@amitaibu Saw that you suggested using entity_metadata_wrapper here instead of field_get_item, is this a general preference of yours or specific to to this senario.

I like the ease of use of entity_metadata_wrapper but when I just need the ID and not the whole entity loaded it seems like field_get_items would be the way to go.  I like that It will just pull the value I want from the already assembled object without any db queries.