Stoopid question: Should I wake up EARLY tomorrow, so I can

drive to the Maul of America (MOA) that is 40 miles away, get a good parking spot there, and walk around the stores; not buying anything but putting good deals in a cart and hiding it in the store's corner?

Or just walk, I can use the exercise...

If you can keep your head while all around are losing theirs - remaining detached from the predatory consumerism in progress - you can look upon it as anthropology in the raw and pity all the slaves to materialism you see in the maul.

Oddly enough, I'm actually going to brave the crowds tomorrow - at one store - contrary to my earlier assertions. There are a couple of items at Staples that I want: a 120-gig hard drive (my sons are music-downloading maniacs) and a digital camera + accessories for a reasonable price (for the wife...if Mama's not happy, NObody's happy!).

Sams Club has a 250GB HD for $120 and a 160GB HD for $80. Both are Western Digital brand, new, 8MB cache, 7200RPM. Regular price.

And, yes, Sams Club is evil. Which large wholesale corporate chain within my driving distance isn't? :-(

I actually need a pair of boots, and Nordstom might have a sale where the leather boots that had cost $5 to make will sell for $50 instead of $100, in which case the time is worth it.

is that it's owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which was considered one of the kings of the hostile takeover boom in the '80s. They purchase companies & manage them until they become marketable, then sell them. I work for a company that's owned by KKR; rumors are rampant that we're about to be sold, which would be good news for me. I'm in R&D, and funding has been pretty miserly since the downturn that began in 2000. KKR likes to keep things in the family, so we get all our office supplies from Staples. As an employee of a sibling company, I get a 10% discount there about once a quarter. Unfortunately, now is not one of those times x(

On edit: apparently Staples is no longer in the KKR stable, although we still buy all our office supplies from them.

...unless you engage in guerilla action, like putting LSD in the perfume samplers and stuff like that.

Not that I would recommend that.

I don't understand the throngs of people who run to the stores the day after Thanksgiving.

will just have undo such maliciousness.

Whom are you trying to harm ?

:-(

And unlike a cart full of goodies with a note saying why I din't buy them, *'s economy IS hurting people.

And, no, I wouldn't do the stock-up-and-leave gag anyway. Better to just leave an innocent note.