For some reason, I was up early in the morning, rolling through the morning prep routine, getting ready for work... and in the most amazing mood ever... I didn't have any idea why. I was aware I was going to work. I knew that it would consume the rest of the day for me, that I was working morning and afternoon at Best Buy, and then all evening at Michaels... that I probably would not eat. Or sleep much that night. I was tired like every morning though I knew I'd get over that soon enough, like every morning.

I found out when I got to work. This was to be an unusual day. I actually arrived early. This guy named Brandon Cline was waiting for me. Brandon is one of the double agents in Geek Squad (AKA, one of the people who go out and do the in-homes we sell.) Today I was apparently scheduled to go with him and observe one of the in home setups to get a better feel for the value in an in home setup.

Translation: Free Day!

Brandon was late when I arrived, he was supposed to be at the guy's house six minutes ago. The reason he was late even with me coming in early is because the Best Buy network was down that morning (which happens sometimes when you wire 750 stores (several thousand computer terminals) together for extended periods of time with frequent use.) We were now waiting for the guy to call and complain so we could tell him what had happened, that we couldn't get into our system to find out where he was, and that now that he was there he could resupply the information.

He never called. A short while after I arrived, the server came back online and its OFF WE GO! We rode in the little car! The Geek Squad uses this signature Volkswagen Bug car to travel to the in homes. Looks a little something like this:



That's right folks. I rode around in THIS thing! HA! We talked on the way, the car got a lot of looks because it's infamous. It's on so many freaking commercials. Anyone on the road who saw us honked or waved or something. Trying to get a piece of the drama. Felt like being scored by paparazzi. It was hilarious. When we got to the guy's house and he opened the door, I do a double take. Sure enough it's that guy I sold the nine in one to! Whoa! He's like- hey I know you! And I'm like- Yeah! I know you too!

The in home begins nearly immediately. Oh I could write scores of things about what Brandon did to this thing. It was INSANE. Believe it or not folks, a setup isn't just where we pull everything out of the box and plug it in. It is just not that simple. The in home took five and a half hours. It was massive. We had so many programs uninstalled, so many installed, wired to everything running the wireless network, installing a new power supply, a wireless card, a graphics card, a sound card, and then finding that there was something not wuite right with that configuration- redoing it, testing, finding the problem, getting the software drivers installed and downloaded and registered and making them all run seamlessly together. Then downloading all the updates, getting the two computers and the printer on the wireless network, doing things to the machines that I didn't even know COULD be done to a computer. It really was phenomenal what this kid did. It was crazy.

Five and a half hours later, we finally finish (I helped!) and wow... I thought I knew about computers before. Now I'm convinced I don't know nearly anything! This kid Brandon Cline is a technical monolith, and knows more about the internal schematics of these machines than I ever will. I think... Which is really ironic because when we're walking out of the house to go back to the store and we get in the car it won't start and when I pop open the hood Brandon steps back with his eyes wide and says "Whoa, okay no... No I don't even know the first thing about these things."

:P Got to have a range of talents and skills right? So I screw around with it. Turns out he just left the lights on and we needed a jump. For anyone who has tried to jump a volkswagen bug, the battery is not the most accessible component under that hood. But I got to it alright, the guy we had just set up was kind enough to provide us with some juice and we were on our way. While traveling, Brandon groans. "I'm hungry. Are you hungry? Lets get some food." And he pulls into the Burger King.

The guy bought lunch for us both. I turned him down and he still bought. We're in the drive through and it hits me that I'm still on the clock. I turn to Brandon and ask him "Is this what you guys do every day?"

"Yeah, pretty much." I turned to face ahead again almost laughing. I was sitting in this awesome cool car getting looks like I was John Wayne, eating Burger King food, and being paid by the hour to do it. That was when I realized: I have the coolest job in the world... ^_^

-Cheers mates.