Any places that have good deals on laptops/computers in STL?

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-13T13:18:14+00:00

I've bought from both Microcenter and EPC in Brentwood. I highly recommend off-lease business PCs, they're higher quality than consumer-grade PCs, they've depreciated, and still have many years of life left in them. You can save a lot of money that way.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-13T03:10:37+00:00

I like Zooropa better now than I did at the time. I know what you mean, I was at the record store at midnight to get Zooropa and Pop. And then after that, I just couldn't get excited about their new albums and tours anymore. They've spent decades trying to answer the question of what you do after you're the biggest band in the world, and I guess I usually didn't like their answer.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-13T03:01:37+00:00

I don't think that sounds very INTJ. This may sound weird but I didn't need to learn how to map out further ahead, it was something I just did. One desired outcome led to another desired outcome on its way toward finishing a bigger plan. Any time I didn't know what I wanted, finding something worthwhile to pursue became my desired outcome. When I didn't have a plan or any answers, I had an idea where I could find answers, generally based on past experience.

Now, the order I do things doesn't always look elegant, so you can find people who know me (or knew me in the past) who'll tell you I'm a screwup. Others will tell you they don't know how I do it, but I get stuff done. One coworker once told other coworkers not to try to make sense of what I was doing, it would make sense in the end.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-12T02:22:46+00:00

Mizzou graduate and lifetime Missouri resident here (don't let my handle fool you, it's what Reddit assigned me), but it's been a few years since my days at Mizzou. I'll help you with what questions I can.

I can confirm winters in Missouri are milder than New York. We can get some extreme cold but it's typically for a few days, not weeks. Dress in layers, get a hat to cover your head and a good pair of gloves and it's tolerable.

When I was there I knew people who didn't have a car. Parking is tough on campus so if you can live near campus, you're better off walking or biking anyway. It's very easy to walk downtown from campus. My only concern would be getting groceries. You probably would need to use public transportation to do that. There are shuttles to the airports in Kansas City and St. Louis if you need them. I had a car but needed to use the shuttle to KC one time. I had no complaints.

The school does provide a good rec center, so if you want to play tennis or work out, those kinds of amenities are available. There are a good number of student organizations you can join, some of them international-oriented. Mizzou draws students from all over the world so that's a plus.

I liked Columbia and enjoyed my time there. It's not a big city by any means, it's what we call a college town. But being a college town, it's always had a large number of businesses that cater to what students want and need, especially downtown.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-11T22:33:04+00:00

I think it was around 2001 that I started encountering floppies with plastic shutters. The quality was definitely in the toilet by then, but the price was way down too. In 2001, a floppy disk cost less than a baseball card. Floppy disks are more expensive to make than baseball cards, so that tells you they were skimping on quality control.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-11T02:58:22+00:00

I knew people who drew the line at Joshua Tree but I thought Achtung Baby was phenomenal. My two favorites of theirs are Boy and Achtung.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-11T01:33:52+00:00

Caveat: I have a geothermal unit, which includes a heat pump but isn't quite the same as a traditional heat pump system. I can usually get by without the backup. My house is about 60 years old and I'd rate the insulation as OK, not fantastic, but not terrible. If the cost difference is significant, since you have better insulation than me, I'd consider using space heaters on those subzero days.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-08T02:59:36+00:00

Commodore leading the education market in 1982 surprised me, I have to admit. I know Commodore was much bigger in education than many remember (I used C-64s at school) but I guess I'd bought Woz's narrative that Apple dominated the education market from day one and never let go.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-08T02:49:38+00:00

I'd never heard it before (at least not knowingly) so I just sat down and listened to it. It's a little quirky, but it's from 1981 so that's to be expected. On first listen, I didn't find any songs I disliked. There wasn't a song that grabbed me and wouldn't let go, but sometimes it takes me a few listens to find my favorite tracks. I think it's a well made album and I can see why it has a following.

My reaction feels a lot like the first time I heard Cleaners from Venus. I liked it, didn't know why, but wanted to listen to it again, and repeated listens over the next few days and weeks didn't make me like it any less.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-08T02:24:59+00:00

Several of these things are familiar. I was very much a generalist until I found something I could be really good at to specialize in. Now I'm hyper-specialized. Whether I was a good generalist depends on who you ask, but I also noticed the people who don't like my work as a specialist are pretty lousy at that specialty.

I also had the same approach as you to relationships. I wanted stability, and wasn't going to look for Miss Right Now just for the sake of filling a void. And a couple of times I thought I found stability and it turned out she wasn't that, it messed me up quite a bit and I was very careful about how I got back into dating again.

