Here Comes Black Friday

One of the busiest days in retail is "Black Friday".  It's been that way for over thirty years, though thirty years ago when I was working in retail it didn't have that nickname.  I do know that the Pay Less Super Drug Store in San Jose where I was working at when I was in college would open at 7:00 AM and the crowds would come rushing in.  I was never assigned to work during the opening but I would come in the afternoon after the big rush was gone and hear one of my co-workers tell me how busy it was.

Black Friday continues to remain busy, and seems to be getting a lot of media attention these past few years whenever it comes up.  You hear stories about how people are camping outside of Best Buy the night before, joining this long line of people out there in the cold night waiting for the store to open at 5:00 AM or 7:00 AM or whenever.  In Tucson, I'm hearing that Toys R Us is opening at midnight.  When I was driving past their Broadway location on the way home from Todd's last year at 10:30 PMish there was a long line.  I thought OK, at least they're not out robbing liquor stores, but at the same time I'm failing to understand why going to a Toys R Us at midnight is such a high priority.

And from what I'm hearing, this year Target is opening up early.....I can't remember if it's 10:00 PM on Thursday or at midnight.  Headlines recently posted on the Drudge Report tell me of some employees protesting this action.  Last year I saw in the letters to the editor complaints that the major retailers are "taking people's time away from their families".  I got the sense that some of those letter writers were those who felt compelled to go shopping on Black Friday, and were upset that this was eating into their time on Thanksgiving Day since they would have to leave right after dinner to go shopping instead of enjoying a glass of wine that evening with their loved ones. 

I think there are some things that need to be pointed out here.  This is coming from someone who doesn't do Black Friday and doesn't want any part of it.

First of all, no retailer out there is holding a gun to your head to make you go out on Black Friday.  I'll grant that there might be a major deal on some laptop or flat screen TV that you can only get on that day.  But ask yourself......do you really have to have that laptop?  Do you really have to have that big screen TV taking up 50% of your living room wall?  Yes, they're nice to have, but does not having one of these items take twenty years off of your life expectancy?  I guess if you're the type of person who stews over not having the item then it might really shorten your life, but me, I can do without them if I have to.

What I'm saying here that it isn't the retailer's fault for taking you away from your family if you go out to camp in the long line right when you're done with your Thanksgiving dinner.  You have the choice to stay home that evening or to go out.  No one is "making" you go out to sleep outside of Best Buy that night.

Second......I'm going to admit that I have a problem with the "mob" mentality that a lot of the human race seems to suffer from.  I saw this in those three years that I worked for Payless.  I swore that when I got out of college with my degree, I was going to have no part of it.  I don't go out shopping when the Sunday sale breaks and I especially don't go out shopping on Black Friday.  In fact, I hate shopping.  I'm a guy.  The only time I enjoy going to the store is when I'm picking up some steaks or chicken to throw on the BBQ.  But don't ask me to do Black Friday.  I get that day off, and I just might want to stay home and listen to some Bachman-Turner Overdrive instead.

To be honest, I don't like it when the retailers exploit the herd mentality of the consumer.  A year ago, or maybe it was two years ago, a Walmart employee in New York who was opening the front door on Black Friday was trampled to death by the mad stampede of the mob.  This suggests that hundreds of people that morning valued the laptop much more so than they valued the life of a human being who was only trying to let them in.  Is Walmart responsible for that?  Or were the stampeders responsible?  I don't think anyone knew beforehand that this was going to happen, but would foreknowledge of this have made the crowd act responsibly?  Based on the three years I put in at Pay Less, I have to say that the overall consensus of those shoppers would have been "well he shouldn't have been in our way". 

And again on a Black Friday, we had a shooting in a Palm Springs retail outlet.  I can't remember which one but two shoppers were after the same item and the one who "lost" drew a gun out and used it. 

What does that say about the mentality of your average Black Friday shopper?  Are there really a lot of Black Friday shoppers who would have no qualms about shooting another shopper or trampling someone to death in order to get that last toy or that last laptop? 

