport, said that elin is incredibly hurt by what's gone on but is working through it as best she can. of course, the situation we've been reporting on in florida, a woman rushed to the hospital from tiger woods' home is still developing. natalie, as we learn more, we will share that with you. >> all right. we appreciate it. peter alexander, thank you. dan abrams is nbc's chief legal analyst. courtney hazlett is nbc's pop culture analyst. good morning to you both. >> good morning. >> natalie. >> you did a lot of reporting on this case yesterday. specifically, the identity on this person -- you don't know yet who it is, but any idea who was living in the home at the time? >> correct. what we do know -- and this came as news earlier in the week. when that 911 call was placed, we found out from the interview the neighbors that called 911, that elin's parents were on the scene when help was called for tiger. so, both mothers were in the house. so it exists a possibility that that woman on the stretcher could be one of the mothers, either elin's or tiger's, but the identity is just not known yet. you would think if it was someone not related to the woods family, the woods family would want to get in front of that and make some statement, because truthfully it doesn't do this situation any good to think that one more family member is being affected by this. >> what about this report, as peter mentioned, a request for a subpoena of woods' blood, which the state's attorney's office said that they, in fact, that there was insufficient evidence and that he was impaired. but what can you tell us about his condition on that night? >> his condition on that night was actually a lot worse than we first realized what was first reported. when he was taken to the hospital, he was admitted directly to the icu and he had to have a breathing tube put in. that snoring that you heard on the lawn wasn't just tiger sound asleep. doctors i've spoken said because he had ton intubated when he was brought in, that was probably his airway and it needed to be cleared. >> obstructed. >> exactly. the other interesting wrinkle from this story is tiger was released directly from the icu to his house, which is highly unusual. >> i was going so say, usually in icu, there's a 24-hour observation period. >> correct. >> dan, that brings up an interesting point. this was case closed. when it comes, though, he paid the $164 fine he had to pay. but when it comes to something like a toxicology report and that being subpoenaed, who ultimately would have access to this? >> well, i mean, the first question is, why didn't they do this initially, right? >> right, exactly. >> because this is basically them saying later on -- >> right. >> we now need evidence that we didn't get earlier. >> right. >> and what the prosecutor's office was saying is, well we're sorry, but to get that now, you would have to show us that there was a crime, in effect. and what the prosecutor's office was saying is we're not convinced you've got enough here to now subpoena records. you can't just subpoena things. you have to have some proof, some evidence, at least, to be able to say we want to subpoena this particular piece of evidence. and what the prosecutors are saying is w don't feel you've got it now. >> does it sound like they're giving him a little bit of a pass, though, because he is who he is? he is tiger woods? >> the only pass that might have been given is the question of why they didn't do it at the scene. >> why didn't they take a breathalyzer at the scene, right. >> they might argue, say, look, because someone has an accident, we don't necessarily presume that theyere drunk. this type of accident, though, you would think would lead them to have more questions than they did. but i don't think that it's special treatment. i think it's actually sort of a brave move to some degree by the prosecutor to sort of stick to the law and say, i'm sorry, you know -- >> can't go back and rewrite history. >> that's exactly right. your new suspicions don't necessarily justify getting a subpoena here. >> okay. and quickly, the endorsement deals, the sponsors are still standing behind him. but if they getivorced -- if elin and tiger get divorced, what happens there? >> it's all about elin, i think, when it comes to these sponsorship deals. when i saw the first report of someone coming out and people started wondering who it was, et cetera. if there's anything that -- if elin decides that she wants to really punish him, leave him, et cetera, i think that is going to change this to some degree, because he his defense up to this point has been i want to protect my family, i want to protect my wife. i'm entitled to our privacy, we're intitled to our privacy. if that becomes i as opposed to we, i think that changes a lot. >> that image of the father with the children, all of that is gone. >> absolutely. and in particular, every one of these women come out, porn stars and this. you know, this is not necessarily the savoriest image. some of them are lovely, i'm sure, but the bottom line is that he's got a group here, some of whom he probably is not thrilled about -- >> i think his golf game has a lot to do with this, too, and that can't be discounted. when tiger gets on the course, he is an absolute freak of nature, and the amount of money that nike and other brands lose in like advertising when tiger woods is not in the top ten is absolutely massive. they do have a vested interest. if he can be a top ten golfer and number one golfer -- >> if he can still win -- >> if he can still win, i think they'll have a pretty short-term memory -- >> people said he can play his way through this, but we'll see. >> we'll see. dan abrams, courtney hazlett, thank you very much. zicam reduces the duration of a cold. ( sneezing ) no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... can you do it by 3:00 ? yes, i can. how about 2:00 ? hmm... ( sneezing ) ( moaning ) get over your cold faster. now try new throat-soothing liqui-loz and great-tasting zavors. and i was so tender to the touch-- but i didn't know why. my doctor diagnosed it as fibromyalgia. and then he recommended lyrica... fibromyalgia is thought to be the result of over-active nerves that cause chronic, widespread pain. lyrica is fda-approved to help relieve the unique pain of fibromyalgia. so now, i'm learning what a day is like with less pain. lyrica is not for everyone. tell your doctor about any serious allergic reaction that causes swelling or affects breathing or skin, or changes in eyesight including blurry vision or muscle pain with fever or tired feeling. lyrica may cause suicidal thoughts or actions in a very small number of people. some of the most common side effects of lyrica are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. do not drink alcohol while taking lyrica. you should not drive or operate machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. could your pain be caused by fibromyalgia? ask your doctor about lyrica today. of maxwell house's flavor lock lid. hear that? seals it tight. smells like fresh ground. fresh fresh fresh fre-- that's our favorite part. ...fresh! (announcer) taste why maxwell house is good to the last drop. ♪ just eat it, eat it this morning on "eat this not that," avoiding a terrible mistake when you're eating out. everything looks good and the items may seem healthy, but sometimes they're loaded with butter and oil. but how do you know how to make the right choice? well, you call on dave zinczenko, author of "eat this not that: restaurant survival guide." >> we're going to the same restaurants, same menu, but we're decoding everything so you can make the better choice every time. so, it's the ultimate guide. we have an iphone app that basically is like the james bond of nutrition. 