2nd Friday the 13th this year?
Yeah, it is. Look it up. :)
I'm not a particularly superstitious person, but this has been a weird day. Perhaps not weird so much as eventful and a deffinate departure from the normal routine.
Wii pre-orders began today. In fear of mobs of campers waiting to get a part of the extremely limited allotment of Wiis that would be available for purchase, Kris and I were compelled to go to our local EB games early and wait for the store to open. How early am I talking about?
...
3:00 AM.
I probably don't have to say that we were the first people there... for about 4 hours. The store doesn't even open until 10. Fortunately, it wasn't one of those situations where we had to literally be standing at the door to be the first ones in. The manager, Karen, had the foresight to hand out cards with numbers on them for the people who were there. This actually created an almost social atmosphere, where I spoke not only with other fanboys, but also with parents who only knew this was what their child wanted for Christmas. It was pretty neat to share information that was basically old hat with folks who only knew Nintendo was a console maker.
When they finally opened for business, Kris and I went straight in and placed our pre-order. We're the first on the list.
Was my fear of a mob justified? Not entirely. I only saw one person be turned away because the demand had met the supply... and this was 15 minutes before they opened. I heard from other people there, though, that the other stores in the area had over 20 people hanging out waiting to get one. The problem there was that there were less than 18 available even at the most well stocked locations.
It's an experience to remember, even though we waaay jumped the gun. We'd decided to go out so early thanks to a phone call I got yesterday from the store in Collierville, informing me that they only had 14 for pre-order and over 60 people on the call list that they were informing. That planted a very firm image in my mind reminiscent of the Xbox 360 launch last year. I just wanted to be safe. :)
So, after this was done, we went to pay rent, and renewed our lease on this apartment for another year. I'm not entirely happy about that, but it was the cheapest option, and we really can't afford to move, anyway. Regardless of how I feel about this apartment, it's a place to live, and that's better than being on the streets.
I also got a call from my friend Phil who was talking about a job he'd just got. It seems like a job that could spell a major change in my life, primarily by getting me out of the restaurant industry. I'll follow up on that later, if things work out. Don't wanna jinx things yet.
We took a decent nap this afternoon to compensate for the sleep we didn't get early this morning, then went to work on cleaning the apartment. That leads up to here and now. I'll probably be up for a little while longer, then I'll try to end this different day with some good sleep.
I'm not a particularly superstitious person, but this has been a weird day. Perhaps not weird so much as eventful and a deffinate departure from the normal routine.
Wii pre-orders began today. In fear of mobs of campers waiting to get a part of the extremely limited allotment of Wiis that would be available for purchase, Kris and I were compelled to go to our local EB games early and wait for the store to open. How early am I talking about?
...
3:00 AM.
I probably don't have to say that we were the first people there... for about 4 hours. The store doesn't even open until 10. Fortunately, it wasn't one of those situations where we had to literally be standing at the door to be the first ones in. The manager, Karen, had the foresight to hand out cards with numbers on them for the people who were there. This actually created an almost social atmosphere, where I spoke not only with other fanboys, but also with parents who only knew this was what their child wanted for Christmas. It was pretty neat to share information that was basically old hat with folks who only knew Nintendo was a console maker.
When they finally opened for business, Kris and I went straight in and placed our pre-order. We're the first on the list.
Was my fear of a mob justified? Not entirely. I only saw one person be turned away because the demand had met the supply... and this was 15 minutes before they opened. I heard from other people there, though, that the other stores in the area had over 20 people hanging out waiting to get one. The problem there was that there were less than 18 available even at the most well stocked locations.
It's an experience to remember, even though we waaay jumped the gun. We'd decided to go out so early thanks to a phone call I got yesterday from the store in Collierville, informing me that they only had 14 for pre-order and over 60 people on the call list that they were informing. That planted a very firm image in my mind reminiscent of the Xbox 360 launch last year. I just wanted to be safe. :)
So, after this was done, we went to pay rent, and renewed our lease on this apartment for another year. I'm not entirely happy about that, but it was the cheapest option, and we really can't afford to move, anyway. Regardless of how I feel about this apartment, it's a place to live, and that's better than being on the streets.
I also got a call from my friend Phil who was talking about a job he'd just got. It seems like a job that could spell a major change in my life, primarily by getting me out of the restaurant industry. I'll follow up on that later, if things work out. Don't wanna jinx things yet.
We took a decent nap this afternoon to compensate for the sleep we didn't get early this morning, then went to work on cleaning the apartment. That leads up to here and now. I'll probably be up for a little while longer, then I'll try to end this different day with some good sleep.