Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Things To Do In Wal-Mart When You're Dead

I called Wal-Mart at 10:30 last night.

Actually, I called two. The first gave absolutely incomprehensible information over the phone in response to my question about them selling the Rock Band bundle at midnight. "Um, people...walking around store...lots of calls...no line...list...I like pie..."

From what I could gather, which wasn't much, they hadn't figured out that they needed a line, so people were just wandering around the store, circling like sharks as they waited for the line. What I really wanted to do, just as a social experiment, was show up and ask the guy where the line would be forming when it did form. Then I would go stand there.

I was more concerned about hunting down a second copy of the game than I was with my second career as Margaret Mead, though, so I passed.

There's another Wal-Mart two miles further down the road, and when I called them they said they had one 360 copy that hadn't already been claimed. They actually had a list, so I hopped in the car, made it up there in about fifteen minutes, and got my name on the list. I just needed to come back at midnight.

It was 10:50 p.m.

I thought about going to get something to eat, but I wasn't hungry. I fully intended to bring a book, because I had one about a serial killer, and I figured that was a sure way to cut down on in-line conversation, but in my rush to get out of the house, it had been forgotten.

So what do you do when you have over an hour to kill at Wal-Mart? Well, the first thing you do is buy a pair of Dr. Seuss boxer shorts that say "THE ONE AND ONLY" and an arrow pointing to The Grinch on front, and "MEAN ONE" on the back. Oh, and you buy them in size XG, which is for for a 40-42 inch waist. Yes, I know your waist is a 33, but you were so blown away by the artwork on the boxer shorts that you didn't even think to check the size.

Then you discover that Wal-Mart carries Cinammon Roll flavor pop tarts, so you stock up.

Then it's 11:10.

What are two-year-olds doing in Wal-Mart at 11 o'clock? And why do they have more energy than I do?

About 11:35, the guy who was on the list for the other 360 copy (they only got two) showed up. This turned out to be excellent, because he had finished both GH I and II, was disappointed in GH III (relaxed note timing), and was a really nice guy besides. So we chatted about the game and playing techniques until midnight, and I was out the door and on my way home at 12:05.

I'm not a big fan of tracking down stuff at midnight, but I figured the chances of a rolling fail were pretty high today. That's when you go to Fry's at 8 a.m., and there are already more people in line than they have copies of the game. So you hit Target at 9 a.m., then Toys R Us and Best Buy at 10 a.m., and you never wind up getting ahead of the line.

The reason I needed a second copy is that I wanted to have a suitable prize for the band name contest next week. Yeah, I know the shipping charges are outrageous, but there are going to be almost no copies of this game available for the next six weeks, so I know that plenty of you guys who didn't find a copy of the game wouldn't mind paying for shipping. So we'll do that one day next week.

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