Muppets Take Manhatten - with some chapters missing
Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:45 am
First and foremost I had a fantastic trip and it was a great experirence - the actual result of the gameplay played truly a small portion of the whole experience so please do not try to read anything into the report regarding how I performed on the show - it is not there. I will give a blow-by-blow account of my actual experiences on the show (as best as I can remember) after the air date.
Tuesday - July 22 - the day before flying out of Austin to the NY area
As has already been reported (and documented with real, unphotoshoped photos) I had the oppertunity to play with both TheConfessor and hermillion at Mother Egan's in Austin - meeting and spending the evening with two Millionaire millionaire's was the best send-off present I could have ever hoped for - and the best part is that they were such great folks. It was a fun evening and I enjoyed every minute of it. Meeting such great folks like Ed and Nancy along with all the folks on the bored who I have yet to meet in person has been beyond a doubt the best unexepected side-effect of being selected for the show. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if the only thing that being on Millionaire yields was me getting to meet and become a part of such a wonderful group of people - it has been worth it.
Wed. July 23rd - travel day
My wife Leslie and my two youngest children Jason and Sophie pack up and I do some last minute 'boreding' before being driven to the Austin airport around 2:30 pm. Our flight was scheduled to leave late Wed around 5 pm to Philadelphia with a transfer in Chicago. Arrival time to Philaldelphia was for the late evening (local time) and the plan was to take the rental car and drive to my sister's house on Long Island (not too far from JFK) - hoping to get there between 2 and 3 AM. I had some concern because that very day Hurricane Dolly was hitting Texas. Although Austin is a way inland it is not uncommon to get Hurricane related weather, in addition who knew what it might do the air traffic in general. Fortunately we were able to leave on time with no issues amid scattered clouds and showers. In Chicago we boarded on-time and taxied out to the runway. To make a short story long - after 3 hours we were still on the plane in Chicago, away from the gate and waiting for permission to take-off, getting periodic weather reports for the northeast corridor. Bob Juch had emailed me concerned about my flight because there were reports of tornados in New Jersey. We eventually arrieved in Philly after 3 am and I pulled into my sister's drive a little before 6 AM.
While we were first getting on the Chicago/Philly plan we took our seats. Since there were 4 of us traveling we couldn't sit all in a single row and chose an 'L' shaped arrangement. A full row of three and the forth seat being the window right in front of our 'main' row. I took the lone window seat so I could do a little last minute studying - I opened my current study guide '15,003 Answers' and set to work when the person sitting next to me pointed to the name of one of the author's and said 'I know him, we live in the same town, he's a friend of mine and I've been to his house often.' It turns out that he was buddies with Hal Fittipaldi and was also somewhat friendly with Stanley Newman - the 2 authors of the book I was reading! Talk about a coincidence! We told him I was flying in to tape for Millionaire, a bit about my evening the night before with Ed and Nancy and I even asked him to ask Hal if he either knew or heard of either of them. He was a 'former' trivia buff, but was not really involed in anything for a long time, but he did toss some trivia questions my way - mostly presidential and military trivia.
Thur July 24th
After getting a bit less then 2 hours sleep I got up around 8 am. TheConfessor had a great suggestion that I should try to attend a taping of Millionaire because I have never been to one and this would get me comfortable with my surroundings and the general internal workings of the show. It had the added benefit of letting me see the new show in action - even though I had recieved the rules (just a couple of days earlier) it gave me the oppertunity to see how they actually played out for real. So I had, several weeks earlier, applied for audience tickets for the Thursday show and had gotten them. The tickets said to come at 11:30 am but that it was first come, first serve and holding a ticket has no guarentee of admission. We took a train from L.I. into NY a little before 9 am, grabbed a quick bite at Penn Station and hoped on the number 1 subway to 67th street and arrived at the studio a little before 10:30 am. By that time they were already 'sold-out' for the first taping and had just started the stand-by line. There were already 6 people on the stand-by line when we joined them. The Millionaire staff outside that was responsible for handling the audience guarenteed us a slot for the 2nd taping by putting everyone on the standby line on a VIP list - so we wouldn't have ot show up early for that. Since they were doing testing as well for the show and we wouldn't be able to test for the first session (which is done prior to the first taping) and my wife wanted to try the test - she was given an application and was entered for the 2nd test which was being done after the 2nd taping. A bunch of folks on the stand-by line decided to leave since they were mainly interested in taking the test and had been assured a spot in the afternoon. I wanted to see as many tapings as possible so we stayed and that put us 3rd and 4th on the standby line. While waiting for nearly 2 hours to see if we would get in or not, we did get the treat of watching the limo's drive out of the Regis and Kelly studio with some of their guests - the only one who we caught a glimpse of was David Ducovny (sp?). As it neared 12:30 it wasn't clear if we would get into the first taping or not, but we made it along with only a few people behind us. As the last few into the studio, the audience was packed as we walked over the clear floor and the empty Hot Seat. At that moment I had my first real panic attack of this whole process. I looked at the empty seat, the packed studio and I was convienced that I was going to dissolve into a quivering bowl of jelly the moment it was my turn to get into the Hot Seat. I was convinced that there was no way I would be able to control myself from shaking violently during the entire time. After sitting down in the audience, taking in the set, getting involved in the warm-up, etc. I began to calm down and started to enjoy the experience.
