Night Owl Cards

I am going to a card show this weekend. At least I think I am. When you've gone without something for so long that was such a regular routine there's a tendency to think it's never going to happen again. Like growing apart from a best friend. But that's what the calendar says. There's a card show to go to for the first time in almost two years. Will I remember what to do? Or, more to the point, will what I remember doing work anymore? I don't know what to expect. I don't know whether to anticipate crowds (ick), bros and briefcases (double ick), higher prices (help!) or the same old routine from 2006-19. I plan to do the same stuff I always do. I'm going to leave at the same time, bring the same amount of money, find the same tables. If I show up and it's all gone, well, I've figured out how to buy cards other ways in the last two years anyway. I'm pretty excited, but I don't have a lot else to say. There are want lists to refine and I nee...

I just sent off a package to a Nationals fan. It was packed full of Nationals cards, cards that I haven't been able to trade for years. These must be the best days for collector Chris, the Nationals fan. First the Nationals land the wild card spot, then they beat the Brewers, then the Dodgers hand them the NLDS , then they sweep the Cardinals and are in the World Series for the first time! And then -- and THEN -- this dude with a blog sends him Nationals cards! Some fans have all the luck. OK, well, there were those 100-loss seasons about 10 years ago. I am a typical baseball fan of a certain age that has little use for the Nationals. Yeah, yeah, Scherzer and Strasburg and all that. Doesn't matter much to me. The Expos -- you know, the team MLB stole from Montreal and planted in Washington -- were my most direct route to watching a major league game in person. And it's been a pain in the rump to attend an MLB game ever since the Expos left. I don't cons...

I'm still waiting for Shoebox Legends to make his pick in the 10th anniversary giveaway (he's on the clock until 1 p.m. Friday). But I just can't sit and do nothing on this blog! NOC is about content, dammit! Here is some content! I wanted to check out what people had told me after my horrific discovery at Target the other day. They said that Target actually hadn't destroyed the entire card aisle and put all the unopened packs in the trash compacter, but likely had moved them to another part of the store -- most likely the electronics section. However, Target's hours don't match up with mine. By the time I could go to a store, it was 10:30 p.m. and Target is too weenie to open that late. So, Walmart it was. I needed printer ink anyway. I thought I'd grab a rack pack or two of Update. That's usually all it's worth. But Walmart didn't have anything smaller than a blaster. Ugh. Do I want a whole blaster of this stuff? I pondered and waffl...