I think we would all agree that Iowa -- especially Iowa City -- is not a cultural mecca. Even so, there are some culturally wonderful things about this place, like the fact that the vending machines are all stocked with not only Coke Zero, which is almost impossible to find on our grocery store shelves up north (and certainly not in the machines), but CHERRY Coke Zero, and VANILLA Coke Zero. These are products I've seen advertised for the last few months, sodas I have lusted after because of my deep affection for the less-diet-flavored, still-zero-caloried Coke Zero.

I live in hell. I really do. Up there, I am so disconnected from everything. Yeah, it's just soda. But it's also a reflection of the bigger things.