Sam really wanted the fabled $99 computer, and we knew we'd have to be there at opening time. We carefully scoured the pages of ads on Thursday night. I saw a couple of printers that looked interesting, so I agreed to get up and go with him. Neither one of us thought he'd actually get the computer, but we had to give it a try.

We both had second thoughts when the alarm went off at 4:15am, but we quickly dressed and stumbled into the car. Roscoe wouldn't even get out of his bed to accompany us downstairs...he just opened one eye and gave us a "for the love of god, people" look, rolled over, and went back to sleep. Our drive-thru Starbucks wasn't even open that early...so we were completely uncaffeinated.

Through the drizzle we noticed quite a bit of traffic on Lawrence Expressway for that early in the morning...all going in the same direction. It quickly became apparent that everyone had the same goal...Fry's at 5am.

When we saw the line wrapped around the building, we questioned the wisdom of this once again, but decided to persevere. What we didn't notice until we had walked around the massive building, was that the line indeed went all the way around. We could have been at the end a good 15 minutes earlier if we had gone the other direction, since the end was pretty close to our car. There were obviously a great many people who had been there overnight...a virtual tent city had sprung up in the first hundred feet of the line.

Finally, right at 5am, the line started to move...and move it did. We actually made it in to the store by about 5:10am. We headed for the back of the store, and were quickly able to get the $99 computer (not a myth, so we found out), two HP DeskJets for $19, and an Epson for $49. It actually took longer to get back to the front of the store than anything...and as we thought it would be much faster with a cart, we were lugging all of this stuff in our arms. And mine are still sore.

May I be struck down if I ever criticize a cashier at Fry's again...the lovely Fatima rung me up with speed and grace, and she had been there since 4am. Sam reported a similar experience in his line. Wonders never cease. (Ok, I'll cut them slack for now...but I reserve the right to rag on them in the future. This is Fry's we're talking about.)

We were back in the car by 5:35am, feeling victorious, on our way to breakfast. Did we need any of this? Probably not. Did we get a good deal? You bet. Will we do it again? I'll get back to you on that.

 Black Friday, Fry's, consumerism