From: ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid
On Fri, 04 Jan 2013, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in article
, TJ wrote:
>Moe Trin wrote:
>> Adam wrote:
>>> What about cases offered at "computer stores" (here that's Staples,
>>> Office Depot, and Best Buy) versus those offered as computer cases
>>> elsewhere (here that would be KMart, Target and WalMart)?
>> (Haven't been to a KMart in a while - they closed most of them here,
>> and the nearest one is over 20 miles away.)
>Fascinating how perspectives differ. For you, "over 20 miles" sounds
>like it's a problem. Here, all the retailers mentioned are clustered
>on the east side of Syracuse, roughly 15 miles away. Nothing except
>for mom&pops closer.
My wording - would it have been better if I mentioned that _before_
KMart closed most of the stores here, the nearest two would have been
8 miles S and 11 miles SW - whereas now it's 21 miles SW? Staples is
6 miles SW, 7 miles NW (but see below) and 12 miles S, Office _Depot_
isn't here, but the similar OfficeMax is 6 miles S and 9 miles SW,
and Best Buy is 6 and 13 miles S and 21 miles SW. Target is all over
(phone book lists 20 in the metro-area) and my nearest is 6 miles S.
KMart lists 8 in the metro-area, and the nearest Wal-Mart (a full
page in the Phoenix Metro white-pages) is 3 miles NE and 8 miles South.
>That's maybe 30 minutes if you're not in a hurry, since country roads
>must be navigated for the shortest route.
That's part of the rub here. I live "in" Phoenix, but I'm 21 miles
East of North of city hall. Phoenix extends 42 miles N/S and 22 miles
E/W, _but_ not all of that is incorporated (the atlas says 519.09
square miles verses 42*22=924) much less developed. From where I live
(about 33 46N, 112 0W), there are three roads leading more-or-less
South (there's two more in Scottsdale, the city to the East). That's
a total of five ways out of here. No, I don't mean main drags or
through streets - that's the entire count. Want to try going West and
then South? Can't. You have to head 3 miles North, then you can grab
a county highway West 11.5 miles to the Interstate, where you can turn
South. The land, beginning about a quarter mile West of my house over
to a mile East of the freeway is scrub desert with no roads, no trails,
nothing. But it _is_ in Phoenix. (That Staples store mentioned above
as 7 miles NW is as the crow flies - by road, it's about 18 miles.
That's supposed to change this year, when the city builds a two-lane
road about a mile South of me, making it only about 11 miles.) When
you cross the freeway, you're back into scrub desert for another 2 to
5 miles... but still in Phoenix. Want to head North from here? Well,
unless you go over to the Interstate, the end of the roads are more or
less 8 miles North where you hit the Tonto National Forest[1] - with
no roads (though there are unpaved fire-fighting trails you can use if
you get permits from the US Forest Service).
It get's worse when you get away from the city. If we have a major
accident on the Interstate between Phoenix and Flagstaff, and the
Department of Public Safety (the state police/highway-patrol) decides
to close the road until they can get the Polaroid camera to take
pictures (no flash, so we have to wait for daylight), that can be a
long wait - they seem to have only one camera, and it's always at the
other end of the state. The problem then becomes what can you do for
alternates. The answer is, "not a whole lot". You can take US-60
over to state route 89 (45 miles) then if you're a car, take state
route 89 North through Prescott to Ash Fork on I-40 and then 47 miles
East to Flag. If you're a truck, you can't use SR-89, so take US-93
105 miles NW to I-40 about 23 miles East of Kingman, then 122 miles
East to Flag. (I-17 PHX-Flagstaff = 138 miles, US-60,SR-89,I-40 =
207 miles, US-60, US-93, I-40 = 286 miles). Deviating East isn't much
better, and worse if you're a truck, because you almost need to go
over to New Mexico. It gets "hilly" in that direction. Grab your
atlas and have a look, ;-)
>The nearest supermarket is about 15 minutes away, but we don't go
>there much since the chain was bought out and prices raised by the
>new owner. Instead, we drive an extra 7-10 minutes to one that's more
>economical, saving enough money to easily pay for the extra gas.
About 3 years ago, a second major (60k+ ft^2) grocery opened within
a mile (I can ride a bicycle to it), and last year, the Wal-Mart
"Super-Center" (150k+ft^2) which includes a grocery section opened
about 3 miles NE. Within 6 miles, I think there are 7 majors.
>There's another cluster of BigBox Marts on the north side, with a
>few stores not on the east side, but that's only another 15 minutes
>away because of the interstates through and/or around the city.
Within 5 miles... WalMart, Home Despot and Lowes, and 3 groceries.
The BigBox stores are mainly 6-10 miles SE through SW. Our problem
is more getting _to_ the freeways. There are several within the
metro area - SR-101 is a (squared) "loop" freeway 10-15 miles from
down-town, with I-17 and SR-51 connecting it to downtown. There's
another being built/extended S and E of Phoenix (SR-202) and part of
a third about 20 miles W to NW.
>If I need those stores, they certainly aren't out of reach.
That's true here as well - for the most part, I don't have to go that
far to find a store that has what I want at a not-unreasonable price.
But sometimes - there are two "Fry's Electronics" here, which a
nephew described as "Best Buy on an extreme overdose of steroids"
(they're a chain of 100k+ft^2 superstores, selling appliances,
electronics, and electronic parts that originated in San Jose, CA)
and they ARE the low-price kings - but the two stores in the entire
state are 22 miles SW and 31 miles SSE. We don't get there very
often.
>That's just normal for us. No big deal. Actually it's a help, since
>we tend to avoid going shopping on impulse, only going when we need
>something.
Know what you mean there!
>Impulse shopping is very bad for the bank account. Then again, once
>there for something we need, we almost always find at least a little
>time for some showrooming. (used to be called window-shopping, but
>they don't have many windows these days.)
Ah, but you can shop on-line, and max out your credit card[s] in
nothing flat. ;-)
Old guy
[1] No, not that Tonto. It's apparently a 16th century Spanish name
given to the region.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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