Black Friday - the day, the weekend, the initial rush of holiday fervor - has now given way to the somewhat more staid season of "normal" holiday shopping. The mad bargain hunters who braved the elements at 5am last week are free to sit at home and mock at the rest of us, trudging through crowded malls that overheat as glittering red, green, and gold streamers block the upper air vents.

How did sales pan out? The results are mixed. The National Retail Federation put on a good face, reporting that total sales for the Black Friday weekend hit around 28 billion dollars, an increase of 21.9% over last year's take. The media told a less optimistic story. The Washington Post wrote that only moderate growth occured in November. Department stores faired most poorly, with only a 0.6% increase over last November. Chain stores did marginally better, with an approximate 3.5% jump. Other newspapers carried the same theme: the madness was not mad enough.

Our own reporters told a different story. BlackFridayWatch.com is overflowing with their tales of terror from the biggest shopping districts in America. They're not all terrifying, of course. Chicago provided some beautiful pictures of the tree lighting and fireworks display. The window displays of New York lit up the night. The rain in Seattle did not deter shoppers, although the fistfights that broke out in Atlanta may have temporarily detracted from the holiday spirit.

All in all, this was an exceptionally enjoyable experiment in journalism. We hope to return to the idea next year, with more correspondents and even bigger coverage. There are enough stories here to last a whole year anyway, so treat yourself to a five minute break while you're at work and browse through our archive.

Good-bye for now, and try to remember what the holidays are really for.

It’s over. I’m finished. I can go home and wash the stink of unashamed capitalist consumption and materialism from my person.

That said, I want to be a Bart driver when I grow up. I think the time has come to acknowledge our informative and amiable Bart conductors. Today I was especially attuned to how the drivers always announced the upcoming stop and the next stop and always leaned out of the window, at least creating the impression if nothing else that they're keeping an eye on their passengers.

Here's to you men and women of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District...

Well. I guess I'm not the only one ready to head back home.

For today I'd purchased a 24 hour T-Mobile pass, and I must say it worked flawlessly. My HP Pavilion zt3000 laptop's batteries held up well, with the occasional powered blog. Never got below 50% battery. My Merrill shoes kept me comfy in all my walking. My Fuji S7000 camera did an admirable job, save for chewing up its batteries before 5am. It all flowed rather well, taking the media card out of the camera, putting it in the card reader attached to my pc, then prepping the pics, and posting.

I hope you've enjoyed the blogs from Seattle.

Over and OUT!!!

She didn't even acknowledge that it rained this morning...and like every other person I spoke to, no, I could not take a picture...meh.

Here's where his condo would be:

and the requisite, exquisite view:

I thought I heard Daphne in the crowd around here, but didn't see her. Speaking of which, I'm daffy right now. I basically didn't take much of a break today, running all over town, taking pics, writing, posting. It's a great way to see the city and meet people, but it makes for a long day. I need a comfortable recliner.

Perhaps I'll go to a furniture store and ask if there was any sales today. I've been too busy to notice.

Then I made my way back to Market Street. And it was not easy sledding those couple blocks because there were more people than the sidewalks could handle. I don't know. For the most part everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I'll point out that I kept my eyes open for protesters, but I gave up after the second time my attention focused on a picket that turned out to say something like, "Follow Me For Savings!"

At the Disney Store in Union Square, I spoke to a greeter about the day. He said that all in all it was a fine day. Essentially, his attitude was that it definitely beat digging ditches, but mostly he had to restack the plush toys. It made him wonder if the store stacked the toys precariously on purpose, so you knock one over, then it has your attention, then you buy it.

Fair enough, I said. I noticed another greeter paying very close attention to what we were talking about while pretending not to.

It's only my second day, he said.

...but people still complained about the rain this morning. By the way, according to the National Weather Service we had light rain and temperatures around sixty. According to me, it rained for about an hour around nine. Don't get me wrong: I'm no hero. Rain's a natural disaster's how I see it

I am on the same juice as my laptop and both sets of camera batteries. We are all just about out of power.