I think I almost got frost bite this morning

November 25, 2005

So like an idiot, I decided I’d join the Black Friday frenzy this morning. And nearly paid the price with a very very cold set of toes that towards the end felt like they might be falling off.

I actually wrote down the route I planned to take, based on when the various stores opened. And I even brought along my little portable DVD player so I would have something to watch while I waited in line. Now that’s just wrong.

So first up was the CompUSA. They opened bright and early, at 11:59 p.m. Thursday night. It’s a 24-hour sale so they’re keeping the store open up until midnight tonight. But I didn’t really need anything that was on their doorbuster specials, I just wanted to pick up a couple of the DVD+R packs which were on sale. So my plan was to stop in around 2 a.m. this morning, get what I needed, and then go wait in line at Circuit City.

But when I got to the CompUSA, the place was packed. Even though it was 2 a.m., the sale had been going on for 2 hours already. The line wrapped around the store. So I decided to pack it in and head over to the Circuit City.

When I got there around 2:20 a.m., the line was already about 50 or 60 people deep. Apparently some kind of huge deal on a cheap computer and laptop had drawn the crowd. That wasn’t my target, I wanted the el-cheapo DVD recorder with VCR. So I can dub old VHS tapes to DVD, plus it has a fireware port so if I ever get a camcorder I can dub those to DVD also.

I was bundled up pretty well-gloves, jacket, hat, scarf. But apparently my thick socks weren’t enough for the feet. By about 4:30 am they were really tingling. Me and a lot of other folks in line were jumping up and down to try and get circulation into the toes.

It was so cold that by the time I got to the table where they were handing out the free Krispe Kremes, the damn things were essentially frozen solid. The opposite of the hot Krispy Kreme is really really bad–the sugar and dough frozen into a hockey puck.

By the time the store opened at 5 a.m., the crowd was so enormous I knew I couldn’t spend time in the store to warm up my feet. Because then I’d be trapped by the long checkout lines. So I ran in, grabbed the box I wanted, and ran over to checkout before the lines formed. Then I ran to my car, and turned the heater on full blast to my toes.

Feeling came back after a few minutes and I decided I’d go ahead and finish my planned route. After Circuit City I hit Big Lots for a nice rechargeable vacuum cleaner, EB Games for a copy of the Hulk Ultimate Destruction, then on to Lowe’s for a couple things, then home. Basically I did my part to help the US economy stay on track.

When I got home and took off my shoes, I was fairly relieved to see that there’s apparently no permanent damage to my toes from the cold long wait in line this morning. But I think this is the very last time I will ever do a Black Friday.