092405 @ 816a -
So we just arrived at Florida Mall for the grand opening of the brand new Apple Store. We're such geeks. I'm bi-polar about that. I have Jim assigned the task of taking pictures. We weren't sure how many people would get here early to line up. I was thinking there wouldn't be too many since we already have an Apple Store at Millenia Mall, just up the road. But Apple fans tend to be extremists. In other cities, people have lined up for hours and hours before an opening. So, we set the alarm for our normal wakeup time and snoozed for an hour before getting up and heading this way. I guess we got here just after 8, and there were only 10 people in line before us. They are just now setting up the geek corral. So I guess they're anticipating many more Mac extremists before the opening in one hour and forty minutes.

The store is much larger than the one in Millenia. As well it should be. I've always felt that we got jipped on the store in Millenia. When you go online and look at the pics of other stores in other cities and compare it to Millenia, we were cheated.

822a - They just made everyone move into the geek corral. We're 10 and 11 in line. God we're such geeks. Anyway, I've been hoping for an impressive store like the one in NYC. But this one looks better than Millenia, so that's progress. It's at least 3 times as big as Millenia.

People in line have thier iBooks and PowerBooks out, and their iPods. Somehow Jim forgot his iPod, and this would have been a good day for me to borrow Rachel's Shuffle. But, we forgot. Heck, we didn't even think to grab the camera's memory card, so how could we be expected to remember anything else?

@842a - I'm contemplating "interviewing" some of the people around me. But that would require me to be somewhat social, and we all know I suck at that. The people behind us in line are discussing iPod, iPod mini, and the accessories. I think one of the maintenance men, setting up the rope line, just shot a look of disgust at us. Clearly he's not a Mac person and just doesn't understand. Hell, I don't understand. I think we're nuts.

I just asked why these people are crazy enough to stand in line for the opening of this store, "There's no more Star Wars movies, so we have to stand in line here!" "The things I'll do for a free tee-shirt."

847a - The crowd is starting to grow. I'll have Jim go take more pictures in a few minutes. But he's already been reprimanded by mall security, "no pictures!" So he turned the flash off to make it slightly less obvious.

929a - There's this guy in the second part of the line who is a true Apple fanatic. He has the logo "Think Different" tattooed on the back of his neck. I saw it when I was taking pictures of the line and asked him if he'd mind if I took a picture of his tattoo. When I was done, he showed me the apple and start button tattooed on his forearm. The apple is very beautiful. I asked him if I could post his tattoos on my website.

We're 28 minutes away from the opening now. Security just had us all mush closer together to make room for the ever increasing line. It makes sitting on the floor and blogging less realistic. So I may be done until after we exit the store.

@ 1111a - It was very exciting! All the store employees were lined up on two sides, and we, the geeks, were allowed into the store and either shook hands or high fived all the employees as we took the first lap around the store. Everyone was cheering. It was surreal. The store was very crowded and soon became hot and aromatic (ech - body odor). We made a small purchase, received our free tee-shirts, and were on our way. As we were leaving, the line waiting to enter was even longer than it had been when we were still in it. Madness, I say.

Person 6 in line was also blogging. But he apparently had the ability to upload from the mall, while my site is currently inaccessible to me outside the house. Anyway, here's what Tyler had to say about the event.

Jim is downloading pictures from the camera so we can get them posted in the next few minutes.

The store is great. I look forward to being there when it's less zoo-like.