Quick trip to Fry’s

April 15, 2006

So yesterday I got my Kentucky state refund, they always beat the federal refund. Yes, this means I only turned in my taxes last week, which is pretty late. I mean this coming Monday is the final deadline. Anyway, thanks to the power of direct deposit the money just showed up yesterday in my checking account.

Now I haven’t been anywhere since the Christmas holidays, and I did not take a break when I switched jobs. So I decided a quick little day-trip was in order, both to celebrate the new job and of course to spend some of the tax refund. Decided I’d do a quick trip to Indianapolis to visit Fry’s Electronics, the tech geek shrine.

When I last drove up to Indy, sometime last year, it was shortly after they’d raised the speed limit in Indiana to 70. So I of course drove the new speed limit, and got some pretty bad gas mileage. Less than 25 mpg, considering the car can get as much as 22 mpg in city driving that’s a pretty low number for an all-Interstate drive.

So this trip I decided I’d see if that speed really was the issue, and set my cruise control for 65 instead. And I’m glad I did, because the Indiana State Police were out in force on I-65, pulling people over left and right. A nice Easter present for people driving thru I guess.

Turns out the 65 mph did indeed have a big impact. I got 27 mpg on this trip, but really when you calculate it over the distance I travelled I ended up only saving about a gallon of gas. That’s still less than $3, and when you consider the embarassment of being passed by everybody it’s just not worth the savings. I think I’ll return to 70 mph on my next trip.

Anyway, it was a succesful trip I got lots of good geeky stuff. Some books that were amazing closeout bargains (stuff most people apparently weren’t buying, Toad and UML titles that will be perfect for my new job). Also got a 1 GB SODIMM for my Linux box here at home. In fact even with the cost of the tank of gas, the price on this RAM alone was worth the trip. So much cheaper than what it costs around here at retailers like Best Buy and CompUSA. Picked up some DVD’s as well that were on sale.

I’m back home now, tired but happy. A nice day filled with consumerism, the American way.