Mission Accomplished

The 11-year old was in hog heaven yesterday morning when he tore the wrapping off of this baby:

Hard to come by? You betcha. The truth is I picked one up about a week or two before Thanksgiving and it took diligence - DILIGENCE I tell ya! - to find the only one at a Gamestop some thirty miles away. Whew.

My condolences to those of you folks who busted your humps trying to land a Wii game system in the weeks before Christmas only to end up empty-handed. I spent a great deal of effort playing up the "unavailability" angle to my son to keep him wondering whether or not Dad was going to deliver. I think he actually resigned himself to the idea that it was a long-shot.

Now here's a dirty little secret about the "unavailability" of this thing that you don't hear about. I have it on good authority that a common occurence at your local Wal-mart/Target/Gamestop/Toys R Us (or pick any other retailer who carries them) is for some enterprising sales clerks to buy as many as possible upon their delivery - then turn around and sell them on eBay for as much as 100% profit!

Nothing illegal about it and far be it from me to knock the opportunism of our market capitalist system.

But all I can say is - you fargin' sneaky bastages!!!!