London 2012 Olympic Games

When I returned to work from vacation this morning, I found this Coke can sitting on my desk:

I knew it was from my Coke-drinking co-worker, so I thanked him when he got to work.  After reading the fine print, I found this design was for the London 2012 Olympic Games.  Yep, Coke is good about putting out Olympic cans.  And then I saw this:

Can 1 of 6!!  Oh great, another set to collect!!!  But that's ok, I just hope my Coke-drinking co-worker is able to get all six cans this summer. 

Go USA!!!

06/15/12 update - I found can #2 on the ground at a carnival here in town.

06/18/12 update - I got to work this morning and the co-worker who gave me can #1 had can #3 waiting for me.  

07/16/12 update - The co-worker pulled through again and brought this can #4 to work for me today.

08/06/12 update - Another co-worker brought can #5 to me this morning.  Only one to go...

08/20/12 update - A luncheon meeting was held in my building at work today.  The food was catered, but the drinks were in cans.  A co-worker was thoughtful enough to grab two cans for me during the clean up.  One was this... can # 6!!!  My set is complete.

The other can was this Olympics Diet Coke can. 

Thanks to all my co-workers who helped me finish off this set!!!  You can read the sum-up post here.

West Virginia Trip Recap

Today we returned from West Virginia.  I didn't get quite as much time to can hunt this week as I had hoped, but I was still able to come back with a sizable loot pile...

I hope to do some posts soon featuring some of these cans, but a few of the highlights include the new Pepsi Next can, the King of Pop Michael Jackson Pepsi can, the Dr Pepper Avengers Thor can that I scored from the wedding reception we attended last weekend and a 1995 Chicago Navy Pier Pepsi can I found at an antique store in Georgetown, KY. 

As far as the other activities I had hoped to do on this trip, I did not have time to go on another dump dive.  And I stopped at the Coca-Cola house but no one was home.  So maybe next year I can do both of those things.

Overall, it was a great week and I have some new cans and stories to share.

Current Excitement: West Virginia Cans (year 2)

We leave tomorrow for West Virginia to visit some of my wife's family.  We'll be there almost a week.  In case you weren't reading this blog last July, here's the post from last year's trip.

The difference this year is we are going to a wedding on Saturday, which also comes with a lot of visiting family throughout the weekend (especially with this being Memorial Day Weekend).  I won't have quite as much free time as I did last year, but I still hope to go on another dump dive, visit the Coca-Cola Mecca and just make another haul of new cans.

This site will be quiet for the next week or so, but hopefully I'll have plenty to post when I return.

My 2000th Can!!!

It finally happened.  One year and one month after I began collecting soda cans, I obtained my 2000th can.

2000 cans

What was my 2000th can?  A Big K red cream soda.  Big K is the Kroger brand of soda.  Personally, I don't care for the color scheme of this flavor.  Gold, red and brown aren't a good mix on my palette. 

Where did I get it?  This is the ironic thing.  Let's just say my wife hasn't been as enthusiastic about my collection as I have, but she'll still bring a can to me now and then.  And this is a can she brought home from work today.  I was excited to have found my 1999th can on the way to work this morning, so I wondered all day what the 2000th can would be.  When I called her on my way home from work she said, "Guess what.  I got you another can today."  And I replied, "Guess what.  That's number two thousand!!!"  She was actually a bit excited too.

#2000 - Big K red cream soda

Far from being the prettiest or rarest for my 2000th can, it is nonetheless the can to hold the "2000" title.

Root Beer Time

Last December I posted about a trade I made where I received quite a few Dr Pepper clones and Mountain Dew clones.  Clones are a "genre" of soda cans popular with collectors.  Another one is root beer.

I received this lot of root beer cans yesterday.  I've been looking for a brand or genre of soda can to focus on.  Should it be root beer?  Or Dr Pepper clones?  Or Mountain Dew clones? 

I can't decide.  So for now, I'll keep collecting them all!

The Avengers Are Here

Iron Man

Hawkeye

A year ago I wrote a post describing how I collected the six Thor movie cans.  And now it's time for the Avengers.  This time there are eight cans.

And to kick things off, I already have two of the cans: Hawkeye and Iron Man.  I picked them up at Walmart last weekend.

As I get the other cans I will update this post with those stories.

Black Widow

Hulk

05/01/12 Update - I just got the Black Widow can in a shipment from Canada today.  This collection is coming along faster than I thought it would.

05/02/12 Update - I found this Hulk can on the side of the road on the way home from work today.  I'm halfway there...

