Cash Cab

New York City in the autumn is just one of the all time great places to be.  Each time we go as a family, I enjoy watching how my daughter interacts with the city as compared to previous years.  She's seven now, but she thinks she's fifteen.  She also thinks she's Eloise (or at least, Eloise-like and she's already stayed in more hotels and ordered more room service than I ever did in my entire youth.


The other day, we were somewhere in the city and she was scanning the streets. She had a very serious, intent look on her face and she had completely tuned us out.  Finally, I asked her "WHAT are you looking at??".  She replied "I'm looking for Cash Cab."  


I admit it,  I let my daughter watch television shows that aren't on the Disney-Nick Jr-PBS grid.  Sometimes she'll turn on the t.v. and go straight for the Food Network.  She's particularly fond of the Barefoot Contessa and likes to imitate Paula Deen.


"First, we're a-gonna start with a little BUTTER..", my daughter drawls in her best South Carolina accent.  She finds this particularly hysterical.


Anyway, sometimes we watch this show called Cash Cab on the Discovery Channel.  How we came across it, I can't recall.  The host is Ben Bailey and he drives a New York City taxi cab.  He'll pick up anyone who is hailing a cab. Once they're seated, a fury of lights and bells go off in the cab and he tells them "You're on Cash Cab, a game show that takes place right here inside my taxi cab!  Do you want to play?!!"  Of course, everyone says yes.  Who doesn't want to win some money while you're getting from point A to point B - even if you might end up looking like an idiot for not knowing the easy questions.  By the time you've reached your destination, you could win upwards of $1500 (but three strikes and you're out.... and he literally will kick you out of the cab.).  At the end, you can also risk it all (!!) and go double or nothing on a Video Challenge.  We've already decided that we wouldn't take the risk.


Well, my daughter and I are desperate to get on Cash Cab.  We think we're so smart.  We even have our "Shout Outs" all planned out.  A Shout Out is someone you're allowed to call one time if you don't know the answer.  We think that GrandBob would know the answer to anything.  However, I just remembered that GrandBob never keeps his cell phone on and this could pose a problem when we're speeding down 7th Avenue and need to know who the Father of the Atomic Bomb was  (I know, it's Oppenheimer.  That was just an example.  I told you we're wicked smart).


Needless to say, we did not find Cash Cab this past weekend.  In a sea of 13,000 taxi cabs in New York City, we felt pretty certain that we'd find Ben Bailey.  Oh well.  It just means that there are bigger & better prizes on our horizon. In fact, I'm feeling pretty confident that we're going to win the lottery this week.  Of course, this would involve actually buying a ticket.  I'll only buy one (because that's all it takes to win) and I'll only use coins I find at the bottom of my purse.  These are my rules and I'm sticking with 'em.