30,000 supermarket items, restaurant items. it's putting you in control. because over the holidays, we tend to gain about five or six pounds, and we're eating double the restaurant calories we were taking in 30 years ago. >> that's the bad news. the good news is a lot of restaurants are actually trying to up their game on being healthy. >> they are. >> starting with applebee's. >> applebee's. >> you've got this thing called the crispy orange chicken bowl. it looks fantastic. >> i know. >> what's the problem? >> you'd know better if it was called fried chicken in a bowl. but crispy is the word for fried. it's 1,880 calories, the equivalent of six cheeseburgers. same restaurant, same menu, probably the same chicken. -of-got here a broeshta chicken sandwich. you would save 1,500 calories by making this swap and you lose 38 pounds of fat in a year. >> that is a great sandwich. >> and their new menu items are fantastic. >> from the cheesecake factory. this sandwich on the menu sounds very healthy, a chicken and avocado club. >> right. >> what's the problem? >> well, the problem here is it's got too much -- i mean, it's a club, which is code for gobs of mayo, melted cheese and bacon. you end up getting 1,400 calories and a lot of sodium. it's the equivalent of five volcano tacos from taco bell. >> in sodium? >> yes. it's enough salt to melt your ice skating rink across the street. >> don't want that. >> but you go to the cheesecake factory and get their factory burger, which is a classic. you'll end up with half the calories and sodium. >> moving to ihop, this is the omelet we were hearing about earlier that basically is going to devastate your waistline. >> they call it a garden omelet. they should call it a larden omelet. it is not a garden, it is a jungle. it's 1,000 calories. >> what, cheese? >> i don't even know how to make -- it's the cheese, it's the butter. it's very oily. but you know, in a way, it's the calorie equivalent of 11 scoops of ice cream at ihop. the good news, though, is that you can go to their menu and get something like this spinach, mushroom and tomato omelet and get rid of a day's worth of saturated facilit and it's 300 calories. so you're saving 700 calories. >> we're running out of time. tell me about this. this is a salt fest. >> this is from olive garden and is saltier than an adam lambert concert. >> you worked on that one, david! >> it is the sodium equivalent -- it's 960 calories -- equivalent of ten large orders of fries. so, what you want to do is get the apricot chicken. you're going to save a lot of calories and you're not going to have t oily and cheeseiness. >> all right. dave zinczenko, thank you for saving the waist lines. >> thank you. coming up here on "today," from your daughter to your granddaughter, the perfect gift for a woman of any age. hey, you made your own lunch. yep! (mom) i'm so proud of you. the bus is here, gotta go mom. okay hunny, have a great day. look in your bag, made you something. 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[ male announc ] it's not just an event. it's toyotathon! hurry to your toyota dealer today. time to spotlight some of the generous people who have helped us get toys to needy children in our annual toy drive now in the 16th year. for the tenth year in a row, crest whitestrips is making a donation and rebecca is with proctor & gamble's crest whitestrips brand. >> good morning. thank you for having us. >> you're such a big part of the toy drive. tell us what you're doing this year. >> yes. this is the tenth consecutive year we have participated in the holiday toy drive. we are delighted to once again be part of this wonderful program and help those in need during this holiday. crest whitestrips is all about helping those smile brighter and make special holiday connections. >> and i see a big check here. >> yes. this year, crest whitestrips advanced seal is donating $50,000 of much-needed funds -- >> wow. >> -- and a collection of toys to help children across america smile. >> rebecca, thank you so much. i've got news for you. there's no such thing... ...as a bear sheriff. you think i'm afraid of you? hey what? you don't have to be mean to the cake. i do. you don't. i do. just eat yoplait light. they have great flavors like... boston cream pie, raspberry cheesecake. even though i work here, i've lost weight. wow. yeah. carry on. (announcer) 28 delicious flavors at around 100 calories each. my bliss? lips that feel soft, smooth, kissable. my blistex? silk and shine. real silk extracts. with a touch of shine. discover bliss. discover blistex. not so bad outside now, 38 degrees, it is cold. but not that nasty mix we're expecting later today. 9:26 is the time. doos tuesday december 8 th. i'm barbara harrison. all lanes of the outer loop have reopened after this car fire this morning. it happened a little more two hours ago at the newampshire exit in silver spring. the driver said he turn the heat on and flames started shooting out. the driver was able to get out okay. the scene has been cleared, but still minor lingering delays. we'll check weather and traffic for you, jerry edwards will have more on that coming up. moeks now, temperatures in the mid and upper 30s around the region. afternoon highs in the low to mid 40s and cloudy. tonight we'll have a storm approaching us in the form of rain arod washington and points south and east. we and north, could be some significant icing. all precipitation ending by midday wednesday and turning windy tomorrow afternoon. the effects of the storm between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. sleet changing to up to a quarter-inch of icing west and north. jerry, how's the traffic? >> road work setting up on the roadway, outer loop of the beltway. the vehicle fire long gone. now road work time. 395 very heavy and slow to and across the 14th street bridge, we'll keep an eye out for the midday construction on the bridge. tonight on news4 at 5:00, the sleet strategy, how one mom got her fussy newborn to sleep what we could have been to each other, having a real relationship and kids? >> she's one of my favorites. you're lking at four-time oscar nominee julianne moore in her latest effort. it's called "a single man." it's getting a lot of critical praise and she'll be here to tell us all about it tomorrow here on "today." i just love her. >> look forward to that. yeah, she's a wonderful talent. meanwhile, coming up this half hour, winterizing our skin. you may have already noticed drying and itching. >> cracking. >> it's that time of year to actually do something about it. how do we, actually? we're going to get great advice this morning from a doctor about what we can do to make sure our skin feels great. >> some people, of course, consider that the down side of the winter season, but now to the up side, presents. on monday it was the men's. so today we've got your guide for all the important ladies in your life from your teenage niece who you might think is impossible to shop for, to your aunt. we've got great ideas for everyone on your list. >> and jill, apparently, is enjoying them -- >> jill is enjoying them a lot. plus, we are lucky often to have a pretty nice tree in our backyard, but if you can't afford 30,000 lights and a crystal star, we'll show you how you can use things already in your home to dress up your home for the holidays. plus, catching up with the kardashians, sisters kim and khloe will be stopping by. before all that, let's get a final check of the weather from al, reporting live all morning from kabul, afghanistan. hey, al. >> hey, al. >> hey, guys. question, is jill still in the studio there? >> you know, i think he is, why? >> because a lot of the soldiers here -- >> oh, she. >> -- want to see jill again. >> oh, jill, ours television -- >> smile! >> smile! >> no, jill -- >> don't run away. >> don't run away. >> they want to see you! >> smile, jill, right at the camera. >> they want you in one of their stockings! >> jill, the soldiers in afghanistan think you look hot, so they just wanted to see you. wave and smile, will you? >> really? >> there you go. okay, there you go. >> now she knows what's going on. okay, al. >> and some of the female soldiers really thought dave auerbach dropping out of the picture was really good, too. that was real special! ha! anyway, you want to say hi to your students? >> yeah, hi! i just want to say hi to my family and all my students at western washington university. go vikings! >> all right. there you go. and back here, we've got -- who do you want to say hi to? >> i want to say hello to my wife irene in denver, colorado, and my kids cheyenne, happy here we have debbie talking to jill martin. suddenly, she realized -- dave -- look at