Thor

Captain America

06/02/12 Update - I picked up this Thor can at a wedding reception I attended while on vacation in West Virginia.

06/25/12 Update - Dollar General had a Captain America 6-pack today, so now I have it.

Nick Fury

 06/29/12 Update - This one has a special story that can be read here.  It's a can I found tonight on the side of the road.  Welcome to the collection, Nick.

Energy = My Curiosity x2

I rarely drink soda.  And when I do it's usually a white soda such as 7 Up.  I don't drink coffee.  I don't drink energy drinks.  In fact, I live a rather caffeine-free beverage life.

Sometimes when I buy an energy drink for the can, I feel bad just pouring it down the drain so I'll at least give it a couple of swallows.  And I haven't found one yet that I liked.  I've tried Red Bull, Monster and a handful of other brands but nothing has hit my fancy.

I picked up a couple of FMF energy drinks last weekend and decided to give them a try at work this week.  Afterall, one was fruit punch and the other citrus lemonade.  So on Thursday at lunch, I drank the fruit punch.  And it was good!  Before I had finished the can I already felt like leaving lunch early to get back to work.  I even went to my cousin who works with me and said, "I feel like going out and playing you at tennis.  I bet I could even beat you!"  I'm not sure where that came from, I don't even play tennis!

So now I understand the appeal of these drinks.  I was still feeling charged when I got home that evening.  I never did experience the crash I was expecting all afternoon.  So on Friday I took the citrus lemonade and drank it with lunch.  Again, I had a pleasantly active afternoon, completing work in time to leave an hour early!

But alas, I have run out of energy drinks.  I have no intention of buying more of those that I liked.  But I will continue to try new brands as I buy more cans for my collection.  Maybe I'll find some more that are good enough to drink...

Quarterly Team Meeting

Back in November, I wrote about scoring a couple of cans at our quarterly team meeting at work.  Tonight, I just got home from another team meeting and once again... score!

But this time it took the form of aluminum bottles.  I have some energy drink aluminum bottles and even one for chocolate milk, but what makes tonight's loot grab so special is these are my first soda aluminum bottles. 

Our next meeting is in August.  I can't wait to see what I walk away with then...

The Story of the Ticanic

One week ago was the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  So tonight I take a break from my usual can adventures to bring you a lesser-known story... The Story of the Ticanic.

RMS Pico

Many years ago, a can from Southampton, England, floated across the frigid North Atlantic.  It was the RMS Pico, also known as the "Ticanic."

6th Officer "Sunny Jim"

Along with the hundreds of crew members and passengers, Sixth Officer James Moody, known as "Sunny Jim", enjoyed several days of exciting and fun-filled cruising.

Rare photo of the disastrous ice cubes

And then one night at 11:40pm (ship's time), on Sunny Jim's watch, he alarmed the crew with his infamous words, "Ice cubes straight ahead!!!"  But it was too late for the ship and its crew. 

Everyone perished that night, including Captain Ed Smith, Sixth Officer Moody and the most famous passenger aboard, the Unsinkable Dr. Brown.

Not so unsinkable

Afterwards, when the owner of the cruise line, White Rock Lines, was contacted, their only comment was, "It was never meant to sail hundreds of people across the ocean.  It was designed to deliver 11.25 imperial fluid ounces of dry ginger ale to thirsty limeys!"

Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on.

Supernova Shirt

Supernova shirt

All day long today I wondered why I had a craving for strawberry-melon.  And then it dawned on me this evening... my wife's shirt reminded me of a Mountain Dew Supernova can!!!

It isn't any can in particular that it reminds me of but a combination of them all.  The shirt has the same black/white/pink/purple color scheme as the cans.  And of course there are the stripes, most prevalent in the early Diet Mtn Dew Supernova can design (lower left in the can picture.)

Supernova cans

I did mention this to her at which she just rolled her eyes and went about her business.  Maybe next time I notice something like this I'll keep it to myself.

On the Fence About Barq's New Look

A couple of months ago, a new look for Barq's Root Beer was announced.  One of the design changes was the addition of a diamond pattern in the background.  I actually like the new look and had been watching for a can to add to my collection, but the new design had evaded me...

Until today. 

