This morning (Monday) they had an "Owners Breakfast" (donuts, fruit, juice and coffee). It was supposed to start at 8:30 and go till 9:30. By the time we got there (around 8:55) it was down to 5 pieces of honeydew, an empty OJ thingie, coffee with no condiments, and a few donut stragglers. (also no plates or napkins) We jockeyed for position around the few remaining donuts with the ravenous pack of children present, and succeeded in scoring a few good doses of fat and flour. Brenda registered us all for the prize drawing at the last moment and Vickie succeeded in winning the grand prize of a $100.00 Spa treatment. We returned to our Villa, and continued to work on something we had been trying, (Jerry’s idea) to get tickets to a Jay Leno show taping. Jerry had written in for tickets a couple of months ago but was not able to get any. He did find out that we could call for tickets the day of the show and if there were any available we could get them. (the tickets are free) However , we had to call exactly between 10:45 and 11:15 a.m. Brenda manned the phone and we scored tickets. We were able to print the tickets in the resort lobby and were all set. We had to be there in line by 3 p.m. in order to get seats. Burbank is about 59 miles from Newport, and involves quite a bit of freeway movin and groovin. We programmed the "Hertz Lady", as we have taken to calling her, to take us where we wanted to go. Jerry drove using his most excellent Detroit driving skills, I navigated, and we flowed with the traffic (at about 80-85 mph.) arriving safely at our destination. California freeway traffic is quite interesting. Interspersed with all the trucks and semi normal drivers, you have the crazies flying in and out of traffic passing us like we were stopped. (and we were doing 80) You also have the other crazies that are driving 80 reading the paper and talking on the cell phone. Meanwhile the speed limit is 65 or 55 depending on where you are. We commented we probably s aw more cars in our 1 hr trip today than pass through Martinsville in a year. We all agreed this helps us remember why we don’t want to live in a big city. It also really emphasizes the mind set difference between the sprawling West Coast folks and us backward small town Easterners. These folks literally live in their cars. (Oh and regular gas is currently $3.45/gal here.) We arrived at the NBC studio in plenty of time and took our place in line to wait for entrance. We had the interesting experience of standing in line behind a fellow who knew everything there was to know about everything. He seems to have invented the moon rocket, personally knows all the past and present astronauts, is currently producing documentaries for Discovery, when young used to fly to Atlanta for breakfast and Idaho for a grilled cheese sandwich, circled in a plane over the Spruce Goose when it was towed to Long Beach, consulted with Werner Van Braun on rocket propulsion, knows where Dick Clarks office b uilding is, and showed Jerry the fire truck Jay Leno drove to work this morning. His partner is the Executive Vice President of Baldwin Productions who supposedly produced Sahara, Crash, and Ray. He talked to several of the astronauts Friday, and shared his 25 anniversary with Wally Schirra who was celebrating his 60th, whose wife is not doing too well, and gave us all the up to date info on the Long Beach Grand Prix and the Queen Mary which was built by the same company as the Titanic, so you can see exactly how things were on the Titanic. We were certainly impressed. In fact Vickie looked like the RCA Dog and His Master’s Voice. After our lecture on everything there was to know about everything, we proceeded through the airport-like security, and ended up with great seats for the show. The set was very cold and we were all literally shivering. (Note to self, wear a coat and hat when you go to a TV show taping, Jerry said he was clapping to stay warm) However, it soon g ot really cool (not temperature). Jay Leno came out in jeans and talked to us about what would happen during the show. Unbeknownst to us, the show is truly done live, and they don’t stop and correct any mistakes or screw-ups. He told us all to laugh if we thought he was funny, and have a good time. They had a funny guy come out and continue the warm up of the audience while Jay got dressed. Soon the band started playing, everyone was clapping and cheering, and the show started. They really do have signs that light up and say "APPLAUSE" to let you know when to really cheer. We got into the spirit of the whole thing and had a big time. When it was time for commercials, the band played and entertained the audience. One of the numbers during the commercial time featured the sax player. It was a Reggae sort of song and the band was not really in the pocket. Then the sax player started his solo and it was like he was playing a different song or some music written by aliens. We decided th ey might be looking for a new sax player soon. When it was time to go on air again, it was just like you imagine, the director counts down 10, 9, 8, etc. and Jay’s on. All in all it was a unique experience, and if we lived in California, would be something we would do whenever we could. A really fun time. After the show, we went across the street to an Acapulco Mexican Restaurant and had a nice dinner while waiting for the traffic to clear. We then followed the Hertz Lady home to our villa and plan to watch the Leno show tonight.
In the meantime we are trying to absorb the horror of what happened today at VA Tech. The endlessly yammering talking heads on the news channels seem to be trying to make it into some sort of terrorist deal or at least some type of conspiracy. It is awful for all the kids at Tech and their families. Who can really understand what goes on in some people’s minds? I sincerely believe, though, all the police type shows that portray bloodless shootings and gunfights where no one dies using pistols that never run out of ammo have a lot to do with these type of actions.
Your closet writer,
Wes
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