Black Friday
Are you digging this hip new modern holiday tradition called ‘Black Friday‘ as much as I am? A quick scan of Wikipedia shows that the term Black Friday in other distant lands marks either; ‘a riot in Glasgow stemming from industrial unrest’, ‘the day on which British Dockers and railwaymen’s union leaders announced their decision not to call for strike action against wage reductions’, and/or ‘a crackdown on a peaceful protest in the capital city of Maldives, Male’. But here in the good old US of A, Black Friday marks the day after Thanksgiving, whereby, a population of thousands if not millions of folks, bellies still full from gluttony, wake up at the crack of dawn for the opportunity to beat, shove and stomp one another for the chance to buy a $300 lap-top from the electronics department at Wall Mart. And then there’s folks like me who sit and wait in anticipation for the evening news, waiting for the chance to see a 30ish year old man beat a squat elderly women over the head with a Jade ‘Rock Angelz’ Bratz doll. Good Lord! My only criticism is that this happens only once a year. Come on. There’s like seven days in a week people. Step up to the plate.

Apparently here in Portland, Best Buy, not to be outdone by Wall Mart, decided to juice up the waiting crowds and provoke their shoppers before they even entered the store. Customers waiting to get their hands on an Xbox 360 were handed a flyer stating that they needed to pay at least one hundred dollars more for their beloved machine that was advertised at $399 in the paper. The Oregon Attorney Generals Office has ‘opened a file’ on the case.

Then there’s Target Stores, who I’m sure have shady business practices akin to both Wall Mart and Best Buy. But when they have Winegard Op Art Wreaths for sale, it’s almost enough to make me turn a blind eye.

Also recklessly consuming for the holidays: the rubber type greeting cards available at vieLetter and these type shelving units from Set 26.