Black Friday 2010

To me, this black friday is just wrought with disappointments, one after another.

First of all, deals were dismal at best. There's the sub $200 laptop with 3GB RAM at BestBuy that everybody thinks is a steal, but be real, people camp out the day before at BestBuy, no reason to sink to that level for a laptop. Camping out at freezing temperature is not fun.

I didn't even want to go shopping today. The only thing that caught my eye was the 32" (turned out to be LG) LCD TV. I wanted a 40" LED but for a price tag of $197, I will replace my second with it I thought. Beside, Patrick was eyeing the 50" plasma, lining up with him under the stars could be fun this time.

I arrived at Fry's 3:45am, the earliest ever, mainly because I couldn't sleep the night before. My body's metabolism is not functioning as well no more. The line was already long...



... and good thing I learned that the police don't arrive until 4am, and barricade aren't up until 4:15am...



First sign of trouble: I got to pee. I peed before I left the house, but then again, metabolism... And why hasn't Patrick showed?

The wind gusted in subzero temperature, all kinds of characters came out of the woodwork... there's the guy in just a t-shirt and flip flops, and then there's the couple wrapped in comforters. Some where loud, others plotting strategies for TV grabbing.

I had a strategy: I'll go grab the free webcam while Patrick takes our place in the TV line. Then he will hold the merchandise waiting in line while I go pee; and then I'll go grab the shopping cart.

4:30am the time we said we will meet has come and gone. No Patrick. My need to pee intensifies.

4:35am, no show, 4:40am, no show, 4:45am, no show, I can't feel my legs no more.

Finally the line started to move at 4:50am. I followed along into the store, lined up for a shopping cart, cause I need a shopping cart for TV don't I? I went and grabbed the webcam, there were stacks of them and nobody even botheedr to look at them. What about the free video card? So plenty could have filled a baseball park.

Alright the TV line I head towards. An unusually long line. No worries, people were still pushing out TVs at 10am last year. And Patrick finally arrived.

He stayed in line while I grabbed a bluetooth headset and a paper shredder for him - he's the secret agent ain't he. Then I rushed straight to the office. Yeah, I still need to pee!

What? you gotta be kidding me, there is a line for the urinal?

When I got back to the line, I decided to check out the 'Major brand name' 32" TV that I woke up for. I walked to the beginning of the line, trying to see what they were pushing out.

"The 32" is sold out" The friendly black man yelled out. If he weren't 6' tall I would have karate chopped him.

Shortly after that, they created another line for 50" or bigger TVs, where Patrick moved to. I went to check out other deals. Oh my, this wasn't even advertised, a $8 AR ATX case. It looks cool. But I don't need another case, I wish they had that deal 6 moths earlier, I would have built my Hulu machine with it... but it's only $8! What the heck, let me grab one, where is it.

Sold out.

Eff! Am I to leave the store practically empty handed? I mean, I wanted a webcam and it's free, but gee, that's no earth shaking deal I woke up for! I wanted a electric screw driver, let me look for one... Oh shoot, the only one there was was $129...

Patrick and I stayed at the TV line pretty much till 6:30am, that's 1.5 hours after store opened. We found a $9 heater which was something I had wanted, consolation prize literally.

The check out line was long and took a while. The temp cashiers' experience show. It took a while to explain the delivery thing.



We got out of Fry's shortly before 730am, that's 2.5 hours after store opened and almost 4 hours after I got in line! We scooted over to Walmart and picked up a few storage boxes. And I was beat. I had to head home.

On my way home I stopped by Target a scored a down pillow. But I need to wash it first before I can tell if it is any good.

To sum up, the loot included a cheap webcam, a video card that I don't need, a heater and a pillow. Really nothing worth braving the chill for. But that's not the end of the story. Tonight I tried to install the GeForce, hot damn! It is incompatible with my motherboard due to a firmware bug! I have to return.

I regret today thoroughly. It just hasn't been as much fun as previous years.

Reporting live from Fremont, California, it's black friday 2010.