TexasCHLforum.com

I've been to Cabela's in Lubbock for black Friday the last three years running. What I've seen there is a well-behaved line of people joking about the cold. This time, we had drizzle to make it fun. For my troubles, I received three $10 gift cards and a couple of decent deals inside. My wife won a pair of hunting boots, which she horsetraded into a nice pair of boots for me (she really doesn't want or need boots right now). Yep, I was wearing those nice insulated boots this year!

I choose my battles on Black Friday. I don't really like large crowds to start with, enthusiastic crowds even more so. That means that Walmart, Target, the mall, and Toys-R-Us are out. I've been the first and only customer at some smaller stores when they opened on Black Friday.

I was in Academy Friday when the lights went out. I'll give Academy credit - emergency power worked to keep emergency lights on and a few registers running. The staff and customers inside were calm and cooperative, many using their cell phone lights to continue shopping. We found out later that an intoxicated driver hit a utility pole, killing his three passengers and knocking out power for 8000 people for an hour. No word if there was any Black Friday sale connection with the crash.