My first CAFAA meeting

"Hi my name is Steve and I'm an addict."

"Hi Steve!"

"It's been 2 hours since my last drink. Over the last year I've come to realize how addicted I am. I tried cold turkey. I tried weaning myself off. Nothing has worked. It's cost me productivity, relationships with friends, and more hours of sleep than I can count. No matter what I do I simply can't shake it. That's why I am here today."

*******

I have an addictive personality. It's why I have never tried cocaine. I would love to try it but a friend said, "You do it once and you'll be stealing from your Momma within weeks."

The addiction I thought would be my ruin was alcohol. Then again, I'm not dead... yet so alcohol may well prove to be my arch nemesis. 

For today? Today I have come to grips with the fact that I can never safely have another Coke Zero. While that may seem like no loss let me tell 'ya... if God said, "Ok, for the rest of your life you are able to consume alcohol or caffeine without any side effects. You choose which."

I'm grabbing a pot of coffee and dumping a 2 liter of Coke Zero in it.

*******

I've ridden the caffeine roller coaster for decades. When I get too addicted I could go turkey, feel like shit for three days and start the fourth day with a pot of Columbia's best. Rinse and repeat.

I'm also an insomniac. For years I blamed it on my aunt Ruth taking to see the movie Coma. A 9 year old shouldn't watch people be induced into comas to harvest their organs. "Nighty-night. It's ok Steve, nobody will do this to you..." I saw it again a few years back and it is awful. Some movies don't hold up over time, but I digress..,

Anytime an insomniac tells someone of their affliction the response is a list of home remedies. They mean well, but in the age of google there is nothing they can offer me that I haven't already tried.

Obviously there is a link to caffeine and like most people I became more sensitive as the years went by:
Late 20's - no coffee after 12
Mid-30's - no coffee after 12, no Coke Zero after 4
Mid-40's - no coffee after 10, no Coke Zero after 2
Mid-50's - one cup of coffee, no Coke Zero in the afternoon
57? - No sleep for Steve if drinks more than one Coke Zero

*******

In all previous google searching I had not read of anyone reaching this level of caffeine sensitivity. It turns out that I'm not alone but it's very rare. I'm sad but not angry. Realistically, all those years of drinking a dozen full corn syrup Cokes per day should have given me diabetes. I dodged a bullet there. 

So don't cry for me Argentina but the next time you enjoy an icy Coke Zero on a hot day think of me drinking shitty Diet Caffeine Free Coke. I want to wish you well and I want a fly to land in your drink.

*****

Scratching your head wondering why the post is titled CAFAA? I didn't realize there was a group for my fellow caffeine addicts... until today. Say hi to the newest member of https://caffeineaddictsanonymous.org/

Joking... I despise 12 step programs but that's a story for another day.

Life is weird.

It's for a good cause

The picture is real... no photoshop used here. Some Bible thumpers have called for a boycott of Pepsi. Apparently Pepsi is not homophobic enough for them. I'd provide the link but I have no desire to further their cause.

Instead I bought a Pepsi and drank all of it what I was able to choke down.

I’m old enough to remember when the forces of hate had power. They still do but big corporations have realized it’s in their interest to ignore them.

******
From what I've been told Pepsi here is made with real sugar so it tastes just like it did in the US 30 years ago.

Getting Fat(ter) for no good reason

McDonalds is running a promotion of giving away a Coke glass with each purchase of a Super Size meal.The problem is that the glasses are ugly and small.

Hence I've only made a dozen trips. (I broke one that's why there's only 11 up there.)

Now if they were giving away a glass like the one to the left that would be worth getting fat(ter) for.

Coke fridge update

Lights were installed and the fridge is looking great! I'll post pics of the finished product once I get all the shelves cleaned.

Scraping the rust off is very time consuming. I'm almost done with the one on the left. Once I have the rust off is it worth painting them? If so, what kind of paint? I'm very ignorant on these things.

A Coke product I don't want

I have several pictures on my camera that I'd like to use for the blog but neither of my card readers are talking to my computer. I did find this picture from my trip to Atlanta in February. As much as I like to collect Coke products and wear Coke clothes, even I could not wear the pants on the left.

There's something just not right about having "The real thing!" in front of your genitals.

Christmas in April

You are looking at the two proud owners of a Coke refrigerator.

Adrienne found the blog from my FaceBook account. She read my sad tale of wanting this as much as the Apple II (that I didn't get). I was greeted with a sign of "Merry Christmas Steve!"

In other words, she gave me the refrigerator.

She also said something along the lines of "Tell Travis he can bite me..." But I really don't remember for sure. I was too excited.

Update: Yes, those are Coke flip-flops I'm wearing with my Coke shirt. I'd have also been wearing Coke shorts but I was headed to Sharjah (to pick Ann & Mike) and they are too conservative there for shorts.

Top of Jebel Hafeet

This is the last stop - at the top of Jebel Hafeet.

This is from the peak looking back towards the city.

Another view of the city in the desert.

There's the Coke cafeteria and a large parking lot.

Coffee cups made it safe

It's handy having a friend who owns an art gallery and commonly has to wrap art work for travel.  Tony did a great job.  All five cups, four mugs and soup bowl made it safely.  It's amazing how much more a place feels like home while drinking from a Coke coffee mug.

My laptop, however, didn't fare as well.  The screen doesn't work so I'm using it by projecting through my TV.  Surfing the internet can't get any lazier than doing it while lying on the couch.

World of Coke

I've done the Budweiser tour twice. If I had time to kill in St. Louis I'd do it again. You get to see the Clydesdales and the 3 story high vats where the beer is brewed. They discuss the various types of beers they make and even pull out a tray of beechwood to show how the beer is beechwood aged.
I set the bar for the World of Coke based on Budweiser. Sadly, Coke came up short. We didn't see any production facilities. They did have a lame mini-production facility that looked like something out of Willy Wonka. It was lame enough that I forgot to take a picture.

They did have an eight minute 3D movie. The seats rocked back and forth and they added wind and sprayed us with water to enhance the simulation. It was pretty cool.

Here's Matt sampling one of the Coke products from around the world. Coke claims that the only difference between the types of Coke around the world is the type of sweetener used. Anyone who had Coke in Nepal and Coke in the US knows this isn't true. I have no idea why Coke would try to make the claim.

Selling Coke

Buy a six pack of Coke get two bags of noodles for free!

I don't see this promotion working too well in the US.

Then again, the price of $1.25 for the six pack and noodles, is also something I can't imagine in the US.

Coke promotes recycling!

Recycling is not a high priority here. I cringe every time I throw away a glass Coke bottle. I have no idea how they keep making Coke in NEW glass bottles and still only charge a dirham (25 cents).
I saw this recycling canister in Dubai. Note the "sponsores by Coca-Cola"

Bad idea that lives on

I'm old enough to remember pull tabs in the US. I remember walking the beaches in Corpus Christi and seeing pull tabs everywhere. They were a bad, bad invention. It took a couple of iterations of pop-tops to kill the pull tab, but thank God they did. (Early pop-tops would cut your finger as you opened the can. Smart.)

You can get your very own pull tab Coke for as little as a single Dirham.

Arrival in UAE

I made it in safely. Thanks to the University, upon arrival in Dubai I was able to bypass very long (and not very pleasant smelling) lines.
Ann and I went shopping this morning and I really couldn't think of anything I couldn't find. In other words from really cheap red onions to stew meat I found every non-pork product I was looking for...
Ann said cabs were cheap. Imagine a 15 minute cab ride for $1. Roundabouts will take some getting used to but the traffic is not that bad.
Anyhow, I'm in and alive. Everything went smoother than I could have expected.