December 19, 2005

WESTERVILLE, OH — Jeff Blankenburg upgraded the Golfapalooza entertainment this week with a new Xbox 360. His adventure could prompt Golfapalooza officials to ask, "who is this guy?"

Blankenburg sent a letter to the business office.

"A friend of mine (Brian) and I decided to camp out at the local Best Buy to get an XBox 360.  We got there around 1:30 on Saturday, Dec. 17, and there were already 17 people in line in front of us.  The first guys in line got there at 6:00 AM!  Since there were going to be 36 consoles for sale, camping out seemed like our only option.  Best Buy, despite my best negotiating efforts, would not be selling any of them until 8:00 AM Sunday morning.

So we loaded up a tent, some chairs, and borrowed some sleeping bags from a friend (thanks Joe & Sharon), and got to waiting.  We met some interesting characters (yes, if you're wondering, we were the oldest two there), and froze...until about 11:00 PM.  It was a balmy 16 degrees F outside.  We had hot cocoa brought by a few people (thanks Phil and James).  Then a good friend (thanks Walt) picked up and delivered us salvation in the form of a fumeless, made for use indoors, kerosene heater.  Parking the heater inside the tent (certainly a fire code violation) and covering the doorway with a blanket created quite a nice heat pocket in which to sleep.

I think we slept from about 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM Saturday morning, despite the teenaged efforts (those damned kids in front of us would not be quiet :) ) to keep us awake.  Because one of the kids in front of us revealed that despite the fact that he was waiting in line with his buddies, he was not intending to purchase a console when the time came, once 6:00 hit, Walt showed back up.  For $30, Walt earned himself a place in line (in front of me, no less) and all three of us emerged victorious from Best Buy around 8:15 AM."

Blankenburg promptly drove home, ate a bit, and slept.