Black Friday Madness and Haul

Oh Black Friday, you are a wonderful yet horrendous day all at the same time. And you would fall on a payday, you bastard. I even capitalize your name because you are a terrifying force of mankind.

There is something about this day that makes people want to spend money and turn animalistic at the bargain sales. I wandered in Walmart and Best Buy a little bit after midnight to witness the carnage. I dodged multiple shopping carts, swinging purses, running children and piles of forgotten merchandise. Then I sent a silent thanks to my store manager for giving me a 1 PM to close shift at where I work.

I work in retail, so I know the pains of Black Friday. My Black Friday really started on the day before Thanksgiving. What people don't really know and appreciate is how much time it really takes to set the day up. The day is spent with everyone working thct day juggling the typical routine of taking care of the customers with usual store organizing, and finding time to work on the marketing and figuring how in the world you're going to find the time to pull the store together and get home at a decent time. I'm shaking my fist at you, sale stickers. Why are there so many of you?

Not to mention the backroom of retail stores. The backroom is like its own sea of hell, filled with merchandise, cardboard boxes, shipments, extra shelving units, and who knows what else. Try finding anything back there, I dare you. But when it comes to crunch time, keeping the back room clean falls low on the priority list. So employees usually have to carefully wade through the mess, squeezing in between boxes or tip toeing to avoid stepping on anything. Its actually a bit amusing.

Granted giant retailers with large staff like Walmart, Best Buy, or Toys R Us might not have to deal with that, with their own army of workers dedicated to the backroom/warehouse duties, but working for a corporate company that have smaller stores (think mall sized stores. not department stores) and vastly smaller amount of workers (there are about eight of us total working there, holiday workers included), doing what corporate wants done first becomes the priority. Or face the wrath of your District Manager. Dun dun duuuuunnnnn.

The day, like every other year I've worked it, passed day in a blur. I don't quite remember much about it, besides the constant stream of customers, thousands of children, and the phone ringing constantly.

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But I am also a shopper. I think I spent more money this year than ever. *cries*

I had time before my shift so my first stop was Bath and Body Works. A place where I knew I would definitely buy something. I had a "Spend Over $10, Get Something For Free!" coupon that I used. I also had a "Spend $30, Get $10 Off!" coupon, but I knew that was a clever ploy for people to spend more than they bargained for. I almost did it. Almost.

Cashmere Glow Triple Moisture Body Cream and the matching body spray. Smells sooooo gooooood :) 

I wandered around the mall for a bit after that, going into stores, returning later to decide if a really needed something. I'm kind of a weird shopper like that. I like to know all my options before I commit to buying. The internet appeals to me in this way, but I like to hold and physically take my belongings home that day. I also do wonder why store employees think of me. "Hey, she was here an hour ago. And the hour before that! Should we call security..?" has always been the narration I give the workers in my head.

Dillards was my next location where I dumped money. They had 40% off, and take an additional 50% off on top of that on several of their sections. There was a pair of sunglasses I kept coming back to that day but debated a long time because they were not on sale. But I also knew I wanted to get sunglasses that day. I finally cracked and bought them when I found a wallet to buy as well. My willpower is so weak...

Antonio Melani Wallet: $15 on sale
Steve Madden Aviator Sunglasses: $20

I went to work after those two purchases. Everything was fine until I decided to break down and crumble to buying a 3DS. The system came preinstalled with Super Mario 3D Land and you got a free copy of Nintendog/cats. And I love cats. Darn you impulse buys...

So pretty. And shiney. and RED <3

Though my bank account begs to differ, I can't bring myself to regret my buys. I don't shop often and most of the time, my money goes to food. Which ends up in my belly. Totally useless, right?

I know the amount of money I spent pales compared to the amount some spend on that black black day, but it is the most I've spent since the beginning of the year.

You win Black Friday... you win...

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Today's Happiness: I love Thanksgiving food and the gorging. I love how its a day where (hopefully) people do not have to be guilty for eating what they want to eat!

