Dinner, a fresh fruit juice chain, innovative marketing and departure: As of 0630 EST my roommate is finally on his way on the road to Stanford. We had a great dinner (again!) at Malaya we spent most of the evening and night discussing issues as varied as movies, music trends, political upheavals and marketing strategies. We even came full circle to what we started.

It's interesting how much interesting information you glean from such diverse conversations. I found out about Odwalla, an innovatively succesful fresh fruit juice chain that takes its name from a musical piece entitled "Illistrum", composed by Malachi Favors, and performed by The Art Ensemble of Chicago. ("Fanfare for the Warriors" Atlantic SD 1651, April 1974).

Jamba Juice, a chain responsible for delicious, nutritious, convenient meals filled with enticing fruit and vegetable flavors, vital nutrients and total convenience (their smoothies bear similar qualifications), decided to save on investing millions in figuring out good locations to set up shop by just posting themselves next to every Starbucks outlet. Since Starbucks was (and is) doing well, so could Jamba Juice. Seems to have worked!