what are the odds of getting a survey receipt at SONIC?

you'd think a combination of a degree in applied mathematics, a minor cataloging  mentality and a major obsession with SONIC would give me a definitive answer to this question ... but, surprisingly (to me, only, perhaps), i only have guesses.

my experience has been that any given visit to a NV SONIC has something like a 40-60% chance of getting a survey receipt.

there are a number of things that might come into play here:

• the interest of the franchisee
• the area of the country the SONIC is in
• individual items that are ordered
• the financial success of any individual store within the chain
• health reports on any individual store

so your odds may vary widely.  it wouldn't surprise me at all (in fact i'd go so far to say that i "expect") if your chances of getting a survey receipt in long island are different than OK city.

i tried calling the 800 number to see if i could glean more information before i wrote this post, but was put hold.  this is precisely the kind of question that the customer service operators there will have no clue about ... mostly they regurgitate the stuff that's already online (and in some cases they even miss that).  i'll call again at some freak hour (so i don't have to hold) and update this if i get more information ... but i'll tell you right now, the odds of that happening are MUCH lower than those of getting a survey receipt at SONIC.

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News 3 new results for SONIC drive-in

Correction officers host a car wash fundraiser Nevada Appeal By FT Norton • Tonight at Sonic Drive-in, 1856 E. College Parkway, co-worker's of Gibson's in the Carson City Deputy Sheriff's Association are hosting "Cruise Night For Colton & Alexis." Donations can be made into the Alexis and Colton Melendrez ... See all stories on this topic »

Officers hold benefits for family in fatal crash Reno Gazette Journal Carson City deputy sheriffs scheduled a "Cruise-In" tonight between 5 and 8 pm at the Sonic Drive-In, 1856 College Parkway to benefit the family. The event is open to any vehicles with a $10 donation. The crash killed David Melendrez, 30, ... See all stories on this topic »

Sonic's shares rocket as revenue indicator rises Forbes AP , 04.29.11, 02:28 PM EDT OKLAHOMA CITY -- Drive-in restaurant chain Sonic Corp. shares rocketed almost 13 percent Friday after it said it expects to report a 4 percent to 6 percent rise in an important indicator for March and April. ... See all stories on this topic »

strawberry smoothie

durango SONIC.

i've been wanting one of these for a l-o-n-g time ...

the good news is you get more than 100% of calcium and vitamins A and C.  the bad news is it's well north of 500 calories (and, not included in happy hour).

it's yummy. in fact the taste and texture is remarkably close to a strawberry slush (not surprising since it's a strawberry slush with smoothie mix blended in).

unfortunately it's a sleeper.  a "normal" adult should be taking in about 2000 calories a day.  mr. smoothie here is a quarter of that total intake.

and this is the "regular" size ... which means it comes in a small slush cup.

nevertheless, a great splurge.

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News 2 new results for SONIC drive-in

Crime Beat (April 29) Times Record News 20, 2010, Malonson was working at Sonic Drive In, 3200 Kemp, when she was arrested on suspicion of passing counterfeit money to another employee. Officers said the suspect had asked the employee to make change for a $100 bill. ... See all stories on this topic »

Restaurant Violations LubbockOnline.com Sonic Drive In, 1901 34th St. — observed possible cross contamination. Corrected on site. • El Patron, 4820 Southeast Drive — observed possible insect contamination. Observed rodent contamination. Corrected by 04/29. • Stripes No. ... See all stories on this topic »

happy hour

medium lime slush with extra lime. warm springs SONIC.

food photo trivium of the moment

one of my (many, not surprisingly) ex-girlfriends was the food editor for a major metropolitan newspaper.  an interesting job -- one of the sweetest gigs in a dying industry.

it gave me the chance to eat great and interesting food, and just as fun, talk with people in the food business.

one of my favorite guys was the food photographer.  a highly specialized field, he'd worked with many large restaurants in large ad campaigns ... and because of this, there were some phrases you couldn't say to him without nearly violent response.

for example, "big mac."

you see there's an FDA rule in the US that if you're advertising a generality, say "burger king," you can (and everyone will) use artificial items for your photos.  so in your food spread, the french fries you show might become something like painted styrofoam.  but any ad describing a specific food, say, "burger king whopper," must show a photo of that actual food.  

my pal had to do a mcdonald's photo shoot for big macs.  since mcdonald's had to use a real big mac, they made 200 of them ... every one individually inspected for things like seed uniformity on the bun and cheese over-lap off the side.  

in the particular run he was involved in, there wasn't one that was good enough*, so they bang out another 200 more ...

