As one who brings his lunch to work, I rarely get out of the office until quitting time. When the weather’s right, however, I can be found wandering away from work. I have made a few discoveries along the way.

Lately, I have gravitated toward one particular stretch of road. I never know exactly what I’m trying to find until I’m there looking, which goes a long way toward preventing disappointment.

One day as I drove past a small strip mall, I noticed a sign that was new to me. It immediately made me want to go there and meet the folks who worked at, and, with any luck, owned a shop with such a great name. I also wanted to know exactly what it was they offered. The name alone was not a dead giveaway.

I found later that When Nerds Collide was a comic book store, and is out of business. As of May 2009, it was not, and from what I can tell, it opened in March. I’m not an expert in entrepreneurship, but is two months long enough to give a new business a go?

Maybe the former owners were able to sell their wares online. Maybe I have bumped into them at a vendor table at Star Wars Fan Days. Staring at the empty space, I resigned myself to never knowing the answers, and snapped a picture of the sign to help it live forever.