America's Annual Shopping Frenzy Settles...

One thing I admire Americans for... their ability to amass... from household items to clothes to credit card debt to educational qualifications, pets, etc everything that can be hoarded they will do it. Both people as well as institutions - commercial and non-profit - have perfected the art of sales. If corporations offer deals and appeal to the consumers ego, non-profit groups dangle the carrot of self-actualization and make people part with their money.
 
Americans are in a shopping mood throughout the year as evidenced by the bustling malls that are always full of people buying stuff. The past few years this has been down due to the economic distress and job losses millions of Americans have faced. Otherwise it is business as usual in most shopping malls. The shopping reaches dizzying heights during the festival holiday season just after Halloween and continues until Christmas.
 
Since the economy has not turned around yet American corporations were impatient to rake in profits of the Thanksgiving shopping. So they decided to forget about the prayer and holy aspect of the holiday and just focus on the shopping aspect. The end result stores opened several hours earlier than before for the traditional black friday shopping. Of course there was some outcry but consumers nevertheless thronged to the stores looking for deals.
 
I wonder what it will be next year... maybe the stores will open a week in advance for shoppers of black friday. If that happens then consumerism would have successfully prevailed over tradition. I guess in the land of consumption and corporation few would rue this happening.
Now that the initial frenzy of holiday shopping has settled down we will have to wait and watch out to see how much money changed hands over the weekend and how much profit corporations raked in...

Happy Thanksgiving... or is it??

Today is the national holiday of Thanksgiving in America. Today is the day when people travel hundreds of miles to get together with families and loved ones. It is a day when people thank the lord for giving them everything that they need and pray for more next year. Of course like all other national events everywhere in the world there is a legend or story associated with this holiday too, but that is not the point of this post. 

Ever since I landed in America I have wondered about this festival where hundreds of thousands of birds are killed to satiate the hunger of humans. So whenever I hear someone say "Happy Thanksgiving" my mind travels to the plight of the innocent Turkey which was raised, fed, and fattened only to be killed today or perhaps a few days ago so that it's carcass may be cleaned, processed and packaged to be sold in the big box retailers across the country. It is not such a "Happy Thanksgiving" for these hundreds of thousands of birds afterall. They lose everything they had including their life.

The simple justification I have heard from lots of people here is that: "Animals don't have a soul, so they are born to be killed and eaten by humans. That is how god created the world." Really! you want me to believe that? If that is true why is that when animals become even remotely dangerous to humans they are instantaneously killed or quarantines or sometimes whole speicies decimated? It is this insatiable human greed that has become a danger for the planet that has given us so much and continues to sustain our lives. Do we ever stop and say thanks to this planet?

I wonder when that will happen... or should I say that if it will ever happen?

Business Takes Precedence Over Holiday Traditions!!!

Since the inception of the holiday tradition Thanks Giving has always been a time for families to get together and offer prayers to the Lord. Ever since I moved to the US I have noticed that people travel hundreds and sometimes even thousands of miles just to spend quality time with their families. Of course businesses have always used this holiday to sell more and there are discounts galore year after year. All the sales have always happened on the day after Thanks Giving, popularly known as Black Friday. Shoppers would get together with their families on Thanksgiving day, enjoy the Turkey dinner and prayers. Then on Friday early morning as early as 5 am head out to stores to shop. This has been the normal tradition in America till 2010.
 
This year is going to be different. Retailers have decided to open up their stores for black friday shopping on thursday itself. They are trying to entice shoppers to step outside their homes after dinner on Thanksgiving night and shop. This decision of the business owners and CEOs to open up stores on Thursday itself has angered both shoppers and store employees. Businesses seem to only be interested in money and nothing more, they don't care two hoots for tradition.
 
Hitherto I had believed that it was only the liberals, leftist and communists who didn't care for religion, tradition and heritage, but now it is becoming apparent that even hard core capitalist, right-wing conservative, businessmen also don't. I wonder if this is the way forward for the world or not.

A Not-so-Happy Thanksgiving

This is the festival season in the US and this year the cheer has not been very high. Yesterday was Thanksgiving day and today is the much acclaimed Black Friday. Retailers and corporations across the country gear up for this one day of extensive shopping by consumers. A phenomenon which did not happen today, at least not as much as it happened last year or the year before.

The economic downturn which resulted in massive job losses is starting to show its effect on retail industry as well. People simply can't afford to buy as they used to in the past. I wonder whether the US as a nation and the people will learn from this economic downturn and save. It would be interesting to see where America heads in the next half-century. With so many threats looming for this "immigrant nation" including that of home grown Islamic terrorism (the Fort Hood Shootout is a classic example) and the Iraq and Afghanistan war, it is definitely the stage where the world's drama will be played out.

Charter's Smashing End-of-the-year offers!!!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter Communication. All opinions are 100% mine.