... and then another 200.

after the champion big mac was found, 599 needed to be "disposed" of, so they gave away burgers to anyone with a heartbeat that could say "yes."

but there's something, i guess, in seeing 600 big macs in an area with mild ventilation that'll just kinda get at you.

and, of course, eating half a dozen yourself probably won't help.

*i wanted to say "pass the mustard," but couldn't bring myself to it.  i know, it's hard to believe i do any kind of editing on here.

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News 1 new result for SONIC drive-in

Community Faces | Sonic cruise-in & car show Kansas City Star | Buy this image The Heartland Roadrunners held this meet-and-eat for car hobbyists at Sonic Drive-In on Saturday evening, featuring entertainment by brothers Jake and Elwood Blues (otherwise known as David Coffelt and John Hoffman). ... See all stories on this topic » Kansas City Star

shopathome SONIC shame

let's ignore the fact that shopathome.com doesn't work with chrome (a far superior web browser to the ones it does work with) and focus instead on the fact that their SONIC coupons are either lame (hot dog match codes, really?), don't work (when i TXT for 5 closest SONICs, i get a fail) or are already well known (free wacky packs on kids' birthdays for registrants).

i chased this damn link because i saw the SONIC-related ad on blogger after posting my last entry and as a result i wasted ten minutes.

but the good news is they'll have to pay google for the click-through.  and i like google -- i want all my pals to stay employed there forever (or as long as they'd like).

route 44 iced tea

durango SONIC.

i haven't had a big hit of ice tea yet today, so i took a chance and used the survey receipt from my wacky pack for a route 44.

extravagant, i know, because i typically use these survey receipts for either long distance drives or playing poker.

but i want ice tea, dammit.

i go through the drive-thru, ordering a reese's jr. sundae for the person who shall never be mentioned along with my freebie.  and what did i get?  what did i get?  what, what, what did i get?

that's right *another* survey receipt.

*never* doubt there is a god ...

... and don't for a minute think that it doesn't care about SONIC.

wacky pack wednesday

chicken strips, apple slices, powerade slush and three "drink buddies."  durango SONIC.

great night for a landing meal ...

BUT wouldya look at that drink buddy insert card! "FIND THE LIMITED-EDITION GOLDEN TOT!"

OF COURSE I WANT THE LIMITED EDITION GOLDEN TOT!


i asked the two carhops working the landing about them ... a tough position for any carhop to be in because they have to actually respond to the customer,


but COME ON, there has to be limits to what we do with the customers, right?  that old man over there is asking about inserts in kids' meals!  and he doesn't even seem like a sexual predator -- he just seems like some kind of SONIC freak!

neither knew what i was talking about until i showed them the insert card ... and neither had seen any of them.

as a poor man's second, instead of actually producing said golden tot, my favorite durango SONIC carhop (alex), asked me if i wanted to take my 'blog food photo with him posing on skates ... and if you think about it, that's a very good comeback ... it puts us on almost exactly the same level of social retardation.

but not now, alex, next time.

oh golden tot, when will you be mine?

SONIC dish network promo

a pal stopped by durango SONIC last weekend to pick up a 99¢ sundae.  along with the order receipt there was a glossy postcard (read "expensive") ad for the dish network. the upshot was if you signed up for a new activation, you got a "free" $20 SONIC gift card.

i have no problem with an ad like this being shoved in my face ... gimme a chance at a deal i won't otherwise know about, and i might take it.

except, of course, in this specific case ... i don't watch TV ... because i don't like ads being shoved at me about things i don't care about.

the bottom of the ad (in the SONIC "square," strangely enough), says, "how much can we save you?"  a tough, tough question ... how much can you save off of my current TV bill of $0?

Google Alert - SONIC drive-in

News 3 new results for SONIC drive-in

Sonic Drive-In Now As Close As Long Island Gothamist With Sonic Drive-In's unrelenting ads tempting New Yorkers with what they can't have, many city folk had to bite the bullet and drive to New Jersey to get their Cherry Limeade fixes. But now, you'll only have to drive to Long Island! ... See all stories on this topic » Gothamist

Peoria police seek armed man who robbed Sonic restaurant AZ Central.com by Alexa Chrisbacher - Apr. 26, 2011 12:45 PM Peoria police searched Tuesday for a man who robbed a Sonic drive-in restaurant last week while armed with a gun. The robber pointed a gun at three employees around 3 pm April 18 at the restaurant, ... See all stories on this topic »

Sonic Drive-In opens on LI Newsday Hundreds of people and cars lined up along Deer Park Avenue in North Babylon to get a taste of LI's first Sonic fast-food fare. Videojournalists: Staff (April 25, 2011) See all stories on this topic »

what is the point of going to SONIC drive thru?*

driving through at SONIC (as opposed to stopping at the stalls) has one major advantage: you don't have to tip the cashier (and you absolutely should tip a carhop), thus reducing your total expenditure.

