Black Friday

I lost a pound last week, so that's 7 total. I just bought an elliptical machine (YEAH!!) so I hope to be working out more than 4 times a week so the weight comes off faster.

But, what I really wanted to post about was Black Friday, one of the greatest days of the year.

This year's big goal was to get a 60 GB PS3 from HEB Plus for $350 ($150 off retail). This is by far the best price around and it was on the front page of HEB's circular so I was worried about my odds of scoring one. At Best Buy and Circuit City they usually stock a lot of the doorbusters, but this being HEB Plus's first Black Friday I didn't think they would do that.

I went to HEB on Thanksgiving to find where the electronics dept. was and check out the situation. The guy I talked to said they had 3 in stock, but that he thought they were getting more (maybe 2 dozen). That really made me doubt the situation, but I really wanted to get it. (FYI - the 60 gb is now discontinued and the newer versions don't have PS2 backwards compatibility so it was pretty much now or never).

I decided that I would get there at 3am to wait in line for the 5am opening, this meant waking up at 2:30am. When Rick and I got there, there were about 60 people in line already. I contemplated giving up, but decided to still try and get one since I was already up.

HEB Plus hired several security guards and 2 police officers to monitor the line, which I had never seen a store do before. About 30 minutes before opening, the security got really tight and announcements were made that anyone who left the line would not be allowed back in. There were some people who were trying to be tricky and non-chalantly cut but when the police approached them they would suddenly realize there was a line of hundreds of people. :-) This was a lot nicer than us having to police ourselves.

The group directly behind us had let there friends cut in line with them slowly over the last hour and now had 6-8 people with them who had cut. I can understand 1 or 2, but they were pushing it. I guess someone told the police about it because the officer confronted them. They semi-admitted to it, but the officer didn't know who in the group had been there from the beginning and who had cut. The officer was telling them it wasn't fair to all the other people, etc. and was pretty stern with them.

I thought he would just walk away and let it go, but he didn't. He insisted on knowing who had cut and for them to go to the back of the line. The group wasn't saying who it was, and the officer yelled at them. He then announced, "Cutters will be arrested for criminal trespass" to the whole line. They brought a police van to the scene to take away the people if they didn't go to the back of the line, and then the people came to there senses and left the line.

After a long time of waiting in a boring line in the cold, this whole scene was very entertaining. I knew if anyone got arrested for cutting on Black Friday that this was going to make national news tomorrow. Arrested for cutting, hilarious.

Then at 5am the doors opened. The line was very well monitored until you crossed the entrance, then it was every man for himself. I took off, running FAST to the back, left area of the store. I decided to go a different route than everyone else to try and beat some people. If you've ever been in HEB Plus you know it is kind of confusing and some ailes dead end. This decision made me run with everything I had because I was terrified of getting "stuck" in an ailse. Luckily that didn't happen and I got to that electronic department crazy fast and had beat a lot of people.

People were grabbing things all over the place. They were there for TV, digital camera, dvd player, furniture deals, and the PS3. I yell, "Where's the PS3, where's the PS3" and an employee points them out. I grab one, lift it up in the air, and say "Yes!" There were probably 2 dozen PS3's total and everyone who got there before opening got one. Ends up most people weren't there for the PS3, but those of us who were were ecstatic.

After that, went to a couple other stores and called it a day. I had done most of my shopping in the weeks prior and then online on Thanksgiving day. Another successful Black Friday. Now to get good deals on Blu-Rays and PS3 games. :-)