What is it with Pepsi in Wisconsin?

Not to restart the age-old debate of Coke versus Pepsi, but I cannot believe how many establishments in Madison Metro serve Pepsi products. Most places I have lived have been much more balanced - some offer Coke, some offer Pepsi. In my California and Louisiana experience, movie theaters seemed to favor Pepsi products.

It doesn't bother me directly, but I eat out and see movies with others who have strong feelings about one product over the other. And, of course, they all prefer Coke to the point of refusing to buy Pepsi. So I find myself feeling bad because I can have drink that I will enjoy and they will not. I know I shouldn't feel bad since it's their choice, not mine. I wish that the others I go out with could get something they like, too. But here in Madison Metro I have found only one theater that serves Coke (and I suspect that will change soon).

Thoughts?

New Apartment, New Town, New State - New Life?

Here I am in Madison, Wisconsin. I've actually been here for about six weeks, but the town recently went through a defrost cycle so it is like being in a new place - again! For people who have lived here, or anywhere with a real winter, for a long time, may think I'm nuts. For them, it's just the normal freeze-thaw cycle. For someone who has lived most of their life in Southern California, where the seasonal landscape change is brown to greeenish-brown to golden-brown and back to brown, going from very cold and white to suddenly shorts weather, green grass (that somehow was hiding under the snow), and hundreds of thousands of trees with buds openning. The most unusual change may be the numerous, desolate ice fields that were filled with trucks and fisherman suddenly have become ponds and lakes full of geese and ducks (I'm assuming the trucks were removed prior to the thaw).

The apartment is a bit small compared to what I had been renting out West, but it's also less than half the price! The utilities have also been noticably lower here despite the extra cold. It is comfortable for now, but I really am a house and yard kind of person. I like to do home improvement projects as they give me a sense of accomplishment which can be harder to come by working on conceptual matters at the office.

Wisconsin seems like an essentially nice place geographically (if you don't mind the cold, which I don't). It seems to be filled with a lot of friendly people who like to talk. I'm a cheese lover by nature, so I have been indulging in that aspect of Wisconsin living - a wide variety of locally made fromage.

Anyway, this blog isn't intended to be personal diary but I make no promises. My interestes are many and varied. Politics, genealogy, gemology, motorcycle, religion, sex, movies, music, they are all fair game.

Please participate.

Don