BEST Look Ma I'm in New York EVER

My first attempt to appear in the today show pen happened during August 2003. Phillip and I woke up at 4 am, got in line, waited behind some very ridiculous people from Alaska with glitter in their hair, and hastily made a poster. At 6:59 am, we were jammed into the pen with the rest of humanity. At 7:00 am the Today Show credits ran, at 7:02 am the sky opened up, drenching us and our crappy poster. At 7:03 am, we decided that appearing on the Today Show was wayyyy overrated and went to get coffee and bagels.

Despite this, for the past three years, I've sort of had the idea in the back of my head that appearing on the Today Show might not be overrated - I mean, these are the people that I generally wake up with every single day. I've laughed with them, cried with them, celebrated Katie's departure, etc. Yes, I needed to go there to experience the magic for myself.

Fortunately, after the disastrous first attempt to appear on the show, I've had ample time to do research, which has primarily consisted of watching the Today Show. A few weeks ago, Emmmm, who has similar ambitions and I decided the time had come. We were going to be on the Today Show.

At the risk of giving away all of the secrets of a successful appearance, I'm going to post some helpful hints about picking the perfect time to be in the Today Show pen.

Do not go during the summer or holiday. This is when people not from New York City come to New York City to visit. They also want to appear on the Today Show, and because they've travelled farther, they want it more. Those people from Alaska in 2003 made it very clear that anyone who attempted faced a very strong possibility of being bludgeoned to death by an icicle or attacked by a penguin.

Don't go on the weekends. Again, tourists. If it's a holiday weekend, you might as well shoot yourself in the leg while giving a gun safety demonstration and then sue the internet for playing the video, because you'll have a better chance of appearing on the show than being in the crowd. Tuesday and Wednesday are the prime days. Thursday isn't bad, especially if there is something big planned for that Friday.

Do not go when they have anything big planned. We went on a Thursday. Janet Jackson was performing the next day. I can guarantee we wouldn't have been as close Matt, Meredith, and Al if we had been there during the Janet concert. Granted, we would have seen Janet for free, but that was not the point of this outing.

The 8 o clock hour is definitely better. During the 8 o clock hour is when the personalities really "cut loose" and the show gets fun. Everyone else gets there foolishly at 4 am, appears at 7 am and leaves by 8 am. We woke up around 6:30, departed around 6:45, arrived around 7:15, popped over to the drug store to buy some water, place some phone calls home, etc, and made it to the show with ample time for the 8 am hour.

Anyway, to make a long story short, using the above mentioned tips, Emmmm and I found ourselves in the Today Show pen with plenty of room to spare. We got a close up glimpse of Matt, Meredith, Al, and Ann.

Here's the thing… appearing on the Today Show with such a small crowd makes you realize that wanting to appear on the Today Show in the first place (and this is hard for me to say because I really love the Today Show) is sort of ridiculous.

Emmmm and I found ourselves standing there, pondering the whole sudden shift in emotions (why again, did we want to do this? Did we really want to stay??). After having a brief conversation about how really weird the whole thing was, we decided to stay, after all, the calls had been placed to the Midwest and there were two 80 something women out there closely watching the television, hoping to catch a glimpse of their granddaughters. We had to stay. Not for us, but for them.

So, stay we did. We appeared in the background of a segment, waved at the cameras, and took some stalkeresque pictures. All in all, not a bad way to begin your day.