Not So Worthless Now, Huh, Jeremy?

Whew…Good thing there are three auto parts stores within 4 miles of each other

Hang on just a second here, Jeremy.  I believe you mentioned Not All That Long Ago that this was not such a great idea.  

Well, as it turns out, I was entirely wrong.  When you take certain things into account.  

So, not long ago, I came to the realization that both of the fog lamps on my car had burned out.  My car is nearly 6 years old and has all of its original fog and head lamps, so I figure they don't owe me anything, so I'll just set about replacing them.  This is where things take a turn.  

If you walk into an auto parts store like the one 3 miles from my house, you will quickly be greeted by a reasonably substantial wall of light bulbs, suitable for any car and price range.  There are basic bulbs, krypton, xenon, LED, Long Life, High Output...just lots and lots of options in lots and lots of shapes.  I decide that if I'm going to replace bulbs for my car, I'm going to replace them with good ones, so I look to the upper racks.  I use the book to find out what number fog lamps my car takes.   For what it's worth, my car needs "H7" fog lamps.   None of the three best options for light bulbs have an "H7" on the racks.  There's a Basic "H7," but I've already made up my mind that I don't want that, and I know that there is another auto parts store 2 miles to the north, so I walk out of the store which, for strictly Blag purposes, we'll call "Car Area".  

I drive 2 miles north to the next auto parts store near the mall.  Strangely enough, it's another "Car Area" franchise.  Feeling slightly less optimistic, I walk in looking for H7 in a high-quality fog lamp.  Hooray!  There it is!  In both of the top two options.  The price is pretty reasonable, so I decide to go for it.  

The problem is, when you buy bulbs of a higher quality than the lesser ones, they advertise and even celebrate the fact that they aren't the same color as regular bulbs.  Unless I want my car to look stupid, having different color fog lamps and headlights, I need to replace the headlight bulbs, too.  Not too big a deal...the headlights are also 6 years old and probably running on borrowed time themselves.  So, back to the book I go to find the matching headlights to the fog lamps that I picked out.  H8!  

Guess what head lights "Car Area" doesn't carry.  

I know that there is another auto parts store 2 miles to the north, so I walk out of "Car Area" and head on up to "Progressforward Auto Parts."   I scour the rack looking for all of the bulbs I need.  Right out in front, there's the H8 in the exact brand and model that I was looking for some 5 minutes ago.  I grab the H8 headlights off the rack and seek out the matching H7 fog lamps.  

Guess what fog lamps "Progressforward Auto Parts" doesn't carry.  

So, I buy the H8s, and head back south to the northernmost "Car Area" to pick up the H7s.  Four stops in three auto parts stores later, I finally have a matched set of quality headlights and fog lamps.  This type of nonsense really should be easily avoided by having any of the auto parts stores I visited actually carry the full array of light bulbs, but this is apparently too much to ask for.  At least all of the stores are ridiculously close to each other.