Day Zero

Oh, how the video game gods mock me! Today, June 24th, started out like any other. I woke up. Got ready for work. Dropped my son off at day care (who was really excited because today was "Water Day"). I went on to work in my Italy jersey and hat, ready to support my national team in it's final group game that they would *hopefully* win so they could advance to the round of 16 of the World Cup.

Work wasn't so bad. I was able to get some deliverables done that pleased my manager. Finally, around 10 am, I started to stream the Italy/Slovakia game to my laptop. As I worked and made a few phone calls to some co-workers, I was witness to one of the worst soccer games of my life. Not only was Italy losing but they were losing badly!! Here was the defending World Cup champions getting their asses handed to them by Slovakia. SLOVAKIA!!! The game ended 3-2 Slovakia and it was only 3-2 because Italy scored a miracle goal in stoppage time. I was extremely upset. Added insult was Slovakia trying to eat up time with their players faking injuries in phantom fouls and taking their sweet ass time to make substitutions.

So I continue through my day, trying to get over the loss of my team and the heartbreak that they will not continue on in the cup tournament. As I check a few Internet sites, I hit up GameStop and notice that they are having a deal where they give you $100 for your old Xbox console when it's traded in towards the new 250gb Xbox Slim. They were also giving great trade in deals on the hard drives and such. So, being that I had 1 console that was basically collecting dust, I figured I could put that with my main console and basically get the new Xbox Slim for free. That would put me back to one console (but I ever really used only the one anyways) but would give me a 250GB hard drive (100GB more then both my other's combined) and a brand spanking new warranty. So, I write up all that I have to collect when I get home and ready myself for one sweet of a trade-in deal!

I go and pick up Gabe from day care and we head on home. He's telling me about his day but I'm already half thinking about all the crap I have to download when I get the new Xbox home. We get home and the upstairs is like a fucking sauna. Thermostat was set to 73 but it's 80 fucking degrees up there. In a panic, I call our HVac guy to come over. As he is on his way, Dawn calls and tells me that it's ass hot outside and so the system probably just can't keep up with Satan's heat outside. $90 later, the HVac guy is telling me the same thing. I thank him for hooking me up with topping off my AC with a bit of freon and he goes on his way. I feel like an ass. But no matter! I'm getting a sweet brand new Xbox soon!

So I gather up both my Xbox consoles and goodies, kiss Dawn and Gabe, and head out the door to GameStop! I had a smile on my face all the way to the store. I was really stoked! I enter the store, explain why I am there, and we get the transaction under way. Apparently, a person is not allowed to trade in 2 consoles on one day. Manager told me that is mainly there to weed out the shady people who hock stolen stuff. But luckily he knows me and knows how much I've spent there and so they find a way to work around the system. It's a long, drawn out process that took about 30 minutes. I'm chatting with the guy helping me and we go off onto various conversations about Soccer and Comics and stuff. In the end, I'm able to have the new system completely paid for with $42 left over which I promptly put down to reserve Gears of War 3. I know it's a ways off but at least I don't have to worry about it now. Now comes the final poke in the balls.

The associate tells me that I should see my console by about July 16th at the latest..... July fucking 16th. I'm a little stunned and somehow find my way to my car. As I drive home, I start to come out of my initial shock and remember seeing on the GameStop website that it was not only already out but that that particular store was said to have one in stock! So I pick up dinner for the family and boot up my PC when I get home. I hit the GS site and sure enough, I was right. I call up the store and speak with the manager. He tells me that it's a glitch on the site that they've been trying to fix. Apparently, there is a ghost system in there that keeps telling their HQ that they have one in stock. He tells me that I'm #9 of 9 people who still have it reserved and that they are trickling in at about 4 at a time. He then tells me that I should see it in about 2 weeks tops and that he'll call as soon as it comes in.

So. Here I sit, stewing about how I totally screwed myself not out of 1 but both my fucking Xboxes and now have to wait weeks before I can play again. To top it off, I just got Mass Effect 2 for Father's Day and was just getting started in the game. Why have the video game gods forsaken me so?

Tonight, I have no idea what to do to occupy myself. I am tempted to dust off and boot up my Dreamcast but am trying to resist the urge. I have a crap load of models I could paint but Lord knows how much I don't like painting and just looking at my Warhammer 40k Tyranid army just pains me, lol. I have already done all the repair work on my Hordes Circle army (after 2 years) but I'll be damned if I put any more effort into that army if no one plays.

My only consolation is that I just picked up a few new D&D 4th Ed books I can flip through and tomorrow night I'm having some friends over for some board games. God help me this weekend though... Look for me in the news!!!