the shrewdness of apes

despite all that 7-11 can be seen to stand for, i love Slurpee. they're one of the few things that make the fetid air of summertime bearable. but living in New York means a stark lack of access to these icey (not ICEE) delicacies. previously, i was aware of only two 7-11s in Brooklyn, both in Bay Ridge. both are near subway stops, but that seems too far to go for something that costs less than $2 and making it a car trip also seems a bit ridiculous (not that i haven't done it a couple times recently). then i saw the sign on 23rd St. in Manhattan a couple weeks ago and was ecstatic that i could pick a Slurpee within a 10 minute walk of work, and possibly on my way to the Shake Shack for lunch. this is the first Manhattan location, but some playing around on the store locator showed me that there are nearly 40 7-11s in New York City. Queens leads the way with 20, while Brooklyn has 9, Staten Island 5 and the Bronx 4. many of these are in the far flung neighborhoods past where the subways run, thus explaining the general ignorance toward the greatness of Slurpee in the five boroughs. the first report i've heard on the new location is that the Slurpee machine was not working, so they may need a few weeks to work out the kinks. i only hope that the Manhattan rents don't lead to some sort of $5 for 32 oz. price gouging.

personally i gravitate to the fruity versions and away from the cola and "light" flavors, and i'm an inveterate mixer such that the blues, purples, yellows and oranges have coalesced into a brown soup by the time i get to the bottom. i was particularly fond of the recent Fanta Tangerine-Orange flavor, but i'm not sure why they've decided to call the grape flavor "Gully Washer" for a limited time. still, it's delicious.

at any rate, the version i got today (Mountain Dew and Gully Washer mixed) came in a cup that offered a free download from iTunes as part of a 40th anniversary of Slurpee celebration which is great, but how do you pick just one song to download? i suppose i could use it towards a larger purchase, but my decision-making matrix became victim of a brainfreeze when i went to make my selection. maybe i just need to have 9 more so i can download a full album - that seems like an attainable goal.

on the Slurpee website there's a small trivia quiz where i learned that Winnipeg, Manitoba consumes the greatest amount of Slurpee drinks (i assume per capita). that's totally going to be on Jeopardy! next week. maybe it's a great winter drink too.