that! it's like a cartoon. this is like the roadrunner. they just took off! >> it was all your fault, too, al. you made it happen! oh, my gosh >> you know, that's stuff for the christmas reel. >> all right, al. thanks so much and thanks for your work this morning and a big hug to everybody there wh you, okay? we'll see you tomorrow. >> enjoy. enjoy them. >> you got it. we'll see you. >> okay. all right, coming up next, finding that perfect gift for all the important women in your life with the gorgeous jill martin and dave auerbach on the side there. gifts for you, too, no matter the age. like crispy shrimp, hand-battered, cooked until golden brown. and smoked chicken, topped with fresh ingredients just for you. part of our three courses, two people, $20 deal, where you can share an appetizer, choose two entrees, like our fall-off-the-bone tender baby back ribs or a new pulled pork sandwich, and share a dessert. for a limited time, only at chili's. [ door closes ] ♪ [ inhales ] ♪ [ sighs ] that is the power of pine-sol, baby. ♪ hey jay. i think my lights are freaking out your dog. no, it's just that... he doesn't like people flaunting their wealth. but we're not wealthy. i believe you, but... that's a lot of lights. ♪ chestnuts roasting ♪ on an open fire - no to fake foods. - and yes to real. yes to hellmann's. made with eggs, vinegar and oils... that are naturally rich in omega 3. with all the taste in the world. mmmmmm. hellmann's. it's time for real. and a cookie can be art or comedy, a stroke of genius the life of the party. a cookie can be a force for world peace, or a cookie can just be a cookie. get recipes at bettycrocker.com. new aches and pains, ...and new questions about which pain reliever is right for your body. tylenol 8 hour works with your body, with one lay that dissolves quickly... ...one layer that lasts all day ...and no layers that irritate your stomach the way that ibuprofen can. it's tough on your body pain. not on your body. the sparkly flakes. the honey-baked bunches! the magic's in the mix. my favorite part? eating it. honey bunches of oats. taste the joy we put in every spoonful. honey bunches of oats. we call the bunches in honey bunches of oats the prize in the box. well, now there's a prize inside the prize. pecans! pecans! baked into crunchy oat bunches. taste the delicious surprise in every spoonful. new honey bunches of oats with pecan bunches. beautiful. the holidays are always so busy. gram, the video game thingy's stuck again. remember, you have to jiggle it. ( doorbell rings ) we never get the time to tell people stuff. ♪ say what you need to say ♪ say what you need to say ( holding last note ) we couldn't have made it through this last year without you, mom. this year, appreciation may be the best gift of all. a hallmark card. it's the biggest little thing ou can do. ♪ this morning on "today's holiday gift guide," something for all the women in your life, from the teenager who wants to sparkle to the mother-in-law who just wants to relax. we have some great ideas for every age. jill martin's a contributor to "us weekly" magazine and author of "fashion for dummies." good morning. >> good morning, and officially mortified. >> they love you! let's give them more reason to see more of you. there's a lot of good stuff to talk about, starting with the teens. >> these are great -- >> hard to shop for. >> great little clutches, jennifermillerjewelry.com. hearts, peace signs, everything. these are great. >> backpacks. always want to look stylish. >> the sport sack is great and they have these lunch parks which are insulated and mini bookbags in all these patterns. great gift. >> i absolutely love this. >> this is for all ages. >> tell me about this. >> this is $60, fredflair.com. it's a karaoke mike that plugs into your ipod and you can download the music to sing along. >> that's dangerous. >> especially with my voice. >> especially with me, i was going to say. now, this is amazing. for the teens who like sparkling ears -- >> to cover your earphones. they start at $35. deoslive.com. unbelievable for the ipod lover. >> for all the "twilight" fans, we have a deal for you. >> this is bella's jacket, $66, fredflair.com. this is the actual jacket she wore in the movie. b.b. dakota made it. this is amazing and a great jacket for all seasons. >> it's a great jacket, whether you're a fan or not. hair accessories always a hit, too, right? >> from target, $3.99. bows are really big with the teens right now. >> okay. >> moving on to our age. >> 20, 40-something -- >> ooh, i like 20s. this dress is available at macy's. what's great is you could pack it and wear it day or night there. you go. >> there you go. >> for the troops. and you can accessorize it however you want. so, it's a great -- >> they're so glued to it right now. >> hanky panky is now making personalized panties. >> oh, my gosh. >> and there was an "i love al" one. there's an "nm" for you. somebody stole al's. >> don't know who that was. >> and pom-pom hats. you wouldn't buy yourself such a bold color, victoria's secret. then a scarf from talbot's. >> perfect. >> everybody goes crazy for these. >> everybody loves makeup and jewelry. >> everybody but mascara, available from sephora, tart cosmetics, comes in this case. >> and jewelry. >> layered jewelry really in, $35, j. crew. and this is a great cd, "it's always sunny in philadelphia,". >> i've never heard of this show. >> it's a series with danny devito and now a christmas dvd. this is great, $29.99. slippers. >> a huge hit for moms. >> philosophy, out of the kitchen, great bathwear, and -- >> for grandmas, great ideas, too. >> joan malone fragrances, always a great gift. and williams-sonoma, the huge cookie and those are pancakes you can infuse with chocolate. you would be the hit. i would love to take a bite, but our producer didn't want us to ruin it. >> i can't take a bite? >> debbie, is it okay now? >> jill martin, thank you so much, my dear. eat the whole thing, she said. coming up next, keeping your skin healthy from the inside out what are you going to make? you should make a gift for papa. i'm going to put it right here. that's for daddy. mine is done now! look it! look it! look it! whoa, whoa, whoa! this... can i have another one? yes! is what memories are made of. rice krispies®. childhood is calling. ♪ childhood is calling. new anti-aging eye roller. reduces puffiness immediately -- and also helps with lines and wrinkles. not surgery. this is our way to do your eyes. new regenerist anti-aging eye roller. is "the farmer's vegetable patch," right? there's a full serving of vegetables in every manwich. so you're made of vegetables, yet you're eating vegetables? exactly. [ male announcer ] every manwich has a full serving of wholesome vegetables. manwich. meat your vegetables. if you want to see the weather ahead, push here. if you want to access 10 gigs of music you just downloaded to your hard drive, push here. and if you want to pull away from it all, you can push here. the all-new-40-gig hard drive nav and entertainment system on the 2010 lacrosse. from buick. it's the new class of world class. have come home to custom roasted maxwell house. really great flavor. i lovehe taste. hmmm. hmmm. smooth. rich. fabulous. is it "hmmm?" hmmm. (announcer) taste why maxwell house is good to the last drop. to build up his savings account. use your debit card for everyday purchases and automatically build your savings. with keep the change®. only from bank of amera. (announcer) you've wanted to quit so many times, but those days came and went, and the cigarettes remained. but today's a new day. and a few simple steps can make a real difference in your next quit... things like starting with a plan to quit smoking... ...getting support... ...and talking to your doctor about how prescription treatments can help you. ♪ talk to your doctor about prescription treatment options. and make this time, your time. ♪ baby, it's cold, baby it's cold outside ♪ this morning on "today's beauty," winterizing your skin. as the temperature goes down, the heat goes up inside your home, and that can mean some dry and flaky skin. so, how can you protect it from the harsh winter months? we've got dermatologist and psychiatrist dr. amy webster, author of "the mind-beauty connection." good morning, dr. amy wechsler. >> good morning! >> the terribly cold weather has arrived. >> absolutely. >> so it's cold outside and dry inside because we're trying to keep our houses warm. what's the key? >> moisturizing every single day. >> moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. how much? >> after your bath or shower is the most important time because your skin is moist and acts like a sponge and absorbs that moisturizer. also, buy a humidifier and keep it running all the time to add back moisture. >> some people are worried about the health effects of humidi humidifie humidifiers, bacteria. >> there new ones that have uv lights that kill bacteria, cool mist, safer ones now. >> for our hands you have something specific that you think is terrific, specifically for your cuticles. >> especially for me. i wash my hands all the time in between every patient. a lot of people do. there is a cream called triple cream. it's really thick. check it out. >> ooh, it is. wow! >> i use it every night on my cuticles and in the morning they're really smooth. >> you can use that anywhere where you have a dry patch. >> you can. i put it on my feet, but your elbows, knees. doesn't that feel good? >> wow, you can feel that go in. you recommend using moisturizers out of a jar more than a pump. >> exactly. >> why is that? >> it's pretty thin to be able to get out of the pump. it's a little watery. >> so maybe good for summer but not winter? >> exactly. >> now, for feet you have something specific that you think is a good idea. >> well, sure. any thick foot cream is good. you can use vaseline and then wear socks if you don't mind. >> at night? >> when you're sleeping. it will help the cream penetrate your feet. >> and you say that's also true for your hands. you can put cream on your hands and wear gloves? >> exactly. cotton gloves. put on any hand cream and it will penetrate better with the gloves on. >> you also don't like it -- you suggest people don't take hot showers. now, i love a hot shower and bath. so, why? >> well, the hotter the water, the more it's removing all the natural oils from your skin. so, if you have to take a hot shower, take a very short one and then you should definitely moisturize right after. >> what about using oils rather than creams? >> i like oils. >> rather than? >> doesn't matter. you can use both. i use both. play around with them. >> also, you say, each if you love to exfoliate during the summer, it's not a good idea to do it during the winter. why is that? >> again, because you're removing all of the natural oils and a lot of people overscrub their skin. i think that's the most common mistake i see patients do in my office. so, tone down the exfoliating. if you're usually doing it once a day in the summer, for example, maybe do it three times a week. >> okay, so, bottom line is, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize. >> right. >> and make sure we pay attention, probably cover up tside, too, in the winter conditions? >> that's probably a goo idea. >> i love this. >> isn't that good? >> it's working really well. amy wechsler, thank you for the great advice, protecting our skin in the winner months. >> you're welcome. coming up,iñ oñiñ this morning on "today's countdown to christmas," holiday decorating on a dime. with christmas craftiness and items around your house, you, too, can deck the halls for next to nothing and "southern living" magazine's liz mayhue has decorations for us. >> good morning. >> let's start with a gorgeous mantle here, something so beautiful for the holidays to decorate your mantle. >> basically, i did silhouettes. literally, you have to have a copy maker and that's it. go to your local copy maker. they look harder than you are. >> a picture of your profile? >> take one preferably against a white wall. go to the copy store and blow it up. make a template like this. >> this is gorgeous. so, this is you. >> right. a white pencil. trace the outline, cut it out. i mounted it on canvases at the craft store, three for $7. >> you wrapped them with wrapping paper first, right? >> wrapped it with wrapping paper, stuck it on the mantle. they make great gifts as well. >> i love this touch as well. greens are gorgeous, but it looks expensive, right? >> the whole thing is it looks expensive and it's not. i used silver. this is actually not silver. it's plastic. i'm going to show you on the table in a second. i used carnations from the grocery store. how easy is that? >> gorgeous. beautiful. >> then greenery. you can go real or fake. northwoodsevergreen.com is a great source for wholesale greens. you have to buy it by 50 feet, but share it with a friend. >> this is the fake stuff, but you would never know. >> this is really good fake stuff, so if you're going to spend any money, spend a little more and you'll have it forever. think of it amortized year after year. might be worth it. >> now, over here for our staircase. >> i used the same greenery. it comes prelit, again. prelit, then i went to the grocery store and bought really pretty fruits. limes, clementines studded. get your kids to do it -- >> how did you get them on there some. >> you can stud these easily. let your kids do that. >> gives it that extra fragrance. but how did you get the fruit on? >> florist wire. you can get it at any craft store, florist supply store. you basically push it through and thread it on. that's it. >> and that's it. easy as that. and it'sgorgeous. >> grocery store, lasts throughout the season -- >> and it's fresh and real, which is beautiful. >> you can't smell it, but they smell amazing. >> amazing. >> amazing. >> over here you're going to show us how you made the beautiful centerpieces on the table. >> again, i started with carnations. get them at the grocery store. foam. this is florist foam balls. you can get them at any craft store. >> michael's -- >> you soak them in water for 20 minutes and then just stuff them in. you cover it. >> and the idea is to put as many on there as you can to create that pom-pom effect, right? >> right. >> it's gorgeous. >> that's what makes a grocery store flower look so chic. you can see -- hello, ann! >> ann curry, very pretty. >> here you go. that's your place setting. >> i love that. >> again, i bought all this silver from plumparty.com. it's plastic. notice the cups -- >> you would never know it's plastic. >> and every southerner, southern living, you need a julep cup. then i made these shades for over the champagne glass. >> how sweet. >> there's a template at saveoncrafts.com. you make the template and cut it out of vel yom, which you can get 20 sheets for $10 at michael's. then i punched it with a hole punch, pop i r ti now is 9:56, four minutes until 10:00. 41 degrees, good morning, i'm joe krebs. washington wizard's owner abe polen died last night of a rare brain disease. he will be honored tonight at the arena he helped build. it will include speeches from mayor fenty and wizards captain, antoine jamison. and there will be a toy drive at the verizon center from now until 7:00 this evening. now let's check our weather forecast from meteorologist tom kierein. in blue west and north of washington. the counties in pink under a winter storm warning. the highlands of west have a may feelle impact of the winter storm. between now and then cloudy with highs inned low to mid 40s. westnd north, up to a quarter ever an inch possible between 9:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, it may cause power outages. jerry, how's the traffic. >> i-270 north and southbound looking good. cleared out from earlier problems during the rush hour. accident 66 eastbound as you head over to nutley street, only one travel lane getting by. traffic coming in from fair oaks to the capital beltway jammed. the sleep strategy, how captions paid for by nbc-universal television hey, everybody. it's december 8th. hi, hoda woman. how are you feeling? >> little by little by little. >> though you sound a little -- >> i know. >> what were you doing last night? >> if you don't continue the healing, you can slip right back into it. >> it's called relapse. >> i know. >> speaking of relapse -- this is the story that just keeps getting more upsetting, the tiger woods' saga. why