Wondrous Apparitions, Provided by Magicians.

Some of you might be aware (although probably few of you care) that I have been on the hunt for the perfect beverage for quite some time. My perfect beverage would be one that is caffeinated, carbonated, flavored, and unsweetened. I have searched for many a long year, but my faith was finally rewarded. hi-ball energy water meets all the standards of my list of ideals, AND has taurine and b-vitamins. <3 <3 <3

In other news of no particular consequence, I read Mistborn this weekend and enjoyed it immensely. It's sort of an epic fantasy heist story, and I have a special place in my heart for cross-genre fiction. Anyway. That's your update kids; remember, sometimes it's monkeys.

This post is all about the linking. And the buying. And the thinking.
First off, politics:
Via next_bold_move, I found a clever little widget that matches your stand on political issues with stands avowed by various candidates for the presidency in 2008. My top match was, surprisingly, a guy I didn't know was running, former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel. That link goes to his bio and position statements, which are in a .pdf (be advised). Oddly enough, when I used the widget this morning, this fellow was at the top of the list for 'most often top matched' by users of the site. He's pretty progressive, so I wonder if that means that the widget link was circulated mostly in progressive forums, or if there really is a much larger percentage of progressives in the population than I usually suspect.

Second, capitalism.
- Dover Books has a bargain books section that is extremely compelling to me. I'm trying to hold off from buying 10-15 books at the moment. We're only talking about $40-50 worth of books, but bookshelf space is at a premium at EHQ...
- A friend in Oregon is going through some tough times (sudden departure on the part of her partner) and facing some financial woes. She is a consultant for one of those sex-toy party companies, and earns commission on purchases from parties and over the interwebs. My course of action is clear in this matter, I think. ;) (And if you were thinking, "Oh crap, I'm out of lube" or something on that order, please consider buying from this lovely lady, okay?)
- The Red Jak energy drink that is amber is not the same as the Red Jak energy drink that is red. They are made by different companies, just... have the same name, and taste very similar. Who knew?
- In other energy drink news, Bawls Sugar-Free tastes like Nerds candy dipped in caffeine. Mr. Yuck-face applies. lexpendragon is welcome to the entire world's supply of the stuff.

(Actually, I kid. I've never had the Con Crud. I've also never been ghost-dosed with anything. Considering the number of people I share drinks with at Con, these statements are sort of amazing. But anyway...)

As previously mentioned, Dragon*Con was apparently the recipient of approximately eleventy billion cases of Freek energy drink in various flavors, some sugar-free. Although I have not historically been an energy drink fan, this was tasty enough to make me decide that consuming vast quantities of it was a good idea. Now, apparently, I'm an addict. Alas, it doesn't seem to be available in Kansas City, so I've been trying to fill this previously unnoticed void with other sugar-free energy drinks.

So far, I've tried:
- Red Jak's sugar-free version (which is confusing, because it seems to come in two different species - one is a silver can, and the liquid inside is red, and the other is a blue and black can, and the liquid inside is amber colored -- both taste the same, though), which tastes like strawberry soda that somebody dropped a ground-up Flintstones vitamin in.
- Rockstar Sugar-free, which tastes like bubble gum flavoring. Not like bubble gum, mind you, but the sort of fake bubble gum flavoring that goes in children's toothpaste. It has an aftertaste of Flintstones vitamin, but it's not so prominent.

Either of those are acceptable, and both are suitable in the stimulant properties division, but neither is as good as either of the Freek sugar-frees. So I'm still looking. Apparently, there are enough products on the market that whole blogs are devoted to them. Who knew?