Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Confessions of a SneakerHead, part IV:

Project: Air Jordan IV Laser Package
Locale: www.jumpman23.com
Time: 05.14.05 @ 1700 Hours PST
Goal: 3 Pairs (2 for Reeg, 1 for Bro)

The Air Jordan IV is quite possibly the greatest Jordan of them all. About 6 months ago, rumors were spreading that they would release these exclusively online. When I first read that, it kinda made me firm. True they were gonna milk more money from me by throwing in a booty shirt and hat, but my eyes were on the prize - the actual kicks! I had to do my recon work however - setup multiple accounts, get multiple billing addresses and synch 2 computers – as it was only limited to 1 pair per household. And I was determined to get 2 pair. As Special Ed says, you do what you gotta. I figured they would release, I'll order my pairs, and I can commence my night. 30 minutes tops I hoped, then I could head over to the graduation dinner I planned on going.

Boy was I wrong. Pandemonium ensued in the online sneakerworld once they were officially "released." The bandwidth was crazily exceeded and we were placed in a virtual waiting room. I kept refreshing my laptop and desktop hoping to gain entrance, but to no avail. There’s a glitch in the matrix! So I tried for an hour, and still no luck. I wasn’t gonna leave the crib until I got at least 1 pair. I’ve literally read over 2000 posts on niketalk and instyleshoes about people crying and complaining, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. 3 hours into the project, and I still didn’t get a pair. Ummm it doesn’t look like I’m going to dinner. The outlook is getting bleak and I was giving up hope. My brother called and said don’t worry about his pair – it’s not worth it. Maybe to him, but he’s not a sneakerhead.

Thanks to some sneaker-computer-nerds who posted a different link straight to the ordering page, I was able to cop pair I @ 2100 PST. But soon after, that link was deaded. People gave up, dreams were crushed, and ‘heads were drained, but alas, my mission was only 1/3 complete. Through divine intervention or something, I was able to cop pair II about 30 minutes later as inventory was quickly dwindling. The sneakergods were watching over me. Even reeg needs to rest, so I took a lil reprieve to rejuice my system. Alas, I was going for the hat trick @ around 2300 PST, and was able to pull off the turkey with pair III. Wow what a night.



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