Better Than Cake And Ice Cream. (Or, The Ultimate Brain Food-For A Frozen Brain.)

From Slurpee.com.

The story of Slurpee® drinks began in 1959 with a broken soda fountain machine in Kansas. When Omar Knedlik's soda machine broke at his drive-in hamburger restaurant, he began serving icy-cold bottled soft drinks from his freezer. Customers fell in love with the slushy drinks, sparking Knedlik to come up with the idea of creating soft-serve frozen drinks. After failed attempts to create a machine to make his icy beverages, Knedlik contacted the John E. Mitchell Company, a Dallas machinery manufacturer in 1959. Mitchell was attracted to the idea and began working with an automobile air conditioner to create a machine that would freeze carbonated soft drinks that could be served in a sherbet-like form and would be drunk through a straw. Mitchell's machine used a complex system to freeze the beverages so they could be served at an icy 28 degrees. Although a revolution in the soft drink field, Mitchell's frozen drinks were not a huge success with retailers. He tried selling his machines to drugstores and restaurants between 1960 and 1965, but the product's novelty and stores' inexperience with refrigeration equipment kept it from making an impact. But a chance encounter with a 7-Eleven manager would forever change the success of the frozen beverage. While visiting a competitor's store in 1965, a 7-Eleven zone manager came across one of Mitchell's machines and thought that it had a huge potential for success. In the Fall of 1965, 7-Eleven purchased three machines to test the product in their stores. They were an immediate success, and by the Spring of 1967, the machines were in almost every 7-Eleven® store. The Slurpee mark was created in May 1967 during a brainstorming session at 7-Eleven's in-house ad agency. While drinking the product through a straw, agency director Bob Stanford commented that it made a slurping sound. The Slurpee® drink phenomenon was born. For the past 32 years, Slurpee® drink has evolved from Fulla-Bulla to Fire Water to Shrek-a-licious. But no matter the flavor, it will always be The Coolest Drink on Earth™.

This is sort of revisionist history....What 7-11 doesn't want you to know is that the 'drive-in hamburger restaurant' in question was a DAIRY QUEEN, and that both the Mr. Misty (my general favorite; and while not as romantic, available handily almost everywhere) AND the ICEE (Knedlik's 'non-impactful' product, since 1961; and available at Kmarts everywhere; among other places) are the same thing as the Slurpee. And don't even get me started on the Slush Puppie, where YOU get to add the flavored syrup to your own drink (I recommend at least 1 1/2 more squirts than the machine says to use.)

Than said, there's damn few things as satisfying as a big plastic cup, all dewy and cold, filled almost to the rim (or over, if you get the dome lid) with tasty, delicious Slurpee (or the equivalent.) Go for the Cherry. Tell the man at the counter that I sent you. And don't forget your straw/spoon.

Salut!

Just Tossing It Out There. Do With It What You Will.

My oldest daughter got her shoes for the prom.

I have a daughter old enough to go to the prom.

My youngest daughter fell down the stairs at home today, and scratched her face.

This is the same daughter that took the pics of the waterfall, and rolled her eyes when I told her to get away from the (125 foot+) precipice.

I have enough money to pay my bills for April.

It's now May. (Or close enough for the Post Office.)

Good times and riches and son of a bitches, I've seen more than I can recall.

I start working nights again beginning this week.

Nights have now been extended to 7pm-2am.

Some of that time will be enjoyed 'virtually'.

I need to order some new bumper stickers.

I have broken the cycle of being terrified when someone calls late at night. Everyone else in my family fears the worst. I tend to enjoy those calls.

I think that is because the so called 'normal' people wouldn't call you in the middle of the night.

The calls I get then are more interesting than most.

Hell, all the calls I get are more interesting than most.

Most of the people I know are far from average.

I'm blessed to know most of them--even the ones that are borderline insane.

If you call me at night, sometimes I won't be awake. You'll have to deal with that.

Usually I sleep through the night. Usually a train running through the room wouldn't wake me up. I tend to be a very sound sleeper.

Lying on the floor of my bedroom right now, you'll find a severed limb.

Relax--it's a fake, left over from Halloween. I had it stored in a suitcase I used for my trip.

Cars are like eggs....they're cheaper in the country.

So is crack cocaine and crystal meth.

Probably something about cutting out the middleman in both cases.

You really have to be in a No Love mood to enjoy No Love Thursdays.

I find that that mood eludes me sometimes.

I also find it disturbing that my being happy can disrupt my social calendar. That's just wrong.

Pickled produce is good.

The morning after eating it--not so.

If you get a chance to eat French Fries made by a Macedonian with OCD, take it.

Be prepared to wait, though.

Meijer has a wine special for 3 bottles for 8 bucks.

Surprisingly, it's not bad for that price. A good table wine.

George Dickel costs under 10 bucks in Middle Tennessee--16 or so in Indiana..

Jack Daniels, on the other hand, is more expensive than here.

Maybe it's not the middleman after all. Maybe it's just good old supply and demand.

Or 'status.'

Or hell--maybe it's just like the oil companies, and they make it all up as they go along.

I didn't check on tequila. I hate tequila. Jose Cuervo can kiss my American ass.

My dislike of tequila has nothing to do with the recent immigration spat.

How do Texans feel about celebrating Cinco De Mayo? Would Lousiana celebrate La Marseilles?

For that matter, do WE celebrate any Miami, Iroquois or Potawatami holidays?

Fuck your culture. Celebrate your heritage. That's your birthright. But you're here now. If we're not your culture, we should be. Don't like it? Get the fuck out and go back to your OLD culture.

How much WAS in a 'dime bag' anyway? Today, that would be like the part that fell on the floor when you lit up, right?

I was talking to three adults at Glenbrook Dodge the other night. Not only did they not know where Lehman's was...they didn't know WHAT it was.

I bought my first turntable, CB radio, and cassette deck at Lehman's.

My first CD players (two) I got at Fretters.

That was good marketing. Got the message across--and made you remember it. I still remember "OOPS! Ollie Overbought!"

Fretter, Highland, Circuit City, Best Buy--that's why Lehman's is gone.

Fretter commercials were also some of the first commercials I remember locally that screamed at you.

I don't like to be screamed at.

Maybe that's why Fretter and Highland went under.

You can tell people that worked at McDonald's--they still call it a "Filet-O-Fish'" instead of a fish sandwich.

They also taught us that grease from the meat was 'juices', and in the fryers it was 'shortening.'

McDonalds doesn't have grease.

And they say brainwashing doesn't work.

I taught everyone that taught everyone that trained everyone on how to make McDonald's breakfast products in this part of the country. They sent someone down from Des Plaines to teach me; and the chain went from there.

I trained at the Anthony McDonalds, and worked at Southtown. Back when there still WAS a south side. Both are gone now.

It takes a lot to get McDonalds to throw in the towel. The Calhoun Street store is gone too, now that I think about it.

No one wants to go to the south side of town. There's STILL nothing there of interest. Menards and Wal-Mart aren't unique enough to compel me--or others. Nothing the Mayor can do about THAT, huh?

The people that worked at McDonalds a long time ago are the ones that call the Coliseum store "California Road."

It's 3AM and I must be lonely.

Not really...that's just the song that's going through my head.

Time for dinner. You have a great day, now, y'hear?