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.

Wii Belong Together

So this is what I got myself to lift my spirits after the accident. But it was an ordeal just get the darn thing.

I got it on 1/21/07 on the tip that most of the retail stores were hoarding the new Nintendo Wii since Christmas. I was determined to get one.

I was up at 5:30am and I headed the the Target about .5 miles from my house. I got there and no one was around. I waited for 15 minutes and decided to head to Best Buy. I got to Best Buy and there were 3 people that have been there since midnight and were sleeping in their car. The only reason I went to Target is that they opened at 7am and Best Buy opened at 11am. I told the people waiting that Target should have some and they opened 4 hours earlier.


I headed back to Target and I was the only person there waiting for a Wii. Around 6:30am another car arrived and we waited in front of the store. Ten minutes before the store was due to open, the manager walked in and I asked if they were selling the Wii. He checked out the information, and regretfully informed me that no Targets in the area were selling the Wii. I was tired and I figured it was too late to go back to Best Buy because the line would be too long. During the car ride back home I changed my mind and decided to head to Best Buy. I grabbed some snacks, water, my laptop with DVDs and hauled it over to Best Buy.

When I arrived at 7:45am, I saw that there were only 10 or so people in line. It was chilly outside so I wore thermal underwear and my thick University at Buffalo sweater. I was quite warm. I found a place in the back of the line and got comfortable. Tickets weren't being handed out until 10am so I watch "Strangers With Candy" for the tenth time and listened to my iPod. When the ticket were handed out at 10am, I was number 13 and there were 48 units at this particular Best Buy. But the wait wasn't over ... we still had to wait outside until 11am. I stayed in line because the store only had 20 extra remotes and nunchuck controllers even thought I was guaranteed a Wii.

At 11am, the rush started.


Actually, it was pretty well organized. No one cut the line, and everyone remained calm. I didn't want to have to cut a bitch in a Best Buy if they tired to get ahead of me, so it was good all around. I got my extra remote, nunchuck controller, and Zelda game and headed to the register. I was in and out of the store in 10 minutes. I like to get what I want and get the hell out.

So that is now I got my Wii. I haven't had much time to play it but when I did play, it was for a couple of hours each time. I got it because I figured if I got tired of it I could always sell it on eBay. It will be sold out until May or June so someone will be looking to buy one before then.

Randomness: There was this queen (read: gay guy) who drove up to some of us waiting in line around 10:30am and asked if were in line for the Wii. We said we were, and he countered with:

"Y'all are standing in line for hours for a video game. Life is too short for that."

The funny thing was he was looking to get the Wii as well, but since he was too lazy to get in line he decided to demean us?

What the cock was that all about!

I will post a picture of my Mii when I get the chance.