Wii Belong

I'm in Palm Desert, leaving for Buenos Aires and Punta del Este in just three hours. It's been nice to be home, I've been blowing my nose, finishing up take-home finals, dealing with Follies as if it's a paying job, and playing with the new puppy (picture above).

Our most exciting adventure was going on a Wii hunt yesterday morning. Satchel, Ross, and I headed to Target at about 6:30, having been tipped off that there was an unspecified number of Wiis coming in that day. Wii-- sorry-- We stood there until about 7:30, Ross and I shivering and cold, Satchel thinking that the leaves and birds that were on the sidewalk around Target were the equivalent of Disneyland. Finally they came out and announced they had 12 Wiis, and started handing out tickets. We were lucky number 13.

Dejected, we decided to follow up on a tip that there were 50 (!?!) Wiis at a place called GameStop in the mall, which didn't open until 10 or so we thought. Since Best Buy, Toys R Us, etc. only had 10-20 Wiis each, this seemed like a ludicrous rumor to draw people away from those lines. We trudged on, and Ross hopped in line and Satchel and I waited in the car, since malls don't like dogs. He called and said there were 30 people in line in front of him, and at this point it was 7:30 and he wasn't sure he wanted to stand in line for 2 and a half hours for something so improbable as a 50-Wii shipment. I sat in the car and tried calling the store to see if they had a recording or anything, he called friends and had them do research. He was about to pack it in and come meet me in the parking lot when someone came out of the store, announced they would be opening right then, and they had the 50 Wiis! I put Satchel in his airplane bag, ran into the mall, and saw the dream of getting two was shot because there were now at least 70 people in line. But we kept Ross company as the little store processed 30 credit cards and tried to upsell 30 other people, and came home with our bounty.

I have to say, the Wii's games are good and the graphics are entertaining, but not nearly as entertaining as turning away from the screen and watching people play it. I only hope the straps haven't broken by the time I return, because I need video of my Dad playing.

Hopefully I'll post in South America, but if not, Happy Holidays. And congrats to the Zaniellos, proud parents of Max!