One of things I love about Charter communications is their creativity in coming up with new and innovative deals and offerings. Since the past two years Charter has been one company which has been giving away fantastic gifts such as a HDTV every day, a brand new eco-friendly Toyota Prius for greenhorns and a fancy 2010 Chevy Camaro 2SS for the speedsters, for the gaming aficionados Charter gave away Xbox 360s. It is a wonder that this company gave away expensive prizes even in this economy.

As the year comes to an end Charter has decided to make one big bang before the year comes to a close. There are two easy ways to win great deals on charter cable, internet and phone services. There are gift cards and special deals which would enable you to win really cool prizes.

Check out this snazzy Thanksgiving offer, starting Black Friday and going on through Cyber Monday, Charter is offering $200 gift cards for those who sign up for their special online deals. The gift cards are from major retailers, clothing, home, accessories, electronics and even restaurants. This would save you money during the festivities.

The specials don't end on Monday, they are just beginning and will continue through the next 38 days. Every single special deals and prizes and great gifts will be given away to Charter customers. So if you want prizes you need to check out Charter’s Daily Deal Web Site
more often. Prizes and gifts include iPods, camcorders, TVs, GPS units, webcams, photo frames and lots more. There are lots of Big Love and Entourage box-sets too.

If you think that visiting their website everyday is a hassle then just become a fan of Charter on Facebook and you will be kept updated of all the new deals, offers and gifts. Now is this enough reason to celebrate or are you still waiting for something magical from Charter???

Thanksgiving Party at College

Today the Collin county community college has organized a Thanksgiving party for all international students in association with the International Students Organization and Christ Church Plano. The event is by registration and as a person curious about traditions and cultures I registered to attend the party.

I am hoping that the party will be enjoyable and informative about the American Christian culture and will help me learn about the diversity in the world. Thanksgiving, I believe is one of the most important festivals in this continent-sized country and this is the time for grand shopping, family reunions and holidays.

Let us see how this party will go. Will try to capture some nice pictures and post them over here later. For now I am off to the party.

Festival Gifts for my loved ones

Thanksgiving and Christmas season is just around the block and this is the time for everyone to give and receive gifts. It is not uncommon to see people going overboard to give the best gift to their loved ones. So how far are you going this festival season... are you just giving them a gift or are you granting your loved ones their wishes? As for me I have decided to grant each one of my loved ones whatever they wish? Thanks to Sears Layaway I am confident of being able to grant them their wishes even in this economy.

Well I chose these three items which are the wishes of three of my most favourite people. The first gift is for my beloved... she always complains having to walk all the way to the apartment laundrette to wash clothes so, this thankgiving she will get a Neat white Samsung 4.0 cu. ft. High Efficiency Front Load Washer and Dryer. I chose this gift because of two reasons.. one is she really needs a nice gadget to help her wash clothes at home and not spending loads on coin operated machines. And then the amazing savings that Sears is offering to buy this season.

Another gadget is the Craftsman 200 mph 430 CFM Gas Blower/Vac for my brother who lives in a big home and loves to do yard work. This easy starting gadget with a variable speed trigger will help him work in the yard and helps create mulch and clean up his yard. With its 200 MPH, 430 CFM blower/vac and Sim-Pul™ starting technology, Variable speed trigger and 10:1 mulch ratio I'd say my brother would be thrilled to receive this gift.

And last but not the least my sister will get her unlimited apparel shopping wish fulfilled this season. There are so many fantastic offerings like Apostrophe Vanessa Pant, the Levi's ® 545™ Boot Cut Jean and numerous other apparels on deals I am sure my sis will be thrilled.

This kind of a splurge would have been impossible in this economy if not for the Sears Layaway, which enables me to buy today and pay over a period of time in easy instalments. I am sure this season will be filled with happy memories.

Gear up for Black Friday Shopping

Thanksgiving weekend is approaching fast, it is hardly a month from now and then the entire country will be on a shopping spree. I know many people who wait for this day to buy their favourite stuff be it electronic goods or clothes or whatever else it maybe. Every store offers fantastic deals and this results in long queues well before the store opens. As a result people start queueing up as early as 4 am to be the first to get the best deals.

Well here is good news for all the blackfriday shoppers, you can shop online! Yes!!! it is true, you can save thousands of dollars simply sitting at home, you don't have to brave the cold or get up early to get the best shopping deals. And this website has deals from a host of stores. You don't have to visit multiple stores to get the best deals, you just need to stay at home and browse the internet.

This Thanksgiving I want to avail few of the Sears deals on Shoes, fine jewelry, fragrance gifts, etc. But I also want to buy a laptop, so instead of missing out on any of the items I will just buy everything on I Black Friday which is a one stop shop for all deals.

And that is not all, the website is so customer oriented that you can even subscribe to their e-mail alerts and receive when new black friday advertisements have been posted. Isn't that great... you can get to know the best deals, buy your coveted products all from the comforts of your home.

I have kind of finalised my shopping for this Thanksgiving, How about you?