Black Friday *

McClint signed on at 6:14:57 AM.

JPennant: why arent you at Best Buy buying 17 dollar DVD players???
McClint: hahahaha
JPennant: f'real!!!
JPennant: :-)
McClint: naaaa i'll pass
JPennant: 500 dollar new laptops, you know you want it
McClint: Fisher Price? :-)
JPennant: theyre showing it on tv here , people actually trampling each other to get to the deals
McClint: yeah that's why I'm not at the stores
JPennant: whoa, i should be at target picking up a 5 dollar rice cooker :-)
McClint: there you go!
JPennant: heheh
McClint: then get a 20 pound bag o'rice
JPennant: thats the plan :-)
JPennant: but

This is not a good day to take risks with money. You may think that because you have been rather frugal lately you can now go the other way and splash your cash on things you don't need. That's true, you can, but you will regret it later when you need that money for something more important. Keep your belt tightened a little bit longer.

JPennant: Aint that a bitch? :-)
JPennant: im not a shopper anyway
McClint: ditto
McClint: if i know of something I want, i go directly to where it is, grab it, and make a beeline to the checkout
JPennant: yup yup

McClint: being a tightwad ain't easy. it takes lots of practice
JPennant: it really does
------
1:30pm

Went out and about and ended up in SF's Union square, the tony hotel and shopping district.

It was great. The area was absolutely packed, almost 6 abreast on the sidewalks, natives and tourists alike doing their Black Friday shopping.

Macy's was done up all christmassy, the decorations were up, traffic was at a standstill, and the official christmas tree was up ready to be lit.

Damn, it was great. i was expertly moving through the crowd at a New York pace, slip-sliding, waiting and dawdling at will, the old skills coming back.

The majority of folk werent as surly and self-contained as they would be in NY tho. As crowded as it was, the excitement of the holiday season was palpable and people were genrally, mellow.; Nice.

(although to emphasize how San Francisco even that moment was, there was a Starbux promotional van giving out small mint mochas. and beside them were Scientologists giving out... stress tests. I took several mochas and avoided eye contact with the Dianetics peddlers.)

The energy of so many people in one place... ahhh.

Perked me up something nice.

Made me miss New York a little bit less.