Black Friday Best Buy Campout

This Thanksgiving was most definitely the most unique Thanksgiving I have ever celebrated in my life. Continue to read and you will find out why. At 11:30am on Thanksgiving morning I find myself sitting in a tent on a sidewalk preparing myself for what was to be an adventure for sure.

Lets start from the beginning. I flew home on Tuesday because my Systematic Theology exam got cancelled, but you already know that because you read my previous post, (right?). So, Tuesday I just hung out at home, and I think I went to Jared's. Wednesday rolls around and my mom is talking to me about my Black Friday plans. (Now for any of you who know me, you know that every year after Thanksgiving dinner at my grandparents house, me and a bunch of my friends go to Best Buy and campout. This tradition was started 6 years ago by myself and my dad. As the years have gone by, my dad stopped coming, but I still camped out every year.) So my mom, knowing that I was planning on camping out again, was just asking what I was gonna get, and what time I was gonna get there. In this process of talking to her she exclaims that my family needs a laptop, because somehow every time I leave for school every computer in the house seems to die. So my family has been without a computer for almost a month and nowadays its hard to go that long without access to a computer and the internet (or at least thats what we think).

I told my mom that Best Buy was going to have a laptop on sale for really cheap ($380 to be exact!).

Before I go on with the story I would just like to say that ever year I have gotten to Best Buy earlier and earlier. My first year I got there at 3:00am and last year I got there at 9:00pm the night before, so I was planning on getting there this year between 7-8pm. And I always would envy those people who were on the front of their building with their tents and such, because I was always on the side of the building. But the people on the front of the building had to get there between like 12pm and 3pm the day before, which I thought was ridiculous, and I would never be able to do. Well here's where it gets interesting.

So when I told my mom about the laptop, much to my surprise her response was, "Well, how early would you have to get in line to get that laptop?" I told her probably around noon on Thanksgiving, and the next thing was even more of a surprise, she said, "Well if thats what it takes to get the laptop then you can do it."

WHAT! Was I really speaking to my mother? The woman who thinks I'm ridiculous for in previous years getting in line at 9pm the night before, and now she's giving me permission to skip family Thanksgiving dinner and go wait in line starting at noon...
I was so taken back by this. But I gave it some time just to make sure she was serious. I asked her about it a while later, and after much compromise she said that if I could get someone to come and sit in my place for about an hour while I go and eat dinner with my family then I could do it. I thought this was so awesome. Don't ask my why, but I was just so excited. I guess just to be able to say that I did it. That I waited in line for 17 1/2 hours outside Best Buy on Thanksgiving for Black Friday sales.

Thankfully I was able to get a hold of Josh Puckett who so kindly sat in my spot in line for an hour while I went and ate dinner. So I got there at 11:30am the morning of Thanksgiving, setup my tent and my lawn chair and waited. Now to some of you that may sound like a real drag, but no, it was actually really fun. I met some cool people, and altogether it was a fun experience.

I didn't mean for this post to be this long, so I'm just gonna wrap it up. But I did make the front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Ok, so I was in the background of the picture but it's still cool. And also I made a little documentary of my Black Friday adventures. I was 7th in line, and it was awesome. So you can check out my experiences by watching this video below. Enjoy!

I just wanna thank Josh Puckett, my mom, my grandparents, Jared Tolley, Jessica Krumpelman, and my trust footwarmers (they worked wonders).

17 1/2 hours!