Night Owl Cards

  There has to be a name for the experience of intending to send a package of cards to someone, packing up the cards, forgetting to mail off the cards for months, then finally sending the cards with a note of apology, both for forgetting and taking so long. There has to be a name because I've done it and you've done it. We've all done it multiple times. We need to stop doing it, stop the apologizing. Here's why: You're busy. I'm busy. I'm so busy that I don't remember that you told me you were going to send me cards. When was that? Months ago? Hell, last year ? I don't remember that! Who are you again? Sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I'm just busy. And forgetful. And old. I collect cards and write a blog, I believe that's the definition of being old. So no apology needed. In fact, whenever the cards arrive, that's the perfect time. That's when they were meant to arrive. I'm happy they showed up now, rather than months ago whe...

  I took a sick day from work Wednesday. If I'm remembering correctly, it's the first sick day I've taken in 11 years. The previous sick day before that one was in 1995.   Then I forced myself into work yesterday. It went OK. But after four hours, I could feel my body shutting down and left. Whatever time-bomb head cold I acquired started slowly days ago until exploding into action Tuesday. Wednesday I could barely lift my head.   I'm feeling a little better today, but thinking long and leisurely about sports cards is not in me right now. This is why I trade with people: so I can have new card content queued up for when I am inevitably detained.   A new send from Doug of Sportscards From The Dollar Store arrived a week or two ago. I always look forward to these. He finds some fancy stuff that I'll never track down, and also delves into other sports ... so I don't have to.   There you go. Like some Sabres. Doug very nicely stuck to my interests in the non-Dodger...

  As you know, the Buffalo Bills are pretty good. That's my team. Has been since the mid-1980s, when they were really bad. I mean really, really, really bad. It's fun now. A bit stressful, maybe (especially for the significant other), but mostly fun. It's also fun to see those guys on sports cards, even though I don't really collect football, especially modern football cards. But, still, over the years I've welcomed Bills and Sabres cards into my home because of my affection for Buffalo and memories of those times covering both of those teams. However, I'm taking this blog space to say I've had enough. Or, more accurately, my binders have had enough. I dedicate a single binder each to the Bills and the Sabres. That's all I have room for with baseball dominating the conversation. Each binder contains every card I own (dupes excluded) for each team. Both of those binders have reached maximum occupancy. There ain't no more room. And I'm not buying ...

  I stopped by Walgreens last week for a couple of items. As I almost always do, I swung by the toy aisle to see if there were any repacks. There haven't been any cards there practically since the pandemic, but habits. I've grabbed so many repacks from Walgreens in the past. One of these days they're gonna return. I reached the middle of the aisle, the customary spot for cards, and in place of the usual hooks and absence of product was this: Cards -- what few there are -- locked in a case. My first instinct was to laugh. Finally, Walgreens has something other than repacks, an actual hanger box of this year's Heritage, and it's in a locked glass case. I was also baffled. This store hasn't featured cards in months, possibly years, Is loss prevention pertaining to trading cards really a big deal for them? I figured it had to be corporate policy, across all the Walgreens, or at least those in the region or something. So I took a trip across town a couple days later ...

  I went out for a walk yesterday and looked toward the porch to see if there was any mail as I walked past.   There were two packages sitting there. One was tremendous progress on a particular set, which was part of a trade. One was a large box, totally unexpected, from Bob of the best bubble .   He recently struck a deal with an elderly gentleman at an estate sale and a whole bunch of memorabilia and other goodies came his way. It was pretty impressive .   Never did I expect to receive anything from that transaction but that clearly was where the box came from. Completely awesome of Bubble Bob and you will see exactly how awesome by the end of this post. (Scroll to the end if you're patience-deprived).   The box contained a wide assortment of stuff, but I'll start with the cards because, as much as I love them, they were probably the most average things in the entire box.   These are either cards I need or can use for spin-off collections. I like the Reg...