Black Friday
As a rule, I've sworn off standing in line to get the deals - it's really not worth it to freeze your ass of for 4 hours to save $50. Besides, a lot of the best deals are online.
Here's what I'm looking at:
Target:
Xbox 360 - $200 with a free $50 gift card thrown in.
Given that anytime I walk into a Target, I walk out spending about $100 on toothpaste, toilet paper, dental floss, I've sure I wont have problem spending it. Granted, that will make 7 gaming systems hooked up to the big TV I bought last year (if you include the PC and the Sega Genesis that I still occasionally play), But I've really been itching to play the Gears of War series , Mass Effect 2, Elder Scrolls IV, left 4 Dead, and the more recent Halo installments. Also, xBox games tend to go cheap quicker than PS3 games, so I'll recoup the cost in a couple of years buying cheaper versions.
Western Digital 2TB external Hard Drive $69 -I already own 6 2TB drives (including 3 of this model), but you can't have too many. Especially after the scare I had this last week where I thought I lost most of my Guvera downloads from September and the last 6 months of eMu downloads on a flaky drive. Always have 3 copies of everything sez I.
Any other good deals out there?
Here's what I'm looking at:
Target:
Xbox 360 - $200 with a free $50 gift card thrown in.
Given that anytime I walk into a Target, I walk out spending about $100 on toothpaste, toilet paper, dental floss, I've sure I wont have problem spending it. Granted, that will make 7 gaming systems hooked up to the big TV I bought last year (if you include the PC and the Sega Genesis that I still occasionally play), But I've really been itching to play the Gears of War series , Mass Effect 2, Elder Scrolls IV, left 4 Dead, and the more recent Halo installments. Also, xBox games tend to go cheap quicker than PS3 games, so I'll recoup the cost in a couple of years buying cheaper versions.
Western Digital 2TB external Hard Drive $69 -I already own 6 2TB drives (including 3 of this model), but you can't have too many. Especially after the scare I had this last week where I thought I lost most of my Guvera downloads from September and the last 6 months of eMu downloads on a flaky drive. Always have 3 copies of everything sez I.
Any other good deals out there?
Comments
OK,this is really weird, but all I have agreed to is making him a ninja headpiece? ninja mask? and we are going to Target at 4am. I have never gone to those Black Friday sales things, even when I made good money.
I have some leftover black fabric, black thread, and enough gas in the car to get us there.
I'm pissed in a way: he was spoiled all ways seven to the suns and back, when he was too young to remember it.
And I'm thankful in another way, I've learnt I raised him right. He is happy with my pitiful ninja mask offering. Instead of the money to start his empire of gaming.
I'm worried about the ninja thing, though. I suppose it will reveal itself when he chooses. From what I remember of being a teen, prying is fruitless.
Half Priced Books is having 20% off everything in the store from 7am - 11am, plus the first 100 people get a $5 coupon and one of those first 100 gets a $100 gift card. I intend to be one of those first 100 people. There's two Half Price Books really close to one another, so I'm gonna hit both before 11am, then go have lunch over at the secret Indian place, then head over to the Great Escape on Bardstown Road, where they're having a 30% of everything all-day special.
I'm gonna need someone to let me crash on their sofa next month, because I intend to blow the rent money on comics and music and books. I snore, so make sure you have earplugs, and I'm gonna need you to keep the fridge stocked with Little Miss Debbies and Fresca.
Thanks in advance.
I sure miss Half Price Books. I wish there were one here.
-Hurrying
-Crowds
-Bright lights
-Music not of my choosing getting piped in over the PA system
-Rushing through stacks of comics and TPBs in the attempt to find everything I want quickly before someone else grabs it up.
And all just so I can save 20% on my quarter comics. I went back to bed.
I get to the electronics counter, and there are no xBoxes (you get a $50 gift certificate for buying the $200 base unit). A few minutes later a guy comes along pushing a locked metal cage full of gaming systems. I was the second person in line in front of the cage. The guy has the wrong set of keys and disappears for 10 minutes. He finally shows up, unlocks the cage and walks away. Several youngish thugs (in their 20s) push past us in line and quickly snatch all of the xBoxes but one, claiming they were first (they weren't of course). I'm rather pissed at this point, until I realize that all the xBoxes that were snatched were the $300 connect version, and not the one for $200 with the free gift card (they are not on sale). I ask another worker about the regular xBox, and he goes into the backroom and comes back out with 3 of them - those of us originally standing in the front of the line get what we came for. I would have liked to have seen the faces on the thugs when they got to the checkout line and found out they had the wrong unit.