it's possible you might get faster service driving through than at a stall.  HOWEVER, when there's been a queue in the drive-thru (and i felt i was in some weird kind of a hurry), pulling into a stall gave me service at least as fast as the third car back from the cashier window.

if i'm eating on the patio, i have a mild preference for ordering at the drive-thru, then parking and carrying my food to the landing.  not only does this keep the tip in my pocket, it also guarantees my food will be in small portable packets ... when ordering on the landing, it's not that unusual for my food to kinda stream in waves from the inside and my personal preference is for my food to be a little more "immediate" than that.

{there are two times that i'll just order from the landing for sure: one is if i know i'll be making a request on SONIC FM, the other is if i go to flamingo SONIC and know matt is working the landing.}

if you just want to eat-and-run, the biggest disadvantage of using the drive-thru is securing your food and drinks before driving off.  if you have a big order, or are just by yourself, it's often easier to pull into a stall, giving you the chance to stage your food before driving off (or, to the HUGE dismay of the japanese, preparing to eat as you drive in your car).

there's a larger psychological argument here, though ... consider that most american fast food companies have drive-thrus, but nearly none have stalls ... why not take advantage of what the others don't have?

*i've seen this question come up as a search hit against this site several times in the last few days ... i'm going to occasionally include search hit posts to up this site's ranking.

route 44 iced tea

flamingo SONIC.

strawberry sundae ...

... using the TXT message. flamingo SONIC.

happy hour

medium lemon slush. flamingo SONIC.

99¢ sundaes tonight

latest TXT.
***
Hop on over to Sonic on Sun 4/24 for 99 cent Single Topping Sundaes from
5pm-10pm. Plz mention text when ordering.

SONIC trivium

limeades at SONIC are made using a combo of lime juice and sprite.

happy hour

large JUMBO popcorn chicken and medium limeade with extra lime. sahara SONIC.

the popcorn chicken is good, but not as strong as the KFC competitor.  the taste is close to the chicken strips i always get in my wacky packs, although it *looks* to me like the batter has a bit more pepper in it here. (the only mild down-side was the cooking grease was a bit off.)

beautiful day in vegas. ate out on the landing and called SONIC FM before i even so much as opened the "PUNCH ME OUT FOR DIPPING SAUCE" flap on my popcorn box.

"do you have any surf music? i want something surf. chantays. ventures. something."  i always liked these kinds of requests in my DJ days.

"sure. i'll put it on."

NEXT SONG is the ventures hawai'i 5-0, 'for b1-66er in las vegas.'

it's the little things in life that make it special, but this is big.  oh YES!

freak SONIC discovery of the moment

a question for you, dear reader:

what are the ingredients of a SONIC vanilla shake?

wait, i'll give you a hint: of the two ingredients, one of them is (both real and yummy) vanilla ice cream ... so what's the other?

that's right.  water.

which i guess means you could go into SONIC and ask for a vanilla shake, hold the water.

not that you could suck it through a straw.

happy hour

medium lemon slush. sahara SONIC.

finally ate at "big dog's" (in view across the street), thanks to an entertainment book coupon. *great* food. of particular note is the (waitress recommended) grandma's pot roast melt. yum!

route 44 iced tea ...

... using the receipt i got for happy hour from gilroy SONIC. tehachapi SONIC.

great cashier. when i ordered in the drive-thru he said, "pull forward where your total is FREE!"

as i pulled up he said, "it pays to go to SONIC, doesn't it!?"

you don't know the half of it.

happy hour

jr. chili cheese wrap and route 44 limeade with extra lime. gilroy SONIC.

super-busy at my most hated SONIC. the cashier was really fast and very efficient with an unbelievable amount of work (taking an order, making a drink and dealing with a malfunctioning card reader ... simultaneously).

superb.  as they used to say on ABC, "full marks for the little girl from romania!"

the jr. chili cheese wrap was very good ... really the only low point is the gummy tortilla-to-tasty insides ratio is a bit high.

or as my pal said, "THIS is the answer to the question, 'what's the best way to eat chili in a car with no utensils?'"

at 330 calories the jr. chili cheese wrap is actually a pretty damn good snack ... as long as you're not always washing it down with a bathtub of limeade.

2 corn dogs for a buck today

latest TXT.

