Black Friday was interesting. This is the second year I've woken up early / not slept to go shopping. I never go with the intention of making specific purchases because I just can't shop knowing that I'm going to have to fight my way through hundreds of people in a chaotic shopping environment. I prefer to shop peacefully. :) [I also realized I can't really shop with other people besides my boyfriend and my brother.] Anyway, I usually participate in the Black Friday madness to stand in line while my boyfriend and brother shop. Hehe. The thing different about this year was that I had to work on Friday at 8:30. :(

The Plan
Thursday - * Thanskgiving events
* devipz to sleep from 9-11P.M.
Friday - * Gilroy at midnight
* Fry's, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. afterwards
* devipz to work at 8:30A.M.

This year I found out that Gilroy outlets opened at midnight on Black Friday. We left for Gilroy around midnight. As we were merging onto 101 from 880, a SUV drove perpendicularly across 101 onto the 880 on ramp in front of us and then rammed into the side of the freeway. SEE PICTURE. The red line depicts our path while the blue line depicts the SUV's path. That SUV was maybe 10 feet in front of us if that many .. and that was how Black Friday began for us. :D

4 miles into Gilroy, traffic was stop and go. We realized this whole Gilroy thing was bigger than we expected. We did not realize the full extent of the Gilroy thing until we arrived at the outlets and saw it was completely jampacked with cars and people. It was madness everywhere! There was a long line of people outside Coach that extended from the entrance all the way to halfway around the plaza. It was that ridiculous. The line for the women's restroom was also at least 50 people long. I will never go back to Gilroy for Black Friday.

After the Gilroy madness, we headed to Fry's. We arrived at Fry's around 4:00A.M., an hour before it opened. The line was long, but not too bad. The only thing bad was the weather. It was COLD!!!!!! At least it didn't rain like last year. Whew. Anyway, I wasn't dressed warmly enough. [Last year I wore sweats, fuzzy boots, shirt, a hoodie, and jacket. This year I was in jeans, Adidas shoes, sweater, gloves, and a down jacket. Next year I will need to go back to sweats, fuzzy boots, scarf, beanie, gloves, hoodie, and a down jacket.] :D Anyway, just a tip to anyone who plans on doing the Black Friday thing. DRESS WARMLY! We stood in line for an hour and got into Fry's relatively quickly after it opened. I think we were out of Fry's by 6:00, and it only took so long because the cashiers did not know what they were doing. We spent more time at the cashiers than shopping or waiting in line to pay. Afterwards we headed to Circuit City where we had already left a car. There was nothing we wanted and the lines were long. Next was Best Buy where the lines were ridiculously long. Then we had breakfast and did some more random shopping. Finally the time had come for me to go to work. :( I was a zombie at work. I was so tired. After I got off work, I slept for a few hours before I went out again. I ended my Thanksgiving/Black Friday at 1A.M. Saturday morning. :P That was one looong day. I did not buy a thing. I hope that sanity will have somewhat resumed today. I just realized I have more Christmas shopping to do..