talkingDigital

I am going to make this rant short, but accurate.

The week the Palm Pre was announced, I did what many gadget geeks do, I visited the Sprint Store and asked ********, a girl I have known for a while who happens to work at the local Sprint store when it was coming out and whether they were putting together a waiting list. She assured me they were not and that I would be added to the list when it was created. I got excited.

After making a post about the Pre in February on Facebook, ******** messaged me and told me that the Pre was probably not coming until March but, “ill put ne on hold for you first shipment. rumor is it will launch the last week in march [sic]”

Over the next few months and as late as last week, I visited the Sprint Store and talked to *****, *** and ****** who I know from outside of our Sprint relationship. Each time asking to please put me on a waiting list if one formed. Each assured me that it would happen.

Tonight, I stopped in the Sprint store and when I asked, “What’s new?” I was treated like I was trying to make small talk. “With the Pre, I mean… Is it first come, first serve or invite only?” (****** told me last week it might be invite only and that I would be put on the list)

“We have a waiting list. Do you want to be added to it?” ***** asked. I asked if he was kidding. He assured me he wasn’t.

“How many people are on the list?”

Keep in mind that I have been told that our store may only get six or seven Pres – probably a made up number, but at least it’s a number.

“You’re number 12,” said *****.

I am guessing that the other 11 people must have been put on the list before the Palm Pre was announced.

Over the past six months I have been teased by all my “friends” on Twitter and Facebook about been a Pre fanatic. I have defended Sprint and Palm each on this very blog in addition to numerous threads on Palm and Pre website threads.

I have become the Pre promoter for Western Colorado. Several news sites, blogs and podcasts have asked me to provide my first impressions and reviews of the Pre on release day.

I will be providing those reviews, interviews and guest interviews whether I have the Pre or not. The question is, will I be talking about the Pre, or will I be talking about my experiences of trying to acquire a Pre?

Keep your eyes on PreCentral.net, HelpMeRick.com, DogHouseSystems.com and, of course, talkingDigital.org as well as my Facebook and Twitter feeds to find out.

On Saturday May 9, 2009, my 11-year-old son and I took off at 4am for a quick trip up to South Jordan, UT to see Star Trek at Nerdtacular 09.

This was the third year for the event put on by Scott Johnson of MyExtraLife.com, Extralife Radio and The Instance podcast.

My son had so much fun he ranks it second only to a Weird Al concert I took him to a few years ago. But, he also noted that he hasn’t done very many things like that. I have to say, as a guy who has done many things like that, I would put it  right up there with those things too.

I would have to say, the event feels like a combination of all of the positive aspects of waiting in line all night for an XBox 360 or Playstation, a sci-fi (syfy) film fest, a really good Comic-Con panel discussion and celebrity book signing.

I spent the drive headed to the event explaining the lore of Star Trek to my son in case the movie was heavy on references to the old TV show. As it turns out, he loved the movie having never seen the TV show, but I had to explain the lore of Scott Johnson instead as Brian shouted, “Lame” or we discussed why we can’t let our kids listen to ELR when we heard that “O” was co-hosting.

We had a great time and Scott and Kim Johnson went out of their way to provide such a fantastic event. After the film we gathered at a nearby park where the Johnsons provided every kind of junk food available at Sam’s Club (or was it Costco?) .

I look forward to being there next year. I have posted a couple of videos I took with my digital camera (batteries were dying so excuse the focus issues) and some photos I have posted on Flickr.

Thanks again to everyone, it was a great day and a fantastic way to spend some time with my son.

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