Cyber Monday

By Dian Vujovich

I did go out shopping on Black Friday. Not my usual drill. But couldn’t pass up the poinsettias advertised on sale at Home Depot and Lowe’s for 99 cents. Now there’s something worth the drive.

Got to Home Depot about 10:30 a.m. and they were gone. One of the clerks said they’d all been sold by 8. Figured the same would be true at Lowe’s but went anyway. Low and behold, eureka. Big, lovely, regularly 4 buck poinsettias now priced at 99 cents. There’s really nothing quite like the joy that comes with finding a great deal.

And now it’s Cyber Monday. By the time you read this thousands of geeks and ordinary people will have clicked on their favorite sites and charged the goods they had to have.

Just in case you’re in a shopping mood, here are a few Cyber Monday deal suggestions from USNews.com:

• Amazon.com. Find a Samsung 37-inch LCD HDTV for $699, a Garmin nüvi 785/785T 4.3-inch Portable GPS Navigator for $249.99, a LiveSpeakr Ultra Portable Speaker System for the iPhone and iPod Touch for $39.99, plus plus. Free shipping if you spend more that $25. All that and no doubt more at http://www.amazon.com/cybermonday .

•Walmart.com. Leave it to Wal-Mart to go the extra mile to attract customers. They’re not limiting sale prices to Monday but have extended them throughout the entire week. Their “Cyber Week” features deals on popular gifts like Little Tikes Play Kitchen for under $50 and Kodak’s 12MP Digital Camera with accessory kit and 4GB memory card for less than $100.

•Target.com. Not to be outdone by Wal-Mart, Target’s online deals began yesterday and continue through December 12. Look for “Daily Deals” and on Cyber Monday five items reduced as low as 70 percent off their retail price. No-charge for shipping on some items.

•J.C. Penny’s Cyber Monday sale lasts two days. Jewelry is reduced, My Sports Gaming System can be had for $8.88 and kid’s camcorder and 2G mp3 players for $29.88. Visit http://www.jcpenny.com for more.

•And if you couldn’t bear the lines at Best Buy on Friday, hit Bestbuy.com today and get a 65-inch HDTV for $999.99, a 19-inch TV for $149, DVDs starting at $3.99, a Garmin GPS for $114 and more. That address again, http://www.bestbuy.com .

Any online place you shop has a sale going on today and through December so check them out too. But don’t spend your entire wad; those “After Christmas Sales” will be here before you know it.