[brief interlude of meta]

I've been off the air for a while diagnosing gremlins in my home network. As near as I can tell, the Ethernet port on the iMac is possessed by demons. While the iMac's wireless connection suffers blackouts for several minutes at a time at random times of the day. Did one of my neighbors buy a new cordless phone?

And yet... the venerable PowerBook downstairs with its Farallon wireless card seems to have no trouble hearing the base station. It's a puzzlement.

[end meta]

posted: 8:28:39 AM  

The last time that I was in the shopping center at Fox Mill, I saw a banner draped where the logo of a mini-McDonald's had been. It announced that Five Guys, a local burger chain with five locations at present, was moving in.

I used to eat at the Bailey's Crossroads shop when I was taking a class at NoVa Community College Alexandria, more than ten years ago. The burgers are good, piled up precariously like you'd make them on the backyard grill; while the ambience is minimal. I seem to remember the best seating was outside, leaning against the building.

So the Five Guys must have attracted some venture capital from some other Guys in order to be expanding in this market.

It's the contraction of McDonald's that interests me as well. This is the second location in Reston to close; the other was a freestanding store across the street from Hunters Woods and adjacent to a natural gas pipeline right-of-way. When it opened (replacing a Popeye's), it was the Worst McDonald's in the Country.

But imagine it: a multinational chain replaced by Mom and Pop. Could the day that a Barnes and Noble is closed, to be filled by a mall of used bookdealers, be at hand?

posted: 8:22:56 AM