the ADMIN pages

Black Friday 2007 was a success for me on all counts.

Before I recount my adventures, I'd like to present my Theory of Black Friday: The first person who's crazy enough to get in line is the person who decides when everyone else shows up. It may sound like common sense, but allow me to explain: I arrived at 11:30pm to Staples last year, and was fourth in line. (I had done a drive-by around 11, and it was empty.) Something I have noticed that is extremely common is the drive-by. This tactic entails a quick reconnaissance of the store(s) that the shopper is interested in. When I arrived at 10pm last night to Staples, I was the first to arrive. I got out, set up my chair, and cracked open a book. There were 4 more people within 15 minutes, and double that amount of drive-bys. See, if I hadn't gotten out and set up shop at 10pm, those drive-bys would not have turned into stops. I could have come at 11pm, and it would likely still have been empty. (Why did I come early? Meh, I was bored. Didn't want to take any chances. That sort of thing.) My plan for the coming years is to set up a highly organized network of consumers, with one scout parked outside of each store the collective group is interested in. We'll communicate with a central location (our headquarters, if you will) to report on the status of the lines outside stores.

I have more to say on my theory, but I'll move on for now.

As I said, I arrived at Staples (for the second year in a row) at 10pm. Supplies: camping chair, sleeping bag, blanket, 5 layers of clothing, 3 books, one fully-charged iPod, and some snacks. Oh hell yes, I was prepared. I am professional Black Friday shopper. My goals (when I arrived) this year at Staples were a 400 GB SATA internal hard drive ($60 after MIR) and a 4 GB USB flash drive ($18 after MIR). Mr. Number 2 arrived shortly afterwards. We quickly became acquainted. His wife was there, his son (twenty-something ROTC student) showed up around 2am--and brought a propane heater, and his daughter (17-year-old senior at IMSA) hung out for a while too. Mr. Two had one goal in mind: a Navigon 2100T Portable GPS, for $99, no rebate. He did his homework too-- he came to the store earlier in the week, printed data sheets on the model off the Internet, as well as a comparison chart to other GPS systems. Mr. Two really knew his purchase. He actually convinced me to buy one. Not just me, as a matter of fact-- at least 4 other people in line. I joked with him the whole night that he should be working as a salesman for this Navigon company.

I got to know several other people in line really well. Mr. Number 7, who wanted a laptop, but ended up buying a bunch of other, smaller items. Mrs. Number 4, who wanted the laptop. Mrs. Number 6, an odd, Indian woman who frequently left (leaving her daughter behind, with no chair or blankets), returning hours later. Her daughter would also stand in one of the close parking spots, physically blocking anyone else from taking her mother's parking spot. Mrs. Six actually didn't get the laptop she wanted-- her daughter was the only one in line when they handed out tickets, and they refused to give it to her because she was "underage" (when I heard this, I kinda slinked away... I'm only 17 myself).

We had fun, the first 10 or so of us. That's how it was last year, too. I'm not sure if that's how things work at the more competitive places like Best Buy or Circuit City (more on Circuit City in a sec), but the atmosphere outside Staples (at least in the front) is pretty laid-back.

My buddies were all at Circuit City for the second year in a row. They were Messrs. Number 10, arriving at 6pm. Back at Staples, Joe came by to visit me in his cousin's dump truck, and Ziggy drove by in his muddied-up, off-roading SUV on his way to work (at Radio Shack) just before 5am.

Spotted in line: Mrs. Number 3 from last year, Mrs. O'Brien- my P.E. teacher last year (I actually almost sold her a voucher for a TomTom GPS :-D), a Woodridge Storm soccer coach (one of the good ones), a guy who was at Circuit City last year, when my buddies were boxing, scalping, and brought recliners to the line, and the night manager from the McDonald's by my house.

As with last year, around 5:30am, they passed out vouchers for all the "doorbuster" items. This is where the fun started. There were about 10 items that were ticketed, meaning only those who had a voucher could get one (since they had such limited quantities). I got vouchers for every single item. The general manager (who we'll call Mr. Old Douchebag-- you'll see why in a moment) strolled through the line as his employees passed out the tickets for each individual item. He warned us at the front of the line (me in particular, I would assume, since I was grabbing a ticket for every item) that "we better not be selling these to the back of the line." I turned and smirked to Mr. Number 2 and his wife and son, who had already passed me their unwanted laptop vouchers to scalp.

