I am proud to report y'all were right! The seat map just opened back up and I was actually able to snag seats 20A and 20B on my flight from ATL to STT and the reverse^.

I'm still going to check once a day, but I will now know that Saturday is not the day to look. If I was flying with another adult it wouldn't be so bad, but I'll be with my 15yo son and I'd prefer him in a seat next to me. He'd probably be fine and sleep the entire time, but I'd worry.

And yes, there is a TON of wisdom passed around this forum