(late notice from me because i have a governor on the 'blog to keep the
robo-news from auto-posting and i don't have constant 'net access right
now ... need to figure out a system there.)
***
- Fwd: Drive in to Sonic for 2 Corn Dogs only 99 cents all day Tues
4/19. Plz mention txt when ordering

50¢ jr. burgers tonight

latest TXT.
***
Thurs 4/14 Special @ Sonic. 50 cent Jr Deluxe Burgers from 5pm-11pm
only. Plz mention txt when ordering. It's not just good, It's Sonic
Good!

Google Alert - SONIC drive-in

News 1 new result for SONIC drive-in

Sleepless in Alabama ESPN Saw the Sonic Drive In lights go out a while ago. Every two minutes and 15 seconds the stoplight goes from red to green. A white and brown stray cat sits on a sewer cover. In the darkness of my Comfort Inn room I watch the red eye jets cross the sky. ... See all stories on this topic »

route 44 cranberry iced tea

gilroy SONIC.

and yes, they charged me 11¢ for my free route 44. oh gilroy SONIC, how i hate you.

so ends my quadruple day.

route 44 iced tea

doesn't show up well in this pic, but it's snowing HARD

tehachapi SONIC.

i've never been here before and this is a GREAT SONIC. very friendly employees.

happy hour

deja view

route 44 limeade. durango SONIC.

jr. breakfast burritos

smells like victory -- one of these days this war's gonna end

durango SONIC.

i pull in to the drive-thru and get the manager.  a friendly outgoing guy.  at the moment, things are slow -- no cars in stalls, no one else in the drive-thru.  he brings my food and swipes my card.  

he chuckles, "you have quite a bit of room left on here," and hands me the card.

this would be an excellent chance to pick some brain.  it's 10:30, the too-early morning vibe is gone from my demeanor, so i start in, "what time did this text discount begin this morning?"

he laughs.  "i told the night manager to pick whatever she wanted.  i don't know what she did ... 4:00 or something like that ... when i saw the text had no starting time, i knew there might be trouble ... but she said everything was fine."

"that's good.  hey, just out of curiosity, how many SONIC cards do you see here?"

"oh we'll activate and replenish a couple a month.  out of our customer base, there's probably 200 or so cards out there."

"so, you get, say, one a day?"

"not quite that many.  maybe one every other day."

tabasco sauce is the duct tape of the condiment world.  many (but not all) food tastes can be repaired with a couple of shakes.  my previous breakfast burrito experience suggested that tabasco may well be the right answer here.

and it was.  

tapatio is probably a better for this particular taste, but tabasco is certainly a step up from SONIC's slow-dance-with-a-tongue picante.

once there's a little kick, the next thing you notice lacking is the tortilla ... it's got that gummy mass-manufactured aura about it.  living around big hispanic communities all my life has spoiled me for homemade tortillas.

still, everything is more than good enough.  i went to bed hungry.  the price is more than right.

i roll back through and order another.

caloric enter sign

nothing soothes the soul quite as much as two survey receipts in as many runs.

(and yes, i'm already at my recommended amount of sodium for the day -- even without the tabasco.  thanks for asking.)

robo-response

canned customer response from 2:00 this morning, in reference to my earlier visit.

***

Dear b1-66er:

We are very sorry that your 04/08/2011 visit to Sonic Drive-In did not live up to expectations and are grateful to you for telling us about it. If people like you did not bring these matters to our attention, we would never be able to fix them. We have forwarded your comments to the appropriate store supervisor for the location that you visited. If you have any further concerns in the future, please share them with us. Our goal is to continuously improve the Sonic Drive-In experience and to keep you as regular guest.

Sincerely,
Sonic Drive-In

jr. breakfast burrito failure

at 12:40 AM i roll into flamingo SONIC (having already bought a bottle of tabasco sauce at terrible's next door).  the target, of course, is 50c breakfast burritos.

i order two from the drive-thru and am asked to pull forward.

while i'm waiting, someone cashier (or cashier-like) comes out.  this action, right here, is never a good sign.

"you said you received this offer by text message?"

"that's right.  it's right here ..." and i pass my hiptop out to the hop.

he goes back in.  i can see a small conference inside.

he comes back out.  there isn't food in his hands.  this is going to be a denial.

he's chirpy in that mormon missionary kind of way.  "you're going to hate me, but that coupon isn't good until 5:30."

i fake a smile.  "no problem."  and drive off.  i can hear a woman inside say, "does this mean no burritos?" as i drive past.

as soon as i get home, i call the 800 number.  i tell them exactly what i'm telling you now.

ignoring the fact that it was written in a cool style that's best approximated by a 13-year old girl, that TXT message from yesterday was 112 characters.  adding the phrase "from 5:30 " (or "frm" if you insist) in front of the "til ..." gives you ten more characters, or 122.  there isn't a TXT message broadcast system in the world that can't handle that length.

