DirecTV, Thomson Roll Out New Technology to Draw Apartment Dwellers

This is actually a really smart, technical move on DirecTV's part. It gets people get familiar wth the service, whcih they would probably feel more comforatable if/when they move into a house. They apartment complex doesn't have to deal with all the dishes, but would potentially have to deal with wiring.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16385838/

...and Leon's getting larger. How I love that all the RBOCs are slowly coming back together under the AT&T name (though, truly, not the AT&T of yore, but a rebranded Southwest Bell)

Clearly I don't follow basketball very much, since I thought the Hornets were still in Charlotte. I bring this up because apparently I'm not following geography either. Since when can a basketball team be shared between two cities, such as New Orleans and Oklahoma City, that are separated by about 724 miles and one time zone? I assume that the Hornets moved to New Orleans, then got hit by Katrina and had to find another "home"? Is this a permanent thing, or are they waiting for a place to be (re)built in New Orleans?

And now, here's an item for you Chipotle lovers -- it's been McDumped by McDonald's. People who are keen on McDonald's corporate information will no doubt realize that Donatos Pizza was delivered to McDonald's in June 1999 and "Returned to Sender" in December 2003. McDonald's also bought Boston Market in December 1999 and is still a wholly owned subsidiary of McDonald's Corporation. The big question here, of course, is for how long.

On the TV front, "Ugly Betty" got it's full season pickup.

We got Jen a new cell phone yesterday. She was overdue for one, and her old one was starting to have charging problems. We walked in to see if we were eligible, and told we were "very eligible"... then there was this pause. The clerk looked, and asked for assistance. See, he hadn't seen the plan we were on before. It's at this point in the story that I should mention that Jen only uses her cell phone for emergencies or to let me know she's late or something. It's not a primary phone in any sense. So the telephone dude was shocked -- SHOCKED -- to see a 20 minute peak time plan. And it was listed for $19.99. Of course, he didn't see further down the screen where we get a $10 discount because it's going through my work as a personal plan. Yup -- $10 a month for a cell phone, and she rarely goes over her minutes. Needless to say, everyone at the store had to come over to see this mysterious plan, and to look at the weirdos that would have such a plan. =)

And now, random links.

Microsoft acquires desktopstandard

The desktopstandard tools are really sweet, if I do say so myself. Between this and the acquision of WinInternals, though, I get worried and excited. The worried part is dread that these cool tools will not be made available any more and not integrated in any fashion into the Microsoft toolsets. The excited part comes from me hoping that Microsoft actually DOES integrate these tools as native parts of the toolsets -- for FREE preferrably.

A9.com has changed as of yesterday. Many A9 features, such as history, bookmarks, and diary, are gone. The A9 Toolbar is being discountinued. And, most importantly, they are dropping the amazon.com discount. If you still had the discount available on amazon.com, you might want to use it now before you "time out".

I know I did. I've got the books from Ken Jennings and Bob Harris on the way, as well as the Quintessential Phase of the Hitchhiker's Guide radio series. ZANG!

Stephen Wacker, editor of DC's 52, has left to join Marvel

*check calendar* Nope, it's not April 1...

I think it's common knowledge that McDonald's was started by the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice, in San Bernardino, CA. They are often credited with bringing assembly-line mentality to a restaurant, and transforming their store to a drive-in to capitalize on the increasing number of teenages at San Bernardino High School that were driving.

About four blocks down the street, Glen Bell had a little hot dog stand called Bell's Drive-In. From this, and from the McDonald brothers, he learned a lot about quick service. Bell decided to take on the McDonald's brothers directly, selling Bell's Drive-In and opening a new store that sold both hot dogs and hamburgers, also in San Bernardino. The whole time, we has captivated by the local Mexican take-out food stores that were in the area. Figuring that tacos were something that the pulbic would buy if served quickly and Americanized, he founded a his first taco store -- Taco Tia. Business was good, but Bell started getting bored. Eventually, Bell would sell Taco Tia when his partners did not want to expand the chain. For what it's worth, Taco Tia is still in operation in San Bernardino, but not a major player in the market.

