After I completed my script to scrape websites for Wii availability - yes, I updated the script so that it could watch multiple sites at once, code will come in a future posting - I began to consider whether my chances of scoring a Wii from an online retailer were greater than my chances of trying to track one down at a plain old brick and mortar store. Here's my general line of thought:

'While I can essentially watch these websites and know within minutes of Wii availability, it doesn't benefit most of these stores to sell the Wii online at this time. It's easy for me to get tunnel vision when I shop online. There aren't any pretty product displays to catch my eye, there aren't any impulse buys in the checkout aisle for me to grab as I wait for a checker to ring me up and take my payment. It's definitely a smarter move for these stores (Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA) to have bodies on their premises; people holding Things in their hands as they shop. I think my odds of securing a Wii will increase if I spend a little time trying to track one down in Real Life.'

So I made a few calls to places. I had read a news snippet on the web that said EBGames/Gamestop/Funcoland (all the same company) had been restocked, so I started calling the ones near me.

"Can you tell me when you expect to get in another shipment of Wiis?"
"No. We don't have any idea. We _might_ have some on Friday," Friday being Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year. "Call back later on. Keep checking." The answer was the same at all four locations I called. That was on Tuesday.

I called again on Wednesday and got the same answer at all except one, Funcoland at Northwest Plaza. They told me that they WOULD have some for Friday, but it was a very small amount.

"Can you tell me how many that is?"

"A very small amount, " the girl who answered repeated into my ear.

"You're not allowed to tell me, are you?"

"Umm..No...?"

OK. That's fine I guess. At that moment, I began to formulate a Black Friday Plan of Attack, or BFPA.

The BFPA went through several permutations as Thanksgiving day passed. TV ads for various stores promised early openings at such and such an hour. Funcoland was slated to open at 7:00. I saw that Target was to open at 6:00 and decided, tentatively, to go there first, and then on to Funcoland, should my mission fail at Target, and from Funcoland to work for the short business day. Since Target is on the way to Northwest Plaza, the plan was a sensible one.

I notified Cat of the BFPA, told her my thoughts about how I thought it should go.

"What time are you going to get up?"

"5:00," I answered.

"You better get up at 4:30 if you're going to get ready for work before you go."

I didn't really answer, but she was right. When we turned off the lights for sleep, she asked again, "What time are you getting up?"

"4:30."

"Do you want me to turn on my phone alarm? I KNOW you won't hear yours."

"No thanks. I'll be OK," and I set the alarm on my phone and settled in for a night of restless sleep.

At 4:30, my phone started playing a song. I stopped it, got in the shower, got dressed, kissed Cat goodbye and told her that I was leaving and got out the laptop to plan my morning's activities. Northwest Plaza has both a Funcoland and a Gamestop in it, and I hoped to find a map of the mall online so that I could park in the best possible spot.

No such luck, Northwest Plaza was recently bought from Westfield Shopping Centers, and so I couldn't find a map, and didn't want to spend any more time on the exercise, sensing some urgency to my mission.

As I approached Target, the parking lot was well lit, and appeared to be quite full. At that moment, I decided to skip Target. It was only 5:00, an hour before Target was set to open, but I didn't want to go in there, strike out, and then find myself one person removed from the last Wii at Funcoland. I knew that they would have a "very small amount," but I wasn't sure what exactly that meant, so I decided that if I could be one of the first three in line at Funcoland, then I'd probably close the deal.

So I went straight to Northwest Plaza with no idea where it was best to park. I drove around the mall for a bit and saw that Sears had opened at 5:00. I parked and went in, searched for a mall exit from Sears, and made a b-line for the kiosk with the map and directory on it. I found the Gamestop, which was just up the hall from where I was standing, and Funcoland, which only appeared to have an external entrance. That meant a potentially long morning waiting in the cold. But yo don't achieve greatness without a little bit of sacrifice.

I set off through the mall in search of these two stores. Gamestop was there, in the heated mall, but they hadn't been able to confirm that they'd have any Wiis for me to purchase, so I went on and looked for the entrance to Funcoland. I found it outside. There was no one there yet, but it was on the other side of the mall from where I parked. It was still only about 5:15, so I went back into the mall, through Sears, got my car, and moved it around to Funcoland. By this time, there was a man sitting in his car waiting for others to attempt to gain the door. As soon as I pulled up, he got out and moved slowly toward the door.

Seeing that it was only he and I, and that I was perfectly to be second in line, I got out my book and started reading. He got back in his car.

About fifteen minutes later, another car pulled up and parked outside Funcoland. I thought that third in line could be stretching the outer limit of "a very small amount," so I got out of my car - and so did man number one - and went to the door, followed closely by person number three. Number four parked and strolled up ten to fifteen minutes later.

We began to chat: "What are you waiting for?"
"A Wii. You?"
"Same thing."
4: "I was at the Gamestop down on Olive and they already had about fifteen people in line. Someone told me that all the Gamestops got 6 Wiis each, so I left and came up here."

"That's hopeful," I thought. "The BFPA is unfolding really well."

We waited longer, and line-member five showed up. Line-member 6 came up at about 6:15. He had been at the Galleria, which was sold out. But he'd gotten them to call around, and the Gamestop inside had no line at all.

A few minutes later, the lone Funcoland employee for the morning got dropped off by his mom or grandma. "What are you all Waiting for?"

"The Wii!"

"Well, if each of you is buying one, we'll be fine. Any more than that and we might have a problem."

We all relaxed a bit.

A couple more folks came up and we sent them inside to the no-line Gamestop. One man, who came with his daughter, wouldn't go inside. He had a real attitude, and his daughter didn't seem to pleased with him.

"Go inside," we said. "The line is short. He only has six here."

"I'll wait here. All the *expletive* money I spend in here and they don't even have one of these *expletive* machines for me?"

Eyebrows raised and glances passed between the six, but no one wanted to say anything to him. He seemed ready to punch somebody, and it seemed like it would hurt, if he did.

The store opened, we filed in, and bought our Wiis. While member one was making his purchase, the frightening number seven said, "These *expletive denoting gay oral sex* all say they're gonna buy one of those Wiis. What about me? All the money I spend in here and you don't have one for me? they're probably gonna just sell them on Ebay, anyway." The last part came out under his breath.

It was my turn. There were two extra remotes left, several copies of the new Zelda game, and some other games on the shelf. The clerk picked up and scanned my Wii. "Did you need anything else?"

"Yeah. An extra remote, Zelda, and do you have a copy of Madden?"

"We should. Would you go grab a case off the shelf over there?"

I did. He rang me up, I paid, and left. I didn't want to be around with my Wii in hand while number seven went off and his daughter fumed with embarassment.

I sent a text message to Cat that read: Success!