i realize not all SONICs in the world are 24 hours.  i don't care.  some of them are.

las vegas is a city where the terms "night" and "day" are just pleasantries to appease outsiders.  everyone who lives in this town understands that when the clock hits 12:01, it's tomorrow, it's morning.  that collective group understanding is one of the reasons i live here and one of the things i truly relish about what otherwise might be thought of as a hellhole oasis in the desert.

when SONIC sends a TXT message that says, "Start ur morning @ Sonic on Friday 4/8 til 11am w/50 Cent Jr Breakfast Burritos. Plz mention txt when ordering," then they need to honor it and they need to honor it in the way the city views it.


or let's look at the reverse and let me ask you this ... if you're not going to honor this TXT, what's the point of sending it?  what purpose does it serve?


i assume you're shooting for something bigger than raising my blood pressure, but maybe not.


it's not an exaggeration to say this is false advertising.  and even the stupidest ambulance chasing attorney could easily argue that this ad is bait and switch.


and now i'm going to say something that i didn't say to the operator, but i'm saying to whoever the hell reads this thing.


if you are going to offer discounts that are in turn defective or not honored (here and here are but two examples that i've written about beyond the case i'm talking about here ... i have about half a dozen more from before i started this 'blog) don't offer me anything.  


you guys are buggin' me.  i'm tired of you rattling my cage.

50¢ jr. breakfast burritos tomorrow

latest TXT.
***
Start ur morning @ Sonic on Friday 4/8 til 11am w/50 Cent Jr Breakfast
Burritos. Plz mention txt when ordering

happy hour

this is what extra lime is about

medium limeade with extra lime. sahara SONIC.

long line at the drive thru, so i pulled into a stall ... wanted to use my gift card but i happened to choose the only place where the card machine had died.

in a 4-digit ZIP code world, there are no problems

friendly carhop brings out my drinks.

"i wanted to pay with my card, but your machine is sick."

she gets a look on her face like you were talking about an ailing niece and
pats the device on the side.  pausing, she speaks softly so as not to disturb the patient, "i know! it's been like this for three days."

"maybe it's just resting?"

"maybe. it works very hard."

my tip was more than my tab.

wacky pack evil geniuses

these are the guys who do the wacky pack branding (found the link off the tag on my wacky pack hacky sack).

and just for the record, the "monkey tot" still bugs me in that disturbing 8-year-old-boy-hates-clowns kind of way.

SONIC match maker quiz "explained"

the ongoing promo of the moment at SONIC is the "match maker" game.  one part is a quiz to figure out what exact hot dog and drink combo is perfect for your deviant personality ... the other is a peel-back receipt sticker that's attached to any purchase.

although the phrase "you could win a $5000 amazon.com gift card" is boldly emblazoned on the playing piece, really all you can win "instantly" (a fairly broad use of the term because you have to produce your game piece and dicker back and forth with the mothership) is a "free combo" (actually a better deal than a combo -- it's a gift card of $7.50).

to win the amazon.com gift card you have to enter the sweepstakes.

what happens in the real world is you peel back your sticker, enter the number on SONIC's web site and find out that you lose {5/26 addendum: codes are no longer acceptable on the web site, but you can still get a combo discount by taking the matchmaker quiz}.  i'm guessing that you're supposed to stifle your sobs of defeat as you play the SONIC match maker game to determine what your best drink/hot dog combo is.

fortunately for the public at large (and unlike most back street carny games) american corporations are required to post their odds of winning.  a peek will tell you that your chances of an instant win are 1 in 1,000.

to put this in perspective, you are: 

• six times more likely to be audited by the IRS at some point in your life
• 100 times more likely to contract the flu this year
• 13 times more likely to die in some kind of a transportation incident this year

your chances of wining the amazon.com card "re-draw" are dependent on the number of entries.  considering that i always enter, i think you never should.

good luck.

{weird aside:  don't have a SONIC near you?  no problem.  you can enter this by mail "for free" by sending a 3x5 card to SONIC and then the "Administrator will play the Instant-Win Game and enter the Sweepstakes on your behalf. Only winners will be notified."  now that is a weird fricken job.}

route 44 cranberry-iced tea

flamingo SONIC.

got this with my survey from earlier today.  hilarious when i get asked "how many times have you been to SONIC in the past month?" and my answer hits the top of their scale, "more than 20."

as far as the drink goes, this is the only "named" ice tea flavor that isn't artificially sweet.  it's a nice, interesting twist.  and at around 100 calories, it's not over-burdening for it's size.  i like it.

triple today ... hitting it a bit hard both because of my new card and i'm going to be out of immediate SONIC reach for several days.

