The Krispy Kreme That Isn't

I think we can all agree that the greatest experience in the world is eating a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut coming right off the assembly line. That's right, it is the greatest thing in the world (#2 and #3 on that list, respectively, are a eating a Chipotle burrito and blowing your nose using Puffs Plus tissues with Lotion. #4 is sex).

THE EXPERIENCE: You see the "hot doughnuts now" red light on. So you rush in and stand on the other side of the glass, watching the doughnuts ride down the conveyor belt and underneath the waterfall of icing. And then a friendly Krispy Kreme employee snatches a doughnut up and hands it to you, so hot, so fresh. You eat it and the world stops. The doughnut melts in your mouth - MELTS IN YOUR MOUTH - and you realize you don't want the world to start back up again. All you want is for that friendly employee to stand over your open mouth and continually drop hot, fresh doughnuts inside it. And that is why visiting a Krispy Kreme when the doughnuts are coming off the line is more than just a doughnut run, it is an experience.

The beauty of this experience is why I feel so frustrated when I hear people talking bad about Krispy Kreme. 90% of the time the naysayers are people who have never experienced a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut; never felt the warmth of the doughnut against their lips and felt the dough and icing ooze down your throat. Instead, they've seen the displays at their local supermarket or gas station and thought that this was a true Krispy Kreme doughnut. These people are under the impression that the sketchy looking, stale doughnut with the chipped icing is Krispy Kreme.

I tell you all of this to explain why I have issues with the new Krispy Kreme in Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. This new store opened on Tuesday morning to a throng of eager customers desperate for a fresh doughnut. Only you can't get fresh doughnuts off the assembly line at Dupont Circle because even at the new store they don't bake their own doughnuts. No, Krispy Kreme is trying this new idea of baking the doughnuts elsewhere (Alexandria, VA in this case), trucking them to the store and then hot-glazing them. That just seems wrong to me, almost like a glorified Krispy Kreme display at the grocery store. And even if the taste isn't so bad (though I can't imagine it's even close to the real thing) you're not getting the full experience of a real store. Yet everything looks like a real store: you've got the neon red sign, displays of doughnuts behind the glass counter, Krispy Kreme paper hats, coffee and more. But there is no assembly line of doughnuts and I think that is the most important part.

I will wait until I've been inside the store and tried the doughnuts before I pass judgement, but this does not sit well with me. No sir, I don't like it.

Metro Manners

I know this is a shocker, but the Washington DC Metro has been receiving a lot of complaints about their customer service. Some of the major complaints involve a station manager shooing a pregnant woman and her husband out of the station with a broom (before shoving the husband) and a metro train operator leaving her packed train during rush hour because her shift was over. As a result, Metro will be giving special training to managers, train operators, and other employees that deal directly with the public. Smashing idea! Good show, I say.*

As of yet, there is no word on whether or not the customer service training will address the topic of arresting women and children for eating food in Metro facilities.

UPDATE: I'm thinking that maybe the Metro Police were not included in the customer service training.

*-I must say that in my latest interaction with Metro, the station manager went above and beyond the customer service call of duty.

New Women's Beach Volleyball Fan

I've been watching a bit of the Olympics and I've decided that I'm a Women's Beach Volleyball fan. Although, I can't quite put my finger on why. Nope, no idea.

UPDATE: I've found one reason to love beach volleyball: Each match is a party!

Lunna, I Love You

I recently bought a new chair for my bedroom. Her name is Lunna. Isn't she beautiful:

I found her at Ikea, in blue with a foot stool, and they said I could keep her. I of course had to pay some fees to the Ikea Association, but she is now officially mine. And we go everywhere together.

Lunna and I like to watch TV

Wow, that Kramer is so funny. What crazy scheme will he think of next? Lunna loves the coffee table, coffee table book idea. She says it would keep her company while I'm at work. Awh, poor Lunna. Doesn't she look so lonely when I'm not around?


Lunna and I also like to eat dinner together

I'm a messy eater and Lunna loves that. Her favorite food is broccoli. Ick, I hate broccoli!

Before I got Lunna, I used to do most of my thinking while I was on the can. But now, I do all my thinking while sitting on Lunna.

She's such an inspiration!

And after having such a long day, both Lunna and I get really tired. That's when we cuddle up together.

Look at Lunna eyeing those chips while I'm sleeping. She's so silly!

That's why I love my Lunna. She's a spectacular chair...and so much more.

The Irony of SmarTrip

I hadn't ridden the DC Metro in quite some time. I'm not sure why - I think the excessively long time it takes to actually get in to the city by Metro, even from Arlington, combined with the not-so-cheap cost usually loses to a quick drive or a more expensive cab ride. But the circumstances this last Friday made taking the Metro seem like a good idea. You can probably see where this is going, but just in case, it turns out that taking the Metro was a bad choice.

The evening started with me and a friend (we'll call her Jo-Jo) parking in the long term parking lot at the Van Dorn Metro station. When I had last ridden the metro awhile back parking at long term lots was free after 10pm any night and on weekends. If you did have to pay it was with cash upon exiting. But as of June 28th, this is no longer the case, and despite there being signage present, I didn't totally understand how things had changed (more on this later). The evening continued with about an hour long metro ride that, by car, would have taken 25 minutes. However, we didn't have to deal with driving through the city or parking in the city, so this really wasn't all that big of a deal - just annoying.

The evening was fun - music and drinks were both present - and at the end of the night, Jo-Jo and I headed home via Metro. Another hour went by (during which we realized we spent about 2 hours total on the metro and only 2.5 hours total actually enjoying our evening) and we arrived back at the Van Dorn station. We hopped in the car and drove to the gate to leave, only to find it down, and another car in front of us unable to get out. That car backed up and headed towards the station and I pulled up to the gate.