After the employees went back inside, I opened up shop. People really wanted the $350 laptop, the Navigon GPS (which I was buying myself, so I couldn't sell my ticket), the TomTom GPS, and the 500 GB external hard drive. All of these were ticket items, and I sold them to the highest bidder. I walked away from those deals $275 richer, and I still had several tickets left for other, less popular items.

6:01am: the doors open. I grab my stuff, pay, put it in my car, and am back in the store 15 minutes later. I hang out near the voucher redemption counter, trying to pawn off the rest of my tickets to the people who are just showing up. This is where the trouble starts. This one old guy working there starts telling the other voucher sales associates, in hushed whispers, to "watch out for the guy in the blue jacket" [me]. I hear this, turn around, and calmly ask what the problem is. They flip out on me, telling me to stop loitering, and call over Mr. Old Douchebag. I figure it's a good time to make my exit. I stroll right by Mr. OD, walk out the door, as he's yelling for my unused vouchers to be given back to him. I had no use for them at this point, so I tossed them over my shoulder and kept walking. Done and done. I figure I won't be going back to that Staples for a while, and definitely not for Black Friday 2008.

I can't complain. I got what I wanted (and then some). I may have ruffled a few feathers scalping tickets, but it comes with the territory. I hope everyone else got what they wanted today, and if not, check online, a lot of stores are still selling the stuff online. See you next year...

My planning spreadsheet for Black Friday 2007, subject to constant revisions and changes:

I apologize for yet another referee update, but I've been reading a ton of ref blogs lately and am in the mood for writing my own.

The second week of games at the McCook Athletic and Exposition Center was played today. I have pretty much established my routine: ensure referees show up on time for their first game (refs are usually scheduled for 3-4 game blocks), stand-in for a few seconds where needed, and do my few assigned games. The rest of my team, I spend doing... whatever I want. Today I finished up the latest Vince Flynn book, Protect and Defend (worthy of a blog post of its own), knocked off several e-mails, and got a ton of web development done for the two projects currently on my agenda.

Game analysis: My first game, a U10 boys, went okay. I usually complain about the lack of action in age levels below U12, but with indoor soccer, everything moves faster, and the level of competitiveness is much higher (or at least appears to be). I made roughly 85% good calls in this game. The out-of-bounds line got moved on me by the league director 4 minutes into the game, and my first game of the day on any given day isn't usually my best, unless it's extremely competitive and absolutely forces me to wake up. I was still in clerical/administrative mode from the morning (this was a 1:00 pm game), so I was a tad slow. Even so, I was confident in the most "controversial" (very relative) call of the game: a defender stops a ball with his foot and passes it back to his keeper, who picks it up. I whistle for an indirect free kick for the other team. They have a player right there, ready to take the kick-- the offending team has absolutely no time to get ready. The kicker shoots it straight at the keeper, the keeper deflects it right back to him, and the kicker puts it in the net. All while the rest of the offending team is trying to run down to get into a wall. One of the coaches of the offending team took issue with the kick back to the keeper, claiming his kids don't have the foot control to direct their passes (they do) and that the pass was not intentional. I felt pretty proud that I was able to quote straight from the LOTG and explain it to him. When this attempt failed, he complained about the lack of time for his team to build a wall. I explained to him that the team taking the kick is perfectly entitled to a quick restart. (Ironically, the other coach from this team is a fellow referee-- he even refs in this league/facility. He was rather quiet when this coach was questioning me after the game.)

My second game, a U11 girls, was much better. I was on top of the play everywhere I went, and am proud of every call I made. The coach of the losing team congratulated me profusely, and while I generally tune out coaches, I enjoy praise.

My third game, a U13 boys, was 95% good. The U13s and up are played on doubly large fields as all the younger ages, so I got a fair bit of running in this game. And, just my luck, one of the teams was from my hometown club (Woodridge Storm). It's the "better" of two U13 teams the club had this past fall season. I've actually grown to respect the guys on this particular team for several different reasons. Two of them are referees in the local rec league who I worked with a few times-- although one of them still plays pretty dirty, and I called more than one foul on him today. Also, the entire team seems to really work well together. I believe they are 1-1-1 this season so far. Of course, one of the coaches felt compelled to admonish me for yelling at his players (in particular, his son) for encroaching on a free kick. I did 2 of their home games during this past fall outdoor season.

The biggest surprise of the day came when my assignor introduced me to Bob Lemke, referee. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped... seriously. Bob Lemke sits on my district school board, of which I attend virtually every meeting. He actually recognized me too.

