The Gentleman's Black Friday

This blog serves a few purposes. One, it's my own personal place to rant. Two, it's a free way to get therapy (see #1). Three, it's a place to share sage advice that I have learned over my many years on this planet.

Today I would like to talk about number 3.

It's not secret that I'm a fan of shopping on Black Friday. You just can't beat some of those deals... and who cares whether you need that item or not? It's not just shopping... it's an adventure. But this year I discovered something new and wonderful.

First, let's go back to previous black fridays...

Back in high school/college I would get up around 3AM and go to Best Buy with my family. The store would open around 6 and we would be far enough up in line that we could get some pretty good deals.

In 2004, I dragged J-Love to Circuit City with me. We got up at 2AM and were in line by 3AM. Everything was fine.

In 2005 I decided that I wanted to get a Plasma TV, and my sister wanted to get the special laptop that was on sale. So we figured we would go really early and be one of the first people in line. We got to Best Buy at midnight... but found that at least 50 people had our same idea. We sat in the cold for 5 hours before the store opened. temperatures dropped to under 20 degrees that night. It was pretty bad. By the time we got in the store, I was so delirious that I grabbed way too many items and spent too much money.

In 2006 I decided that there wasn't anything I wanted badly enough to go through that torture again. I stayed home. My sister, however, got in line at Best Buy at 9PM (just after thanksgiving dinner). And there were already a bunch of people ahead of her in line.

It just gets crazier every year. Stores open earlier and more people show up at ungodly hours. If you want to get the hot item then you need to be prepared to eat thanksgiving dinner IN LINE.

Well, you know what I did in 2007? I woke up on the morning of Thanksgiving. I went over to my computer, still in pajamas. I went to the Best Buy website. I ordered everything I wanted online.

More and more stores are making their Black Friday deals available online. I was able to get 90% of my christmas shopping done that morning without leaving the comfort of my house.

So - the wisdom I give to you, reader, is that if you want something on Black Friday you should do your research and find it online so you don't spend 12 hours in the freezing cold.

Nuff Said.