- 11:12 PM,
Thursday, November 24th, 2005:
-
- I am in the
midst of a losing battle with triptophane so if at any
point my words seem to trail off into oblivion,
there's your reason.
-
- Yes it's been a
long day of turkey, Xbox 360, turkey, Xbox 360, and of
course football on the other TVs. It was how I
envisioned it a week ago - but amazingly it almost
didn't happen. That's because the old addage is true:
There's always a bigger geek. In this case about 10 of
them.
-
- So Sunday, Marty
and I went to the Clippers/Warriors game and then
came home to plan for the "launch". Where we were
going to go what we were going to bring and whatnot.
There was a 24 hour Walmart not too far away but a
Best Buy in Hawthorne was having a midnight launch and
G4TV was gonna be there. Out of the blue I said
to Marty - "Let's go tonight...like middle of the
night." He looked at me crazy, as it would be nearly
20 hours before the launch, but it was a no-brainer
for the site. It would be cool, we'd be on TV - we
could take a tent giddy-up. So I started loadin'
up the car with stuff and getting all excited. Then as
I was surfin' the net I found a picture of a
line in Seattle ALREADY forming at like 8 PM - a
full 28 hours before. Apparently Bill Gates was gonna
be at that one. I freaked. I looked at Marty
and we both said: "LETS GO".
-
- I didn't want
to be 3 or 4. I wanted us to be 1 and 2. They
always show that first person on TV not #3. So we are
racing down there saying: "There's no one in
line, there's no one in line, there's no one in
line..."
-

-
- That's right. We
get there 27 hours before they go onsale and we're not
even close to first. First was there at 5 PM. Now had
I ANNNNNNNNNY clue the demand would be like this Marty
and I would've gone right from the game as we
were already near there. What's another 4 hours when
you're waiting over a day? But that dude in the grey
hoody made damn sure he was #1 - just like Marty and
I thought we were (and everyone for the next 12
hours who thought they were LOL). So we set up our
tent, hung out for a bit - and I caught some
Zzzzs. By the next morning, the drama
ensued.
-

|
- This
poor bastard got reamed all day when in
reality he had a right to be pissed. It
won't stop me from laughing at him though.
Even that face is classic.
-
- The
problem was simple: people were holding
places for a BUNCH of people. Whereas me
and marty originally thought we were maybe
7 or 8 - ended up we were like 14. Because
one dude had 4 cousins that were coming at
10 AM, shit like that. So this guy comes
up and wants us to sign a list so he can
tell what place he is, but of course since
not eveyone is there yet - all our people
were like HELL no. So we came up with
16. The Original 16. Or the "OG ONE-SIX
BITCHES" as we liked to call ourselves.
There were 16 people at the tent, they
could count from that point and figure it
out.
-
- Only
100 people were guaranteed a system and
I kid you not, by 8 AM there were
over 100 people in line. That's 16 hours
BEFORE the launch. You still had people
driving up at noon, thinking "Of course
I'm number 1 in line 12 hours early".
Nope. You're #130 - good luck.
|
- By 3
PM, a Best Buy Manager finally came out
with a list for everyone to sign and
everyone had their place. On that list
I believe I was 10 with Moose
11.
-
- So
what do you do all day? It's funny, the
reporters that came to the line acted like
we were from another planet. Like it was
completely unimaginable that someone could
just "hang out" for 24 hours. I failed to
see the difference between hangin' out
there, or hangin' out at a friend's house
all day. We threw the football, played our
portable games, talked, played cards, went
into Best Buy and played with shit... it
was fun. Once you knew everyone around
you, you weren't going to lose your place
if you ran to Carl's Jr. to get a burger,
so it was really laid back. By 3 PM, the
TV stations started showin' up and it was
a circus.
-
- Being
the media whore that I am,
I knew that even though I wasn't
#1, I was still "that dude in a TENT
with a Santa hat on"... I would get
interviewed. It worked quite well
actually. I ended up being on every local
channel, CNBC and in the background of G4,
as you'll see in the video. During one of
the live broadcasts a lady I worked
with at my first mortgage gig called me up
within 15 seconds laughing and shit.
YOU'RE ON TV!!! LOL. Good
times.
|

|
-

- THE OG
ONE SIX (MINUS ADAM
THE PHOTOGRAPHER)
-

|
- As
night fell the line actually continued to
grow. At last count they were around 350
and we all wondered just exactly what the
hell they were thinking. Random
celebrities showed up like Eddie George
(which Moose and I found quite cool
being Columbus born Buckeyes) - and the
atmosphere was electric. Radio station
pumpin' the tunes, telecasts all over -
people EVERYWHERE. And then you
realize...there's still 5 more hours. Yes
folks, 27 hours in line is a looooooong
damn time. No way around it.
|

|
-
- But it finally WAS
time. They handed out tickets to the first 100,
I got #6:
-

-
- Then, the
excitement grew and the line pushed up behind the
OG16...
-

-
- ...and we finally
went in groups of 7-10. The people at Best Buy were
very smart and kept things very orderly. Dude comes
out and says point blank: You push, run, are at
ALL disruptive - you don't get shit, we revoke
the ticket. If you had been in line for a day - you
shut up, smiled and stood in line in an orderly
fashion.
-

-
And the
moment came. Yes I waited 27 hours in
line for the priviledge of giving Microsoft
$432.99. That's CNBC in the background taping
me and interviewing me right after I had made
the purchase. I'm tellin' you man - the hat
was a good idea. I was too tired to stay
up until 5 AM to see the package on TV
though. I found out I was pretty good at
saying great 5 second lines to just about
everyone who interviewed me. Being an ex-talk
show host has it's perks I
guess...
|

|
-
- I gave Moose
the money to pick up another one which will be great
Ebay Fodder. We actually drove past a 9 AM Best Buy
launch that I knew had 100 units, and it already
had 150 people there so we were able to go home...and
go to BED. I did actually plug it in just because the
curiosity was killin' me - but I then proceeded
to get a BUNCH of sleep and still felt like shit the
next day. It's incredible how different 30 is from 20.
I guarantee you guys though, I will still be doing
this at 40 with my kids. It's just my generation's
"thing". And to the OG16 - SUP SUP! Nice meeting
you, see you all online, and here's one last shot of
all of ya:
-
-
-
- It's funny,
looking at that group - I can't believe that whiny
dude had the balls to bitch about anything. Half of
those pictures look like mugshots. Even the kid looks
like he'll punch your sister. LOL. Good
times.
-
- Must
sleep.
-
- Adam
-
- PS - here's my
GamerCard so you too can see how much of a geek
I am 24-7. The 360 actually uploads after every
level you complete in a game showing everyone how much
you've done, and how "good" you are. It's
insanely cool.
-

-
- FEEDBACK
|