Not Even For The Bestest Bargain

I somehow allowed Eric & Fatih to talk me into a little Black Friday excursion to Best Buy at midnight after Thanksgiving. At first I was kind of excited, thinking  solely as a spectator, that I'd either see a trampling mob or some good deals on stuff I can dream about one day owning, more likely the latter. Instead we got a queue. A long, building surpassing queue that passed PetSmart, Bed Bath and then beyond, around the corner and down a dark alley. I managed to strike up some conversation with other line-standers, but immediately regretted that. I shivered some and had to be reminded about 7 times what exactly we were doing there. I still couldn't tell you. Once we got inside the pre-arranged human hamster cage sale items were grabbed and the search for a checkout line began. We stood in the wrong line for about ten minutes but it didn't seem to matter. The boys got some good deals on cameras, photo and video, and I bought a pack of mentos at Black Friday deal price.

I told them this picture marks the moment we stopped being friends.

Why I'm Glad To Be The One At Home

A mother of three shot pepper spray to keep shoppers from grabbing a video game system she wanted during a Black Friday sale, leaving 20 people with minor injuries, authorities said.

The incident occurred shortly after 10:20 p.m. Thursday in a crowded Los Angeles-area Walmart as shoppers hungry for deals were let inside the store.

Police said the suspect shot the pepper spray when the coverings over the item she wanted were removed.

"Somehow she was trying to use it to gain an upper hand," police Lt. Abel Parga told The Associated Press early Friday.

He said she was apparently after an Xbox 360 and used the pepper spray to keep other shoppers at bay.

Officials said 20 people suffered minor injuries. Fire department spokesman Shawn Lenske said the injuries to least 10 of them were due to " rapid crowd movement."

Parga said police were still looking for the woman who was with her children at the time and reviewing surveillance video of the incident.

The store remained open and those not affected by the pepper spray continued shopping.