don't you fill us in? >> the first thing we learned today, there's this videotape, and maybe you guys have seen it. it's a woman being transported from tiger's house to the hospit this morning at about 2:30. the question is, who is the woman who is being transported? and it's really tough to tel obviously. you look at that videotape and you think who is that? people keep saying it's a middle-aged woman. it's hard to tell who she is. >> they've been camped outside that home. how far away are they? are they actually able to -- >> i don't know how close the cameras are. this looks like -- >> long range. >> yeah. >> kind of grainy. >> looks like it's going into the hospital. they're probably across the street or something. but what they're reporting is not thattiger's wife is on that gurney. they're saying that tiger's wife is at the hospital. >> there was a vehicle that followed the ambulance straight to the hospital. >> the ambulance. the wife of tiger woods was seen, according to west tv, we don't know if this is confirmed, leaving the hospital on tuesday morning after that rescue call. the question is, who is the woman? we really don't know what -- who she is or what her condition is. we just know that she was transported from tiger's home. >> all conjecture at this point. >> yeah. >> bizarre thing, isn't that exactly around the same time that the initial incident happened? >> yes, you're right. >> morning after thanksgiving? >> it was 2:00 in the morning. now there's questions about what tiger had in his system, right? >> well, yeah. >> they're talking about was there alcohol or -- >> also ambien or vicodin, all alleged. >> there's a lot -- i've got to tell you, a lot of people -- this has sparked a lot of conversations among a lot of people. and one of the things -- and i don't know -- we don't know what it's like to be tiger woods. >> nobody does. >> right, except tiger. >> right. but i wonder what it would be like if every single day of your entire life, let's pretend, there were women lining up for you. i'm not taking a side at all. t what if every day of your life you woke up and there were all these gorgeous people waiting for you. >> yeah. >> let's say one day, you had an argument with your wife. just on one day. >> like normal people do. >> a weak moment. most people don't have -- the opportunity. >> to fight temptation every single day, 24/7 of their life. i don't know and i'm not -- >> you're not making excuses? >> i'm not defending him at all. i'm wondering if there are men who could -- i'm sure -- >> withstand it. >> withstand it every day. just picture every day of your life, day in, day out. day in and day out. most people who talk about infidelity say d't put yourself in a situation where you could have trouble. what if your life is that situation? >> your life -- >> life you chose. >> but you don't have to go into all these hot clubs everywhere you are, where women parade in front of your table. >> i completely agree. >> that's where it seems so far all the alleged women have come from that environment. but you're right. we make ds out of our sports figures, politicians, anybody in a place of prominence. donnie deutsch would know that. know what i'm saying? many, many people would just love to be the object of your attention. >> right. >> and maybe, perhaps, have a payday for it afterwards. >> absolutely. so, there is an unfortunate magazine cover ts month. >> they all seem to be unfortunate right now. >> if you are tiger or president obama. the front cover of "golf digest" has the -- it's a cover that -- >> it's a doctored cover. they dent pose together. >> ten tips obama can take from tiger. that was, of course, prescandal. but this is on the news stands. bad timing. >> i think it should be ten tips tiger can take from obama right now. >> right? >> yeah. "saturday night live" is going to get ahold of that and it's going to be trouble. >> we have donnie deutsch. >> giving us some male perspective. >> i think ofteno, since this is a girl show. >> it is estrogen fueled. yet we are not man bashers. >> no, no. >> we both love men. hoda more often than i do, but -- >> stop, stop. >> interesting to get the guy's perspective. you talk amongst yourselves. the mistake women make is they talk to their girlfriends when they're talking about guys. >> you've already said that. tell us something we don't know. >> it's interesting you talked about tiger. not to let him off the hook, but it is an unreal situation. any man or any woman that 100 times a day when he's out to dinner, they're literally coming by the table. here. doesn't excuse it, but certainly tees up the possibilities for a man or a woman. >> yeah. >> this is not reality. >> forget that everybody is human after all. >> not to let him off the hook, but it's an -- it's a test of humanity and of a man's ability to say no. >> do you know any man who could say no repeatedly like that, honestly? >> i think it's the minority, candidly. there are men, but in that position -- and this behavior has gone to a whole other level. once again, it would be interesting to do a science experiment on this. if i talk to the guys in the studio -- they're all hiding right now. >> oh, please. >> in reality you're asking for a little not reality to expect a man when it's constantly bombarded to say no, no, no. >> billy graham, who has one of the cleanest images of anybody in prominence always said el not get on an elevator alone with a woman so that even the appearance of evil. and the woman could not cry out rape or -- >> that he did something. >> anything else. it would be her word against his word. he was just smart enough to realize you are going to put yourself in a compromised position whether you're guilty of something or not. >> because it's tiger, do you think it makes it even more acceptable like, that's just the way it goes? because now when -- it just seems to me -- >> well, most men, i would think, envy him on almost every level. >> except today, don't you think? >> i don't know. how about all the guys who wish they were tiger woods, do you wish you were tiger woods today. donnie, would you trade place with his tiger woods today? >> not today, but if uh-uh ask the average man, would you like to have $1 billion, sleep with beautiful women, be the best golfer in the world and have adulation around you -- >> now that the story gets dirtier and more tragic every day. >> so sad. >> can he emotionally now -- you're not a psychiatrist, i know. say there's a tournament next week. can we expect that tiger woods to show up who has that -- >> focus. >> -- incredible focus, legendary focus? >> knowing everyone knows your business. >> that will be his only salvation. that's the safe place for him, where he can go. >> but only if he can compete the way he used to. >> he has been trained to do that. is a human being. it would affect you coming to work, obviously, if you were going through something difficult like that? in a strange way, until he gets on the golf course, i think he's going to be a broken man. he needs that golf course. >> what about the endorsements? >> now it's te to go to a different place. we talked about this yesterday. philandering in our society it's wrong. we've become anesthetized to it. i don't think gatorade or nike is going anywhere, but it starts to get tricky. only thing that will save his career is if his wife leaves him. then there's justice. it certainly would be bad for him personally. but she got him. >> why would it save his career? >> it would be the end of the story. >> until he takes up with a new woman. >> but then he will be single. he will have gotten his just desserts and people will say, see, you got nailed buddy. >> we can't get enough of donnie. >> because he he won't leave. >> look at him. we knew he would make this close. >> he wants a stool. >> don't even need a stool. m doing the tease. >> throw it to sarah. >> we're here, the three amigos. >> we're talking about how people stay in their relationships and make it strong. crystal wrote everyone is tempted. that's normal. what's not good is acting on it. brock wrote it's a choice. make the right one, take responsibility for yourself and make the right choice. >> easy to say when you're playing quarterback on a monday. unless