Back in Atlanta Posted January 3, 2005 at 11:19 pm

I’m sitting here waiting for the thermal epoxy mating my motherboard’s northbridge chip and a new heatsink to fully cure. The heatsink is a Cooler Master and the epoxy is an Arctic Silver product; both were purchased from Fry’s Electronics in Duluth on the outskirts of town in two separate trips after the original northbridge fan on my IC7-G motherboard started complaining loudly. The new heatsink came with mounting pins and thermal tape, but the IC7-G lacks proper holes to use the pins and the tape failed to stick after several tries (probably because I failed to thoroughly clean the chip before installation). The good news is that the epoxy seems to make a very string bond and the bad news is that it cost more than the heatsink in the first place.

Fry’s is as good as others have made it out to be. It’s huge; I would guess roughly the size of three or four regular Best Buy or CompUSA stores. And it’s size contributes to a massive selection of products. One entire side of an aisle dedicated to flashlights! How cool is that? One thing I noticed is that they not only carry a lot of different types of products, but they also carry a lot of different brands for each type. Smaller stores like Office Depot may have networking equipment, but they will only carry one or two brands (say D-Link and Belkin, but no Linksys or Netgear), so you usually end up hopping from store to store. Their prices seem modest, nothing to scream about; I’ve read that their specials are where the real deals are (e.g., a 25" TV for $99 during the grand opening). All in all, it’s the closest thing to a hobbyist’s dream store; a must-see for any geek.

I’m back in Atlanta now, as the above commentary would suggest. The job-hunt is going slow, as I’m only getting started. I realize I’ve spent much of these past couple days since I got back fixing things on my PC. First of the agenda is Micron, since they were the only ones so kind as to respond to my inquiries at Tech’s Fall job fair. This will be my first experience with the normal hiring process of a sizable company. So far, I’ve been asked to fill out a questionnaire (which I still need to complete!). The questions are more difficult to answer than I had expected. Many of them seem aimed at someone who has had a few regular jobs in the industry. I’m a little daunted, but I’ll do my best.