Cyber Monday

You have to hand it to Abraham Lincoln.  When he designated the fourth Thursday in November as a day of Thanksgiving he inadvertently orphaned the fourth Friday in November from its traditional weekday status and transformed it into something else entirely.  Who wants to go back to work for a single day before the weekend.  We would all much rather take that day and get ready for the impending Christmas festivities.  In other word we would rather use that time to shop.  This trend is so prevalent that we actually track spending on that day and run year over year comparison data as indicators of the holiday spending habits of the general populous.  There is no way Lincoln could have seen what would happen next.  The first Monday after the Fourth Friday, after the Fourth Thursday in November (I know that is almost as convoluted as the definition of when Easter is celebrated) we see people back at work still wishing they could finish their shopping for Christmas.  What do they do?  They hop online and make the purchases from their favorite retailer in cyberspace. 

Welcome to Cyber Monday!  Not to feel left out I went online and made my purchases.  A roundtrip ticket to Seattle for the fire starter conference I will be speaking at on December 12th, and of course something for the family, Lips for the XBOX360.  Given my kids desire for rock star status, and their love of music, this should be a fun gift.  I will anxiously await the spending numbers for this years Cyber Monday knowing I played my part to make them grow.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed
• Anonymous
  December 02, 2008
  If Nov 1st is a Friday, then Black Friday will be the 3rd Friday, not the 4th. And Black Monday is always the Monday immediately following the 4th Thursday in Nov, any mention of which Fri (which is impossible to define more precisely than "first Fri after 4th Thurs in Nov" anyhow) would be in between is redundant at best.