I've been calling around for weeks-
Gamestop, Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, Best Buy, Circuit City, EB Toys....
It's gotten so that I know little secrets - like when the UPS truck delivers to all the Gamestops in a 10 mile radius of my house.
Every day at lunch I make my round of calls to see if someone will let out a little piece of information that might be the key to getting my hot little hands on one.
Two weekends ago it snowed here on Sunday morning.
I was up early reading the Sunday paper.
I spied a picuture of my elusive prize on the front cover of the circular for Circuit City.
By the time I got there at 9:40am, they were gone.
The salesman told me there were 9 of them. And that it was their habit to save any that got delivered during the week to put out Sunday morning.
The next week I went out and bought the Sunday paper on Saturday afternoon.
I scoured all the circulars trying to see which store might have one.
NONE!
But i convinced myself that was just a gimmack - and I showed up at Toys R Us at 8am.
The salesman told me they put their delivery out on Thursday that week.
I told myself "Never Fear" - Circuit City opens at 9.
I waited out front of the store with a dozen or so others.
When the doors opened we all ran to the video game department.
There were none.
Try again next week.
I have a friend from work whose wife found one at their mall Gamestop last Tuesday. She sent out an email with her strategic tips.
I read it and laughed.
And I told myself it was just luck.
I heard so many rumors though. I heard that this Sunday (today) every Target store would have at least 21. I heard they would be at Toys R Us. And I heard that Best Buy would have them too.
So my younger sister and I planned our strategy.
We decided Toys R Us.
I stayed up all night last night.
Around midnight the ice storm started.
I could hear the 'ting ting' as the ice bounced off the siding of my house.
At 3am I got up and put on my long johns, heavy socks, boots, big bulky coat, hat, gloves ---
I picked up sis and we drove the un-plowed highway 10 miles to Toys R Us.
As we pulled into the parking lot, it was snowing/sleeting pretty good.
We expected the parking lot to be empty because of the storm.
We expected to be able to wait most of the time between 3:30 and 7am in the car, warm and snug....
Wrong!
As we pulled into the parking lot, we realized that we were hardly alone. There had to be 30 or 40 cars there already.
And as for sitting comfortably in the warm car?
Forget it.
These people were standing/sitting on chairs and some were even in little tents on line!
We quickly got out of the car and to the back of the line.
The lady in front of us informed me that we were 55, and 56.
We had numbers.
She said they were only allowing one per customer, and the rumor in the line was that they had between 75-100.
Our hopes soared.
And so did the wind. Up to 30 mph gusts.
After an hour outside, I couldn't feel my toes, and my hands, although gloved, were also becoming numb.
There was lots of line chatter - to pass the time.
It was said that those at the front of the line had been there since 12:30am - more than 4 hours ahead of us. Someone told us they had heaters in the two tents.
At 5:30, an employee came outside and announced to the line that if all chairs and tents were put into cars, they would let us wait in the entranceway.
Ten minutes later the doors opened.
Unfortunately, I had another 1/2 hour just outside the doors, but by then, other people on line were passing out hand and foot warmers.
At 6:45 another employee began handing out tickets which would guarantee the holder one.
As he gave me my ticket, i swear i felt like someone must feel when they win the lottery.
i got one!
no more calls.
no more searching.
yes!
7:00am, (an hour early) they opened the store and allowed five of us in at a time.
By 8:00am I was loading my treasure into the van and heading home.
I GOT MY Wii!!!!!!
