The Dr. Oz show 100th episode, yep I was there! and Richard Simmons kissed me, oh my!

So since last I posted a trip to The city was had, I was asked to be a part of The Dr. Oz show's 100th episode which was 100 people that have lost 100 pounds or more with special guest none other than Richard Simmons. The plan was to hop on the train to NYC at 4am to be at Grand Central station by 7:16am and walk on over to NBC Studios for the taping of the show and head home that afternoon after lunch in the city but alas its not how it went down.

Snow was expected on a large scale and we started questioning whether we would be able to make it out to the city for the show not because of getting there but instead getting home was the worry as the snow was suppose to start a little later in our neck of the woods. While debating on whether it would be worth it to go I got a call from the Travel coordinator chick Sarah from the show and she said that she could offer us a Hotel for the night if we were interested because of the storm and traveling in it would not be good. Long story short we arranged for my mother in law and brother in law to help out watching the kiddos and packed a day pack with enough to last us through our stay and off to bed we went at midnight-ish. Did I mention that we had to be at the train station by 5:40 am? and that we are a little more than an hour away from said station? which meant leaving the house at 4:00 am! yep that's about a 2 hour sleep that I had before heading out for NYC, the train ride was uneventful.

Upon arriving at Grand Central I get a text from the driver that NBC sent and headed out to where he was and I met Ramon outside and he drove us to the studio where I was greeted and brought inside to hurry up and wait for a couple of hours. I met lots of great people who have all gone through the weight loss process including Bonnie Matthews who blogs for the Dr. Oz show as one of the Wellness warriors. I also met Ann from I'm a Phoenix ,Baby who saw me and mentioned that Sean Anderson from The daily Diary of a winning loser said that she should say hello if we bumped into one another, we got the chance to get a shot of the two of us together a little later after that first hello. I met Don from Sparkpeople as well and I also had more than a few conversations with a great lady (I am so sorry but I cannot for the life of me remember her name but she was the assistant of the day on the show) who we ran into at our Hotel after the show and chatted with in the lobby for a bit if you by chance read this please send me an email! EVERYBODY that I talked to from the guests right to the staff of the Oz show was very nice.

Me and Ann from "I'm a Phoenix, Baby" pre show

Me and Don shortly before heading into the taping.

We were all corralled into a line which apparently had some sort of order as we each had letters on the back of our tickets which dictated our position in line and ultimately placed us into our seats in the audience. Like trained puppy's we stood when the fella raised his hands, we applauded when the sign lit and it was cool to be in Conan O'Brien's old studio, HUGE Conan fan I am. The taping was ok but felt seriously long and I kept thinking "Man just one glass of H2O would be great!" once we were in that was it and I had not drank nearly as much Water as usual and no green tea all day the Horror! I was not properly hydrated, not even close and man I felt it, that paired with the lack of rest and the coffee that I was running on at that point left me a bit off to say the least. Something funny about the whole thing was that it was a show about people that have lost a lot of weight and were getting/staying healthy and I did not eat good while there, I mean C'mon, I was in NYC for the first time since moving back from California and it had been 8 years that I was in Cali, you do the math it was too long to go without a slice of real NY pizza! but more about that later.

The show ended and I won't say exactly what they had "The Oz 100" do with Richard Simmons to "wrap up the show" but lets just say the words "Hey man I didn't sign up to dance with Richard Simmons to no oldies!" came out of my mouth, to which the producer replied "try and fake it" but yeah....it was an experience and over all a good time. While they had us lining up on stage apparently I wasn't smiling enough and Richard Simmons taunted me with "whos that big sewious man back there...look at that sewious man" as he walked towards me, I did end up laughing and that's all he wanted, he was awesome. My wife and I were waiting in the lobby after the show for the car to take us to the hotel and out ran Richard (yeah we're on a first name basis now people) and I got get a few pictures with him as he teased Wify for fumbling the camera "C'mon Phyllis press the damn button! I don't think you know how to use that thing!" while taking said pictures hence my big shit eatin grin, I was cracking up he was hilarious.

Me and Richard Simmons in the lobby of NBC studios.

Ok lets get to the food for the excursion, after the show wify and me were starving all I had to eat to that point was an orange and a coffee and here it is 1:30 pm! so we get to the hotel after chatting with another fella in the lobby who had lost 150 pounds for about 30 minutes (I can't remember his name I met so many people that day!) where the very nice lady says "I'm sorry but your room isn't ready yet, it should be ready by 3:00" I really didn't care as food was what I wanted and we headed out to Fresh & co where I got 2 slices of whole wheat crusted pizza covered in veggies and a big bottle of Poland springs. We headed back to the Hotel after our lunch and it was about 2:30 now, our room still wasn't ready but the lady said "let me just give you a better room that is ready now" and off we went to an apartment sized room that had a Bedroom, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, a living room and dining room and more closet space than I have ever seen in a hotel room and at this point I was happy that we decided to come for the show.

I snapped a shot of our dinner before digging into the best pizza I have had in 10 years!

We took a nap for a couple hours and when we woke up decided that it was time for some dinner and supplies, we headed out around 6:30 in search of some water and a place to eat. There was a drug store in Penn station and we were right across the street so we walked through the slush, wind and snow and got a couple gallons of water and some breakfast stuff for the next morning only after we walked down to time square. To say that we were soaked for our efforts would be putting it lightly but I suppose walking around in a storm for 45 minutes will do that. We ended up bringing our newly aquired booty back to the hotel and ordered a pepperoni pizza to be delivered to our room, this was the most amazing pie I have had in a long time, I figured I was in NY and it was a once in a while thing so really didn't care that it was probably not the best food choice in the world, it is what it is.

Thursday morning came and we woke up, decided on which train we would take home and headed out to walk around while making our way towards Grand Central station which was just over a mile away but we took our time. I snapped a few photos of me and wify for the photo album along the way and onto the train we went for a very relaxing ride home.

Wook at the big sewious man...Me and wify near time square.

Waiting for our train in Grand Central station with my second coffee of the trip, oh my!

I would have to say that I enjoyed the whole trip and it was nice to get away for a couple days with wify. It was awesome to meet Richard Simmons and other than spending the time with the love of my life I would have to say he was the highlight of the trip, Everyone from the Dr.Oz show was great as well! and the hotel was a very nice addition to the trip, it was a good time and I am happy that I decided to do it. The show that was filmed will air on Feb 16th 2010 and as I mentioned earlier is the 100th show, I don't know how much I will actually be on the show as I was just in the audience as one of "the Oz 100" but I will be recording it either way.

Today is Friday and thats usually a weigh in day but I figured this trumped that so no weigh in for today, you'll have to wait until next weeks edition of as the fat guy turns to see how it went! Thanks for stopping by and remember to watch the show on Tuesday!

Fini

As Ever
Me