Now, this is where I will explain how things have changed since I had last been on the Metro. As I said, anytime after 10pm or on the weekends, Metro parking was free.

No longer. Now, weekends are still free, but during weekdays, as long as the Metro is still running, parking fees apply. Lame, but fair enough. But unlike the "old days," to pay for your parking you need what is called a SmarTrip card (the card is apparently smart enough to take your money, but not smart enough to have the correct amount of the letter "T"). A SmarTrip card is basically a plastic card that you hold on to and can put money on and use to ride the metro and pay for your parking. If the money on the card gets low, you recharge it. In theory, you buy these at any metro station through a SmarTrip kiosk. A lot of things work in theory...

So I was at the gate, when the gruff attendant "explained," through mumbles, that I needed to go back to the station because the only way out was by paying with a SmartTrip card. I quickly backed out and returned to the station. I saw the woman that was in front of me, standing at what I assume was a SmarTrip kiosk, looking perplexed. We began to discuss how we both thought parking was still free after 10pm and that we hadn't heard good things about the SmarTrip. Then she noticed that the machine wouldn't accept her credit card. By this point, the station attendant had walked over to see if he could be of assistance (this time a nice man). The woman tried to use her card again when the attendant explained that, for some reason, if you have used your credit card anywhere that day, the machine won't accept it. When I say "anywhere" I don't mean at any other station, I mean anywhere in the world. Why, he isn't sure, but he's just the messenger.

She pulled out some cash, bought her card and was on her way. Then I began my efforts to purchase a SmarTrip card. First thing I noticed is that your only option is to purchase a card for $10. The machine excepts dollar bills, fives and tens. There is no place to return change of any sort and the station attendant explained to me that, while the machine will accept twenty dollar bills, it will not give you anything back but a receipt saying that the machine has eaten your twenty - no SmarTrip card with twenty dollars on it and no twenty dollar bill back. Metro has dealt with this problem by taping two signs, printed on an office laser printer and white printer paper, explaining that the machine does not take twenties. Fabulous.

The only cash I had on me was $3 in ones, and even though I might have been able to dig up 7 more dollars in change in my car, the machine won't accept change, so that is not an option. I tried my first credit card: DENIED. I tried my second credit card: DENIED. I tried my debit card: DENIED. I tried my debit card as a credit card: DENIED. So that was 3 of my credit cards, plus the woman in front of me, all denied. I know that I used none of those cards anywhere else that day, but you can't explain this to the machine, and though the station attendant is quite sympathetic, there is nothing he can do. But I looked to him anyway. "What do I do?" I learned later on that the solution he came up with was only presented because he thought I looked like a "trustworthy person."

The station attendant gave me a twenty dollar bill and said that if I could pay him back tonight (at this point is is 2:30am), I can borrow the twenty to buy a card. Remember that a twenty dollar bill does me no good at the machine so I had to go to the cabs waiting outside and ask for change. Three cabs were waiting: two of them didn't have the change and after waking the third driver up he politely gave me the change. I returned to inside the station and purchased my SmarTrip card.

Meanwhile, Jo-Jo had called me twice, worried that I had gotten mugged on my way from the car to the station. I told her that I was on my way, thanked the station manager, and ran back to the car. We cruised over to an ATM, got some money, returned to the station, and paid back the station manager (I thanked him, shook his hand and this is when he informed me that I looked trustworthy).

Jo-Jo finally got dropped off around 3am, about an hour after we had actually returned to Alexandria. Around then I realized the best solution might have just been to wait for an hour in the parking lot until the gates went up.

But this whole process makes me wonder, what was Metro thinking when they instituted this SmarTrip card requirement to exit the parking lot? How could they not thoroughly test these machines before rolling the system out? How can they have a machine that eats your twenty dollar bills? And, last, but probably most important, are they doing anything to fix these problems, because I would be willing to bet that I am not the only person that has run across some kind of a problem like this.

Green Tea on the Flip Side

Many moons ago I visited Love Cafe to enjoy some fine conversation and, from what I had heard, some delectable cupcakes. I was not disappointed.

But in addition to these 2 wonderful things, I learned of a new enjoyment: Cricket Cola. Basically, Cricket Cola is regular soda but the caffeine is replaced with GREEN TEA. I wouldn't normally care all that much about a drink containing green tea, but this is drink is wonderous.

Drinking some Cricket Cola goes a little bit like this: ::take a swig:: Hmmm? It's just regular cola. I mean, tasty but what's the big... ::swallow:: HOLY CRAP, that's green tea!? I'm confused, but intrigued. ::another swig followed by a quick swallow:: I don't know why, but I have to have more. ::quickly drink the rest of the bottle. Begin looking around frantically for more. People see the crazed look in your eyes and run away as fast as they can::

Yes, it's great stuff. But it's hard to find. Besides Love Cafe, the only other place I have seen it is a bagel shop over in Bethesda.

Across the street from my office is a deli that I go to alot, but I had not been in awhile. Today I went down to pick up some food and made my way to the back coolers to grab a drink. And there I saw it - several bottles of Cricket Cola (they have a diet flavor too, for you calorie watchers). I'm not kidding when I tell you that I let out a loud gasp.

And that is why I am sitting here, drinking some Cricket Cola as I share my joy with the world (Hi world. How's it going?). So if you see a bottle of Cricket Cola when you are out somewhere, try it and enjoy (you might have to shake gently before drinking because I've noticed that the green tea tends to settle to the bottom after sitting for a bit). You won't regret it.