Black Friday could not be contained to a single Friday so there were already quite a few deals on video games that have come and gone. I picked up a couple of old titles that I’ve been holding off for I think at least a year now, but other than that and the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-ray I think that’s all I’m getting. Probably best I just don’t look at deals tomorrow even though I probably will anyway.
I thought that I had somehow miraculously never done a comic about this subject, but I did a quick search and found that I had back in 2004 but with a different approach. The guy at the supermarket wasn’t in my aisle but his bill was a maximum of $32 because I heard him say $16 which probably meant a maximum of having to pay $16 with each.
How does a person get into a situation where charging $32 to their credit card is something they just can’t do? I understand not having cash in your wallet, but credit cards should never ever reach that point. I understand that that’s how a horribly high percentage of people use their cards but man it still boggles my mind.
If I were the world’s only customer every single company would save millions if not billions or trillions by not having to change the label of any of their products. There are certain products that I use only because they weren’t offensive in any way the first time I tried them. Sure there might be a product somehow more suited to me or even better than what I have, but I just won’t risk the long term commitment.
When we went to PAX last year Anna needed to buy some moisturizer so we went to a Walgreens. The one she picked was buy 1 get 1 free but seeing as we were on vacation we didn’t really feel the need to take this person up on her offer of the extra free moisturizer. This seemed to throw her for a loop as she insisted because only crazy people would turn away something free. It ended up being a good choice because the moisturizer was kind of crappy and too oily.
I haven’t eaten that much instant ramen in my life. In fact I’ve messed up the process a few times by not following instructions on the more elaborate instant ramens from Japan (usually be adding ingredients in the wrong order and forgetting to time it).
Because of this I’m not aware of the going rate for instant ramen, but after this I have a much better idea. I bet I looked like a total instant ramen n00b to the Koreans who run the veggie market by my place.
Oh and yes, I had pork for Thanksgiving. Last year I went home, but since I had just got back from Japan and we had lots of blogging and stuff to do I decided to stay home this year. Last year while I was away Anna made this pork shoulder that she saw on Working Class Foodies. We decided to do it again this year to delicious sweet and savory pork success. Speaking of cheap food, an 8lb pork shoulder for $11 is like, pennies per meal 
I know my family is reading this so no, this isn’t me actually saying “no gifts this year.” I have some friends who have done this before during the Christmas season and I understand the sentiment of not wanting to bother with the trouble and also the idea that this one time of the year you MUST give presents. I like giving and of course receiving presents so I think at most I would just find some way to be more frugal if something were affecting my financial status like, you know, unemployment
Today I’ll be eating my Thanksgiving dinner because we decided to make the pork bossam that Anna made before, but this takes several hours of preparation and also cooking so we started it too late. We ended up eating some instant ramen that we bought in Japan. It’s sad to say, but it was so much better than the Momofuku ramen we had the day before.
Most of my adult life I always said “no” to anything asked of me at stores that didn’t involve me paying for what I was buying. I like going into a store, getting what I want with as little hassle as possible. Later I realized that it’s stupid for me to not get some of these reward cards if I’m always shopping at the same places. The reward cards are just designed so that you’ll come back to those stores so you can rack up points, but if I go back there anyway I might as well benefit from their meager awards.
I’ve had a Duane Reade card for a while now, but I recently got a Best Buy rewards card. One difference between Best Buy and Duane Reade is that the employees aren’t trained to be pushy about the cards, I’ve never once been asked if I wanted to sign up, so I had to ask on my own.
Then it got me thinking to my credit card. I have a plain normal card which earns me no points on anything, so I realized it’s stupid to not be earning anything extra with it. I had considered the Best Buy and Amazon cards, but then I found this other card which gives extra points for books, movie theaters, restaurants and a couple other things. The trick is that Amazon is counted as a bookseller, so with this card you earn more points than you would on an Amazon card. I haven’t received it in the mail yet, but it’ll be cool to earn stuff periodically with regular credit card use.
Now I’m picturing myself being the guy asking his friends to give him cash at restaurants so he can earn points on his card. I’m sure someone out there is crazy enough to try to calculate the most efficient way to use all these cards for maximum points and minimum cash, but I don’t think I care enough to try to figure that out. I just wish I had taken the time to do something like this sooner. Oh well, better late than never.
Let it be known that one way that Odwalla wants you to know that their drinks are made from fresh ingredients with no preservatives is that they are classified “extremely perishable.”
At Pax Anna and I pretty much skimped on breakfast and lunch because there’s just so much to do there that we don’t want to miss a single moment. Mostly the lunch time was snacking on cashews and eating granola bars, and one day we had enough time to get some soup which we ate while waiting in line for a panel. Sunday morning we went to get a slightly more substantial breakfast which was when I got the orange juice.
Sorry for the late comic. Anna and I got back to JFK from PAX around 6:30 AM on Monday so by the time we got home we pretty much couldn’t do anything but nap. After that I made lunch and met some friends to watch the “West Indian American Day Parade” from a rooftop.
PAX was a total blast that went by in a blink of an eye. I’ll write a con report later on my blog. It’s almost like it was some awesome dream that I woke up from to find myself just in my apartment. Anyway, we bought a six pack of bottled water to get us through the convention and at this Walgreens this old Asian lady cashier asked us “would you like M&Ms with that?” I saw that there were M&Ms at the counter that looked like they were bargain bin or something, but it was a very odd thing to be asked.
The guys at Best Buy always have to check your receipt on the way out. This I understand, but the guy at the door also does a little squiggle mark with his pen once they’ve checked it. I’m convinced this is just superfluous pen signage that is only there because it makes it feel more “official” that he checked it, whereas if he just looked at it and let you go then it could look like he’s not actually checking it. Maybe someone who works at Best Buy can explain this? Actually that reminds me that I actually do have a friend who used to work at Best Buy. Time to send him an email.
