The Doctor Is In

A friend and coworker of the IT Insights Blog Squad likes to begin the day with 32 ounces of the finest caffeinated beverage money can buy. Many of you out there might assume this would lead to a discussion of coffee, but you'd be wrong. Then, after thinking it over a bit, you would probably realize, "Ah, so he's a cola guy. Which is it, Coke or Pepsi?" This would also be wrong, and at this point the guessing would likely default to energy drinks like Monster and Red Bull.

Alas, wrong again, you uncultured barbarians. Thinking outside the box, someone would probably say, "You know, chocolate has caffeine. Maybe this guy really likes hot cocoa."  Or another radical supposition might involve tea, either iced or piping hot, the way that Captain Picard likes it. Perhaps some contrarian hipster would chime in with, "Do they sell RC Cola or Tab in Utah?" The office know-it-all would probably shake his head and say, "It's obviously Mountain Dew."

Fizzling now, the discussion would turn to crazy talk. "Well they don't put caffeine in milk." "Maybe he adds caffeine packets to his orange juice." You people. This beverage of all beverages, this nectar of the gods, this overlooked elixir, is none other than the finest physician in all of soda-dom, Dr Pepper. The good doctor has a prescription for what ails you, and that prescription combines 23 flavors first mixed by pharmacist Charles Alderton in Waco, Texas, circa 1885.

Interestingly, DP23 (not a widely recognized or canonical Pepper nickname; we're sending up a trial balloon) is not a cola drink despite its being brown, carbonated, loaded with caffeine, and manufactured, in certain regions of the world, by both The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo. Indeed, a U.S. federal court ruled in 1963 that Dr Pepper is not a "cola product" at all, clearing the way for independent bottlers to produce DP23 alongside both Coca-Cola and Pepsi products.

At any rate, our Pepper-loving colleague has dared to be different and you should, too. TestOut Continuing Education is far from being the largest or most popular IT certification and training company. Like both Dr Pepper and Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, on the other hand, we've got it where it counts. "TestOut CE" might not be the first name in IT training and certification, but people who have tried us know the truth, and they keep coming back, day after day.