Out with the old, in with the new

Black Friday shopping is not for me. At least not in the past 10 years or so. I did partake years ago, when my oldest daughter was very young and my mom and I could shop ... childless. At some point, the crazy hours and mass of people just became more uncomfortable than paying a "really great sale price" over a Black Friday deal.

Instead of spending money shopping, I took an early morning loan closing to earn money (I'm a self-employed signing agent). I stopped in Staples on the way home to recycle some ink cartridges and I just had to take a look around. At 10:30 AM, the store looked normal. No hoards of people, no ridiculous lines and tons of helpful Staples employees just waiting to assist a customer.



Since my 8th-grader has declared our laptop "slow", I decided to search-out the new laptop deals of the day. Granted, our existing Dell laptop was purchased in 2004, but DH has upgraded it over time and it still serves its purpose. But oh my, the new laptops are light-weight, have huge screens and seem lightening fast. And, I admit, I'm not the computer person in our family. I leave that area to my DH. My computer skills are exactly what I need to run a successful closing business, maintain this blog and surf the net for all things fun or necessary. I don't know (and don't want to know) the inner workings of computers or the different processors, memory sizes and hard drive things. I've got enough on my plate.

That said, Ryan (helpful Staples guy) was patient and knowledgeable. And was willing to speak with DH on the phone to determine the best laptop purchase for us. I walked-out with the last Black Friday deal on an HP G72-B66US laptop. No, it's not the latest and greatest, or the fastest, but it is a huge step-up from our older Dell. It's more than what we need and will serve this family well.

And I didn't have to get up early to stand in line with a bunch of crazy shoppers!