Visiting an old flame...

Sorry I've not written anything lately. I've been visiting an old flame the last few days.

Like many things, the relationship is a little different; we've both aged a bit and there have been some changes. Lots of changes; we're not the youngsters we used to be. But, like old times, there's an awful lot to this relationship, and although we've had our ups and downs, it has always been steady. They've always been there for me when I really needed them, no matter where I've gone.

Oh, there's been some new relationships formed. Nice, shiny, new--up to date, with none of the old baggage that comes with an older, more established relationship. It's a little more than a fling--not the same old stuff, but always coming up with new things to try and seduce me. The old standby has had to adapt to a changing world, and has a few new tricks up the perverbial sleeve.

But every time I go back, it's just like old times, like nothing has changed.

Relax, folks. I'm not discussing a person per se. I'm happily married! And I wouldn't trade my marriage for anything. I have a gem of a wife.

No, I'm talking about...Radio Shack. The original electronics store.

Oh, sure. Best Buy and Fry's have all kinds of fun, neat stuff that uber-electrogeeks like me really enjoy. MP3 players, computers, cell phones...oh, yeah. DVD's, CD's, and flashdrives that hold more and cost less. All designed to make me want to jumpstart the economy, all by my lonesome.

But Radio Shack is where I ultimately head back to. It's always about the parts.

You try to find a breadboard at Best Buy or Circuit City. Sure, Fry's has a lot of parts, but the drive (90 minutes north of where I live) is a bit much when all you need is oddball button cell battery, or that hard to find gizmo. Which, in fact, is what sent me back to my local 'Shack.

Seems the button cell for my PDB (Personal DataBase) finally expired. What was supposed to be a ten minute trip has now been three separate trips, of not less than 20 minutes a shot. Much of it spent looking at stuff I don't really need right now, but would find quite interesting to play with.

Like I said...it's always about the parts. Which they have in abundance, even now. LED's. Resistors and capacitors. Diodes. Potentiomters, meters, switches. Everything that used to fuel my imagination when I was younger. Even the batteries...though you can't just get one AA cell anymore.

The main difference now is that they don't always make their own stuff; they've had to start selling a lot of other people's stuff. Gone are the battery boxes; now they sell batteries like anyone else.

Still--it's nice to know when you really, really need to find something...they usually have it. And I don't have to drive 90 miles to get it.

Enough for now.

(Posted 1/25/08)