THE THRILL OF THE HUNT

A few Sundays ago, I was sitting at home on the couch and decided I needed a little adventure.  Ever since we saw Oblivion, I've been wanting to buy the Procol Harum record in order to listen to "A Whiter Shade of Pale" on endless repeat.

Wade had told me a few days before to just order it online.  That's where Wade and I differ, though.  He loves online shopping, and I prefer to find my items "in the wild".

With a vast sea of online retailers, it is almost impossible to not find the item you're looking for online.  With just a few clicks of the mouse and a keyword search, you could easily locate the item and cross reference it with other retailers to find the lowest price.

Where's the fun in that, though?

To me, I love the thrill of the hunt. Walking into a store, not quite knowing if they have what you're looking for and then the elation when you stumble upon it.

It's real.

You can feel the weight of it in your hands, touch it, and turn it over to see if there are scratches that wouldn't show up in online photos.

Of course there are times when a brick and mortar store won't have what you're looking for, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.

So on that lazy summer afternoon, I wandered down to the local record store and did find the album I was looking for.  I plopped it on my record player when I got home, turned up the volume, and let the sound waft through the house.

Maybe I could have found a version of the album in more pristine condition, for a cheaper price, or even have just downloaded it, but I liked walking into the store and flipping through things in person.

When I first thought about this post, I was thinking along the lines of instant gratification--that people have become accustomed to having things right away at their fingertips that we can't wait patiently for good things to come along.

I scratched that, though, because part of the reason I did go to the local record shop was because I wanted to listen to the music right away.  I didn't want to wait for shipping, and, yes, I would have been upset if they wouldn't have had it in stock.

Let's go back to just saying that I prefer the thrill of the hunt, though.  I think that sounds better.


So what do you prefer?  Online shopping or picking your items out in person?