You're not going to believe this

So I'm driving home in a traffic jam Wednesday night when Terry calls to tell me that a guy named Drew from "The Price Is Right" left a message and wants me to call him back about my apperance on the show. Hmmmm, strange. So she gives me the guy's number in Los Angeles and I dial it, wondering what the heck this could possibly be about.

Drew answers his phone, and when I tell him who I am, he thanks me for calling back and says, "I'm about to be your best friend." It turns out he's correct in this assertion.

Apparently, after my episode aired last Friday, CBS' viewer relations department received several calls from people claiming that Bob had cheated me when I played Flip-Flop. This actually wasn't news to me, because several of you had pointed out a mistake on Bob's part while he was explaining the game.

In a nutshell, as Bob was flipping and flopping the two squares on the Flip-Flop game board, at one point he had them set to what turned out to be the correct price of the sauna ($5,254). And at that moment he said to me, "Now you don't want to leave them like this." In essence, he was saying, "This isn't the correct price of the sauna," when in fact it was.

Now as I've said several times, I never even noticed that Bob had done this until people pointed it out to me and I saw it on TV. So to be honest, I wasn't at all influenced by it, and I told Drew as much. His response was that it didn't matter -- a mistake had been made "and we want to make things right."

Sooooooooo......Drew gave me two options. CBS could either send me the sauna, or else they could send me a check for their cost for the sauna. Their cost is actually much lower than the retail price stated on the air, but I decided that taking the money was the smart, most convenient move. So sometime today (Friday, as I type this), CBS is going to cut and mail me a check in the amount of $2,542.

Yep, $2,542, and all because some uptight "Price Is Right" viewers called on my behalf and complained to the network. Isn't that hilarious? I never would have complained myself, but some old lady in Idaho probably raised enough of a stink that I'm gonna get the cash. As I've been saying, that's a perfectly bizarre ending to what has been a bizarre experience from start to finish.

As many of you know, Terry and I are leaving on a getaway weekend to Las Vegas in three weeks, so our little windfall will more than cover the cost of that trip. With the remaining cash I'm thinking about getting a nice laptop computer, but we'll see. If I do that, I can honestly say that I went on "The Price Is Right" and won four guitars, a trip to Vegas and a laptop. Not bad, eh?

Yeah, I lost on the replay, too

So that was a strange experience. Watching myself on the show this morning, that is. Definitely a little strange. And in all honestly, a little painful, too. I've had two people tell me that it was like watching Titanic: A little part of you keeps thinking, "Well, maybe the ship won't sink this time." In the end, it still sinks. And in the end, my Showcase Showdown bid was still about $2 million less than what it should have been.

OK, I'm exaggerating. Still, it would have been nice to have won the whole thing, as I thought I had done for a few minutes there near the end of the show. Apparently there was a crowd of people from work crowded into my office to watch it (I have one of the few TV's in the entire Foundation). I, of course, was at home watching it with Terry, Melanie and Jack. And I get to relive the pain again tonight when we have some family and neighbors come over for a TPIR party. Oh joy!

My News-Herald article ran today with a fun picture of me surrounded by the guitars. They don't post entertainment stories on their web site, though, so I can't link you to it. You'll have to shell out 50 cents and buy a copy of the paper, if you're so inclined.

Anyway, after tonight, about the only TPIR-related thing left to do will be to decide the fate of the four guitars. Terry is leaning toward keeping one and then putting one other on eBay, just to see what the response is. We might go that route. Whatever money we raise from selling the guitars will likely go toward a family shopping spree/Chuck E. Cheese excursion. Let the good times roll, eh?

Show Week Update

Yeah, so the guitars were delivered on Friday, and of course the kids love them all. Well, actually, Chloe really loves the Atomic Pink bass and Jared seems to have taken a liking to the white 12-string. Elissa is partial to the 6-string, I think. We STILL don't know if we're keeping any or all of them. Let's get through the actual show first, then we'll figure it out.

Speaking of which, we're only a little more than 75 hours from air time as I type this. I went to The News-Herald yesterday to have my picture taken (surrounded by the guitars, of course) for an article I'm writing for them. It will appear in Friday's paper and will be a first-person account of my Price Is Right experience, similar to what I wrote after doing Millionaire four years ago.

I'm staying home from work Friday morning to watch the show with Terry, Jack and Melanie. Then we'll have some family and neighbors over Friday night for a TPIR party, complete with pizza, cake, and of course a viewing of the show. It ought to be fun.

Oh, and one more thing....go Elissa!

The guitars are coming

So a woman from Daisy Rock Guitars called today to talk about my forthcoming prizes. It seems that two of the guitars I won aren't in stock, so she asked if they could send alternatives. Apparently what we'll be receiving are:

- A white 12-string
- A "Venus," cream-colored 6-string
- An atomic pink bass
- A "violet burst" bass

So that's two basses, a 12-string and a standard 6-string electric. I still don't know what we're going to do with them, but I'll probably need to decide soon because it sounds as if the guitars are going to arrive only a week or two after the show airs.

Hey, come to think of it, I'll bet I can find a photo or two from the Daisy web site. Hold on a second while I go and check...






OK, I was able to find images of the two bass guitars, at least. This is the atomic pink:



And this is the violet burst:



Those are, um, interesting. I'll bet the other two are equally, er, colorful.

I did find a Daisy 12-string listed on Amazon.com, and it IS white, so maybe this is what we'll be getting there:



I think I also found the Venus 6-string, but I can't get the image to post, so here's a link, if you're interested:
http://www.daisyrock.com/products/stardust/elite_venus.htm

Anyway, air date is two weeks from today. I've decided to stay home in the morning and watch the show live with Terry, then go into work in the afternoon. We'll have some family over that night to watch a taped version of the show and have pizza. Good times.