Now to be fair, that shooting in Palm Springs is the only Black Friday homicide that I have ever heard of.  And as far as I know, that one Walmart employee is the only fatality of a worker who was stampeded to death.  We've had years of Black Fridays.  I'm sure that there are some fistfights going on that we won't hear about on the national news.  But when a worker is trampled to death and a shopper shoots another shopper over a toy, it doesn't make the average Black Friday shopper look good.......a stereotype becomes very easy to apply here.

I'll admit one more thing.  After I heard about that Palm Springs shooting I facetiously said to someone, "you know, what they oughtta do is this:  they should give the first 200 shoppers at the door a gun and ten rounds of ammunition, and tell them to go ahead and shoot each other so that they can be the one who "wins".  The district attorney should declare beforehand that no one will be prosecuted.  Let the shoppers take each other out, and let the retailers enjoy more carnage than they've ever had before."  And, I said pretty much the same thing when I was talking to Mark a couple of days ago about Black Friday. 

This pretty much suggests that I don't like Black Friday, and maybe deep down inside I really don't.  It reminds me of this one episode on Star Trek, The Return of the Archons.  That's the episode where Kirk and company stumble across that world run by Landru, and that there's this "festival" where everyone goes out and gets their inner rage out of their systems.  They set fires, destroy windows, attack women, and make your average San Francisco peace "protest" ("riot" is a more accurate word) look like a cakewalk.

But as far as Black Friday goes, I don't know who to think less of sometimes:  the greedy retailers, or the shoppers with that mob mentality that so often seems to rise to the surface; making you think that maybe man really is evolving into ape. 

Well, it is what it is, and one more thing for me to be thankful for this week is that I don't have to be a part of Black Friday. 

I guess the upshot here is that the retailers and the Black Friday shoppers deserve each other.

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I am taking this week and next week off of work, and catching up on a few things.  This gives me the chance to catch up on some reading.  And, some blog commentary.

Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.

The Ides of November Plus One

The 15th of March is often referred to as the "Ides of March".  So does that mean that the 15th of November is the "Ides of November"?  If that's the case, then we're one day past that, thus the title of this evening's post.  Besides, I don't want to use a title that I've used before.

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As for what I've been up to lately, I continue to remain busy.  Some days I'm putting in long hours and other days I'm not.  On those days where I am not, I sometimes don't feel like being in front of a computer.  I've been getting in some reading, and in watching Season Three of Hawaii Five-O on DVD.

I probably should be out dating, but these days there's no lady in my life.  That's largely been by my choice but maybe I should be re-thinking that.

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I am currently reading "Airframe" by Michael Crichton.  I've had this one for several years, but it's been on the shelf.  I can't remember which airport I bought this one at, but I do remember buying it at an airport.  I had to fly out to Waco, Texas, for a three week job.  I can't remember if I bought this in San Jose or in Dallas.

As is usually the case with a Michael Crichton novel, I'm finding it very fascinating.  Knowing a few things about aerospace engineering gives me a perspective that most other readers do not share.  Although Dr. Crichton was quite knowledgable in a lot of things, I did spot one minor error when the DC-10 comes up in a fictional conversation.  One of the characters stated that McDonnell-Douglas did not sell a single one after the crash of a DC-10 in Chicago in May 1979.  My online research into this last night suggests that it was in production after that.

Still, it's a good read, and I'll have to admit I'm practically cheering the way in which he is characterizing this one so-called "investigative journalist".

If you happen to think that "investigative journalism" can be reliably trusted, then I think you should do some research on NBC's "Dateline" program and what they did to "prove" that GM cars exlpode on impact.

* * * * * * *

I am also reading a collection of short stories by Edgar Allan Poe.  I didn't know this (or maybe that was mentioned back in junior high by one of my teachers but I forgot) but Edgar Allan Poe is credited with creating the detective story, with "The Murders in the Rue Morgue".

I've since read "The Purloined Letter" and "The Tell-Tale Heart".  The latter was something of a thriller.

After I'm done with Edgar Allan Poe, I'm going to read some Sherlock Holmes stories.

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I could devote several postings concerning the Republican candidates for President.  I do have a favorite amongst them, but that person is not the choice of the Republican Establishment.

The Republican Establishment has already made their minds up that Mitt Romney will be the nominee, and to hell with the wishes of the rank and file.  Newt Gingrich is their plan B, but they'll sell their own children into slavery if they think that will get them Romney.

