Black Friday

First of all, a disclaimer. This post has nothing to do with photography, nor will there be any "real" photographs included. Deal with it. :) I have to post every single day people, I have to go with what's on my mind...

Now, for those of you who don't know what Black Friday is...one word: Madness. It is a day of pure and complete insantiy. It happens every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, when all of the biggest retailers put on their best sales possible to kick of the Holiday shopping season.

Just to give you a better idea of the insanity, here are a few pictures I found via Google when I did an image search for "Black Friday"








This is not an exaggeration, folks, this is really how this craziness goes down.

I had the pleasure of experiencing this for my first time last year, and oh man. An experience it was. This picture is pretty much exactly what I saw that day. And I may or may not have pushed and shoved my way through people just to get that one "hot item". It. Was. Awesome.

Last year I did the majorty of my shopping (and found the best deals) at Nebraska Furniture Mart. We waited out in the cold for almost 2 hours at I-can't-even-remember-how-early in the morning, and then rushed in with all the crazies to get the goods. We then waited in line to check out for another probably 2 hours, sweating our you-know-whats off being all bundled up still from waiting outside. Again, It. Was. Awesome. I have decided to tackle this feat again this year, with my friend Ash in tow, and possibly a few others. Last year I didn't even know I was going shopping on Black Friday until Thanksgiving night, let alone plan what I was going to shop for! This year, I am much more prepared, thankyouverymuch.

I have stumbled upon the website of all websites for anything Black Friday related - BFads.net. They somehow manage to come across copies of all the ads way before they are released to the public (which usually isn't until Thanksgiving day), and so kindly share all the secrets with us crazies. Today I have found the Wal Mart ad, and I couldn't be more excited. I already have my eye on a few items, and as of now this is my plan for our first stop next Friday. Here are a few deals I'm hoping to snag:

This digital picture frame will be $29! Regularly $69.

I found a similar deal to this last year at NFM, and gave them to just about everyone I know. :) I don't know who I would buy one for this year...but I'm sure I can think of someone!

This Christmas Tree (which I almost had Matt convinced to purchase last weekend for $40) will be only $25! We finally have room in the living room for a REAL tree (ok not real as in live tree, real as in larger than one that sits on your table which is all we had room for before:) It will be VERY interesting to see how our animals deal with this...we will be putting it up un-decorated for probably a week as a 'trial run' to ensure it is not destroyed. :)

And last, but most certainly not least, this TV. 32" LCD HDTV for $248 (Regularly $349). I think we are the only people left in the US without a flat screen/LCD/HDTV television. I won't lie, I don't really know what any of that means, but I know that we have some seriously ghetto TVs, and it's time to upgrade. :)

I have also seen ads for Target, Lowes, Game Stop, and a few others, but so far Wal Mart is the big winner for me. I am anxious to see how the NFM ad compares, because last year that is where it was at. I would much rather spend my 3am adventure at Wal Mart, though, because they are open 24 hours and even though the sale doesn't start until 5am, all the waiting can be done inside, in the heat. Much nicer than out front of NFM freezing my BUTT off.

So here we are, one week out from the big day. Expect an update in the next couple weeks with all of the AWESOME deals I (hopefully) got!