We recently had the busiest shopping day of the year, known as “Black Friday.”  Not knowing how many people were out – I don’t participate in the getting up early part of this day – I would assume that it was another success for businesses.

The term “Black Friday” dates back to at least 1966, although its usage was primarily on the East coast. The term has become more common in other parts of the country since 2000.  Because Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States, Black Friday occurs between the 23rd and the 29th of November.  According to Reuters, in 2007 135 million people participated in the Black Friday shopping rush.

Black Friday is not an official holiday, but many employees have the day off as part of the Thanksgiving holiday (with the exceptions of those employed in retailing, health care, and banking), which increases the number of potential shoppers.  Retailers often decorate for the Christmas and holiday season weeks beforehand.  Many retailers open extremely early, with most of the retailers typically opening at 5AM or even earlier.  Some of the larger retailers (depending on the location) such as Sears, Best Buy, Macy’s, Toys “R” Us, and Walmart have been reported to open as early as midnight on the start of Black Friday in localized areas and remain open for 24 hours throughout the day until midnight the following Saturday.  Upon opening, retailers offer doorbuster deals and loss leaders to draw people to their stores.  Although Black Friday, as the first shopping day after Thanksgiving, has served as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas season at least since the start of the modern Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the term “Black Friday” has been traced back only to the 1960s.

The term “Black Friday” originated in Philadelphia in reference to the heavy traffic on that day (see Origin of the name “Black Friday” below).  More recently, merchants and the media have used it instead to refer to the beginning of the period in which retailers go from being in the red (i.e., posting a loss on the books) to being in the black (i.e., turning a profit).

OK, so people went out and got great deals last Friday.  Given the economy, I’m wondering about all these deals that were offered.  If a business can give these deep discounts and remain profitable, why couldn’t they do the same thing the rest of the year?  Even if the discounts weren’t as big I would think a business could reduce prices – not necessarily sales – and still make money.

I could be way off base with this, but we hear things about stimulating the economy and I have yet to hear anything about helping the consumer dollar stretch.  From gas at the pump to grapes at the grocery store, if consumers could buy more with their money I think we would be willing to spend more.

I vote for every day being a “Black Friday!”

This is what Adam Lambert said on his CBS Early Show appearance today:

Lambert said on the show that he believes he has been unfairly attacked because he is a gay man, and he blamed parents upset with his performance for letting their kids watch the American Music Awards without supervision.

“It’s a double whammy — I think it’s because I’m a gay male, and I think people haven’t seen it before,” Lambert said about the negative response that has erupted over his Sunday night AMA performance.

Lambert said on “The Early Show” that it wasn’t his responsibility to worry about what kids were watching at home. “I’m not a baby sitter. I’m a performer,” he said. “It didn’t cross my mind, children. It was almost 11 o’clock. It was a nighttime show. I was there in an audience full of mostly adults.”

Lambert pointed out that other performers at the awards show indulged in some not-so-child-friendly behavior as well.

“Lady Gaga smashing whiskey bottles, Janet Jackson grabbing a male dancer’s crotch, Eminem talking about how Slim Shady has 17 rapes under his belt — there was a lot of very adult material on the AMAs this year, and I know I wasn’t the only one,” Lambert said.

I think this “guy” has got to go and I will be glad when his 15 minutes of fame are over.  Check this out, I don’t have a problem with him being gay because it doesn’t affect me at all, but I do have a problem with him acting gay.  Does that make sense?  He can do whatever he wants to do, but if something he chooses to do in his life is out of the norm, I think he should keep it to himself.  Sorry fellas, but when I see two women kissing it does not fulfill any fantasy I have; it is still something I find unnatural.  Fortunately, I still have yet to see Lambert’s act and I will probably watch it right after I finish watching Brokeback Mountain….Uh, never!

I didn’t like him on American Idol because I knew he was a diva then and he has proven me right.  He knew what he did would attract attention and he is getting it big time.  Shoot, I’m giving him some attention right now, but this will soon be over.

I’m actually growing weary of the whole American thing.  You just cannot convince me that the people who make it to the finals deserve to be there.  I know how the voting process goes, but I would think all the voters would wise up at some point.

WE ARE BACK!

Long work hours (thank God I have a job to complain about), family and life have been positively amazing.  I wish our “hiatus” wasn’t so long, but it was for positive reasons so I’m OK with it, but enough about that.

Oh, before I forget, I’m going to really look at some of these spam/comments and remove them.  I guess people are trying to get some links by commenting without substance.  Shame on you.

American Music Awards

Well, the American Music Awards (AMAs) were held last night and it was yet another reminder that true talent is consistently being replaced by routines that provoke conversation.  Yes, I’m starting a conversation about it so I guess mission accomplished, but some things need to be talked about.

I didn’t want the show from beginning to end, but I saw Janet Jackson’s performance to open the show.  Remember her infamous wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl?  Well she had another wardrobe malfunction last night.  This time she was wearing some outfit that included some brown boots that looked like something out of Star Wars.  It wasn’t feminine and it wasn’t cute.  I’m thinking it could have something to do with her weight.  I could be way off base, but that is the first thing that comes to mind.

Whitney Houston was on the show and sang her unofficial comeback anthem “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” or “Didn’t Know My Own Strength.”  My wife says Whitney’s performance was typical of a live performance.  I think her performance reeked of a diva that was short of breath, full of ego and forgot that a few years ago her life was in jeopardy.  Why not just sing?  Why not use your God given talent and pour it all out on the stage knowing that you almost didn’t make it back to this point.  One of the purest voices of our time has, in my opinion, has been reduced to doing things to hide the fact that she cannot hold a note for too long.

Adam Lambert is a homosexual.  Now that we have that out of the way, can we move on without giving this guy too much press?  He is a diva who seeks attention.  He got attention last night when he had a male dancer simulating oral sex on him and then kissed an allegedly straight band member.  I didn’t see this myself, thank God, but read about it this morning.

It really makes me upset to read so much about a performance like this.  It reminds me that some people cannot see what is obvious and make a big deal out of something they should have known all along.  Lambert has always been more drama queen than singer.  The sexually explicit actions may be something that will raise an eyebrow for the network, but why the press otherwise?

I need to know this and I don’t want to sound insensitive.  Did Michael Jackson record some new songs or did he win those AMAs last night based on old material?  If it was based on old material, I’m not so sure they shouldn’t have just given him some kind of special award.  It wasn’t really fair to the other people nominated for the awards with him.  You can’t beat Michael Jackson!