The other morning, I actually woke up before the sun. Usually I only see this time of day when I haven’t gone to bed and I am stretching whatever good time is left of the night to its last nanosecond. But this day was a different story. And what, pray-tell, did I break my sleeping record to go do? Head out on that sunrise run? Go to work like the rest of the corporates? Nope! I went to go wait in line…for the unreleased Sidekick 3. I plan to be the first one of my friends to have the flying car…so I certainly must be the first one to have this crack-like gadget in my grasp!

So here’s the deal. The fantastically rumored Sidekick 3 release has been all over gadget blogs for months. I, a user of the Sidekick 2, hold the device dear to my heart…and never go anywhere without it - annoying friends and strangers along the way. This is the only socially-acceptable way to never make eye contact with anyone and still retain most of your friendships. Anyway, T-Mobile decides to build anticipation by releasing the device in two store across the U.S., in limited quantity, almost two weeks before its unveiling to the public. Of course New York City is one of them, L.A. the other. The deal was that you show up on June 28th and you may get to be the first lucky drooler to take your precious box home, and enjoy a sweet upgrade from it’s previous, and bragging rights. It almost seemed as hyped up as an Apple iPod release.

I showed up around 7 a.m. to find a line several hundred long; all urban, young and trendy, all Sidekicking in huddles, all trying to shield from the drizzle. The first people in line had been waiting since 3 p.m. yesterday in front of the store. I take my place in line a couple blocks back. Within the hour I am exposed to photographers and DV cameramen traipsing up and down the line trying to get us to act like TRL freaks making a shout-out. I stay focused, keep the target in mind…and using my glam powers, go chat it up with a security officer - one of many keeping the peace on Madison Ave. Luckily my newly acquired friendship jumps me way ahead in line, about 4 hours to be exact, and I leave 35 minutes after they open with my Sidekick 3 in hand, squeezing with the grip of death after seeing the laser beams coming out of peoples eyes still waiting in line. One guy jokingly yells, “GET HER!!” and for a split second my instincts tell me to run for it.

The rest of the day was spent ogling my goody, and showing it to dozens of others who looked at it like it was a newborn, audibly gasping with pleasure at the famous swivel-screen-flip-open design. My new baby can play music, beam vCards, surf the net, email, text, AIM, call, and make a mean grilled cheese sandwich. All in all I’d have to say it made the dreaded hump day pass with a big smile, I mean, at least I wouldn’t have to look anybody in the eye.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 3rd, 2006 at 5:24 pm and is filed under Events, Shopping, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.