New Barq's design

We were out on a walk and inside the schoolyard, lying up against the chain link fence, was a new Barq's Root Beer can. Now the problem was that the entire schoolyard is surrounded by a 5' tall chain link fence and the gates are locked when school's not in session.  I pulled at the bottom of the fence to try to reach my hand under it, but the bottom was buried a couple of inches underground and I wasn't about to start digging.  So, using two fingers on each hand to "walk" the can up the fence, I was able to get it to the top and reach over the top for it.  It was mine!!!  When I turned around to share the victory with my wife, she was about two blocks away.  For some reason she hadn't wanted to stick around to watch her husband fish a "piece of trash" from the schoolyard.  I jogged to catch up and when I showed her the cool new design, she responded with, "Whatever."

Whatever.  I won.

One Year Anniversary

It was one year ago today that I began my soda can collection. A lot of my collecting has been documented on this blog, but some of the highlights include:

• Dump diving in West Virginia
• Trading with other countries including Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and more
• Trading with other states including Vermont, Texas, Maryland and more
• Learning the ins and outs of bidding on eBay
• Building shelves to display my cans
• Hosting a taste-testing podcast
• Becoming a member of the National Pop Can Collectors
• and MUCH more!

And this was just in the first year.  I can't wait to see what my second year brings.  And it all began with this can:

The Force in a 12-Pack

Last week I reported I finally got the complete 1999 Star Wars Episode 1 24-can set.  The cool thing is they came packed in two 12-pack cases from 1999.

There were actually four different brands of soda with Star Wars labels:  Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi and Pepsi One.  On the back of the cases was a listing of which characters would be available in each brand.

 I'm still looking for the rare gold Yoda...

Starbucks, But Not Coffee

Starbucks Refreshers

My wife was shopping last week and called me from Target.  She asked if I had Starbucks Refreshers.  I had never heard of them.  So I jumped online, found a little info about it and told her to pick up all three flavors.

Starbucks is looking to expand their beverage selection beyond just coffee.  So the Refreshers are their answer to an energy drink.  And despite the can's label reading "...from green coffee extract" there is no coffee flavor in these drinks.

The Orange Melon, Strawberry Lemonade and Raspberry Pomegranate flavors have piqued my taste buds' interest and I cannot wait to try them.  And only 60 calories per can...

Can Watch: Mountain Dew Dark Berry

This from the Mountain Dew wiki and Facebook pages...

This is an upcoming limited-edition mixed berry flavored Mountain Dew that will coincide with the film "Dark Knight Rises."  It's slated for a June 2012 release and will have a 12 week run. 

I can't wait to see what these cans look like!

The Force Was With Me

Back in June of last year, I posted the story of how I almost got the complete 24-can Star Wars Episode 1 set from 1999.  Now I will post the story of how I did get the set.

Well, there's not much story really.  I found the set on eBay for a price I was willing to pay and I bought it.

Now the only thing left is to find the gold Yoda can.  It was the rare 25th can in the set and if you got one you could redeem it for $20 cash!  I see them occasionally list on eBay so now I'll have to pay more attention to them.

UK Steel

I have a few cans from the United Kingdom.  And I have a lot of old steel cans.  But I didn't have any steel cans from the UK... until now.

I have Coke cans and Pepsi cans and Fanta cans from several different countries.  It's neat to see the different designs of those brands from different countries.  But in this lot, these are old brands from the 70's that I've never heard of before.  That's the coolest thing to me about them. 

Man #1:  "Would you like a can of Vimto?  Or Cresta?  Or maybe some Budgen?" 
Man #2:  "No thanks.  But do you have any Pico?"

See?  I've never heard that conversation here in the States.  I like my new cans.

A Six Pack of Cans I Didn't Have

The wife is not too keen on this whole can collection thing.  I've had to go back on a few words as far as how much space in the house the collection would take up and how much time would be involved in maintaining it.  So it always surprises me when she brings home a can she knows I don't have.  So last weekend she came home from the store and said she bought me a six pack of cans she knew I didn't have.  Excitedly I dug through the bags until I found this:

HAHA!  By the way, these "cans" are only 2" tall.  And filled with candy.

Updated Collection Site

I am by no means a web site designer, but even I knew my main collection site was a bit dull.  So I spent a few minutes last night and updated the home page.

The updated home page

A slide show was added in the upper right corner which cycles through some of my favorite cans.  I also added links to two of my other sites:

• The Soda Can Collection Blog - this website
• The Collective Brain podcast - a weekly podcast I host that usually has nothing to do with cans, soda, or my collection

And having just become a member of National Pop Can Collectors (NPCC), I added a line about that too.

The site is still nothing fancy, but it's a little better than it was.  And if you haven't checked it out, you should go there and dig around.  ALL of my cans are there...

