Back in Praha

So I have returned from the US. Usual shockers: fat people, large portions/cars/roads/tv’s/houses/etc… But then again, everything is bigger in Texas. The thing that shocked me was how WARM it was. I didn’t need to sheathe my body in layers, no scarf and coat. It was disorienting. I also had an interesting experience with MPSuperstore, an online retailer. Check out this quote from Joanna Costello, as found over at Instapundit: A couple of years ago, I was in the market for a nice camera and went shopping around on the net. I found the best price (a listing for $500 on a MSRP of about $1000) and added it to my shopping cart. I was given an expected shipping time of 3-5 days and was then offered some "special deals" on rechargeable batteries and other accessories. The add-ons weren't at all impressive and quite expensive. I declined the add-ons and tried to complete my purchase. I then got a message that I needed to call a toll-free number to complete the purchase...for security reasons. I called and was give a *very* hard sell on the accessories. I again declined and was then told that upon further investigation, the camera really wouldn't be shipping for at least 3 weeks and I should just try to make my purchase again at that point. And, no, they could not add my name to a waiting list. It became clear that the online merchant was making up for the too-good-to-be-true price of the camera by selling add-ons at incredible mark-ups. So, I ended up buying the camera from J&R Music for $750. Since then, I almost never bother with any merchant I'm not already familiar with. This SAME EXACT THING happened to me. Not kinda – THE SAME. Except I yelled loudly at the guy, who pissed me off so much. I always wondered how some places sold things for so cheap, and that’s why.