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.

Wax In, Wax Out

Ear irrigation...  More like ear irritation.  For some reason, I've always had an issue with ear wax.  Most of the time, I had been able to get the wax out no problem and be just fine.  This time... not so lucky.  I ended up getting a cerumen impaction.  Yes.  I clogged my ear with ear wax... beautiful.

This meant being almost deaf in one ear.

So, after suffering a whole night of work with the inability to hear out of one ear, and the pressure building up in that ear, I did something I had never had to do in the past.

I got my ear irrigated.

Let's describe this process.  I went into the doctor's office and he took his oroscope (ear camera) and looked in both ears.  Ordered an irrigation for BOTH ears.  I only thought I needed the one.  Ended up getting both.  Now, I was slightly nervous.

So, now, the nurse comes back in with this huge metal looking syringe.  I asked, "Is this going to hurt?" (having never experienced the process before).  Her answer, "I hope not."  -{NOT VERY REASSURING!!!!}-

She got some really warm water and sucked a huge amount of water into this syringe and started shooting.

Let us pause for a minute to implant this image into your head.  This is what the actual process entails.  Go to an automatic car wash.  Sit inside of your car with the automated car wash going.  See the water shooting the side windows?  See that?  That is being done in the inside of your ear.  What it felt like???  Imagine a shower with enough power to sheer the skin off of your body.  Not dial it back a couple of notches, so it is just achy and painful but the skin still remains.  This is what it felt like.

The end result:  Clean ears, followed by a day or two of swelling inside the ear canals.  I could hear just fine again, but there was still some discomfort from pressure resulting from the high pressure wash.

Oh.  And the caveat of all of this.  I had to hold a white tray for the ear flush to fall into.  The nurse actually showed me the ear wax in the trays.  "I don't even know if this will go down the drain," she said.  Yeah...  the wax was BIG.  I would admit, even I, was a little grossed out by my own wax.

But I more enjoyed the fact I could hear again.

Now, would I do this again?  Despite the discomfort of the procedure, it may be a possibility.  It was a low cost procedure that did give a good result.  There may be a little pressure remaining in the ears after the procedure, but being blasted at high velocity would cause anyone some prolonged discomfort following the procedure.  I would not do it again unless it was a major necessity (affecting hearing, etc).  The method may seem primitive, but sometimes primitive is the best.