Black Friday

Editor's note: I just noticed this post I wrote in November 2013, and am posting it now. It's pretty sweet to post it now, since I've put in notice.

I work in the fitness department at a big box sporting goods store, and I really didn't look forward to spending any of my Thanksgiving away from my sweet wife. Working Black Thursday/Friday is more than just working the shift-- it's preparing to do so. It's cutting things off or not doing them at all. Changing plans so that others can go shop when they're tired of doing the family bit.

I went in at 7:30, and saw people lined up past the building. Great. We're gonna get snowed. So we had out little staff powwow and we manned our sections. As it turns out, my fitness coworker and I had it pretty easy. We sold two bicycles in the first half hour, then nothing. People came and looked, lifted/played with the weight sets, punched the heavy bags and left, just like they usually do. We just became support types, helping as needed. There was plenty to do, since apparel was strewn all over the place, and folks put items back on the shelf nearest to where they changed their minds.

Because customers came for .22 ammunition, shoes, and clothes. The outdoor section by itself ran three lines trying to help folks. The store was pretty full, and the checkout line ran all the way to the back to store where we work, but it wasn't a mob scene. It stayed that way until maybe midnight or 1 am. The nearby movie theater was open, and it seemed like people came in and looked because they didn't want to go home yet. 

I guess I'm wondering and maybe ranting a little, as to what this is all about. I understand there are fewer days between holidays this year, and that businesses don't make money by staying closed. Perhaps the competition is wanting their share of the pie and our company doesn't want to get left out. I don't get paid unless the meter's running. I get that too. But I worked an eight-hour shift that ended at 4:00, and went back in at 5:00 Friday evening. 

But for all the extended holiday hours (which folks haven't become aware of yet), how about opening at midnight or early the next morning? Because these were well-dressed people who came in-- people who were shopping because they could, and didn't seem to need a holiday sale to come out. And I'll speculate here, but I wonder how many people put ammunition under the tree for the hunter in the family. I'm a transplanted Midwesterner, so I'm not sure. 

Understand that I like the people I work for and with. But it didn't seem like we were thankful for very long. 

Pocket Soccer

Let's be realistic-- many apps on our phones are nothing more than time wasters. Got 15 minutes to kill? There's an app for that. I play a lot of Words and Scramble with Friends, check Facebook and Seesmic, plus other random games.

But the one that I keep coming back to is this one, something I found while looking through the top apps section of a magazine at the grocery store a few years back.

Pocket Soccer, by Rastergrid Entertainment. As you can see, it's a three-on-three indoor soccer game, with the three discs moving about the board much like the puck on an air hockey table. Your finger controls where the discs go, and the controls are very responsive. You're able to 'kick' the ball directly, bounce it off a side or end wall, or hit another disc into the ball. All that matters is that the ball goes into the net.

Lots of gameplay options are available in single-player or tournament mode. What kind of ball is used, playing surface, and whether you play to 5 (or 10) or in timed mode. I typically play tournaments with a one-minute clock, choosing a country and trying to win (or tie) four matches to win a title.

Tournament mode screencap. The player can choose any or all of the 16 teams, or let the computer select.

This app has long since reached addictive status for me. I play several times a day, working to get my tourney winning percentage up (currently at 51%). I'm a bit of a stats guy, so I look at wins on easy/medium/hard levels, plus my player rating vs. all who play.

For all the games and time killers on my phone, this is the one I keep coming back to. The only negative I can find is on the title screen, where the World Class option is perpetually 'coming soon.' I'd sure be eager to see the possibilities with that, though if the designers haven't done anything with it yet, it's possible they won't. Also helpful would be an in-progress scoreboard, since the score is only displayed when a goal is scored.

I still love playing the game, though. It has a good beat and I can dance to it. 4.5/5 stars.