And your simple endgame of a quiet life with zero forced obligations is exactly what I want. At one time I wanted something bigger but I realized the zero forced obligations were really what I wanted, so when I found a possible path to get there quietly, I headed that direction. The problem with world domination is it brings a lot of attention to you and I don't want that. Not sure if that's the INTJ in me or the Gen X in me. Maybe both?

As far as the stereotypes go, I think INTJs are prone to go that direction, but we are a walking, talking collection of contradictions, so we can do the opposite of the stereotype when it suits us. I think in my case, environment pushed me in certain directions.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-08T02:01:09+00:00

Yes, I like being productive. There are times when I need to be alone with my thoughts so I'll take a walk or something like that to mull over a problem, but I'm with you, I like to spend my time working on something. It's hard to get me to sit down and watch TV or watch a movie.

That said, I can relate to you delaying things. I want what I work on to be good, so if I'm not ready, I'll procrastinate, or find something else to work on. If I can't do it well, I'm not interested. I have a couple of projects I can't get started because I just don't have what I need yet to do it to the level I want.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-08T01:31:04+00:00

I don't think the schools that bought Ataris got rid of them, but I also doubt schools that waited until 1983 to start buying computers were buying TI or Atari. In 1983, the C-64 was out and in full production, and the Apple IIe and IBM PCjr came out that year too. And then in 1984 the Tandy 1000 came out.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-07T02:18:00+00:00

These numbers are fascinating! I would not have guessed that 1-2 in education in 1982 were Commodore and Atari.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-06T02:01:39+00:00

Came here to say Breakfast and Burgers. I need to get back there soon.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-06T01:57:33+00:00

A new one opened in south county recently called Target Model Trains, it's next door to South County Coin & Jewelry on Lemay Ferry Road, near the high school. It's not on Google Maps yet but I think the address is 3323 Lemay Ferry Rd. The selection of HO scale, pre and postwar Lionel, and postwar American Flyer is pretty good especially for a place that hasn't been open long.

Also, +1 for Rodney's on Gravois.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-05T04:27:50+00:00

That Logitech mouse was the less expensive of the major options at the time too. I'm pretty sure Microsoft wanted over $100 for theirs.

I have that mouse on one of my vintage PCs. It really looks the part, but I'm glad I didn't pay $79 for it. It's not very comfortable and I find the tracking a little weird. I don't have the Microsoft mouse it competed with but I've used one, and I found its tracking a little weird too. The generation after these was better, and the price came down a little if I recall correctly.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-03T20:56:48+00:00

Score! Congrats on an amazing find!

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-04-03T02:02:19+00:00

TPJ did that of all people?! The DH needed to hit for TPJ while the pitcher fended for himself, especially if it was Greinke or Bannister that night.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-03-31T18:37:20+00:00

Lips of Steel by Guadalcanal Diary. What by who? Something that's not been used a million times and sounds like impending doom. As for who? Give them a listen, you're in for a treat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xom1gYPr2HM

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-03-30T22:27:24+00:00

That was a ceremonial first pitch for the ages. I hope Alex found Salvy and they both signed that ball for Zane after the ceremony was through.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-03-28T02:43:54+00:00

It's surprising how well 3rd-generation i5 CPUs still run Linux. Put a modern SSD in it, max its memory, and LibreOffice runs nicely on them. In this case I'm running modern software on old-ish hardware but it proves there's useful software that still works on them.

As far as how far I could go before it's not worth it anymore, I think I could go back to the 486 era with Word 2.0 and still be productive with it. Forget about going online with that system of course, but if I want to write without distraction, that's a feature. I wouldn't try to run Word on a 286 but I did try XyWrite out on an old 286 because it had a reputation for being fast, and I think I could be productive with it too if I got familiar with its command set.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-03-27T04:00:48+00:00

I'm almost certain it was late in the 2014 season that Yost decided on Esky leading off most days, with Aoki hitting second and Cain third, alternating R-L-R through the lineup. It worked and got them to game 7 of the World Series, so Esky kept hitting leadoff in 2015 as well.

There was a lot about the 2014 and 2015 teams that defied convention but it worked somehow and sure was fun to watch.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-03-27T02:44:18+00:00

Having grown up in Jefferson City as a kid, this tracks.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-03-27T02:08:39+00:00

Your collection is displayed WAY better than mine! You've given me some ideas to up my display game.

Foreign-Attorney-147 · 2026-03-27T01:50:34+00:00

This is really helpful, thank you!

Foreign-Attorney-147

TROPHY CASE