Sodastream... GRRR

In a previous post, I made mention that I complained about Sodastream for about two months solid.  That sounds like something that should have been blogged about.  At the time, I didn't really have time to create a long blog post about it.  Now, I do. :)

For those, not in the know, allow me to explain what happened.  Sodastream has been a company that has provided the convenience of "DIY pop at home since 1998 with the Sodastream device.  You could carbonate your own water, and add a syrup to it to turn sparkling water into pop.  It was great!!  I bought a Sodastream back in about 2010 and loved using it.  Sodastream was pretty popular too.  It had a following of customers that kept coming back and buying syrups.  Then something happened...

They changed the syrup.

In lieu of smart business strategy, they completely removed the product line that made them successful and put out new formulations of syrup.  This, understandably, left a lot of long-time Sodastream users upset (including me).  The old Sodastream bottles allowed for 50 servings.  The new syrup allows for only 29.  Also, the amount of syrup in each bottle has changed:  500 mL for the old bottles vs. 440 mL for the new.  The syrup in the new bottles has been known to not taste as good as the old syrup either.  This becomes a major problem.

Sodastream's market strategy previously focused on trying to be better than pop in every way.

1.  Less plastic in the landfills.
2. Less expensive than pop.
3. Better tasting than pop.

Now, Sodastream has removed all 3 of those points.  Now that the bottles are smaller, this means more of Sodastream's bottles will end up in the landfill vs. before.  True, using recyclable and reusable Sodastream bottles to carbonate your "sparkling water" does reduce waste in the landfills, the old bottles were more effective at that, because those still get thrown away.

Sodastream is now more expensive than pop.  And now, by a larger margin than before.  For the most part, Sodastream WAS cheaper than pop, (unless you bought two-liter bottles of generic pop, in which case, there was no comparison.  Sodastream was supposed to provide great tasting soda for less than regular pop.  Now, the new syrup costs the same as the old syrup.  So, you are paying more per serving than before.  The increased rate in which you have to buy syrup means that now, Sodastream is more expensive than pop.  I'm better off buying regular, unhealthy pop, than drink Sodastream now.  Sodastream is still a better alternative to regular pop, health-wise, but definitely more expensive.

And the last point leaves itself up to opinion.  A lot of the people who drink the new syrups have stated that they do not taste as good as they used to.  In fact, a lot of people have even suggested the new syrups are "watered down."  On top of that, the new syrups have to be refrigerated and do not keep as long as the old syrups.

Apparently, Sodastream's strategy was to appeal to a new crowd.  They wanted to appeal to people who were more about health and not about pop.  Basically, the sparkling water movement.  The problem is, the new crowd didn't make Sodastream big.  They turned their backs on the customers that made them big in the first place to appeal to a new crowd.  That was their big screw up.  They should have kept both product lines going to appeal to both old, and new customers.  Sodastream, in my opnion, has been a soda company.  It even has soda in the name.  But now, they are tailoring themselves to sparkling water, and not so much soda.  I can buy a large bottle of flavored sparkling water at Walmart, right now, for less than a dollar, so they have their work cut out for them trying to jump into an established market.

However, complaining about the problem isn't the only thing I did.  I wanted to be able to justify using my Sodastream system.  Kraft foods and Sodastream used to have a contract deal.  They made syrups together.  Kool-Aid had 3 flavors of syrup available with Sodastream before Sodastream changed everything up: Cherry, Grape, and Tropical Punch.  I have actually gone through the trouble to invent my own syrup using Kool-Aid.  I initially tried to replicate as closely as I could the flavor of Sodastream's Kool-Aid line.  And then I one-upped it.  Now, I make my own syrups, they are caffeinated, and taste great.  If you want the recipe, click "Recipe for Kool Aid Pop" link at the top of the page.

Thanks for reading!!!  Feel free to comment.

Meet Me Ousside - Fake TV

What is our world coming to???  For some reason, "reality" TV is popular.  I do not know why.  I do not understand this.  Am I stupid to not be able to discern reality from fiction???  Because the last time I checked, reality is what is happening, right now, in the "real world."

Cause last time I checked... reality wasn't scripted.

 For those completely glued to "reality" TV, allow me to burst your bubble by saying, "That stuff isn't real."  It's scripted.  (To an extent).  Some of the dialogue and some (not all) of the language is unscripted.  But the scenarios and the drama that plays out in the show... most of the time, that is scripted.  Scripted events are created in a ploy to draw more ratings to the show.

But wait!!! This goes against the very definition of "reality!!!"  I sniff fraud.

