It all started with this tweet from one of my college roommates, Jason:

I told Jason that I remember Ruben because he was a guest on my news show when I was producing in Jacksonville, Fla.  He was in town for a sickle cell disease event, and came by beforehand for an interview.

It was early — I think in the 7 a.m. hour — so I recall being surprised that Ruben showed up with four or five other people.  I want to call them an entourage, but since I was trying to monitor a live news broadcast I was unable to find out exactly who everyone was and thus unable to properly classify the group.

I can say that they were all extremely nice, including Ruben, who for some reason left me a signed photo:

(Click for larger version)

There are several things I love about this picture.  First, the general vibe with the red and the big glasses.  Second, that it’s personalized, which I think I can be traced to one of our video editors who was getting autographs of his own (and is probably why this exists in the first place).  Finally, that after his name he put “American Idol” like you would put “Systems Analyst” or “Account Manager” in the signature of your work email.

Other than a box of chocolates one of our regular chefs gave me after his visit to the White House, this is probably the only guest-related item I still have from that time.  There were other random things that PR people would send me to plug their event or bring attention to their client, but they were usually boring things like Starbucks coffee (swing and a miss) or M&M’s (you have my attention).

Friends who knew we had guests on the morning shows often asked who I had met, though I think they often overestimated our pull on big celebs.  Jay-Z and Freida Pinto never stopped by, but I did meet people like Mark Curry (Hanging with Mr. Cooper), Jenna Morasca (Survivor), Tony Little (fitness informercials), and talked via satellite to Melissa Joan Hart (Clarissa Explains it All).

Oh and Carrie Underwood…I mean, Carrie Underwood’s competitors on American Idol, Anthony Fedorov and Vonzell Solomon (probably the two nicest guests I had).

Fortunately I never had any truly nightmarish guests, though some of the ones I was unsure of did make think “please don’t get me fired, please don’t get me fired.”