Come quickly, Lord, come quickly.

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I admit, I’m a clean freak. And yes, I eat popcorn with a spoon.

The problem is, more than anything, I really love the taste of Starbucks coffee. It's partly the romance of it - the marketing genius, the feel/ambiance of their stores, the elitist attitude of much of the clientele, but it's also the taste. Blends like House, Kenya, Columbia, and Italian make my taste buds jump for joy! And not only are there Starbucks stores within 7 minutes of me 99% of my day, the coffee pots at home and church (home #2) both have Starbucks beans ready to brew at any moment.

Here's the dilemma though, it costs over $2 now to buy a grande cup of Starbucks coffee.  And as I found out two weeks ago, a cup of medium coffee at McDonald's is only $1.60 (although I saw it on sale at one location this week  for only $1.00!).  And while McDonald's doesn't have much romance or ambiance, it's A LOT CHEAPER!

Another interesting factor is that with Starbucks coffee, I usually really enjoy the first half of the cup, but the second half is hard to finish because it's so strong and getting colder by that point (I don't chug my coffee, I usually take 30+ minutes to drink one cup).  With McDonald's, I really don't like the first half (too hot, and tastes watery), but I really enjoy the second half!  So I endup having a good memory of the cup of McDonald's and a more negative memory of the Starbucks!  In fact, I've often found myself trying to convince myself to stop for Starbucks because the last experience was so bitter!  And oftentimes, I end up getting Lattes or Frapps instead of the coffee -- but that doubles or even triples the price and adds sugar.

So, I'm at the point now, that if I'm going to stop someplace and buy coffee, I'm going to force myself to be content with McDonald's.  In fact, I've decided that unless I'm meeting a friend there (couple guy friends I frequently meet up with and Starbucks is a great place for it), I'm NOT going to Starbucks.  It's just not worth the extra money - whether it be $0.40 or $0.80 or even more!  So unless I need a LOT of caffine (like driving all night or have a ton of work to do) and get a Black Eye (coffee + two shots of espresso), I'm a McDonald's man.

Did I just type that?  I'm really getting old.  One day I'll probably be blogging about the great Senior discount I'm now eligible for at McDonald's....!