How the taping went will have to wait until September.
After the taping finished, we had VIP slots for the second taping and my wife wanted to have a shot at the test. So, even though I had initially planned to return with my wife to L.I. after the first taping we decided to stay. A quick call to my sister to confrim that she would still be OK with watching Sophie and Jason until we got back early evening and we were back in line.
After the 2nd taping my wife went with the rest of the audience to take the test and I decided to wander over to Central Park and visit Strawberry Fields. I got back to the studio just when the testers who didn't pass were filing out - I didn't see my wife come out with everyone so I was momentarly optimistic that she passed - I did see some folks who had sat next to us at the taping and asked them if she passed - unfortunatly the answer was no. A few moments later my wife emerged - it turned at that she stayed behind to ask about her wardrobe selection for being in the relationship seat the next day. We took the train back to L.I. and didn't get there to nearly 8:30 pm. I had to be at the studio the next day before 7:30 AM so I had pre-arranged to spend the night at one of my nieces who lives on West 56th and Broadway - just a short walk to the studio. The idea was that I wouldn't have to get up so early and I wouldn't be dependent on public transportation in case there were unexpected problems nor would I have to worry about traffic if I chose to drive. I got to my niece's place about 11:30 pm - and because I had only 2 hours of sleep in the last since Wednesday morning - I knew I would be able to fall asleep right away without any of the pre-night nerves that I heard keep folks awake into the wee hours. And I did - I slept soundly and got up around 6:30 am the next morning.
Friday - July 25th (the big day - maybe)
Walking to the studio with my rollerbag containing my various posible clothing options trailing behind me was an interesting experience. I was very exicited yet very calm at the same time. It was a beautiful morning, very comfortable tempertures and very clear skies. One thought that popped into my head while walking to the studio and passing a number of people on the street was that if I were to stop each and every one of them and asked them to name a single contestant from Millionaire over the past 5 years, most likely none of them could come up with even a single name. This put the whole situation into perspective for me. Virtually no one in the world is going to even note that I was a contestant, let alone care how I do except people I know - and they know me and would be supportive regardless of how I do. The only exception would be the vast unknown audience out there who will see me, laugh at my performance, momentarly root for (or against me) and then forget about me as soon as the next contestant hit the hot seat. It was right then and there I knew I was going to do my utmost to enjoy the expirience, have as much fun as possible, and have the time of my life regardless of the brief time I would be spending in the Hot Seat. I can honestly say from that point on, up to and including my stint in the chair and afterwards, I was never nervous or paniced - and I tried to take in as much of the whole experience as possible and I had so much fun.
When I got to the studio there were already a few contestants there for today's taping and the rest shortly joined us. About 10 minutes after arriving and pretty much at 7:30 on the dot the we entered the studio. We entered the studio and what happened next
When the day ended, I rejoined my family and guests, it was late and most went our seperate ways - we grabbed a quick bite to eat and took the train back to my sister's on L.I.
Saturday, July 26th
Slept in, relaxed most of the morning and went into the city and spent the day at the Museum of Natural History - which is loads of fun. Met my wife's Uncle, Aunt, my brother-in-law and siter-in-laws for diner in the city (my wife's uncle lives on the upper east side) and had a great evening.
Sunday, July 27th
Big electrical storms throught the area, stayed put most of the day (my wife was feeling a bit under the weather) made a vain attempt to find a local NTN/Buzztime locale for lunch but there system was down due to the storm. Did really next to no trivia/studying the entire weekend - just relaxing and enjoying the time with family.
