November 10, 2003
the meadery
I found this today when I rearranged the refrigerator:
How weird is it that the folks who print the cardboard carrier are the same ones who made Trapper Keepers? I suppose the Trapper and the cardboard bit are related in a plasticky, packaging way, but you've got to admit that there isn't a very long list of things that beer and a fourth grader's homework have in common.
One similarity between the Trapper and the beer box is the coolness factor. The whole process of picking out a Trapper Keeper usually took me about an hour of pawing through the boxes trying to find one that I would like enough and that the other kids would think was cool. Then came the agony/excitement of choosing coordinating folders.
I'd like to think that I left that tendancy behind, but here's where the beer comes in. I sometimes wonder what to bring to a party. Will my choice in beer be acceptable? If I bring Pabst Blue Ribbon will people understand that it's a joke? If I bring some kind of snooty Belgian beer with odd little dwarves on the label will they think I'm a snob? If I don't bring beer at all will they think I'm a conservative, non-drinking, judgmental Mormon? Would they have liked my Trapper Keeper?
I'm quite pleased at this entire entry because 1) I have also inspected the the manufacturer markings on the bottom of a Newcastle 12-pack; and 2) part of the junior high and high school ritual was to go and select a new Trapper Keeper every year. I always had the solid color Trapper Keepers. By the end of the year they were folded versions of little stacks.
Posted by: Mr. Guy at November 13, 2003 12:20 AMWas thinking more about the beer question--I believe it is an important but oft-overlooked part of party management theory. Specifically, one must analyze the prospective guests and determine the closest effective match. For example, a Budweiser/Rolling Rock crowd is probably not going to appreciate anything darker or thicker than a Michelob Amber. To present them with a heavier beverage might not only induce disinterest but scorn (born of ignorance). In effect, it would be casting said beer to waste. However, one must temper the urge to bring the lowest-caliber beer possible with one's own drinking preference. Will it be seen as polite to be drinking the beer that one brought? Or can the offering be set aside and ignored by the guest who brought it, in search of better beer?
This may not relate to the Trapper Keeper, which often inspired scorn because of the amount of tape required to keep the Mead product together. (If one only got one Trapper Keeper a year, one had to tape it more and more rigorously as the year wore on.)
What does it all mean? Will my reduced amount of tread be sufficient in the colder weather?
huh? wha?