Baujahr!

This is one of the panels I most looked forward to Levi drawing.  Baujahr with his head shoved in the water.  I don’t know why it tickled me, but it did.

I’m very tired.  This month has been a slog, and I am wiped.

Speaking of wiped, can we all agree that the so-called “Black Friday” shopping holiday is out-and-out madness incarnate?  If you pay attention, it’s not even the best prices of the year for most places.  And it’s gone from being Friday to starting on Thursday itself (Thanksgiving if you’re in the States).  It’s often insanely dangerous as well.

I worked retail for a long time (a long time).  And I enjoyed the heck out of it, frankly.  And I certainly don’t want to tell you to not support local businesses (especially non-big box stores).  But what Black Friday has become is beyond reasonable.  It makes no sense to pressure sales to all try to land in one day (or now two).  It also makes no sense to beat down your employees to try to make that day “successful,” costing them time with their families during a real holiday (again, in the U.S.) and to burn them out before Christmas season has even started.

So, I beg of you, if you can…  Avoid it this year.  If you need to shop, shop like a normal person, for normal things.  Preferably from the small stores that aren’t running 40 page ads, most of which have 2 of any single item that offer you $20 off the normal sale price in a two hour window before dawn even breaks.  But above that, just relax with your loved ones and your leftovers and some movies.

And not that direct-to-DVD sequel to “A Christmas Story.”  That’s a whole other kind of spite I have for that there…