Monday, July 28th (Big day redux)
Since I didn't have to be to the studio until 10:15 am, I forgo'ed spending the night in Manhatten at my nieces and we decided to all drive in in the morning - traffic was heavier then expected but I made it with minutes to spare. BTW, there is a really good garage with entrences on both 65th and 66th streets very close to Central Park West and just a block from the studio. If you get in before 10 am you can park for most of the day (to 6 I think) for under $20. Max rate for 24 hours was $35. I had three personal goals that I thought I could attain for the day: 1) Don't be a llama, 2)play well - don't make a bonehead decision, and 3) have the time of my life, regardless of the outcome of the game. I can't tell you if I met goals 1 or 2 or not, but I definetly met goal 3.
So I enter then studio and then and that's how I did.
After the taping we had grabbed a bite to eat with my family and guests and went back to L.I. for our last night in NY.
Tuesday, July 29th.
We were flying out of Philly but not until after 7 pm - the idea was to get an early start and spend the day site-seeing at Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, and hopefully the Franklin Institute. We got a later start then we had wished for manly because the key on the car rental wouldn't turn. The dashboard 'key disabled lock' symbol/icon/thingy was flashing and we tried all the various steps of manually unlocking the car/locking the car with the key (not using the electronic signal), that it suggested to clear the system, with buttons pressed, moving the steering wheel, checking the gears, etc. All to no avail. We called the rental agency and they said that they couldn't get a replacement car to us but would send for a cab to take us (and our luggage) to one of their locales for a new car. While this was going on and we were at various ponts in the processes - the flashing light somehow went off and we were able to turn the key. No one is quite sure what was done to fix it, but we were off. The result was that we didn't get to Philly until close to 1 pm so we decided to forgo the Franklin Institue (hopefully to another time) and spend the time at all the sites near Independence Hall - (the Mint, Betsy Ross's house, the American Jewish Heritage Museum, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall itself). We finished up just before 5 pm drove to the Airport. More flight delays (but not as bad as last Wed.) got us home at 2 am, exhasted but happy to be home with the rest of the family after one of the most memorable times of my life - not quite the top-ten (10 births and 2 weddings will never leave the top spots) but right up there, easily in the top 20.
Stayed tuned for the missing details....
---Jay (Tune In and Find Out on Sept. 29th, 2008)
Tuesday - July 22 - the day before flying out of Austin to the NY area
As has already been reported (and documented with real, unphotoshoped photos) I had the oppertunity to play with both TheConfessor and hermillion at Mother Egan's in Austin - meeting and spending the evening with two Millionaire millionaire's was the best send-off present I could have ever hoped for - and the best part is that they were such great folks. It was a fun evening and I enjoyed every minute of it. Meeting such great folks like Ed and Nancy along with all the folks on the bored who I have yet to meet in person has been beyond a doubt the best unexepected side-effect of being selected for the show. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if the only thing that being on Millionaire yields was me getting to meet and become a part of such a wonderful group of people - it has been worth it.
Wed. July 23rd - travel day
My wife Leslie and my two youngest children Jason and Sophie pack up and I do some last minute 'boreding' before being driven to the Austin airport around 2:30 pm. Our flight was scheduled to leave late Wed around 5 pm to Philadelphia with a transfer in Chicago. Arrival time to Philaldelphia was for the late evening (local time) and the plan was to take the rental car and drive to my sister's house on Long Island (not too far from JFK) - hoping to get there between 2 and 3 AM. I had some concern because that very day Hurricane Dolly was hitting Texas. Although Austin is a way inland it is not uncommon to get Hurricane related weather, in addition who knew what it might do the air traffic in general. Fortunately we were able to leave on time with no issues amid scattered clouds and showers. In Chicago we boarded on-time and taxied out to the runway. To make a short story long - after 3 hours we were still on the plane in Chicago, away from the gate and waiting for permission to take-off, getting periodic weather reports for the northeast corridor. Bob Juch had emailed me concerned about my flight because there were reports of tornados in New Jersey. We eventually arrieved in Philly after 3 am and I pulled into my sister's drive a little before 6 AM.
