'twas me.

So I call EB today, wondering if there was any word on the next shipment. The lady on the phone was really nice (I tried to break off the conversation a couple times to hang up, but she extended it further to help me...must've been bored) , and she said they were expecting twelve units this week, but I was sixth after that. She wasn't sure if I'd get one before Xmas.

Feeling even more depressed than ever, I go do some grocery shopping. I figured since I have some time, I'll check out a few stores along the way.

BestBuy. Nadda
Futureshop. Nadda
WillowGames. Nadda
Zellers. Nadda
ToysRus. Nadda

I was in the Best Buy plaza, and I saw the Wal-Mart across the street and figured, hey, may aswell give it a shot. I got right up to the electronics section, and there it was. The light at the end of my tunnel. Five premium X360 boxes in the case. The guy was just putting them in there. After previous false alarms with 'display boxes' at BestBuy (bastards), I figured I'd ask before crapping my pants.

Me, cool as usual: "a-are those real?" (that's what I said *shakes head*)

God. I mean Wal-Mart employee: "yep. You want one?"

Me:"hell yeah. Is it a premium?"

WME:"Uh, I think, take it".

And I grab it, almost drop it cause it weigh 120 pounds, hug it, and then checkout. I know everyone in the store was looking at me whilst I was walking out. I felt like some old lady protecting her purse with a kung-fu grip walking through the red-light district at night. Although I'd probably slaughter most of the soccer moms and grandma's shopping in there, you never know with some of them.

I get to the car. Sweeeet!!!!!

7:30am: Alarm Goes off...............




Just kidding But I was worried I was dreaming it. I did a bunch of tests to make sure I didn't go through that again. On the drive home I started to read out the car model's infront of me

"Okay, Mercury Sable, plate 108GCN"

"Ford F150 2223FA"

etc. etc.

First test passed. Then came the slaps. Whilst waiting at the lights, I gave myself quick slaps to make sure I wasn't dreaming. I'm pretty sure a lady in the opposite car saw me. But I can't worry about that now. Sometimes dreams can get off-track quickly.

I promised myself, if I were sleeping and woke up, I'd punch a hole in the wall. That was another sign I wasn't dreaming.

Luck is rarely on my side. The fact that I entered that store just as the systems were being stocked seemed too good to be true. I had a feeling someone was going to rear-end me, and whilst everyone would be asking if I was okay after smashing my face into the windsheild and bleeding out of my eye, I'd be screaming like a maniac trying to open my mangled trunk just to find a 360 split in two.

But alas, I finally got it home safely. It's downstairs right now, I'll probably set it up tonight. I can finally sleep calmly at night without weird nerd dreams of getting 360's all the time.

Captains Log, stardate 09122005

The night before: I checked out bestbuy.ca to confirm the rumors, that yes, there would be a small 'relaunch' of the Xbox 360 here in Canada for all Best Buy stores on the 9th, with a minimum 10 consoles at each location. I thought to myself, what are the chances that all the nerds in Langley/Cloverdale/Surrey would check this website? Hopefully I'll score a system by tommorow morning"

12:01am: I set the clock alarm to 7:30am, giving me time to shower, put work clothes on and kick it to the BB in Langley with an hour or so left before opening

7:20 am: Woke up before the alarm. Had to do my business.

7:51 am: Ready and set to go. Grabbed the receipt for the HDTV I bought there incase they try to rape me with one of their bundles

8:08 am: Arrive at the store, there's a lineup going about twelve deep. Not too bad, hopefully some of them came together.

8:10 am: Go and stand up against the wall. Some girls walk off and stand on the other side of the sliding doors (?). Okay. Weirdos.

8:52 am: Fast forward fourty of the most boring moments of my life, enter store manager. Yes, there are enough systems for everyone in line! Hurray!

8:55am: They open the doors five minutes early, since it's freezing out, and still night. Everyone speedwalks to the X360 section. Being near the end of the line, I'm worried all premium units will be taken before I get to it, leaving me with only the Core.

9:00am: After waiting for the first few soccermoms to get their systems, the next few ladies are simply reading the box to see what they like. Luckily, I see one premium on the shelf, and grab it. My god, this is the moment I've been waiting forever for. Finally, the Xbox 360 is in my hands!!!

9:02am: I walk away from the crowd. I start reading the side of the box for accesories, excited as hell. Wait. Something's wrong. Why can't I read the writing? The harder I try, the blurrier it gets.

7:30 am: Alarm goes off. Wake up........ ........... .................

FFFFFFFFFFFFFF*********************RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*******************K

What kind of loser am I now? I dreamt it! I must've taken a nap after doing my business.

8:15 am: Leave house, head to Best Buy in Langley

8:25 am: Get there, only a couple in line, yes!

8:26 am: Park my car. Wait, f***, why are there twelve year olds sleeping in that Accord across me?

8:27am: Walk up to store doors, felt heart go through ass. "All Xbox 360's accounted for " sign assily taped to the window

8:28 am: Goes to car, punches steering wheel.

8:35 am: Drives to work both sleepy and pissed off.

8:50 am: I notice the clock. Still time for some Mcdonalds breakfast. Get's two bacon'n'eggers. Feel's a tad better.

9:01 am: Starts work for the day.

*Yeah, I flipped between first, second, third and nineth person point of view there, sue me*

I posted this at the home theater board as well, but I figured maybe some of the OGU crew could help me. This is pretty much a copy and paste of what I wrote there. I went to a few stores, and this is what I came up with,

"I was here a few months ago (actually, it's probably been a year by now), when I needed help with my 5.1 in my room. Now, I'll be getting an X360 soon, and this HDTV talk is getting me down. Right now, I have a 20" JVC flatscreen with composite hookups. It looks great on the Xbox and GC, but I come next week, this setup will be outdated. I'll have spent over $700 on the X360 after all is said and done, so my budget isn't that great. I'm looking for a 26"-30" tube HDTV for my room. Because of how close I am to the TV, I didn't want an LCD or Plasma, because of that 'blur' effect in fast moving games/movies. I heard that tube's don't have that problem. I also like having my center channel on top of the TV, so a flatscreen isn't that big of a must.

Right now, I'm checking out futureshop.ca and bestbuy.ca (I'm canadian). There's a 30" HDTV Toshiba I'm looking at, the guy I talked to at the store said he'd get it for me for $850. It has 1080i, 3D YC filter and progressive scan. Not too bad, exept one of the customer reviews had this,

"The only negative is that the HD component inputs only allow HD source, so if you have component DVD from your game console or DVD, it won't work on this TV."

What does that mean? Will it still work with the X360, or Xbox?

The only thing with this is, there's a 26" version availble for $599 at bestbuy. That's only four inches for $250....pretty big difference. However, I made the mistake last time of rushing into buying a tv, and I regretted only getting a 20" after all was said and done.

There's another 26" availble too, it's a Panasonic Flat Tube EDTV. It also has 1080i and 480p.

What do you guys recommend? I can't find any tv with 720p in this price range...is it much better at all compared to 1080i? Would this tv be good enough to last me atleast 3-4 years? I know 1080p is coming out soon, does that mean this tv will be out-dated by year's end? Are there any other tv's in this price range/category?

Thanks for any help/suggestions."

Thanks for any help/suggestions from you ladies aswell.