dunkinbeatstarbucks

You may have seen the advertisements on TV, or just in your local Dunkin' Donuts location. In a national survey Dunkin Donuts coffee beat Starbucks. Awesome. Congratulations. Too bad it really doesn't mean anything. There is only one reason that Starbucks exists. And it isn't good coffee, cause they don't have that.

Starbucks exists because people are assholes.

People don't go to Starbucks to get coffee. They go because it makes them feel important. Spending $5 on a glorified milkshake that they put soy juice in (no way do beans get milked) upon your request, don't forget no whip. That'll make you fat. Why? So that you sound important when you go to get your caffeine addiction in the morning or whatever time of the day you may feel you need it. Go and chug a Mountain Dew, and accomplish the same thing. But it has been dubbed neccesary to go and drink coffee all day long, because "important" people do it. Drinking that coffee and acting like a stuck up rich bastard or bitch, when you aren't even paying for, your own coffee, your parents are, aint' doing shit for you. Why not go make your self important. Cause the damn coffee isn't going to.

But no, if you go to this place at different times of the day you'll see the certain types of assholes that make this place an example of how people can not cope with normality. They can't deal with having to go to a gas station and get caught dead with "Coffee that's been sitting there for God knows how long". They want to be important. And, maybe if their boss, or someone they're interested in sees them in there it will boost their opinion of said wannabe coffee connoisseur. And chances are if it does help their opinion of that person, the viewing party is also, quite the douche bag.

I used to do that. I would go and take people to Starbucks. It makes them feel important. And usually it was convenient because they're littering the nation like a couple of happy rabbits. And the coffee was super hot, so it stayed warm forever with that fancy environmentally friendly 60% post consumer waste hot sleeve, and the damn green hole plugs.

I drink a lot of coffee. And guess what. It all does the same thing. I usually run on 5 cups a day. Mostly from Dunkin' Donuts. Why? because it is right across the street from my work. And they haven't charged me for coffee in the last 3 months. If there were a Starbucks across the street, and they gave it to me for free, I would get it from there. Caffeine is caffeine. The fact that this was put up as a national survey made me realize why our country has no money. WE SPEND IT ON THIS BULLSHIT!

Why not buy people food and clean water with the probably millions of dollars you spent sending a lady around with a clipboard with 2 check boxes and color printing on that page. No doubt, millions of dollars were just spent to say a more media friendly version of "nananana boo boo, mine is better than yours!" What the hell. If I had the proverbial check that was written to do this project, I would never have to work again. Nor would my children. Coffee has become so big of a pop culture item, that advertisment firms creamed themselves when they thought up this one, in their conference rooms that they usually only hold circle-jerk conventions in. Well, the only thing I have left to say, is that I feel really bad for the dude that has to clean that soggy and sticky conference room with his gas station coffee. He could've been someone important in that room. If only he drank important people coffee. Too bad. He missed out on all that could've been. Only because he knows that it really doesn't mean 2 shits which coffee everyone else drinks. His gas station shit, goes better with the whiskey he has in it anyways.

But why is all the Whiskey gone?

So for the last half an hour, I've been trying to figure out what the hell my computer is trying to install on itself. Beats me. I spent another 15 minutes trying to figure out what programs were running in the background. No idea with that either. It's getting time to wipe this thing again...

More to the point now. Today is one of those days that you tell everyone was the worst day in the world, but when you sit and think about it for a second, it really wasn't that bad. I worked at the Delaware location. People get mugged, shot at and held up on a regular basis. Not too bad. The night dragged on forever, 5 am couldn't come fast enough. It was going well, until ten to, when 10 people walked in the door, and wrecked my almost finished night. Pushing my getting out time to 515 instead of just 5. 15 minutes means a lot when you have to drive to meet someone at a specific time, and when you get there, they aren't there. So that means, I just drove 20 minutes, to turn around and go 30 minutes the other way. After all of that, and some other meaningless garbage throughout the night, I started thinking. And that damn Rolling Stones song came on in my car on my hour long expedition to no where. The only difference to the song "You can't always get what you want" that I would change is the catch line. And it would be changed to "Ha ha, you're actually almost never going to get what you want. If you ever do I'll be surprised."