While we were first getting on the Chicago/Philly plan we took our seats. Since there were 4 of us traveling we couldn't sit all in a single row and chose an 'L' shaped arrangement. A full row of three and the forth seat being the window right in front of our 'main' row. I took the lone window seat so I could do a little last minute studying - I opened my current study guide '15,003 Answers' and set to work when the person sitting next to me pointed to the name of one of the author's and said 'I know him, we live in the same town, he's a friend of mine and I've been to his house often.' It turns out that he was buddies with Hal Fittipaldi and was also somewhat friendly with Stanley Newman - the 2 authors of the book I was reading! Talk about a coincidence! We told him I was flying in to tape for Millionaire, a bit about my evening the night before with Ed and Nancy and I even asked him to ask Hal if he either knew or heard of either of them. He was a 'former' trivia buff, but was not really involed in anything for a long time, but he did toss some trivia questions my way - mostly presidential and military trivia.
Thur July 24th
After getting a bit less then 2 hours sleep I got up around 8 am. TheConfessor had a great suggestion that I should try to attend a taping of Millionaire because I have never been to one and this would get me comfortable with my surroundings and the general internal workings of the show. It had the added benefit of letting me see the new show in action - even though I had recieved the rules (just a couple of days earlier) it gave me the oppertunity to see how they actually played out for real. So I had, several weeks earlier, applied for audience tickets for the Thursday show and had gotten them. The tickets said to come at 11:30 am but that it was first come, first serve and holding a ticket has no guarentee of admission. We took a train from L.I. into NY a little before 9 am, grabbed a quick bite at Penn Station and hoped on the number 1 subway to 67th street and arrived at the studio a little before 10:30 am. By that time they were already 'sold-out' for the first taping and had just started the stand-by line. There were already 6 people on the stand-by line when we joined them. The Millionaire staff outside that was responsible for handling the audience guarenteed us a slot for the 2nd taping by putting everyone on the standby line on a VIP list - so we wouldn't have ot show up early for that. Since they were doing testing as well for the show and we wouldn't be able to test for the first session (which is done prior to the first taping) and my wife wanted to try the test - she was given an application and was entered for the 2nd test which was being done after the 2nd taping. A bunch of folks on the stand-by line decided to leave since they were mainly interested in taking the test and had been assured a spot in the afternoon. I wanted to see as many tapings as possible so we stayed and that put us 3rd and 4th on the standby line. While waiting for nearly 2 hours to see if we would get in or not, we did get the treat of watching the limo's drive out of the Regis and Kelly studio with some of their guests - the only one who we caught a glimpse of was David Ducovny (sp?). As it neared 12:30 it wasn't clear if we would get into the first taping or not, but we made it along with only a few people behind us. As the last few into the studio, the audience was packed as we walked over the clear floor and the empty Hot Seat. At that moment I had my first real panic attack of this whole process. I looked at the empty seat, the packed studio and I was convienced that I was going to dissolve into a quivering bowl of jelly the moment it was my turn to get into the Hot Seat. I was convinced that there was no way I would be able to control myself from shaking violently during the entire time. After sitting down in the audience, taking in the set, getting involved in the warm-up, etc. I began to calm down and started to enjoy the experience.
How the taping went will have to wait until September.
After the taping finished, we had VIP slots for the second taping and my wife wanted to have a shot at the test. So, even though I had initially planned to return with my wife to L.I. after the first taping we decided to stay. A quick call to my sister to confrim that she would still be OK with watching Sophie and Jason until we got back early evening and we were back in line.
After the 2nd taping my wife went with the rest of the audience to take the test and I decided to wander over to Central Park and visit Strawberry Fields. I got back to the studio just when the testers who didn't pass were filing out - I didn't see my wife come out with everyone so I was momentarly optimistic that she passed - I did see some folks who had sat next to us at the taping and asked them if she passed - unfortunatly the answer was no. A few moments later my wife emerged - it turned at that she stayed behind to ask about her wardrobe selection for being in the relationship seat the next day. We took the train back to L.I. and didn't get there to nearly 8:30 pm. I had to be at the studio the next day before 7:30 AM so I had pre-arranged to spend the night at one of my nieces who lives on West 56th and Broadway - just a short walk to the studio. The idea was that I wouldn't have to get up so early and I wouldn't be dependent on public transportation in case there were unexpected problems nor would I have to worry about traffic if I chose to drive. I got to my niece's place about 11:30 pm - and because I had only 2 hours of sleep in the last since Wednesday morning - I knew I would be able to fall asleep right away without any of the pre-night nerves that I heard keep folks awake into the wee hours. And I did - I slept soundly and got up around 6:30 am the next morning.
