Night Owl Cards

   In early May, I realized that it had been a long time since I had even looked at the baseballcardstore website .   In the past five years I've made purchased from there two or three times a year. It's a great place to find cheap cards and there's been the bonus of Steven sending cards my way just because or producing made-to-order Dodgers packages for me to grab at my convenience.   But as the site grew more popular I found less and less of interest. All the good stuff seemed to be snapped up right away. And there was another Dodgers super-collector who had discovered the site who was grabbing anything I wanted. Eventually I just stopped checking it out.   When I realized that it had been a year since I had placed an order I resolved to find stuff that fit my collecting interests. If I really tried, it shouldn't be that difficult. I like a lot of stuff. And the cards are cheap, so make an effort, night owl!   It took awhile -- so little time to devote an...

  I've made do in this hobby despite working a job that is known for not paying well. I made the decision a long time ago to go into a profession because I enjoyed it, not because it made a lot of money. I've gotten used to scraping by -- have done it for decades -- and have enjoyed stability in a notoriously unstable line of work. There's not a lot of cash for cards. I've written about that many times on this blog. It goes in stages, sometimes I have extra for cards, many times I don't. My card interests are relatively affordable but in the last five years where almost any card worth having is too much money, it's difficult to get what I want. It takes longer. I need to be patient, which for someone who is not 25 anymore, is not the virtue it once was.   I am currently chasing two vintage sets, 1969 and 1970 Topps (well, three if you throw in the 1967 Topps insanity). I am 90 cards away from finishing 1969 and 53 from completing 1970. It feels like it's tak...

  My vacation ended today, I'm back at work. Vacations are pretty great -- I'll never understand those people who leave unused vacation on the board. I'll also never understand people who use their vacations to sight-see in far-off lands. Obviously, everyone's different, but here's what I mean: While sitting in my hotel room in Cooperstown just over a week ago, my wife saw on Facebook that a mutual acquaintance who travels incessantly was now in France and alerting friends that she was touring some Leonardo da Vinci site there. I know some may consider me an uneducated goof but my first reaction was: "I'm sure glad Cooperstown isn't in France."   The point is I had just about the best vacation that I could have without traveling more than three hours away. In the last week-plus, I've visited the Baseball Hall of Fame, shopped at baseball stores for cards and other memorabilia, welcomed several relatives into my home and given them all a tour of...

  Early last week there were air quality warnings on the east coast. Winds had blown wildfire smoke from California across the continent creating a haze in the sky. I was traveling Monday and all I saw on my trip were dusty skies. Even before I knew it was related to wildfires, I knew something was up. And so it is with the return of card shows. I know they are happening somewhere . They're not here yet -- or at least not any that I can get to -- but some of the goods from those shows have floated across the continent to my nest. After a long absence, card shows have been popping up everywhere. One even showed up an hour away but the timing was bad. There's one in September hopefully I can attend.   Meanwhile I watch from afar (that National thing is happening again at the end of this week) and praise the card winds that blew some card show scraps toward me. Why several days ago, I looked to the sky and there were some card show remnants from Nick of Dime Boxes! (At least I a...