Original Flavor

Where should I begin? How about I start with the odd fact that it is actually quite warm in my room right now? This is unusual because of the relatively cool temperatures we have been experiencing in the Midwest lately. Fall is my favorite time of year and when there is a chill on the air, the leaves are turning yellow and orange, and there is that certain aroma that wafts in from the woods and pastures at this time of year. I had thought that summer had passed on silently and we were safely into jeans and hooded sweatshirt weather, apparently I was mistaken. Summer has lashed out with one last gasp of hot air this weekend, yet I hate to sound as if I am complaining. The sun is shining outside and the sky is a shade of cerulean that is so vibrant it almost hurts, this color is exquisitely contrasted by the golden leaves that yet cling to branches that scrabble to reach the sky like the fingers of a dying man grasping at warmth when he knows then end is near. Where am I? Sitting in my room at my computer glancing down to see in Sysmetrix that the temperature is 79f, my first thought after that is to look at my computer case and check what the temperatures are there� CPU at 110f and the graphics card at 130f. Not great, but whatever, I seem to enjoy sitting by this little blast furnace.

There is an issue of little importance, and great interest to me which I wish to discuss. (It�s funny that I say discuss when all I am really doing is standing on my soapbox and letting loose with what I want to say, I don�t really care what you have to say about these topics despite the presence of a comments system.) Back to the matter at hand� pop. Or, as some of those who live in the nether reaches of this world call it, soda. Hopefully you all realize that there are two major brands that have been duking it out in the arena of commercialism for nigh on a century. Coke and Pepsi are huge, they probably play a huge role in keeping our economy going, competition breeds better products, so on and so forth. Some people say that they can tell the differences between different brands of pop just from taste, I’ve heard that in some cases that people cannot tell the difference in a blind fold test. I submit that when you purchase and drink a soft-drink you are not buying a taste, you are buying an image. Coke is the classic; it is the pop that seems to be as American as apple pie and hotdogs. Pepsi has the image of being cool, cutting edge and even extreme. Aiming for a youth market that is active has proven very successful for Pepsi, just as Coca-Cola has been very successful with the older demographic. The balance of power between Coke and Pepsi holds, with little or no gain on either side, even with the introduction of new products such as vanilla coke and vanilla Pepsi. Honestly I can�t say that I prefer one over the other, I am not a cola person. I am a Mountain Dew guy. Oddly enough I think that Mountain Dew holds a certain market dominance over the coke branded Mello Yello, especially in my demographic. (18-21 unmarried male in college with some expendable income) Surely I enjoy the taste of Mountain Dew a great deal, yet I hold no illusion that I am doing nothing more than buying the image that has been sold to me through commercials and advertising of all sorts. Mountain Dew is for extreme people who need extreme caffeine in order to keep going in an active lifestyle, this idea is what has been fed to me for many years, and now I am hooked. It worked, I love mountain dew and buy a lot of it, so do many other guys I know, congratulations Pepsi you win.

Speaking of addictions I am on my GUI modding kick again. This time I am customizing the look of windows with help from Aston and deviantArt. The combinations of skinnable software changes from time to time yet the goal remains the same� ulitmate efficiency combined with unparalleled style. Or maybe I just like being different. With that sadness out of the way I think I will wander around the halls aimlessly for a few minutes. I�m not sure what I intended to accomplish with today�s post, and I doubt you took anything useful from this little session, yet I can imagine that I have served some purpose in enlightening a dim mind somewhere, or befuddling an enlightened mind out there that was caught off guard by my incomprehensible rantings. Remember to always enjoy these Crazy Rants at �TimblyWeb�. We always have that same original flavor, and it has a brand new taste every month.