Mom and I went to Arden Fair Mall on Friday (Black Friday!) to get her a new computer (it's been four years, it was time, but that's another post). From the time I reached the mall, parked, went to the store, picked out the Mac, and left the mall was a half an hour. On Black Friday, alledgedly the busiest day of the year for retailers. I've had visits to the mall, at this time of year, where it took me 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot.Today, I went to Costco to stock up on staples (and paper clips) and there were only two people ahead of us in line.I'm not optomistic about the economic outlook.