Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Here it is, Mom.
Okay okay okay... sorry for the delay. I've been catching grief over the lengthy suspense since my last entry (mostly from my mom) so here it goes.
We got the TV.
After bundling up in about 12 thick layers of Carharts, snow pants and polyproplane long john underwear (obviously not in that order) and packing enough chairs-in-a-bag to keep any proud soccer mom happy, we made our way to the already growing line at Circuit City around 10 pm on Thanksgiving.
We introduced ourselves to our "neighbors", a seasoned family huddled in their ice shanty and a seriously underprepared woman who packed only a bears fleece to protect her from the bitter 20 degree chill (of course, of course, it was the coldest night of 2007 thus far). We are 23rd in line. Then we pulled out the DVD player we borrowed from my mother in law, along with the longest, most captivating movies in our arsenal (Lord of the Rings trilogy, of course) and settled down into our sleeping bags. Just like camping. Except it was really really cold. And uncomfortable. And there weren't any marshmallows for roasting.
11:30 pm Due to previously discussed bitter cold, DVD player dies. We got through about an hours or so of LOTR
12:30 am I ran home for bathroom break
1:00 am I return with hot chocolate mix and boiling water in a thermos and chex mix
1:02 am Mike gets tangled up in his sleeping bag and consequently knocks over the thermos, causing it to shatter- boiling hot water pouring copiously over the sidewalk. Hot chocolate is ruined.
1:03 am-2:59 am Sleeping. Kind of. And shivering. Line behind us builds to about 100-125 people.
3:00 am Circuit City employees arrive on the scene. "China Man" (Not my name for him.... just a nickname the endearing crowd came up with) makes the fateful announcement that line is forming in the wrong direction, and according to fire safety or some other rubbish, everyone must move.
3:01 am China Man realizes his mistake as over 100 people run to cut in line. Those "all nighters", settled warmly into shanties, sleeping bags and folding chairs, some around mini fires, stare dumbfounded at China Man.
3:02 am Mike started swearing and yelling at China Man. Erin advises him to quit yelling and get in line.
3:05 am Erin, lugging all their crap, some how finds Mike in crazy swarm of people. We are now 100th in line.
3:06 am Erin lugs crap out to car... since China Man stated "fire safety". Angry customers start carrying on and threaten a riot. They advise police protection.
3:10 am Police show up. High schoolers that cheated everyone and ran to front of line start getting rowdy and obnoxious... which really endears them to the rest of the line.
3:30 am China Man makes another announcement that anyone who has left their chairs, shanties, ect in the original line can return to them and they will be allowed in the store first. Erin almost starts crying at the injustice of it all... but can't because she is too cold to produce tears.
4:00 am Circuit City employees start handing out impossibly small maps of the store (luckily, we pre-shopped)
4:30 am Vouchers are handed out for computers. Jerky Highschoolers claim all laptop vouchers and then turn around and attempt to sell them to others behind them in line. We are all freezing nearly to the point of biothermal shutdown.
4:40 am Circuit City employees start handing out complimentary notepads. Young woman behind us in line cackles with derisive insanity.
4.50 am Dunkin Doughnuts guy shows up with coffee. This is nearly 7 hours after we've arrived. No one buys coffee, instead they yell at him for not showing up sooner.
5:00 am Put our game faces on, at least 3 other couples around us in line are after our TV, by our estimation. Doors open.
5:05 am Erin has hands on 32 in Sharp TV... not our TV, but our price. Mike sets out to find a store employee to clarify.
5:06 am Two employees later, Mike waves Erin down to pick up the stereo. He's number 5 in line with sticky note in hand. Fingers crossed.
5:10 am TV is claimed, bought and paid for. So is stereo. There were only 8 TV's available. We drive around to back of building, load up our prize and head home.
5:30 am In bed. Sweet dreams of new beautiful, ginormous TV.
9:30 am Mike is up. TV is up. Success.
We got the TV.
After bundling up in about 12 thick layers of Carharts, snow pants and polyproplane long john underwear (obviously not in that order) and packing enough chairs-in-a-bag to keep any proud soccer mom happy, we made our way to the already growing line at Circuit City around 10 pm on Thanksgiving.
We introduced ourselves to our "neighbors", a seasoned family huddled in their ice shanty and a seriously underprepared woman who packed only a bears fleece to protect her from the bitter 20 degree chill (of course, of course, it was the coldest night of 2007 thus far). We are 23rd in line. Then we pulled out the DVD player we borrowed from my mother in law, along with the longest, most captivating movies in our arsenal (Lord of the Rings trilogy, of course) and settled down into our sleeping bags. Just like camping. Except it was really really cold. And uncomfortable. And there weren't any marshmallows for roasting.
11:30 pm Due to previously discussed bitter cold, DVD player dies. We got through about an hours or so of LOTR
12:30 am I ran home for bathroom break
1:00 am I return with hot chocolate mix and boiling water in a thermos and chex mix
1:02 am Mike gets tangled up in his sleeping bag and consequently knocks over the thermos, causing it to shatter- boiling hot water pouring copiously over the sidewalk. Hot chocolate is ruined.
1:03 am-2:59 am Sleeping. Kind of. And shivering. Line behind us builds to about 100-125 people.
3:00 am Circuit City employees arrive on the scene. "China Man" (Not my name for him.... just a nickname the endearing crowd came up with) makes the fateful announcement that line is forming in the wrong direction, and according to fire safety or some other rubbish, everyone must move.
3:01 am China Man realizes his mistake as over 100 people run to cut in line. Those "all nighters", settled warmly into shanties, sleeping bags and folding chairs, some around mini fires, stare dumbfounded at China Man.
3:02 am Mike started swearing and yelling at China Man. Erin advises him to quit yelling and get in line.
3:05 am Erin, lugging all their crap, some how finds Mike in crazy swarm of people. We are now 100th in line.
3:06 am Erin lugs crap out to car... since China Man stated "fire safety". Angry customers start carrying on and threaten a riot. They advise police protection.
3:10 am Police show up. High schoolers that cheated everyone and ran to front of line start getting rowdy and obnoxious... which really endears them to the rest of the line.
3:30 am China Man makes another announcement that anyone who has left their chairs, shanties, ect in the original line can return to them and they will be allowed in the store first. Erin almost starts crying at the injustice of it all... but can't because she is too cold to produce tears.
4:00 am Circuit City employees start handing out impossibly small maps of the store (luckily, we pre-shopped)
4:30 am Vouchers are handed out for computers. Jerky Highschoolers claim all laptop vouchers and then turn around and attempt to sell them to others behind them in line. We are all freezing nearly to the point of biothermal shutdown.
4:40 am Circuit City employees start handing out complimentary notepads. Young woman behind us in line cackles with derisive insanity.
4.50 am Dunkin Doughnuts guy shows up with coffee. This is nearly 7 hours after we've arrived. No one buys coffee, instead they yell at him for not showing up sooner.
5:00 am Put our game faces on, at least 3 other couples around us in line are after our TV, by our estimation. Doors open.
5:05 am Erin has hands on 32 in Sharp TV... not our TV, but our price. Mike sets out to find a store employee to clarify.
5:06 am Two employees later, Mike waves Erin down to pick up the stereo. He's number 5 in line with sticky note in hand. Fingers crossed.
5:10 am TV is claimed, bought and paid for. So is stereo. There were only 8 TV's available. We drive around to back of building, load up our prize and head home.
5:30 am In bed. Sweet dreams of new beautiful, ginormous TV.
9:30 am Mike is up. TV is up. Success.
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