Dec. 26 should also be called "Black Friday," or, whatever day it falls on.

The day after Thanksgiving is typically called Black Friday because that's when everyone goes into full gear with their Christmas shopping and that alone is supposed to help the Retailers get into the Black so to speak with profits. Luckily, with the convenience of the internet, people like myself enjoy either VERY early shopping (like in October), or shoppping on the internet to avoid pushy sales people or rude customers who can't even change lanes with their shopping carts in places like Target or Costco.

Yesterday, I made a trip to our local Target to simply buy some main essentials, not really thinking about "after Christmas sales." But once I was there, the parking lot was full. People were backing out of their parking spaces without looking, some were practically running pedestrians over with their vehicles as they would come out of the store pushing a cart full of sales items. When I walked in, there were carts literally in every aisle and section of the store. But the one place I went to almost immediately was most likely the worst - the Christmas aisle. Everything was 50% off or more. I couldn't get passed people's parked carts or their parked asses. They would stand there and pretend they don't even see that someone is trying to get by them. Then they would have a hissy fit and bitch left and right just because you finally have the balls to say, "Excuse me!" because it's such a chore for them to move a couple of inches to make room for you.

The funniest part of that visit to Target was listening to an older couple, husband and wife, trying to pick and choose which greeting cards set they wanted. The wife had picked one kind while the husband picked another kind. The husband had exclaimed to the wife, in what sounded like a crappy British accent, "I really don't care for that one... I'm not interested in charity." I have NO idea why he said that since the card set she was holding up had nothing to do with charity. Then she showed him a set that had a picture of Times Square on it, which provoked him to say, "What does that have to do with me?" She finally gave up after he picked a set feeling like she wasn't going to win. The whole time they stood there in debate, I felt like telling the husband, "Will you just shut up!? You're giving off a smell like you've been in a jar of pickled pig's feet!"

Black Friday's reputation has indeed befallen the day after Christmas, not because of profits and numbers, but because of how quickly the spirit of Christmas has left people's minds and hearts. They only come for a quick bargain.

There is a reason for a 15-day absence

It's called vacation! Duh people, get with the program!

No really... it's been all work, work, work up until last Friday. What made things worse was that I was totally trying to fight the flu bug that had been floating around and people in the office were still making me go out in the pouring rain to buy them goodies for the last get-together before the office was shut down for the Holidays. I wasn't even going to stick around for it but they wanted me to buy them shit anyway. They saw and heard how sick I was but they didn't care. They just wanted their damn beer and chips. Instead I managed to coax one of my co-workers into getting the stuff since she had her heart set on having wine. After Friday, I was free of misery! Well, for the most part. I still had to deal with the Holiday shoppers. Even with great sales and deals, people were still bitchy as ever.

Putting aside that I was visited by a friend who is also a celebrity, I was still, quite frankly, very annoyed that I didn't get to see my parents for the Holidays. It did, on the upside, snow on Christmas Day. It wasn't even half an inch, but it was enough to make up for all the bullshit I had to go through leading up to the day.