I don't trust Mitt Romney.

Let me re-phrase that.

I trust Mitt Romney almost half as far as I can throw my house.

As for the Republican National Committee, I'll say this.

Anyone who sends them a check is committing an act of treason against the United States of America.

Before you Democrats get too smug about what you just read, I feel much the same way about the Democratic National Committee.

As Tom Petty once sang in a song a long time ago; "I can't decide which is worse".

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I think I now need to sign off, pet my cats, and then get some supper.

Happy Birthday to Brian Greenway!

Brian Greenway, best known for being a guitarist and mainstay of April Wine, is 60 years old today!  I've had the pleasure of meeting him once.....he's really quite the gentleman.  I've since exchanged messages with him on the April Wine forum on their official website.  He's well liked and he's got lots of greetings to catch up on when he next logs on.

He's in Kitchener, Ontario tonight, where April Wine is playing.

Here are two YouTube links that feature him.

The first is a live performance of the leadoff track for the solo CD that he released in 1988.  The CD is titled Serious Business and is extremely rare; expect to pay $85 for it if you ever find it.

In the Danger Zone

The second track is from April Wine's 2001 CD Back to the Mansion.  Track #4 is a song that Brian wrote and sang the lead vocals on.

I think it's the best song he's ever written.

Holiday

Happy Birthday, Brian!  We are lifting a glass of Moosehead in the direction of Kitchener this evening in your honor!

Happy Birthday, Randy!

Randy Bachman of BTO and Guess Who fame is 68 years young today!  Those of us who are regulars on his "Vinyl Tap" website have posted birthday greetings, which I'm sure he has read.  He's a busy guy and doesn't post very often to his website.  He's out with Fred Turner this week touring Canada, and no doubt has already penned some tunes to what we hope will be a new Bachman & Turner CD.

I'm going to post YouTube link to two songs that he released on his 1978 solo album Survivor.  The first song is the leadoff track, "Just a Kid", where he is reminiscing about his then 34 years on the planet.  The second song is "One Hand Clapping", with a guest appearance on piano by Burton Cummings of Guess Who fame.

These are the best two tracks on the album, and I think, way ahead of the others on that album.

Here ya go!  You'll have to hit the "back" button if you want to come back to this blog........!

Just A Kid

One Hand Clapping

I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do!

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OK, so where have I been?  What have I been up to?

I've been a busy guy too.  I have seen some long hours on the job these past few weeks as I am split between two different projects that reside within the same product line.  One project is going to take me until January to complete, as that I am responsible for three tasks within it, and I may have to take on two additional tasks.

Another project has short term tasks, and there are a lot of those kinds of fires to put out.  I frequently think that these are two full time jobs that I am doing, but as it is I have to be innovative in keeping the "Must Get Done" list down to a manageable level.  That assignment came close to having me in Amsterdam this week but someone else got drafted to put out that fire, and I am here in Tucson putting one of his fires that he couldn't get to.

It's frantic, it's busy, it's a snake ranch, but I'm having fun.  With that and the classes I am taking on Thursday nights I don't have very much in the way of spare time.

Eventually I will have to figure out how to get my social life going again, but that's on hold for the time being.

I think I'm also going to have to call up Todd and go rabbit hunting before long, now that the monsoon season is showing signs of winding down.

* * * * * * *

Yep, monsoon season is winding down.  Or is it?  We're usually done by mid-September, but we had some sprinkles this afternoon.

Two Thursdays ago we really had a pounding in the afternoon.  Session Number One started around 1:00 PM, and brought us half inch size hail along with the bullet rain.  I've seen quarter inch hail before on occasion here, but this one, well we got some bigger stones.  Then it ended and I thought we were done.

Session Number Two then kicked up around 2:00.  We had bullet rain like we did with the first round, but we got hail again!  This time they were quarter-inchers.  It was something, but we weren't done yet.

Session Number Three kicked in around 3:15.  More bullet rain, and more hail!  Three hailstorms in one afternoon!  These were quarter-inchers as well.

