But iDid it. Yes, here in NYC, one week after the new iPhone’s launch, the lines at Apple stores are still heinous:

5:45 am: I show up at the 5th Avenue Apple Store (“The Cube.”) Everyone must have seen the same supply status indicator on the Apple web site which strongly suggested that the other stores in NYC were running out of phones.

About 75-100 people in front of me.

7 am: Line starts moving as the doors open. We shuffle forward slowly and make small talk.

8:30 am: The guy next to me starts quizzing every Apple employee who walks by if he can sign up for his dad’s family plan, though he is not on the plan and his father is not present. Confusion sets in.

9:30 am: As we get tantalizingly close to the front, I start to get nervous. What if there’s something wrong with my account? This guys is definitely worried as several Apple employees in a row tell him that he is out of luck. After waffling back and forth, he decides to just give it a try and stay in the line.

10:15 am: I enter The Cube and get in another short line inside the store. I see my line companion walk away dejected, sans iPhone.

EPIC FAIL!

10:30 am: It’s my turn! Apple store staff are doing one on one activations with customers, which is why the wait is so heinous.

10:38 am: It works! iPhone is mine! w00t!!!

Total elapsed time, approximately 5 hours. Do I feel a little sheep-like? Absolutely. Do I have time for more introspection on my decision to stand in line and buy this little toy? No, my phone is ringing, and I have all these apps to play with…

(Clarification: This all went down Saturday, July 19. But I’m still playing with these apps.)