Night Owl Cards

  It's getting so that I'm running out of places to turn to find cards that I like that aren't stupidly expensive or unavailable.   Modern cards are out in that area. They're seeded with short-prints and often they prevent you from finishing a set. See: 2025 Topps Heritage.   Vintage in many cases is out. Thank goodness for card shows, I can still find them there. But looking for cheap vintage online is a old-fashioned practice that became fruitless a few years ago.   Even my dear '70s is filled with roadblocks. I'm at a stand-still with both Kellogg's and Hostess, either because of prices (Kellogg's) or unavailability (Hostess).   Sure, I like a whole bunch of different kinds of cards so I can always pivot, but the only reliable period to pivot is the 1980s. Heck, that's still a decade that makes people just give away whatever was manufactured during those 10 years. Thank goodness! There's a reason I've written so many odes to the 1980s.   R...

(Get ready, this is a heavy one. Time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 138th in a series): Gum? That is what Oddibe McDowell appears to be offering. And if he were offering it to me, in April of 2012, I would have to consider a few questions first. Is it sugarless? If so, what is in it? Am I making too big a deal out of a stick of gum? Am I making too little of a deal out of a stick of gum? Why am I thinking so much about this? It's a piece of gum! Why am I so stressed out? But what I would probably say instead is, simply: "No thanks." And I would leave the rest of the thought out: "I have diabetes." I was diagnosed with diabetes last month. It's the big health news that I wrote so cryptically about, first because I didn't know what the hell was going on, second because I didn't want to believe it, third because of stress and frustration and anger and disgust and fear and worry and just way too much in an already preocc...