Black Friday – Looking to God

A Zombie Christmas

Posted on December 7, 2015December 8, 2015 by Jack Flacco

The most interesting part about this season is not so much about seeing generosity spreading like a contagion among shoppers, as one would hope, but is about seeing how crowds run amok in the aisles in a senseless quest to attain the unattainable. I say interesting because it reminds me of something else that runs amok seeking the unattainable. If you guessed the zombie horde, then I will have to agree.

When I look at the situations, there really isn’t much difference. Christmas shoppers will stand at the doors waiting for them to open, they will stampede as a group and some in the crowd will hope they will get their hands on the spoil that has called them to defy logic in an effort to satisfy an inner need.

Now, take a look at the zombie horde. It, too, will stand at the door, in some cases, pounding to get in. Once the doors open, as one unit, it rushes through the door in hopes of capturing that which it has sensed as its need—human.

Strange how this season brings out the best in people.

I’ve noticed this happening online, too. A large electronic manufacturer will have a sale of merchandise, yet, in limited quantities. The ads purport the sale will begin at the stroke of midnight. The crowd eagerly anticipates the timing. Only a handful for sale, but that’s okay, everyone in the crowd believes the item will be in one of their hands. However, the reality is further from the truth. At exactly one minute after midnight, the item is no longer available.

If I were part of that crowd, then I will have been one of those wanting an explanation. Why the hook to bring in the horde? Why so few for so many? Why not introduce further victims into the fray by releasing more stock to the waiting throng.

Doesn’t this season bring out the best in people?

Let’s go deeper—the parking lots. The day before Christmas, all of a sudden the mall parking lot becomes ground zero for the battle of the century. If zombies existed, they are the ones driving the cars in hopes of finding a spot. They drive around several times with the belief of attaining the unattainable, a free spot. And once a free spot becomes available, like a hornets’ nest stirred to anger, cars swoop in for the kill. Only one is lucky enough to grab the spot, but not without a fight. Necks bulge. Fists shake. The lucky one is lucky to make it out of his car alive.

Ah, isn’t Christmas wonderful? Like obedient zombies looking for their next meal, shoppers flood the malls and online retailer with the belief they can attain the unattainable. Of course, a lucky few do walk out of the store with their prized item. But, for what? For the item to be forgotten in a chest somewhere a year later?

Maybe we’re not too different from the zombies after all.

Get the Ranger Martin trilogy now!

What do you think of the Christmas shopping season? Have you noticed the horde stampeding through doors?

Freedom Friday

Black Friday Deals

Posted on November 27, 2015November 22, 2015 by Jack Flacco

By the time you read this, I’m hoping it will have snowed. At least that is what the weather channel says. Putting it into perspective, I’m writing this a week in advance with the thought that Americans will have celebrated Thanksgiving the day before and it is currently Black Friday. Happy Thanksgiving weekend, y’all.

For today’s Freedom Friday, let’s have a look at shopping on Black Friday. Is it worth it?

In recent years, Canada has played host to Black Friday deals offered to Americans. That’s how I had purchased my new laptop last year. I managed to pick up one of those fancy IPS touch screen laptops. It’s a beautiful machine, fully loaded and made to last. Only, you wouldn’t have found me lining up in front of the store. Shortly after midnight, when the online specials had gone live, so did the thrifty shoppers with their clickers. I was one of them. I’d saved $200 on that deal alone. The next weeks leading up to Christmas, that same laptop had gone back up to the regular price.

Worth it? Definitely.

In 2010, as part of a promotional deal, an unknown site was raffling off several Apple iPod touch at half-price. To give you an idea how it worked, a shopper had to click an “I want one” button, fill in their credit card details in the form, and submit. The site had only 70 devices available, displaying also the amount of shoppers wanting one. The odds? 1,200 to 70. You guessed it. I won the chance to purchase the device at half-price. I saved $160. At the time, it was the best Christmas ever.

I’m also a finicky buyer when it comes to headphones. My ears are important to me, and how I feed them is equally important. Being a Tinnitus sufferer—that’s ringing in the ears to all you folks who are wondering—I make sure when I purchase headphones or earbuds that they are of the highest quality. Anyway, one year I’d wandered into the Best Buy in town to see what deals they had to offer in the audio department. I wasn’t expecting much. I figured everyone had already picked over the spoil. But to my surprise I found a top-of-the-line pair of Sennheiser earbuds stuck behind the cheapies stock on the shelf. I’m assuming someone had placed them there for safekeeping until such a time when they could come back and purchase them. Total savings for that purchase was $200.

There are other deals. Like the $250 my kid saved last year for his very first laptop, the $75 for my first Apple iPod classic in 2007, and the $90 for my second Apple iPod classic in 2009.

Adding it all up makes for quite a chunk of change. Is Black Friday worth it? I don’t know. You do the math and tell me what you think?

Get the Ranger Martin trilogy now!

Do you shop on Black Friday? What did you pick up that made the day special?

