Crass Consumerism

Once again, I've been suckered out on Black Friday for the sales. I think I've done the best I've done since I lined up 6 or 7 years ago to get a "free" computer.

Here's my deals, in order:

• Staples had their 50 pack of jewel cases at $5. Since I'm completely out, this wasn't bad.
  However, I still have a beef. I don't care how "easy" it is, a rebate still is crap. The store takes my money, and then may give it back 2-3 months later. No thank you! I was going to buy Staples' 100 pack of CD-Rs and 50 pack of DVD-Rs, but instead of $5 each, they were $14 each with $9 rebate (I think).
  
• There's a new Computers Plus store in Lexington. The people are nice, and the first thing you see in the store is a MacBook Pro. :) They had a $10 8G USB flash drive (something I've been needing for a while), with a $10 coupon for later. Unlike Staples, I was willing to pay $10 for the drive, so the coupon is just a bonus.
  One problem with then though: the owner has a Marine-style haircut. I don't trust short-haired computer people much... ;)
  
• My best deal by far was Radio Shack's Gigaware USB headset. They're flimsy, and Radio Shack is useless for drivers (if you have Vista, start searching Google). However, my Mac loves them, and they've got the best sound I've heard out of headphones (and almost the best I've heard out of a computer, period). I bought two, and I may go back and get one or two more at these prices.

The one sale I'm disappointed in not happening: blackfriday.info and fatwallet.com claimed that Circuitcity.com would sell the Linksys WRT320N for $7. Unfortunately, there's no sign that they have, or that they will. If they would, I'd buy 4 at least. They'll run DD-WRT, and that would let me move the home network off of G and onto 5GHz N. Maybe that price will show up sometime soon.

(Interest disclosures: None. I didn't even give you links that make me money.)