Night Owl Cards

Last month, Chris from View From the Skybox put on a charity group break to benefit children affected by the massive typhoon that hit the Philippines last year. I've pretty much cut myself off from all group breaks in the last couple of years, but this one drew my interest. Collecting cards is a hobby and is mostly about myself. This was a chance to make my hobby about someone else, something bigger. I missed out on grabbing the Dodgers in the break, which after viewing the acquisitions by the person who did get the Dodgers, is probably a good thing. Most of them would've been dupes. Normally not getting the Dodgers would eliminate my interest in a group break. But this was different. The money was going to people in need and I had to join regardless. So why not join in the spirit of charity and get some cards for someone else? So that's what I did. I got some good cards, too. Unfortunately, this is where the post falls apart. I can't show you the cards...

It's not often that I receive an offer that I can't refuse. Sure, there are plenty of "do this or else ..." moments in my life. But I'm talking about something in which both ends of the equation are "oh, boy, where do I sign up?!" A couple of weeks ago, Kenny "Zippy Zappy" contacted me about another deal. He said he had a handful of cards for me and all he wanted in exchange were some cards of Alex Rodriguez. I stared at the email blankly. "Hmmmm, that's strange," I thought. "I know Kenny. I've traded with him before. I've seen him trade with others. But goodness this sounds like spam." A-Rod cards. He wants A-Rod cards? I read the email again. "I'd love to trade for any A-Rods (I know this will shock you but Alex Rodriguez is one of my favorite players)." Yeah, that's got to be spam. But just because I'm a nice guy, I sent a reply to Kenny -- if that is his real name -- a...

This weekend is the first card weekend that I have enjoyed in more than two months. I hope I don't have to tell you what a card weekend is. OK, fine. A card weekend is supposed to be a weekly occurrence. On card weekend, you spend one day buying cards, one day packaging and mailing cards, and one day sorting cards. You may combine activities on one day if you like. But most card weekends involve all of the above activities. A card weekend does not include a card show. That's known as "card nirvana weekend." In these last two months, I've managed to cover the sorting part almost every weekend. And I've mailed off a card package or two maybe three or four times. But until yesterday, I hadn't purchased any cards anywhere in more than a month. As for doing all three? On one weekend? Might have been July. Or maybe June. I'm such a collecting slacker. So when the time came to celebrate another card weekend, I didn't know if I could still d...

According to my calculations, I definitely will be able to spend my birthday cash on baseball cards. It's been a long two months of waiting to see if this would be possible. But somewhere in early October potentially, I may finally end up with my birthday present. You kids out there, adulthood is way overrated. I do admit I did spend a small amount of birthday cash on cards already. I agreed to sign up to the 2013 Topps minis break held by Ryan at "O" No! Another Orioles Blog . I don't enter group breaks lightly. But I felt this one was necessary because where the heck am I going to get 2013 minis of my Dodgers? I'm sure as hell not buying a whole box of that stuff online. So this was about my only chance. I knew I wouldn't get the whole team set, but I was hoping for the majority. But I didn't get the majority. I got half. And doubles. Of virtually every Dodger player I received. This is no reflection on Ryan's break ability at all, but 201...