I love Sonic, but...damn.

Sonic girl: Welcome to Sonic, what would you like today?

Me: Medium mango limeade, small caramel iced latte, small tater tots, bacon bistro sandwich.

Sonic girl: What was that first thing you said?

Me: Medium Mango Limeade.

Sonic girl: ((nothing))

Me: Hello?

Sonic girl: Okay.

Me: Did you get the bistro sandwich and the rest of the order?

Sonic girl: What else did you want?

Me: Medium mango limeade...

Sonic girl: Okay...

Me: Small caramel iced latte...

Sonic girl: Okay...

Me: Small tater tots...

Sonic girl: Okay...

Me: Bacon bistro sandwich.

Sonic girl: Okay...

Me: That's all.

Sonic girl: Okay. Medium Mango LEMONADE, bacon breakfast BURRITO, iced latte...you wanted caramel right?

Me: Mango LIMEADE, bacon breakfast BISTRO...not burrito...caramel iced latte and tater tots.

Sonic girl: Okay. Medium Mango LEMONADE, bacon breakfast bistro sandwich, iced latte...caramel?... and tater tots.

Inside my head: NO!!! Mango LIMEADE!!! LIMEADE GOTDAMMIT!!! LIMEADE!!!!!!!!

Me to Sonic girl: Yeah. That's it.

Inside my head: Fuck it.

Aren't you curious about what I actually got when the girl brought my order? I got a small order of tater tots, mango limeade (!!!!), bacon bistro sandwich and a HOT latte, three straws, three packets of catsup, no napkins and no peppermint.

I started to ask the carhop why I would drink a HOT latte with one of the various straws she brought me, but instead just told her that I had ordered an ICED latte and not a HOT latte. She said, "Okay, they're the same price. I'll just go back in and get you the iced latte instead of the hot." She was very nice about the whole thing, but I had the feeling she thought I was confused.

Yeah, I was the confused one.

Dr. Pepper Barbeque Sauce? Why not?

I love Dr. Pepper. In Texas, we call all soft drinks "Coke", but I would call Dr. Pepper the soft drink of choice for most of us here.

During summer vacation in the '60s, we used to walk to Burger Chef at least once a day and I would always order a cherry Dr. Pepper. I now get my cherry Dr. Pepper at Sonic and I can't wait to try the new cherry Dr. Pepper that Gene Simmons is so excited about.



Today I opened the coupon pamphlets in the Sunday newspaper and I see there is now a Dr. Pepper barbecue sauce. Texans love barbecue and Texans love Dr. Pepper. Sounds like a match made in barbecue sauce heaven, right? I'll let you know how it is as soon as I try it.

Here are some vintage Dr. Pepper commercials. Be sure to watch the last one. WTF?

Yeah.

I'm a Pepper.

"You want fries with that?"

I stopped at Sonic for lunch today. Whenever I place an order at Sonic, I know what I want when I push the little red button. That's why I push the button. My decision has been made. Do not offer me Caramel Cheesecake Bites, a Butterfinger Blast or a Hazelnut Frozen Latte. Do not offer them to me because I do, in fact, want them. I want all of them. Just take my order and be done with me. Aren't I doing enough damage to my thighs by just pulling into Sonic in the first place?

Today's order chick took the up-selling to a whole new level:

Order Chick: Welcome to Sonic. May I help you?

Me: I'd like the #11 (*) with a strawberry limeade.

Order Chick: Would you like a cheeseburger with that?

Me: Uh, excuse me?

Order Chick: ((silence))

Me: Excuse me, what did you say?

Order Chick: Would you like a cheeseburger with that? Or, some french toast sticks?

Me: No. No...no.

Order Chick: Okay. Thank you.

I'm guessing the Order Chick originally intended to offer to add french toast sticks to my breakfast burrito order, but she wasn't backing down on that cheeseburger. Of course, I guess it's possible there's been a rush lately of customers placing their order and suddenly shouting, "Oh, wait! I almost forgot. I need a cheeseburger!"