I then see a mountain of WD 2TB external hard drives for $69 and grab two. Very tempted by the 1TB pocket drive for the same price, but figure my 320GB will do for now.
Next, I pick up the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on Blu-Ray for $7.99 a movie. I know they aren't the extended rereleases, but they'll do until those come out, if they ever do.
I made out pretty well - $50 gift card, $10 gift card for spending over $100, another $15 gift card (when you spend $150) from an offer that came in the mail earlier this week, and another 5% savings for putting it on my Target Red card. I figure the final cost for my xBox was $115.
Now to get some more games. I've been picking up cheapies online and in the clearance bin in Target for $5-$15 -Project Gotham Racing 4, Bioshock, Gears of War, Mass Effect 2, Brutal legend (Jack Black wields his mighty axes (both musical and non-musical) against enemies while encountering Ozzy, Lemmy, Rob Halford and others), Elder Scrolls IV game of the year, Quake 4 and a host of others. Yup, I'm fixed for a while....
Christmas eve shopping is for the truly gifted and very skilled shopper. There is no net, there will be no second chances. You have to exhibit a Zen like calmness as you dispatch the retail zombies with ruthless efficiency.
There is also a certain etiquette that is observed on Christmas Eve. Mostly I shopped for kids toys and you can (or used to) make out like a bandit with a sharp eye and a little patience. Retailers know this is the end of the line and they either have sold all their stuff or give up the unannounced deals quite willingly. Admittedly this was during better economic times so I am not sure it still works.
Imagine my shock and horror when I was summoned by my numerically adult but emotionally idiot level child to come to the strip mall to help man the buggy. Now my shock and horror was not so much because I was to be cast into the mass of teaming hordes of hysterical discount seekers so much as it was concern that this kid was out buying so much shit with my credit cards that backup help was needed???
However, I was pleasantly surprised that not only was the traffic surprisingly light but the in store hysterics was fairly well subdued. Now this was in the strip mall type retailers. I did not venture to the mall but I may go back tomorrow.
I'm guessing it's the typical lets milk it as many times as we can syndrome - they'll put out the theatrical releases for the masses, wait a year and then put out the deluxe versions for the hardcore fans. I wouldn't be surprised to find that market studies show that if you only release the deluxe version that sales are low because casual buyers won't spring for it, and if you release two versions at the same time (regular and deluxe) that a lot people hold off buying either, since they will not want to buy the inferior version and will wait until the deluxe version comes down in price. I know for myself that that dynamic is at work for video games, i.e., if there is a standard version for $20 and a game of the year version (with a bunch of expansion packs) for $60, I won't buy either but will wait until the game of the year edition comes down to around $30.
Yes, nobody wants trmapling to happen! The Target we spurned had overturned carts instead of velvet ropes, so no stampeding could happen.
froggy, your post made me kinda sad I did not go into the Target to see some 1TB pocket drives. Not that I need one...but it would be handy to have.
@jUj - You crack me up.
And its all true
Thanks for dropping by my blog
Haha. I regret nothing, just like Nanker.
And I didn't even get to see a great band!
Picked up the box of the first 6 Harry Potter movies on blu-ray ($40). I've never seen them, so I'll see what all the shouting is about. Also picked up the first 3 seasons of Mad Men on blu-ray for $10 a season. I've avoided this series due to the chain smoking going on in it - I'm so highly allergic to cigarette smoke that I start to feel sick if there's too much of in a film. No doubt psychosomatic, so maybe this will desensitize me.
Also picked up a couple of longtime favorites at Amazon today - The Man With No Name trilogy for $25 and the Dirty Harry Collection for $29 - Ill certainly get my dose of Clint this holiday season...
As for Mad Men, it is so freakin' fantastic. The first season is great top to bottom, the second is almost as good, and while the third is a little slow for most of it the last couple episodes more than make up for it. As for the smoking, you need to make it to the end of season 4.
Craig
Edit- The box set list isn't the same as this morning but this is one of the ones I liked - DL'd from eMu myself on a crack card bender - Jook Joint Blues 4 Cds, $17.28. Also something I have from eMu - Chicago Is Just That Way which is 4 Cds , $14.99. Both are good stuff. Onto my short Wish List goes Big Mama Thornton - Complete Vanguard Recordings a 3 CD set for $10.99, a truly ridiculous price.
Craig
It sucks, but in a really good way. Sorry, that sounds vile, but it's a wild and crazy show.