Anoop Desai and I filmed a segment for NBC17's "My Carolina Today"... er... today.  We were on the show to promote the Triangle Corporate Battle of the Bands and Anoop's performance at the event. 

So what is it like to be on TV with someone way more famous than you?  Well, I'll tell you (written in the second person for that walk-a-mile-in-my-shoes effect)...

First, when you drive to a TV interview, you get really nervous and sweaty.  Like Justin Timberlake says, "I'm bringing sweaty back."  Wait.  That wasn't it?  Well, I brought sweaty back.  Not cool.

After a few minutes sitting in the NBC studios parking lot and fanning your face while taking deep calming breaths, you keep telling yourself, "This isn't live, this isn't live, this isn't live."

While waiting for the producer in the lobby, you sit with Anoop and make small talk, trying to act like you can relate to celebrity-dom.  When, in reality, the closest thing you've seen to fame is the cover of Lady Gaga's CD.

Then, when it's time for you to get in place for the interview, you realize there are only two chairs on set: one for Anoop and one for Sharon Delaney, host of "My Carolina Today."  A certain amount of relief sets in as you realize, "Hey, I don't have to do this after all."  And then a larger amount of disappointment: "Hey! I don't get to do this at all!"

The production assistant comes out to "mic up" Anoop, not you, and gushes over the former American Idol contestant.  You, of course, introduce yourself pleasantly at the appropriate time, and that overly eager PA says one brief, uninterested utterance: "Hi."  But her eyes say, "(Insert your name here)?  Who the crap are you?  You are not important.  At all." 

Luckily the tide turns in your favor, perhaps to the chagrin of that aloof PA, and they squeeze another chair onto the set for you.  Anoop and you have a great interview with Sharon Delaney, and Anoop invites you, on air, to be a backup dancer for his tour--

OK, no.  That didn't really happen, but what if!?  No, no... Anoop  and I will not be touring together.  But we will be on NBC17's "My Carolina Today" on May 10^th.  Until then, I'll be enjoying Lady Gaga's "The Fame," practicing to be a backup dancer and trying to convince myself that the album title describes me. (Footage of said backup-dancer practicing will not be available.)

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Related post: Anoop Desai and I go to Battle

"Anooooooooop!" was the chant everyone who watched last year's American Idol heard every week.  And until he was voted off the show, to the disappointment of many Tar Heels, Anoop Desai played the small-town-boy-makes-good card to a T.

But these days, a small-town boy he is not.  In many circles (especially Chapel Hill circles) Anoop Desai is practically Springsteen.  And judging by the screams around the agency after I told a few people he will be a guest star at this year's Triangle Corporate Battle of the Bands, I'm not sure Springsteen would have been as exciting.  (If you're a fan of The Boss, don't cry sacrilege--keep reading...)

Now, granted, the screams were mostly coming from our interns who attend UNC-Chapel Hill.  And let me tell you, if there's one thing Tar Heels know about, it's Anoop Desai.

"Oh, I talked to him last week.  I think he's traveling."  Or, "Oh Anoop, I saw him at He's Not Here on Franklin Street.  He's doing so great!" Or, "He's my neighbor's girlfriend's brother's friend from the Clef Hangers"

Yeah.  Everyone "knows" Anoop.

My favorites were the people who actually had an opinion of him who (my guess) have never actually met him: "He's not answering my emails.  I think he's let the fame go to his head."

I was a little skeptical about the upcoming call I had with him to discuss the details of his performance at the Battle.  I expected the worst:  I'm going to need my own dressing room stocked with caviar, champagne and UNC-Chapel-Hill-branded memorabilia.  Please ensure 25 white doves fly out over the audience as I take the stage.  Also, I want to be referred to only as Mr. Desai.  Or AnoopDog.

Luckily, this version of Anoop Desai was not available for our phone call.  News to the mass of people "know" Anoop and are mad because he's turned into a "diva":  Homeboy is mad cool.  He is a small-town boy who made good.  But I'm thinking he hasn't left the small town too far behind.  His head may be in Hollywood (as it should be), but his heart is right here at home.

Come see Anoop's non-diva-like behavior at the Triangle Corporate Battle of the Bands at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham on May 15.  Doors open at 7:30 p.m.  For tickets and more information, visit http://trianglebattle.com.

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Related post: What's it like to be on NBC with Anoop Desai?

If you’re a nail biter, go for it. Just don’t leave your “bread crumbs” near someone else’s desk.

Working for McKinney is stressful.  Work, period, is stressful.  This really set in after an eye-opening meeting with my first boss at McKinney.  I told her I was about to break.  The pace--it was just too much.  "I come in, and I start working, and I just don't stop.  It's just nonstop," I pouted.  I thought coming in early, skipping lunch breaks, and leaving late was just unheard of. 

"That's McKinney," she said.  No follow-up.  No smile or twinkle in the eye to say, That's McKinney, but not really... You're one of a kind, and working through all that stress and pressure is what makes you stand out, Joel.  Here's a raise.

But that just wasn't the case.  Now, workplace stress, especially a workplace like McKinney, may lead to a stress-induced bad habit (or two).  Smoking, grinding of the teeth, nail biting.  Arguably, smoking is the most objectively "disgusting."  But since I smoke, I will move on to gross-stress-induced habit #3.

Wikipedia says (proof of this blog post's literary substance), "Onychophagia or nail biting is a common oral compulsive habit in children and adults, affecting around 30% of children between 7 to 10 years and 45% of teenagers."  But, of course, there are no stats for adult nail biting on Wikipedia.  And no, I'm not researching for that info because I've already seen enough pictures of stubby, nail-bitten digits for one afternoon.

Nail biting, a habit that we know exists beyond childhood, may be turning into an epidemic at McKinney.  No, I haven't seen an excessive amount of nibbled fingertips in meetings recently.  However, I did spot a stray, bitten off nail near my desk and then another on the "smokers' balcony" the next day.

Now, is this gross?  Yes.  Am I bothered?  Not really.  If McKinneyites are stressed to the point of biting a nail or two, it means people around here are working.  Really working.  People are coming in early, skipping lunch breaks, and leaving late.  So what if they chew off a nail out of stress (or hunger if they really are skipping those lunches); all I know is that I've wanted to bite off  more than a fingernail when I am at the top of my stress threshold.  And if "That's McKinney," a fingernail on the ground suddenly becomes a little less gross.