Black Friday

I didn't see the usual chaos this year on the first "official" shopping day of the Christmas season. I have a feeling that the news will report this year's sales as a lower than usual.

I got up early to get a couple things I wanted. Some of the stores opened at 5am, but the one I was most interested in didn't have a time on their ad: Home Depot. I made my way up to their store in nearby Kent because it was right across the street from Target. Target had a hot deal on a movie I wanted for Sarah, so I thought I would hit them first, then go right across the street to Home Depot. Wrong. I got there and early enough and there was quite a line already forming, so I naturally assumed they would be opening at 5. Wrong again. I saw their ad, and frankly, I didn't see a single thing that was worth standing in line in the cold for over an hour. I went across the street, and although there were cars were in the parking lot, no outside lights were on at all so I left.

I went back to Auburn to hit Lowe's (another store I had my eye on) and they weren't open yet. Jeez... I'm batting zero here.

I went back to Kent to Home Depot, this time parking and going up to the door. It turns out that something was wrong with all their lighting and even their giant store sign out front and they were open. None of them were on and they looked closed. All I wanted was the hot deal they had on a nice 12-gallon 5hp shop vac for $27. It was so cool... Like the store was open just for me. There was nobody at any of the cash registers even.

I went back across the street to Target and parked. It was almost 6am and the doors were about to open. The line was huge! I don't stand in store lines... I'm sorry. I walked up to the door and was hanging out near the door a couple minutes before 6 and some guy near the front said, "The line is back there." I said, "I am not standing in a line to get into a store." He muttered something. When the doors opened and I ambled in, I heard some boos... Fuck em. If they would have paid attention, I was ambling. I was in no hurry, and was not going in to snatch some hot item out of somebody's hands. Actually, the first thing I did when I went in anyway was to go straight for the bathroom. After I came out of there I made my way back to the area where the videos were and found that they had a huge pile of full screen only of the one I wanted--No wide screen ones. Figures. I felt lucky that I got to leave without having to stand in a cashier line.

By the time I went back to Lowe's, they were open and I bought what I wanted, which was just a hot deal on a 4-foot stepladder. From there I went in and out of a couple other stores like Rite Aid and Walgreen's, picking up a few insignificant loss-leaders.

When I got home I commenced unloading the pile of cut wood that was still in the back of my truck under wraps. I was about halfway through that when Sarah called on her cell. They were up shopping and I invited her to come on by for lunch. I told her I was going to barbecue, and that if she wanted she could bring a board game or two and hang out all day. Boy, that's all it takes--She loves board games. When Teresa dropped her off a few minutes later I was still unloading wood. Sarah had two games and her school backpack. It seems that there was a lot of homework to be done this weekend and she needed to squeeze it in wherever she could. While lunch was being cooked and eaten we watched a new movie. She ended up napping on the couch for a couple hours while I did some laundry. When she woke up I had her start in on her homework (mom's orders). I ended up taking her home at 9pm after a good visit. We watched lots of TV, munched, talked... But never did get to play any board games.

Maybe next time.