Pre-emptive bloggage

I have a list of bloggers that deserve card packages from me sitting on my card desk. It is 15 names long. It is 15 names long because I can't fit 20 on there.

This list also doesn't include any "I trade with this person all the time so I guess it's time to send him some cards" packages. I can't wait for the day when I get to that point. Nope, all of the folks on the list have sent me something days, weeks, months ago and in my current "I can get 4 packages out a week" frame of mind, I am way behind.

Meanwhile, March is still tossing lit firecrackers at me as I juggle card packages while peddling a unicycle.

Evil, evil month.

I have no way of stopping March. And I have no way of stopping cards from coming to my house (we all have our problems, don't we?)

But I do have a way of preventing the "INCOMING" stack from spilling over and forming a giant pile of cardboard in the living room, the combustible materials intermingling too close to the heating vent until it ignites a spark, and burning down the house while I'm off frolicking (re: working).

Let's see some cards shall we?

But I won't call it a trade post. I will call it "pre-emptive bloggage." It sounds much more efficient.

First a couple of cards from yet another Jaybarkerfan's Junk PWE bomb. This pinkish Piece of History parallel is of perennial "is he with the team or isn't he" relief pitcher Scott Elbert.

Here is another parallel of another Dodger almost-reliever. D.J. Houlton eventually gave up to play baseball in Japan. Or San Diego. Somewhere less exciting than the Dodgers anyway.

Moving on now to a Twitter trade with Robert. But we're still dealing in parallels. That's how they get the advanced collectors hooked you know.

These are two minis from last year's Topps. I'm really sick of looking at last year's design. The minis aren't too exciting either. But I need them. You understand.

This is better. Better design. More color. Both of these folks were talked about a lot during the offseason by people who like to talk a lot during the offseason. The basic themes? Will Chad Billingsley pitch well after bypassing surgery? Will Andre Ethier be traded? This is why I try to ignore the offseason talk.

Two more parallels. Both of the gold variety. Of different varieties of Ellises. In both cases, I prefer the one on the right.

I just threw this card in there because you probably grew sick of the parallels.

I nabbed it cheaply off of ebay a week ago.

Here is something very random and cool that came from Steve at The Card Chop. These are stamps from a 1955 Dodgers Golden Press Stamp Book. Someone cut out the stamps stuck on the page and turned them into mini cards.

The book goes for a pretty penny, so I guess gimmicky cut-out stamps are the way to go.

OK, back to modern-day gimmicks.

It seems that Jeff at 2 By 3 Heroes has become a Kershaw magnet. This is very good for me because I happen to collect Kershaw cards.

He recently sent me this terrific Walmart blue Heritage parallel of Clayton (I'm glad Topps got that fixed after saddling the Dodgers with the Target reds last year).

The PWE that Jeff is so fond of sending out also came with another Kershaw:

This is the SP parallel of the 2011 Gypsy Queen Kershaw mini. I had basically put this card out of my mind because there are certain cards that I can't have and it's best not to think of them.

But now I have it. (I just sent Jeff some cards, but I think I'll have to send some more).

Just for comparison sake, here's the regular GQ mini:

Pretty cool that I now have both.

So there you are, some pre-emptive bloggage action.

This helped only slightly.

It still doesn't put much of a dent in the incoming cards and it certainly doesn't help me get the outgoing cards out the door. But at least it shows that I'm trying to do something, right?

I promise that when this godforsaken month is finished, I'll try harder.