Showerthought: the old Radio Shack in my town closed 8 years ago and I still reach for it at 1am
I started fixing things late at night back in 2009, mostly because the local parts place closed at 6 and my day job ate all my daylight. That shop on Main Street in Lima had a guy named Ray who would dig through bins for a 47k resistor while I stood there at 5:55pm, and he never once rushed me out. Last Tuesday my soldering iron tip gave out around 11pm on a little amp repair, and I had four spare tips in a drawer I never would have bought back then. What got me was realizing I now order everything online, but the wait still kills me, so I just keep a stash of common parts like a squirrel with nuts. Ray passed a few years back and the building is a vape store now, which feels wrong every time I walk past it. Does anyone else still keep a paper list of local places that are gone, or am I the only one who does that?