Night Owl Cards

  I slept 9-and-a-half hours last night/this morning. I don't even come close to that kind of sleep most days now. Probably average around 7.   The combination of the World Series and my cold shredded my sleep cycle all last week, and Sunday night was the first chance for real rest. Not only was I coming off the hangover of the Dodgers' Game 7 victory but the Bills had their biggest game of the season thus far, beating the hated Chiefs in another tense affair. We can't space this stuff out a little more, sports leagues??   I woke up today feeling better than I had in more than a week. I still don't think I'm quite there yet (see: coughing fit just 10 minutes ago), and with that amount of sleep today, I had barely any time to do anything before having to work.   A package from Dime Box Nick has been waiting for my words for 10 days now and I'm finally squeezing it in right now. As you know, Nick stopped writing on his blog nearly a year ago, but this is the seco...

  My first COMC order of the year came in today. I've settled into averaging out to two COMC orders a year. It used to be more than that, but there are more options now and also COMC prices have been unreasonable in many cases for several years, so I've been forced to comparison shop.   My first order of the year is usually smaller than the one that often shows up in the fall. But both orders usually show how scattered my interests are. I read stories about collectors working on some super-focused, often highly unattainable pursuit and only that pursuit . Every time, I am filled with feelings of admiration/envy (wish I could do that) mixed with feelings of relief (glad I chase more than one thing!).   This order is very much this-and-that. It took almost exactly a month to show up, which is fine, though I was expecting earlier based on the lightening speed from several months ago.     One of the first items I put in my cart were the last two Dodgers I needed fro...

If you've been reading this blog long enough you know the routine: March arrives in a blaze of burning dumpster fires of all shapes and sizes. I dodge said fires the best I can. If I get to the end of the month alive, I buy a few cards to celebrate. Guess what? It's the end of the month. I'm still alive. I bought cards to celebrate! Per usual, it's just a few because who has the time? Plus there's a card show on the horizon, so I need to stock up. My annual "good riddance" purchases usually focus on whatever whimsical cards catch my fancy. And this year was no exception. Pow. It is my goal to obtain all of the 1980 TCMA Albuquerque Dukes cards I can. I've loved the border design since I was a wee one and many of the players on the team then were the first Dodger prospects I ever knew. But this card is particularly special because what do I mention first? Is it the bald-headed guy you'd never expect to see on a baseball card? Is ...

I feel like I have certain responsibilities with my hobby. One is to try to keep a relatively tidy "work" station. There are other people in the house. They don't need to see my scattered piles of team bags, toploaders, mailers, receipts, etc., never mind that all of it combined gives me endless joy. They can only see what's in front of them. But when cards stack up, even I get bent out of shape. I keep stacks of cards for the current year (2016 cards), as well as stacks of incoming and outgoing cards. Anything beyond that I try to store as soon as I am able. There are a bunch of cards that have been sitting out, unattended, for quite a while. They are all non-regulation-size cardboard, the vast majority Ginter mini size or postcard size. I ran out of pages for those cards a long time ago, and I enjoy buying boxes of pages as much as I enjoy buying socks. It's a necessity I put off til I can't puts it off no more. So I decided to do something about it...