The power of the internet asserts itself.

My old Dana pack is too heavy. I noticed this the other day when I started putting stuff in it to go somewhere.

Now, that's not to say it isn't beautiful and a superb, comfortable pack.

But minimalism, as exemplified by GoLite, is now the way to go, and this bleeding-edge fashionista is no stranger to trendy.

So, time to GoLite.

I could've driven all over Charlottesville [Virginia] looking for a GoLite pack, or called around, but that would've been dumb.

How do I know what's available, 'cause any one store will only carry a fraction of the complete product line?

No, the way to shop now is to start at the company's website, obtained by putting the company's name into google. Done.

Up comes golite.com, so I click on it.

Whoa. Tons of backpacks, six different categories, at least 25 different models, and they come in 3 sizes - small, medium, or large - depending on how tall you are, and lots of colors.

There's a chart laying it all out. Excellent.

I see the one I like: it's the "24," $79.95, in a beautiful yellow, called "Sun." [picture up top]

OK, now let's see, can I buy it on GoLite's site? Yes.

On the same page as the backpack, at the bottom right, "Buy from Golite."

But, no - they're sold out of this color in this model. No surprise: it's so cool.

Plan B: are there online dealers listed on the site? Yes! Seven of them. I try them, one at a time.

Five don't have the one I want - a couple have colors other than Sun, but it's gotta be Sun.

One has it, but in large (I want medium, the correct size for my medium-size body [5'9", 155 pounds]), and the seventh of seven has exactly the one I want. So great.

I order it. Shipping via Fedex 3-day is only $5 for orders over $50. Total price, delivered to my door: $84.95.

That's cheaper than if I bought it at a store in town (which I couldn't because the chance of them having this particular model in this particular color borders on 0), 'cause Virginia's sales tax is 6%.

And that's why, if you're still spending your weekends running around town shopping, you're wasting your time.

I mean, you could be chillin', and laughing at all the shit you used to do that you'll never have to do again.

I could not have bought this backpack without the internet no matter how much time and effort I'd expended.

With the web, it took 30 minutes, and it was fun, as opposed to the torture of driving, parking, brain-dead clerks if you can even find one, "we don't have it, but we can order it for you: it takes 2-3 weeks, generally, for it to come in," broken credit-card terminals, and the like.

Never again.