I seem to remember, and Wikipedia confirms for me, that Black Friday did not exist by that name when I was a kid. There was the start of the Christmas Shopping season, when you'd go into the store and they were still hanging up the wreaths, and that was it. The term Black Friday is a bit of marketing spin, originally coined about how BAD it was to shop on that day, and then finessed into an economic urban legend about how it was the most important day of American Consumerism.
Me, I'm staying home. Of all the strange things that I can eat, it is increasingly obvious that pie (PIE!) is not one of them. Its the shortening in the crust. Sigh.
Anyway, it turns out that I'm not the only person cheesed off about those "Life Takes Visa" ads. The link was forwarded by NikChick. Thanks!
[Update from the Future - once upon a time, there was a link to the "Life Takes Visa" ads. Then I got a note from getrichslowly,org (property of QuinStreet, Inc.) the owners of the site, saying the link no longer functioned, and would I remove the link. Oddly, the link still functioned, but I removed the link anyway. I found it interesting that an operation was cruising for 8 year old links, or that anyone was still reading stuff on this blog that was that old - 8/24/3015]
More later,