What's all the hype about?

In case you haven't heard, In-N-Out Burger opened in Draper this week. My dad said he went by around 11:30 AM on the opening day and the place was packed. I'm talking, cars-lined-up-for-a-couple-of-blocks packed. On the news they interviewed several people who had camped out in tents just so they could get a burger and fries at opening. I started wondering what kind of people would do this. Obviously, they weren't doing it for the food. Honestly, In-N-Out Burger is good, but it's not that good! Do you think they wanted to get on the news or do you think they wanted to have a good story to tell? I'm willing to bet that for most of the people, it's the latter. Confession: I once stood in line over night. Although I really wanted the item I was standing in line for, the story was probably a bigger motivation. So, here it is . . .

Do you remember when the Nintendo Wii came out 3 years ago and they were really hard to get? For some reason, Kate and I really wanted one. It was almost Christmas and our goal was to have one under the tree. I think that we may not have been so desperate to have one once Christmas was over, so a lot of of our motivation depended on getting one for Christmas. It would be a great triumph. I called around to so many stores and soon realized that the only way we were going to get one was if we waited in line . . . all night.

I called the Circuit City in Fort Union on the first Saturday in December and found out that they were getting a shipment of 6 Wiis, but they weren't going to sell them until Sunday morning. Kate and I loaded some chairs and blankets in the car, dressed in our ski clothes and headed to Circuit City around 9:00 PM. There were already about 3 people in line, so we set up our stuff right next to them. At first, I really couldn't believe what we were doing; it didn't seem real, but as the surrounding stores began closing and the parking lot emptied, I realized we were in this for the long hall.

Did I mention it was snowing? Yeah, there was a big storm that night. Luckily we were under the overhang of the building. Just across the parking lot at Target, there must have been about 50 people waiting in line. Target was getting a bigger shipment, but the people had to be out in the open. I almost felt sorry for them. Around 2 or 3 in the morning, my dad showed up and stayed the rest of the time. I don't think he could sleep while Kate and I were out of our minds. We alternated going to the car and sitting outside. Of course my dad brought the camera so I included the pictures below. Kate was so enthused!

I think it was 7 AM when Circuit City opened. Kate bought one and I bought one. We kept one and sold the other for almost double. I thought it was worth it because we got a Wii out of it. Now doing the same thing for a hamburger? I don't think so, but I do plan on heading over to In-N-Out eventually. It is pretty good.

Domestic Disturbance

Yesterday I went to Paradise Bakery for lunch. When I was walking back out to my car, I noticed a couple who passed me, walking fast. The man was carrying a crying 2-year-old girl while the woman was trying to keep up with the man. There were other groups of 2-3 people around me walking to there cars as well. So now I was walking about 15 feet behind this couple when the man grabbed the woman's phone and threw it hard on the ground. It bounced away, the woman went to retrieve it and then ran after the man saying, "you can't take my daughter." She looked around at the people in the parking lot and said, "will someone please help me?" She made eye contact with me, but I didn't know what to do. Luckily, there were 2 rather large, tough-looking guys nearest to her, so they went over to intervene. This is how the confrontation went:

Tough Guys: What's going on here? (These guys are pretty much ignored by the couple.)
Woman to Man: You can't take my daughter. She's crying because she wants her Mommy. She doesn't want to go with you. You can't take her.
Though Guys: Are you two separated?
Man to Woman: Do you think it's okay to do this in front of her? Let me just go put her in the car and we'll talk.
Woman: No. I'm going to call the cops.
Man: Let me just go put her in the car and then we'll talk.
Though Guys: We can't let you do that if there's going to be violence.
Woman to Man: Yeah, you're violent.
Man: I'm not violent. How am I violent?
Woman: You threw my freaking phone. Give me my daughter or I'm going to call the cops.

That's all I heard because at this point, I got into my car. There were a bunch of rubber-neckers and I didn't want to be one of those people. As I drove away, the man was putting the little girl into a car. He shut the door and then the talking commenced. Obviously I didn't hear anything, but I saw a bunch of angry hand gestures and people still standing around to keep the peace, I guess. It was kind of intense though. Have any of you ever seen anything like this? Did you do anything?

I Voted

So, you know those "I voted" stickers you get after you've voted? I'm just curious, do you guys wear those? Isn't it kind of like bragging or giving a guilt trip to those who haven't voted? That's what I've always thought. Today, when the lady handed me mine, she said "here's your badge of honor." I thought about that a bit and realized that that was really true. It is a badge of honor and it's sad that those who go and do their duty as Americans have to be honored for doing such, even if that honor is just a little sticker. Well, I attached my sticker to my sweater and I hope it will remind those who see it to go vote too.