I cherish an oddball story about Dairy Queen Lime-Ade.

A few years ago, I was bicycle touring on the Oregon Coast (really, a lovely ride and I can happily recommend it). One of the great things about the small towns on that route is they all have Dairy Queens next to the highway as you enter or leave the town. When you ride all day, you're allowed to have all the DQ you like, so it's nice that they make it so easy.

I stopped at one DQ (Gold Beach, I think?) and was standing there, perusing the menu. You see, I was in the mood for a Lime-Ade, but didn't see it on the display. The woman behind the counter asked me if she could help me, so I observed that I didn't see Lime-Ades on the menu. She told me that DQ doesn't have Lime-Ades and that DQ has never served them. She spoke with the authority one has when one feels absolute certainty.

And now, every time that I visit my local DQ in Denver and have a Lime-Ade, I think of that woman and know that she's wrong!

CDs listened to today:

• Christopher Rouse: Concerto for Flute
• Regina Spektor: Begin to Hope
• John Adams: Shaker Loops
• The Beatles: Rubber Soul
• Edison Denisov: Choral Varié
• Olivier Messiaen: La Mort du Nombre
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Sechs Lieder
• The Didjits: Que Sirhan Sirhan
• The Zutons: Tired of Hanging Around