The Saturday Evening Almost Post

I planned to post something yesterday. It had been a couple of days since the last dispatch, plus my mother was asking about the www.silence. I have a lot to talk about in general, but little to suggest where to start. So, yesterday I began to write about Jungian sand tray therapy, which is a little bizarre, sometimes off-putting (I broke down during one follow-on group interpretation...big, embarrassing tears), but kind of neat, too. I could have also written about how I became an unpaid (paying, with insurance help) music therapist. Or, I might have just written a little about the program's schedule, which even now I'm a bit sketchy on. Another topic fresh in mind was Thursday's attempt to down a milkshake without any ra-ra-ra group support (finished around 3/4 of a pretty large cup). These are all things I may eventually discuss.

But, I posted nothing.

Instead, I spent the better part of Saturday afternoon and evening searching the web for an answer to one of those grand, cosmic, philosophical, humanity-in-the-balance types of questions:

What kind of milk does Starbucks use as a standard in its Frappuccinos?

My daily meal plan includes four supplements, which can be any combination of Ensure Plus/Boost Plus (or generics), Cliff-type bars, and "fun" foods, as the nutritionist calls them. Fun foods include cookies, muffins, cake, pie, ice cream, milkshakes, etc. The supplements provide "energy" in addition to what I get from the balanced meal plan. The plan is more structured and manageable than "Eat, Eat, Eat! Gain, Gain, Gain!" But, I'm quite aware of the broader goal and its fight song. (I'm actually sipping an Ensure Plus as I write this - Supplement #2 for the day.)

Yesterday, I decided to have a Caramel Frappuccino (not a Caramel-Lite) at Starbucks, but not before going to their website and looking at the nutritional info. I would count it as one of my supplements for the day, but I wanted to ensure (no pun) that it was within the caloric range of the other supplements I've been consuming (nevermind any caffeine cancellations). The website confirmed that it was, and I assumed that, since the milk selection defaulted to 2%, 2% milk must be the Starbucks standard if you don't request something else. I couldn't remember what milk we used when I worked in a Starbucks-affiliated Barnes and Noble Cafe years ago. But it didn't matter, since the Starbucks website defaulted to 2%. Right?

If only I could have stopped there. I actually did stop long enough to order and drink a Caramel Frappuccino, which automatically came with whipped cream drizzled with caramel sauce (not considered earlier). I drank the entire drink except for what whipped cream/caramel sauce I could keep from mingling with the base below. Afterwards, I went back to the Starbucks website (they love repeat visitors) to see what whipped cream/caramel sauce might do to a man's supplement. Turns out - quite a lot, but, even so, I was still only 40-50 calories ("energy") over what I would have gotten from an Ensure Plus. By no means an End-of-Times issue, even for a recovering anorexic. Yet, I began to question whether 2% milk is the Starbucks standard. There were, after all, other choices  in the drop-down menu on the website, and I remembered seeing loud ads encouraging Frappuccino "customization." So, I nosed around the site a bit to see if it mentioned a standard type of milk. I had no luck finding a definitive answer, even after several site searches and a close-reading of the drink FAQs.

What to do? Google, naturally. I spent a lot of time with this, only to turn up some statements confirming 2% milk and others declaring whole to be the standard Frappuccino ingredient. I won't list my specific sources, most of which I don't even remember, but they included several forums, question-answering websites, press releases, news articles, etc. Why didn't I just call the local Starbucks? (Seriously, if you know, please get in touch.)

Suffice it to say that I did not get a chance to do anything worth really doing in Birmingham last night. Suffice it further to say that I haven't done much worth doing over the last 5, 6, 7 years. I lose count. This makes me a bit sad.

But, treatment is changing this, just at a pace that makes it hard to tell. As with the condition itself, it might be futile for me to attempt explanation, so  I won't. I'm getting better - believe it or don't.

How did you spend your Saturday night? Doing something worthwhile, I hope. Do tell. I want gritty details, people.