Best Buy Sux

I have never been a huge fan of Best Buy. For the most part they don't have what I am looking for. I don't know who does their buying but I am not impressed. Selection and keeping stuff on shelves seems to be a persistant problem. Occassionally I wander in to see if maybe... just maybe something has changed. Of course when I went there Saturday... I was again naturally disappointed but I did end up buying a PC game, which was a mistake. What annoys me most about Best Buy these days is that you can't walk more than 10 feet without being ambushed with a 'can I help you?'. Mmm no... I don't need any help. Couple minutes later another do gooder floor person comes up... Mmm no... still don't need help thanks. Rinse repeat until you leave. Wasn't Best Buy running adverts not too long, differentiating themselves from other places like *cough* Circuit City, who work on commissions? Those Best Buy folks sure behave like they are on commissions. It is all very annoying.

While I am on Best Buy... is it me or does the parking lot at their new location by Lowe's seem to have many fewer cars than they had at the old location at Lake & Glen? The old location had other stores around but you kinda knew where the Best Buy customers parked. They seemed busier before they moved.

Oh... and the game I bought: Medieval Total War. The game is buggy and don't run on my PC. It crashes out to the desktop. It is a known bug that appears to have no plan for patching. Why do companies keep product on the shelf if it is not going to be supported???? My mistake was in getting it at Best Buy which has an awful returns policy. My rule of thumb is don't buy anything there unless you are certain you plan to keep it or have little risk of problems arising with what you purchased. There are heapfuls of horror stories about returns and whatnot.

I want a CompUSA in Peoria. They carry Apple stuff and business/professional stuff.

Bleh... I am bored.

Piggybacking WiFi

About six months ago I broke down and finally got a wireless router. I still prefer to use a hard line whenever possible but the ease of moving a laptop around the house was too much to resist. One thing the wireless enables, is to essentially mooch off of other folk's broadband. Some businesses have intentionally enabled this with open hot spots but I would wager that some folks around where I live have not. Just around my house there have at times been up to six wide open wireless networks. It is tempting to grab the ole laptop and just drive around town and see just how 'hot' it is. Why pay for DSL when one can just sponge it off a neighbor. Heck if they don't know how to set up a wireless router (which seems obvious), surely they would not notice anyone piggybacking? This of course raises some interesting questions. CNET has an article that deals with mooching wireless connections. It would seem the law is a bit unclear and not fully tested when it comes to wireless.

For anyone running a wireless set up.... educate yourself and 'lock' your network and your PC down. There are surely some black hats around Peoria who would find an open PC useful.

Don't touch someone else's kid.... ever....

While trolling Fark, I stumbled across this article from the Chicago Sun-Times . The gist is that some guy swerved to avoid hitting a 14 year girl who was in the street. He stopped and grabbed her arm, proceeding to lecture her. Someone didn't like that and had the man arrested. He goes to court and gets sentenced for unlawful restraint and has to register as a sex offendor. Never mind that there is no indication that any implied or actual sexual contact occured.

This is fucked up... assuming we know the whole story, which we probably don't. Even so....
I can't tell you how many times I have seen teachers grab students, parents grab other kids, strangers grabbing somones arm, for a good old fashioned tongue lashing. Maybe the guy was a little to harsh with his restraint... we don't know, but to mark him on sex offender registry for life, putting him alongside real pedophiles seems way over the top.

Bottled Water Sales Must Be Up

Really!! Today I went to Kroger's on Sterling to get a few things. While passing the bottled water aisle, two couples were sizing up the bottled water choices. It was obvious they were not regular buyers of bottled water. Listening in, they could not stand the tap water anymore. "It tastes like crap!"

Hmm.... you think?

Anyone remember these ads?


Mmm mmm good.