I'm outside in the cold

[Marc]

For some unexplained reason, my son and I are waiting in a line stretching at least a quarter of a mile from Best Buy.

This is my first Black Friday experience.

I'm scared.

[Marc]

Well, that wasn't too painful.

We arrived in line at 3:20. By this point, the line had already left the parking lot and spilled over into the Bally Total Fitness lot next door. I would guess that there were about 300 people in front of us at this point.

It was quite chilly at 27 degrees, but it wasn't windy which helped.

[Jobeth66]

Did you at least get the stuff you wanted? I bagged the Black Friday "experience" and slept 45 minutes late. I'm at work now. It's going to be SUCH a fun day!

[Marc]

The Opera browser on my Treo wouldn't let me type any more than that.

Anyway, around 4:00, the line suddenly moved forward. I think it was just compressing when the ticket-givers started handing out tickets for the big items. A few people left once they got their tickets, but most everyone else stayed in the line.

At 5:00, there was a restrained cheer from the crowd and people started filing in. We immediately headed over to the MP3 players so we could see if we could find the one Nicholas wanted that was listed as "limited quantities (minimum 20)". When we got there, all 20 were still there, so everyone ahead of us clearly had other things in mind.

They had us pay for the MP3 player right there, so we did that before continuing on our quest.

I wanted to pick up a $99 video card, and we found the last one they had on the shelf, so that was cool. I also wanted to see if I could grab one of those 100 DVD-R spindles that they were selling for $4.99, but they were all gone (with many people having 2 or more in their carts or hands) by the time we got to where I think they had been.

We wandered a bit just to check the Wii stuff and see if those DVD-Rs were somewhere else. On the way back, I saw a lone package of those 100 DVD-Rs sitting on a shelf near where they had been, so I grabbed it.

We immediately headed to the check out and were out of the store by 5:30.

The best part was afterward, though. I thought we'd check out the mall to see what they were doing for their Black Friday specials. While in there, I entered the their giftcard giveaway (using the 3x5 handwritten paper entry instead of purchase), and at their first hourly drawing, I ended up winning a $500 Visa gift card, one of only two out of the 42 total prizes being given away!

[Makita]

How the heck do you DO that Marc?
$500 Visa Card and wasnt it $1000 Best-Buy dollars or something like that just a few months ago?
You need to buy me a lottery Ticket some time!

[Marc]

How the heck do you DO that Marc?
$500 Visa Card and wasnt it $1000 Best-Buy dollars or something like that just a few months ago?
You need to buy me a lottery Ticket some time!
I don't know to what I should attribute this fantastic round of luck. The Best Buy card wasn't even a month ago. I won it on October 31 and I received it about two weeks later, so I've only had it in my hands for about ten days.

[sallypnut]

Congrats on the prize win, Marc!

[luckydriver]

For some unexplained reason, my son and I are waiting in a line stretching at least a quarter of a mile from Best Buy.

This is my first Black Friday experience.

I'm scared.

Do you plan on repeating the experience this year?

[Marc]

We didn't last year, and since A) there's nothing special in any of the black Friday sales that I've seen, and B) this isn't the economy in which I really want to be encouraging such activities, I doubt we'll be doing it this year either. :)

[Mysteryman]

Whoa, threadsurection!

Here I thought I was missing early BF deals. ;)

[scottjf8]

Whoa, threadsurection!

Here I thought I was missing early BF deals. ;)

I was concerned for Marc's children's welfare that they are in line 4 days early :D