More information is available over at Croncast.com and you can order tickets directly from Eventbrite…

As I have mentioned to Kris in the past, I will be turning the show into a mini Grateful Dead-like event by bootlegging my own recording with a 17 foot tall mic-stand in the back of the venue and selling soggy grilled cheese sandwiches after the show in the parking lot. :)

With all of that said, the article was finally released/published and has a couple of quotes by yours truly. I am kind of bummed since they were supposed to run a picture or two that I had taken during our little party. It’s not that I really am bummed that the picture(s) weren’t included, I was just looking forward to having Rick publically humiliated.

Oh well, I’ll take things into my own hands with this post! :)

You can check out the article over at the Reuters website…

Besides having so much fun, I can’t help but gloat that I won the trophy for Wii Bowling with my scores of 203 and 205 (even after an attempt to throw off my game by being “forced” to do a tequila shot from Betsy)… :)

I don’t think I ever won a trophy before.

And as everyone can attest, Mr. Smith figured something out and cannot be beat.

Evidence of a great time can be found here (and I have video that I need to figure out what to do with). We have to do this more often… :)

(I promise to quit being such a nerd sometime soon ~ keyword = sometime)

Technorati Tags: nintendo, tshirt

With that said, here is my Wii Friend Code: 3575 5405 5746 7447

I’m ready to see a Mii parade so add me and I will do the same! :)

Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day as we did the usual Saturday stuff. You know the typical… Go to the mall, drive around, go to a car dealer and buy a new car (long story for another post) type of stuff that you don’t plan on doing but it just happens. Anyways, when we finally got home my concentration switched to what was really my main priority of the day ~ going to a midnight sale at Meijer to get a Nintendo Wii…

Unfortunately, everyone and their brother had the same plan (I blame the “popularity” of marusin.com and my post from the other day ~ yes, there is sarcasm there). My friend, Rick, was going to join me and we had our plan. However, Rick had started making some phone calls earlier and it seemed that everywhere that was on our radar was either already sold-out (with people waiting) or via pre-orders that they had sold a while back. Now, I was getting really nervous. I’m not kidding. I was straight-up nervous with anticipation in trying to figure out what my best plan would be. My thoughts were to set the alarm clock, wake up early and head to Target. After making a few phone calls and talking with the local Target, they were mentioning that people had already started lining up.

My loving wife could sense my anxiety and did what any geek-loving spouse would do: she convinced me to camp out. Now, you have to remember that things are a blur because of my anxiety, but I could swear she told me to go camp out “and not get shot” (I do remember her saying that). Within 5 minutes, I had my fleece-lined pants on and a bag packed with anything I thought I would need (my Nintendo DS, iPod, Nalgene of water, some candy and my sleeping bag). I started heading towards the Target and as I approached I saw the line outside. Now, if you don’t live in the Chicago-area you may not realize that it’s really cold right now. I’m talking easily in the 20′s/30′s overnight. I then looked over to Wal-Mart which is across the street and didn’t see anyone lined up. “That’s interesting”, I thought…

I parked and headed into Wal-Mart. I figured out where the electronics department was and inquired about their inventory and where the line was. I was told that they had 20′s Wiis to sell and they had chairs setup at the somewhat out-of-the-way entrance. I headed over to this somewhat out-of-the-way entrance and discovered that there were still a handful of seats available (I ended up being #16 out of 20) and that they were actually going to let everyone “camp” inside the entrance way (this is the area where they keep the carts, etc). It was somewhat heated and would definitely be warmer than staying outside all night at the Target across the street.

I quickly ran to my car and grabbed my “camping” supplies and claimed seat #16. All in all, the camping experience was kind of fun. There was a very interesting mix of people ranging from what you would expect (um, they’re called nerds) to parents waiting with their kids to hipsters from the local college to people like me (who I like to consider a step up from the “typical crowd” at something like this)… :) I listened to lots of music, played lots of games with some other people waiting (multiplayer DS is so fun), watched the group of people who sent someone to go bring in their XBox 360 + TV play games (there was power in this entrance area) and even slept for a few hours. Could I do this every weekend? No way. Could I do it every once and a while? Without a doubt. It was fun and kind of cool that all of these different kinds of people all had the same goal in mind. It was kind of like “The Breakfast Club” (with several Anthony Michael Hall characters at once).

When 7:00am came around we all got our tickets that guaranteed our console and headed to the service desk. I got my machine, etc. and headed home. It was really a surreal experience that I went through and while I was there for about 11 hours total, it honestly felt like 15 minutes.

Was it worth “camping out”?
Is that even a real question? The system is way fun and while we had a zillion things going on today, you better believe that I got some time in playing Wii Sports and Zelda. The controllers are really cool and I cannot stop thinking about how much I need to stop writing here and get another round of bowling in before I go to bed (did I mention that I’m tired at all?)… Yes, I know that there will be more shipments coming in and probably in a couple of weeks you’ll be able to walk into a store and pick up a Wii off the shelf. Part of the fun, though, is the adventure and things like that make the whole launch event that much more memorable.

I will tell you that I don’t think that anyone who picks up a controller and plays the Wii cannot help but have a smile on their face. I really can picture tons of these sold to the non-traditional gamer. The controller and interface are so unique and unlike anything that you have ever seen/witnessed. I think you would have a hard time not wanting one after playing with it for a few minutes.

If you’re looking for me online, my console’s Wii Number is: 3575 5405 5746 7447 Feel free to send me a message and say hi and see if my back has recovered from sleeping on a concrete floor last night… :)

My Wii procurement strategy is Meijer (at midnight) -> Target (crack o’ dawn) -> Costco… I better get a console with this much dedication. Will I be camping out? No. Will it be close to camping out? Uh, that’s an embarrassing question to answer for a 32 year old with a family… :)

All I can say is wish me luck… This really/unfortunately has been my biggest plan of the week.

You see, you’ve jacked up my computer TWICE today by completely hosing all of my network connections. Looking back, I didn’t need you then and I still don’t need you. You made it seem like you were going to solve all of my problems, but after a quick reboot you turned on me and took my network connectivity with you.

I’ve never had good luck with VPN software and you kept my streak going by bringing that down with you as well.

This is just a warning to anyone thinking about installing ActiveSync on their computer so they can sync a Windows Mobile device with it. If you have 5+ hours to kill troubleshooting or don’t use your computer on any sort of network, then go ahead. Otherwise, I’m sure you can figure out a better way to sync your device.