josetann

I'll group cash/checks/gift cards all in one lump here. Do you like getting them for presents or hate them? How many hate them, but yet turn around and give them as presents yourself? Personally, I don't like them. I'd rather get a semi-crappy gift, at least I know some thought went into it. And yes, I have given them on rare occassions, but not often.

Hrm, I live out in the country AND it snows here. To make matters worse, we live on a road that has "Hill" in its name (so, it's pretty steep to say the least). That's ok though, we just use them when we want to ride around, or go somewhere locally (not much to do), and drive a car everywhere else (work, shopping, whatever).

28mpg is impressive? That's sad.... If a diesel got that, then either something's wrong or you're talking about a really old diesel (my 85 Mercedes gets almost 30mpg highway, so city mileage would probably be a tad under 28mpg). Everyone IS buying scooters! On our way back home yesterday, I saw what looked to be two large scooters, would have thought they were regular motorcycles at first. Two-seaters, windshield, all that stuff (didn't get a much better look than that). We also saw a scooter strapped to the back of an RV with a milk crate attached to the back (where a trunk would normally go). Plus there are two crazy people in town here who have bought two full-size electric scooters (full-size as in, they're two-seaters, have working lights, etc...not the kiddie scooters at Toys 'R Us). Of course, those crazy people are us.

Just depends on the sales! I hear you on building a house; we're not building yet but are buying the land and once that's paid off, we'll start saving up to build (so money's going to be just as tight, it's surprising how expensive land is!).

That's why you tell your kids Christmas will be in January.

I used to work at Circuit City a long, long time ago. On BF, all registers were open, and it didn't matter what you were buying. You buy a CD at the appliance register, or a stove at the audio/video register, etc. I don't know if that's how it is at Best Buy, but I'd imagine so. BTW, it was like this everyday (any register could ring up anything), but on days other than BF there were often several registers that were closed. On BF, every register had someone there checking people out.

I have at times. I missed the whole PS2 craze, so when the Xbox came out I bought a few...that turned out to be a dud. I sold a couple to online friends that couldn't find any locally for the price I paid (plus shipping, plus PayPal fees, so I came out exactly even) and think I returned one to the store. Didn't want one for myself, not at that time or at that price. Last year, or the year before, I can't remember, but Wal-Mart had the Gamecube for $80 or so, PLUS the Zelda classics bundle. Apparently that was something my brother wanted, but couldn't buy in store (he already had a Gamecube). So we bought the bundle and stripped it of its game. Worked for us. The vast majority of the time, what we buy we end up keeping for ourselves or give as gifts.

Every time that happens to me, I turn around and say "Jeannie, I wish you'd stop hitting me!" (Jeannie being my wife).

It was a big deal to me when I was a kid. I remember one year the forecast was pretty grim, virtually no chance for snow on Christmas. Then when we woke up on Christmas, it had snowed quite a bit (well, quite a bit being at least a few inches). Thought that was something. It's harder to get into the Christmas spirit now as an adult, but once we have kids I think it'll be even better than when I was a kid myself.

I'd say about half the time, the no-name stuff is just a relabeled version of a name-brand product. My mom got a VCR not long ago, if you look on the back you saw the Magnovox name, but otherwise there was no indication of what brand it was. The almost-identical name-brand VCR was about twice the price. There's also all the name-brands that people don't recognize as name-brands. Proview is one, they're pretty popular for cheap, decent monitors. Another that comes to mind is Lite-On, they are a very big supplier of computer parts to OEMs (such as cd burners), but if you saw that name on the individual part itself, you'd think it was just another no-name brand. Then there's the brands that share many of the same components, but aren't exactly relabeled. Such as Akai bigscreens generally being the same as Samsung, but they're not actually made by Samsung. Aiwa might be seen as inferior to Sony, but they're owned by Sony (so the quality would presumably be similar?). Of course, there are many cheap electronics that are just that, cheap. I think overall, they provide a good value if you shop wisely. Next time you look at buying a name-brand of something, look at the no-names too. You just might find out that the no-name is really a name-brand in disguise. Look all over the product for clues, the back of the VCR might say it's made by Magnavox, the back of that 88cent Ultrabrite toothpaste may say it's made by Colgate, and if you enlist google's help, you'll find out even more.

You're kidding, right? My parents used to hide presents in their closet too....

We waited in line at KB for 30-45 minutes, then when we were next in line we noticed we couldn't get the deal we wanted (Gameboy advance for $50 with $100 purchase, I was going to pick up the Nintendo DS but the fine print said excludes video game system purchases, oh well). While we were waiting my wife ran to Belk to check out some Baker's rack she wanted. It looked too cheap to her though. We then both ran to JC Penney's for the free snow globe, and someone came by with free breakfast. Headed to K-mart to get a $13 entertainment stand, looked somewhat similar to one that Wal-mart had for $80 (it definitely wasn't as good, but for $13 it looked good enough). Once we opened the box we noticed it was cheap wood and plastic, so back it went. Then it was Toys R Us for two gameboy advance sp, then circuit city for a wireless router, sam's club for a bigscreen tv. After we got home and took a nap, we went back to Wal-Mart for the $80 entertainment stand we wanted. So in total, we got: KB - nothing Belk - nothing JC Penney's - 2 Free Snow Globes K-Mart - $13 entertainment stand, but returned Toys R Us - 2 $80 Gameboy Advance SP's with Cartoon Network pack (some shows and a couple games) and headphones, plus the $9 warranty Circuit City - Belkin Wireless router for $65, after rebates $8 Sam's Club - Akai 55" Widescreen HDTV with HD-tuner and DVI for $850 (because of a mistake on their tagging, it wasn't a black friday deal but we got it on black friday nonetheless) Wal-Mart - $80 entertainment stand, it's all metal with glass shelves, wasn't on sale

Sorry to hijack the thread here...but that's the same paper I get! Used to live in Clarksville, now we live in Erin (still get the Leaf Chronicle down here). Small world.

