I don't mean for this to be a "Shameless Self Promotion", but if anyone from the board is going to the Christmas Bazaar at the Expo Center either this weekend or next weekend, stop by and say Hi.

I'll be in the "D" hall at booth D2-32 and the sign on the booth says; Woods' Woods.

Hope to see you there.

Hope it goes well.

This year, we have decided to not go nuts and not buy squat, just because the deal is good.

It's gotta mean something, and be of good value and necessary, or it's just not gonna happen!

Black Friday indeed.

2 dead after shots fired in Calif. Toys 'R' Us.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27957714/

Wal-Mart worker dies after crowd rushes store
Shoppers knocked him over, 'physically broke down doors,' police say.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27955316/

Yeah, was catching up on the stories today, after taking my daughter to work. She does retail, and they actually put out some warnings about rabid people, going nuts.

Evidently, this day marks a make or break time for many retail enterprises. Most of their profitability ends up being determined by how things go on this day.

Reminds me of the corporate end of quarter, do what it takes to close a deal, frenzy we've got to deal with each year. I really hate all of it.

People will wait on major software purchases for these times, and sales end up laced with giveaways that basically give a lot of the dollars back. Opportunity costs are not always factored in, but they still have their impact.

Of course, Q1 then is just a wasteland, teeing things up for the drive to next year.

On a personal note, I just have been getting more and more away from this stuff. We have been through some seriously bad ju-ju, and all that really did was underscore how gross the whole thing really is.

People killing other people over a freaking discount TV, that wouldn't be an issue, if we were just a bit more focused on actually making sure people were in good shape otherwise!

We have ended up doing luxery purchases over the year, when it makes sense. Holiday time is moving toward more family time, instead of "go get a lot of shit" time. I think I'm liking that a whole lot more.

I do miss the strategy game and the buzz, but I don't miss that feeling of just being spent out. Kind of hard to enjoy the stuff after that, meaning it makes a lot more sense to just get it some other time.

Does anyone wonder about the strong appeal of the deep discount, balls out time? Seems to me this activity has been escalating for a while now, and few ask why.

With our national production of wealth at an all time low, is there any wonder about people so excited and retailers pushing so hard? It takes a lot to get people spending right now, and given the times, I think that's a warning.

We might not be at the bottom of this crap. Notice AIG giving out "cash rewards" to "managers", which is Orwellian for "Bonuses" to "Executives". They are doing it on a holiday too, so we will be too busy draining our piggy banks while their stock theirs up!

Paulson is warning now that 700 Billion won't be enough. And of course, many here could have told him that! The real damage runs in the trillions, and we don't really know the scope of it.

Derivatives run about 45 Trillion globally, meaning we are highly likely to be in a lot deeper than we think. Puts that black Friday spending into perspective does it not?

This draining of our treasury and our savings is reckless and is the kind of thing that most ordinary people wouldn't consider, so why is it happening?

To me, I think it's the stressful times combined with a very large fraction of ordinary people not really being able to live modestly without worry. We wait for this and that, defer this choice and that, and suddenly there it is! For a day or two only, lots of things we want (or are pressured into wanting) are there within reach!

I think I would much rather focus not on putting those things within reach with deals, frenzies and overseas labor for discounts, but with better paying jobs, lower risk living and more time and energy to either enjoy them, or perhaps find worthy distractions to them.

Buy on people, whoever you are! The KSKD family is stepping back, just happy to still be the whole KSKD family! The kids still in the house are rolling with it, like the good people they are.

We asked for them to put gift ideas out there that count, and mostly they did! It's not gonna be a hard Christmas this year. And I think we are gonna have a lot of fun, as people are more healthy and happy than I've seen them in a while.

This crap can wait. Nobody needs that camera, flat panel TV, iPod, etc...

When people are dying over this crap, we have a problem. Tramplings are one thing, but FREAKING GUNS in the Toys-B-We? I'm just stunned.

Nobody needs that camera, flat panel TV, iPod, etc...
Exactly! Please let me add some emphasis here:

Nobody needs that camera, flat panel TV, iPod, etc...

They're just things. They can't replace love, companionship, or anything else that humans can provide to each other.

IMO, the government allowed corporations to dictate what should happen in the country, and now most of the economy is based on people spending more and more money every year. Many times, this is money they don't have, and they have no clue how they're ever going to pay for it. For many people, the end of that cycle is here. For many others, it could be the next year or the year after that.

Newflyer spent a grand total of $0.00 on Friday, as in previous years. It felt great.

Bullshit. Nothing is better than watching sports on an HD tv set. Best invention ever.

It's not a need though.

I received an HD set as a gift this year. It's great, but it is just not a need. I've wanted one, for a lot of reasons, but wasn't gonna make the jump just yet.

Given where we are (not) producing wealth through innovation here, it's a mixed feeling about that nice HD set. The USA pioneered just about everything that matters. Now we don't, or if we do, it's manufactured overseas, and many of the dollars that normally would be associated with that innovation don't end up here for our own economy.

It really sucks, and it's why we are hurting right now.

I'm not a luddite. Love tech, always have. But, I am increasingly concerned about just how little of it we produce and more importantly, INNOVATE here.

Without getting back to that, we simply won't be able to be the consumers we are right now, for very much longer.

So, to continue to love that HD set, and all that comes with it, we need to deal with these problems, or it's gonna get ugly for a whole lot of us.

Its time now for my annual bash of technology we don't need -- and HD TV is a PRIME EXAMPLE, in fact, it is the best example ever.

I say that until we can consistantly create CONTENT worthy of more than 525 lines of visual information, there ought to be a law against highdef TV.


We humans are woefully short in the contents creation dept and we've managed to develop golly wiz television hardware to make up for this tiny penis.

Indeed, there are more people who have successfully defended themselves using a hand gun against armed thugs than there are compelling programming for HD TV.

Just to show you that I'm not against advanced technology in general, Final Cut Pro is a supreme example of the brillance of human minds -- this virtually bug-free piece of software can do God's work.

Now if only people would use it to create halfway decent content, the high def thing would be more than a fad to empty pocketbooks.

ps: Final Cut Pro is video editing software from Apple.