According to Wikipedia, the term Black Friday “originated in Philadelphia, where it originally was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation was made: that retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss (“in the red”) from January through November, and ‘Black Friday’ indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or ‘in the black’.”

Well I have an idea to make Black Friday even better. The shopping is good, saving money is great, but what if we could do something to help someone at the same time? What if we could do something to help the many kids and elderly who need assistance? Here’s all you need to do: Add up how much you saved today and then take 10% of that and donate it to Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Helen Keller International, Meals on Wheels, Make-a-Wish or any charity you like that helps kids and the elderly. If we all did that, just imagine how much we could add to the support of those who need us the most.

According to Statistic Brain, in 2013 the average person spent $407.23 during Black Friday. So let’s say that this amounted to a savings of 122.17(based on a 30% savings from normal retail). So that means you’d only donate $12 and still save $110 from retail price. Is that cool or what? Using the same 10% of 30% savings that means $1,722,000,000 would be given to charities for kids and the elderly in one day. Now THAT is something to be thankful for. Are you in?

In the US it’s Thanksgiving Day. The day the country en masse gives thanks for something. Always good, of course, but to whom? Perhaps giving thanks for some generalized, ephemeral, thing isn’t the way to go. Giving thanks for specific things to specific people absolutely. But saying thanks simply to say thanks? May be we should look around, find something specific and say thank you to the person who did it. Thanks for sharing this day with me, this blog with me.

Was recently involved in research for how Gen Y determine preferences of brand websites and brand social media; here are the primary results in order of importance:

1. Design / attractiveness
2. The brand that engages its consumers online
3. What experts say
4. The brand with the better website
5. The brand with a vibrant online community
6. The brand with better SM capability
7. What friends and family say

Interesting to say the least in how some of the preferences seem to be evolving; more to come.

I look
but never see

I stare
but cannot find

I glance
but never know

so now what?

Discontent? Are you kidding me? Who needs more of that misery? Well……

Often discontent is the reason that anything gets accomplished. When we’re contented we’re not very motivated to do anything. It was discontent with the status quo that drove Thomas Edison, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, and unknowable numbers of others. Revel in your discontent, be glad for it and then do something with it.

Find your contentment wherever you are and in whatever you’re doing; and if you can’t find it, revel in the discontent.