Day 24 :: Martha Stewart Show

So, our travel to New York doesn't quite qualify for this 30-Days, but certain events during our stay here fall within the budget I've set. Today, specifically, that's Laura and my visit to the Martha Stewart Show.

Here's a little disclaimer... it's late, we've been very busy, and I'm completely exhausted. Sadly, when I'm in that state, the little wit I do possess is virtually non-existent. So, I'm just going to go into auto-pilot here and give you a play-by-play. The events themselves are unique enough in my life, so whether you're a Martha Stewart fan or not, this should prove mildly interesting:

The Background
I've probably already spelled it out, but if I haven't, here's the background: The producers of the Martha Stewart Show contacted MindWare inquiring if there is anything we have to contribute to a themed show on puzzles. On the day we were preparing to send a slew of games and puzzles, I thought it might be fun to quickly create a custom dot-to-dot of Martha herself. We sent the dot-to-dot with everything else.

We heard back from the Martha Stewart Show, requesting our series of four dot-to-dots to add to the give-aways. In addition, they decided to take the custom dot-to-dot and blow it up, have it on stage during the show, and have their on-staff comedian complete it during the show.

With all of that, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to dive into savings, and take Laura out to New York for a few days to witness all of this in person. The Producers at the Martha Stewart Show were happy to accommodate us, and provided us a couple of tickets for the show.

The Show
So, that brings us to today. After we waiting in line outside in the frigid cold, we were moved to a waiting room, where we ended up in the back row. We were nervous that this was a bad omen, and that we may end up in less-than-desirable seating.

But, no.

We didn't realize the pink stripe on our tickets, and were summoned with another 22 people with pink stripes up into the studio, and into the on-floor seating of two rows! (3 sections of  2 rows, 4 seats in a row). Long story short, we had amazing seats for the show, and had camera men, producers, stage hands, etc. running all around us.

Eventually, the show came to it's final minutes, and all the segments had run their course. The only thing left was the unveiling of the completed dot-to-dot that the comedian had been working on. When turned around, it was not only completed, but fully color... a good bit of comedy, because of course, it had been completed before hand, but unveiled as if it had been done during the show. Then, my 15 'seconds' of fame... Martha mentioned the dot-to-dot, and it's creator, "Adam Turner." She then motioned to me and said "Hi Adam." The show ended, the cameras went off, but I was immediately called up front of the audience, brought into the set, and introduced to Martha. We did the hand shake, shuffled up next to each other for a photo, but then Martha had us move over to the dot-to-dot for the photo.

Sadly, I don't get my hands on the photo until next week, so I'll post what I do have here.

The other events of the day:

1. LONG subway ride (by mistake)

2. Met 'Beryl' - a wonderful woman, who in her youth was a broadway performer - met her on the LONG subway ride

3. Statue of Liberty (from Manhattan)

4. Ground Zero

5. The Highline (very cool park restored from the old elevated subway)

6. Chelsea Market

7. Dinner at "Tavern on Jane" (thanks to a gift certificate from my friend Teza... it was wonderful)