Academic

I admit it -- I'm an ice connoisseur.  I love good ice.  Good ice to me is pellet ice, or crushed ice (if it is crushed small enough).  Little bitty ice with lots of surface area.  My interest in good ice is both for chilling drinks -- I have a hypothesis that it cools drinks better -- and also for the chewing after the drink is gone.  I can tell you all the places I know that have good ice, which convenience stores (mostly in Texas, especially the QT, but also the Sheetz in Virginia and the Marathon here in Champaign), which restaurants (Sonic, hands down).  Pellet ice is much more available in Texas than either Wisconsin or Illinois -- no one can beat Texas for super-huge convenience stores with soda fountains that take up an entire wall!

The WSJ today finally gives ice love some respect.  Apparently there are many closet ice connoisseurs out there (I prefer this term to the kind of gross "ice chewer" term the WSJ uses).  I, too, have purchased ice in bags from Sonic.  My spouse has also priced pellet ice machines, which are far more expensive than cube ice machines.  I 'll have to tell Paul that Amy Grant gave Vince Gill a pellet ice machine.  Surely I'm worth one, too!