I went all the way to Canada for these cards

I'm afraid this is another blatant "look what I got" post. But if you want my turnaround time on shipping out packages to be less than every other month then you should be willing to settle for some of these.

Also, you might want to write a few complaint letters to Netflix. Life demands 90 percent of my time and now episodes of shows that you saw four years ago are grabbing about 7 percent.

Welcome to the remaining 3 percent.

Enjoy the show.

I've often been intrigued by blog readers who are committed to only a few blogs. I admire them. I try to juggle 350 something in a massive attempt not to miss out on anything just in case I am suddenly stopped and quizzed and then pointed at and derided because YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT 2013 PANINI TRIPLE PLAY IS LIVE??????? WHAT KIND OF BLOG ARE YOU WRITING, MAN?????? BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

I have issues.

But these limited-blog-viewers do not. They read and comment on maybe three or four and they are satisfied with that (I've even noted commenters who comment on only one blog. Weird).

One commenter who I recognize only from my blog is named Brian (he could be commenting on others -- I read 350 blogs, it's hard for me to absorb everything). I enjoy his comments. And recently he sent me some cards. From Canada.

I say that to impress you. Folks who live in Alabama or Texas hear "Canada," and think "wow, that's like getting cards from the moon!" But I can be in Canada in 30 minutes, tops. (It's getting back IN that can take some time).

This was another case of the "ever-expanding circle": going to another country to find long-wanted cards.

Like this:

1993 Finest.

People seem to really like the debut year of Finest because I never see it, except for on this blog. Brett Butler is doing some weird bat helicopter dance that they did back in the early '90s.

Here is some Strawberry Finest. Sounds like fancy ice cream.

And here is some Finest from the years when the brand's objective was to confuse the hell out of collectors. Rows and themes and common and uncommon. No wonder nobody peeled the coating off the cards. They were too busy staring at the back trying to figure out what the hell was in their hands.

Some Early Aughts Dust Collectors ... er, I mean, Chrome.

Like all Dodgers of this time period, everyone here was a massive disappointment.

Brian sent some cards from the Topps 1995 Dodgers Archives set, another '90s impossibility off my want list.

To demonstrate, I will show these other '95 Archives items that were also in the package:

I have the 1956 Topps originals of all four of these cards, yet the cheap, knock-off, postcard-thin versions of those cards languished on my want list for literally years.

Nobody really collected in the '90s did they?

This former Nebulous 9 item completes the Dodgers gold sparkly set from last year. Now that this is finished, you can all go to work finding the emerald/rain forest Dodger parallels I still need.

Finally, I present an out-of-bounds parallel of Andre Ethier. The reaction of the family in the stands is priceless. Dad trying to interfere with Andre. Mom cowering in fear. One son imitating dad. One totally clueless. And a teenage daughter thinking she's in a Coke commercial. ... oh, wait, she is.

This was one terrific haul for myself, as I don't see a lot of these types of cards too often.

Thanks for sticking with me through another trade post. I'll try to return to my relentless, semi-thought-provoking, annoyingly long, two-posts-a-day pace next week.

But no guarantees.

I just found out Betty Draper is pregnant.