Ever play SIMS2? It’s a fun game, and my personal goal is to create and populate my own town with folks who all “know” each other–no computer “strangers.” It’s kind of like a microcosmic Sacramento, but you get to pick your characters, and their “genetics” are passed down to their children. (So if you only wanted red-heads in your town, you can do that.) If you’ve played the game and all the expansion packs, you know it eats RAM on your PC like nobody’s business. My PC had a little performance problem with the game–the more people in my town, the slower it got. So, in order to keep Mom happy, the whole family went on a shopping excursion this weekend for more memory. (Too bad they don’t sell it for us humans…I’d like a couple Gigabytes with that Latte, please.)

After scanning our system at crucial.com to be sure we knew what to buy, we were off and down the freeway to Fry’s, which is just off the I-80 on Northgate. (You can see Fry’s from the freeway–it has a red metal structure/dome visible near the exit.) Fry’s is a computer builder’s paradise–you can buy just about everything there, from the motherboard to the processor to the case that will house your computer creation. But be prepared to wander through throngs of people and to rub elbows with the United Nations. Fry’s is like Grand Central Station. After a bit of delighted distraction near the laptops, we found the specified memory, BUT also found one drawback to Fry’s. They take only limited plastic. And since we were prepared to use only a specific type of plastic to purchase our goods, we were unable to buy the memory.

However, we had noticed a new shopping center along the freeway–near the Truxel exit. Gateway Oaks or some such name. It has a Best Buy, along with a plethora of other enticing stores. We decided we’d stop in the Best Buy to see if they had the memory AND took the plastic we were carrying.

Best Buy, with a lovely blue carpet and the decal of our credit card favorite in the window, proved to be victorious in the competition for our business. They not only had the memory type we needed, but had it in 1 GB–a size we couldn’t find or didn’t notice over at Fry’s.

Note to Fry’s: you lost a large purchase because you don’t take a particular big name credit card. We’d have been happy to buy at your store, but found another willing to take our money.

Oh, and the final outcome? Mama got to play her game. You know the saying, “When Mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy…” The reverse is also true. The whole family, it turns out, had a great evening (and so did my Sims).