Night Owl Cards

When I first started trading, my circle was very small. Just my brother and I. He was the only one I knew who collected baseball cards. He was the only one who had something that I wanted. So in the spring and summer of 1975, we made a few exchanges. Some trades were silly. I didn't like the look on some player's face, or my brother didn't, and we swapped so we wouldn't be tormented by Gene Locklear or Don Hahn ever again. You know kids. The few "serious" trades that were made involved our favorite teams. Red Sox for Dodgers. And vice versa. These trades became automatic, so much so that they weren't even trades. If he pulled a Dodger that I didn't have, he handed it over to me, and I did the same with any Red Sox. A couple of years later, my youngest brother became old enough to have an interest in baseball and cards, and Orioles were added to the trade agreement. Meanwhile, a few friends collected cards, and during those first ...

I received a cell phone for Christmas. At least I think that's what they still call them. These things are barely phones anymore. In fact I'm sure my phone scoffs at the thought of actually making a call. It's just begging me to ask it to sit, lie down, roll over and fetch. I have news for it. It's going to be waiting a long time. You'll note that when I said I received a cell phone that I didn't say I received a "new" cell phone. That's because I didn't have one prior to Dec. 25 th . That doesn't mean I've never had one. I'm not that backward. My first cell phone looked much like the one the girl is holding in the photo. I had one in the early 1990s. They were called "car phones" back then. Do you remember that? Their purpose was to be used in the event you were on the road and needed to make a call. Perfectly logical. Through the years I updated my phones and became more and more annoyed with them by the year. I didn...