I had never seen hail twice in one day before here, let alone three times.  I ended up leaving work at 4:00 when it subsided but had trouble getting home as that half the roads near where I work were closed due to flooding.

After that I thought it was the season finale, but as I said, we had sprinkles today, and we may have a few more of those before we're all said and done.

* * * * * * 

I think I'm done here for tonight.  Just two more thoughts.

One.....don't forget to pet a dog or a cat.  It will do you more good than it does the dog or cat, although the dog or cat will think otherwise.

Two.....don't do anything to make the fire department come after you.

Good night!

It's been a busy month.....

I've got some catching up to do.  In some ways it seems like there really isn't a whole lot to report but in other ways there are.  I have started down that path that my own burning bush called me to do, and although I started with a sense of trepidation and wondering if I was really doing the right thing or was even up to it in the first place, I find myself glad to have started this.  I have a sense of peace and well-being about it that I can't describe.

I won't get any more specific about this.  It's an interesting situation and I'll leave it at that.

* * * * * * *

Things on the work front are also turning out to be interesting.  It took a few weeks to settle in to this new assignment and to feel comfortable at it, but I find that I am enjoying it a great deal more than I thought I would.  I'm not used to a project being run in the way that this one is.  No, that is not a reflection of management, it's instead the nature of the project itself that has it set up this way.

I can honestly say that I've been blessed with a great selection of co-workers.

It's one thing to have a job.

It's another thing to have a job where you enjoy having the right people on the team.

* * * * * * *

I am still slowly going thru that box of nickels that I bought back in early June.  I'm not even at the halfway point.  So far, two of the sought-after 2009D nickels have turned up.  I hope to get lucky and score several more.  

* * * * * * *

Speaking of coins, I have an amusing anecdote to pass along.

I purchased some $80 worth of half dollars at one of the Wells Fargo branches here.  No, I didn't score any silver (I hardly ever do), but no big deal.  I like spending them, and I also sell several of them to a manager at one of the Quik Trips here in Tucson (he also buys $2 bills off of me).

Anyway, I forgot to sell him my half dollars my last time there, but again, no big deal.  They're legal tender, and can be used as such as long as a vending machine isn't involved.  I was on my way to the swap meet to visit a longtime friend of mine who owns a business there, and I decided to stop off at a Chevron nearby to get a cold soda.

I decided to ditch two of these half dollars in the transaction, along with other change.  The young lady behind the counter stared at the half dollars for a second, and then asked me, "are these the fifty cent quarters?"

I said yes, and left it at that.

I figured that would take a lot less time than in correcting her as what the coins really were, and how many of them it would take to make a dollar.

* * * * * * *

At the swap meet, my friend Mercury showed me a counterfeit ten dollar bill that had been passed in his store the night before.  A lady had come in before closing, the lights were turned off, and she used this in her purchase.  It wasn't after she was long gone that Mercury and his wife Michelle had learned that they had been stuck with a counterfeit.

The bill almost fooled me; it was that well done.  It was colorized like the real latest issue ten dollar bills are.  However, there was nothing in the watermark area, and the microprinting was a bit fuzzy.  Also, the back was  a bit fuzzy if you looked close up at it.

It's probably no surprise to the Secret Service that the counterfeiters are keeping up with technology.  I have seen fake bills before, and this one was one of the best.

* * * * * * *

That's all I have for this evening.  Have a safe Labor Day weekend!

Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat!

Happy Birthday Blair Thornton!

Blair Thornton, gutiarist for Bachman-Turner Overdrive is 61 years old today.  I suspect that he still looks 20+ years younger than he is.  I've met him on a few occasions and is approachable.  However, he was never one to seek the spotlight during his time with BTO and we know very little about him.

We do know that he still lives in the same neighborhood in west Vancouver where he grew up.  He's an avid golfer, and I'd guess that he's a fixture on one of the golf courses in the Vancouver area.  His guitars of choice in the 70s were the Gibson models, particularly the SG and the Les Pauls.  Later on he switched to a customized Fender Strat.  When I asked him why he switched, he told me that the Gibsons weren't holding up on the road as well as he would have liked, and that he had a couple of them break on him.  He then went into a detailed technical description of the how he had his Strat customized.

