Pablito Gets Box Of His Own

Having scrapped and saved and worked myself into the ground the past 2 weeks at work, I'd finally collected enough money to get my own Xbox 360. Just having the dough wasn't the only hurdle to overcome either. It started on Friday when The Daymonster forwarded me a deal regarding getting a free copy of Halo 3 with the purchase of a 360. All you had to do was register your box's serial number and put a code into this website and your free copy would arrive in the mail in a couple short weeks! I was immediately excited, perhaps too excited. After thinking about it for the rest of the work day I decided I'd buy one online since my company has a partnership with Microsoft and I could get a small discount through the glorious Employee Purchase Program. Unfortunately my computer froze near the end of the day and I didn't want to take the time to reboot and risk missing the bus.

I tortured myself all weekend mulling it over in my head again and again. Should I try to get one online on Monday? I can find a ride to Best Buy, should I just get one in the store? Should I get one at all?

Monday came and I arrived at work like any other day. I logged into my computer, checked my email, went to the company intranet and ordered a 360... A wave of hysteria rushed over me. I just ordered my own Xbox! I chose the fastest shipping, it said it would take 2-3 days. That's not long! I'm a bit more patient than Daymonster, I'll be fine until then. I quickly got a confirmation email of my purchase and not long after that I got an email confirming the item was on backorder: "Please allow 7 to 14 days for more inventory to become available."

There was only one appropriate thing to say: "That's unacceptable."

I scoured the website for a number I could call to cancel my order but it was all automated. The only option was to try to cancel via email. I submitted my request and as of the time of this writing I still haven't gotten a response. I can only hope in 2 weeks a second Xbox doesn't arrive at my door.

Monday night was uneventful. I suspect other KofC members played a few casual Halo matches while I, as Valencia, got knocked out of the Champion's League quarter final stage (in penalties!) by Roma in Football Manager. I still had no idea what I was to do about my Xbox situation.

Tuesday arrived and I sent in a few more emails requesting my order be canceled. Then I made plans with my brother to go to Best Buy after work and get a 360 the sure-fire way. 3:00, alright the day is almost over. I'll just go to bathroom to waste some time. While on the toilet, darkness... the lights go out. Is this a joke? Who shuts the lights off in here? The power had gone out, I realized, after finishing up and finding my way outside. It started back up when I got to my desk so I turned on my PC to get back to work. A little less than an hour later... darkness again! I can't work in this environment! In the middle of a text message to my brother to pick me up immediately, the power comes back on and I think better of trying to sneak out early. 5:00 comes and goes. Where is Turner? He was supposed to come get me 15 minutes ago. I call him and he's in the middle of an online poker tourney. Pretty good excuse, I can't argue with that. He promises to pick me up at the break in 9 minutes and go back to his house for him to finish the tourney and afterwards we'd head to Best Buy. Back at his house I sit there half watching him play, half watching TV. He starts getting excited; he's almost in the money! He opens up the tourney lobby and there's 19 players left and the top payout is $23.50?! What the fuck! I sat here waiting for you to finish this tourney worth a couple bucks? I throw a $10 bill at him and say I'll buy him out if we can go to Best Buy RIGHT NOW.

Finally, we're in the store and there's enough copies of Rock Band for all the customers to buy two! I grab one along with a 360 and Halo 3. I felt so relieved to have them in my cart, hand the cashier my card and have them all paid for. I ride back to my apartment with the Rock Band box buckled safely in the backseat.

Upon coming home, we set about the business of unpacking everything, which took a while and made quite a mess that I'll hopefully have cleaned up by Sunday. Rock Band is amazing. I never imagined the drums would be so fun. I promise I'll stick to guitar for the KofC band though, otherwise we'd just be a drumline. After Turner left I spent a little time getting my connection set up and Gamertag recovered and signed into Halo 3 where Josey and Daymonster were waiting for me. The comforting environment of my own apartment and probably the fact that I didn't have to share a screen was conducive to my play. Here are my stats from last night compared to the (last time I played at SB and Josey's):

Record: 7-2-1 (5-8)
K/D: 109/103 (172/191)

Quite an improvement I should say!

Supplement:
Not even 30 seconds after posting this I received an email from Microsoft Care Team alerting me that my online order had, per my request, indeed been canceled.

Could this ending be any happier?