MusicMama

Woo Hoo -- there's a Macy's 2 blocks from where my daughter will be dancing on Black Friday afternoon! Guess we better get there early for the Shrek (and the stone bracelet ont he same page)

I bought last year's BF Symphonic 32" LCD tv. It's done really well for us (OK, we're not tv-philes) although I did get the extended warranty as well. We are looking for another 32" for the bedroom - might have to give this one some thought - thanks for the heads up!

We usually hit up KMart as soon as it opens for CDs, board games and clothing specials. Last year, I even scored a TMX Elmo!! What a great surprise. Then it's back "home" to get ready for dinner. ("Home" is a campground where my 2 sisters/families and 5 other families camp for the weekend. Camp is a relatively loose term as we all have travel trailers or motorhomes and we spend significant amounts of effort eating - steaks, turkeys, etc.)

And gee, isn't that what happened last year with the WM laptops? (At least at the store I was at) - of the 15 they had, 4 went to employees who walked out the door even before the sale started. We watched them. They're the reason my sister and I just missed out - we were 13 and 14 in line. I know that (some) retail employees work hard during the year and work even harder during BF, but come on - to let them have ALL of the miniscule stock quantity available?! Really. And $4000 to charity? Lame, so lame. It wasn't charities that were buying the tv's. Tax write-offs do not cover up store mistakes and lost good will.

My miracle was actually on Thanksgiving, not BF. (BF was almost a disaster, not quite, but pretty darn close.) Walked into KMart Thanksgiving morning and there was the Elmo TMX I've tried to get for my daughter for weeks! Several of them, actually. For 2 seconds I considered buying a couple extra for ebay, but realized how happy I was and figured there were others out there like me. Now if I could just locate a Wii...

My complaint is not that there were limited quantities - that's expected. But "limited" should not necessarily mean 1 or 3 or even 7 unless you say so in advance (I'm more upset with KMart over the electronic drums which were limited to 1 or 2 at the 4 KMarts I went to but that severe a limitation was not in the ad. Had it been, I would have ordered the item online at CC the night before for the extra $15. Unfortunately, it's sold out there too.). The truth is, the WM ad was pretty lame unless you wanted a few select electronic items, that were actually more expensive than BB or CC, or a couple of toys, or their usual cheap household appliances. My complaint is that I got there at 1am for the LCD tv - I knew I was paying $ 100. more than CC and I chose to do that to avoid the long line. I was first in line and if not for a big strong guy that I "befriended", I would have ended up laying on the stack of 32" LCDs in the same way that another lady was pushed into the stack of DVD players. (She was first in line for them and she got hurt.) Everything started out in an orderly fashion until about 4:30am when the latecomers crowded in and store management simply DISAPPEARED!!! They were the ones who organized the lines and then they didn't even stick around to see if that tactic worked. They were the ones who decided that it wasn't necessary to have a directory of what blitz items were where - you were just supposed to guess and if you got an item you wanted, then you were lucky. We saw a couple of security types around 3-3:30am, but nothing after that. Their version of "security" was having some employees holding ropes along the aisle of pallets, but as soon as the clock ticked to 5am they also disappeared. If a store can't provide at least some basic form of security and safety, then it deserves to fail. If a chain's executive management decides that individual store managers should determine how the BF sales work (for example - no security, no directory, no hot item tickets, no telling people that there were only a few of that item available) then they deserve to fail. The Target we went to next had great organization - people walking down the line with tickets for the hot items so you knew if you were getting what you wanted, the Starbucks cafe was smart enough to have people available so you could order a drink (I don't expect a free Starbucks), and there were managers EVERYWHERE. People were not able to crowd in at the last minute because the managers made certain that latecomers were held back. I know some people were thrilled with their WM experience - I was definitely not. I was afraid for myself and my daughter. This is a store that I shop at with some regularity, and it was appalling to see how different the experience was. It's even more upsetting to compare the experience with last year and determine that as bad as last year was, this year was way way worse. And going from complete chaos to utter organization (WM to Target) made the comparison that much clearer. That's why I think WM owes an apology to its shoppers. They don't have a consistent policy and they don't care. They figure that people will come back - I'm not sure I will be one of them.

Internet was way too slow to post during the weekend, but I did watch you. Great job! How about an update - did you end up getting what you wanted after all?

I almost called the hotline when the shopping list was down so long. I went away on vacation on Tuesday, having long since configured my list, and took a portable printer so I could print. However, my internet connection was so slooooow that I was never able to. Regional forums and review links would be terrific, as well as feature spreadsheets, especially for things like the LCD tvs.

Best - Target. I'd gladly pay again to have a Starbucks delivered to me in line. Lots of registers open, tickets handed out for popular items. Worst - Walmart. Chaos. Said it elsewhere. Worst - Tanger outlets and Rockvale Square outlets for midnight. How could you NOT expect crowds with all the advertising you did? No help parking, idiocy in the giveaway line (a hidden 2nd line perhaps?)

I walked into Kmart at 8:15am on Thanksgiving morning to find a display of about 20 Elmos right inside the front door. I was so surprised - grabbed one quick and hid it at the bottom of the cart. By the time we left, there were only a couple still there. There were none at the WM I went to on BF.

