The Adventures of Krystal Kid: Now all I need is a mantle.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Now all I need is a mantle.

Once I heard I was going to have my face on the Krystal box I knew I was going to have to find a creative way to display it. Thankfully, Krystal already took care of making me a large plaque to hang on the wall with my box mounted in the frame with a letter. I'll post close ups of the letter and stuff someday. But really, I felt I could do better.
Whenever anyone gets into any other hall of fame I think they get a trophy. Something to place on the book case or mantle over the fire place. Something to show the whole world "I am better than you!" I am not one to proclaim world domination. After all my claim to fame is that I like Krystals. Seriously, who doesn't? But I just knew I wanted some kind of trophy or case to display my box. Oh, of course there was the joke about getting it bronzed. (think about it.... THERE it is!)
I looked into various sized display cases but nothing fit. I had seen the clear baseball display cubes, but a quick measurement of the Krystal box showed it was just a tiny bit too wide for a baseball case. So then I thought about a Softball case. While the box would fit perfectly in one direction, it was not "deep" enough and would just look strange. I gave up on that and started looking into custom made display boxes. Two words on that topic: Bring Money! It's just a plastic box, sheesh!
I decided to go to some trophy stores and investigate. The first store I went to I picked for one reason: their utterly annoying TV commercials. It's one of those local stores who feels that if you put a dog in the commercial that somehow qualifies you as the best in the industry. I do have to admit, though, that I did remember them when I needed a trophy. I made my way to their store and explained my problem to them. Six or seven measurements, three parts catalogs, and 45 minutes later, they had come up with the same solutions I had: a softball case that was too deep, or hand make one for an astronomical cost. I thanked them, took their card, and took my leave of the establishment.
Since it happened to be Thursday (you knew that was coming, didn't ya?) I made my way towards my favorite Krystal on Vineville. On this particular day traffic was heavy on Vineville and as I rounded the curve I happened to notice that across the street from Krystal was a trophy store. I'd seen it a million times before and knew it was there all along. I actually knew the guy who used to own a golf club repair and supply business at the same location years ago. Since I am a firm believe in the power of a Krystal, I turned left instead of right and went in.
They were very busy at the time (I learned later that is was softball trophy season and they were swamped). I then met Kim who works for Award Authority. (Their web site sorta stinks but they're good people.) I brought my box in and explained the situation. Kim called every single person (including customers) to see the box and hear the story. She even had me pointing across the street to where you could see my plaque hanging on the wall at Krystal. Then we got down to business.
Kim also measured the box in all dimensions and pulled catalogs of display cases. When I then explained to her the softball case was too "deep" she then drew on paper the exact dimensions of the softball case and I sat my box down on it to demonstrate my point. At that moment I had a revelation courtesy of Kim. She simply reached over and turned the box 45 degrees and said "How about this?"
I know there's at least 4 or 5 different "morals" to this story:
"Not everyone sees things from the same angle."
"If it seems impossible it probably means you're not looking at it right."
"Rather than trying to think outside the box all the time, maybe you just need to adjust the box."
I could go on and on and on. I am sure you get the point. I also realized, once again, why I struggle with the artistic thing. As my dear friend Nancy (who happens to be a phenominal artist) once pointed out a long time ago when she tried to teach me to paint: I think in straight lines and 90 degree angles all the time. Art doesn't do that.
So now that Kim had demonstrated her complete mastery of all things artistic and beyond my grasp, I told her to go for it. She would order the parts and call me when they were ready to get started just to let me come see their "mock up." We also decided it would look much cooler on a base of some sort so we picked out a nice wooden one with a name plate.
While waiting for the trophy, I got to work on what I wanted the name plate to say. I had a list of about 6 things I felt needed to be on there, but obviously didn't have room. So I decided to keep the things that were not already displayed on the box. The day and date of my induction, making sure to point out it was on a Thursday. So to wrap up this incredibly long post, and an even longer wait, here it is:

So now all I need is a mantle. Since I don't actually have a fireplace, the land lady might be ticked if I were to install one in my living room. So I guess I'll just take it to work and put it on my book case there.
Oh, and don't tell my parents about this. I got them one, too, but it's a secret! I'm A Krystal Lover