My Battle for the J's

"One of our representatives will be with you in a moment" Those are the dreaded words I was trying to avoid all night but somehow I found myself in that predicament and I could do nothing to change it.

Let me take you back, way back. The year was 1996, Tupac was still the King of Rap but his murder was close at hand. The Dallas Cowboys beat the Steelers to win their 5Th Superbowl, and the Chicago Bulls defeated the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA Finals. This is the year I feel in love.... the memory of that shoe is still crisp in my mind, its shiny patent leather mid and toe box was just breath taking. The Air Jordan 11's where the thing of legends, not even the Barkley's came close to these baby's. Everyone I knew was sporting these shoes as soon as they became available, everyone except me. I remember walking around school and thinking "Man I wish we had the money to get them" but the truth was that those shoes where way out of our price budget, so Hand-Me-Downs would have to do, that or Payless shoes or better yet salvation army.

OK flash forward to present time, as I stated before, the Jordan 11's became the stuff of legend and are now one of the most sought after shoes out there, but like Disney classics they are only released every now and then, and after they sell out they are locked away for a long time. Its like seeing a Unicorn, trying to find these shoes in stores.

Thursday of last week I was browsing through my facebook account and I noticed something that made me stop abruptly what I was doing. In Bold letters their post read "Who's going to cop their 11 Retro's this Saturday May 1st?" I almost pooped myself when I saw that pots along with a picture of the shoe I have wanted since I was 13 years old. I had recently told my wife that if they ever re-released that shoe, I would go in debt for them and I wasn't kidding.

On Friday they would be released online and through Eastbay, right at 12:00 am EST so 10:00 pm my time, not a minute early. The actual shoe would be available at only 2 stores in Utah, the Foot Locker at the Valley Fair Mall in West Valley and at the Fashion Place Mall in Murray, and each store only had 12 pairs each, one of each size, from 8 to 13. Lovely! Here was the chance to fulfill one of my childhood dreams and yet it felt so far of a chance to achieve that it made me sad. I decided that I was going to call Eastbay and order my shoe that way, because I was not about to go fight for a spot at a mall waiting for hours before they opened the doors..... right?

April 30Th 2010, 9:55 pm: I was on the phone waiting to talk to a customer service rep for Eastbay, credit card on hand ready to go, I had my game face on and there was nothing going to stop me form getting this shoe, NOTHING!!

April 30Th 2010, 10:00 pm: I was still on hold listening to that annoying recorded message "One of our representatives will be with you in a moment" and my hands where sweating with anticipation.

April 30Th 2010, 10:10 pm: I was still on hold, the phone was hot now from being held so tight to my ear, just waiting for that Darn rep to answer the call, but nothing.

April 30Th 2010, 10:13 pm: "Thank you for calling Eastbay this is (I don't remember her name so lets call her Tiff) Tiff how can I help you?" with excitement I said "I need to place an order please!" I was just thrilled that I was about the get the most import shoe I would ever own, "OK, can I please get the product number of the item sir" to what I said with a confident tone "Why sure" after I gave her the number she said the following "I'm sorry, sir but that item is completely sold out" WHAT?!!! you can't do this to me, you just can't!!!! Why?!!! with a deflated tone I responded "Are you serious?" to what she said "Yes sir I am." I just ended the call, I couldn't take the disappointment, and the pain it caused me to hear those words.

What to do? should I go to the mall at 6 am to see if I can get a pair? No! that's dumb, I don't do that kind of thing, but this was different, this was for the Retro 11's. I should do this! right?.....

To Be Continued......

The Lobster Tale II: The Search for Food

Hello fellow followers, (Maggie) the last time you were here you learned about the dreaded horse back riding at the Sandy Utah Ski resort that shall not be named ----------->

Well these are the events that follow, and now without further ado I give you The Lobster Tale II: The Search for Food

"I can't believe they did that!, the nerve of that lady!" my wife was spiting out with a bit of anger, I promise I think I saw fumes coming out of her ears. Well I was very upset myself but I had to stay calm so that she would calm down as well, we swore never to do that again, and if you are reading this DON'T EVER GO HORSE BACK RIDING AT THE SKI RESORT THAT SHALL GO UNNAMED (snowbird) EVER!