Case Logic GBP-116 16-Inch Laptop Backpack Review In Red

I was looking for a new backpack for the sake of carrying around my laptop. I had one of those JanSport backpacks that almost every student from middle school to college had at some point in their life. I always lugged that thing around with me and it was obvious I had a laptop in my bag (the laptop stretched out the corners so it transformed that backpack into a rectangular shape). And I was always worried about it getting damaged, and always had to deal with a laptop sleeve.

So I was Amazon surfing (OK, I was really looking to see if they had any deals for Black Friday...), and stumbled across the Case Logic backpack.

Image from: Amazon.com

Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Case-Logic-GBP-116-16-Inch-Backpack/dp/B004S5W9MK/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1353182372&sr=8-11&keywords=case+logic+red

Amazon had the backpack for $20.90 (listing price was $39.99) and after extensive review searching I finally succumbed to purchasing it. The backpack comes in two other colors besides red, a black and a very dark muted grey/purple color ("Tannin" they call it). When I lasted checked, the Tannin color was the same price as the red.

A red backpack for my laptop for only about $20 bucks? Sweet.

TA-DA! Please excuse the dirty table. I was working on a bookbinding that used an absurd amount of glue
D:

The backpack is 13.3 x 7.5 x 19" and claims it will fit most laptops 15-16.4" (mine was 15.6).

Rather than the typical canvas found in a lot of backpacks, this one is made of Polyester. The image from Amazon of the backpack is more true to the color than my camera produced, thanks to my bad lighting.

It has a total of four compartments: the main one, a medium in the front, and two smaller ones located above and in front of the medium. The small pocket above the medium compartment is vertical, meant for easy access. The backpack also has pockets on the side advertised for holding your umbrella or your drink. While I have not tried it out yet, I heard some drinks cannot fit inside. (I will update if that is the case!) These pockets are made with a stretchy material to keep anything stored in there secured, really.

The medium compartment is roomy, enough to fit my camera, keys, wallet, lotion, pepper spray, and still have a lot of room.

The main compartment, meant to store the laptop and your books/binders/notebooks/whatever you want to put in also has a mesh pocket inside to easily store something. The compartment itself isn't incredibly huge (I could fit 3 text books inside if that helps) yet stores quite a bit more than the Jansport (especially with those extra pockets). The slot to slide in your laptop is separated with an half an inch of padding. The padding between the back of the backpack was quite thick (about an inch) and I was never worried about damaging my laptop while traveling. 

The straps are very wide as well (about 3 inches wide) and are nicely padded. Compared to my JanSport back, it makes everything much more comfortable. The straps on the Jansport were thinner (about 2 inches wide) and gave me less support when I had my laptop with me. 

My only gripe would be that the top of the laptop isn't as sercure. Granted, when your stuff is inside the backpack, they are about an inch or two below where the laptop shows (textbooks are usually about 12-14 inches tall and the backpack is designed to carry up to 16.4" laptop) so nothing in your backpack really touches the laptop. My laptop won't get damaged but better safe than sorry, right? Or at least a small Velcro clasp to prevent it from slipping out of the backpack just in case something happens.

My laptop peeking out :)

What probably excited me the most was the interior and accent colors on the backpack. Amazon doesn't have an image of the interior of the backpack so I looked around on Google. It looked like the inside was white, so I got a very pleasant surprise when I opened it.
The color inside was a pasty minty blue color that looked beautiful with the bright red. It is almost comparable to the iconic blue that Tiffany & Co. uses. My camera washes out the color, but I guarantee you it is a lovely shade.

About as close as I can get. I love this color

The last thing I'll talk about is the "Strap Management System" that Case Logic boasts about on most of their backpacks. A Velcro strap keeps the excess strap from dangling everywhere and out of your way.

I did look on their website and did not see my backpack on their product line. Perhaps they have stopped their production. In that case, Amazon would be the best bet.

A side by side comparison of my JanSport and Case Logic backpacks. The Case Logic is obviously a bit taller, but fortunately it doesn't look goofy on me and doesn't make me look like a turtle.

