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| Posted by: David Leininger |
1/21/2008 |
We found a Wii, after many days of hunting.
The Nintendo Wii is an interesting little box, and one we wanted to complete the triumvirate of XBox 360, PS3, and Wii. Each of the machine's has its own strengths, quirks, and devotees. In our home, the PS3 is the choice of a recent college graduate. The XBox is the domain of her boyfriend, and the Wii is what my wife wanted. Wii? Yep, to continue the saga of Zelda and other nifty games.
Vickie scoured the stores (BestBuy, Circuit City, GameStop, Meijer, and others) for the past couple of months. "Do you have a Wii in stock?", was a standard query. "Not today!", was the standard reply, often followed by "But, we had [insert a number between 3 and 16] on [insert any day prior to the day of the question]."
On Sunday, Circuit City's insert noted that limited quanitites would be available. On Sunday, the coldest weather in some time was here. On Sunday, I drove up to Circuit City at 8:15AM, and was surprised to see only seven or eight cars (well, SUVs) in the parking lot. I pulled in, parked next to another 'Wii-Hunter', and started to ready the latest copy of ASP.NET Pro, a must-read magazine and site for .NET developers. At 8:45, one of the other hunters exited his car and walked to the still-closed entrance of the store. Of course, everyone followed.
Now, I must not have been thinking so clearly as I left the house, because it was -2ºF with a windchill in the double digits. I had on a nice TEKsystems cap, but no earmuffs or gloves. "I am an idiot!", I muttered to myself more than once while walking to the meeting area in front of Circuit City. The other (apparently veteran) hunters were dressed for the weather with full-face masks, gloves, heavy hooded coats, and boots. I was layered up top (tshirt, shirt, sweater, leather jacket), but wearing slacks and casual shoes. Thin socks, I might add.
Here is where the social networking really started.
"I hear they have six in stock.", said one.
"It is probably nine in stock, because that is the case size.", said another, knowingly. (Hah! The case size isn't nine, and they're seldom shipped in case lots, it turns out).
"I was in line at Meijer at midnight on Thursday, but they weren't going to release them until 6:00AM, so I left after 30 minutes.", said another.
"I'm here from Ohio visiting the in-laws, and thought that the nephews and nieces would really be happy if I could get a Wii.", the tall guy without a hat said.
For ten minutes, 'war stories' were exchanged, and nodding agreements ensued. There were a couple of people in the crowd, which had grown to 15 or so, who noted, "I'm just here for support. My sister didn't want to stand out here alone.", and "I already have one, but my friend here is going to get his today."
At 9:00AM, a full hour before the store was to open, a Circuit City employee came outside, taking pity on us. He asked, "What are you people here for this early?" I answered, "I need some AA batteries!" The guy noted that he had six Wiis, and would take names if we wanted to come back after the store opened. Well, that general grouping quickly fell into a line, with a lone voice finally saying, as the store dude was writing Name Number 6, "I think I was here before some of you." No one acknowledged her as we each gave our name, received a marked playing card (Ace through 6), and headed to our cars (uh, SUVs) and out of the lot for a quick trip home to share the good news.
So, Facebook and MySpace and Twitter and Flickr all came to mind as the group gathered, discussed shared experiences and disconnected thoughts, then dispersed. This same gathering, with different players, is happening all over the US ... and on browsers around the globe, it seems, as people flit in and out of others' lives for brief moments or a lifetime.
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