There’s been no greater scam perpetrated on the world in the past fifteen years than the ascension of Starbucks and the rise of the $6 coffee. I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker, but I can see what’s happening, and know it’s utterly absurd. This is before I factor in all those Frappuccinos with their mountains of sugar in each drink. It’s silly really.

That said, you gotta hand it to Starbucks for simplifying the whole process. As one of the first largest in the United States to really embrace the whole “ordering from an app” trend, they’ve certainly mastered it. What beats bypassing the massive line that all Starbucks have, and going right up to the counter to pick up your drink that’s already there, just waiting for your arrival? Answer: Nothing.

Of course, the flaw, or the magic depending on who you side with in this whole thing, as that Starbucks is an easy and tasty experience. I can’t speak for the coffee itself, but all the ancillary stuff is solid. Hell, in California the Starbucks even sell beer & wine – which is unimaginable here in Massachusetts where we had too drive to New Hampshire to buy booze on Sundays.

Imagine that for a moment.

In my youth, due to poor planning or over indulgence on a Saturday night, we often found ourselves having to drive to New Hampshire to buy booze on a Sunday. In an age when Amazon can deliver us Tylenol and 70-Inch HDTVs in 90 minutes, it’s astounding how far we’ve come in the past few decades.

Still, there was something fun about all those old rides. Hungover, miserable, and chasing that much needed hair of the dog across state lines. Zeppelin II was usually playing, which doesn’t quite jibe with the hangover, but that was the definitive soundtrack of my youth, so it was what it was.