For some reason I remembered today my first trip to San Jose, in the early 2000s, for a SANS Institute class, and discovering the Fry's Electronics store. The amazing content of what one could use to build own computers, or tools for use, was like nothing else I have ever seen, anywhere else in the world where I've been, up until that point.

Some of the best related memories, though, come from the time when - as Chicagoan - I learned we will be getting our own Fry's. The excitement in the geeks community was so great, at the time, that we were sharing pictures of the progress of the actual lot being worked on, then the building (walls by walls), in Downers Grove. O tempora!