Monday

This did feel like a Monday. But literally balmy outside.

I made a call to the local satellite provider to inquire about possible upgrades to my systems. I had been in a conversation over the holidays in which I thought I overheard someone say that older satellite packages, like mine, could be upgraded, and for lower monthly charges. I finally remembered today and they are going to move me from Dish to Direct and swap-out my equipment. I'll also get all the local channels which were not part of the deal way back when.

The guy started talking about HD, gizzmo-this, and gizzmo-that, and my mind went into a circuit-overload situation. So I bought what he was selling. Kind of like in the "stereo" stores back in the 60's and 70's when the sales guys were talking about woofers and tweeters and bass resonance factors.

I'll still get the Big 10 Network and the NFL Network. Critical items both.

Today is Roger Clemons' day in front of the cameras. He's been pretty well tried and convicted in the press. For that reason alone, I'd be delighted if he could prove his innocence.

I think we need to hear from 3 on the 5 cent bottled-water tax that C-town has imposed, and which is now being challenged in court. This is the equivalent of a "sin" tax similar to state taxes on cigarettes and liquor. There's enough data out there to suggest that bottled-water is not necessary for most municipalities, and that the land-fill impact of the bottles is significant. Legislating public conduct by imposition of taxes is not a new concept.

I haven't checked out the statute, but I bet the definition of water is not that clear (no pun intended). Where does the balance shift on what constitutes water? I know that some clear water is marketed with various fruit tastes added, such as orange or berry. If color were added to these variants, would they be exempt from the tax? We need Bill to help with the definition of what water is.

I hate to pick on Al Gore (not really), but I'm wondering where he might fall on this issue. The Green Al would probably anguish about the waste-disposal issues. But with it being an election year, Blue State Al would want to broker a compromise for the various unions bringing the suit against the tax.

The coffee wars heated up after the bell. McDonald's announced a further move to upgrade it's coffee program at all of it's US stores, with new equipment, new foo-foo drinks, and even a "barista" position at the counter. Given my experience with the local stores, the term "barista" is not one that I would ever associate with McDonald's staff.

And Starbuck's is bringing back it's founder as CEO. The press release stated that they would be slowing the pace of new store openings, look at closing under-performing stores, and re-directing capital to International expansion. The stock received a big bump in after-hours trading, mostly, I think, because of the return of CEO Schultz. Closing stores is a decision that they have been reluctant to make in the past. (The downtown Davenport store has to be on that list.) Corporately, changes need to be made. Check out the stock price. Ticker symbol SBUX.

I'm off to celebrate my tax birthday. Thanks for the calls and greetings earlier today. Talk to you tomorrow.

BCOT