Moody bears and energy drinks

Hey, if you haven't seen it yet, let your eyes wander westward to Patches, my blog's new mascot. A buddy of mine (who may or may not wish to remain nameless, so for now s/he will) has given Patches a new outlook on life: Movement!

No longer will Patches sit there, frozen in time, mouse poised in her fuzzy little paw. Now she blinks, scratches herself, uses the mouse ... and more. I'm not going to give it all away, but keep watching her. She's cuteness personified ... err, I mean bearified. So thanks, friend-who-will-remain-nameless-for-now. You roxors my boxers.

Now on to something completely different ...

I'm an energy drink nut. I know, I know, I shouldn't admit this after the whole "getting so sick I had to rent a hotel room in which to puke" incident in May. It started on Sept. 10, 2001. Besides editing TDH, I was writing in those days and had to come up with a last-minute feature I could write in one night. It sticks out in my mind because I ended up not turning it in due to the Sept. 11 plane crashes.

Anyway, my feature was on eight energy drinks that were making the rounds at the time (including KMX, Red Bull and the now-almost-extinct 180). I was already an avid BevNet user, so I pulled stats from there, conducted a very unscientific taste test, and interviewed a crapload of folks. (Favorite quote from the story: "Rainey was a little more confident of the drinks' abilities -- but said that she still mixed Red Bull, KMX and 180 together sometimes. 'I figure if I mix all three, it has to [give me energy],' Rainey said. 'They do help. They do. You just gotta get used to the tangy taste.'")

It was absolutely intriguing, watching people react to (in order) the packaging, the smell, the taste, and the building caffeine buzz. In fact, by the time we reached the eighth drink, they were pretty wild. It was the craziest I'd seen my coworkers act while sober. So I started branching out to the lesser known brews from smaller vendors.

It didn't take long to try everything available in Memphis' gas station convenience stores (which Matt calls party stores -- what's up with that?). So I started looking while I was road-tripping. In St. Louis, I found DefCon3 and Raw Dawg. In Los Angeles, I found Afri-Cola (not an energy drink, but a damn good brew you can't find locally). And in Cincinnati, I found Maxxx. So here's what I came up with on my way to and from Jax:

YET (Your Energy Tonic), Mega Energy, Mason Dixie Original Recipe, GinsengUP Ginger, Mason Dixie White Lightning, Jugular and Crunk (which I've been looking for since it hit the market, but it's not distributed in the South outside Atlanta).

All I've tried so far is the MD Original Recipe, and it didn't last too long. I didn't mean to chug it ... it just kinda happened. It was just that good. So if you find it, try it.

Also, if you come across something that looks interesting, IM or e-mail or call or comment. (Hey, I'm a very accessible person!) If you find something I haven't tried, I'll pay for you to ship me a couple of cans/bottles/PETs so I can cross them off my list. You'll win my undying love, and I'll have something to drink that doesn't come off the tea shelf! ^_^