Every time I hear about the President's new plan in IRAQ I am brought back to the last semester of college. It was the Spring of 1998. It was probably middle of April, one of those warm middle of the week afternoons, when, if you had a job lined up, you immediately thought about how irresponsible you wanted to get. I was working at the computer center with a couple of Freshman. It's funny and even more funny now, but I remember the conversation distinctly, we were talking about whether we found Rosie O'Donnell attractive in a weird way. This is not revisionist history but I said no. One of the guys argued yes. Anyhow, my shift ended, and I went to cross campus to my apartment. There, near where the health center was, there was a big Coca-Cola Truck. A few guys where handing out not just free cans, but actual cases of a new soda, called SURGE. So I had to grab a case (it was not long after this that my roommates and I pooled together an entire weeks paycheck, which was supposed to pay for food for a week and going out and blew it on a huge party/ barbecue, and we ended up eating relish sandwiches for the next week).

I get back to my apartment, and like all bored college kids we started to experiment with what mixed well with Surge. Unfortunately, we only had a few cans of cheap bear, a bottle of Kahlua, and plastic bottles of run and vodka. Multiple listenings of Dave Matthews and playing of a card game called 21 (that isn't blackjack) later we scraped together money to order Pizza. We eventually went out to the bar right off campus and the night ended with me carrying home the girl, I pined over for four years, piggyback style. We went back to her apartment and watched the first 20 minutes of Billy Madison before I fell asleep on her couch.

I woke up the next morning went to class, (I was kind of studious), and went to work again (where there was an email waiting for me thanking me for being such a gentleman with my sleepover party), then on the way back home there was the truck again, and another case. This time I think I had something to do that night, probably unsuccessfully hit on girls. The Surge stayed in our fridge, and quickly replaced Dr. Pepper as the non-alcoholic beverage of choice. I drank it up until graduation and that summer until I went Backpacking in Europe. When I came back to the US I think it was like first or second on beverages I consumed. When I moved to New York, I think I had it once or twice, but then at some point it just wasn't available and I switched to diet soda and the rest is beverage history.

Why do I tell this story? Well I think it is an interesting parable. My time with Surge started out big and exciting, promising so much, and then for a while they seem to just be a good part of life, but then eventually it fizzled out. I hope for my life in 1998 is not a mirror of military strategy of 2007.