One Last Look At Where It Started

I started my can collection almost two years ago.  And with my first can came the first post on this blog.  Last week at work we were told they are closing our building.  Fortunately my department was kept but I'm being moved to a different building.  Unfortunately a few of my friends/coworkers will soon be unemployed.  With my time in the building now running short, I recently took a few pictures that are important to the history of my can collection.

My first can

In my first blog post I told how I found my first can.  It had been sitting on top of the water heater for years.  The above picture is a re-enactment of how I found the can.  And yes, that is the exact can that started it all!

Recycle bin

What I didn't mention in the first post was the large blue recycle bin in the break room that was for aluminum cans only.  Years ago when there were dozens of people working in our building, they had a company come in once a week to haul out the full bin and leave an empty one.  By the next week it would be full.  It would have been heaven if I had been collecting back then.  But throughout the last twelve years, they moved some people to other buildings, went through a few rounds of layoffs, and here at the end there are only 8-10 of us left.  And we're not a bunch of soda-drinkers.

The picture below shows how many cans are in the bin as of this week.  And that is many months' worth.  Kind of a sad state, as is everything around the building right now.

I don't know what's in store for me and my hobby at the new building, but more than anything I hope my friends can find jobs soon and we can all put this whole nightmare behind us!

My Oldest Can?

1965 Nehi

In February of 2012, I posted that a local Craigslist purchase yielded my oldest can yet.  It's an orange Nehi from 1965.

In a recent batch of cans I got, I found this old Royal Crown can.  I haven't been able to nail down an exact year yet, but I have found it's from the 1960's.  The condition is obviously poor (if not downright crappy) which is probably why I think it's older than my 1965 Nehi can, which is in excellent condition!

1960's Royal Crown

I know there are collectors out there that are thinking, "1965 is not that old" but I still consider myself a casual collector in the fact that I generally don't go after any certain brands or designs.  I tend to buy/trade for big lots and see what I get.  There are exceptions, of course, when I do occasionally hunt for certain cans.

But when one collects like I do, the cans are usually from the 80's to present day.  So when a can from the 1960's comes along, it's a nice little treasure to put in a special place on the shelf.

March of the Pigs

I've never seen a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in this area.  So when a fellow can collector that lives on the East Coast offered to send me some Piggly Wiggly brand sodas, I jumped at the offer.  Here's what he was able to wrangle up for me...

As a bonus, he sent me a couple of these stickers:

 

It looks like Porky Pig made a career change after they quit making Looney Tunes.  Oops, did I say Porky Pig?  I believe he goes by "Mr. Pig" now.

Thanks Steve!!!

Mineral Water Tip of the Week

Everyone has an opinion.  And my opinion of mineral water isn't a good one.  In fact, you can hear my taste-test review of it here. 

In August of last year, I saw these cool color-changing Perrier cans and had to buy a 6-pack.  I did the aforementioned taste-test so I could add the can to my collection.  And the other five cans have been on my pantry shelf ever since.

I use flavoring in my water at work.  And this morning I had an idea.  Could I use the flavoring to improve the taste of mineral water?  I took a can of Perrier to work and gave it a try at lunch.

The flavor I chose was Great Value (the Walmart brand equivalent of Mio) blue raspberry.  I squirted some into the refrigerated Perrier and took a drink.  It was much better, but still not a drink I would choose to drink.  It gave the mineral water some much needed flavor, but there was still a twang that smacked me the wrong way.

In conclusion, for those of you who like mineral water, you may want to try adding some flavoring to it.  It definitely improved the taste for me.  Kind of.

Peach Juice Drink

A couple of days ago I posted about the chrysanthemum tea my mother-in-law got for me at a Chinese restaurant.  I mentioned she picked up two different cans for me that day.  In addition to the chrysanthemum tea, she picked up this can.

It is a peach juice drink manufactured in Taipei, Taiwan.  Its ingredients are water, peach juice, cane sugar and citric acid. The can says it's 30% juice.

So how did it taste?  Imagine biting into a sweet, juicy peach and sucking its juice out.  That's exactly what it tasted like.  It was SO good.  Again, my kids did the taste-test with me, but after my first swallow I wished I had done this one alone so I could have it all.  Both kids also loved this drink.  So if I go to the restaurant to pick up the other different cans they had there, I will definitely pick up another one of these luscious libations of the Nectarous Peach Gods. 

Chrysanthemum Tea

A few weeks ago my mother-in-law went to a local Chinese restaurant and they had a selection of 5-6 canned drinks.  She grabbed two of them for me.  And this was one of them.

The can says it was manufactured in Singapore and imported from Malaysia to California.  The ingredients are water, aqueous extract of chrysanthemum, cane sugar and colors.

I had never heard of chrysanthemum tea before.  So it was exciting to try a new taste.  My kids and I did the taste-test.  It was pretty sweet (from the cane sugar) and tasted like a honey tea.  It was real smooth and didn't have much aftertaste.  Overall it wasn't the type of tea I prefer to drink, but I was able to finish my portion rather than pour it down the drain.  My daughter didn't care for it but my son loved it.  He even finished her portion.

So now I need to get to that restaurant to grab the other 3-4 cans!!!

Oh, and by the way, Aqueous Extract of Chrysanthemum was my John Tesh cover band back in high school.  HAHA!  I wish.

Can T-Shirts

About a month ago I was contacted by a guy from Switzerland through my main can collection website.  He explained that he makes linoleum prints on t-shirts and asked if he could use pictures from my site for some new shirts.  I try to help fellow collectors/artists out, so I told him I appreciate the fact that he asked permission and I told him he could use any picture on the site.

A couple of days later he sent me pictures of the new t-shirts he'd made.  

If anyone is interested in these or other designs, you can find him on Facebook at facebook.com/rabbicted. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!