In Yo' Face, Nerds! First In Line for iPhone!
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
iFAN Packer
Forty-three-year-old highway-maintenance worker and serial firstie Greg Packer of Long Island has done it again, arriving at 5 a.m. Monday to score a hard-fought, front-of-the-line slot at the Apple store on Fifth Avenue and 59th Street in Manhattan. The phone goes on sale at 6:00 p.m. Friday.
"I just wanted to get it over with," says Packer, who (according to his Wikipedia page) has appeared in more than 100 articles as a man on the street and scored first-in-line slots to meet Mariah Carey, Garth Brooks, Dennis Rodman, Ringo Starr, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush,, and others. He was first in line when the Ground Zero viewing platform opened in 2001, too. He's been called out by the likes of blogger Mickey Kaus and she-pundit Ann Coulter for being the centerpiece of the New York Times coverage of Hillary Clinton and Hillarymania.
Packer pointed RadarOnline.com to his website, where people can donate money via Paypal. He's asking for people in the NYC area to drop off food and Metrocards. He likes chips. He doesn't know what he'll do if it rains. He's sleeping outside.
Two other people had also joined the line by 11:30 p.m. last night.