these are the places in your neighborhood

AQUARIUM STUFF:
The aquarium was awesome as per usual, with the added bonus of the whole big lizard exhibit. I really like lizards. A lot. And they had tons of them. There was a pair my father insisted was "cuddling," but they were totally doing the lizard nasty. Kind of funny. There were big colorful lizards that swam around and funny blobby lizards that sat around and lots of little lizards who liked to climb on the glass of their habitats so you could see their little lizard bellies. And there was the dragon. The insanely huge komodo dragon. And it was insanely huge. My mom asked, "like, bigger than Freud?" "Are you kidding?" said I. That motherfucker was bigger than the human Freud was. Like crocodile sized. His habitat was the size of my apartment (maybe bigger) and there was a guy telling stories and answering questions who said the dragon ate pounds and pounds of rats every wednesday like they were popcorn. The dragon also apparently is very used to people, having grown up in captivity, and will even come over and put his head on the laps of the staff for pets and cuddles. The guy telling us all this was actually pretty cute, though I'm not sure if he was cute because he was cute or if he was cute because he liked and knew a lot about lizards without being a completely socially awkward weirdo. Not that there's anything with socially awkward weirdos. Maybe this summer I should take the work option that gets me out by 2 and get some job at the aquarium working the gift shop or something. Because I like the aquarium, not because I like the boys.

ATTACK OF THE CLONES:
After discovering that there were six Dunkin Donuts within two miles of my apartment, I began wondering about the other businesses that have so many locations in my area. Walgreens was the first to come to mind. There are just so many Walgreenses around here, its insane. But it seems like there's a Dunkin Donuts across from every Walgreens, so which chain has more? And what about Starbucks? I can think of three I pass regularly near my apartment.
So, in the name of curiosity, I checked the websites. The only radius all three chains offered was 5 miles, so I started with that.

Dunkin Donuts: 27
Walgreens: 59
Starbucks: 106

But a 5 mile radius is most of the city. What about closer? You don't need the details of how, but I checked a 1 mile radius (easy walking distance, I figure) and found:

Dunkin Donuts: 2 (though 3 if you go 1.02 miles away)
Walgreens: 8
Starbucks: 16 (17 if you count the one inside a bank)

That's insane. There are even 4 Starbuckses within a friggin' half-mile of me. That's like dog walking distance. I know the "so many Starbucks!" thing has been mused upon many a time before, but it still gets my official "holy shit."

Hmm. I have to go to work now. I didn't realize it was this late and didn't shower. Oh, well. Kids smell, too.