There are some vending machines in the KAKE TV break room. Like bugs to light, it usually draws a pretty good crowd of hungry (mostly bored) employees on a daily basis.

I always thought that if a vending machine was set up to be a human "bug zapper" .. people would still try cram a buck in the slot while knowing they were about to get a jolt.

Anyway, the machines at KAKE feature a couple of soda options. The Coke unit is next to the Pepsi unit. Both doing battle for the 60 cents burning a hole in random KAKE employee's pocket. I try to feed both machines... to keep them happy.

There is also a food machine. Of course it's packed with highly nutritious foods like chips, candy bars, gum, and microwave popcorn (x-tra theater butter). The prices for stomach filler in this machine are ridiculous. A candy bar will run you about 85 to 90 cents. Some of the big items, like the GIANT candy bar with 20% more gross, will set you back $1.10.

My limit is a buck. If I'm jamming a dollar and THEN some change into a machine filled with sugar coated stomach bombs, then I need to check myself.

The most popular of all vending machines at KAKE is the small and simple quarter machine. It's a little unit with a twist handle. You drop a quarter in the slot, give it a turn, and BOOM! Your hand is filled with 8 or 9 peanut m&m's.

The peanut m&m's go first. When they are gone, the regular m&m's empty. Then the hot tamales, followed by the skittles. There are two of these machines and they are not often re-stocked. So when there is a new load of peanut m&m's, the break room sounds like Vegas. People stuffing quarters into a machine, turning the crank ..collecting their winnings in cupped hands.

I'm hungry.