T-Day and A Really Black Friday

Well,  Thanksgiving has come and gone, Black Friday/National Buy Nothing Day has come and gone, and sadly, I missed every opportunity I had to talk about any of it.  I had planned to write something up about Thanksgiving on the day, but got kind of caught up in friends, kids and stuff and figured I'd write up something the following day.  The next day, I woke up and found that our dog was in serious dire straights.  I'll spare you the details but suffice it to say it was a really ugly day spent making some impossible decisions and T-giving and Black Friday were the last things on my mind (although, as the title suggests, it was a darker day than I had expected).  Thankfully our beloved Biscuit is home snoring in the other room, but sadly, I think that we may have simply bought her some more time and are nearing her eventual demise shortly.

So moving on (or back), here are a few thoughts I was going to write up on.

- Thanksgiving was interesting and fun as we had about 8 people over, something we don't do much.  As a result, the purchasing and receiving of things becomes a bit difficult to keep under control (Oh my god, it's 4 PM and I have no cranberries!!!!!) and some sacrifices int he packaging department were made.  We also finished off a bit of booze, but what are ya gonna do?

-As some of you may have known, Black Friday, the day that all of the US is told they MUST shop, and many do, is also National Buy Nothing Day , a campaign set up by adbusters to stop the overconsumptiion that begins the day after Thanksgiving.  If you don't know about it, you should check it out.  I had planned to be a part of it and while technically I was, I ended up pumping a fair amount of cash into the local economy anyway through the local vet, so I'm not sure if that counts.

-  And finally WHAT THE HECK ARE PEOPLE KILLING EACHOTHER OVER TO GET GARBAGE FRO THEIR KIDS FOR CHRISTMAS????????????

Are we kidding?  People are seriously being trampled to death and shot to death over wiii and hannah montana dolls and who knows what else?  Seriously?  This isn't food people, its stuff.  And stuff that is going to break, be lost, get tossed aside eventually when the next new things arrives.  This isn't food, or medication, or even the New Yorker (just seeing who's still reading), it's cheaply made, deftly marketed, insanely inflated stuff.  Have we really gotten to the point where our kids happiness so depends on us buying them products that we are immune to the sufferings of those around us?

Alright, moving on.  I'm just still in shock over this.  I think my favorite headline I read yesterday was on the CNN ticker.  It read "Black Friday Stampeding Death Could Have Been Avoided".  Really?  Ya Think?

All right, back to the basement with me.

On to Christmas.

Dave