I sounded like a youth pastor who stocked his basement with a PlayStation 2, Doritos and a Slurpee machine.

But once the beverage was loaded into a Slurpee machine, Pepsi's progress froze.

Moreover, the recipe had to work in Slurpee machines of widely varying models and ages in 7-Eleven stores across the country.

A few minutes later, a group of boys in soccer uniforms and cleats parade into the store and through the smoky haze on their way to the Slurpee machine.

Merced called his first witness, a pear-shaped man who serviced Slurpee machines at 7-Eleven stores in the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area.

Megan Ennessy, 24, marveled at the flavor shots - cherry, lemon and vanilla - at the new Slurpee machine.

He'd have shot anyone who offered him one of those frozen green concoctions that came out of a Slurpee machine and had the audacity to call itself a margarita.

The Slurpee machine has a separate spout for each flavor at the front of a tumbler or freezer, where patrons pour their own Slurpees.

Affecting a foreign accent, he asked the caller, "Can you work a Slurpee machine?"

Last Tuesday it was so cold that New York was a Slurpee machine.