it's a monday night game. then it's tuesday. up next, two daughters from one of the busiest families around. >> the kardashian girls are h e here. >> what are you doing? >> they always have news. sisterly love at their finest. we'll talk to them after this. o are. dashian clan in their hit show, "keeping up with the kardashians." >> first grandbaby on the way and chloe's marriage to lamar odem and kim is here with chloe. >> how is married life, honey? >> i love married life. >> you do? >> i love it. i could not be happier. i love being married. >> all that tabloid stuff is rubbage? >> yes. the stewardess on the plane last night was like, congratulations? how many months are you? >> i'm like, i'm not pregnant. >> somebody came up to me and said how far along are you? i'm like, do i really look like i'm pregnant? >> they asked you as well? >> they've asked me, too. >> stop it. >> they know you're back with reggie and know how you can be. come on. >> how is that? by the way, the saints are on fire. >> are you so excited? >> so excited. >> because kim is back with reggie. >> she's the good luck charm. >> it has nothing to do -- hey, that's right, kate hudson, the yankees. it's all her. >> courtney is due any minute? >> any minute. if we get a call, we have to leave. >> oh, yeah, she's ready. what is she and scott going to do? are they going to get married do you think? >> not right now. >> i think courtney wants to focus on havina baby. marriage. >> really? >> again, right, chris and bruce? i have been through many houses is n season takes place? >> yes. it's beautiful. there's so much more space. this season is definitely -- we say this every season, but this one for sure is our favorite season, our best season. >> why? >> so much is going on. >> well, with the baby, new marriage. >> there's so many new people into the mix now. i mean, lamar, you'll see reggie coming back. the first episode was not in the mood to film. i'm crying. i'm by myself. i'm not into it. >> why, kim? what was going on in kim kardashians life? >> you see me starting off, being a little single. >> she just broke up. >> we broke up. now we're back together. you see that whole -- i was really -- opened myself up and let the vulnerable side be shown on tv, which is hard to do. >> but the audience eats it up. they love that. >> what do the boys think about being on the reality show? >> lamar gets it. it's just our life. he doesn't really -- >> he has been a professional athlete for years. >> he doesn't think much about it, but he's not really -- he doesn't think much about it. >> what about your brother, robert? is he really dating a porn star? tell me this is not true. >> no. >> see, i don't know, your mother doesn't call me anymore, yes, it's true. no, it's not. that'she latest i read. >> no, thank god. >> that's a lie. >> do you keep up with that tabloid stuff? do you read when you and reggie broke up, your marriage is terrible, it's great? >> it just sucks because when you are going through, like for me, so happy, all the tabloids are so negative. it's like i'm so happy. someone just -- you don't really listen to that stuff but sometimes you start hearing it and you're like, i don't want to think that negative stuff. >> you hear about it, like when reggie a i broke up, all these crazy rumors started coming out. you hear about them when you're walking to the grocery store, the airport and all the paparazzi are asking you these crazy questions and i'm like, why would they ask me this? >> what was the craziest thing they thought? >> just the other day, they were asking me if i was pregnant because i with his on the cover of one of the tabloids, i think it was "life and style" and it said i was having a baby. in the interview i said i would love to have a baby within a year. >> they just get you to buy it. >> yeah. >> right. >> do you like being this exposed? you can't go anywhere or do anything without people snapping your picture. >> i think i have my moments. >> yeah? >> definitely. i feel like, obviously, when you're doing a red carpet or something that you sxukt paparazzi, it's okay. >> goes with the job. >> yes, but when you're at the gym it's like, please, go away. i'm at the gym. >> it ain't going to go away any time soon. >> hotter than ever. >> give my life to everybody and especially give a smooch to court. new season begins december -- our now new sister company on the e! channel. >> welcome to the family. picking out the perfect little black dress for the holidays. we are back with "today's style" and the look. >> almost 50 years later, the little black dress is still going strong. here to help us sort through what's hot and hip, isabelle gonzalez-whitacre. so, that little black dress isn't going anywhere? >> it sure isn't. >> it's timeless and classic. you have so many options. no matter if you want something more sophisticated or more romantic, there's something out there for you. >> let's start with the little black mini. >> look at you. >> i forgot this was the day for it. come on out. >> this is a great look, especially festive. sequins are so popular right now. we like when you think of little black dresses you often don't think that they can be long sleeve. great way to show your legs without exposing too much skin. >> you have to be careful getting into a taxi in that thing. let's be honest. >> you should go with longer sleeve if uh-uh you wear it short and no v neck kind of thing? >> create a balance. expose on the bottom, cover up on top. with the sequins that means you don't have to worry about lots of accessories. it's only $160. >> no kidding. where? where? >> top shop. >> adorable. >> thank you. >> next, the next look we have -- >> look at the zipper in the back! >> it's cute. a one-shoulder look. >> this is beautiful. >> we love that. >> this is lovely. >> isn't this super elegant? highly sophisticated look. very refined and what's great about it, too, this is a look that works on all ages. this is a look also that demi moore really likes. you've probably seen her in this kind of look. we've paired it with black tights for a super dramatic effect. again, it elongates the figure and puts the focus on your shoulder. you don't have to over adorn it. >> it works for her because she has great arms. for everybody else, can y pull that off? >> you can, because shoulders look great on all women. >> this is $199 from club monica. >> accessories, little earrings and bracelet? >> with a face like hers, you don't want to take anything from it. she's beautiful. >> gorgeous. >> thank you. >> that's great. our next little black dress has a full skirt poofing out there. >> very cute. >> adorable. >> this is younger. >> that's hip. >> very flirty look, obviously. we paired it with a leather jacket to kind of make it a little more edgy. again, thinking of little black dresses, you might not think you can have a full skirt design. $58 from urban outfitters. what's great with full skirts is that you can wear flats. >> it's nice to see a young girl in a ballerina slipper. half the time they're in hooker heels and that's not age appropriate. >> that's beautiful. >> and appropriate. >> what size shoe do you wear? >> seven. >> so teeny. >> drop those off at my dressing room. they're adorable. thanks. >> thank you. >> love this. >> off the shoulder. >> this is beautiful. >> tell us about this. >> dk & y dress. >> the way she wraps the body is the best. >> she speaks to your figure so well. this will flatter any figure. what it's doing, it's kind of cinching around the waist and putting the focus on the narrowest part of your body, creates a beautiful well-proportioned hourglass figure. >> gorgeous. >>f you're curvy, it's perfect, too? >> that's going to be priceyer, right? >> it's $175. >> that's unbelievable. >> who makes that. >> dk & y. >> you've exposed the shoulders but can pull it up, perfect for day. >> you shouldn't wear a necklace with something that open? >> it's your preference. you can wear a short necklace, not a long necklace. this dress is extremely versatile. >> interesting wearing a copper shoe instead of black. we always think you have to bear a black shoe. >> in fact, you don't. it elongates her leg because it's a skin tone. >> and copper colored hair. >> let's bring out our beautiful models. is there another one? >> oh, stop. just dying to get out here. >> i'm sorry. >> gorgeous. >> oh, my gosh, that's so cute. >> when you think of a little black dress, you think of a strapless dress. >> that's beautiful. >> what we love about this, it's a wonderful statement, oversized bow, a bit more ofan edge. when you're looking for a classic little black dress, look for those kinds of accents. >> what works with me for her with that is she's so tiny, big bow on a bigger fez eek, i think, would be too much. it's darling on her. >> you don't have to overadorn it. great chandelier earrings. >> thank you, isabelle. >> thank you so much. magic johnson is getting ready to play "who knew" with you. coming up today, the latest on a woman who was taken by ambulance this morning from tiger woods' home in florida. this is the same home whe the golfer crashed his suv into a hydrant and tree. good morning, everyone, i'm barbara harrison. and also coming up on "news4 midday," nasty weather heading our direction. later today you'll be seeing ice, snow or cold rain. meteorologist tom kierein will have the i've had asthma for 12 years. 