It doesn't flow as well though.

I talked with the sister earlier, whom I owe a box of oatmeal cream pies to, about having a good things do happen party. When I get to 10 on the nifty tally sheet I started, we have a party. She finished me off mentally by saying, "If you get lucky we may even have 2 parties in 1 year!"

You have a gift for phrasing Amanda.

So now we get to the meat and potatoes of the matter.

It's been a long night. I haven't gotten the job I was sorta-kinda-in a whim-given. And won't be any time soon. Honestly, who lets a 20 year old run a damn store? I mean, they do a lot of drugs, but apparently not that many. Girl factor, terribly despicable is a good starting point. And, I'm not even playing music anywhere this week. So that means, I have open time slots, when I'll probably do something that isn't that productive. Like sleep for 20 hours in one day. And oh yeah, my aunt didn't die. She was kind of, let go. Columbia University sent up a team to, gather parts. Yeah, organ harvesting. Sounds like something right out of Alien. I know. So that's the most serious thing I have to deal with. But, after an hour long drive, from Allentown to North Tonawanda, there was nothing left for me to do but have a drink.

THE DAMN WHISKEY IS GONE!

And I wouldn't mind picking up some more, but, I'm 20, and I don't live in Louisiana so I can't buy it, and I've been clean for a few months now. And I'm trying to keep it that way.

So alcohol, has become my new re-kindled relationship. Oh how I love whiskey. Since I have zero state of mind enhancers I'm working on hour 28 of being awake. Drinking tea, and listening to the Beck song - "Where it's at" on repeat, because it makes me feel a little more chill and cool in a room with dim lights and the sun coming up in the background, when I know I'm really not that cool. But chill is something I have way down.

What set that off, it the fact that Jim, the owner of my company, the guy who's name is on the shirts, hats, signs, commercials, yeah, that Jim, called me today. He asked how everything was going, and after I went through a little bit of that, he told me to go and get myself a drink. Oh how I tried Jim. Better luck next time. And Amanda, today counts as a negative tally mark.

Normal Wednesday...

Until I found out that my aunt was in the hospital, with a massive brain hemorrhage and had little to no response to anything but a deep tissue pain test. Whatever the hell that is. I'm assuming its the doctors sticking a very large needle in you and seeing what happens.

Back story:
My aunt and uncle moved here a couple years ago from Arizona because they wanted to get away from the place that their daughter was killed. Yes. Killed. Hit by a drunk driver, thrown into a telephone pole and broke her spine in half. She died instantly. By the way, this was their only child.
So, they moved here, and rather quickly became my new favorite aunt and uncle. Because they're crazy, and, well, apparently, that's how I like them...

Anyways. My aunt has had a fair amount of health problems for her age (I believe she's around 50, probably a little less) and has to make occasional trips to the doctors. Well, yesterday, she was found un-responsive in her home. Was rushed to the hospital and has been there since. I didn't hear about this til tonight at work, the massive brain hemorrhage part. And more importantly, the, it's not looking good/probably not going to make it part. That's when everything hit. Or did it.

When I was little death never really phased me. It's sad, people get upset, but honestly, what are you going to do about it. I've found out what happens is that it will hit me later. I didn't realize that my grandmother had died til almost a year later, when something that I don't remember triggered it.

This is the issue. I've never had to stare death in the face. I found out after the death had occurred. I never had to deal with it just being around waiting in the shadows. So I guess that's what makes this a little different. Knowing that it's inevitable. But, just working that time issue out.

This is one of those times that you really can't hope for the best, because the best is not an option. So now, my whole family sits and waits. We won't be doing that for too long. Tomorrow, they just start pulling machines on a half hour to hour basis until one of two things happens. She kicks it, or it kicks her. How fun.

What a great start to a weekend.