More Vanilla Coke

Success.


Me with Vanilla Coke

I stopped by the Pavilions today on the way to work and found Vanilla Coke. It was kind of like a commercial. I walked up to the soda aisle and the Coke Guy was there, unloading soda onto the shelves.

Me: Hi, you got that new Vanilla Coke?
Coke Guy: We don’t have the two liter bottles yet.
Me: Do you have any Vanilla Coke?
Coke Guy: Yes, but no two liter bottles of it.
Me: I don’t really care about two liter bottles, anything will do.
Coke Guy: Oh, well the one liter bottles are up front in the cooler next to the register.
Me: Cool, thanks.

He then walks me over to the cooler. The Store Manager appears.

Store Manager: Can I help you find something?
Me: I’m just going to get some of this Vanilla Coke here.

I reach toward the cooler.

Store Manager: Vanilla Coke?
Me: Yah, you know, the new Coke flavor?
Store Manager: New flavor?

At this point the Coke Guy and Store Manager begin discussing Vanilla Coke and I sneak off to the cash register. They are still talking when I leave.


One Liter Vanilla Coke (not two liter)

How does it taste? Good.

I get Vanilla Coke at Soda Jerks in Pasadena whenever we go there, so the flavor is familiar to me. The slight vanilla aftertaste is the key.

Recently, I’ve been drinking Diet Coke, so a real sugar coke tastes quite sweet to me. I nursed the bottle all day long. I couldn’t have stomached the entire bottle in one sitting.

In other news, I’m pondering another geocache tomorrow.

Geocaching

Yesterday evening I went Geocaching with the girls. It was a beautiful day and my eyes were tired of looking at computer screens. I had printed out the info to a cache near home in San Marino at Lacy Park. The difficulty level was low and looked like a simple start to our geocaching career.


I punched in the coordinates of the cache and got in the car to head off. I’m using a Magellan GPS Companion that snaps onto Michele’s Palm V.


After futzing a round a bit with the GPS, I realized it would point me int he direction of the cache. My mistake was in not bringing a compass with me. Here we are around 400 feet from the cache.


The Cache!

We got within 20 feet of the cache when Zoe had to hit the potty. Did you know that the women’s restroom in Lacy park is 436 feet from the cache? In any case, after a bit of wandering around we finally found the small, black cache in ivy.


The girls were quite excited about our ‘treasure hunt’ and were happy to grab a lobster bookmark and Play-Do squeezer and leave a bottle opener and Mickey Mouse doll.

Things I need to remember in the future:
1) Bring a compass
2) Make the girls pee before we go.
3) Keep the exchange gifts small.
4) Take a picture of the GPS at the exact cache location showing the position. The ‘money shot’ if you will.
5) Mkae sure everyone is wearing socks and good shoes.

We had a great time, and will be doing more…

Yesterday

I went to my parents house for Mother’s Day yesterday. Just as we walked in the door, Zoe saw a lizard run in and into a corner of the front room.

Suddenly, the house was jumping with the thought of a lizard inside. My father looked under the lightstand in the corner and saw the lizard. “It’s a big one.”, he said.

Thinking a member of Gen X, I immediately went to get my mother’s digital camera. Pictures are a must. My father then took this photo.

Soon the lizard was bolting away and off behind the display case when my mom keeps her good crystal. After a bit of prodding with a yardstick, the lizard again ran, but this time toward Dad. He caught the lizard bare-handed, ala Crocodile Hunter. The lizard proceeded to poop and and then bite him.

We tossed the lizard into a large soup pot, much to the chagrin of my mother. “I cook in that!”, she said.

Outside we went to release the lizard. I think it’s a skink actually.

Excitement over, I wanted to make sure I could get these images. It was at this point I learned that my parents had never downloaded anything off the digital camera since Christmas. There were 58 images on the camera.

While I was in my mother’s office, I noticed this drawer.

Why she has a drawer full of broken reading glasses, I cannot fathom. There must be more than 25 glasses in that drawer. It seems to make sense to my mother and that’s what matters. Also notice the Mac mouse in the drawer. I can’t make the connection between the reading glasses and the mouse either.

Egads, is this where my life is headed? Strange collections in drawers?

Sweet Jesus…

Back at Christmas (2001 that is) my father bought my mother a new computer and a new digital camera. It appears today (May 2002 mind you…) that they have never downloaded a picture yet.

The connection cable is still in the box.

I am sitting here now trying to pull up the pictures.

Sunday

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers reading…

Pondering: Why aren’t any of the women I live with able to put clothes properly into the hamper? I mena, is it so much trouble to turn shirts and socks right side out before I wash them. Slackers.

Dr. Pepper Jello Attempt #2

I’m trying again to get this right. Here’s today’s version:

Ingredients:
(2) cans Dr. Pepper
(1) 1/4 oz. envelopes of Knox gelatin

Pour 3/4 cups of Dr. Pepper into a glass measuring cup. The measuring cup should hold > 3 cups of fluid Empty gelatin into the cup and stir slighty. Set aside and let the gelatin ‘bloom’ for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour 1 & 3/4 cups of Dr. Pepper into a bowl and nuke in the microwave for 3 minutes until the Dr. Pepper is very hot but not boiling.

There should be about 1/2 a can of Dr. Pepper left in can. Begin drinking Dr. Pepper. It’s refreshing after all this hard work.

Pour heated Dr. Pepper into ‘blooming’ mixture. Stir for about 5 minutes or until all gelatin is dissolved. Let mixture sit a few mintues while you get out 1/2 cup bowls. Pour mix into bowls. Place in fridge overnight.

Notice that I’ve increased the amount of soda pop and decreased the amount of gelatin.