Da Weekend

It's always interesting from retail perspective, to see the time and energy put into the "black friday-saturday" weekend, and then measure the results. I'm always excited to see how we'll do, increase sales from last year, position ourselves for a great last 6 weeks of the year etc.

As I drove into work at 5:45am on black friday I had to smile at the radio announcer describe lines outside retailers, and the madness associated with the day. At least I didn't have lines or unruly behavior (or dealth/injury...see i.e. Walmart) to deal with, or so I thought....

Enter the After-Thanksgiving Webkinz Promotion:



We, like most retailers sell the furry, soft loveable Webkinz, gatekeepers to their own private virtual world.

Well, marketing decided to offer the first 100 customers in our stores a promotion where a customer would get a webkinz for $.01 (normally $12.99).

This brought the crowds....

I was working at our smallest store (2,000 sq foot) and the lines were the length of the store, for people waiting to check out.

We only have 2 cash registers, so for the first 30-45 minutes we were quickly working through the line of customers. It was crazy, frenetic, and somehow both energizing and tiring at the same time.

One hour later we still had a good customer flow, but the pace had changed back to "normal".

Needless to say, even with a lot of $.01 transactions, we did more sales in that one hour, than we sometimes do, total, on our slowest days.....and that was from 7am to 8am on Black Friday.

At least people were decent, and no major issues erupted.....I never saw the store so full of people.

Lots of happy customers.....now I hope to see them again for the rest of the year.

Oh....Deer

I find this picture equally disturbing and hilarious.

Needless to say, me 'n the bambis aren't getting along these days.

Long story short, I hit a deer in the mountains of Virginia at 2:00 am in the morning. That in of itself is a separate story, but the deer decided my right side of the car needed to reflect sunlight in a concave manner. 2 door and 1 fender panel later and we're playing the waiting game for vehicle repair.

Thankfully we can (and could) still drive the car. It could have been worse.

However, I now suffer from a deer 'phobia. With the time change I now am driving the back-roads to our house in the dark, or near dusk and see deer. Thankfully none of them are as close to the road as "Virginia", but it's slightly unnerving none-the-less.

None of them have ended up like the one above in the picture, can you imagine going to that guys/gal's house? I think I'd use the door knocker, or my own knuckles...

"Why didn't you ring the doorbell?"

Um.....

Sons of the Father(s)

So I learned today, that Irving Fryar's son is playing college football. To my knowledge, Senior Fryar is the only current (or former) NFL player to deliver a sermon at our church. I remember being amazed at the size of his hands, and well, at how many people were suddenly interested in coming to church. To his credit, it wasn't a celebrity focused sermon, it was a biblically-based sermon....but than again I was only 15-17, so I might not have been all that objective....but I digress...

His son, Londen, is a 5-11, 194 cornerback for the Western Michigan Broncos. NFL material...probably not, based on his size and where he plays, but who knows...

I also read an article on ESPN.com about the sons of 3 rather people who play high school football for Oaks Christian Academy in Los Angeles.....where some of you might remember that "7" came from, before his ND days.

Talk about star power....on the JV football team is quarterback Trevor Gretzky....son of the "Great One". The wide receiver he throws to is Trey Smith, son of the "Fresh Prince", and the quarterback of the Varsity team is some guy named Montana.

So picture Wayne Gretzky, Will Smith & Joe Montana in the stands for a high school football game....crazy awesome! The writer even talks about how when they see a helicopter circling the field that they think it's Will Smith, running a few minutes late.

Last but not least, how about those Ball State Cardinals?? I never knew why a college located in Muncy, Indiana could come up with the name..."Ball State"...maybe it's a reference to baskeball, but who knows, I certainly don't.

Anyways, the university, best known for being Dave Letterman's alma mater is unbeated and ranked 17th in the country, higher than ND (ouch), Michigan and only 6 spots behind Ohio State. How about them "Cardinals".

Cringe Factor

Have you recently been in a public place, and had to cringe at how "Christians" sometimes act?

I was in a supermarket recently, and a lady (apparently) got cut in line by another lady's friend. This didn't sit well with the offended lady, and she was quick to tell everyone around her.

Apparently the other lady, who was of another ethnicity, gave a form of an apology on the way out, to which the offended lady gave the whole "I didn't feel it was right, blah, blah, blah and then in the (seemingly) most insincere way gave the "but God bless you".

CRINGE.....

Let's see, you just spouted your mouth about being offended, and you offer a weak "God Bless You" like that's supposed to make everything alright. What a HORRIBLE example to everyone around you.

Jon Acuff, blogger for "Stufff Christians Like" (yes, 3 F's), wrote about this a number of months ago. The insincere stuff christians do in the name of closing a argument/discussion/slam on the person next to you. The whole, Trevor may have 3 nose rings, a "Mom" tatoo, but "God Bless him" or "Johnny might be making a huge mistake going to Tri-State Community College instead of Harvard, but "bless his heart".

The last thing the world needs is insincerity in their relationships/encounters with Gods people.

Me.....in a landslide

After a careful analysis of the reporting constituencies....I'm please to announce that I win (and I didn't even have to resort to smear tactics!).