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Good day SURGE fans and
welcome to the 41st edition of SaveSURGE News! We have more SURGE
than a house with faulty wiring (ok, very lame joke).
Sightings Report
There have been 4 new SURGE
Sightings since the last edition of SaveSURGE News. They are
in: AL, AR, GA & VA.
Sadly (and I mean very sadly, depressing really)
there were a whopping 10 deletions. They are in: CA, FL, IA, IN
(3), IL, MD, MI & TX. If I remember correctly, this may be the
first time we've had more deletions than additions. Let's hope for
better news next time around.
Currently, there are 180 SURGE Sightings listed.
Thanks to everyone who's sent in a Sighting!
Site Gets New Look
On Sunday, March 30, 2003 SaveSURGE.org launched a complete site
redesign. We took into account many of the user suggestions we've
received over the past 14 months and came up with a new look that
is hopefully much more attractive than the previous edition.
The goals of the new design were to make the site
easier to read and better organized. There is a new navigation system
using pull-down menus and we even added just a slight bit of interactivity
with the SURGE Poll (which we will change every so often). You will
also notice a much more dynamic front page, where content will change
on a regular basis.
There is an article on the site which provides
further detail about the new look at: http://www.savesurge.org/surge/about_redesign.shtml
Also, I'd like to point out a few notes on the
site's system requirements. The testing we did (thanks to those
of you who helped out!) showed that the new design works best on
the newer versions of both Internet Explorer (5.x) and Netscape
(7.x) for Windows and Macintosh. We've had reports of problems displaying
the menus with older versions of Netscape (specifically 4.7). As
for screen resolutions, we recommend using at least 800x600 which
is pretty much the standard these days. The only plug-in required
is the Macromedia Flash player, version 5 or above to view the scrolling
Headlines applet on the home page. All in all, we're hoping the
site should display just fine on the vast majority of systems (let's
hope!).
We'd love to know what you think of our new look!
Feel free to write us at surge@savesurge.org
or take the SURGE Poll on the site.
Auctions Still Grabbing
Big Bucks
In what has to be a world record for a 12 pack of SURGE, an eBay
auction that ended on 3/24/03 sold for a whopping $152.50, plus
shipping! The winning bids for 12 packs continue to grow and grow
for each auction. Just a few weeks ago, jaws dropped around the
country when a package full of citrus love went for $65.00 which
seems like a bargain now.
These prices continue to prove that while SURGE
may not be available in your local grocery store, it's anything
but dead in the hearts, minds and wallets of people everywhere.
It's hard to imagine that any other soft drink on earth is creating
such a stir on the auction block.
To put this situation further into perspective,
consider that in all probability the only other group of people
out there willing to pay such high prices for a beverage would be
lovers of fine wines. I am not trying to stereotype, but I'd have
to imagine that the average wine collector would be just a tad bit
older and also earn a considerably higher salary than the average
SURGE fan (just watch an episode of Frasier, you'll see what I mean!).
If my theory were true in general terms, then it is reasonable for
us to assume that SURGE fans are making much greater sacrifices
in order to obtain their favorite soda. I think it is also reasonable
to assume that no Coca-Cola beverage currently in production would
ever fetch such a price.
It is high time for Coca-Cola and its bottlers
to realize that these auctions are a very true representation of
how much SURGE is loved and missed. We must make them aware of these
auctions and the bidding wars they are creating.
You can contact Coca-Cola toll free at 1-800-438-2653
or on the web at: http://www2.coca-cola.com/mail/eQuery_other.html.
Now is the time to let them how much we miss SURGE!
For more information about these auctions, check
out our special section entitled "$URGE
on eBay". You can find under our Features menu. By the
way, here is the URL of that $152.50 12 pack of SURGE:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3214892058&category=35695
Diana's SURGE Winamp Skin
One of the most popular uses for computers these days is to listen
to MP3s. But why not listen to them in Fully-Loaded style??? Diana
is a very dedicated fan of SURGE and she took it upon herself to
make a SURGE skin for the popular MP3 software, Winamp.
I have to say that this is one of the most beautiful
and creative Winamp skins I have ever seen! It looks just great
and we at SaveSURGE.org are honored to use it. You can check it
out in our For the Love of SURGE
section. Thanks Diana!
Merchandise Arrives, Not Bad!
My order from The SaveSURGE.org
Store arrived last week and I have to say that it looks pretty
darn good! The T-shirt was very nicely done, the colors were true
and I've washed it twice with no fading.
As for the bumper sticker, it came out beautifully.
They are a huge upgrade over the stickers we gave out last year.
They are 10x3 in size and printed on vinyl. It looks like something
you would go and purchase at an actual retail store.
So, the good news is that this stuff looks safe
to buy! If, for any reason, you are unsatisfied Cafepress.com
has a 30 day money back guarantee. And remember, we're selling everything
at cost so we aren't making one red cent.
Bottler of the Week
With baseball season starting up, I'd like to award the SaveSURGE.org
Bottler of the Week to the hometown of my favorite team, Baltimore,
MD. Opening week is so great because my Orioles are usually still
in contention! It's those last 157 games that seem to slow them
down ;) So, let's celebrate this wonderful week by letting Coca-Cola
Enterprises Northeast know that Orioles baseball would be much better
with SURGE! And while you're at it, put a good word in for Citra
as well.
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. - Northeast
9770 Patuxent Woods Dr.
Columbia, MD 21046
For your convenience we've provided a form letter
that you can just print, sign and mail in our How
You Can Help page.
Would you like your local Coca-Cola bottler to
be the next SaveSURGE.org Bottler of the Week? If so, e-mail us
your name, hometown, zip code and any bottler information you might
have (it's ok if you don't know who your bottler is, we should be
able to locate it for you) to us at: surge@savesurge.org.
That's all the time we have for this edition of SaveSURGE News.
Thanks for reading and for all of your support!
Sincerely,
Eric Karkovack
Co-Webmaster
www.savesurge.org
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