Thankful to be a Level 3?

Happy Thanksgiving loyal readers, or people who accidentally stumbled upon this site. Thanks for stopping by. Today, for only the second time in my life, I am without a giant group of loud family members around for the holiday. I'm spending my day in Greenville. I am one of 4 children (me being the 3rd) and as we have gotten older my 2 older siblings have started their own families. Whitney and John rotate heading to Ohio to see his family with Thanksgiving and Christmas, as do Lindsay and Dan with going to New Jersey. This year was the "off" year for Thanksgiving. Billy's friend, Jeff, that I spoke about in my posting Hell Week had another tough week himself, so now even my brother is off traveling and isn't around for the holiday (and for great reason). The Hennessey crew is all over the place, thus my stay in G-ville. Well that, terrible gas prices, and a pretty amazing football game on Saturday that I just so happened to have scored a free pair of tickets too - - Clemson vs University of South Carolina. Go Tigers! I can't even express to you how ready I am for the day to be here. But first on to more pressing matters.

Today people will stuff their faces, fill their bellies, hopefully tell family and friends how much they mean to each other, because, after all, that's what I believe this day is really all about.  Then tomorrow - well - tomorrow, or shall I say tonight, thousands of "tradition-ers", penny-pincher's, shoppers, bargain hunters, a few regular people, and plenty of idiots will stampede the Targets, Best Buys, Wal-Marts, Old Navy's, and Malls of the world looking for the best deals they can find. We call this day Black Friday. Perhaps because of the shadow that is cast upon us with the mobs of people, or maybe its just the fact that we're shopping at 2 am for a $5 turtleneck. Who knows. I say "We" because I have been one of these "Idiots" about 3 times and might go for lucky 4 this week. But as I told my friend Melissa yesterday, I would classify myself as a Level 3 BFS - that's code for Black Friday Shopper. Here's the break down as I've seen it:

Level 1-2               
These people forgot it was Black Friday, super confused at first (and kind of pissed) that there's so much traffic and that parking is a nightmare, but really excited about the deals. However, at 11am, not excited that they don't where a size 16 and that's all that's left of everything. Amateurs. Next year, will either up their Level of BFS (like me) or just not participate.

Level 3-4
The 8-10am-ers. These are the somewhat reasonable people. They aren't camping in tents, however, may have had their eye on something and are looking to save some money. If the item is there great, but they aren't waiting in that 2 hour line to save $20 either.

Level 5-6
The "It's tradition" women. Ladies, you know who you are. I know you. I'm friends with you. It's ok. You can't wait to get up at 5 am and get that Panini press for $4.99 at Marshalls, or was it Kohls? We've talked about it so many times, I get confused. And the $2 Toaster at Walmart....girl, you can do it. In fact, I need one. Get 2 if there's no limit. These are the women that see a deal and NEED to save. But I ask, is it saving? And without a doubt they say YES! These "Tradition-ers" get alllll their Christmas shopping done in one day, so you better watch out. They are on a mission, and the mission is savings. Especially if it's a vest for $10 at Old Navy. Get one for everyone......I'd call that an inVESTment. Wouldn't you?

Level 7-8
The turds who ruin Thanksgiving for the dear souls who have to leave their families and go work their retails jobs so this Level 8 BFS can buy an updated version of the 1998 Used-to-be-Cool Battery Operated Keyboard for $19.99 just because its on sale. These people camp out in tents. Not because they want that new Samsung flat screen, but because they saw others do it on the news last year and they hope NBC makes another run around this year and they get their 5 minutes, too. These shoppers fill their carts with everything they can get their hands on and they bring friends. They are starting the Black Thursday trend and they LOVE it. The earlier the better. You can normally identify one of these shoppers by their "uniform". Just look at the sneaks.

I'm a terrible person, but I'm willing to bet during this time frame these people aren't the nicest either, so it's almost a trade off.

Level 9-10
Literally, just hours after we are discussing what we are thankful for and this....these people are up there. There are no words.