TheLegend

Hmmmmmmmm.... you sure about that? The following is from WalMart's corporate website: Medical Coverage Every associate who works in the United States can become eligible for individual health coverage costing as little as $5 per month in some areas and as little as $8 per month nationwide. As soon as an associate becomes eligible for benefits, their children become eligible too. Today, more than 92 percent of associates have health insurance—either through us or through other coverage. For our associates who choose coverage with Wal-Mart, we also offer more than 2,400 generic prescription drugs for $4. This includes prescription drugs to treat everything from diabetes to heart disease. Wal-Mart associates will find more than 50 ways to customize their health coverage. They can select from a menu of deductibles, health care coverage options, and health credits and premiums. We want associates and their families to have the peace of mind that their healthcare needs will be met, especially when they need it most. To ensure that peace of mind, Wal-Mart’s health coverage includes no lifetime maximums on most health care expenses.

What a complete lack of class (the article). That's all I have to say about it.

Okay.... Made it to Kohl's just as the doors opened at 4am. Went back for the carpet cleaner and couldn't find any! There was ONE on the shelf that someone had snagged. Took a few minutes but eventually an associate to check in back and they brought us out one. By this time the checkout line was wrapped around the store. Line did move well though. Got out at 5:25 and headed for WalMart to get the $7 SD Ram cards and some $5 Barbies and other small items for a toy drive. SD cards went literally in seconds from what we heard. Wife and daughter found the Barbies and a couple of other things (daughter wanted that goofy skateboard). Got out quicker by getting in the cash only line. Amazingly... there were 3-4 40-42" LCDs still available (1 Sony, 3 Samsungs)... lots of 19" LCDs and plently of computers stacked. Came home and found the SD cards were available online and ordered five. Now it's nap time.... local NHL team has a 2pm game and I need a little sleep.

Most of our shopping is already done (got all the big items at Sears F&F two weeks ago) so we really don't need to do BF, but the wife's decided to try Kohl's now for a carpet cleaner and then drop into WalMart for the the sheer purpose of watching the madness. So here I am now playing designated stay-awaker.

Just my opinion, but 40-42in flat screens are big enough for the average living room. 60in units are more practical in larger areas where'd you be sitting some distance away. Mitsubishi made great large rear projection sets but rear projection is more or less going away. What they have now I'm not familiar with.

Brad posted a scan of a manifest for WalMart in a different thread. In it there are specific directions NOT to put the shipped Wii bundles on the sales floor before BF.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6201652.html?tag=latestheadlines;title;6

See what making a major network news story does to you?

Wife and I got two of those during the Sears Family and Friends sale for $425 (with the 10% + 5% discounts). Set one up last night using nothing but a basic rabbit ear antenna and I'm very pleased with it. Even though its contrast specs are a little less than the 330 model it's not that noticeable.

Blu-Ray still has a very small market share compared to DVD. Until the costs of stand alone players and discs get down to a level where the average consumer will invest in it, DVDs will still be around for a long time.

Sears added layaway this past week. But I don't think large appliances and home electronics are allowed.

Wii Fit consists of a balance board (which is a pressure sensitive controller) and a fitness program. The program can measure your weight and balance, calculate your BMI (body mass index) and track its progress. It uses various minigames that require a good sense of balance (the board detects weight shifts.) to teach you how to maintain good posture and balance. It also has yoga, strength and aerobic training sequences (some that use the Wiimote instead of the balance board.) There have been some recent game program releases that also take advantage of the balance board's capabilities. Wii Music uses it with the Wiimote and Nunchuk to simulate a drum kit. Wii Ski, Shaun White's Snowboarding, and Jillian Michaels Ultimate Fitness 2009 also use it as the main controller. My 12 year old daughter has enjoyed it.

Plasma TVs don't have the "pixel block effect" that many mid-to-lower end LCDs have when displaying images with a lot of fast motion in them. Upper end LCDs and the newer 120Hz sets are getting good enough to where most viewers wouldn't notice the difference.

FYI... Brad posted in another thread that the ad had been altered.

That Wii bundle price shocked me. The bundle would sell individually at over $400.

Currently it's 10-20% off the RETAIL price. DVDs (lncluding sets) and CDs are 20% which includes Blu-Ray discs (might be the best deal so far). Some accessories are at 20%. I noticed the nearly all the portable memory cards (SD, SDHC, XD etc)disappeared literally overnight. Stock may be been shipped off to stores remaining open.

Went to the page described above and and only get the Veteran's day ad with two catalog ads. Edit: Whoops... after looking at the page a little closer it was the first ad that came up.

Those are more likely the two special edition DS Lites (I think Crystal Blue and Mario Red) coming out for the holidays. You can see them in the Sears BF ad.

Nintendo is delivering 50% more Wiis this season over last year. They are starting to linger in stores more often now. We've got our system in June and have about 6-8 games packed away already for this Christmas. But I saw a two-pack I want in the KMart turkey day ad.

On ABC News. BlackFriday@GottaDeal front page gets a lot of screen time. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=6200004

The stores are under the control of a liquidating company. They control the pricing and NOT Circuit City. They always start discounts at 10%, and not necessarily off the original selling price (often it's the MSRP). What they hope for are the vast majority of consumers that buy on impulse. The smart shoppers that do their homework will know when it's a good deal.

I'm getting a blank page, and no prompt to enter a zipcode. What am I missing??

Target is selling Wii games at Buy 2 get 1 free this week (games priced $49.99 and under). Wife and I went in to our nearest one last night and picked up three new games (Wii Music, My Sims, and a fitness game). The store's stock was picked over pretty hard already but there were still plenty of decent titles. They also had about a half dozen Wii consoles in stock.

FWIW.... the wife and I went down to our nearest CC last night on a scouting trip. Store was stocked about 70-80% of what it usually is. Lots of floor model items on sale with very few NEW models. Which makes you wonder how much they have left in the stock room. Can't remember if they sold Macs but there weren't any around. Would suspect Apple would not want those on liquidation and called them in. And one of the sales clerks told us that this store was the top in their district. We're looking to go back Wednesday night again.

Total of 13 stores in Phoenix Metro are closing. If they (the liquidating company) follow their usual gameplan, they will go by a set timeline. BF will not affect whay they do. I expect it to be done by the end of the year.