Category: Atlanta

i’m finally done with all coke products

whbeebe

I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Along the way I grew up on Coca Cola, starting with the little green six ounce bottles that sold for 5 cents. As I grew older I branched out into other soda flavors and brands, but I always remained loyal to Coke.

When I married and settled down I noticed how I was getting fatter, and so I tried to switch to diet replacements as an aid to keeping the midriff from bulging too much. The first, and worst for me, was Tab. I tried other diet sodas including Diet Coke, eventually developing an “acquired taste” for it. I didn’t start drinking Coke Zero until I started traveling to Japan, where that’s the only diet soda they serve. I learned to like that, and eventually preferred it over Diet Coke.

Now we’ve got a re-release of Coke Zero called Coke Zero Sugar. And I’m here to tell you that as far as I’m concerned it’s absolutely horrible. I know many have written they can’t tell a difference, but I certainly can. The taste may be different, but it’s not improved, not by a long shot. Since, for health reasons, I need to completely switch off diet sodas, now’s as good a time as any. Thanks for the motivation, Coke.

life abides, death awaits

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Tomorrow marks the tenth week since my personal cat Lucy passed, along with Max. I really don’t constantly dwell on the loss, but Lulu and Ellipse are constant reminders of Lucy, as are Ruby and Annie of Max. The weeks are busy enough and the weekends equally busy with house projects. But in the evening, usually the Sunday evening after a short but intense weekend, the memories all come back and line up in my mind’s eye.

Family Extant

I was born in Atlanta and moved to Orlando 30 some years ago. Most of my family still lives up there, such as my mom and dad. Mom was in the hospital late last week having about one-and-a-half liters of fluid drained from around her heart. Several weeks before she’d been stung by a hornet and had reacted badly to the sting. A doctor proscribed steroids to bring down the swelling. My mother, being 83, had her immune system suppressed and caught a bad case of pneumonia, which led to the trip to the hospital and the massive draining. She went home today to be looked after by the rest of my family.

Mom, as they say, managed to dodge the bullet this time. I think a trip up to Atlanta is called for in the not too distant future.

Closing

I’m in a much more retrospective frame of mind these days, far more so than I’ve ever been. Perhaps that’s the product of getting old, like the fear of death. It’s not just my death I think about but death all around touching all I love and care about, leaving its shadow over everything.