Snow before Halloween?!

Growing up in New England I am use to snow at nearly any time of the year. Heck, New England gets so much snow that there is a saying, “there are only two seasons in New England; winter and road construction season (summer).” Every year there will be different amounts of snow but no storm ever compares to that first snow. The air gets crisp and when the first snowflake hits the ground you know that no matter the date winter has begun. Some year’s winter starts early and some years it starts late, some years there is a lot of snow some there is next to nothing, but you would be hard pressed to go an entire winter without any snow. This year looks like it will be an early year since they are getting snow while I type this. There is another saying that I remember while growing up, “You know that you’re in New England when you have to design your kids Halloween costume to fit over there snow suit.” It looks like that saying will be quite true for everyone in that region of the country this Halloween, heck it may be even true for the northern half of the Atlantic seaboard. 

This afternoon surprised me, not because we got rain here in the greater D.C. area but because we got and are getting honest to God snow. Now I am sure that there has been snow this early in the past, but in my entire time living down here (which as of August has been five years) it has never snowed this early. When I was first told about the forecast for snow I suspected that the weather man would be wrong but to my surprise, and probably a surprise to a lot of people it did snow. This surprise is evident by the locals in ability to drive in the stuff which seems to be worse today than past winters, either because of the early snow of because they can’t drive well in any precipitation. Anyway, today has been a surprising start to winter, which if my experience in New England has taught me anything about, this will be a long one.

I wonder how all those occupy [insert city name here] people are doing?

D&D Soda

A few weeks ago a friend of mine posted a link to a line of Jones Sodas; this line was the Dungeons&Dragons line. Being a D&D player I thought “hey that may be something fun to pick up and share at the next session.” So I clicked the link and bought the six pack of soda and had it shipped to my apartment. A week and a half goes by and my sodas finally arrive. This past weekend the D&D group was meeting so I brought and shared the sodas. Needless to say everyone liked the sodas and the D&D aspects of them. Now, you may be asking yourself, “how are these sodas D&D sodas and not just regular sodas?” To which I respond, the theme. Like many of Jones Sodas there is a theme to this pack, this them is D&D, other soda themes that Jones Soda have made in the past include Thanksgiving and Holiday packs (which included Christmas and Hanukkah) as well as Hotwheels and a Halloween theme packs. In a soda theme pack the artwork and text describing the soda are altered to meet with the theme. So while the D&D pack had a flavor of rood beer it was called Dwarven Draught. This was paired with a text describing the soda in theme (so it describes it as if you were in a world with Dwarves). 

As for the sodas themselves they were great, as are most Jones Sodas’. I would say while the D&D soda may be a bit pricy for a six pack since after shipping it was a bit over twenty dollars. But for those of you who are D&D fans it may be worth it. The art work is great, the taste amazing and the theme really comes across well. If you want the taste without the price you can go to a local store and get Jones Soda from the soda aisle which should have a few options to choose from (at least we do here in the northern Virginia area).

Pictures and what was written on the sodas back are included so you can take a look.

Illithid Brain Juice

To a mind flayer, nothing tastes sweeter than yummy Brain Juice. Now you can feed your own inner elder brain. Tentacles not required.

Effect: You are stunned (save ends).

Aftereffect: You feel smarter for 1d10 minutes.

Flavor: Grape Soda

Potion of Healing

Four out of five adventures agree: A potion of Healing is the perfect pick-me-up after going a few rounds with an ancient red dragon (the fifth adventure was eaten.)

Effect: you can spend a healing surge and end all thirst related effects you suffer.

Flavor: Black Cherry Soda

Eldritch Blast

Nothing says energy like and Eldritch Blast. It vanquishes thirst and can be used as a ranged basic attack!

Effect: Upon reducing this bottle to 0 oz., you can grab a full one as a free action.

Flavor: Green Apple Soda

Dwarven Draught

Dwarves know mining, dwarves know metalworking, but above all dwarves know root beer. Dwarven Draught is inspired by the best recipes if the dwarven clans. It’ll put hair on yer chin.

Effect: It’s good for what ales you!

Flavor: Root Beer

Bigby’s Crushing Thirst Destroyer

The wizard Bigby invented his Crushing Thirst Destroyer right after an excursion to the City of Brass. So mighty is this beverage that the heat of a hundred efreets is no match for its powers of refreshment.

Effect: You gain thirst immunity for 2d10 minutes.

Flavor: Pure Cane Cola

Sneak Attack

In this kill-or-be-killed world, you need the ultimate refreshment of…vanilla? Sneak Attack hits you in that sweet spot when you least expect it.

Effect: You are dazed (save ends)

Aftereffect: You feel super for 1d10 minutes.

Flavor: Cream Soda

The Bet

 So I have made a bet with my roommate, if I go the entire month of October without having sweet snacks than he will buy me lots of candy.  Now for those of you who know me really well you will know that this will be very very hard for me since I LOVE candy and sweets. I am the sort of person that would eat only candy if I could, I love sweet things and candy is the sweetest. The bet includes things like ice-cream and cake too so even my non-candy sweet foods have been impacted. I will have to get my sweet fix in other ways, soda is still ok but after a bit I get sick of it after a while so that is not the solution. The only other alternative that I have been able to come up with is fruit. They have many natural sweeteners and are quite good.  I will have to eat more strawberries, pineapples, apples, blueberries and fruits like them. With my candy budget stopped (which is a sizable budget) I now have more funds to have more fruits and yogurt with fruit. For a few months now I have been having yogurt with fruit but I will be having a lot more this month.

 The bet has two main purposes the first is to help me eat less candy. Over the summer my brother made the comment that I was “addicted” to it. While I do not agree with this theory I would say that it is something that this month will prove or disprove. If I am able to go the entire month without eating candy or sweets then it will be a good argument against his theory. The bet will also help me be a bit healthier, with less sugar and more fruit I should have a good month of October health wise. As they say an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and I will be having many this month. So that’s a month of no doctors.

As you may have noticed I am posting this three days into the month so you may be wondering how it’s going. So far it is going well. I have yet to have chocolate or other sweet treats but I have had numerous yogurts with fruit. There is a bad thing though, I bought two things of chocolate to eat the last day of September but I only ate one of them so I have another that has been staring at me, taunting me with its chocolate goodness. Right now I would say I am doing well in the bet but I know that it will get harder, there have been many Lent’s that I have tried to go cold turkey from chocolate for forty days and have yet to do it. While this is ten days less it will be difficult. I typically failed half way through lent or about two thirds through this bet. I hope it goes well. Feel free to eat chocolate and candy as a show of support for me.