Friday - July 25th (the big day - maybe)
Walking to the studio with my rollerbag containing my various posible clothing options trailing behind me was an interesting experience. I was very exicited yet very calm at the same time. It was a beautiful morning, very comfortable tempertures and very clear skies. One thought that popped into my head while walking to the studio and passing a number of people on the street was that if I were to stop each and every one of them and asked them to name a single contestant from Millionaire over the past 5 years, most likely none of them could come up with even a single name. This put the whole situation into perspective for me. Virtually no one in the world is going to even note that I was a contestant, let alone care how I do except people I know - and they know me and would be supportive regardless of how I do. The only exception would be the vast unknown audience out there who will see me, laugh at my performance, momentarly root for (or against me) and then forget about me as soon as the next contestant hit the hot seat. It was right then and there I knew I was going to do my utmost to enjoy the expirience, have as much fun as possible, and have the time of my life regardless of the brief time I would be spending in the Hot Seat. I can honestly say from that point on, up to and including my stint in the chair and afterwards, I was never nervous or paniced - and I tried to take in as much of the whole experience as possible and I had so much fun.
When I got to the studio there were already a few contestants there for today's taping and the rest shortly joined us. About 10 minutes after arriving and pretty much at 7:30 on the dot the we entered the studio. We entered the studio and what happened next
Spoiler
will have to wait until the end of September.
Saturday, July 26th
Slept in, relaxed most of the morning and went into the city and spent the day at the Museum of Natural History - which is loads of fun. Met my wife's Uncle, Aunt, my brother-in-law and siter-in-laws for diner in the city (my wife's uncle lives on the upper east side) and had a great evening.
Sunday, July 27th
Big electrical storms throught the area, stayed put most of the day (my wife was feeling a bit under the weather) made a vain attempt to find a local NTN/Buzztime locale for lunch but there system was down due to the storm. Did really next to no trivia/studying the entire weekend - just relaxing and enjoying the time with family.
Monday, July 28th (Big day redux)
Since I didn't have to be to the studio until 10:15 am, I forgo'ed spending the night in Manhatten at my nieces and we decided to all drive in in the morning - traffic was heavier then expected but I made it with minutes to spare. BTW, there is a really good garage with entrences on both 65th and 66th streets very close to Central Park West and just a block from the studio. If you get in before 10 am you can park for most of the day (to 6 I think) for under $20. Max rate for 24 hours was $35. I had three personal goals that I thought I could attain for the day: 1) Don't be a llama, 2)play well - don't make a bonehead decision, and 3) have the time of my life, regardless of the outcome of the game. I can't tell you if I met goals 1 or 2 or not, but I definetly met goal 3.
So I enter then studio and then
Spoiler
Don't tell me you fell for this again? Don't you think that I would know that TPTB could click a show spoiler icon?
After the taping we had grabbed a bite to eat with my family and guests and went back to L.I. for our last night in NY.
Tuesday, July 29th.
We were flying out of Philly but not until after 7 pm - the idea was to get an early start and spend the day site-seeing at Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, and hopefully the Franklin Institute. We got a later start then we had wished for manly because the key on the car rental wouldn't turn. The dashboard 'key disabled lock' symbol/icon/thingy was flashing and we tried all the various steps of manually unlocking the car/locking the car with the key (not using the electronic signal), that it suggested to clear the system, with buttons pressed, moving the steering wheel, checking the gears, etc. All to no avail. We called the rental agency and they said that they couldn't get a replacement car to us but would send for a cab to take us (and our luggage) to one of their locales for a new car. While this was going on and we were at various ponts in the processes - the flashing light somehow went off and we were able to turn the key. No one is quite sure what was done to fix it, but we were off. The result was that we didn't get to Philly until close to 1 pm so we decided to forgo the Franklin Institue (hopefully to another time) and spend the time at all the sites near Independence Hall - (the Mint, Betsy Ross's house, the American Jewish Heritage Museum, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall itself). We finished up just before 5 pm drove to the Airport. More flight delays (but not as bad as last Wed.) got us home at 2 am, exhasted but happy to be home with the rest of the family after one of the most memorable times of my life - not quite the top-ten (10 births and 2 weddings will never leave the top spots) but right up there, easily in the top 20.
Stayed tuned for the missing details....
---Jay (Tune In and Find Out on Sept. 29th, 2008)