Monday Mayhem

The Survivors

Posted on November 23, 2015November 22, 2015 by Jack Flacco

I’ve talked a lot about zombies in the past, lending credence to an apocalypse of unfathomable proportions. The thing that sticks out in my mind as the number one reason I wouldn’t want the apocalypse happening, is not because of the roaming undead seeking of whom they may devour, but because of the survivors who are in it for themselves. The thought is nothing short of a Monday Mayhem post.

Zombies don’t scare me. The undead are rather benign when separated from the crowd. A quick spike to the head and they are no more. As part of the horde, they are a fearsome bunch consuming everyone in their path. Nothing alive can stand in their way. However, take them out of their element and place them in water, they’re useless.

On the other hand, people, those who have survived the end of days, are the ones who I fear the most. They are the ones who, if for nothing else, will hunt their victims down and put an end to their lives all for the benefit of themselves.

Is that an exaggeration?

Let’s have a look at what humanity has done in times of peace.

The U.S. Navy has taken flack lately for its missile testing it has conducted a few weeks ago near San Diego, on a Saturday night no less. Witnesses stated they thought they saw UFO’s hovering in the skies.

The lights didn’t reveal the military’s intention.

That’s for starters. How about this? In a little while, Black Friday will be upon us. In the past, crowds have gone from restless to stampeding, taking human lives along the way. All for what? a toy that will end up in a junk heap a year from now? Have we lost our minds?

Okay, that may seem trivial to some, but can you imagine what humanity is capable of in times of a future societal breakdown? It won’t be pretty. The first to go will be the weak. If the zombies don’t take them, the strong among us will. They will dictate our future and run our lives. Then there are the ones who society has discarded. The dregs of society who ended up in our jails and prisons. What will happen with them? You can be sure, the jails and prisons won’t hold them. The first thing on their mind will be getting out of their cage so they can roam free among us.

What do you think?

As wonderful and as great humanity thinks it is, nothing can stand in the way of human nature. Human nature dictates an attitude of one-for-one, all-for-one. It drives humans to do the most deplorable things to each other, all in the name of survival. And the worst part about it? I just don’t understand the human compulsion to self-terminate. When things get hard, too difficult, a gun is there, not for protection, but to make a quick exit.

I know it sounds pessimistic, yet if history has anything to do with it, I don’t want to survive an apocalypse. I’d rather be one of its first victims.

Although, I still hold hope that one day, if the roof does cave in on society, humanity will do the right thing and think of the weak and unfortunate among us, giving them the aid they need to survive with dignity.

That, at least, is my hope.

Get the Ranger Martin trilogy now!

What scares you most about surviving a zombie apocalypse? The question is, would you like to survive a zombie apocalypse?

Freedom Friday

Waiting

Posted on October 31, 2014November 4, 2014 by Jack Flacco

I’m not sure how it works in other neighborhoods, and it might very well be the same, but all I know is once November 1st hits, the Christmas lights come out in full swing. If you’re from the Toronto area, you’ll know what I mean.

Enjoy this Freedom Friday post about the merits of waiting.

October 31st is Halloween. You wouldn’t guess that is true from what happens the next day. The day after Halloween is fun. It’s like the stores magically turn their decorations from ghouls and goblins to Santa’s merry little elves, and the Christmas trees are ready for their assault on shoppers. I never know what to make of it. Like a perfectly timed choreography, even the radio ads turn to Christmas carols—and it’s only the day after Halloween! Yes, I know I said that a few times. I suppose I’m trying to make a point here.

Now, I understand retailers wanting to start early with all the festivities, but I’m just not ready for that. In the United States, it’s a sweet deal. Being Canadian, I actually appreciate it more than you’d know. For Americans, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. It’s when retailers finally turn their bottom lines into black. Christmas for them also officially begins that day. I know of a family in the States, and possibly most families, who string up their decorations for that weekend.

See, to me, that makes sense. I don’t think Americans would argue with me either. The day after Thanksgiving gives you a whole month to go off and plunder the stores all in an effort to get the best deals around. That’s logic. It makes sense.

Here where I live, the day after Halloween the kids are still recovering from having eaten that pound of candy they told their parents they wouldn’t consume. The boney ornaments from the night before are still hanging on the door outside, waiting to greet the mail carrier who will more than likely be there to deliver the Christmas catalog from your friendly neighborhood department store. And the nearest coffee shop will have the Christmas tunes blaring on their sound system hoping customers would purchase their cinnamon mocha cappuccino ole espresso Irish divine cream coffee.

Whatever happened to waiting? Everyone’s in such a rush to do the Christmas thing nowadays that no one stops to ask why. Has the media conditioned us in such a way that we accept everything fed to us? Where’s the patience?

I say all good things are worth the wait. I know it’s a cliché, but isn’t it true? I’m not talking about Christmas only. Sometimes waiting for the perfect opportunity to act on a decision will yield the best results. Sometimes waiting for the next bus will save your life. And sometimes waiting for the rain will make things grow faster.

Waiting patiently makes for an incredible character-building experience. Perhaps this time of year is the most optimal time to build that character.

Or maybe—I just don’t know what I’m talking about.

RANGER MARTIN AND THE ALIEN INVASION, on sale now.

Have you had to wait for something in your life that you wished would have come sooner?

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