I went to the University of Toronto bookstore yesterday afternoon to purchase a book. I called ahead and they put it aside for me at the second floor information desk.
Not sure which floor was the second floor, I went to the first information desk I saw upon entering the bookstore. Turns out this was on the first floor. (Universities are notorious for weird numbering methods. I’m been in places where the basement is referred to as the basement, level 0, or the first floor – making the ground level the second floor)
The person behind the desk was very helpful and assisted me in heading the right direction for the second floor.
Up the stairs I climbed and entered the second floor – right in the middle of the UToronto computer shop! They had lots of shiny objects which reeled me in. They had cool awesome USB cords which light up in neon colours – effectively shiny objects.
The coolest tools were devices you normally don’t think of powering using a USB port – a plasma dome and beer can fridge.
The USB beer can fridge was not advertised as such – clearly the bookstore doesn’t actually sell beer fridges but cooling soda with the device is a waste of electricity.
I debated purchasing one for a great deal of time. I thought about how great it would at home. Then I realized my mini-fridge is already beside my computer – no use there. Then, I thought about how useful it would be traveling – heck when I take the 2243 GO train back to Hamilton, I wouldn’t mind having a cold beer – a lot of people are drinking warm beers on the train anyway. Then, I realized I would have to carry the can fridge and a beer around with me all day. In the end, the beer fridge doesn’t have much on the plasma dome.
Come on, the plasma dome puts on a light show and is an “almost-shiny” object. I purchased one.
At the check-out, I saw a ten LED USB mini-light. It even came in red. Added on a connector for a PS/2 keyboard and I left the section with sixty less dollars in my pocket.
I eventually made it to the information desk where my book was on hold. I can avoid the computer section in any other university bookstore. I have to!
It’s for this reason that I’m declaring the UofT bookstore to be evil. However, in their defense, they do carry Stephen Colbert’s book.