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Restaurant roundup: Simply Cupcakes and Sonic Drive-In Gainesville Sun By Andrea Rumbaugh While Simply Cupcakes of Gainesville will be baking new treats, Sonic Drive-In has brought back some old favorites. Fast Eddie's at 1509 Hawthorne Road is welcoming a new restaurant into its kitchen. Julie Borsos, co-owner of Fast ... See all stories on this topic »

wacky pack wednesday

chicken strips, apple slices, limeade with extra lime and a wacky pack hacky sack. flamingo SONIC.

{the footbags are nice ... and now i have enough to juggle.}

happy hour

chicago dog: hold the peppers, tomato and relish; add mustard. medium limeade with extra lime. flamingo SONIC.

got my hero matt as my hop (and a survey receipt).

SONIC's been making a big deal out of their dogs ... to the point that if you're obsessed with reading the fine print, like i am, you know all too well that they're for a "limited time only."

i've been wanting to try one of these for awhile, and would've plunged last weekend if not for my coupon exploding. of course my gift card pushed me back over the "try-it" ledge.

for a bunch of funny (and mildly complex) reasons, i only like to eat a hot dog that's kosher ... and SONIC's aren't.

but let me tell you what, this dog, right here, is a damn site better than the one i had with the K awhile back.

the meat's good and juicy without being overly fatty in taste. the dog itself could stand to be just a touch wider in diameter (but really that's just the polish sausage lover in me talking).

the reason i ordered chicago from the gang of four choices was for the bun (and yes i *do* like a pickle wedge with my dog) ... the poppy seeds are a nice touch. i like the look, the texture and the mild taste addition it provides.  having said that, the bun's just a touch too fluffy -- it could use the same amount of mass with a bit less leavening.

the celery salt is a tremendously good addition. really makes all the flavors stand up a bit -- especially the mustard.

the top test of any dog, though -especially if you've put extra mustard on it- is to see how you feel two minutes after eating it ... if just the idea of a hot dog at that point makes you want to think about anything else, your original dog was a loser ... a great hot dog should have roughly the same effect on you as a good hit of methadone ... a very good hot dog will always make you want another.

which is what i'm thinking right now.

the wrapper says: "WARNING: objects in window may be even more delicious than they appear." and that's truth in advertising. my chicago dog tasted quite a bit better than it looked ...

... and it didn't look too bad.

this is the best "main course" food i've ever had at SONIC ... but that's not saying much coming from me ... all i've had is their burgers ... and when you live in an area that has both in-n-out and tommy's, SONIC burgers come up extremely weak.

still "best" is what best is, and for right now this is it.  a good dog is hard to find, and completely unheard of from a fast-food joint.

heres' to hoping that something in my menu exploration will stand even taller.

the ice tea takeover

when i started this 'blog, my favorite SONIC drink was the lemon-berry slush.

it still is (although i waggle quite a bit through the limeades and other real fruit slush worlds), but you can see by my margin numbers that ice tea is creeping up ... it will eventually overtake the slushes and most likely -at least in raw numbers- become my most favored drink.

the reasons are two-fold.

one is the raw caloric hit.  a route 44 lemon-berry slush is over 600 calories.  when you consider that i shoot for a 1500 calorie day, that's a massive amount.  and worse, it's mostly what dox would call "empty calories."  you're getting a touch of vitamin C and the lightest tap of iron, but nothing else.

a sugar pack has 15 calories, i put four in a route 44.  that gives 44 oz of super-refreshing beverage for 60 calories (less than half in a can of coke, or a fifth of the amount in a medium lemon-berry slush).

forgetting what it means in a bomb calorimeter, drinking 44 ounces of sugar beverage is just too much.  when i get done i feel like i need to clean my tongue with a weed eater.

i have kind of the opposite problem with ice tea.  whenever i drink that, i just want more.  in fact, there are two different restaurants in the world that when they see me sit at a table, they automatically bring me a pitcher of ice tea.  (and i don't have that problem that's supposed to be a classic indicator of diabetes: peeing too much ... don't ask me where the hell it all goes.)

i get a ton of survey receipts.  i love them (in fact, it's one of the things that drove the SONIC addiction hook deep into my soul).  but when it's time to cash one in, some idiotic SONICs won't let you downgrade to smaller sizes and i'm not always in the mood -or even able- to split one in half for later.

then there's poker.  i play in a mixed game on the sundays i'm in town ... it's surprisingly hard to get ice tea in a casino and the combo of a lot of tea and a lot of ice is perfect for wiling my hours away as i sit.

and SONIC has great ice tea.  fresh brewed.  my pal bo3b (sic) is super-demanding of his ice tea and loves the SONIC.  as long as you stay away from the raspberry and peach artificial sweeteners (and the cloying pre-sweented tea), you're in fine shape.

all of which means that i haven't fallen out of love with the slush ... i just don't like to carry its burden.

quote of the moment

"wear your onion breath with pride."

