Night Owl Cards

  I made it to the monthly show across town today. It was the first time I was able to get there since January, having missed the last two because of poorly-timed weather.   This is good because the big Syracuse show is in a week and I'm probably not going to be there due to the lack of a vehicle.     The monthly show is definitely not the Syracuse show. I was reminded again by the ever-pervasive fantasy card tables that you can ignore at the Syracuse show because there is so much regular card show goodness. Today's show featured two tables that got my money. There were probably four tables total that offered the cards that interest me -- i.e. sports cards not encased in plastic.   But all things considered in the hobby (*waves hands at everything*), I'll take it.   This show will not be long for my world if one particular dealer decides it's not worth it (two of his seller buddies who used to accompany him at the monthly show have ditched it for Syrac...

   Among the large cities in Upstate New York, Syracuse is the one that I drive through the most. But it's not a destination city like Buffalo or Albany. It's a place where I brave the traffic on the way to somewhere else.   The only two exceptions are to watch minor league baseball or go to a card show. It's the closest large city to me so it does have its perks. But I don't know it very well. So when I realized there was a show coming up and that it was corresponding with a major highway renovation project in central Syracuse, I was concerned.   The normal route to the show at the fairgrounds would take me directly into detours, one-lane traffic and potential gridlock and confusion. I had to find an alternate route, in a city I don't know. Through years of self-navigation, in cities much larger than this, I've never relied on GPS. I thought this might be the time I'd need it. I activated it but never turned it on. In fact, I think I might have found a new ...

I am not poor or disadvantaged. But watching how I spend my money has been a necessity most of my adult life. I work in a business with an average salary that would make a teacher snicker. Counting dollars is a way of life. So for decades I have carried that mind-set. Can I spend money on this ? Can I spend money on that ? Can I spend money now ? No, not this time, I have to wait, wait until a different time of the month, wait until that bill is paid, wait until the car is fixed. Year after year after year I've done that, the budget always hovering over my head constantly, a presence, always there. Some would call it a struggle. But I've always been a nose-to-the-grindstone person. Just get done what you must to get it done. Go without if necessary. The name of the game is to live. We'll get to that other stuff if we can. I've sacrificed without calling it sacrificing. Scrimped without knowing I was doing it. Declined with barely a pang of sorrow or guilt. It'...

I do a lot of writing. I was just thinking about this last night. It's not a big revelation. I've known about it for years. It's what I do. I write at work. It's a good 70 percent of my job. When I come home, I write on this blog, and you know how long those posts go. When I'm not writing on this blog, I write on one set blog or the other . When I'm not doing that, I'm writing out lists or ideas or addresses. Write, write, write. So there are times -- even though I enjoy writing more than 95 percent of what's available to me in the world -- when I just don't want to pen a single letter. Welcome to one of those times. Don't worry. I'm going to write. I don't believe in skipping a day just because "I don't feel like it." But what does one do when he doesn't want to write but insists on writing anyway? He does a list, silly. You've seen all of those lists on my blog. They're just a smoke screen for...

If I ever decide to downsize my card collection, it will be with one stipulation: that I can continue to add oddball cards. If it's possible to fall in love with a particular genre of card, then I am about to ask each and every food issue card to marry me. Expect an announcement -- and a wedding date -- on the blog soon. One day, I may ditch all cards so I can dedicate myself toward tracking down every cookie company, gas station, department store, tire shop, clothing outlet and hot dog stand that ever manufactured cards. That really seems like meaningful life's work. I'm already getting a head start thanks to some people who read my blog and take me seriously when I say I want cards that once came out of potato chip bags. Ta-da! Isn't that fantastic?? This is an honest-to-goodness 1962 Bell Brand Potato Chips card. Bell Brand issued sets of Dodger cards in the late '50s and early '60s. This is the first one I've ever seen in person, ...