Night Owl Cards

Last week I survived that popular ritual of 50-somethings everywhere, the colonoscopy. I know that just made a young person squirm. Good. That's why I mentioned it. They need reminders of what's coming. Anyway, the hysteria you hear about the procedure is pretty much exactly that: hysteria. I heard all kinds of stories before I finally agreed to my doctor's recommendation. One person told me about the woman who had a colonoscopy and is still in a hospital years later recovering. Spooky stuff like that. But outside of starving yourself for a day and getting zero sleep, mine was completely manageable and filled with all kinds of perks, like getting my own cable TV to watch and people waiting on me constantly. Best of all, there is plenty of down time afterwards. Because of the prep (i.e. icky drink) the night before and the procedure the day of, I essentially took two days off of work and nobody said anything because the poor old man needs a colonoscopy. But th...

This card appeared in my most recent 1985 Topps blog post. It's Joe Orsulak's rookie card. It is now missing. I don't know what the heck I did with it but I can't find it anywhere. And now there's a temporary hole in my complete 1985 Topps AND Traded set (there are only a dozen sets in my collection that can claim the "AND Traded" part). Fortunately I am pretty busy these next few days because I need to keep busy or that little bit of sadness from losing this card will well up inside me and ... well, seeing a veteran card collector cry in the corner is never pretty. The Orsulak card could be anywhere. I did a lot of card things yesterday, immediately after posting the Orsulak card. He could be in the middle of any number of stacks. There is a stack in front of my desk computer of cards to be cataloged. I most often put the latest '85 Topps card to be blogged on top of that stack. But, maybe it's somewhere in the middle of the stack. I ...

(Y'all know what an appreciation letter is, don't you? It's one of those letters you write after going on a job interview to express gratitude for the  honor of being interviewed. It's basically a "please, please, please, PLEASE hire me" letter. I recently came across an old appreciation letter from an employee who doesn't work for me anymore. If I'm being accurate, though, it was more bullshit than appreciation. In the end, I was the one doing the appreciating when this employee got a new job. Anyway, that's a long way to go to say: cards never BS you. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 54th in a series): Ladies and gentlemen, Topps 2010, Series I is complete. Georgie-Porgie here was the last card I needed to finish off the set. I actually landed two Posada cards on Monday. One was pulled from a pack. Then the mail arrived and Jorge showed up again, wagging his enormous ears at me. A big thanks to Mr. Dog Faced Gremlin for bein...

I haven't lost my job. Not yet. It's just that I heard news today that no employee wants to hear from their company. It makes workers skittish. To make matters worse, I heard it on my day off. That completely killed the enjoyment of a day I had waited for all week. Everyone knows that newspapers are going through some tough times. Some of them are disappearing. I'm not sure where all this will lead. A lot of people think this is merely the progression of people receiving their news from other outlets, in other forms. I believe it's more than that. And, losing the printed word in its newsprint form -- if it ever comes to that -- will have ramifications for generations to come. And a lot of them won't be good. But that's a post for another time. I was in the mood for a pick-me-up today for another reason. My daughter was sick and missed four days of school this week. Our week had been turned upside down caring for her. Today, we were finally getting b...

Today is a day of completion, as well as a day of freakish coincidence. First, the completion. The card here arrived in the mail today from Max, more commonly known on the interwebs as jacob mrley. He sent a whole heap of amazing cards, probably one of the most pleasant card packages I have ever received. But I'll save those for another post. This card of Joe Orsulak is the last card I needed to complete the 1986 Topps set. It has eluded me for quite awhile. I even whined about it on this post . It must have struck a chord because two other bloggers have said they would send this card to me, as well. In fact, I believe one of them has already sent it (Sorry, Johngy! ). I am happy that I don't have to whine any longer. Orsulak has been rooted out and captured. And that brings me to the freakish coincidence. On the same day that I received this Orsulak card, Jeff of Card Junkie riffed on my Orsulak post on his blog. He needs the Jeff Francoeur card to complete his 2009 ...

One card. One lousy card left to complete my 1986 Topps set. And it's Joe "bleeping" Orsulak. Can you believe it? The strangest cards end up being the last ones needed to put a bow on a set. Not Puckett, not Mattingly, not Rose. Orsulak. I don't know where Orsulak is hiding, but I do suspect this: Someone is protecting old Orsy because they can't let go of a card that has (RC) next to his name in the Beckett price guide. Well, let me tell ya something, rookie card fanatic. No. 102 of the 1986 Topps set is not Orsulak's rookie card. His rookie card is what's at the top of this post, No. 89T from the 1985 Topps Traded set (There's an '85 Fleer Update card, too). So, now that that is out of the way, I'm asking ... no, I'm begging: please PLEASE trade me this card. A solitary hole in a binder of 792 cards is about as sad a sight as you're ever going to witness. Sadder than "Marley and Me" (and you thought that was a happy movie...