Fleeting moments of fame

It's been three days since I spent 22 hours in line at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue to equip the King family with iPhones. Never in my life have I experienced such a pleasurable and memorable shopping adventure. By the time it was all over, I would have happily given them $600 for the experience alone!

The people-watching was as good as it gets, and covered the gamut of weird to Apple faithful to corporate types to pure attention-getters to those trying to exploit their place in line to make a buck (I didn't like those people at all). Our good friend Loren Finkelstein came down to share in the fun, as did other friends Brian Paloski, Paul Sahner, and David Pogue. Loren and I helped Shawn make a fantastic video for Macworld.com, which is as close as you can get to being there, well, without really being there. A ton of pictures from the event live here.

You've simply got to see it to believe what happened once the store opened at 6:00 pm. Apple made us feel like rock stars as we descended the crystaline stairs, cheered and applauded us as we purchased iPhones, and kept the cheering going as we ascended into the maelstrom of media. I told Shawn it was as close as we'd get to knowing how Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie feel :)

The results is that we were all on a number of TV shows, radio interviews, web sites, and newspapers all across the globe. Click here for a clip of my short but giggly appearance on the Good Morning America show.

Thank you, Apple, for a truly glorious iPhone and the purchasing experience of a lifetime! (Oh yeah, and for the water and use of the restrooms!) And for those wondering if it was worth it? HELL YES! It's the most amazing technology product ever.