6 years. i've had asthma forever. i never knew why my asthma symptoms kept coming back... ...kept coming back... ...or that i could help prevent them in the first place. the problem was that my controller medicine... ...was treating only 1 main cause of asthma symptoms. but there are 2. airway constriction. and inflammation. unlike most controllers, advair treats both main causes. advair treats both main causes. and that helps prevent symptoms in the first place. 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(annncer get your first prescription free and save on refills. advair. now you know. we're back on this tuesday with our "who knew?" quiz show and today's topics health myths. kathie lee is right behind me at the nbc digital cafe along with magic johnson, president of sodexho magic, operator of the cafe. here is the deal. if he gets t question right, he will give the $100 to someone in the crowd. if he gets it wrong, he'll get kathie lee's cd and we're sure he wants that. okay. "today" contributor and health magazine's medical director is here to set us straight. you have magic out there. do you think he'll get it right or wrong? >> i believe he will. >> i believe in magic. >> are you ready, darling? >> i'm ready. >> true or false, eating carrots proves your eyesight. >> that's false. >> he's right. he is right. so, you get the money, honey. and you get this little card. good start. good start. >> thank you, thank you, thank you. >> this is one of those deals that people -- it's one of those myths you hear a lot? >> right. carrots do have beta carotene, which is important for eye health but that's truly if you're defisht, you might be blind. if you can see, eating as many carrots as you want isn't going to change your vision. it won't make a difference. >> back to kathie lee. >> how long after eating should you wait before swimming? >> no need to wait -- >> oh, a, no need to wait. wait 15 minute s or wait an hou, c. what's michael say? >> an hour. [ buzzer ] >> you know what? ♪ everyone has a story >> the answer to that is there is no need to wait. >> we were all told by our mothers you have to wait. it's not true. you can jump in the pool as soon as you eat. i wouldn't say go swimen miles. you might get a little cramping for any exercise after you eat. if you're just splashing around, no need to wait at all. >> you missed it. our magic is going to send this michael a jersey. very nice. everybody's a winner. >> where are you from, sir? >> daniel jones from atlanta, georgia. >> magic, ask your question, baby. >> okay. true or false, if you pluck a gray hair -- >> don't look. >> g-- more will grow in its place. >> i'm a hairstylist. that's false. i pluck away. i would have a full head of hair. >> another one of those myths. >> he's right. >> when you pull it, you get -- >> it seems like it's true. you get grays in clusters, right above the temples or ears. every hair comes from one folicle. if you pluck it out, just one more will grow, not ten more. >> you're from new jersey. >> that's right. >> gentleman from new jersey, magic. >> true or false, menopause, women lose all interest in sex. >> after. >> after menopause, excuse me. >> because we're pretty crazy during it, but after. >> absolutely not. >> bingo. give him the money, baby. >> there we go. >> thank you. >> he must have say woman in his life after menopause. >> you see he's smiling. >> our vantage point, you guys, we are up here in studio 1a and magic johnson and kathie lee are right down there through that window, literally a stone's throw away from us. the answer to that is false. >> luckily, it's false. it's a misconception. a lot of women worry when they hit menopause, they lose interest. most women continue to have a lot of interest in sex. hormonal changes cause changes in sex, but there's treatments for that. the sex drive is still there. >> excellent. back across the street to kath and magic. >> which of the following statements is true about beverages for your health? coffee has no health benefits but wine does. wine has no health benefits, but coffee does. both coffee and wine have health benefits. >> which one? >> a. >> mama's wrong. but you can put all your children to sleep with this wonderful kathie lee lullabyes. okay? there you go. hold on to that. >> both of them have benefits, right? >> excellent. coffee does have some antioxidants that can help to prevent parkinson's disease, diabetes. in moderation, coffee can actually help your health. same with wine or alcohol. in moderation, of course. but it really can help reduce your risk of heart disease. for women, you have to remember, moderation is really just one drink. if you're a very big man or woman, maybe two. >> this show is happy to hear that news. >> where are you from, sweetie? >> new york. >> she can handle it. >> she can handle it? >> yeah. >> okay. women can't get pregnant during their period. >> true or false? >> false. >> must have happened, huh? >> oh, no! >> wait, wait. women can. everyone has a story and yours is yet to be told. >> i think she got that one right, kath. magic asked women can't get pregnant, the question is women can get pregnant and she's right. >> you know what? for being a good sport. >> that embarrassing question and having to repeat it and all that. the answer is true? >> let's be true. you can. it's rare but you can get pregnant during your period. some women have long periods that overlap with ovulation. you can't trust any birth control unless you have gone one whole year without a period. >> is that it? do we have time for more? that's it. thank you so much. we really appreciate it. magic, thank you for helping out. what a rock star. heading over to the msnbc.com digital cafe right above the nbc experience store for some red mango, say hi to magic if you're nearby. now that we know how to keep healthy, we throw caution to the wind with our holiday cooking and our cocktail segment. why are we doing that? that's what we do. after this. we're back with a lesson that will have you look like a gourmet holiday party host. >> that's right. you don't have to be -- top chef judge, knows a thing or two about a good party and good food. gale, what are you making for us today? >> first, we have to get drinking. that's the way to start off a party, right? >> way to start off a day. are you kidding me? >> i couldn't agree more. i've made two cocktails here. you don't want to spend time in the kitchen with a holiday party. >> you want to be with your guests. >> entertaining. so i'll make two easy cocktails, show you how to make them and a main course, beautiful lamb chops with roasted garlic and roasted lemon that you can make in advance really easy. >> we will decide after if they're as good as neary's pub. >> that's what i'm nervous about. here we go. two savory cocktails. these are citrusy and have herbs in them. this is a salty dog with rosemary, and then there's simple syrup, gin, lime juice. i put a little salt around the rim. >> on the rocks? >> i've shaken it in the ice. it'still really cold. >> it's cold, yeah. >> cheers. the rosemary will go perfectly