But wait... there's something about it.  It has a drawing power that actually seems to attract viewers.  It defines the current trends.  People are actually INFLUENCED by it.  Too many people actually care about what is going on in the lives of the Kardashians.  Me?? I don't care!!  But style trends are influenced.  Women are getting their butts enhanced because of people like Kim Kardashian.  Me??? Not a woman!!! :p  The point is... these shows, as much as I hate to say it, have an influence that changes attitudes and actions in the real world.  Those scripted shows, and that drama, actually boils over into the real world, in ways that are somewhat disturbing.  People have altered their bodies, altered their personality, and changed their hobbies due to "reality" TV.  In a way, it becomes real to them.

Now, we have this girl named Danielle Bregoli.  She went on the Dr. Phil show, and pretty much made an ass out of herself.  It went viral on the Internet, and she got her own show.  This GIRL, who sleeps around, does drugs, and picks fights, gets her own TV show.  I have to ask... what do you want for our future?

Remember, "reality" TV influences the real world, regardless of how fake it is.  There is two major problems here:

1. Teenagers and kids who watch this show, will be influenced by her behavior.  
2. Danielle is still just a girl, herself.

With point number 1, as previously stated, her actions on this show, will influence other young people to act the way she does, because it is the "in-thing."  It is what she's doing, and it got her fame.  The sheep will follow.  You'll see more rebellious youth doing drugs, disrespecting their parents, and picking fights.  Why?  Because if someone they watch did that stuff, and get rewarded for it, then it must be all right for them to do it too.  Remember, as parents, the goal is to reward good behavior, and to discipline bad behavior.  That is conditional training.  Something that is done with pets as well.  Allowing a girl to get rewarded for doing bad behavior is just bad conditioning.  And with the influence of "reality" TV in the real world, this could spell big problems for society's future.

With point number 2, she is still just a girl.  She has a life to live.  She could improve her life, and actually be successful for good reasons.  Now, this is what really gets me.  "Reality" TV is not real in the way people think.  What will happen is this:  the producers, writers, and directors behind that show will script it.  Danielle will be expected and forced to act the way she does, even if she doesn't want to any more.  They will encourage it, because the show can't maintain ratings if she decides to clean up her act.  She'll essentially get paid to destroy her life.  Eventually like every other trend or fad, people will stop watching.  It always happens.  Either that, or she'll get old enough to no longer appeal to the demographic the network needs.  In both cases, the network will drop her.  Now, she'll have no concept of how to live.  She'll have nothing to fall back on.  Yeah, she'll have money, but because she turned to those bad behaviors at such a young age, that's all she'll know.  And that money won't last, or she'll end up killing herself cause of it.  In either case, it doesn't end well.

I feel this show is a bad idea.  There is "reality" TV out there that does send a positive message, but that is rare.  Shows like this make me very worried for the future.  If or when I have kids of my own, how will I not worry about things like this?  Shows like this are capable of corrupting youth, but they should be used to send a positive message instead.

What are your thoughts?  What are your opinions on this?  Let me know in the comments!!! I love getting feedback.

Life...

If there are people who have followed this little blog in the past, firstly, I will apologize that I haven't posted on this blog in quite a while.  Life got in the way and this took a back seat.  I feel that this would be an opportune time to explain myself.

1) I got married.  This doesn't mean that my wife doesn't allow me to do this.  During the whole planning for the marriage, the designing of cards for the ceremony, and the plan, I didn't really have the time to blog on this.

2) I moved.  (Moving is a pain in the ass.) This one doesn't really quite require much of an explanation.  The only thing to add is... I'm lazy.  We still aren't completely unpacked, and this was in November, 2016, that we moved. (March 30th, 2017, now, so yeah...)

3) Lack of content.  For a while there, there was a dry spell where I really didn't have much to rant about.  Now, I have a lot to rant about.  So, I might try to keep up with this on a more regular basis.

4) Not a large audience.  This could tie in to number 3.  If I had more content, more people would find this.

5) There is way too much of this type of thing going on.  In the age of social media, everyone is already sharing their opinions about everything.  It isn't a rare occasion where I'll go onto a social post and voice my opinions about something that annoys me.  (For instance, Sodastream's business strategy, [which I spent a good two months solid complaining to them]). 

So, this is what I'm going to do.  This will still be editorialistic.  As I like to voice my opinions on things (of course, with backed up facts to support my beliefs), that will not change.  I will add more random content (for instance, instead of "current events," I'll voice my opinions about stuff that doesn't really matter as well.  We'll see how long I can keep it going.  :)

To those who read, thanks for reading this. :)  If you have ideas of things for me to vocalize an opinion about, feel free to suggest something. I'm sure I'll have an opinion.