In the last seven days I’ve spent over 20 hours in cars, planes, or airports in illinois, Indiana, and eventually during a stretch of 5 days in Texas. I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t matter who you are because Texas doesn’t care. It’s a big state and gets bigger by the day and it will slowly draw out your life force through a straw in your heart.
And while I was down in the big suck, I was wondering if the transplanted residents of New Orleans – where alcohol, blues, and politics are best consumed liberally — would be happy in their new home of cowboys, conservatives, and christian fundamentalism. And then I realized there’s a profound lesson to be learned in all of this.
I needed to go to Fry’s Electronics after I got back.
If you’ve never experienced Fry’s it’s worth going at least once. And if you become a convert you too will begin making regular pilgrimages to the new electronics Mecca off I-69 2 miles north of the I-465 interchange. It’s kind of a cross between a Comp USA, Radio Shack, and a Best Buy rolled into a Wal-Mart superstore.
Seriously though I spent an afternoon there yesterday. In some cases it’s surprising. They stock 50 dvd players, 20 motherboards, most of the major brands and models of hard drives, 30 different cases, and around 30 different kinds of laptops. I was also surprised at the number of external hard drives and hard drive enclosures they had. I bought a lighted USB cable that blinks when data is transferring across.
But what I was most surprised to see was the Nokia 770 linux handheld in stock. Oh it’s thin. And beautiful. But being able to hold it in my hand, I was able to spot one weakness of it on the spot. The RS-MMC slot is covered by a flimsy little piece of plastic that swings open. It looks like the first thing that will break off. But it’s not enough to persuade me to not get one.
But the real lesson that Fry’s teaches is that geeks will inherit the earth.