It probably was, yes. They didn't have the exact specs, but there's only two 55" Akai TVs that I am aware of, and they're virtually the same except this year's model has dvi. It's just a rebadged Samsung. Several people have said that some Sam's Clubs were clearancing these out for $900. I called around all the local Sam's Clubs until I found one that said they had that model for $900. I get there and it's actually a 54" standard screen (not widescreen). Completely different model. The price tag they had, though stating 54", had the model number of the better 55" which is supposed to be $1300. Since I had to drive over 1 1/2 hours to pick up that tv, after confirming the model number, they went ahead and let me have the 55" for $900. Others may not be so lucky. Before you go and get one of the $900 special deals, make sure it's a 55" widescreen, else you're just paying the regular price for a cheaper tv.

What reviews, and for which tv? From my limited knowledge, Toshiba and Hitachi have the best picture quality. The Toshiba that Best Buy's going to have on sale even has a feature where it'll change the brightness based on the light in the room (so it'll make the picture brigher in daylight to compensate, and darker at night). Pretty cool. I don't know the model number of the Akai Compusa is substituting, (neither do they). The closest one to me is out of stock of both the Panasonic and the Akai, but agreed to let me order the Akai for the $999 price. Akai is just a Samsung with a different name slapped on. I "think" the Akai they have is the same as the 55" at Sam's, which comes with a DVI port (if you're at Sam's, make sure it comes with DVI, last year's model didn't and they may still have the older stock). This particular TV got pretty decent reviews. Everyone agreed it was a great deal for $1300. For $1000, it's a steal.

Akai is a rebadged Samsung. BTW, those of you trying to pricematch Sears' price to Compusa's, the model numbers are different. Sears has the Panasonic 53x54, Compusa has the 53Wx53. Similar specs, but the 53x54 is the newest and has a few newer features (HDMI vs DVI, new style, etc.).

Here's Fred's Black Friday sales, 5-11am: Battery Operated Jeep - $149.99 Intellivision 25 Video Game System - $14.88 72" Curio Cabinet - $68.88 Buffalo 7-Pc. 18-Volt Cordless Power Tool set with carry case - $47.88 Argus Digital Camera, 8MB memory - $29.97 42" 7-in-1 Air Hockey Game - $49.97 42" 6-in-1 Foosball Game - $49.97 Electronic Keyboard Organ/Guitar Combo - $19.96 24-Pc. Beauty Salon - $19.96 Fisher Price Gobble & Go Hippo - $19.96 Doll Care Roll Play Center - $19.96 6-Volt Go-cart - $59.97 6-Volt Motorcycle Pink or Red - $39.99 6-Volt 4-Wheeler - $59.97 Remote Control 22" Fire Engine - $14.88 Nikko Radio Control 1/16 Scale Truck - $19.96 Tonka Tough Vehicle Combo, 4 pieces - $29.93 8-Pc. Lenoxx Sound Home Theater System, 100 watts - $49.99 Lenoxx Sound CD Player with 60 second shock protection and car kit - $24.99 Lenoxx Sound Portable AM/FM Radio with CD player - $19.99 Coby Progressive DVD Player - $39.99 DVD/VCR Combo, Progressive Scan, models vary, reconditioned - $68.88 Continental Contact Grill - $8.88 Black & Decker 12-Cup Digital Coffeemaker; Automatic, Black or White - $14.99 49-Pc Buffet Set, 12 each of teaspoons, dinner forks, dinner knives, dinner plates, and metal caddy - $26.88 Throw & Pillow Cover Set - $14.44 Rechargable Spotlight, 2,000,000 candlepower - $6.99 4.8-volt Cordless Screwdriver - $5.99 18-volt Cordless Drill - $15.96 "Tree of Life" Frame Tree - $9.97 Men's PJ Sets - $7.87 Ladies' PJ Sets - $6.87 Girls' PJ Sets - $5.87 Ladies' or Girls' Slippers - $2.96 Ladies' or Men's Fleece tops and bottoms - $3.50 each Men's Reversible Fleece Jacket - $7.99 Men's & Ladies' Patch Leather Jackets - $14.99 Ladies Leather Patch Skirt or Vest - $6.99 Men's Nylon Windsuit - $9.87 6-Ft Spiral Tree - $9.96 4-Ft Inflatables - $9.96 Animated Standing Buck or Feeding Doe - $16.96 210-Lt 3D Wire Sled - $16.96 Eureka Hardside Vacuum With Tools (remanufactured) - $29.99 Dirt Devil Featherlite Vacuum (remanufactured) - $29.99