Dr. Pepper can

On one of my walks through the Lloyd District, I passed a tall building.  It had windows or walls where you could see your reflection.  I saw mine.

“Whoa. That’s me?”

Well, that’s what I would have said.

My belly is HUGE!  I hadn’t really put myself on a diet before, and I’m not now, but I’m going to use more calories and take fewer in.  That’s the “Terry Light” diet.  Not as many calories going in, more calories used by doing something physical.

Part of that has to do with Dr. Pepper.

You see, I’m one of those people that cannot have something on hand and ignore it.  If there is Dr. Pepper in the fridge, I’m going to drink it.  If there are chips and salsa in the kitchen, I’ll eat them.

As part of the “diet,” I made a deal with myself.  “Self,” says I, “You can have Dr. Pepper, but only if you ‘take a hike’ first.”  Meaning I had to “earn it.”

Yesterday, I walked to Safeway.  That’s a short walk.  I cheated.  However, they have refrigerators at the check-out stand filled with soda.  I bought a Dr. Pepper.   Figuring it was a grocery store and not a convenience store, I thought it would be inexpensive.   Was I wrong!  It cost $1.69 plus a nickel for a twenty ounce plastic bottle.

“Wow,” I thought.  “Inflation must really be bad!”

The next day, I went to Dollar Tree.  I was checking it out because (although I saved money) I gave Dollar Tree fairly short shrift in my recent article.  I have to point out that my wife loves the store, so I figured there had to be a reason.  While I was inside, I noticed they had refrigerators at the checkout cashier, too.  Those refrigerators had soda.  The bottles were the same size as the bottles in Safeway.  20 ounces.  The same brands.  Dr.  Pepper was one of those brands.

Yee-hah!

The price?

One dollar.

Plus five cents.

That’s 60% of the Safeway price.