I personally love my Case Logic backpack. I can dance around with my laptop strapped to my back now. The only real problem I have with it is the that the bright color attracts the bees! *insert crazily waving arms and running around*

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Today's Happiness: I love how my cat sleeps on my bed at night and jumps on me if he ever needs let out of my room

Random Things I Cry About Part 1

Because I realized that it'll be interesting to see what made me cry when I look back.

1.) The song "The Fighter" by the Fray.
Bawled when I finally stopped and listened to the lyrics to that song. It is also a very real out Thought there have been several interpretations of the song, I still think of it as the literal meaning with an actual Fighter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW7FJkeIfLI

2.) A half run over cat.
Probably the saddest thing I had ever witnessed. There I was, riding a shuttle to visit a house my friends lived in and minding my own business. Right at my stop, I noticed two cars had pulled over and turned on their hazard lights. Hopping out of the shuttle at my stop, I glanced over at the accident, thinking automatically that it must have been a slight car accident. But what I saw instead was a poor cat half run over! You must be trying to picture a half run over cat right now. Half of its body that includes the tail, two hind legs and its lower torso were pretty much flattened. What was even more heartbreaking was that it was still trying to crawl around. One of the two cars had actually run over the cat, the other car was the first cars' friend that brought a cat carrier, in an attempt to draw the cat in and take it to a vet. I cried halfway walking to my friends' house. In my mind, it was still crawling around, trying to live.

3.) Frustration.
Not that I was crying because I was sad about the argument. It was purely frustration. And in my head, I was already plotting that persons demise. Like dipping their toothbrush in the toilet *insert evil laugh*

4.) Books.
Especially when my favorite character dies. Or in romance books, because were is the romance without some angst.

Adobe

A quick doodle for today. Oh Adobe, how I want thee.

My classes require me to use several of Adobe products, but since I don't own a copy, I usually do them on school computers which luckily have the Adobe Suite loaded on all of them. The cost for the suite is kinda of crazy ($799.00) for the student edition. But to be fair, the student pricing is incredible compared to the regular price ($2,599.00).

One day you'll be mine Adobe Suite.... one day... *shakes fist*

Some thoughts as a Graphic Design student

Like a lot of novels, sometimes the first few chapters are dreadfully boring. I can imagine that this first post will be snooze-fest to a lot of people. While making this blog, I was unsure what my first post should be about. Its like writing the opening of an essay or deciding if you should play the good guy or the bad guy in a video game or if I should really be eating this eighth Tootsie Roll (I never should have made that stop into the Safeway candy isle...)

Then I got to the point of designing the blog. Blogger is really easy to use and most of the templates are nice and basic. Choosing one wasn't a problem at all.

The problem was choosing the font of the title.

That is nearly the most mundane task in setting up a blog, and I'm sure a lot of people do not even bother changing the defaults in the template. But there I was, sitting here for a ridiculous amount of time scrolling through all the fonts, shaking my head no and thinking there has gotta be a better typeface.

Its typeface by the way. Not font. The memory of my Graphic Design History teacher stabbing his finger in the direction of the student that accidentally used the word font will always stay with me. "Don't use the "F" word!!" the professor declared loudly. He then went on about lowering grades if he found that word used in our papers. Whew.

It was like a small victory filled with satisfaction when I finally picked one. I hope when I look back at this post, my future self will also nod in agreement. (Okay, it looks like just a plain typeface. It looks bland. But trust me, these things are hard on a graphic designer!) When I look back on my past projects in college, picking the typeface took the most amount of time. A fellow GD friend agrees. Its the small basic things that set up the feel of the entire media (in this case, the blog). No wonder there are companies out there that are commissioned to make specific typefaces out there (House Industries is truly drool worthy for anyone interested in typography).

Sorry, sorry. That's should be enough of me geeking out about GD. Honestly, if anyone kept reading until the end of this, I applaud you. You must be crying tears of boredom.