Posted from a great fan in the audience from my time in Sydney a few months back....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUVsNyPkyT4

Meanwhile, welcome to our continued non-stop coverage of 'Room 335'

Parade will be doing a piece on Saturday/Sunday so anyone in the country can get that. And Daily News on Wednesday. TimeOut on Tuesday night I think....Stay tuned...

I wanted to talk a little about Tammy today...

When I first met Tammy, I was sitting with Dotty, who was chronically in bad health. It was the sixth or seventh day and I was nervous, almost intimidated by the dozens of elderly people looking at me, staring at me, and talking about me. Not to mention, Jonah and Will were holding cameras and cheap boom mikes wherever I went. It was a walking circus—in an elderly home. But then I met Tammy.
“You’re the college kid?”—she wasted no time.
I nodded yes.
“Oh boy. You’re in for some serious trouble.” Everyone laughed.
But Tammy didn’t.
“I just got back from the drug store,” she said. Then she held up a small, brown paper bag.
“Birth control pills,” Tammy smiled.
Anyone who could hear, burst in laughter. I was stunned. Even if it was only for a second, we all smiled and forgot about our respective troubles. I didn’t know it yet, but Tammy was a miracle. Libby, Tammy’s best friend, would push her on a wheelchair from table to table, as she told joke after joke. But Tammy did more than crack one-liners. She wasn’t afraid of the truth. When the salad wasn’t fresh, Tammy let the administration know about it. When I asked her why there were only white residents at Harbor Place she said that it was because minorities take better care of their loved ones. Tammy is no taller than five feet. She rarely stands because her back is so bad. If she lies down in bed, she will die. Her glasses are magnifying devices. Her hearing aids are power cords. The veins in her hands pop out. She is skinny and frail. Her eyes seem non-existent.

But very quickly, I saw past the wheelchai and raspy voice. I started to notice the colorful shirts and strange gagets in her room. Her thoughts on Larry King. Her husband, 10 years now gone. The assisted living facility needed Tammy. And in a lot of ways, maybe Tammy needed assisted living. Physically she had very little left but her mind was brilliant. And this bit of independence gave her the ability to help all of her 300 roommates. So naturally, when I, the stranger, moved in, Tammy knew it was her job to break the ice. We all went to have dinner. It was about 4PM…