Possibly I'm under mind control. Although if I was under mind control, I think she wouldn't allow me to read so many comics.

Depends. Does it feed your creativity? It could be part of the plot, even if not to feed your creativity and her to-be-read list, then just to lull you into a false sense of complacency.

Also? Betsy didn't bow. She curtsied. Is that allowed? I totally would have curtsied, instead.

Plei, Ben got a toy called a Star Theater Planetarium. You're in the winter sky, so when we shut off the lights and turn on the star theater, I see your namesake on the ceiling. Not nearly as pretty as the picture Kate posted, but still...

I have discovered a place here in SF that sells the original formula of Dr. Pepper, made with imperial cane sugar and bottled in the old fashioned bottles. So much better than regular Dr. Pepper.

My dad used to take us out for Cokes during Passover when we lived in NYC, because the kosher-for-Passover Coke is made with cane sugar instead of corn syrup. So good.

There's a great store in Virginia City, Nevada, that sells only vintage and regional sodas. I got an authentic orange Nehi, something I haven't tried since I was a kid. Yum!

Hey, all. Tommyrot, if you do your stepmom and somebody dies, you too can end up on Crimes against Vaginas. Loving all the L&O chat. Happy birthday, Shrift. And if that woman really knows something, and only says it to get paid, I think she's horrible. But then, she had a baby with MJ. Perhaps I repeat myself.

Timelies all!

Happy Birthday shrift!

urgh. Woke up at 3 this morning, and fell into the wakeup-gobacktosleep-lather-rinse-repeat pattern until the alarm went off. Very sleepy.

a place here in SF that sells the original formula of Dr. Pepper

Where?! I NEED to have some next time I'm out.

A place called Yum, here in San Francisco. They have more than one hundred sodas in stock and the owner/manager and can tell you the ingredients and brewing process for each.

What is that? Love the sound of it. How's the taste different?

You know how Coke tastes more complex than Pepsi, and Pepsi just tastes more sugary? Like that. Newer Dr. Pepper is like the Pepsi.

Intriguing. As you always are, Hec.

Mwah.

I've heard that cane sugar taste better than the corn syrup many bottlers use. Is that what you are referring to?

I'm pretty sure that's the import of the marking on the bottle. Plus? Old vintage Dr. Pepper bottles.

Veronica Mars people- was the Christmas ep the last new one?

Review of Yum

Although Yum’s vast selection of prepackaged goods from all over the world is impressive, it’s repository of specialty sodas is its most awe-inspiring feature. Even plain-old-Coke is a little bit different at Yum: they stock the Mexican version of the iconic cola, which comes in a glass bottle and has less carbonation. Of course, taking cues from the Yin-Yang principle, Yum also carries Afri-Cola, the German anti-Coke. Afri-Cola contains four times the amount of caffeine in Coke and boasts on its bottles, “without danger there can be no pleasure.”

Further into Yum’s collection of fizzy exotica, buyers can find Ramune, Japan’s answer to lemonade, Gini, a bitter lemon soda from France, and Ting, a Jamaican grapefruit-flavored soda. Yum’s even got Moxie, the first-ever mass marketed soda (in 1884, it was billed as a “nerve food”).

From a different review:

Best Place to Buy Soda Is a soda jerk someone who knows so much about soda that he comes off as a jerk? We've been looking for a soft-drink guru who could share his expertise without making us feel small, and we finally found one. The undisputed king of pop in San Francisco is Paul Frohlich, the buyer for novelty food mart Yum. He can talk about root beer, ginger ale, orange soda, and lime rickeys with discerning authority, parsing out flavors from the creamy to the spicy, and dismissing pretenders with a gentle frown. Ask for a tour of the multiple dozens of varieties stacked in boxes near the back of the store. With two kinds of Moxie and labels ranging from Dog ’n' Suds to Cock ’n' Bull, Yum has an astounding selection of nostalgia-brand and microbrew sodas from all over the country and imported from the U.K. Bulk-rate discounts are available, once you've identified your favorite brew. 1750 Market, S.F. (415) 626-9866.

I wish I had some Dr Pepper now. Hmph. I suppose there's some across the street, but STILL.

NYC sports team update: Current plans are for (a) a new stadium on the West Side of Manhattan for the Jets (and theoretically the 2012 Olympics, even though it apparently wouldn't be big enough for international soccer) AND (b) a new arena in Brooklyn for the Nets.

It is a mystery to me why people think we need more major sports in NYC.

Moxie is nasty, nasty stuff.