Qdoba is something like a Mexican "Subway". You come in at one end, look at a menu board of choices - mostly consisting of a variety of burrito choices - and place your order. The primary difference is that no matter what you order off the board, the restaurant operates more like a traditional deli and prices based on what you order, not necessarily what is on the board.
One of the first things we noticed on our new TiVo was that it already had some shows recorded, in a group called TiVo Video Tours. Our first thought was that it was going to be something like the quasi-spam email that you get from Microsoft when you fire up Outlook. But our second thought was to check them out and see what they were like.
After it seemed that The Lost Experience appeared to have come to a rather disappointing conclusion, fans who followed the unfolding drama over the summer may have (understandably) been a bit underwhelmed.
We recently purchased our second TiVo - the 180-hour TiVo® Series2™ DT DVR. Sure, we considered the fancy 300-hour TiVo® Series3™ HD Digital Media Recorder, but as we don't have any HD-capable displays, and the 120-hour Series2 box that we already have rarely fills up, we really didn't need the 300-hour unit.
The My Life as a Blog experiment has officially come to an end. This is for two reasons.
Most notably because a huge percentage of the entries (upwards of 75%) were being made in the "television" category. As such, the blog was becoming a little over-weighted, so it felt like time for a change. If you were following these events, you can still do so by heading over to the new site, Televizzle.org. All of the content from the "television" category is there, meaning most of the content will be found there.
For a while now, Charlotte has wanted people to think that we're a world-class city - that when other people take a look at us, they see something different, that they just can't find elsewhere. Now they should rest easy knowing that we've arrived, for in Charlotte, our criminals don't just stop at one crime, they commit multiple crimes at once.
Not content with simple armed robbery, they have to take along their month-old child. If that's not child abuse, I don't know what is. That poor kid will have therapy bills for life. I guess you have to give the parents credit in that they put him in the back seat, right? But wait - that's not all. You don't think we could be a world-class city with something this mundane, do you? Not a chance.
During the speech last night by Dubya, he gave us some inspirational words - namely that his motivation shall "lead the 21st century into a shining age of human liberty". While of course he wouldn't say anything else, since he's in a position whereby it is his job to make sure that you are inspired, I have to wonder if anyone else was as amused by this position as I was.
If anything, we as a country have done nothing but lost liberty since the attacks of September 11, 2001, and while I don't necessarily agree with him in many cases, I would generally say that he at least tries in most cases. Or at least he tries to make us think that he is trying. What becomes difficult for him is trying to convince a populace that security is a difficult concept in such a world. But in this case, it's less of a best-case scenario and more of a flat-out lie.
While people will naturally define liberty differently, as they should, I think most would agree that there are some things that you perhaps would sacrifice in exchange for security. For instance, having to take off your shoes as you go through security at the airport. It doesn't make anything any safer, but if it makes someone a little happier, what the heck. It's a minor inconvenience in the scheme of things. But when does it stop?
After reading about Wal-Mart's intention to push swirls to their customers, I broke out my own 4-pack of swirls that had been hiding in the closet for some time to start an experiment of sorts. Yes, those of you with a sense of humor can say that I came out of the closet. Are you ready for me to continue?
You see, apparently someone at Wal-Mart realized that they typically have 10 models of ceiling fans on display, each with four bulbs, at something over three thousand stores. Then someone else did the math and figured they could save around $6 million per year by switching to swirls in those fixtures. That's a lot of cabbage. Annually. Even for Wal-Mart, those pennies add up.
Now I don't have a hundred and twenty thousand light bulbs (though it sure feels like it sometimes), and even so, I can't really track these four bulbs against all the others in the house, but I decided it was at least worth checking out, so on Saturday I started my experiment just after writing my post.
When I think of Italian, I have to admit that I really don't think "Olive Garden". But our son wanted to go to a movie to meet some friends, and around the Northlake mall, there isn't a huge selection (there is a large selection, but most are chains) so we decided to try the new location and see how it was. The building is awesome. It's like a Tuscan villa. The food is pretty standard fare.
In a world caught up in trying to pinch pennies whenever and wherever they can, retail behemoth Wal-Mart is getting caught up in a new and what seems - at first - an unlikely promotion. According to an article at Fast Company, Wal-Mart aims to change the country's perception of "swirls" - more appropriately known as the compact fluorescent lightbulb. What seems unlikely is that swirls cost more than your standard bulb.
Their goal is that they want to sell every one of their regular customers over the next 12 months - 100 million in all - one swirl bulb. It's probably a reasonable goal, but in some respects, they have their work cut out for them. Most people have seen these bulbs. We all have. Usually they sell for something like $3 each, next to regular old light bulbs that sell for something more like $0.50 each. Which do you reach for when you buy? If you're anything like me, you probably reach for the standard bulb.
It's already been established (more than once) that The Old North State (or at least our little portion of it) borders on the incompetent when it comes to transit projects. As it turns out, there's more than one boondoggle waiting to happen when it comes to the LYNX Blue Line (the light rail line along South Boulevard).
