A little life and style asterisk-style for you all:

* After an initial taste-testing, I am undecided as to the potability of the latest flavor (so new that it's not even on the web site) from Polar Beverages, a local producer of sodas, mixers, and such: pomegranate dry. The wife found it too sweet (even for being "dry" and the diet version to boot), while I was finding the intensity of the flavor differing from mouthful to mouthful. All in all I'd try it again, but I wouldn't invest in a 2 liter.

* Both the lo-cal and NBC news had stories tonight on the popularity and new status of flip-flops, given their appearance on the feet of several Northwestern women's lacross players during their recent visit to the White House. What's surprising to me is that this is considered a recent fashion trend given that it's been commmon on campus for years. I suppose working in higher ed gives me an inside perspective on this. I can remember being surprised at the prevalence of flip flops in, say, 2002.

I don't really blame the players, though I'd think even an average level of maturity for a college athlete would suggest that if you're going to see the President of the US, you probably shouldn't wear footwear that also works in the locker room. I do wonder what the coaches were doing when they should have given the players a once-over for appropriate attire, but they could be so used to flip flops that it didn't register.

Even so, if W invites me down for photos and finger sandwiches, I'll be sure to wear shoes. I'll even wear socks with them.

* In the space of a week, the Red Sox seem to have turned over about half of their active roster. I tuned into today just in time to see Tony Graffanino register his first hit and RBI for the team, at which time I registered that Graffanino was actually on the team. I also didn't know that we'd had to trade someone to get Adam Hydzu back. I assumed he was in Pawtucket waiting for Kevin Youkilis to get sent back down. Again. Which he was when Graffanino came on board.

I feel badly for Youkilis, who can't seem to catch on in Boston. Expectations may have been raised by his mention in Moneyball, where his ability to get on base made him a prime target of Billy Beane, who couldn't pry him away from the Sox for love or money. I now wonder if it would have been better for the Greek God of Walks if he went to Oakland.

(I know, this is sports rather than life and style, but work with me.)

* Speaking of life and style, the Boston Globe has now come up with something it calls "Sidekick" (tagged with the line "Your Guide to a Better Day") which combines the comics, crossword, TV listings, horoscopes, and things to do into a small tabloid-format pull-out section. I'd think this was in response to the Metro Boston, a "newspaper" that packages AP wire stories in small bits so that it can give you "24 hours in 20 minutes," except that the Globe now owns 49 percent of that publication.

Meaning that the Globe would be competing against itself.

I am actually fairly sad over the state of Boston newspapers. The Globe hasn't been the same since the New York Times folks bought them out, the Herald is trying to be the local, more sedate cousin to the New York Daily News, and then there's the Metro, which could be subtitled "The Newspaper for Illiterates." I used to read a paper every day. Now, I rarely even bother to check any of them out on-line.

I suppose that saves me money.