Officially One Month!

Today marks a month after my first official day of living in New York! Feels great to be here, and I'm loving every second of it! My job is going well... I'm surprisingly not tired of it yet! Yes, giving 4-5 tours a day 6 days a week can be very strenuous and somewhat mind-numbing, but I just put my theatre skills to use and play the part of an excited and enthusiastic tour guide :)

The perks of the job are great. First of all, let's face it... I work at Rockefeller Center. You can't beat that! It's fun touring in the building because, although it's full of celebs and famous news people, it's just like an office building for them. "Celebs" are coming in and out all the time and pass us as we're going on tour. It's fun, because a lot of times when we're touring on the news floor people like Anne Curry and Brian Williams will cut right through the middle of my tour group and the tourists don't even notice it! They're shocked when we tell them later that they missed the stars!

Not to brag, but I've got to see some really cool people! I see Brian Williams a few times a week, Anne Curry has passed us, and I waved to Campbell Brown! Destiny's Child and Deanna Carter performed on Today. I saw Suzanne Summers in the lobby. I've also seen celebs getting escorted up to Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Last week I saw John O'Hurley (Mr. Peterman from Seinfeld) and just today I saw another page, Steve, RUNNING with Kate Hudson to get her to Conan on time. (It was 5:23 and the show starts at 5:30!!!) The job is fun, I'm not gonna lie. I look forward to doing an assignment soon. I'm also going to apply to give VIP tours. They're extra special, 2 hours long and cover a lot more studios and backstage areas. (Plus you get a bonus for doing them!)

The apartment search is still going strong! I was going to live with Bob and Bill, but after trying to sort things out it turns out that it's just not going to work for any of us. I've started looking on my own, plus teaming up with some fellow pages to see if we can all find a place together. I'm subletting right now, and the guy I'm renting from isn't coming back until October now, so technically I could stay here until then. Not a bad plan, but I'd like to have a permanent place by the end of the month.

I've been getting a lot of mail and I'm not going to lie- I love it!!! There's something so much more special about a handwritten note than an email or instant message! I just got some cards from Lindsey, Sarah Ubry, and the VIP of the week: Danielle Gorley! (Her card had a dollar in it. She advised me on spending it on poisonous street vendor food!) Thanks for the well-wishes and thoughts, guys! I really appreciate it!

I'll keep you posted when more things happen!

I can't believe it's been almost a month!

I'm finally getting settled in to the page program now. This is my 4th week here and my 3rd week of touring! I give 4-5 tours a day so it feels like I've given a few thousand at this point, as you can imagine. The information is starting to feel automated now. When I walk into studio 8H all of my SNL information just comes pouring out and sometimes I don't even realize what I'm saying! It's going really well though. I will be eligible for assignments in a few weeks so hopefully some cool ones will be available. I'm also going to start seating the audiences for Conan in a few weeks, so that will be fun! Stay tuned for more on that...

I'm searching for a new apartment right now and it's not worgoing so well. My sublet is up on the 22nd. I'll be moving in with Bob and Bill and it is surprisingly hard to find a 3 bedroom place that's affordable in the city. I went to look at a few places. One was gross and one was locked up (grrrr!) and we couldn't see it. Aggravating. It's very tiring to work all day, then run around looking at apartments... especially when it's 98 degrees out. Welcome to the ld of adulthood!

Other than that I'm just trying to save up some money so my next place isn't a box on the street! No worries though. I can always sell my plasma! (just kidding, mom and dad.)

It's official...

That dweeb you see to the left is officially a Page at NBC! Spent the last week shadowing tours, learning about the different studios, and reading over my tour manual every night. I took my test this afternoon and passed, meaning that I'm officially a Page! I got my nametag and peacock pin this afternoon and my first tour is tomorrow! I'm really excited. Everyone in my group passed so that was definitely good news. A round of drinks were had in celebration.

The program is really great and I couldn't be more happy to be a part of it. Everyone who works there is very supportive of each other, and even when you're competing for the same position they put up signs and send emails every time someone gets a new assignment. I'm not eligible for assigments just yet, but I'll let you know how that goes in the future. If you ever want a special tour just let me know and I'll hook you up! Haha.

New York City is a great place to live. Granted my apartment is small, and I have to make several trips to several stores to get everything I need (who would have thought I'd miss Wal-mart so much?!) and everything is expensive and it's hot and crowded, but I LOVE IT! There's so many things at my fingertips that I couldn't be more appreciative of this situation I've been given.

I have noticed a few things about NYC. Contrary to popular belief, no one is really that rude at all. I think everyone is just self-focused and has learned to just go out their business as needed. Most people wear big sunglasses and have their iPods permanently attached to their heads, but I think that's all in an effort to stay on task and keep their sanity. In a city of millions of people it's easy to get swallowed up by all the hustle and shining lights. I haven't busted out my mp3 player just yet, but I don't really need it in my 10min walk to work.

Quick shout outs!

• Shout out to Liz Farry for our rendezvous on the 3rd floor! I never see you in the building!
• Shout out to Mr. Weaver for sending me my very first piece of mail! Thanks!
• Shout out to Rich Bailey, Jen Caumo and my former roomie, Tom Moore, for the awesome cards
• And the shout of of the week goes to Sherri Breitigan for actually sending me a card with $1 inside because I said to send money! You rock and your card was perfect!

So, I hope everything is well back home, because it's going great here! I'll let you know how my first official week goes and keep you up to date on any celeb sitings!

Conan Rules!

Today at work we did the usual tour shadowing and cramming info into our brains about NBC and the studios/shows, then we got to see the taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien! Lisa Kudrow and DJ Qualls were the guests. It's on tonight... you probably won't see me, but pretend I was there. There's a ridiculous sketch involving farm animals... and it was very strange to see a live, 800lbs cow, sheep and rooster in the studio. It was really funny! Again... this job is sweet.

I promised I would post some pictures from the move, so here they are! There's some of work, some of the area of where I live, and some of my mom and grandma (they're proud!) I'll get some of the apartment soon. It's not as exciting! Enjoy!

Last Call

Today was my second day of work and it went really well. We did some more orientation stuff, got our uniforms tailored and fun stuff. Then we practiced some of the tour material and eventually got to go be in the audience for Last Call with Carson Daly! It was really great. I was in the second row, like ten feet from Carson. Tucker Carlson (who some may call a d*ck) was the guest, along with a stand comedian and a band I had never heard of! Oops.

Anyway, the show airs Wednesday July 20th and you can see me in the audience. Sweet. Peace out.