We got a Wii!!

Ahhh, finally!

Jesse and I have longed for a Wii since we first learned of their existence over a year and a half ago. But we didn't get one right away, for a couple reasons. 1) We were still playing our online video game (World of Warcraft) pretty regularly. It was something fun that we enjoyed doing together, so we decided not to introduce another (costly) gaming system into the mix while we were still very much involved in a different one. 2) They were out of stock everywhere, all the time, so we couldn't have found one if we wanted to!

We first actually played the Wii during a family reunion last summer, when his brother brought a Wii with him. It was so much fun, now we were even more eager to own one of our own. But still, cost and time were an issue.

Over the last few months, I've really stopped playing our game except for a few rare occasions. I actually finally decided to officially unsubscribe recently, and as of the early part of May, I won't be able to log in and play anymore unless I resubscribe (i.e., pay another monthly fee). Jesse has still been playing, but mostly out of habit, really.

And of course, now here come the economic stimulus checks. We haven't received ours yet, but any day now, we expect $1800 thanks to GWB's "bright" idea. (And at this point, I totally have to share a link to a video that another blogging friend introduced: Economic Expert). Since our savings has been rather depleted until very recently, we decided early on to put as much as possible into our savings. But come on, $1800 for free? We can't resist. We decided to spend a small chunk of it on something fun, and finally get our Wii.

So we've been looking around a lot, but still ran into the problem of hey, wait a minute - they're still out of stock, everywhere you look! We had called around to several stores, asked some in person, and everywhere we asked, they told us that they get Wii's in stock on Sundays, and they're usually gone within hours.

Well, darn. Since we don't shop on Sundays, as a religious rule, that pretty much guarantees that we'll never have a Wii, right? Not unless we spend a crazy amount at eBay, where people mark them up for profit, and shipping costs at least $30. But then a friend suggested Craigslist. Well, duh! Why didn't I think of that? Craigslist is awesome - that's how we've managed to find a renter for our condo out in Colorado when we've needed one. Nice and cheap (errr, FREE that is!), and fast response. So I started looking around Craistlist, and while people were still marking them up for a small profit, at least I could pick them up locally and forget about shipping costs.

And THEN, on Monday morning, while browsing around for a Wii, I ran into a post on Craigslist that said, "HEY- they still have some in stock up at the mall!" I'm sure I looked stunned as I read it, because I could hardly believe it! I called Jesse to have him run over during lunch to check, since it's so close to his work, but he misunderstood me on the phone, and thought I was talking about somewhere too far for him to squeeze into his busy lunch schedule that day. When we talked again after work, he quickly called up the store to see if they still had them. No, unfortunately, they did not. Sold out that day. *sigh*

But then, Jesse decided to call back Circuit City. He had called them a couple weeks ago to find out their typical Wii stocking schedule, and the customer service rep had been completely unhelpful (typical Maryland). He decided to try calling them again, just because. As someone answered the phone, he asked, "Do you have any Wii's in stock?" And a prompt, uninterested answer of "Yes" was the reply. Jesse was a little stunned, and took a second and a half to respond with a "Really? You do??" And when it was confirmed, off he ran to put on his shoes, head out to the car, and drive to buy our very own Wii.

Half and hour or so later, he returned home with the prize: A brand new Wii, and a couple extra games to go with it. All our very own!

And YES - it's just as much fun as we knew it would be! And so worth waiting for, all this time! Jacob, for the first time ever, can go beyond watching everyone else play, and actually manages to play a little bit on his own. Melinda needs constant monitoring so she doesn't whack someone with the controller, though - all her focus goes to the TV and she doesn't notice when Jacob (or even Mom and baby Alex) walk too close to her, and swings her hardest right into the passer byes. Whoops.

But at any rate, it's a lot of fun. And so exciting for us, who thought we'd be lucky to ever actually find one for sale!

You want to know what the crazy part was? I took the kids to Target the next day, and there on the shelf where they've never had any Wii's in stock for the past 1.5 years that we've looked, they had three Wii's waiting to be purchased. Is there some sort of twilight zone going on or something, where suddenly everyone has them in stock for several days at a time?