[Sys1]

I was this friday afternoon in a french wallmart, it was so crowded that I had difficulties to find a place with the car, so many people in the main shops that it's almost impossible to find an employee to get help about the next computer I plan to buy...
Well, it looked business as usual at first glance.
But...
Yes, there's a but, some small shops in the wall were quite empty, so empty that their employees, had nothing to do but looking at the flow of people passing in front of their entrance without stopping. Something else : despite the big shops full of people, not many were in line at the cash boxes...

[Heineken]

"Black Friday" is a fairly recent media/retail creation, isn't it? Seems I started hearing the term just a few years ago. Now it's like it's some major annual event, fueled by saturation coverage.

The advertisers ring the bell, and the lemmings come running to buy their crap.

Just don't get in the lemmings' way.

Here's my "Black Friday" report: Raked leaves, walked dog, watched "Unforgiven" on my ancient VCR, read a few pages of "A Tale of Two Cities," hung out here.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'w')atched "Unforgiven"

[Heineken]

I found it pretty good, Sixstrings. I liked its mood.

Funny how people surrounded by all that beauty can stuff so much ugliness into their lives.

[xerces]

Worked to expand my garden. Fitting some stones around several raised beds and filled in asparagus trenches with compost.

[Auntie_Cipation]

As usual, I observed "Buy Nothing Day" on the day after Thanksgiving.

The nearest "mall"? Well that depends -- if you mean a REAL mall, I'd have no clue because the nearest one is about 120 miles away and I haven't been there in years. But if you mean what we call the local "mini-mall" -- otherwise known as the local dump, which is actually a great place to 'shop,' well, today was one of the 2 days per week it's open, and the weather was nice, so I'll bet it was hopping indeed. No special bargains for Black Friday though.

I stayed home today -- did some laundry, some personal paperwork, some online volunteer work for the community radio station. Made a pumpkin pie. Took the dogs for a walk. Split some firewood. Perfect day!

[frankthetank]

My day?

Didn't spend a dime! I took a nice walk (was right around 40F, sunny, no wind) with my son. Cleaned out the spare bedroom. Walked out into the garage (it was open) and found a dog with a turkey carcas in its mouth (from yesterday)...chased it off and buried it in the garden What is with me attracting wild dogs to my house?

Black Friday is a joke. Why anyone would pick one stupid day to go buy junk (its all junk). They never run the good high quality items on sale, its always some no name Chinese crap that won't last until new years before breaking.

[IanC]

I love you people.

I spent a total of $4 today. That was for a day pass at a state park by the Sandy River here in Oregon. I took my two kids for a little hike by the river. We saw 2 bald eagles, a kingfisher, and some bufflehead ducks.

I spent the afternoon playing my new accordion. It is ever so sweet. No, the kids didn't cower in fear. They tolerate their eccentric dad pretty well!

Tomorrow is my birthday party. I hoping for a big rager with my musician friends. Everyone is so down and depressed these days. Hopefully we can snap out of it for a few hours.

Take care,

IanC
Portland OR.

[cynthia]

Worked in the garden to secure the deer fence and uproot blackberries.
Mulched and planted.
Received friends (male-female couple and their foster child, whom they plan to adopt, and their three dogs).
Invented a game of marbles using croquet balls.
Two of our adult tribe went to locally owned restaurant for lunch take out.
Took a walk with four adults, one child and four dogs.
Two adults drove child to bike/skate park.
Played Crazy Eights and Memory.
Worked on 2000 piece puzzle. Everyone puzzled.
cynthia

[coyote]

I worked in the garden too: built two new raised beds and got a new dye crop in, and I'll do it again tomorrow. Washed the windows, spent time with my girl and ate some good Thanksgiving leftovers. Didn't go anywhere near the malls. (She did! Brave girl...)

[cube]

cube's grocery shopping list this Friday:
1) instant noodles
2) *insert imagination*
3) black soybean drink
total cost = $18

[Rogozhin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('coyote', 'I') worked in the garden too: built two new raised beds and got a new dye crop in, and I'll do it again tomorrow. Washed the windows, spent time with my girl and ate some good Thanksgiving leftovers. Didn't go anywhere near the malls. (She did! Brave girl...)

[tex123]

I went shopping at 8 a.m. at the local mall. Our mall has been dying since they put in the large strip mall 2 miles from the mall a couple of years ago. We really don't quite have the population to support both of them. Everybody flocks to whatever is newest.

Yes there were crowds but nothing overwhelming. People were actually pretty polite. Twice I was given extra coupons while in the store checkout lines.

I heard there was a fist fight at our local Walmart and someone said something about pepper spray at another Walmart around here, but no one was critically injured. I didn't see anything in the Walmart ad worth rushing there for.

I don't know why I like going shopping on Black Friday, I think it is just a tradition for me like most people watching football on Thanksgiving. The deals were pretty good, nothing spectacular really. Just a good excuse to go shopping which I rarely do.

[topcat]

Went shopping, the place was packed. Spent greenbacks.

Came home from the coin show with some silver rounds, a couple silver eagles, and a 10oz bar.

[retiredguy]

Chainsawed the last big chunks of the four truckloads of wood I cut last week. That makes about ten full cords so far this year.

Made buns (for turkey sandwiches) with some of the left-over mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving's feast.

Harvested most of the brussel sprouts frozen in place in the garden. Cold makes 'em sweet.

[eastbay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('topcat', 'W')ent shopping, the place was packed. Spent greenbacks. Came home from the coin show with some silver rounds, a couple silver eagles, and a 10oz bar.

[JJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('topcat', 'W')ent shopping, the place was packed. Spent greenbacks. Came home from the coin show with some silver rounds, a couple silver eagles, and a 10oz bar.

[PeakOiler]

I stopped by the Home Depot and picked up a few more PVC fittings for my rainwater catchment system, a new drain pan for one of the potted citrus trees, and a couple of bags of manure for the garden.

[bratticus]

I still believe that low oil prices will promote an economic upturn. Why? Because at ASPO 2003 Richard Heinberg spoke of cycles of deepening recessions with recoveries that did not quite put us back where we were at the top of the previous cycle. Five years later I can see why. Oil prices go up until the economy crashes then they go down until recovery boosts the price of oil too high again.

[patience]

Looks to me like the falling supply is being accelerated faster than our ability to recover economically. If this is to be a stairstep Depression, the downs are looking to be deeper and the pauses shorter than I would have thought.