Black Friday 2007: The Blackening

After a successfully Black Friday haul last year, I was looking forward to doing it again this year. There was a major problem -- nothing good on sale. That didn't initially deter me because I thought I could at least pick up some cheap DVDs to add to my collection.

Instead of sleeping and waking up early, I decided to stay up the entire night. I made it until 4:15am and then had second thoughts about going to Circuit City, which opened at 5am. For what they were offering it wasn't worth the hassle, and I went to bed.

Around 11am, I decided to head out to Target to see what they had to offer. I picked up some 25 pack of DVD-Rs for $4.99, along with some other household items. I looked for the Transformer Bumblebee action figure for my nephew, but they were all sold-out. I paid for the items in my cart and then headed to the next store on my list ... the Apple Store.

I went the Apple Store in the Knox-Henderson area instead of the North Park Mall location because I wanted to stay clear of all malls. The only draw back was limited parking. After circling the block I finally found spot close to the store.

The store was packed, but it was manageable. I wanted to get the new Aluminum (5th Generation) iMac, but I was waiting until Mac OS X Leopard was release. I know I wanted the 20" model, but I don't think I could handle the 24", but I wasn't sure which video card I wanted. I opted for the relatively lower quality 128MB video card. I waited, and waited for one of the Apple "Geniuses" to help me but no one was willing to help me. I guess they thought I was just a person browsing so went off to help people who looked like buyers (i.e. white older couples with or without children). Oh, did I mention that I was one of two black people in this store? The other black guy was the security guard. I finally grabbed a "genius" and asked him a series of questions, to which he had no answer. While annoyed I knew what I wanted but needed some validation in my choice. I got a sales person, a lovely woman who was very helpful, who answered my questions and rung up my sale all within 5 minutes. That's what I call service.


I've been playing around with it for a couple of days, and I really like it. I now have two LCD monitors left over from my old Windows machine. I may keep one and send the other to my mom because she wanted a LCD monitor. Since I can remotely operate my Windows machine from the iMac so there is no need for the LCDs.

Sidenote: I am really turning into a Apple person, aren't I. I never thought I would be this person, but they make great products.

All I have to do is get some more RAM (2 or 3 Gigabytes) and I will be all set.

Sadly, in order to help fund the purchase of my Apple iMac I had to part with something that took a lot of will power and stamina to get ...



... my Nintendo Wii.

I put in ad on Craigslist last Monday and within an hour I had 5 offers. One guy made an offer and backed out the last minute, so I ended up selling it to the woman in Arlington. It was my first experience with Craigslist, and it was a very pleasant one. The woman paid me via Paypal and I shipped the Wii and its accessories to her. Based on this transactions, I will thinking about selling more things on Craigslist.

I've been thinking about selling my Wii for a while now because I've only played it a couple of times. I am not the gaming I used to be. I remember the good old days of NES/SNES/Genesis when I didn't have a job and was able to play as long as I wanted to.

I guess we all have to grow up ... eventually.

Black Friday Came Early

This past Friday was a "secret" sale at Wal-mart. Secret is the operative word. Can you really have a secret sale if you are promoting it on television and in adverts? I found about this sale on engadgethd.com and with the offer of an Toshiba HD DVD Player for $98.87, I knew I had to get one. Well the truth is that I got one 3 weeks prior from Amazon.com and it cost about $220, so I got this one so I can return the other back to Amazon.

The sale was suppose to start at 8 a.m. today so I decided it was best to get there 30 to 45 minutes beforehand. Luckily there is a Wal-mart two blocks from where I work so I wouldn't be too late arriving to working. On my way to the store I called my sister because she wanted to get a laptop for my nephew. I wasn't sure if people would be camped out for these deals, so I told her I would do my best to try and get one.

I finally arrive and the parking lot seemed a bit busy, so I rushed in the store to lay claim to my bounty. As I walk into the store, I saw a woman walking out with the HD DVD player I wanted. I asked if there any more in stock, to which she said "a few." I ran to the electronics department only to find no one there. There were two DVD players and 15 laptops left, so I grabbed one of each and made my way to the register. I also saw the new Sony Playstation 3 on sale, but I had no interest in that. The cashier rang up my sale while text messaging on his phone. Success. I called my sister to let her know that I got the laptop. I contemplated whether I should hit up another Wal-mart nearby for stock up on HD DVD players, but I decided against it because I didn't want to be late for work.

When I arrived to work, I stashed my bounty in the trunk of my car. I made sure no one was around so they wouldn't get any ideas before I made my way to my office.

7:50 a.m.

I managed to get to work ten minutes earlier on this busy morning when I am normally fifteen minutes late. To kill some time I began to skim the pages of Tennis magazine.

Socks. I forgot to get a pack of socks while at Wal-mart.

I knew I would forget something.

waiting for a sale (part 2)

i got in line at circuit city at 3:45 in the morning in the hopes of getting a cheap laptop. their were people with tents camped out in the front of the line. i called my sister in florida who was just leaving to hit the stores. silly girl. i would leave but i can not pass up cheap movies.update later ...

Update:

I got was in and out in 10 minutes. I didn't get a laptop but I got some cheap DVDs: Total Recall, The Sweetest Thing, Wimbeldon, Red Dragon, and Charlie's Angels 2 (it sucked but I have the first one and it only costed $3). I will not be doing Black Friday next year because it is too much work for very little payoff.

waiting for a sale (part 1)

right now i am in line at compUSA trying to get a new hard drive. i
seriously thought i would be the only in line but i was wrong. the
line is wrapped around the block. i got a certificate for a laptop but
i doubt that i will get it. updates later...

update:

I got my hard drives and I didn't have to choke anyone to get it. I will be doing the same tomorrow morning at 4am. I think I will get up and make it ... but I am not sure if I can do it. I will do a mobile post from the line if I go.