Black Friday

So I started off today by asking my friends and family: "They say Black Friday is the busiest shopping day of the year. But have you ever known ANYONE that goes shopping on Black Friday???" Every single person I asked (a mere 5 people) said "no." This was baffling to me. I mean, if it's SUCH a huge shopping day, and the crowds are unbearable, then statistically speaking, shouldn't you have met someone along the way that shops on Black Friday?

So anyway, my parents are out for the week and my Dad and I were going to work around the house a bit to fix some things up. One of our big projects was to buy and install a new garage door opener. So we went to Lowes. I had been there the week before to check out prices, but today the same garage door opener we wanted was $60 cheaper! Wow, I thought. This is GREAT! On the way out, there was a wet/dry shop vac on display, regularly $90, on sale only now through Monday for $29. Holy COW! What a deal. I really need a new shop vac. I can't pass this up!

So out I walk to my car, pleased with my savings of $120.

And then I realized. I just shopped on Black Friday. And I even took advantage of the Black Friday deals. So it does happen. People do shop on Black Friday. In this case, however, I'm glad I did. I saved a TON of money.

Great Videos

So I was bored the other day and found a couple of great videos on YouTube that I thought you might like.

This one had me laughing so hard I almost peed my pants:

Ernie and Bert Go Brutal

This is a funny SpongeBob parody about life in China. Pretty good stuff:

This isn't a funny one, but I stumbled across it when Maddy was asking for "Dah-fin" videos. This is REALLY amazing stuff. These Dolphins create bubble rings  and then play with them. You've got to see it:

Okay, if you're still bored, you can't go wrong with a good Veggie Tales video. I LOVE the silly songs! This one is FUNNY. Enjoy

Free Dr. Pepper for America!

Best. News. Ever. Guns N Roses is releasing an album that took 14 years to record. To celebrate, Dr. Pepper is giving the ENTIRE COUNTRY FREE DR. PEPPER! You just have to go to thier website this Sunday to get the coupon.

Read the press release for yourself: Click Here

Dr. Pepper: I salute you.

Gmail Themes

I just discovered this, and probably by this time tomorrow (or yesterday) this will be common knowledge so I thought I'd blog about it now. Gmail has new themes. Pretty cool. Here's what my inbox looks like now!

Our STUPID Electoral System

I love our country, but I have only recently become interested in politics. Tonight, after watching an unexperienced socialist get elected into office, I realized something: our voting system sucks.

Apparantly we have so many electoral votes per state equal to the congressional representation of the state. "The electors generally cast their votes for the winner of the popular vote in their respective states, but are not required by law to do so." (wikipedia)

WHAT!?!? Are you kidding me? So basically, I go cast my vote, but it doesn't really matter because they electors just vote for whomever they want?

And another thing (and this is what really chaps my hyde): when a candidate wins 51% or more of a state's vote, they receive ALL the electoral votes for that state! This means that 49% of the votes didn't count! Think of it this way: Two neighboring states have 1 million people each and (say) 9 electoral votes. State one has 500,001 people vote blue and 499,999 people vote red. So all 9 electoral votes go to the blue candidate. State two has 700,000 vote blue and 300,000 vote red. So all 9 electoral votes go to the blue candidate for a grand total of 18 electoral votes (between the two states). But let's say the 499,999 voters from state one move to state two and vote the SAME way. Now every citizen of state one (500,001) vote blue, they get 9 electoral votes. But state two now has 700,000 that vote blue and 799,999 that vote red. Suddenly the red candidate has 9 more electoral votes but the same people voted the same way! So it doesn't really matter what your vote is, it matters where you live!!! This is perposterous! If this were a perfect system, then every vote would count for one vote. Forget states and districts. If I vote one way then my vote should count for that candidate. PERIOD.

I've always been so proud of my country. But I can't say I am tonight. In today's age of modern technology we need a better system of voting. If it's a true democracy then make every vote count.