Chicago :: Friday, August 10, 2012

A view of the downtown Chicago skyline from the Gold Coast.

My Trip to the Oprah Show

Last week, I ventured to Chicago to see a taping of the Oprah Show. My friend Diane and I had been trying to get tix for some time, years. She was the diligent one to get through and secure the tix. Nice job!

She had four tix and of course she and I would be attending, but who would the other two tix go to ... well, I discovered that I have a friend in Detroit who is as much of a fan as I and Diane has a colleague who also wanted to tag along. It took us several weeks to get the names confirmed for our group, but all four tix were accounted for.

That done, how to get to Chicago since everyone lives in various parts of the country. Two flew in, one drove and I took the Megabus.

Our hotel was nice enough - The Chicago Essex Inn on S. Michigan. And right across the street from the Hilton. What I discovered, since I was the first to arrive, was that many of the Olympians who were in town for Oprah's season opener w/all of the medal winners were still in town and staying @ the Hilton. Cool. Chaotic, but cool.

My friend and I did manage to stumble into Harold's Chicken Shack on Wabash. She had fried fish and chicken, I just had fries. But the atmosphere was entertaining.

Well, no real hangin out since we were scheduled to be @ the Harpo Studio @ 7 a.m. The hotel room was small, but surprisingly there was no problem w/four women trying to get ready to go to the Oprah Show.

We grabbed breakfast @ Dunkin Donuts and headed over to the studio in the rain. That's right, it was raining. Such a bummer. We did find a really cush parking spot on the street near the studio - and at no cost.

Once we got in line, we tried to take it all in. We were definitely excited. We took a handful of pix though we should have taken more since as soon as we got in, our purses were checked and cameras and cell phones were confiscated until after the show. I hate when that happens.

They then gave us a little bag w/a huge muffin, huge apple and a juice. They also gave us a audience survey to fill out and another form too. They then shuffled us off to a waiting area where we could eat our goodies and fill out the survey. Only the room was packed and there were no more seats available. I hate when that happens.

I managed to fill out the survey and the other form, but I did not get to eat my muffin and apple, but I did drink some of the juice. Lucky for me, Diane had a nice sized purse and she stuffed a couple of the muffins in her bag otherwise, you had to throw out the food because food is not permitted in the studio. I hate when that happens.

We eventually get cattled into the studio. We were like kids on Christmas morning. Wow, this is the place where the magic happens - magic like the "My Favorite Things" Show. Very cool.

There was some audience questions related to the survey - the topic was forgiveness. That went on as people were seated. It seemed to be a pretty rigorious process; people would sit, then be asked to move ...

When Oprah came out, the electricity went bonkers! Crazy fun. But things fizzled rather quickly because the topic turned out to be about a family w/two sons. One sons somehow loses his mind and begins to plot to kill the family. He manages to kill his mother and his brother. It took a will for investigators to determine that the son was involved w/the killings. The father forgives the son even though he is on death row. Lisa Ling was also on the show w/the father. She had interviewed the son on death row. Wake me when you are done. I like the topic, but the focus on this one family for the entire show was a sleeper and a downer.

The good thing, we were asked to stay for a second taping. Yea. It was a Dr. Oz show. Not as much of a sleeper, but still not quite exciting and fun.

When we finally left the studio, it was still raining. We hopped over the The Oprah Store, which is right across the street. I had also signed up to possibly attend another taping in the afternoon. At the store, we were, again, not permitted to take pix. I hate when that happens. I ended up getting a t-shirt for my mom. Oh, and we decided not to attend any further tapings - just underwhelmed.

Conclusion: I went to a taping of the Oprah Show and all I got was a muffin - a carrot cake muffin, ummm tasty.

Wallet Reunited w/its Owner!

Crazy things happen all the time. I recently traveled to Chicago and had a blast w/lots of friends (I'll get around to posting pix from that trip later in the week).

I had a great time w/friends; we were attending the UNITY Journalists of Color convention. Good times indeed.

However, on the very last evening, as my roomie and I were cabbing it back to our hotel, we discovered a wallet in the backseat of the cab. The cabbie seemed uninterested in getting wallet to its rightful owner. But everything was in there: money, credit cards, driver's license, keys ... so we thought we'd play Sherlock. Didn't think it would be that difficult, but time was not on our side as were we both scheduled to leave Chicago less than 12 hours after finding the wallet. We took it w/us - as opposed to leaving it w/the cabbie.

Well, somehow, I ended up w/the wallet. I packed it up in the hopes of finding the owner. However, I left Chicago, then went to Akron and Cleveland. When I finally arrived home, I did not immediately unpack. When I did get to unpacking several days later, I saw the wallet and thought I'd use the Internet to get in contact w/the owner. First I tried LinkedIn. No luck. But I hit the jackpot on Facebook. I found an exact name (she had a unique name too) and the city matched - Chicago. So I sent her a message via Facebook. Well, most people check their FB accounts more than they use the restroom on a daily basis, but not this person. After several days, she finally checked her FB and yes, it was the right person! How cool is that?

So she provided me w/her mailing address and I put the wallet (along w/one of my handmade greeting cards) in the mail this past Friday - all contents inside.

Life is good!