We all love a good carbonated beverage now and again, right? Many of us in college don't have much to turn to except such sodas-- maybe water, but that's nasty stuff. In our efforts to find the right soda, we all have our choices. Some of these are easy, like Pepsi or Coke. Some of us have diet, some enjoy a lemon-lime, some mix that lemon with the Coke/Pepsi. There's also the more unique oranges, grapes, and even cherries. My dad would even indulge in his favorite: 7Up Remix. But you've got to admit-- these soda companies are doing a pretty good job making a drink for everyone.

I have to say though--there are no markets for some flavors, but the companies keep trying.

Our first culprit in this soda game is Pepsi Spice. Now some may say that a taste test is the only way that you could understand the flavors that tickle your tastebus when you drink it. Some may also be wrong. Okay, now follow me here-- I'll give you a make-shift recepie for the stuff. Take two equal sized glasses. Half-fill one with regular Pepsi, half-fill the other with Cherry Pepsi. Now put half of the Cherry into the regular. Taste it to start. If you can distinctly taste the Cherry, then pour in more regular. Keep testing until you think you might taste the cherry, but not if you can totally taste it. This is the game you'll have all day drinking the stuff. You will have a thought that you might have some cherry flavor, but the next sip you won't taste any of it. You'll wonder where it went, then try again-- this time it will taste like cherry. You'll go in circles until you're crazy, because that's how it goes.

There is another soda out there that has caused great confusion each time I drink it. I thankfully have reached the end of my collection. The grief wasn't all about the soda being gross or bad-tasting-- it was all the mind games. Shasta, over the summer, released a flavor under their camoflague brand that was curiously titled Orange Creme. This attracted me when it was presented to me by Miss Karen Petrosky. I accepted her samples. Once I drank it I was confused. I had a splash of orange and I was amazed. I wondered where the creme was, so I sipped again. I experienced a zing of creme soda, but no orange. This cycle went on for each sip through the entire can of soda. I was perplexed. I pushed a can on Greg and he experienced the same thing. This was astounding.

I think it's good when companies try to accomidate to the diverse tastes of people, but I also wonder when it should stop. You know there are some strange people out there. I wouldn't think that someone could combine oranges and creme, but I was shocked to see and taste it. I am satisfied with the soda out there today. I have no insatiable desire to find new flavor combinations to satisfy some quirky need. Still, when I taste a new soda for the first time, I realize that some where, someone thought it would be a good idea, then someone thought it was a good final product, then someone marketed and sold it. Lastly, I bought it. As long as that goes on we can expect more curiously delicious beverages. Some day we may even have a soda that can challange my limits of curiousity enough that I could get smarter. Until then, I'll stick with diet.