Grayish Black Friday

The Setting: Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving that officially kicks off the Christmas shopping season. It's when retailers are supposed to start making a profit, moving from the red to the black.

I just got back home a little while ago. I was in Sears' electronics department at 6 am this morning. I don't normally participate in Black Friday activities, but I was up early out of habit and decided to just do it. Nope, I did not get the 65-inch Mitsubishi LaserVue HDTV I wrote about a couple days ago. Tempting, but I decided to go with my second choice: a Samsung 19-inch HDTV to put in my bedroom.

The mall parking lot was about half full at 6 am and there were a LOT of people in Sears already (they opened at 5). My brother had brought a paper over on Thanksgiving and I was able to look through the ads, so it didn't take me long to pick out the TV I wanted at Sears; however, the wait in line at the cash registers took about an hour.

I haven't heard yet if the experts consider this to be a successful Black Friday or if it's more of a Gray, a Reddish Grayish Black, or what. Personally, I think we are still doomed, but hopefully we are on our way to not being quite as doomed. What's just below doomed? Screwed? I'm hoping that next year we can start turning this ridonculous economy around. Whatever happens, I'll be watching it all go down on my new TV.

Wish List 2008

The Setting: Today I received my latest issue of Wired magazine in the mail. (Hi, I'm Val and I'm a geek!). This Dec. 2008 issue has a section called Wish List, which is a guide to help you find just the right gift for that special someone.

First of all, they trick you by starting with a fold-out ad of the new Blackberry Storm, which keeps mocking me from those cool TV ads. OK, maybe I don't need that or any of this stuff, but here are some things Wired highlighted that I wouldn't mind having:

Nerf N-Strike Recon CS-6 - This "pump-action blaster" shoots nerf foam bullets and comes with a "red-dot sight for cubicle sniping." Pump action? Red-dot sight? Cubicle sniping? And it's only twenty bucks? I'll take one! This outta liven up those staff meetings a little bit...

Tod's Cartella Computer Bag - This is a very, very sweet textured leather computer bag and it's only $1600. Ha! But the really cool thing is, Wired is having a contest and someone will win one of these bags filled with 23 very cool electronic gadgets. By "someone," I mean Val.

Mitsubishi LaserVue HDTV - Apparently, this TV consumes 33 percent less energy than a similar sized LCD and the lasers will never need replacing. Whatever. It's 65 inches of HDTV heaven! Picture it: my new TV, my La-Z-boy recliner, my 14 empty pizza boxes, and my big ole' fat butt. Merry Christmas! P.S. - This TV is only $6,999. What a deal.




Photo Credits: http://www.toysrus.com/, www.neimanmarcus.com, www.laservuetv.com