Sprite Zero Blue

New

Call me crazy, but while out shopping last weekend I saw for the first time this new Sprite Zero design.

I don't know if this actually a new design or if it's just the first time I've seen it here locally, but a blue Sprite can looks AWESOME!  Even though we don't really drink soda in our house, I had to pick up a 12-pack for the can.

Old

I thought the old silver Sprite Zero can looked good, but not as good as the blue!

Holy Moly! Part 2

Last May I posted a story on how I acquired a certain Diet Coke can from church.  Well guess what happened again this morning...

During our Sunday school lesson, just as Abraham was preparing to sacrifice his son per God's instructions, I noticed this diet Canada Dry can sitting in front of the same woman as in my previous story.  I'm glad I knew how the sacrifice turned out because my mind started to wander.  Should I hope she would throw it away so I could get it later?  Should I just go up to her and ask her for it?  What if she wasn't done yet?  Church really is full of questions.

Finally I decided to be up front and explain my situation.  So after class, I told her about my can collection and asked if I could have the can.  She laughed and gave it to me, no problem!  She said she's used to that because when she and her husband go anywhere, he's always looking at the bricks... he has a brick collection!  The wife of a collector.  A tough breed indeed.

My Oldest Can So Far

1965 Nehi Orange

In my last post, I told how I bought a bunch of cans locally from a Craigslist ad earlier this week.  After researching the cans in that batch, I realized it contained the oldest can I have now.

This is a 1965 straight steel pull top Nehi orange soda.  When I bought the cans, the old man pointed this one out and said when he hears the name "Nehi" he thinks of orange soda because this is what he drank when he was younger.

In just a few years this can will be 50 years old!  It's hard to believe it's still in such good condition. 

What's on Craigslist?

I've made several can purchases through eBay and have traded inside and outside the USA, but I'm getting tired of paying shipping.  There are many great deals on eBay, but by the time you add shipping the deal isn't so great.  So now I'd like to find some local collectors to trade with or just to see someone else's collection. 

I woke up this morning and thought of Craigslist.  After doing a search locally for "soda cans" only one ad came up.  It had been posted on Feb 14... "19 soda cans from the 1970's for $10."  Had someone bought them yet?  I decided 5:30am was too early to call.

I called a few hours later and he still had them, so I stopped by after work and bought them.  But when I got there he didn't have just 19, there were 32! They need some cleaning but that's no problem.  And now I have some doubles I can use for trade.  So this turned out to be a good find!

Anyone need a Coke?

Organizing My Foreign Cans

Stack of trays

My foreign can collection is slowly growing.  So I have to keep changing how I display/store them.  Here is my current solution.

The dividers

Each tray is for a different region/continent.  Within each tray I have dividers separating the cans by country.  As my collection grows I can add more dividers and more trays.  And if the trays with dividers start to get too crowded, I can starting using one tray for each country.  But I think it will be a long time before I have to do that.

So for now, my foreign cans are organized and I can easily find any can I may be looking for.

Divided by country

$$ Hansen's on eBay $$

I was checking out soda can auctions on eBay today when I came across this listing for a 1984 Hansen's can...

I'm going to watch this one.  If it sells, I may be willing to part with my own "unique and rare" can for that price!

Happy Valentine's Day

A Can from Down Under

Back in November I posted that my daughter's piano teacher was headed to Australia to visit family for a while.  Before she left I asked her to bring me a can from there since my collection lacked any Australian cans.  She recently returned and with her was this Coca-Cola Zero black beauty...

A quick glance at this can reveals it has seen better days, but it was a long trip to get here and it now suffers from permanent jet lag.

But beyond that, I first noticed the can is a little taller than the cans here in the States.  This can is 375ml which is about 12.7 oz.  Instead of calories, they list  it as "energy" coming in at 5.3kJ.  And there's a sweet little message which says, "Listen closely & hear the happiness being unleashed when you open this can."  Our cans don't have such pleasant instructions here in the States.

That's one more continent I've collected from.  So, is anyone going to Antarctica soon?

After the Crash

A pretty can

The reason I haven't posted lately is because I recently experienced my first hard drive crash in over 18 years of PC computing!  Initially I thought I lost everything, including over 1700 pictures I've taken of my cans.  But after days of work we were able to save the data.  This week has been spent reinstalling/updating Windows, reinstalling all of my programs, moving the data back to the new drive, etc.  So tonight, I'm almost finished!  In a few more days things will be as they were two weeks ago before this nightmare happened.

And for you, here is a picture of a pretty can...