Glen went on to from his next taco venture -- El Tacos. John Gallardi was commissary manager for El Tacos. Inspired by Bell, and with assistence from Bell and his wife Martha, Gallardi started his own fast service store focusing on hot dogs. The store was called "Der Wienerschnitzel", and it was every bit as successful as El Tacos was at the time, perhaps even more. That company later dropped the "Der" from the name, and Wienerschnitzel today claims to be the world's largest hot dog chain.

Bell was running El Tacos with partners, and really wanted to have a store that was his and his alone. So he sold El Tacos to his partners, and started a new taco store in Downey in 1962. That taco store would be named for himself -- Taco Bell. Yes, *that* Taco Bell. As with Taco Tia and El Tacos, business was very good. Bell wanted to open a store in Bartow, but was very busy in the San Bernardino area. He worked with a young man by the name of Ed Hackbarth to run the Barstow Taco Bell. Ed eventually decided to take matters into his own hands and started his own store called Casa del Taco in 1964. This store later expanded locations and shortened it's name to Del Taco, which is the second largest Mexican/American chain in the US.

Following in the footsteps of Hackbarth and Bell before him, a Del Taco employee in Riverside left to open his own restaurant. Ed Naugle decided to name the place after himself, and Naugles was born in 1970. Naugles expanded to over 200 stores before it was acquired by Del Taco in 1988. Since Naugles was formed from the founder's knowledge of working at Del Taco, it was almost like a corporate family reunion.

According to Taco Bell's web site, Bell tendered his resignation as Chairman of the Board in 1975. In 1978, be sold Taco Bell's 868 units to PepsiCo. Through various spinoffs and renames, Taco Bell is now a brand owned by YUM! Brands, along with Pizza Hut, KFC, A&W All American Food, and Long John Silver's.

So to recap, McDonald's inspired Glen Bell to eventually create Taco Bell. Along the way, he inspired the founders of Wienerschnitzel and Del Taco. From Del Taco's inspiration, Naugles was formed, though it merged back with Del Taco in 1988. Pretty interesting, I think.

Target is quickly turning me into a Wal-Mart shopper. The attitude at the local store is going down quickly to the point of being rude. I can live with that if they still had the products that I want. But they decided to no longer carry the bar soap that I use (Safeguard Beige), but since I buy those 10 bars at a time, it's not that big of a deal to stop by somewhere when I'm near a place that has it. But now, they have dropped my hairspray (Consort for Men, Non Aerosol Unscented), and pretty much any hairspray. Not that I'd use it, but they even dropped Aqua Net. I mean, there are two brands of hair spray at this store, and they don't seem to think this is an issue. GUGH!

Helpful tip: When a customer asks you if you carry something, don't simply say "I don't know", shrug your shoulders, turn around and walk away. Grrrrr....

I'm not sure I recall seeing this previously, but United Online, the company formed when Juno and NetZero merged, bought MyPoints from UAL (United Airlines) back in April 2006. United Online also purchased classmates.com in October 2004.

Leon, in this case, is Nestle SA, which just bought Jenny Craig for $600 million.

Now, for the introspective part of our program, I present to you that I am a very boring person. Jen and I went to party this weekend celebrating the newly acquired PhD of one of our friends. There were people there we hadn't seen for almost a year. The most common question, of course, was "So, what's new?" Sadly, I really didn't have an answer. Jen and I just *are*. We don't have major changes to our lives. We work and we putz around. We don't have kids, and aren't ever planning to have kids. So year in and year out, we seem ... stagnant. Dull. Boring. Makes me wonder how I even have friends sometimes.

And now, for something completely different. My sister, oh joy, is in the state for my nephew's high school graduation. This will make for a fun two weeks...