Well, we just came back from shopping at CompUseless, aka CompUSA.

When we got there, my son Charlie asked, why we were going there, and I replied, “Because they are going out of business because they suck, and no one wants to shop there.”

After a pause, I realized that an 8 year old might not understand the subtext, and I continued, “Since they are going out of business, they are discounting stuff, so we are hoping to find a good deal.”

He expressed wonderment, not at the idea that a business going under would discount, but because I had anticipated his next question. He’s a bright kid, but having Aspergers, sometime there are social jumps like that seem to him to be magic.

My anticipating his next question rather impressed him.

It’s noteworthy because he spends so much time confounding me with things like fairly abstruse questions about microbiology, the nature of black holes and the big bang (I send him in the direction of my elder brother, who has a PhD in high energy physics), and meteorology (he loves the Weather Channel).

We scored a UPS, a color laser printer (about $220 after discount, which will replace my wife’s ruinously expensive ink addiction), a DVD burner, and some blank DVDs.