Pavlovian response (read: classical conditioning)
"Classical conditioning (also Pavlovian conditioning or respondent conditioning) is a form of learning in which the conditioned stimulus or CS, comes to signal the occurrence of a second stimulus, the unconditioned stimulus or US. (A stimulus is a factor that causes a response in an organism.) The conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus.[1] The US is usually a biologically significant stimulus such as food or pain that elicits a response from the start; this is called the unconditioned response or UR. The CS usually produces no particular response at first, but after conditioning it elicits the conditioned response or CR. Classical conditioning differs from operant or instrumental conditioning, in which behavior emitted by the subject is strengthened or weakened by its consequences (i.e. reward or punishment).[2]"
Enter, Pacific Wraps.
My CS? Hearing someone utter the words "Pacific Wraps." Someone alluding to "that wrap place in the union." Anything comparable.
My US? Uncontrollable salivation.
Let's back up the proverbial bus here to provide a bit of context for a place which many Milwaukeeans over the age of 23 may not know about. Pacific Wraps = wrap joint in the UWM Union food court. There's really nothing special about it, I assure you... though they have lots of options and some are healthy/inventive or whatever. Use your Panther Card if you're like 20 and mommy and daddy load it for you, or pay something like six or seven bucks for any of their myriad wrap choices: Thai Chicken, Chili-Hummus, the Firecracker, Mandarin Chicken Salad, Korean, Vegan Falafel... I could go on, but I'll stop with the mention of THE MONTEREY.
I am a disgusting human because I loved and still love the Monterey wrap from Pacific Wraps. I am even more disgusting because sometimes I would sub in CRISPY (read: fried) chicken instead of the grilled. Let's talk about how perfectly pedestrian this piece is regardless: chicken, cheddar, bacon, rice, and ranch all wrapped up together in a delicious, delicious gut-bomb of a thing. You wouldn't think something so plain and so fast-food-esque could be so delicious, would you? You're wrong, though.
I was thrilled, however, to learn the other evening over drinks and bites post-Brew City Bash II that both my Yelp-tern Jess S and elite extraordinaire Shane H share in my secret Monterey/Pacific Wraps shame. I am alone no longer! I am not a secret disgusting monster! Shane went on to inform me that, sometimes, Pacific Wraps runs an AVOCADO MONTEREY special. Shane.
I may or may not head to Pacific Wraps today and battle the throngs of 19-year olds. I'm almost ten years older than them now, and IDGAF about being in the student union anymore.
Wait. Graduation was Sunday, right? Is PW even open? Do they close for the summer and I just wrote this review?
TRAGEDY. read more