The drama of finding a birthday present for Sam...

We had a good time on Friday celebrating Sam's birthday.  We still don't have a digital camera, so no pics.  There was the alluded to drama that did indeed occur and I'm going to share it with you.  The drama began to rear its ugly head the Tuesday before.  Sam and I had agreed that this year we would get a combined birthday present for both of us.  We've been wanting to get a Wii since it came out, but just decided to wait and give it at least a year or so before we got one.  We like to wait until the price comes down a bit.  Anyway, we decided that we would get one for both of our birthdays.  The few weeks before, every time we went to Wal Mart, we would go and take a peek in the electronics area and see if they had one.  They always did.  Because of that, I wasn't too concerned about getting one in time.  (Remember the craziness with the Wiis last Christmas?  Yeah.  I was just making sure that wasn't going to be the case still.)  

So, Tuesday, while Sam was at work, the boys and I went to our regular Wal Mart to go buy the wii.  Yep, you guessed it.  They were out and couldn't guarantee that they were gonna get any in at any specific time.  Okay, so we went to another wal mart.  Same thing.  What?!!?!?!?!  I'd also been keeping an eye out for them at Sam's and Costco, hoping that they would get a shipment in, but nope, not since before last Christmas!

  *****I have to rant for a minute against the Nintendo company.  What is the deal?!?!?!  Seriously, how on earth are you running your business?  I have no doubt that you are still making quite a profit, but this weird supply/demand delusion is getting out of hand!  I mean you could have made a killing last Christmas by increasing your output at least triple and I know that all those consoles would have been sold!  People see those things and snatch them up like there is no tomorrow, yet still there is a shortage.  I recommend seriously rethinking your production output and quitting this hit and miss business.  There's obviously still a super high demand for these consoles, so....... duh.  Reminds me of a certain Elmo doll fiasco a few years back... also, anyone remember the beanie babies debacle? (What was that all about anyway?)  Okay, rant is officially over, back to drama recap.**** 

So, after being worn out, we went home.  When Sam got home we went back out looking for the ever elusive wii console armed with the addresses of four more wal marts.  On the way, we also searched in a KMart, a Target and a Circuit City.  NOT one of these places had a stinkin' wii!!!!!!!  Well, as you can imagine we were all tired and super frustrated.  I began to think we were not going to have it by Sam's birthday.  Very irritating.  Anyway, we got home and I decided to call the closest Fry's Electronics.  If you are not familiar with this store it is like a Best Buy on steroids.  It has a much larger selection of all things electronic and usually their customer service is quite nice.  Don't get me started on Best Buy's lack thereof!  Anyway, I asked if they had any in stock and much to my surprise, they did!  They didn't sell it by itself, but in a bundle instead.  When he told me what all was included in the bundle, I was fine with it because we were gonna get that stuff anyway and the prices were comparable. 

 Anyway, I ended up going in on Friday and getting one. Yay!!!  Then I turned my attention to obtaining a motorcycle tank bag for Sam as a present from the boys.  He'd been wanting one for a while and he'd shown me the kind he wanted so I thought surely I'd be able to find one.  Easier said than done, right? Right.  I went to a motorcycle accessories shop, a kawasaki dealer, a harley shop and was sorely disappointed!  Two of the stores had tank bags, but none of them looked like the ones Sam had shown me.  I was just deflated after that.  I decided that he would just have to go and choose his own.  After that we went to a safeway that I happened upon on the way home to see if we could procure a german chocolate birthday cake.  Now normally the safeways that I've shopped in are great.  Their bakeries make yummy stuff, but this one apparently didn't feel that need.  They didn't have anything!  No cakes, no doughnuts....it was a sad situation to say the least.  At that point, the boys and I were exhausted and tired of getting into and out of the car in the searing heat, so we just went home.  We got home about 30 mins before sam did and poor zekey got started super late on his nap.  After we got home, I called the Safeway I normally go to and asked if they had the cake I was looking for.  She actually had two different types available!  Woo-hoo!  I had her put a birthday message on it and picked it up later that day.  

After Sam got home and we had rested and Zekey woke up from his nap, we went out to eat at the Bass Pro Shop's restaurant.  It was pretty good, but unfortunately several days of running around for most of the day finally caught up with me and I was a severe drag for the rest of the evening.  We ended up going home and Sam connected the wii and he and Braden played a few rounds of golf, bowling and tennis.  I sat in as a spectator.  All in all it was a good birthday and everyone had a good time.  Next time I will remember my usual policy of doing all of my searching via phone instead of physically going there first.  Live and learn.