The Kaos Theory

My 10 year old office phone died yesterday. I could hear people but thye couldn’t hear me. Come to think of it, that’s not a bad arrangement. Knowing nothing would be open at 7 am, I jumped on the internet tube thingy to look for a replacement. First stop, Office Depot where lo and behold I found just what I was looking for AND the brick and motar was open at 7. I jumped in the BMW and was off to the races. I entered the establishment and found the phone aisle. No, No No, NO NOOOOOO! Damn thing wasn’t there. So I approached one of the associates. I explained to him I wanted a “cordless telephone headset” I’d seen on their internet site. He looked at me like I was talking Kligon or Esperanto. So I tried using hand gestures to get the point accross, still no luck. Dejectedly, I turned and left the store wondering how that guy got a job. A brilliant thought went through my addled brain, isn’t there an Office Max just up the street? I returned to the car and proceeded towards the next best alternative hoping that it was open. Once again I was rewarded with an open shop and once more I was met with the undead worker. They had what I wanted but it was $279 just for the headset not counting the phone which was another $79. Arrgh. I check my watch and it almost 9 am and I still don’t have a phone. Then I remembered, Radio Shack, they’re right down the street. My prospects were looking up again. I walked in expecting more doom and I was half right. The worker wasn’t a dunderhead like the previous two but they still didn’t have what I wanted. Since the guy was so helpful and at least tried to help, I had to buy something. I picked up an IPOD adapter for the new toy we bought last weekend. More on that later. I was 0 for three in my quest to replace my phone so I decided to go home and see what Best Buy and Curcuit City had to offer. Since they didn’t open until 10, I went home to do some more research. Basically, if I wanted to get what I wanted when I wanted it, I was SOL. I’d have to buy it online and wait a couple of days or make due with another more expensive option. You know what I ended up doing, that’s right, spend spend spend. Well the trip wasn’t an entire waste of time. Remember the little adapter I bought at Radio Shack? Here’s a photo of what it goes to. (more…)