Hm, I'd like to see him in action on the field. Don't want to pass judgment on his refereeing skills based on his lack of skills on the school board. *grumbles, but only half-jokingly*

While I am coming to the realization that my job is mostly clerical (recording scores and handing out referee pay), I do enjoy the chance to actually don my uniform and use my whistle during the usually boring off-season. Speaking of my whistle, I'm sticking with my super-loud Fox 40. Some people like to hear the sound of their own voice. I like to hear the sound of my own whistle.

Today marked the first day of the MAX Indoor Soccer league. While this league is played indoors (winter in Chicago is not good soccer weather), we use "outdoor" rules--there are no boards or blue cards. Offside is modified to the 18-yard-line, slide tackling is prohibited, and the clock is always counting down from 43 minutes. (As soon as one game is over, the referee starts the scoreboard clock for 43 minutes. As soon as the next pair of teams is ready, they may play.)

I've been retained as the full-time stand-by official. In other words, I am on-site at the facility for the entire day, and if a referee doesn't show up, I step in. In addition, I collect scores, help keep fields on schedule, and answer questions from referees or players. I also get assigned 3 games during my stand-by time, mainly so I don't eat my uniform out of boredom.

I like my new job.

The facility has wifi, so I sit in the lobby (or the quiet, secluded conference room) and surf the Internet for the majority of the time. Every 40 minutes or so, unless I'm required to step in for a referee for a few minutes or am scheduled for games myself, I collect scores, help reset the clocks, and get all the next teams going. Piece of cake.

Today I stood-in for a combined total of 7 minutes waiting for other officials to show up, did 3 easy games at the end of my shift, and got a ton of programming done. I'm going back tomorrow.

No real incidents to report from my actual games. The teams, while very young, were actually all very good. No cards, no loud coaches, and the people who own the facility are really cool. My Fox 40 whistle is almost too loud in there, though. Might have to switch to something else for indoor.

Prompted by all the educators making (and attempting to make) hotel reservations for NECC 2008, I started investigating the lodging options myself.

Heh, wow. Having never paid for a hotel stay myself, I've become painfully aware that it's quite expensive. As I am a starving high school student who can barely afford to keep this web site online, I've decided to solicit donations to send me to NECC 2008 in San Antonio.

I won't pretend that this is a worthy, tax-deductible cause such as the one recently launched by Steve Dembo, but here are a few reasons why it could be beneficial to have a student such as myself at NECC:

• First and foremost: education. What is it all about? The students. What do the students think? Do they actually care about education, particularly, their education? (Hint: I do.) Shouldn't students be given a voice, or at least attempt to see some of the reasoning and methods behind the minds of educators? (Hint: I'd argue yes.)
• You get complete, unfettered access to me. Teachers: run your technology-incorporating lesson plans by me. I'll tell you where students will struggle, where they'll be bored, where they'll be surfing MySpace instead of listening to you, and where they'll actually get it. IT people: run your filtering setup by me. I'll tell you where the holes are, how certain, enterprising students will get around said holes, and how you can fix them.
• I have grander plans. Presently, my plan is to submit a presentation for NECC 2009 (in Washington, DC, I believe) once it opens up. I have the framework down for a presentation on student voice: what it means to be a student, my own personal experiences going through high school with moderate technology availability, what you as educators can do to make it all more engaging for the students, where the divide between teachers and IT exists, and more. That being said, I'd like to get a feel for the NECC experience; take it all in. This way, my first year I can observe, analyze, and interpret. The following year, I'm ready to rock.

By the way, Dave Jakes gave me a good idea while we were chatting this evening: If there's an education (or other) company out there that's willing to underwrite my expenses on a grander scale, I could turn this into a whole 'nother ball of wax. You can pimp me out in your logo and gear, I'd work your booth on the conference floor, I'd walk the floor and talk about your products and services, I'd write about you on this blog, I'd do free consulting for you for the next 10 years (either technical or education-wise), etc. E-mail me. I'd be eternally grateful. Think about it: every post I make from NECC headlined with "Powered by [your company]."

I figure I'll need about $700-900 to travel to, lodge near, and attend NECC 2008. Help me out, please?

DONATE: Send Kevin Walter to NECC 2008.

Because I just spent a highly frustrating 45 minutes troubleshooting a PHP script I'm writing for use with Gmail's IMAP access, here's an overview of what the IMAP command for "deleting" a message will actually do in Gmail:

Delete a message from the INBOX: Archive message
Delete a message from a label: Remove the label from that message
Delete a message from the /Spam or /Trash folders: Delete the message permanently

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