Ken,
I ended up working for Wally World. Keeps me out of the house so the wife doesn’t kill me and provides us with a slush fund for the inevitable things that seem to happen to senior citizens. I still putter with things propeller, but budget is extremely limited. Right now I’m trying to get an ebr400 interfaced to the prop so I can use the android joystick app on an old cell phone.
Our local hardware store bought a lot of the RS store's inventory when they closed up. They still maintain a pretty good selection of consumer electronic needs, but none of the hobbyist stuff. You know times have changed when you can buy USB cables at Safeway and QFC.
I'm resigned to buying the other parts I need online (DigiKey, Parallax, Mouser, etc.) with two-day shipping via Priority Mail. As I get older, I appreciate even more the value of patience and advance planning.
-Phil
Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. -Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I have a hobby store that sells actual Radio Shack stuff about two miles from my house.
The have one isle of all Radio Shack stuff. I'll have to take a picture next time I'm in there.
Thanks for sharing that link, Jim. The sale prices are mostly reasonable, I didn't see any steals. Their regular/original prices are ridiculous, as always.
With Radio hack and Hobby People (my local hobby shop) gone, I've been forced to up my hoarders's game. Fortunately I'm better organized now and have most of my treasures labeled & stored in well-placed bins & drawers. The new office digs are really paying off. I've pulled a few recent all-nighters building complex things that I never could have done at home. Wish I was free to share but it's all confidential.
One thing I will say is that electronics, micros and sensors continue to be "black magic" for most people. I'm trying to focus on inventing now, but I get continual requests for stupid-simple low tech freelance projects. Voice chips, blinking LEDs, simple motor stuff. Clients with cash who can't find anyone to do it. I hate saying no, so I take on more than I should. I'm not complaining, but I never would have believed that in 2019 it's hard to find someone to blink an LED or play a sound file. WOW.
Radio Shack & Hobby People closing down clearly isn't helping.
"When you make a thing, a thing that is new, it is so complicated making it that it is bound to be ugly. But those that make it after you, they don’t have to worry about making it. And they can make it pretty, and so everybody can like it when others make it after you."
Comments
Jim
https://www.yelp.com/biz/frys-electronics-renton-renton
http://paypal.me/parallaxitems
Maybe talk of Fry's closing?
Life is unpredictable. Eat dessert first.
For those who never had the pleasure of living near a Fry's: Fry's is to Radioshack as an aircraft carrier is to a dingy.
I can imagine. Since that era has passed, I'm interested in knowing what you are doing now.
Ken Gracey
I ended up working for Wally World. Keeps me out of the house so the wife doesn’t kill me and provides us with a slush fund for the inevitable things that seem to happen to senior citizens. I still putter with things propeller, but budget is extremely limited. Right now I’m trying to get an ebr400 interfaced to the prop so I can use the android joystick app on an old cell phone.
Jim
I'm resigned to buying the other parts I need online (DigiKey, Parallax, Mouser, etc.) with two-day shipping via Priority Mail. As I get older, I appreciate even more the value of patience and advance planning.
-Phil
The have one isle of all Radio Shack stuff. I'll have to take a picture next time I'm in there.
Bean
http://paypal.me/parallaxitems
With Radio hack and Hobby People (my local hobby shop) gone, I've been forced to up my hoarders's game. Fortunately I'm better organized now and have most of my treasures labeled & stored in well-placed bins & drawers. The new office digs are really paying off. I've pulled a few recent all-nighters building complex things that I never could have done at home. Wish I was free to share but it's all confidential.
One thing I will say is that electronics, micros and sensors continue to be "black magic" for most people. I'm trying to focus on inventing now, but I get continual requests for stupid-simple low tech freelance projects. Voice chips, blinking LEDs, simple motor stuff. Clients with cash who can't find anyone to do it. I hate saying no, so I take on more than I should. I'm not complaining, but I never would have believed that in 2019 it's hard to find someone to blink an LED or play a sound file. WOW.
Radio Shack & Hobby People closing down clearly isn't helping.
- Pablo Picasso
The HobbyTown USA in Reynoldsburg, OH has a Radio Shack section.
C.W.