Google stole my idea, thank God

I have a long track record of having great ideas, doing nothing about them, and then years later noticing that someone else is making a profit off them. I'm not bitter, though--I recognize that (as previously mentioned) I'm just lazy, and I appreciate that other people have entrepreneurial spirit, because otherwise I would have to live in a cave with no electricity and no Entertainment Weekly, eating only dinosaur meat.

However, that doesn't mean I can't talk myself up! Here are some examples of ideas I had well before they became reality:

1. Beer with caffeine. I thought of this in the late '90s (in college, natch); Budweiser came out with its proposterously named, but, I think, still brilliantly conceived, "B-to-the-E" in 2004.
2. Microbrew shampoo. (Is there a theme here?) Another college brainstorm--I worked in a restaurant that brewed its own beer, and I thought, "People like microbrewed beer, and beer is supposed to make your hair shiny--somebody should make a microbrew shampo." I don't know when this happened, but you can buy it here.
3. A resurgence in the popularity of legwarmers. OK, so this one hasn't really taken off, but it's only a matter of time, mark my words.

My point is, just today I found out (thanks to BlondeJustice) that it's happened yet again! A few months ago I was trying to obtain some basic information via the Oh-So-Twentieth-Century system of Calling Information because I was in Virginia and needed to find the closest Crate and Barrel store. (Desperate times . . . ) The person said he could only look for a Crate and Barrel in a specific town, so I found myself asking in exasperation, "Can't you just Google it?" The answer is no, apparently the poor souls who work at 411 just have a phone book, or a sundial, or something.

Anyway, I started whining to anyone who would listen, "Why doesn't Google have a phone line?" And now they do! Well, sort of--it's a text message system called Google SMS (Short Message System). You can text with, like, short messages, and it will give you the answers! Never again will I have to drive randomly about Stripmall Land looking for a Crate and Barrel! Thank God for Google and its blatant stealing of my brainstorm!