I purchased a Raspberry Pi Zero that is worth $500!

As you may be aware, the Raspberry Pi foundation announced the new variant of the Raspberry Pi — The Raspberry Pi Zero.

They also shared the news that the Raspberry Pi Zero is available for sale at Microcenter.

Early reports of #PiZero spotted at @microcenter! You can reserve online and pickup in-store. https://t.co/QLz7LqaLD7

— Raspberry Pi (@Raspberry_Pi) November 27, 2015

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and the only store in my state is in SoCal – Orange County/Tustin. It is about 400 miles away from my current residence. Since it was the day after Thanksgiving — Black Friday, I decided to go to LA to buy a Raspberry Pi Zero.

I started at around 9:00 a.m. and got to the store around 4:05 p.m. The sale of the Raspberry Pi Zero is regulated by the store. They do not keep it on the shelves to avoid people stealing the Pis. They give you an invoice to pick up the Pi at the front.

I could not find one store in the Bay Area that is stocked like Microcenter (you can find my rant on that topic over here).

I could not resist buying all these goodies at the store.

After spending 20+ minutes in a serpentine line to the cash register,  I managed to buy the Raspberry Pi Zero!

I did not mind spending more than $100+ for gas and food since I love driving and this was a fun trip.

Worst part of my trip

I made it back home safely around 12:20 a.m., Saturday morning. I was driving past the intersection close to my place. I am certain that the traffic lights were amber while I was crossing the intersection. A cop traveling in the perpendicular direction pulled me over for jumping the red light. I got a ticket right across the street from where I live. 

I traveled 780 miles on Friday. I am quite irritated by the fact that I got a ticket right in front of my house of all places. At this point, I am not sure if it is worth contesting the ticket. If I don’t contest the ticket, the minimum fine for a red light ticket in parts of Alameda county is $331.  At this point, my $5 Raspberry Pi Zero is worth $500 (considering all costs)!

More details on the Pi Zero setup to follow!