Really, why bother?

I can't imagine what kind of money Best Buy pulled down today. The one above (thanks to Reuters via Yahoo) is in Fairfax, one I used to visit frequently.

Furthermore, I can't imagine what a zoo the local Best Buys were. The one closest to us is in Baileys Crossroads, which happens to be the intersection of Rt. 7 and Columbia Pike. It's situated in a strip mall with limited parking. Zoom in and click on the tab that says "Aerial View"; see that white building to the left of the star? That's Best Buy. Now look at the parking (considering there are shops all around it, too).

And that's not even my worst Best Buy experience.

Back when I was in Pennsylvania, the nearest Best Buy was in Whitehall, a suburb of Allentown. Heading back to Mapquest, you can see the store here. Zoom in again, and again, the white building to the left of the star is Best Buy. Here's what made it such a mess:

The road in front of Best Buy is Macarthur Road, a pretty big thoroughfare into Allentown and Center City. If you study the parking lot closely, you'll see there's one way in and one way out. You can't turn left onto Macarthur; and as you can see, less than a quarter mile down the road is an exit ramp onto Rt. 22 west. Well, most folks don't want 22 west.

Perhaps the situation has changed, but I recall spending 45 minutes waiting to get out of there once.

And to think, this is being repeated all across the country? Why bother?

There's this awesome thing called the internet nowadays. Provided that the place you want to buy from has reliable servers (and that's not always a given, is it Wal-Mart?), you can accomplish damn near all your shopping in one sitting.

Sit and shop for Christmas presents in your underwear with a beer in your hand. Technology is a wonderful thing.

I'll let those folks fight over their spot in line at Best Buy.

-- WHERE IN THE WORLD IS HUSS? As you'll remember, I've taken a keen interest in my virtual job with UPS. Though I wasn't flying the big birds back then, I've graduated to them in the weeks since. Just today, I took a couple of long-haul flights: First from my hub, Philadelphia, to the main UPS hub in Louisville. Then, looking for a slice of adventure, I went west.

So, to answer the question, Virtual Huss is in Albuquerque, N.M. after 2.5 hours aloft from L-ville. That means I've got takeoffs and landing in eight states since joining UPSVAC: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Massachusetts, Kentucky and New Mexico.

Hopefully I'll remember to include this when I post, so you can keep up with where the heck I am now. Next stop is LAX, but I'm unsure where to go after that, so I'll keep you posted.