<p>my 17 yr old went to the univ wa main store last night- I don’t know what time she got there- she had taken a bus to meet a friend.</p>
<p>It sounded like she had a good time- they like hanging out in the U district- and it is able to accomodate many more people than smaller bookstores.
I had wanted to go earlier- but I had been trying to get hotel reservations in Portland, then in Salem to look at colleges- for hours ( we have dial up & I looked at both hotels that take pets & no)
I had ordered a book online for her- but apparently she had money so she was one of the first 6 to get her book and already had it by the time I found a place to park.
The “party” complete with rock bands & a film Rockumentary- about Rocking & Rowling :rolleyes: had been going for a long time and it was packed- mostly with teens and 60 year olds- interesting combination
I asked about the online order- they confirmed it- but said they didn’t know where the end of the line was.
( I texted older D to see if she was buying one- she said she is going to borrow one & we don’t need two copies and I was not about to try and figure out where the end of the line was)
SO I just took her and dropped her friends off at home.( we were home by 12:15 pm- I think that D must have gotten her book before midnight)</p>
<p>D apparently always reads just the last page- first- which I think is funny- but with this book she was screaming NO! at the top of her lungs, I told her to roll down the window in case anyone didn’t hear her ;)</p>
<p>SO tired- still trying to get a hotel- guess I will leave the dog at home- but this wasn’t really a planned visit
I did finish my book group book though- Songs from a Gorilla Nation :)</p>
<p>( I like the art in the UK versions better, but they have smaller type I hear)
not such a small point anymore</p>
<p>My Amazon book still hasn’t come. We went to Target and the grocery store this morning, and there were tons of copies sitting out on the shelves – I’m pretty annoyed that I pre-ordered from Amazon when I clearly could have gotten the book faster by going out myself.</p>
<p>mollie- I can relate- not with this book- but get ready for a whinge
for instance as Part of the TenClub- I could preorder Pearl Jams CD set with concerts from the Gorge 05 & 06.( we will just disregard that I already have official bootlegs- I didn’t have any with a national geo cover)</p>
<p>So I did- but even though I live 10 miles from their warehouse, because I also order * stickers* as part of my order- I got it later than the stores and later than people in other parts of the country
( I actually had my H go buy a copy at Fred Meyer)
All the orders that were just for the cds were processed first- then the other orders-
But actually- I have ordered from Amazon before- and have had really good luck with them- re HP.
Always there- before midnight- once they even gave us an extra copy- so I am assuming that there was a major hangup somewhere that had never occured before</p>
<p>Ordered from amazon and it just got here in the mail, (3 PM EDT)even though web site and tracking said it would come ups. D was pacing so not sure I would do that again - but it is the last one so don’t have to worry about it again.</p>
<p>I picked up mine at B & N early this morning, just strolled in, picked it from a stack, no one in line. The cashier asked if I’d reserved a copy - they’re keeping close count to make sure they do not get in range of running out (???). </p>
<p>As soon as I got outside, I found the nearest unoccupied bench and read the first chapter. Then, walked down to the Starbucks, got some junk food and water, found another bench, and read the next chapter. But I’m saving the rest, going to read it slowly, work it in with the other books I’m reading (I usually have two or three books going at a time)…</p>
<p>I’m flying out again Monday morning, back Thursday night late; it’ll be cool to enjoy knowing the book is waitng for me when I get home :)</p>
<p>Also, knowing this is the last book in the series somehow makes it less appealing for me…</p>
<p>I am curious though about the creative gift of this author - does anyone think she is extremely unusually gifted and talented, or, do you suppose that many others are probably equally so but perhaps have simply not worked as hard… (???)</p>
<p>UPS handed ours off to the postal service also - which I didn’t know was a possibility until just now as I’m reading what happened with others. Checked the mailbox and there it was…Rats - D has to go to work in a few hours and I’m obligated not to get ahead of where she’s at since it was her birthday gift.</p>
<p>My poor kid. She has decided not to start the book until she finishes her final exam/paper…said she wants to enjoy her HP read and not feel pressured with deadlines hanging over her. She has to turn a draft in by Sunday and final paper by Thursday. How she is going to avoid spoilers for that amount of time, I’ll never know.</p>
<p>Still waiting for my amazon.com pre-ordered copy to arrive (1:25pm PDT), and yes I’m hearing phantom UPS <em>and</em> USPS trucks every few minutes…</p>
<p>Ours arrived at 8:30 am this morning. The birthday boy (mathson’s little brother) got first dibs and was finished by 3 pm. Mathson is reading it now.</p>
<p>We picked ours up from local B&N early this afternoon. S#3 (age 15) started to read it in the car. (Takes 10 minutes to get home.) When we got home, S#1 (age ~22) starts berating S#3 for how little progress he’s made! S#3 went up to his room with the book. Comes out a bit later, announces that he’s finished with Chapter 3 and that the book is great. S#1 leaves in the car for an overnight with friends, with a threat to S#3 that he’d better be done within the day because S#1 takes possession the minute he walks back in the house tomorrow. Shrieks are then heard from S#3 who has just found out that we are going out to have dinner with Grandma (45 minutes away) this evening. S#3 announces that this is “inconvenient.” Well, at least he won’t have to worry about hearing spoilers out of the mouth of his 84 year old grandmother. ;)</p>
<p>Home before 1am but I ran out of gas at about 2:30. Up at 8:30am, finished around 1:30pm. D read straight through and finished around 5:30am, TheMom, who had catnapped, finishing about an hour later. </p>
<p>Annoyance Alert by Page Number…Avert Eyes if you would consider this a Spoiler</p>
<p>The top of page 56 <em>really</em> annoyed me.</p>
<p>We picked up ours at Wal Mart along with about 200 other people last night. Read for about an hour, went to bed, then finished the rest by 3:30 today. Excellent … may have to start reading it again so I can digest it slower this go around. =)</p>
<p>I went to Target about an hour after they opened this morning and they had a lot of copies, all marked down 25%. I’ve been busy so have only read 2 chapters, but I have to finish before my son gets home from Monday. I plan to curl up in my favorite chair all day tomorrow.</p>
<p>At 3pm we couldn’t take it anymore and went to Old Navy. </p>
<p>Back home at 4:30 and it’s in the mailbox. The box is cute. It has red stripes that say “ATTENTION MUGGLES – DO NOT DELIVER OR OPEN BEFORE JULY 21.” It says, “Harry Potter AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS” on one side and YEAR 7 on the other side. The underside has a light red owl carrying a letter addressed to Harry Potter.</p>
<p>I’ve never seen an Amazon delivery like this. The Ship To address is our post office. Further on down the box it says USPS DELIVER TO: me :)</p>
<p>I gave up around 3 PM and bought the book at Target. As far as I can tell, the Amazon book never arrived, so perhaps it’s buy one, get one free for me. :)</p>
<p>20 year old daughter is closing in on the last few pages…I am waiting to dive in as soon as she puts it down. We should have bought two books! :- (</p>
<p>Just got back from our Target (on another shopping mission) there were still big stacks of books discounted to $17.99 all over the store… we could have saved the postage from Amazon and had the book earlier and at the same price. Oh well most of my good insights are that 20/20 hindsight</p>
