Boycotting Black Friday

Did you participate in Black Friday?

I just can't get into it. My wallet is staying firmly closed today and probably tomorrow too. I'm a lifelong participant in Buy Nothing Day, the 24 hour moratorium on consumer spending.

The rabid consumerism of Black Friday gets on my nerves so much that even if someone offered to pay me to sit outside a stronghold of Satan Wal-Mart at 2 AM, waiting for the doors to open so I could rush in and get a $5 HDTV, I'd probably pass.

I'm not a huge fan of shopping in the first place, but I especially can't stand being in a packed store with a bunch of folks acting frantic and snatching and grabbing stuff. No thanks.

But say you did head out shopping today... did you know Big Brother is watching you to figure out whether stores are gonna make more money this holiday season?

Malls are using satellites to "snap pictures of hundreds of shopping malls, and analysts painstakingly count the cars in the parking lots of each one, looking to pin down the fill rates of each parking lot."

Creepy.

Instead of being tracked by a satellite and having my receipt and purchases analyzed by someone with a yellow highlighter, I had a wonderful day with my kids.

P.S.: It was free!