About seven years ago, I had a different job and a different life. I had fallen into a programming job (basic stuff, really--just front-ends to databases) after originally being hired as a technical writer, and I was traveling constantly. In 1996, I spent half of the year in Santa Fe, and nearly as much time away in 1997. During that time, I sat in front of a computer all day, and my constant companion was the can of Dr. Pepper by my right hand.

And I started to put on a few pounds. It was a combination of things, of course. The travel meant that I wasn't at home and playing my regular game of tennis at the health club, and it also meant that I had a generous per diem to eat out on every night. The long hours put in front of the computer and drinking sugar water didn't help, either. I realized I needed to make a change, and like most of you, I did the easiest thing: cut out the sodas.

I'd compare my soda habit to a smoker's addiction, and maybe there was something about the caffeine in Dr. Pepper that my body craved. But it was likely more of a psychological problem--how I would sit back and take a sip while pondering the code on the screen in front of me. I tried to switch to just drinking water, but I still missed something. On the airplane, I stared at the cart coming down the aisle, trying to make a non-soda decision, and overheard someone asking for just club soda, with a lime. Why not, I thought. Like a smoker who chews gum to meet the oral craving, I discovered that what I had been missing wasn't the caffeine, but the slightly burning sensation of carbonation in the back of my throat.

Now, I drink club soda--or seltzer water, it really makes no matter to me--with most meals at home and many out. At work, I buy cases of seltzer and keep them at my desk, thus avoiding the temptation of the coke machine. (Yes, I'm from the South, where we call everything a coke. In Texas, when they ask you what kind of coke you want, they don't mean you can only choose between classic, vanilla, or diet, but any of the full range including Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, or Jolt.)

To shift topics only slightly, I'm a fan of vintage movie comedies of the 1930s and 1940s, typically called in the film studies field as screwballs: urbane, witty films that depict a royal battle of the sexes, with a good deal of misunderstandings and gender-role-switching. In most of these films, people drink like Dean Martin just returning from a tour of Salt Lake City. And, inevitably, there's the Seltzer bottle, a useful device for emphasizing your point by dousing the ex-lover. Jill asked me over a year ago, why don't I just get one of those, and make my own seltzer. I loved the idea, but quickly learned that those things use up small CO2 cartridges fast (each one only does about 2 liters of soda). Nosing around, I did finally stumble upon the Soda Stream Gemini, but was daunted by the difficulty of refilling the canister (requiring a number of wrenches and special gadgets plus a visit to a paint ball supply store, fire station, or industrial supply store). In addition, the setup wasn't cheap--nearly $150 for all the required equipment. Europeans had canister delivery, but that wasn't available in the U..S.

I continued to buy my club soda, purchasing two-liter bottles of generic Safeway brand when I remembered to, or more expensive Italian mineral water from the Whole Foods market between stocking up at the Safeway.

Fast forward to yesterday. Jill and I went to Philadelphia for the day, due to Jill's business schedule and logistical arrangements, along with a long-stated goal of visiting my friend Tim Burke (who writes at Easily Distracted, which is well worth visiting) whom I had known for the last five years but never actually met (a situation that people don't have as much trouble understanding now, but which used to worry my parents in the 1980s). While Jill attended a conference at the Hilton in King of Prussia, I met Tim, his wife Melissa, and their toddler Emma at the Rock Bottom Brewery in the King of Prussia Mall. Following lunch, the four of us spent the next couple of hours just walking around the mall and talking. After saying goodbye to Tim and his family, I was walking back through the mall (having turned down their offer to give me a lift to my car parked on the entirely opposite side of the mall) and came across one of those temporary kiosk stores that was advertising a product called the Fountain Jet--"make your own soda at home." I walked around to the front of the display and had to ask, "Can you just carbonate water with one of these?"

"Like seltzer?" the high school girl working the booth asked.

"Yeah."

"Why, yes...would you like to try some?"

"Please!"

She reached behind her and took a one liter bottle from the refrigerator. Unscrewing the cap, she tilted the front of the Fountain Jet, screwed the bottle into the machine, then said, "For sodas, like dark ones, you want to give it five bursts, but for seltzer, just three is probably fine." She then pressed the grey button on top in three times, waiting each time to hear a buzzing. She titled the top of the machine again, unscrewed the bottle, then poured freshly carbonated water in a glass for me.

I drank a sip and said, "I'll take it." $75, with tax. And the District is in their coverage area for easy refilling of the canisters.

The product is called the Soda Club. I'm not just a member; I'm a very satisfied customer.