We tried to get that lady in trouble but it turns out that she was the owner of the Horse Trail thing which is not part of the resort, she rented a spot there so we had no manager to complain to. Well on to the second part of the day. I wanted to get my wife some shoes that she had been asking for and so the new quest began, we had to find a bank to withdrawal more money for the shoes and food. So when we Finlay found the bank I got out to make the transaction from the ATM inside. I was so stressed out about the early events that I took the money from the ATM without realizing that I had taken it out from Checking and not Savings which is where we had the money. So this means that I left our account at about $20.00, freaking out after I realized what I had done I ran outside and told my wife what I had just did, she calmly told me "Don't worry baby, just call them and have them transfer the money over the phone from savings in to checking." This i did.

We were on our way to forget about horses and Ski Resorts, looking for shoes was our new quest. This had to be less stress right? well we get to the Gateway in Salt Lake City and we searched all the shoe stores there and found ZERO shoes that were of my wife's liking. So on to the nearest mall it was. We drove back down to Murray to go to the fashion place (This is a mall there) and for once we were having fun, we were trying to make the best of what had gone down that day and we were trying to forget the bad and get on with the good. We found the shoes she wanted, and on top of that she bought me my Madden 2010 as it is our tradition every year. Life was sweet again right? right?

For dinner Jenny wanted Red Lobster because she had never tasted Lobster, so our new quest was to find a Red Lobster near where we were. So on to find the food, I map quested the nearest Red Lobster on my iPhone and it looked like there was one in Sandy which wasn't that far from where we were, so we drove down to Sandy. When we get there to our surprise we could not find this place for the life of us. We called and no answer, we drove around for a good 30 minutes looking for this blasted place and nothing. We asked around and nothing, turns out that Red Lobster had closed down about a month or two before, on top of that we actually missed a Red Lobster that was right across the street from The Fashion Place Mall where we got the Shoes!

Jenny and I were so drained from the events we just decided to eat at Mcgrath's fish house that was right there, but as soon as we walked in Jenny changed her mind. So we hoped in our car and headed back home. I was determined to get my wife some Red Lobster if that meant I had to drive for hours, by golly I was going to have some sort of success today!

On our way home Jenny was so down that she just said "Babe lets just go home, its late" and that totally put me in a crappier mood than the one I was on already. So I said "Fine then!" Defeated and tiered I drove, quiet and dark was the mood that hung over us. Jenny looking out the window, I'm sure allot was going through her mind but for me this day, a day I had been planning for months was slowly slipping away as a failure, a complete disaster. How do you go from A to Z so fast? how did this day turn out to be so crappy? It was supposed to be one of the best Birthdays for my Jenny ever, but somehow it turned out to be one of the worst, of that I was sure.

I was about to turn my blinkers to take our exit and Jenny came back to life, she said "You know what, lets go to Red Lobster in Orem. This is OUR DAY and it is going to go OUR WAY." giving me a smile that was half forced and half real. "You sure about that?" I said back to her, "We can just go home" "No I want to eat lobster" and so I dove us to Red Lobster.

There it was shinning in red and blue making contrast against the dark sky. My eyes were droopy but as soon as we started walking in, our moods became more cheery, as if the whole day had been a success. Jenny had her lobster and shrimp and I had stake and lobster, the mood in there was so mellow and lay back, the music making a great contrast with the dimmed lights. The tranquil feel that overcame us was great. "I'm so sorry this day turned out to be so crappy baby, I didn't see it this way at all" I said to my wife as my eyes watered up in defeat. I hated the feeling that she didn't enjoy her time as I wished she would, it was overpowering me and she was able to tell. She grabbed my hands and looked me deep in the eyes "Baby don't you ever be sorry, this was a great birthday. The fact that you went through all that to make me happy is all that truly matters to me. You know me, I don't need big and loud to be happy. I am just as happy with small and sweet. But I thank you for all of this, I love you." her eyes were watering as well. There we sat listening to the music that was playing in the restaurant, eating and enjoying what was left of this Great Birthday.

The moral of the story is this: In order to make those you love happy, you don't always have to go all out, you don't have to go above and beyond to bring a smile to their faces. Simple and sweet will do just fine.

THE END