Bottomless slushie day

Yesterday -- Monday the 23rd -- was infinite refill day for slushies for the local 7-11s.  The rules were that you buy a large slushie, get a sticker to put on the cup, and for the rest of the day just show the sticker at the counter instead of paying.

Much as I enjoy a bargain -- and my slushies! -- I was concerned that this would be a form of aversion therapy:  that by the end of the day I would never be able to look another slushie in the straw again.

I made it through four slushies.  That was about right.


If it had been "free fruit smoothie day", I would've done better.  :)


--GG

Slushie redundancies

For my morning break, I went out to get a slushie.  I work downtown.


First, I tried the Night Owl that's down the block, then kitty-corner.  It's my preference:  the middle size is on sale, and the flavor and consistency is slightly better than at 7-11s.

But, the "cola" cylinder was in defrost (!!!).  Gah.  That almost never happens at that store.
 
So, I crossed back to my block, and tried the 7-11 on the corner.  But there was something was wrong with that cylinder:  it wouldn’t extrude the slushie.

So, I went to the 7-11 that was past my building, across the street, and down the block.  As it turned out, that one worked.  But if it hadn't, I could've gone around the corner for another block and caught the Hungry Jack's (Burger King) that's having a $1 sale on slushies.  And if the line was too long, I would've doubled back and visited thethe 7-11 under the shopping center, near where I catch my bus.


So, five different cola slushie options within a three-and-a-half block strip.  It’s good to have multiple layers of backups.  :)


Put differently:  my work location is optimized for slushies.


--GG

Slushieriffic

I like slushies, smoothies, frappies, milkshakes, and the like.  I'm also relatively frugal.

We were at the Ekka (state fair) yesterday, and we wanted to buy some slushies.  But the frozen Coke vendors had massively marked up the cost -- basically double what it costs at the 7-11.  On the other hand, the fruit smoothie folks were basically charging what they charge ''on the outside''.  So for 50c more, I could have a regular-priced fruit smoothie rather than a same-sized frozen Coke.  Also, the largest size was not much more than the medium.  So, I bought four larges, for me and the kids (The Lady didn't want one).

But -- there was frozen yogurt mixed in, which has a slight sourness to it -- so the kids didn't like their smoothies.  So I had to drink mine, plus theirs.  So, that's four.

About an hour later, I bought another one:  that's five.

And on the way home, I picked up a frozen Coke.  That's six.  Although this time it was a medium.


I'm pretty sure that six frozen drinks in one day is a personal record.


--GG

No Slushie

For a guy who loves his slushies -- I didn't have any during this trip. On my final night in town, I stopped in to a 7-11 to try to get one -- but that flavor was in defrost mode. Eh.

BUT -- I **did** manage to achieve most of my other food items: Taco Bell, donuts, cheap frozen burritos, IHOP, corn Chex, Dick's Drive-In, frosted mini-wheats, pizza from A Pizza Mart, root beer.

I didn't manage to get to the Vietnamese restaurant The Lady and I used to frequent when we lived a block away, or get to Family Donuts (tried once, but they had already closed), or Carkeek Park Grill (frequented by oldsters), or a pho restaurant.

But most of the stuff -- yeah. :)


--GG

Slushie buddy

As a government employee, I occasionally go to training sessions. A few weeks ago I went to a two-day "diversity training" session. Interesting stuff.

While there, I met someone from another work unit who is **also** a Slushie freak. Apparently, her co-workers kid her about it, and tell her that liking Slushies is a ''kid thing''. So apparently, meeting someone in his 40s who is also a Slushie person is a good validation.

We geeked out over the aesthetics of a ''proper'' Slushie, and I introduced her to the shop downstairs in my building where I get my daily fix.

Snapshot from her cellphone (ahhh -- modern technology!).


--GG

Optimized slushie

(Photo: Slushie of Destiny; my friend Slag's arm)


As you probably know, I like my slushies. It's my "afternoon break" ritual.

While going on a walk this morning during my morning break (I'm trying to go on short, brisk walks during my breaks), I noticed that the convenience store on the main floor of my office building has a slushie machine.

So, I checked it out during my afternoon break. Not only was the consistency highly pleasing, the flavor was even better than the 7-11 across the street (which, in turn, is better than the flavor of McDonalds and Burger King slushies).

Side note: You know how there's coffee snobs, and espresso/cappachino (misspelled!) snobs? Well, I'm a bit of a slushie snob.

Anyhow! The **best** part? They have a "loyalty card" (what I think of as a punch card): buy a few, get one free. And the ratio of purchased-to-free is **very** good: buy three, get the fourth free.

And! At the 7-11, they have a small, medium, large, and very large size. At this convenience store, they have all the sizes except for small. On the punch card, the free one is a large -- but the three you buy can be any size! Niiice....!!!

So, even though the same size cup is 20c more than at 7-11, for frequent fliers such as myself -- it's the place to go. :)

And, for those instances where their slushie machine is broken, or on defrost -- I still have three "back-up" 7-11's within a four-block strip.

Good stuff.


--GG