Hey Hey, My My

In previous years, I've written about Buy Nothing Day, which is more commonly known as Black Friday. Because the economy is doing so badly these days (yes, I know you're already aware of that), I was of two minds about writing about it this year, but since Stevie T brought up the matter in a comment, I decided to say something.

Spending of various sorts is important these days to keep the economy moving, but I'm not sure that going into further personal debt is quite the best way to inject cash into the economy right at the moment. Still, for those who were so inclined, I didn't necessarily think I should try to force myself between them and their wallet.

A couple of things happened today, though, that should serve as cautionary tales against our being too eager to get up in the middle of the night to save a few bucks on appliances. A Wal-Mart employee was killed in a stampede (and more people were injured) in New York. Customers were simply too eager to get into the store. And then on the opposite coast, two men shot each other at a Toys 'R' Us. People are getting desperate. Surely those are both good arguments to have stayed in your bed Friday morning, if not to have kept our wallets in our poclets all day. Maybe next year's Black Friday will work out better.

UPDATED--to correct various misspellings and poor construction. I've been posting (and will likely continue to) over the weekend from my Blackberry, but it's never felt quite so much like posting without a net before. I'll try to pay more attention to mechanics as I continue.