6 kinds of Diet Coke

What's up with all the kinds of Diet Coke out now? I went into the convenience store to buy a beverage yesterday, and bought the Diet Coke with Splenda because there was a 30-cent coupon. I made the comment to the clerk that there are "like six kinds of Diet Coke out now." So later I got to thinking and I actually underestimated. I count 7 kinds: Diet Coke, Diet Cokes with lemon, lime, and Splenda, Diet Vanilla Coke, Diet Cherry Coke, and the newest, Coke Zero, which seems to have gone from nonexistent to everywhere in the last week. Can Coke Zero actually be creating a new market? Isn't it just going to draw from the usual Diet Coke (or regular Coke) drinkers? By the way, Coke Zero has the same ingredients as Diet Coke, with the addition of another artificial sweetener, acesulfame potassium, along with the aspartame. I'm drinking one now (59-cents for a 20-oz bottle). It doesn't seem that different from the "original;" perhaps a little sweeter. Things that make you go "Hmmmmm..."

Joplin AirFest

Susan and I took Audrey to the AirFest yesterday. She still remembers going last year when she was just 2 years old. We couldn't go until Susan got off work at 2:00, so we missed the first 2 hours of the program. Audrey was less interested in the airplanes and more interested in the "kids' stuff" this year. I took her on the "Watermelon Slice" (the same one she rode a couple of weeks ago at the Festival of the Four States)--but first she wanted to ride in the small, closed-cage Ferris wheel. We had to wait for another kid to ride with her, since they had to have 2 per car. She chose the watermelon ride over the train, but the train was a nice photo. The other photo was a troop transport plane that the National Guard brought and let us walk through.

It was hot, but we had a popup shade tent. After the rides, we had time to eat a funnel cake, and then Audrey and I shared a watermelon flavor (her choice) tropical sno shaved ice. It was her first one ever, and mine too. Mmmmmm! (But $3.00 for some ice and a squirt of flavored sugar water. I need to get into that business.)

The show was over by 3:45, and we were the last ones on that part of the field because we had to finish our treat!

Lab Envy

So I just returned from the POGIL national meeting at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. They had a new chemistry building, including this Organic Chem lab. Wow. Check out how clean it is. It can be used for the hybrid "studio" courses in which lecture and lab time can be used interchangeably. I wonder how long it will be before we can get a similar remodel at Missouri Southern.

Maybe this post will reinvigorate my interest in maintaining a blog. I just haven't been able to find a reason to maintain it...