Black Friday is over....

I haven't really heard a lot of news about how it went overall for retailers. I suppose there will be more on the news shows on Monday morning.

What a hellish day. An employee at a Walmart incredibly trampled to death. I cannot imagine stepping on top of someone in a rushing crowd. And nobody stopped.
And some sort of shoot out at a toy store, didn't get the details of that one, thankfully.

That sense of gotta-buy-it-now panic seems to have subsided. I did a little shopping today in mostly empty stores.

I waver back and forth between not wanting the small businesses that I know personally to suffer in this economic turmoil and thinking that a little less consumerism and conspicuous consumption would be good for all of us.

a lifetime ago

45 years ago today John F. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, Texas.
A certain age of innocence for the American people died with him that day. The world has changed in extraordinary ways since then. Some changes for the good and some not.

Equal Rights for Everyone

If you think equal rights means everyone. If you think '...life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness...' should apply to everyone. If you think freedom of religion means any religion. If you think that discrimination is wrong. Visit this site.

Here is a list of the corporate donors, in and out of California, who funded the initiative to discriminate against gay couples.
Corporate Donors on 8

If you do business with any of these companies, please rethink that decision.
And please pass this list along.

Fall is the time to get cozy

Time to take some time for home. The holidays are coming and cozy things like candles make the season more fun. I love Yankee Candles. I love them any time of year but around this time I start browsing through the new scents looking for something irresistible for the winter. Last year I found Sage and Citrus. It has been my favorite all through the year, it will be hard to find one better this year, but tomorrow I am going shopping and I think I will stop by a candle shop and see what I can find....smell.

New TV series, magic anyone?

There is a new fantasy TV series that started the season last weekend. Legend of the Seeker.

The two hour pilot had some rough spots. Most fantasy or sci-fi series have some glitches trying to set the background and environment for a complicated story. This one was no different.

Many of the critics are trashing it. I find that some TV critics tend to hate anything that makes you think a little or follow a story line.

I rarely watch TV anymore, it is so mind numbing. I can count on one hand the shows that I watch regularly.

I am always willing to give a fantasy or sci fi series a chance and see what happens.

This one has villains, heroes, wizards, witches, magic, an enchanted sword, a lost Book of Shadows, horses, monsters, scenery and a story.
What more could you ask for?

I am hoping that it lasts long enough to smooth the rough spots and get going. I could use a heroic epic complete with magic on some upcoming winter evenings.

Here is the official site: Legend of the Seeker

Random stuff

I started this blog ranting about the election, but now that it is over I think I am going to keep it going with just random stuff, see what comes up. I am going to steer away from politics and Wall Street for a while. Fall is my favorite season, there are lots of other things to think about and talk about.

President-Elect Barack Obama

VOTE!

This is my choice.

Do not sit on the sidelines.

Get out and vote for yours!

VOTE!

What attracts voters?

I spent the day yesterday with the Obama Get-Out-The-Vote campaign. Knocking on doors in middle class neighborhoods I found upbeat people voting for Obama and grumpy people voting for McCain. A fellow canvaser said that was because McCain is behind in the polls. But is it?

I would love to do a survey of how and why people respond to the candidates themselves. If you could remove things like party affiliation, economic status, race, and anything else that predetermines how you will likely vote. Concentrate only on the speeches made by the candidates, not the ads, just the candidates themselves. Does like attract like?

Barack Obama is speaking about a message of hope, of improvement, of involvement. There is, of course, some negativity in his speeches, but overall they are positive messages.

John McCain is speaking mostly about what is wrong. Wrong with the country, the world and Obama. Very little about an optimistic point of view. Even his plan to fix things sounds discouraging.

With nothing but an intuitive feeling to justify this, I get the impression that positive people who believe in a better tomorrow are attracted to Obama. And negative people who are worried that things are just going to get worse are attracted to McCain.

Think positive!