Black Friday

I survived another Black Friday. Reporter Lisa Roberson and I were up way before dawn this morning to get words and pictures from the front lines. I guess I have reached an age where the idea of sitting outside in the cold for 24 hours to be the first to get anything doesn’t appeal to me.

Unless they are giving away something that would fix my receding hairline or the expanding waistline, I’m not gonna wait in line to get it. That being said, if the opportunity to take advantage of a sale comes up, I’m willing to take a peek. That, my friends, is how I came away from Black Friday nearly $800 lighter in the wallet.

During the run up to the biggest shopping day of the year, I did look at the fliers. I saw the computers that were selling well below retail. I saw those cool photo frames that rotate your digital photos every few minutes, and yes, I saw the LCD flatscreen televisions marked way down. As it turns out, the television is the one that got me.

But, as they say, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. Now that I have that big new TV that just screams “Steal me!” sitting in the living room of my house, I have to buy better curtains. I also have to buy a stand for the TV, not just any stand mind you, it has to be “nice”. My idea of nice is a milk crate covered with a good towel. My wife has a much different idea. I don’t even want to know how much that is going to cost.

Every guy knows that “nice” isn’t cheap.

As a final note, this was yet another year that I didn’t see any of those much talked-about fights over the hot items. For those who ventured out before dawn, how did you do? Did you get a $400 laptop? Let me know.