BLACK FRIDAY-NEVER AGAIN!

I always said I will never get up and go shopping on Black Friday.  I have said this since I worked at JCP all thru college and always seemed to have to work at 5 am every Black Friday.  Well stupid me did it today and will never again.  Tyler asked Santa for a Nintendo DS this year and Walmart had one in their ad on sale from 5-11 am for $89.  There was no way I was going to stand in line earlier than 5am, esp with an hour drive.  I figured 5 am would be good enough and if I didn't get one, oh well.  I decided to go to Brainerd, thinking it will be busy, but not nearly as bad as St Cloud or the Cities.  Well, I was clearly wrong.  I guess I am oblivious and naive to the reality of Black Fridays since I don't participate in this early morning craziness.  So I pull into the parking lot and it is packed.  I am thinking this is freakin ridiculous, but I got up at 3:45 and drove all this way that I at least need to go inside.  So I park across the street at the bank and walk over, to only get inside, and not even get thru the 2nd door, and said F%#$ this and walk out. 
Well I figured I came all this way I will tough it out Target.  Parking lot didn't seem that bad.  So I loaded my cart and got what I planned on getting.  Of course only got a few good deals and stood in line clear  past the entrance and followed the line that winded all around the store and probably close to an hour later I checked out.  I was happy to get a $10 off gift card because I spent over $100.  I almost thru in the towel when I saw where the line started, but once again I got up for this so I wasn't going home.  After some good conversations and what not I was okay. 
I checked out a few things across the road at Best Buy, which was busy, but not crazy by any means.  After that I thought I would just drive by Walmart to check out the parking lot and it was only half full.  So I ventured in and got my DS and a game within 5 min and wandered around the toy isle to compare prices.  I got some baby wipes and toothpaste and didn't even have to stand in line to check out.  I had an after thought about something I saw at Target that looked like a super deal but didn't get so I just thought I would check it out again.   I got what I wanted and walked up to a register right away and got another $10 gift card.  Another 5 min and I was done.
So moral of my story, I should have listened to my hubby who said wait for the rush to be over and start at 8am.  I could have still gotten what I wanted and would have only taken me an 1 hour instead of 3 hrs.  Lesson learned.  I am not one of those big shoppers starting out at midnight to snatch that great deal of the year.  I know the economy is bad and everyone is looking to save money, but sometimes I think people do for the thrill of Black Friday and to talk about the deals they got.  I am just not one of those people.  I am not against going out on Black Friday, I just will wait till the crazy rush is over and start around 7 or 8am otherwise my time and the craziness is not worth it to me.  More power to the rest of you. 
Then I get home and Tyler is looking at his falling apart, riped up Target toy ad, which I never payed attention much to the prices or dates until this late morning.  I could have actually saved $30 on the stuff I bought if I shopped before Nov 24th.  So another lesson learned, not always the great deals you think to shop after Thanksgiving.