Monster Colors

New Monster cans for my collection this week.

"But these aren't new flavors, don't you already have these?"

"Yes, but the cans I have are older versions with silver tops.  These have colored tops that match the cans' colors.  Variations are just as important to me as a design I don't have.  It's neat to line up the same can to see how its design has changed through the years," says the collector.

"Oh," says the non-collector as they roll their eyes and walk away.

A Small Addition to the Collection

This week I acquired the complete set of four Kool-Aid Sparklers 7.5 oz cans.  There's nothing special or rare about them.  I'm just glad that for once I have ALL of the cans of a series, no matter how small the set is.

These are carbonated versions of Kool-Aid in the common flavors of cherry, grape, orange, and tropical punch.

As a small bonus, this 7.5 oz can of Country Time Sparkling strawberry lemonade also found its way to me.

It's always nice to make a little progress with the collection.

Orange Vanilla Coke

One of my contacts at church brought a couple of cans to me last Sunday.  These are the Orange Vanilla Coke cans.  

These are empty, but he said he'd also bring a full one of each one of these weeks so I can try them. 

One flavor is regular Coca-Cola and the other is Coke Zero.  He preferred the regular one while his wife preferred the Coke Zero version.

The Bible talks about "...my cup overflows."  I wonder if the same goes for cans overflowing.

Where Have They Gone?

It takes work to maintain a website or a blog.  Even just the small posts I write each week can feel like a second job when the week's been crazy.  I've often sat down to relax for a few minutes on the weekend only to realize I hadn't written a can post yet.  So then it's up to find some cans and figure out what to write about.

Early on as my collection grew, I started finding helpful websites full of can images and information.  There were other collectors' blogs showing their cans and telling their stories.  There were clubs, forums, and marketplaces.  I had really jumped into a fun and active hobby.  And I have a folder full of dozens of those websites that I'd visit every week.

A few days ago I found that folder of bookmarks.  I decided to walk down memory lane and visit some of the websites that were instrumental in building my collection and blog and see how they're doing.  More than half of them don't even exist any more.  That was a pretty sad discovery.  There could be just as many, or even more, newer sites out there, but for this post I decided to write about some of the ones I'll miss.

USA Soda
This site was invaluable in finding variations of cans and dates.  At one point the site was down, so I emailed John, the owner, and soon the site was back up.  But now there's a big "Retired" across the front page and none of the image links work.

CanPedia
This was a site similar to CanMuseum, which is still alive and strong.  I dated a lot of cans using the CanPedia, but it currently gives a 500 (Internal Service) Error.

Cans in the Basement
A fellow collector told his story of keeping his cans in the basement.  I enjoyed reading the entries and missed the news/stories after the last post on May 1, 2015.  But I totally understand that life and interests change.

Collecting Soda Cans
This was another blog I enjoyed following.  Its last post was made on October 2, 2014.

rft3
This was a cool blog because it not only covered cans, but it was all about design.  There were interesting cans, signs, etc.  If I remember correctly, he was a bit of a traveler.  I remember seeing sites of other cities featured.

Diamond Coke Cans
To be honest, I barely remember this site, but I know I really liked it at one time because it's in my folder.  Now it's just an internet dead-end.

Larwood Limited
This site was dedicated to antique beer cans and collecting.  I only collect soda cans, but at one time I thought it was useful and neat enough to save it in my bookmarks.

A Guide to Soda Cans
The link to this one is really messed up, it leads to nothing now.  But it's probably a site I used often for can information.

Richard's Can Universe
Another useful site... gone.

The Soda Can Library
Gone.

Mountain Dew Cans
The link doesn't even work now.  Gone.


But there are some websites I bookmarked that are still there.  I plan on doing a post in the future to highlight some of those sites.

I know things change, but all of the sites listed above played a part in my collection and this blog.  And I'm sad to see them gone.