(*) #11 - sausage, egg and cheese burrito; tater tots, drink

Cyber Insanity

Occasionally, my mind gets trapped in a vortex of cyber insanity contemplating how much of my life occurs out there in cyperspace. I sit at my keyboard and hit keys and little letters appear on the screen. In e-mails, those letters can be a bridge between family and friends, some of whom are thousands of miles away. The little blips of electricity venture out and, somehow, control where I go, how my money is spent and, occasionally, with whom, where and when I eat.

I've reconnected and stayed connected with people I haven't seen or, in some cases, thought about in years. Without my cyber connectivity, I would never pick up a phone to try to coordinate dinner with the several groups of friends, co-workers and relatives that I try to get all in one place one night a month for dinner or one day a week for lunch so that we can stay connected in a non-cyber way.

I've recently gone 99.9% currency free when it comes to my money matters. Every other week someone hands me a piece of paper (if I could get direct deposit, I wouldn't even have that physical connection to my filthy lucre), I drive it to my bank, they give me another piece of paper, I go home and sit at this machine and type in some of those same little electronic blips that I type into friendly e-mails and, voila, my water keeps pouring and my electricity keeps flowing.

Since they put those little debit card boxes at the window, I don't even touch money at Sonic or Jack in the Box anymore. I buy most of my movies, books and music online, I pay for my gas at the pump and for my groceries in the self-serve line and, sometimes, it all makes me a little cyberly insane if I stop and think about it too much.

Don't even get me started on how the job of a legal secretary has changed over the last twenty years because of e-mail, as well as, easily, the most mind-blowing, work place changing cyber invention of the 20th century: the fax machine.

Electricity. Electromagnetic fields. Gravity. Mind. Vortex. Blown.

Blip.

How Sonic helps me diet

Today, I stopped at Sonic and ordered a Java Chiller (coffee mixed with ice cream) and a small popcorn chicken with creamy chipotle dipping sauce for lunch.

Instead, they gave me an iced latte (no ice cream) and forgot to put my dipping sauce in the bag.

So, Sonic saved me about 400 calories (300 or so on the latte and 50 or so on the sauce) on my lunch.

Sneaky bastards.

Mmmmmm...cake

This blog is being temporarily interrupted by my NetFlix addiction. Surely, when the new wears off, I will return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

In the meantime, my friend Carly sent me these pictures of a cake a friend of hers made for her husband (the friend's husband, not Carly's husband) who was celebrating his 60th birthday. The family joke is that his wife is killing him by feeding him junk food all the time, his favorite of which is Sonic.

Ava Adventures - Part 1

After a quick stop at Sonic for supper, my sister Terry, her daughter Katie and I left Beaumont Tuesday evening and headed to Houston. We checked into our Best Western hotel. It wasn't the "best" anything but it was our home for the next three days. Thanks to the loan of a bottle of Febreze from Cory and Jamie and after warming convenience store muffins in the microwave, we were pretty sure the next tenants would walk in and say, "Ah, muffins." We walked in and said, "What's that smell? Smells like pee."

Wednesday morning, Jamie was supposed to get to the hospital at 7:00 a.m. for her induction. We were going to meet them at the hospital at 9:00 a.m. Cory called me around 8:00 a.m. and said we had been pushed back to at least noon and for them to call back at that time before going to the hospital. As mentioned in a previous post, we were actually pushed all the way to Thursday.

So, we went to see the new Harry Potter and had an absolutely delicious lunch at Lupe Tortilla's before splitting up for nap time. After naps, Katie and I went back to Cory and Jamie's house. Sonic was again the winner for dinner time and, after Katie said she just wanted a corn dog, corn dogs became the theme of the evening. (See the picture on the previous post.) While eating our Sonic supper, we sat around and watched Ghost Hunters. Then, everyone went to their designated sleepy-time spots and went to bed.

Part 2 tomorrow:
"I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies."
(Yep, I was in the delivery room.)

Heaven is...

Heaven is in the simplicity of a Sonic grilled cheese sandwich.

(Okay, maybe I was really, really hungry, but that was a damn good sandwich.)

Sonic - What a Blessing

I went to Sonic this morning and after I tipped the rollerskating waitress $1 for skating out my breakfast burrito, large tots and cherry Dr. Pepper, she said, "Bless you." I didn't even sneeze or anything.

I love getting a blessing when I don't expect it. So, to everyone reading this blog:

Bless you!