Tape Day update - 6:30 a.m. Pacific time

Good morning! And a beautiful morning it is here in Southern California. It's only a little past 6:30, but Dave and I have been up for almost 6 hours. Do the math and you'll realize that we got out of bed around 12:45 a.m. How? Why?

Well, we turned out the light and went to bed about 8:50 p.m. local time, once we realized that Ohio State had officially rolled over and died. We slept for almost four hours before Dave woke up to the sound of someone running down the stairs outside of our room. He looked outside and saw that at least 25-30 people were already in line across the street, so he woke me up and suggested we go over there. I agreed, so we both took quick showers and headed over.

A quick count of those ahead of us showed that were about 37th or 38th in the line. Michael, an interesting guy from Rochester who was in line just ahead of us, had gotten there about 1 a.m. Those at the front must have been there since midnight or before. Ugh.

Anyway, there was a bagel shop across the street that apparently stays open all night on "Price Is Right" tape days, selling bagels and coffee to those in line. The shop also rents chairs for $5 apiece, so Dave and I decided to get a couple of them, which turned out to be a great idea. In the photo above you can see us lounging during our wait. Overnight temps here dipped down into the mid-40's, which would account for our winter-like apparel.

In the hours before the CBS Television City pages opened the gates at 6 a.m., Dave and I talked (with each other and with Michael), played cards and generally just hung out. At one point I walked back over to the hotel to get a sweatshirt and met Ted, the front desk guy here who is a TPIR expert. He and I talked a bit about the contestant experience and how to maximize my chances to be selected. He's an interesting guy.

At a few minutes before 6, people began packing up their chairs and sleeping bags (many slept on the sidewalk) and stood up as they prepared to get their order of arrival slips. There was a 15-minute delay or so before we shuffled forward toward the gates to get our slips. Ours look like this:



You'll notice that we're #'s 66 and 67. As the night went on, various people pulled up in cars and minivans and got into line ahead of us. People are apparently allowed to save spots in line, which didn't seem fair to us, but at least we're still in a good position to get into the show.

Anyway, once we got the order of arrival slips, we were instructed to return at 7:30 (about 45 minutes from now as I type), at which point I think we'll be admitted onto the CBS property. The next step, I think, will be the issuing of priority numbers sometime after 8 o'clock. Those numbers all but guarantee that we'll get into the studio, which is the first goal of the day.

I'll probably check in again with another blog post later this morning, since I believe we'll be allowed to come back to the hotel again after priority numbers are handed out. Stay tuned...