I do the BGA rework stuff and have a fridge full of solder paste.
Radio Shack is pretty much useless nowadays.
I buy lots of stuff from http://www.taydaelectronics.com
They are in Thailand but they ship fast and reasonable and as for prices... knobs for .22 - 1n4007 .02 - PN2222 .05 condenser mics .25 - ceramic disc caps .01 - trimpots .06 - 8pin DIP sockets .03 - DC power jacks .13
You can get 10 small 2-sided pc boards for just 9.90 at http://imall.iteadstudio.com/open-pcb/pcb-prototyping.html
I’m an old fart and I still wire-wrap 1960-70’s designs so that they can be period authentic, but I did design and build one single surface mount project (it needed to be small) just to prove to myself that I could do it!