It’s hard even for me to think that this morning I woke up at 5:45am, Got dressed, brushed my teeth and then got in my car and drove to Fred Meyers by Clark College a whole hour before they opened. I mean I like Freddies, they have good stuff and good deals on somethings, but come on this is obviously obsessive…. or is it?

The quest for a Wii started well before a Wii was ever called a Wii. When the Wii was called “The Revolution” and ironically if you scout around Walmart’s website you’ll find some of their game descriptions still calling the Wii a Revolution :). Anyway… Once I heard the revolution was going to be spectacularly awesome, it was no question that I had to get a Wii/Revolution. In Japan it would premiere and I was totally psyched about getting the first one ever! Unfortunately, the Japanese Wii is not compatible with the US Wii games, thus my hopes of standing in line at 3-4am outside in Sapporo would be in vein. I vowed to get a Wii in the States as soon as I financially could.

Well, it took awhile. I actually got the money a good 3 months before Christmas, but “the craze” of getting a Wii kept every Wii off the shelves. I looked, but I always came up short by a few hours of the last one.

“This month would be different” I said. At the beginning of the month I was determined that the craze would settle and more Wii’s would arrive. I was completely wrong of course! About a week into January I woke up, ate breakfast, and left the house at 9 or 10 and went to this Fred Meyers thinking “awe no one goes there!” and upon showing up I asked the manager, “Hey mister, got any Wii’s?” “Sorry, we just sold the last one an hour ago check back in a month or so” manager said. What a disappointment!

But….

Three or so weeks later on a Friday I dropped into a Freddies by my work to inquire on the next Wii shipment. The techy guy there said, “Yeah this Sunday all of us Freddies are gett’n 6” “does that include Vancouver stores?” I inquired, “Yeah I think so” he replied. That was Friday so my agenda was set for Sunday.

Saturday I couldn’t second guess… I went to the targeted Freddies and quizzed them on the Wii raffle. He told me they hand out tickets at 6:45 and raffle off who can buy a Wii at 7am. This method keeps the ebay resellers and craiglists hogs on par to us regular Wii buyers. I suppose there’s some merit here, but whatever.

So Today arrives… it’s a big morning. Like I said I got up and headed out to the Freddies. When I arrived at 6:20 there wasn’t anyone so I sat in my car and listened to NPR. Somebody showed up in a truck and headed out towards the door. It was a Dad with his young son who was dying to get a Wii (like *mii*). So I stood next to them and chatted.

Suffice to say that more people showed up (but not many) and there were people there with multiple scouts at other stores (like a three prong attack). People on cellphones talking with other people to see whose got their tickets and who had one.

Somewhere in the line was a Mom with two kids. I had thoughts that while I had been out there the longest, if I won and she didn’t then I’d feel so bad that I’d be willing to wait another month. Those were probably morning thoughts since I know I wasn’t in my right head.

At 6:45am some manager type with a coat and tie came out with a big roll of tickets. We all got one and put one in the bucket. He’d stand out with us as the chick in the electronics section got the Wii’s out of the “vault.” I remember waiting around praying no one but the 5 groups gathered there would show, but low and behold (like 5 sec left in a ebay deal) these pirates showed up.

At 7 we all rushed into the store, the guy with his kid found out over the cell that Mom had won one at the Hazel Dale store so he dropped out. We all stood in a simi circle as this chick dug in a fish bowl and pulled out tickets. Let me admit how embarrassingly stupid this all felt. It’s 7am on a Sunday and I’m in Fred Meyers ecstatic to be picked to stand in line to buy a Wii for $250 + Tax. Yeah… I’m not “winning a wii” I’m winning a chance to buy a Wii! Never the less, it was exciting, very exciting. In fact, it was an adrenaline rush for video game junkies. She picked the first number and it went to some chick that just showed up…. There was a sigh of “what the?!”

The next three was from a group of guys my age all waiting like me. The fifth one went to the guy next to me, and the final ticket… the final ticket was #209 “HEY THAT’S MY NUMBER! OOOOH YEAH!” but wait… remember what I said before… The Mom and her two kids stood baffled. Her kids aren’t getting a wii today, but then two of the group of three that got the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th said that they were all together and handed their ticket to the Mom and another couple that waited with us for 20-30 minutes so basically everybody who stood out there and rightfully should get a Wii, Got a Wii!

I felt great coming home at 7:13am, I was punch drunk happy and instead of crawling into bed… I hooked up and played my wii!

Good Times… Good Times…

Now time to get some sleep, because I still have to work tomorrow morning 😛

~J out

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