I like Starbucks

Liking Starbucks seems to be fairly unpopular, at least among some of the people that I know, but screw that. I like Starbucks (or 4bux). It's not the best; there are a couple of local drive-through coffee shacks that I prefer, but all-in-all, there's nothing wrong with Starbucks if you have the money. It's like McDonald's, always reliably the same. I like McDonald's, too. Not every day, but I don't see anything wrong with it. I liked it in Germany that they had beer at McDonald's and at KFC for that matter. Fast food and beer may not be an American tradition, but that doesn't mean it's not tasty.

I'm a snob about a lot of things; I'll admit that. I don't drink coffee at most restaurants because most places service Maxwell House or Folgers, and that stuff is like drinking liquid shit. It's vile and disgusting. I also rarely drink coffee at other people's houses unless I know what they use for beans. I don't drink most American beer because it tastes like piss, or what I assume piss tastes like anyway. In a lot of ways, I prefer the smaller one-off kinds of places for food and drink, but sometimes you want a cup of coffee or some fries that taste exactly the same as when you were someplace else. That's where Starbucks and McDonald's come in handy.

There does some a point, though, when all that sameness is too much. I used to live in a place called Columbia, Maryland. It was one of the first planned cities in the country, and quite frankly it's the most white-bread, might as well be carved out of cream cheese place in the free world. Not that there aren't people of color living there; there are. I mean in the available shopping/eating/retail choices. There's no local flavor at all. I don't think you can get a decent, authentic Maryland crab or crab cake in Columbia, and that should be illegal. The only places that survive there are franchise places; anything one-off or authentic closes down in 6 months. Some days I miss the shopping, because there is some good shopping there, but mostly I'm glad I got out when I did.

You know what sounds good right now? A Venti Fat-Free, Sugar-Free Vanilla Latte from 4bux. I think I'll go get one at the new franchise in town that actually has a drive through so that I don't have to change out of my pajama pants.