-- SONIC web site

quote of the moment

"don't ignore your snack cravings."

-- SONIC web site

current card registration gifts

just registered my new card and have been given the choice of one of three freebie coupons to print out:

• regular cream slush
• medium tator tots
• medium drink

i'm fairly certain the most expensive item in this list is the cream slush.

this is a change (for the better) from when special K registered his card in february and was offered a tots coupon only (which we used).

a big big day

in the fourth grade everyone in my class was awarded a prize.  all honors were in the general phrasing of  "best at ..."  i was eagerly awaiting to hear my win because i wanted the math title and figured i'd be a cinch in ...

but when they came around to my name, you can image my dismay when i was handed "most enthusiastic."  this really pissed me off for three reasons:

1. it wasn't mathematics.
2. my best friend, john verna, did get the math award.
3. and worst of all i didn't know what enthusiastic meant -- forcing me a trip to the class dictionary.

i looked up the definition and nearly cronenberged.  as blood filled my eyes, i catapulted to miss bishop's desk.

"i can't believe you didn't give me the math award!"

"see?  this conversation is exactly why you're the most enthusiastic."

it was the first time in my life that i wanted to both projectile vomit and beat someone to the ground with a blackboard eraser.

it wasn't until i graduated from school and entered the self-centered and asperbergian world of high tech that i realized what a huge honor that was.  

even today i list it on my resume under "accomplishments."

with that background -and remembering that i believe people only become more like themselves as they get older- you can only imagine the level of adrenaline running through my blood today when i first laid hands on my SONIC gift card.

stop for a moment and ask yourself this question: if someone offered to buy you ANYTHING on the SONIC menu, anything at all, what would you choose?

I KNOW!  it's not that easy is it?  

like any good democratic foundation, it seems like the use of my card should fall under two guiding principles which will tend to work slightly against each other. 

1. i should treat it like it's my own money.  meaning i should be frugal as hell.
2. i should use this as a chance to experiment on items i'd never normally buy.

i can bleed money out of a turnip and i want to see this card l-a-s-t.  BUT (that's my big "but"), i don't think i'll go so far as to not use the card for buying drinks during happy hour.

so striving for some sort of middle ground i'll probably buy some food items combined with smaller drinks ... often at happy hour.

most important here tonight, though, is this is my first use ... whatever i get has to be something good.  a shoe-in winner.  i don't want to curse my card by speculating on something like a grilled chicken salad that has even the most remote chance of being (as my pal entropy dave says) nastar-nastamos.

and this is first use, so whatever i get has to be splurge-y ... a touch decadent.  

drinks are out, because that's way too normal for me.  i could go with a smoothie, but as woody allen says about sex in bed, "not here and not now."

i've already eaten enough mozzarella stix for a decade.

the jr. fritos chili cheese wrap is definitely the right idea, but fast food chili is always a coin toss as to how good it is.

i've already had a wheel barrow's worth of sundaes as well, but SONIC ice cream is great for soft serve.

hey wait a minute ...

that's it!  SONIC does their equivalent of a blizzard called in that oh-so-creative-let's-copy-our-competition-way a "blast."  i had a god awful "special" one on valentine's day, but they do regular ones  too.  good ones.  they've gotta be good.  snickers.  m&ms.  butterfinger.

over-the-counter candy blended into great soft serve.  how can you ruin that?

reese's.  yes yes yes.  reese's peanut butter cup blast.  that's it.  that's the one.

perfect.  

it's been warm today.  i've stepped an extra 40 minutes in preparation for whatever overdose i might do tonight.   and there's no way this can be bad.

to celebrate, i jump in the car and make a point to go out of my way to a SONIC i haven't been to as part of this 'blog yet ... the one over on warm springs.  i've been there a couple of times -- once for free rootbeer float night.  the staff are friendly and fast.  the neighborhood is a little crazy.  i'll take it all in by driving through and then eating on the landing.

and the blast is great.  it's exactly what i'd expected.  perfect starter on a great gift from the big S.

is it over?  hell no.

the SONIC gods smile down on me and hand out a survey receipt as part of the order ... as soon as i finish, i roll back through and ask for something i've never had before -- a route 44 raspberry ice tea with extra lemon.  (because it's okay if i go a little crazy now.)

the regular ice tea is better, but i don't care.  this one is free.

now is it over?

could a day like this get any better?

what could possibly happen that would enrich the greatness of today?  (remember, i live in a state that has no lottery ... and note too that i've left out details of other parts of the day like when i talked to JJ walker about what the braille says on bank ATMs.)

how about this ... my pal the robot has just come back from england, bearing my very favorite snack food in the world: hula hoops.

it's okay to kill me now.  knowing nothing about the future, i can say, for certain, that my life will never get any better.

thanks SONIC!