Any BTO fan will readily acknowledge that he's one of the top guitarists, and I can personally attest to that.  One time when he was playing in Tucson, he was ripping out the solo for the song "Gimme Your Money Please" and he broke a string.  He never broke stride, he stayed true to that solo (which I'd seen him do before) and did NOT miss a note.  It was like he didn't need that string after all.  After the song guitarist Randy Murray loaned him one of his guitars, and Randy played his backup while Blair did the next song with Randy's #1 guitar.  Then with the song after that, one of the techs handed back Blair the strat with the string replaced.

One other anecdote is worthy of passing along.

After a show that they did in Las Vegas, I was hanging around the band after their "meet and greet".  They were delighted that three of us had come all the way up from Tucson to see them, and we were invited to stay and chat with them a while.  I was telling Blair that a song that he co-wrote, "Four Wheel Drive", was the first song that I played in my truck when I got my CD player put in....after all, it's a 4WD truck and I felt that no other song could be the first one played in it.

He liked hearing that, and as we were conversing a drunken fan then came up to us.

This drunken fan had mistaken *me* for a member of BTO!  He started shaking my hand, telling me that I had played really well that night, and that he had followed us for a long time.  Ole Blair went right along with that, saying "Oh yeah.....I haven't heard him play that good for several years now.  He hasn't played that well since 1997".  The fan thanked me again, and left, and probably was bragging to his friends the next day that he had gotten to shake hands with one of the guitarists from Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

So......can I say that for a brief moment, that I was a member of BTO?

Happy Birthday, Blair!  And thanks for memories that will last me a lifetime!

Here's a YouTube video of "Four Wheel Drive", live in 2004.  Blair's the one with the sunglasses.

Four Wheel Drive

Some catching up to do.......

Life had been something of a whirlwind during the first ten days of this month.  When things slowed down I did some much-needed goofing off, or maybe I should say that I decided that I needed some "down" time.  Well, I've had my down time, but I am behind in my emails and there are a few folks out there who I need to call.  I also realized that I needed to catch up here, so I'm here.

Let's get started.

* * * * * * *

I was not the only one who came across the burning bush last month.  After seeking out some counsel and asking lots of questions, I decided to respond to the call.  What this means is that I am going to be giving up some free time, but I feel that the need that I'm being asked to fill is important.  And, I'm not going in this alone.  Ten of us are getting involved and we'll be helping some people out, behind the scenes, who need the help.

That's all I'm going to say for now on this.

* * * * * * *

Things are changing for me at work.  When I returned to work after an extended weekend from the Fourth, well, I was made aware that things were going to change soon.  All I can say is that another project pulled some strings, and I was more or less encouraged to take this new assignment.

No, I'm in no way bitter about this.  It's just the nature of the business.

And seeing as how this is about work, that's all I'm going to say for now on this one as well.

* * * * * * *

Here at home, I've been experimenting a lot with the barbecue.  I had a pair of hamburgers for the evening meal, but this time I did them differently.

I had them rubbed down with olive oil (that's now a standard procedure here), and after the olive oil I sprinkled some Thai seasoning on them.  I then cooked them as I usually do, but in the final five minutes of cooking I put some Thai chili paste on them.

I was really pleased with how they turned out!  The side effect that I may suffer from later on could come in the form of some absurd dreams or possibly nightmares.  We'll see.

I do know from an experience several years ago that spicy Montreal steak seasoning on hamburgers will give you nightmares!  Back when I was in the townhouse I made generous use of that seasoning; going on to blacken those burgers like I was some sort Cajun cook.

They were tasty, but later on that night I paid for it.

I still use McCormick's spicy Montreal steak seasoning in cooking, but not like that anymore.

By the way, I did some research on that Montreal steak seasoning.

People in Montreal didn't come up with it.

Instead, someone at McCormick came up with a blend of spices, and since they wanted to sell a lot of it, they called it Montreal seasoning.  There's more than one variety of Montreal seasoning that you can get, and I'm partial to their spicy steak seasoning.  It does go good on a ribeye, and on hamburgers if you don't overdo it.

* * * * * *

I need to catch up on some other things here, so I'm going to sign.

Don't forget to pet a dog or a cat!