with our lamb. that's the first one. what do you think? uh-oh. >> i like it. >> it's tart. >> rosemary is one of my -- i'm not a rosemary fan. other than that, i love it. >> how do you feel about parsley? >> love parsley. >> this is similar. it's parsley and i -- >> this is healthy gin? >> it's healthy gin, yes. it's healthy gin. they're cocktails that won't be too sweet. you can have them with your main course. >> how do you do it, gale? >> parsley, multipled with lime juice and topped with club soda. >> fizzy. >> that one we can take to the top. >> let's make some lamb chops. >> that one is going down stage. >> wherever you want. >> okay. beautiful lamb loin chops. >> this is good. >> little cumin, rosemary, not too much, i understand, with garlic. it's all going to go in a dish to make your marinade. i'm going to pour in olive oil and fresh thyme. you're going to marinate this all together with the chops and leave them overnight. >> in the refrigerator? >> mix them up in the refrigerator. exactly. >> do you cover it? >> put a plastic wrap over it, mix it u together. let it go overnight the night before. they come out like this. >> those are beautiful lamb chops, by the way. >> they are. >> where is the bone? >> this isn't a rib chop. it's a loin chop. you get it right from the butcher like this. it's really easy. then you put it on the grill. that's all you do. >> that's it? you don't muttle it? >> there's no muttling of the lamb chop. if you can make me a lamb chop cocktail, i would be happy to see it. >> all right. >> everybody likes their lamb different. >> i like a pink center. >> that's what we had yesterday. >> you want it juicy. five to six minutes each side. you want to hear that sizzle. get crusty and gorgeous. >> that does look gorgeous. >> this the big taste. >> taste test. >> hoda had her very first lamb chop at neary's yesterday. you be the judge. >> they were so delicious. >> i'm serving it with -- i know you're into no carbs. you don't want to go too heavy on the carbs at the holidays or will be so bloated. see that? juicy. you want there to be moisture. did i do okay? i think i might have to taste it too. >> not mine. not mine. >> no, no, no. >> that's yours. >> that's delicious. >> i would never. >> that's very good. we have a little something to add to this puree. >> that's right. >> caramelized lemons. >> that's right. >> you say squeeze it right in there? >> that's exactly it. i grilled these lemons when i was making this is the of lamb chops and it goes with it. mix it up and taste it. it's a white bean puree, really low fat, cream. >> i -- low fat? >> low fat, chicken stock. >> delicious, gale. >> this is awesome. thank goodness. >> you can cook us lamb chops any time. >> my absolutely pleasure. donnie deutsch has his man thoughts, right after this. >> oh, no. >> yes. >> do we have to? >> yes, we do. wow! >> we're back with day two of the other view. in this case, resident stud puppy donnie dtsch. >> yes, is he. paying very careful attention to our topics and ready to vent on it. our viewers are dying to talk to you. we need to hear from the viewers. what are they asking? >> kirby is asking how do you tell your boyfriend nicely he's justify not doing it for you in the bedroom that he knees to make an effort. >> key word is boyfriend. if you're at that stage boyfriend, girlfriend, sex is not great? bye-bye. over 20, 30 years it's not going to get better. a selfish lover versus someone who there's no chemistry. if there's no chemistry, good-bye. if you just say something, hey, honey, you're great. but did you know i like this? so, try communicating. if there's no chemistry, there's never going to be chemistry and my advice if you're at the boyfriend stage and it's not great, no. that's a mistake people make. he's a great provider. you need to start with passion. >> that goes away. >> but you need to start with that so you can come back to it. that's my point. >> marlene wants to know, why are men such cowards when it comes to asking a woman out? >> that's a good question. >> i might say to her, men are not necessarily cowards. maybe you need to examine why they're not asking you out. >> oh. >> no, no, no. >> that's what i would have said. i don't find that a man is a coward at all when he wants to go out with a woman. >> here is the key. guys are drawn to, you both have it, smiles, up. >> partially right now. >> guys are afraid if they're going to get rejected, everything is about the energy. we love positive energy, a smile. it's the reason guys love both you. i'm being completely serious. >> but guys also like bitchy women. >> they're not drawn to that initially. >> later they're drawn to it? >> beat me, whip me. >> now you tell me. >> the same thing with bitchy women -- excuse me. >> we already said it. >> is the confidence, with that smile. >> we like it up, positive energy. once again, put it out there. smile. say come on in. you may be saying don't come in. >> so be open? i understand. >> sharon wants to know why is it if a man doesn't get sex seven nights of the week, he thinks you don't love him? isn't four or five timeses enough? >> lord, yes. >> my god, who are you? >> yes, it is. >> first of all, here is the other side. she's complaining. god bless that your husband or boyfriend wantsyou seven nights. that's the good thing. having said that, you shouldn't be criticized because four oro five is a home run as far as i'm concerned. >> that's sainthood. >> here is the answer. maybe it's not that he needs sex every night but a tension release. maybe say to him -- >> oh,o lord. >> honey is there anything else -- >> how about some pancakes. >> maybe it's not sex but overall that's what we call a high-class problem. no, seven nights is too much for me. speak your mind. >> why don't guys come clean when they've been totally busted and you know that they are, like say they're having an affair? why are they always trying to talk their way out of it? >> in the male code book it says never, ever admit it. this is not a woman. this is a mirage. once you admit it, there's nowhere to go, you've lost all control. >> it's cowardly. >> it is cowardly. over time, come clean because history has shown that with infidelity, you can overcome that. that -- >> what about -- >> big difference between someone that's had an indiscretion versus somebody that it's in their nature. >> you think sexual addiction say legitimate -- >> no. that's ridiculous. all men are addicted to sex. that's the silliest thing i've ever heard. >> i was just asking a question. >> what does that mean? sexual addiction? guys love sex, a lot. >> okay. >> all righty. >> dial it down, big boy. >> thank you f our toy drive elves have been busy delivering gifts all over the united states. so far, our generous partners have contributed $17 million in products that will help make holidays brighter for folks. microsoft and laura wallace, general manager of microsoft's new york metro enterprise and partner group. so glad you're with us today. >> thank you for having me again. >> what are you holding? >> ninth year supporting the "today" show holiday drive, contributing up to $250,000 this year to support nonprofits across the country. really helps with the children's education programs, after-school programs. >> especially now because there's so many of these budgets getting slashed and chopped and so many schools need this stuff. right? >> that's absolutely right. think of the after-school programs with the homework the children have. a lot of times they assume they have access to computers and frankly that's not always the case. to be able to support these community centers, give the place for children to go, be able to access technology, research. >> in a safe environment. >> in a safe environment. it also supports creativity. you think of kids innovating, leveraging web cams, great way to bring families together for the holidays. >> we're so happy for what you do every year, this year especially. laura, thank you so, so much. >> thank you. >> nice to be here. >> happy holidays. >> every gift goes to a special and deserving child. >> either come to the plaza and donate in person or find out how you can donate from the cozy comfort of your very own beautiful home. go to klgandhoda.com.