I felt dumb for skipping out on Black Friday as I'm probably in the minority who enjoys the insanity, so tonight, we went out for a bit of Black Saturday, which is kind of like Black Friday, only with half of the big sales and half of the long lines. Still were plenty of people out there, though. Toys 'R' Us wasn't anywhere near as packed as I had expected it to be, but the customers who were there had evidently been brought to insanity by the weekend of toy hunting. It wasn't so much the yelling -- that was expected. Moreover, people would pick stuff up, look at it, realize they didn't want it and literally throw it to the ground. The place was already a mess, so I guess everyone was past the point of giving a fuck.
Best Buy was much busier. I needed to get a new digital camera, but fortunately for me, I have no concept of money or bargains or rights or wrongs when it comes to such things, and because the purchase counter for digital cameras was wholly separate from the lines people needed to get on to buy anything else, I managed to walk in and out of there with a new camera in less than ten minutes. The "normal" line looped around itself a few times like a steaming pile of gorilla shit, and it was amazing to see just how many folks were willing to put up with the wait just to buy a DVD or two.
Finally, the woman persuaded me to take her to the arts and crafts store, which as some of you will recall from an earlier entry is a point of some contention between the two of us. There was a 50,000 dollar set of pencils she wanted, and she had a 50% off coupon that was only good for today, so it was a case of either dealing with it or hearing about the loss of this golden opportunity until 2008. On the upside, the entire store smelled like a giant cinnamon candle.
Thanksgiving's over, Black Friday's over, and across the street, I see suspicious lights on my neighbor's bushes. Christmas is in the air, and we're all smitten with Santa again. I'm in the process of moving, so my material enjoyment this year must come by way of more perishable items; thankfully, there are plenty of those to go around. Up above is the Marshmallow Peeps Christmas Tree Decorating Kit, a merrier spin on the Halloween version I reviewed during the Countdown in October. Instead of orange pumpkin Peeps, this time you get green Christmas trees, along with a tube of red icing that lets you go all ho ho and stuff. Click here to see the kit packaged, and tell me you wouldn't part with two bucks for something this belligerently Yuletide.
It's Saturday night. Who's with me?
Posted by Matt on 11/26/2005. E-mail me!
Chestnuts roasted by 
Present.
Just tried the Jones sodas