April 2006 Archives

A passable orange cream soda. Unfortunately, there's just too many incredible varieties of the stuff to give this one a higher rating. Official site

2 of 5 stars

I'll admit that I only bought this soda because I liked saying "Pangleheimer's." I still do. I'm not really sure what a blush is but this sort of tastes like a wine cooler—at least what I remember a wine cooler to taste like as I haven't had one since I snuck them in the late 80s. It tastes very unique and I like it on some levels: no aftertaste, a hard initial impression, and a slight fruitiness. I just can't see myself buying it again unless I wanted to say "Pangleheimer's." Official site

2 of 5 stars

This is one fantastic cream soda. Extremely pleasant first impression, no aftertaste. It's sugary without being overly so. I found myself savoring every last drop of the 12 ounces. BevNet Reviews | Pop the Soda Shop | Wikipedia entry

5 of 5 stars

Sold to me as a Mountain Dew knockoff, it is anything but. I guess that it's in the "citrus soda" genre but so is Fresca. While I question the wisdom of basing your marketing on an obscure comic strip that ceased publication in 1977, the taste is pretty compelling. It's not as sugary as Mountain Dew but has a similar mouth feel. Origin of the name | Pop the Soda Shop | BevNet Review

4 of 5 stars

This bottle drew me in. First, the name was kind of weird and different from all other Dr. Brown's flavors. As I read the label more closely, I saw the words "celery soda" and knew that I just had to try this. Really, how often can you try out a soda pop made with celery? It's an uncola that's like Sprite without the sweetness or a ginger ale without the harsh taste. The celery is not overpowering, but you can definitely taste it. No aftertaste though the celery does make a re-appearance in belches. Wikipedia entry | Pop the Soda Shop | Reviews at BevNet

3 of 5 stars

I'm a sucker for orange cream drinks. There, I'll admit it. I could drink them exclusively all day long were it not for the fact that they're far too sugary and rich.

4 of 5 stars

Kind of like a harder Sprite. I'm not a big fan of that soda genre, but this one was definitely the best of that bunch. No offensiveness at all and no aftertaste. Official site | Wikipedia entry | Pop the Soda Shop

3 of 5 stars

Also known as "Orangenfruchtsaftlimonade," this fruit-based soda is hard to pin down. There's definitely hints of a lemonade, but the carbonation and other fruit juices muddy the waters so to speak. No aftertaste, pleasant taste, but missing something that would rate it higher. I would drink it again, but this doesn't have me suggesting it to anyone I approach. Official site | Pop the Soda Shop | Wikipedia entry

3 of 5 stars

Blech. This is unsweetened, all-natural orange juice and I don't like it one bit. The only thing amazing is the notion that the "Amazing Facts" on the side of the bottle—"During a job interview never spend more than one minute answering a question"—are amazing. Official site

2 of 5 stars

I've created a new category called "Soda Reviews" that will chronicle my explorations through the aisles and shelves of Pop the Soda Shop. Pop the Soda Shop is a local business that sells hundreds of varieties of soda. I've been going to it for years but every time I visit as a soda amnesiac—I simply can't remember what I liked or didn't and it inevitably ends up with me experiencing déjà-bu.

This new category and commitment of my memories to Quick Blog's database should help eliminate purchases of repeat offenders and insure repeat purchases of favorites. A warning: I am not a food writer and I can't promise to bring anything to the table beyond my thoughts at first blush. My tastes are likely different than yours and I'm doing this mostly for myself.

Delicious, too rich for regular indulgence. All of their egg creams are fantastic (though I still haven't tried the chocolate one). Official site

4 of 5 stars

Easily the best lemonade I’ve tried. It’s carbonated, which really makes a difference. I love how they put “No mystery ingredients” on the label. Official site

4 of 5 stars

At first blush, I was intrigued by the anomaly that happened recently. I was certainly not alone. The blogging world was abuzz—isn't it always? The perils of a thrice-daily publishing schedule, I suppose—with anticipation about the time when a timestamp would read "01:02:03 04/05/06"

It was the temporal version of the astrologer's planetary alignment. Oooo, that's never going to happen again was a common refrain (one that I shared briefly). Never mind the obvious observation that it's a feature of our own making since every aspect of that timestamp is arbitrary though conventional. Never mind that it'll happen again in a hundred years. Some wags noted that it'll happen again in Europe since they write their timestamps differently.

On second thought, I was left with a sense of ennui. You know, so what? It really doesn't make any sort of difference and it's not even that interesting of a phenomenon. What was mildly interesting is how the meme—ugh, I hate that word—propagated quickly and everyone and his brother was talking about it. And that sort of superficial, nugatory factoid is exactly why I can't stand people in general. The virtual ink spilled in such vapidity was alarming.

Come on, people, find something better to write about.*

* And yes, I am quite aware of the irony of that statement. Rants about pop culture and the blogging world carry an exemption since they're meta-commentary.

[UPDATE: Here's more "special dates" if you're into that sort of thing, YSLE.]

Today Apple announced their BootCamp feature for Mac OS X, which allows Intel-based Macintoshes to install and boot Windows XP. Holy ska-moly! This is a huge move. They've even redesigned the Windows XP logo, creating an "X" out of the negative space. Nice!

I sure hope that this portends virtualization in Leopard. Boy howdy, do I!

[UPDATE (4/6/2006): BootCamp's nice and all, but that virtualization I mentioned is available today for $50! The future, as they say, is now.]