Friday, May 15, 2009

Summer Less Sweaty

Place: Okoboji Grill
Lunch: Boji Cheeseburger Melt (no tomato), Boji fries with ranch, Pepsi

So was anybody ever going to clue me in on stone coasters? The ones that absorb water off drinking glasses?

It gets hot. It gets humid. So goes the heartland. It's not uncommon for me to be to have a large glass full of ice water or limeade at the desk or on the table next to me.

Condensation builds up on the glass, of course, leaving water dripping on the surface. So you keep your glass on a coaster. These come in all sorts of different styles...cork ones, plastic ones, foam ones...I've even seen them made of fabric.

For the most part, they don't do much good. Water sits on them or rolls off of them. Some actually get sticky and adhere to the bottom of the glass. You lift up the glass, the coaster comes with it. And regardless, water drips on everything.

So about a month ago, I noticed "water stone" coasters at Pops, the wonderful tourist trap convenience store with a 66-foot pop bottle on the frontage in Arcadia, Oklahoma.
They claimed to absorb water. So I bought one to try.

Now I have four.

They're THAT good.

You can seriously pick up a glass that's been sweating awhile and NO DRIPS! The stone absorbs water! The glass isn't dry, but nothing's pooling into drips. And in a month of use with no cleaning, it still works as good as new.

They're completely awesome.

They're not quite as good with fast food wax cups, particularly if they've already been sweating between the restaurant and the home/office, but still better.

The guys who make the ones Pops sells are here, where you can buy them cheaper than the $7 each at Pops (but you won't have the snazzy "Pops" logo on them. You're heartbroken, I know).

Similar products are available from other sources as well.