I don't really have an addictive personality, but I will admit that I'm probably addicted to soda. When I was a kid, I used to drink bottled Coke by the case load. As I got older, my tastes turned to different sodas and Coke became less and less a part of the equation. Over the last few years I've pretty much settled on Dr. Pepper (or some cherry or vanilla version of it) and Mr. Pibb. The only time I ever drank Coke was in restaurants if they didn't have anything else I liked. Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!
Branelle and I were in Atlanta overnight this past February and stayed at the Omni CNN Center hotel downtown. We had a little time the morning before we left so we headed across the Olympic Park to The World of Coca-Cola.
It's kind of like an interactive museum for all things Coke. They have some cool stuff like the couch from the American Idol lounge that Nel is sitting on here. We walked through everything and watched the 4-D film they have. We even posed with the giant polar bear from the commercials (very cool by the way). They also have a working bottling plant that you can walk through as an exhibit. Everything was fine and we had a good time, but on the way out the evil of Coca-Cola surfaced through a seemingly friendly gesture.
They offer you a bottle from the on-site plant to take home with you. See?!? I told you - EVIL! I grabbed one, as did Nel. We didn't think much of it at the time, and even when we returned home I didn't give the little bottles much thought. A few days later, however, I was putting some things away and came across the souvenir bottles. I placed one on some built-in shelves that we have in our living room with a lot of other mementos, but decided that we certainly didn't need to keep TWO identical bottles - we have too much stuff already - so I placed it in our drink fridge (yes, we have a 2nd fridge that's just for drinks) to chill. A couple days later I was getting a drink and decided to grab the 8oz Coke just to get rid of it. It was DELICIOUS!
I had forgotten how good Coke from a bottle can be, but now the evil soda giant had gotten its hooks back in me (sort of, Mr. Pibb is a Coke product and I already drank a lot of that). I thought I was OK, but I started thinking about the 2nd bottle on the shelf. I tried to forget about it, but it was always there, almost calling to me. I finally caved and asked Nel if she really cared about keeping a bottle as a souvenir. She said no, and into the fridge went #2.
The 2nd one did it. The next time we were at Sam's I grabbed a couple cases of bottled Coke and it's been stocked ever since. I'm not sure I'm drinking MORE soda than I was before, but our recycling bin has gotten a lot heavier.
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