Day After Thanksgiving Shopping (Black Friday)

POP QUIZ
It has been given the term of "Black Friday".
A. The 1939 fires in Australia
B. The 1945 air battle over Norway
C. The 1978 massacre of Iranian protesters
D. The 2005 After Thanksgiving Day Sales
E. All of the above

Answer:
E. All of the above

Yep, the "Day After Thanksgiving" sales is lumped in with those tragedies of the past. Go figure. Although, that description may not be far off. Chaos Friday would seem to fit better. What other day of the year would people purposely sign up to receive wake up calls from Kermit the frog, a supermodel, and country music singer Brad Paisley, just to name a few. Arrive at stores before 5:00 am, wait in line for the doors to open, RUN, try and find what you want from that store, WAIT in line, then RUSH over to the next store to endure the exact same thing all before time runs out. Sounds a game show doesn't it? (I'll take the Physical Challenge, Mark.)

(Hmmm... I wonder who would win. The crowds of people shopping on Black Friday or an army of orcs from the Lord of the Rings? My money is on the shopping crowds. Especially with my wife among them!)

I did do some research for those of you who will join my wife, at least in the spirit of shopping, in the Friday morning chaos:

Wal•Mart They have an on-line only sale as well as a special after Thanksgiving day sale. 5:00 am to 11:00 am only. They will also match any competitors ad. Very cool.

Target They are the one who are guilty of offering celebrity wake-up calls. I might just sign up just to say that Kermit the frog called me. Their 2-Day sale flyer has some pretty sweet deals in it. Brand new DVD's offered dirt cheap. But remember, for those who don't have a Target near by [ahem, Peshtigo] Wal••Mart will match Target's ad. Just be sure to print one out.

K•B Toys For kids just like me, K••B has an early bird 60% off sale. I guess it would be good for everything Wal••Mart and Target don't carry.

ShopKo For you Peshtigoians, ShopKo has been offering a PRE-Thanksgiving day sale. It ends today. I'm assuming they will have something for Friday.

Apple Every year Apple throws their hat into the ring. But every year we don't know what specials they offer until the day of. So if a special someone on your list wants an iPod, I would check out Apple as Friday would be the best day to get one.

Amazon.com Even Amazon.com is taking advantage. Kitchen and housewares are all on-sale. Maybe they are the smart ones. You can save 60% in your underwear. That might be kinda fun. :)

Here the "official" link of Black Friday 2005. It has an exhaustive list of which stores will be selling what. Definitely worth a look. http://bf2005.com/

For those of you who would rather sleep in, I would suggest catching a holiday movie in the afternoon. We can laugh at everyone else who is now too tired to do anything.

Have fun, don't get trampled, and try and remember the REAL reason for Thanksgiving.

—b