I heard about “Black Friday”
The Friday after Thanksgiving is supposedly “Black Friday” when retailers sell so much stuff that it puts them in the black for the year. Shoppers wait in line from the wee hours of the morning to get stuff they don’t need at faaaannnn-TABulous prices!
I stayed home.
Mostly I just took it easy, did some reading. Recabled my bike because the brakes were sticking (corrosion on the cables). Modern bike cables are not supposed to need lubrication because of the Teflon lining of the cable housing – don’t believe it. By working a Teflon gel into the cable itself, I can make it repel water so it doesn’t corrode even on nasty, salty, slushy streets. Then the brakes and shifters work smoothly. But since the bike was new in April I hadn’t done that yet.
Also washed and waxed my car for the winter. MrsDoF’s car has that newfangled “clearcoat” paint that doesn’t really need waxing. Not so, my Beetle (which will be 40 in January). It has the old-fashion, primitive enamel-type paint that needs waxing or the corrosive dirt and salt will eat away at it. I used a “wax” containing Teflon, which was not available in car waxes in 1967. Winter weather is apparently a flourocarbon thing.
I could do these things because today was about 65 degrees, sunny and clear – really springlike except the leaves have already fallen off the trees and long since been mulched. A much better day, I feel certain, than dealing with crowds in stores.
Oh, if you are out shopping, and you want to buy a digital camera, here’s a good discussion about new digicams over at SEB. Well worth the read, and besides you can admire Les’ fancy hat.
Update:
*Check out Pete over at Terminal Ward’s experience in a Black Friday line
It’s amazing how nice it is in Illinois right now. Tonight, my family met up in Chicago and walked around in 50 degree weather.
No one here got excited over Black Friday, but my Mom wanted to take me out cloth shopping. I can’t resist getting clothes that I don’t have to pay for (I’m a poor grad student). But I heard from a friend that got up at 3:00AM, that the Best Buy in Kankakee had a checkout line that snaked around the entire interior of the store. But more insane than that is that even with all those people in line and being that it was insanely long, it still only took 45 minutes to get through.
I registered at SEB just so I could post a (fairly mild) “digital sux” rant.
Zuiko glass is great, but I’m now hankering for some Leica glass and a http://cameraquest.com/VCBT.htm. Is that just not the coolest looking rig you’ve ever seen? Hey NikCanon, why can’t you design cameras that look and feel so good that I am drawn to them, want to just pick ‘em up and GO.
Leica has done it with the M8. Despite some significant technical issues and Leica fumbling the launch of the camera, it could set a new standard for digital photography. Now we need a follow-on (Cosina Voigtlander? Zeiss?) that will make available a stellar but more “popularly priced” digital camera that will make Canon, Nikon, Fuji and even Olympus sweat.
If Maitani were still at work, it would be a done deal. That’s the sadness to me. There are no more real visionaries designing cameras. I know that’s a bit of hyperbole, but it’s how I feel.
You want an account of how a husband and wife do gift shopping for 8 kids plus relatives, then go over to
Mary is yawning at Owlhaven
Good heavens, I’m yawning just reading it!