I have been drifting back towards having several Coke Zero’s to provide my daily caffeine fix and wanted to break that habit and just this week found a new option to help.

I (and the whole family) are big fans of Vitamin Water Zero and this I believe is the first flavor they have introduced that includes caffeine.  If you can’t read the print on the image this flavor is called ‘drive’ and is blood orange-mixed berry flavored.  I think I will have to find my way over to the nearby Fairway and pick up a case.

And of course I can’t talk about Vitamin Water without mentioning 50 Cent.  His ownership already netted him $100 million when the company was purchased by Coca-Cola.

Not my nirvana mind you as I still haven’t learned to appreciate the taste but do enjoy the smell as it is made. I placed my water cup next to the bag to give a since of scale.

This arrived yesterday and I think it might last a while, but Dancing Goats is the favorite in our house. Roasted a mere few days ago and now available in wholesale sizes.

It was a different time, one where parents aren’t as cautious as they are today.  I was often dropped off at a mall for example or allowed to cruise the mall while my Mom shopped – something that today I wouldn’t dream of doing with my own kids.

And I loved the game rooms, which was one angle they expected was used to lure some of the victims.  Later in life soon after I started with CNN I can recall playing in the game room and thinking about the stories from back then as one boy, Patrick Baltazar, would frequent that game room.  The game room was shut down soon thereafter.

So I look forward to watching this special over the weekend on CNN.  It will be stirring to hear the case summarized and all the facts, both at the time and since, to see if there is any doubt the right person is still sitting in jail.

Is Wayne Williams the Atlanta Child Murderer? – CNN.com.

I can’t wait to spend some time there this summer with the girls.

Pier 6 Almost ready to Rock – BococaLand.

Pier 6 is without peer thanks to amazing kid attractions.

The little things still get me, like which way I am heading when I get down into the subway.  At least once I have almost boarded the right train but in the wrong direction.  There is something about keeping your bearings once you get underground that hasn’t quite become natural for me yet.

Now that we have unpacked most everything the apartment seems pretty big.  I think as far as space goes we are doing well for NY.  Our building is great, the other tenants are all nice and friendly and have helped us get settled.

Oh and the bakeries, which are both good and bad, have been enjoyed many times.  Chocolate macaroons have taken the lead as my favorite, but I haven’t had time to work through all the choices.  Good thing I have to walk most places to help cover those calories.

The big difference of course is traffic data.  Now I know some of the newest in car systems have live traffic data but mine doesn’t and without it I would have wasted a few hours sitting in traffic.  I have one picture from the iPhone to illustrate the value of traffic data.

Without that data I would have sat in that red traffic for at least an hour but probably longer.  I of course never knew what the issue was but with that warning I safely hopped off ahead of the slow down and cruised past it on a parallel highway at around 60mph so I barely lost any time.

So in my case the cars GPS is cool and has its value but the next time I go to buy a car I don’t think I would consider one unless it has live traffic (and maybe weather).  With the iPhone and most any other modern smartphone you have all this in your hand so even if the car can match it I am not sure it would be worth the extra expense.

I suppose it isn’t a bad thing to look like the NY Mayor but I just don’t see the resemblance.

Vanish – Finding Evan Ratliff

Of course those that do this for real wouldn’t likely gather the attention and sophisticated audience that would organize around tracking them down, but it does help to understand how people are able to disappear from their life and start over.  The challenge was put out to catch Evan within a month to claim a $5k prize, which helped to motivate catching him.  In real life I expect most that do this don’t have a reward and you can only imagine the police force having few resources to keep up a search.

Evan in this piece makes a few intentional mistakes to help motivate the search, but it still took a wide network of people to uncover his new home.  I wonder if he would have been caught it he truly had done all he could to avoid it.

That was enough to get me going – I have started paying close attention to what I eat and have a few goals to get myself on a course that will significantly lower my risks.  It has been just over a month and all is well so far.  I haven’t felt like it has been a tough sacrifice to give up certain things and since I am still quite active I have quickly dropped some weight.

It feels good to get back into college shape and ideally I will even get into the best shape of my life in the coming months.  I am not sure if other major hospitals offer a deal on a similar test, but for anyone with a family history of heart issues I strongly recommend getting yourself screened.