The 24-hour WM that I went to only seemed to do well on the electronics stuff - especially the $49 DVD player and the cheap 20" tv. And that is because the nearest BB is an hour away, and the people that came into WM around 4am or so had come back from BB or CC because of lines. CC is in the same town, and I ended up at WM because I had cruised CC around 12:45am and decided the line was way too long. My sister went to another WM (not 24hr) about an hour away, and at 4 am there were 8 people outside the door and maybe an extra car or 2. This WM is across the street from CC and the line there was around 3 sides of the building. It was awful. Will never ever go there again - this is the 2nd year that this WM has screwed up, and this was supposed to be better organized than last year. They tried to make up lines for each item in order to better control things, but the last 30 minutes saw that idea shot to hell as people crowded in and the managers disappeared. Last year there was at least a printed "directory" so you could organize your family, but this year they decided to change things around and not for the better. You had to ask were things were and the answers were not always the same. If this is how most of the WMs worked, then I can understand why their sales tanked - well, that and the fact that their other specials stunk. They only had 7 of the 52" tvs, and those were "spoken for" by 1:45 am, about 45 minutes after I got there. There was a near riot about 2:30am when someone not in the original line tried to bully their way in. They only had 15 of the 32" LCDs (I counted) and I was first in line for that. Those went quickly too. The DVD players were the worst - less than a palletful and a very very long line. The first lady in line for that was pushed into the stack and ended up injured. People who wanted the mp3 player as well as a TV were s-o-l as those were in 2 different areas of the store. I hope the managers send in reports and that WM pays attention. Of course, they probably think people didn't care that BB and CC had laptops and WM didn't.

Congratulations! Did the store people say anything while the footage was being taken there? (think you'll be getting what you want? ) Oh, and how about a pic of your shirts?

Wrote in, didn't get contacted (yet). I say -- go for it!

So, mind change over the weekend -- the Pink Creative ZVM was on sale online at CC for $199. Jumped on it because it was such a great deal. Daughter will be happy, I hope!

I'm think I'm getting my daughter the Creative Zen 8gb, even though she wanted the Zen Vision M (for twice the price and she doesn't really need the video). It's small in size but powerful in features. And there are accessories and cases on ebay and the creative site.

The Creative Zen Vision (original, M, and new W) both support mp4's - which are also known as DivX videos. I own an original and that's one of the formats I can convert video files to. So does the Toshiba Gigabeat, I believe, also the Archos player/recorders, and so will the new Microsoft Zune. I love the Zen Vision although it's not really small and it's not really light. But the picture is great - and the 30 gig drive hasn't run out of space even with lots of my Tivo'ed stuff and 80-some albums. The ZV original is a 3.2" or so screen, the M is a tiny 2.2" screen, and the W is a 4" screen. The M is a little too small to see clearly - about the same size as the ipod video. I haven't seen the 4" screen, but the 3-something is the same size as a normal PDA and I don't have many problems with seeing things unless the original picture is really dark.

Ditto from this morning. Looking for LCD in the 32"/37" range, nothing bigger, no plasma. HDTV or upconvert. Preferably under $ 900. Anybody?

Yippee -- the article says Lancaster, PA!!! From there it's only 5 minutes to the 24-hour Wally world.

One of the first years that our Target was open - and the year the "Pokemon Yellow" was released, they had a scratch-off. My daughter and my nephew both ended up with Pokemon back-packs. Wish they still did that - actually, really wish that stores appreciated you coming out and shopping there. But that attitude doesn't seem to exist anymore. Now it's more like "why are you bothering me, I'd rather stand at my register with nothing to do".

There must be something about the my local WMs and price matching - they don't do it at all - ever (3 of them within 25 mi any direction from my home). Wish they would, because it would be so much easier. We avoided TRU and Target last year because they didn't PM. Instead, I saved a bunch of those $ off TRU coupons and went shopping before and after Black Friday. (After BF they were trying to get rid of all the merchandise they didn't sell because people didn't go there.) Plus, I scored 3 of the Amex Wishlist certificates for TRU, so my deals were even better. ($ off + Wishlist cert = almost free)

Small canvas bag that holds wallet, cellphone, snack item/soda bottle and ads. My daughter and I have made these for BF for the last 6 years - get the small bags on sale at ACMoore/Michael's, use fabric paint or make iron-ons for decoration. We make them the week before (or a couple days before if we're running late) for me, daughter, my 2 sisters and their daughters if they come shopping, and my mom when she was still alive. The design and bag color change by year to whatever we think looks cute. Not sure if we're making them this year as we might have much less actual shopping to do -- kids have gotten older and toys have started to give way to gift cards or "group" gifts. Not nearly as much fun.

This deal is great for those who live within a reasonable distance of both NJ (Great Adventure) and DC (SF America). We have done this for the last 5 years. Buy your Six Flags season passes at SF America, outside DC. They're about half of the cost of a Great Adventure pass (currently $49.99 per person). Once you get the pass validated, it's good at any SF park except for the waterparks by themselves (such as Hurricane Harbor next to Great Adventure). If you don't mind a drive down 95 and you don't mind a park that's not as "new" as Great Adventure - this is a big price break. SF America does have Superman (a lot like Nitro) and Batman (the predecessor to Superman in NJ) and a wicked fairly-new wooden coaster, plus it has a self-contained smaller Hurricane Harbor. Once you get your pass, you can renew it online next year, so if you don't want to go back to suburban DC, you don't have to.

Just tried the [PA440] code you listed and the following message displayed: Please call 1-888-955-6000 to use this code on this specific product. Remember to have your Entertainment.com card handy to complete your order. Huh? Any suggestions, since I don't have an Entertainment sub? Many thanks.

Got "your gift cert or discount code has expired" for this. But thanks for the great deal - just bought myself some more Pearberry!

Got my 3 daughter's 3 pairs yesterday. Price tags from Buckle were 24.88 & 32.88 -- so $5. is a great bargain! Good quality material and sewing. One pair didn't fit (waist 25) but I'm sure they will find a home. Thanks for the heads up on such a great deal!