Pop quiz: Does having a lot of free time before starting work mean that I: a) Post much more to my blog, b) Go browsing at stores more, or c) Spend *less* time than usual browsing the web? The answer, of course, is all of the above.

Some of you may find response (c) a bit surprising, but there’s a simple explanation: at home, I’m stuck with a dialup connection, hence everything is really slow, a condition that causes impatience on my part, which eventually leads to me doing other things.

One of the things that I find myself doing more of is browsing at stores. I’ve been oh-so tempted to splurge and buy some fancy new things, but thus far I have shown restraint. For example, on the day I got back from Indiana, I went into Best Buy. I was having Best Buy withdrawal, which I’m sure anybody who goes to Rose can relate to. So, I walk in and head straight to the computer section. I’m walking down the aisles, casually pressing buttons and examining boxes, when I notice it: a 17″ LCD display. The price was especially appealing. Now, I’ve wanted a new monitor for some time, so I start justifying the purchase in my mind. Things are going smoothly in my preparation to buy, when Bob the Best Buy sales associate (all employees seem to be associates these days…) walks up.

“Good deal on the LCD panel, eh?” Bob starts. “Uh, yeah. I’m thinking about buying it.” “Yeah, they’ve been pretty popular these past few days. I think we only have one left.” “Well, I can understand. It’s a good deal, and the picture looks crisp and bright.” Then Bob makes the fatal mistake: “You know, the Performance Service Plan (TM) on these devices is a really good deal.” Arg, I HATE the PSP sales pitch. “No, I don’t think so.” “It’s a good plan, though.” Well, at least I know that Bob the Best Buy sales drone is a Minnesota-bred Best Buy sales drone: he ends sentences with ‘though.’ I counter, “Are you saying that this LCD panel is going to break? Are you saying that it’s low quality?” “Uh, err, of course not,” Bob replies. “Because,” I continue, “if it’s junk, as you are implying, I don’t think I want to buy it.” “No, no, of course it’s not junk. But you see, with these LCD panels, sometimes pixels go bad. But if they do go bad, the manufacturer won’t replace the panel.” Dammit Bob, I know you’re lying to me now. “I know about ‘stuck’ pixels and manufacturer’s policies regarding defective screens. You’re really just trying to sell me a PSP because you have a quota to fill.” I have many friends who have been under the employ of Best Buy, so I know a little bit about Best Buy sales practices. “That’s not true,” Bob retorts, “We have no quota and we don’t work on commission.” Okay, so I overstated things a bit. True, there is no quota per se, but there is heavy pressure to sell as many PSPs as possible. A few years back, one of my friends was working as a sales rep for Apple. He was stationed in a Best Buy store (Best Buy sold some Macs at the time) doing what corporate sales reps do. Apparently, he was selling a significant number of computers but did not push the PSP at all. Well, things got ugly with store management, and my friend got kicked out of the store. Yes, a corporate rep, there by agreement with Best Buy, was kicked out of the store for refusing to advocate the PSP. But I digress. “Bob,” I said, “I don’t want the service plan, and on second thought, I don’t want the LCD panel.”

The next day, having saved myself a significant amount of money the day before, thanks to a certain somebody being over zealous about a certain service plan, I decided to expand my business casual wardrobe. For some time, I had seen ads hawking the Dockers Mobile Pant. For those of you unfamiliar with the Mobile Pant, it looks like a regular pair of semi-dressy khakis, except it has hidden pockets at the thighs, accesses via a zipper concealed by the seam. Having a bunch of electronic gizmos that I like to take with me, and conscious that cargo pants wouldn’t go over well at my internship, I decided I needed a pair to try out. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. I went to Kohl’s and found a plethora of Dockers styles: chino, pleated, classic, golf, relaxed — but no mobile pants. I trekked to Sears. No mobile pants. Marshal Fields? Nope, not there either. Eventually, I wound up at the Ridgedale JC Penny. Behold! A multitude of mobile pants! And they were good, and the purchase was made.

During the past few days, I’ve given more thought into things I’d like to learn to do. I noticed that my previous list was mostly winter activities, so here are some warmer goals:

• Learn to golf. Golf seems to be a good social activity, especially in the business world. Despite numerous claims to the contrary, it also looks like fun.
• Learn to water ski. Hey, might as well take advantage of Minnesota’s 11,000+ lakes, right?
• Go skydiving. What a thrill it must be, to jump out of a plane and fall unfettered through the air.
• Learn to play tennis and racquetball. Looks like fun, looks like good exercise, and looks like a lot of people do it, so why not me?
• Go biking more. I’d like to do more biking.

Surely, the list will grow this summer.

Despite spending less time browsing the web, I had the realization today that all three of my little bros have web sites. Good job, Willis, Vince, and Tyler!