(but hey, if you are so smart, did you know that it would take four billion hula hoops to go around the world once?  i didn't until i read the back of the bag i was eating out of as i was typing to you.  thanks robot!)

what flavors are in a tropical smoothie?

i was perusing the SONIC menu and couldn't figure out the answer to that question ... time for a call to the 800 number.

i got a very industrious call center operator, but after a fair amount of holding was told, "we don't give that information out."

"you don't?"

"no sir."

"okay.  so let's say i'm allergic to mango.  how do i know if this drink has mango in it?"

"well, you would know from your reaction to the drink and you could file a complaint.  would you like me to file a complaint for you?"

uh, no.  what i'd really like to know is what flavors are in a tropical smoothie because i don't like banana and i know you're already slipping some into your strawberry-banana smoothie ... and the tropical one does look yellow in the picture ... in fact you could think of there being a spectrum of smoothie color from tropical to strawberry with strawberry-banana in the middle ... and you know what that could mean for the far end.

unfortunately this conversation has just taken a strange turn.  at this current conversational glide path we're about three sentences away from a thumb in chili conversation.  and you can bet it's gone midnight wherever this call dungeon i'm talking to is.  we all know that one of the prime reasons you don't wander the streets of places like atlanta and oklahoma city after midnight is because you might stumble across call center people out on the streets.

"that's not necessary.  thank you for your time."

oh DAMMIT!  i just now realized i should have asked, "well, can you tell me what flavors are in a strawberry smoothie, or is that too a secret?"  you can tell it's not my witching hour yet.

***

{6 minute later addendum:
you can call off the guard dogs.  the answer is: pineapple, banana and coconut (noting that coconut is a coconut flavoring that does not contain real coconut).  now i'm not calling the 800 number to say, "do you realize that your corporate 'secret' is actually in full view on your web page even though your operators didn't look in that spot and then tried to bluff through an answer to b1-66er?" but you'd certainly have my blessing if you did.}

happy hour

medium lemon slush with extra lemon. flamingo SONIC.

(instead of focusing on the goodies, what might be drawing your attention is the convertible smart car you can rent from hertz. i need to find out how much that is for a day.  looks like an excellent choice as a drive-thru car,)

Google Alert - SONIC drive-in

News 2 new results for SONIC drive-in

Bites Nearby: Sonic Drive-In Patch.com Sonic Drive-In is located at 147 Levittown Parkway in Levittown and is open 24 hours a day. Interested in a follow-up to this article? Great, we'll send you an email as soon as a follow-up is published! See all stories on this topic »

Kiwanis Club to observe 'One Day' with car wash Gadsden Times The club will have a car wash from 9 am to noon at the Sonic Drive-In at Coosa Town Center in East Gadsden. There will be no charge for washing cars, but donations will be accepted toward a project to eliminate neonatal tetanus around the world. See all stories on this topic »

route 44 iced tea

durango SONIC.

SONIC survey -- now with age demographics!

cleaning up my place and ran across a recent survey receipt ... needless to say, i've responded a lot of these ... but the end of this particular auto-interview had a twist i wasn't expecting -- and had never been asked 'til now ... the robot wanted to know both my sex and age demographics.

so you just know that the income question is immediately around the next statistical corner.

SONIC coupon failure

i was going to go try a SONIC hot dog combo today using the coupon you

get from the match game. before i hit "print" i was warned that i could

only make one copy.

which would be fine except i got a mostly blank page with "SONIC
matchmaker" in the upper left, a "redeem coupon" URL in the upper right,
"1 of 1" in the lower left and a time/date stamp in the lower right.
the important stuff -which is to say "everything"- was missing.

i'm guessing this blank page won't get a buck off a combo. (actually it
might at flamingo SONIC -- they're really good about being
customer-focused there.)

no big deal.

i go back to jump through the hoops again, starting with the quiz.

"no sir, you can only get one coupon a day."

are you kidding me? all this for a dollar off a fricken hot dog combo?
i could do the dozen obvious-and-stupid things i'd need to do to get a
chance at printing another discount, but i'm not chasing this any
further.

no SONIC for me today. i'll be skipping the combo permanently.

it'd be nicer if things just worked.