Something I can control

I am a big believer in the saying, "if you want something done right, do it yourself."

To some, that is the mark of a control freak, someone who can't delegate, not a team player.

I am probably guilty of some of that although I don't think I make it too obvious. I don't like that I'm such a big believer in that saying. It's just that it keeps proving itself true over and over.

The last couple of days I've been consumed by a work project. It's a lot of effort, requires quite a bit of input from a variety of people, and there are many elements to it, with lots of scheduling involved. The people under my direction have it down like clockwork. They write quality stories, meet deadlines, provide the right photos. It's the people who are not under my control who repeatedly dropped the ball the last two days.

I can't help but notice that.

That probably means I'm not noticing when people out of my control do their jobs, but seriously, do they have to screw up so massively when  I AM noticing?

Anyway, it's been a very long month (I likely will set a record for the fewest amount of posts in a single month on this blog), but I believe -- I think -- it's just about over.

It is my hope that once November disappears, I can finally get to something I can control: my card collection.

My collection is looking very nice, as always. It's done right. And the reason for that is: I'm doing it myself.

But I do have contributors.

For example, I received an envelope recently from Sports Card Collectors, not long after an out-of-the-blue tweet letting me know cards were on their way.

Cool!

It was a tasty handful of cards, most of which I needed.

Each of these are appreciated for their own reasons, the Valenzuela because I should have that card by now, the Puig because I'm determined to get the million different Puig cards Panini has issued, the Montas because the purple border reminds me of the color of black raspberry ice cream, and the gold Kendrick because a gold shard has just struck Howie in the head!!! (This design is so weird, but I have no control over that).

Matt did his job. He sent cards to me that I needed for my collection.

I also received a couple of one-card envelopes recently.

This arrived from Waiting 'Til Next Year Tom. It's the only Dodger he pulled from his recent blaster of Topps Gallery. Toles shouldn't have made an appearance in a set that has so few cards, but I have no control over that.

But I wasn't expecting this card from Tom. It simply showed up. He was doing his job as a thoughtful collector.

Finally, a single card from Judson at My Cardboard Habit. This is something that I had a little control over. I saw this card and I asked for it.

Yet, Judson did not screw it up. He said it was mine, sent it off promptly and now I have one of the few Jackie Robinson images that hasn't been beaten to death on cardboard in my collection. He did his job.

So that's a few examples of someone out of my control doing something right.

We need more of these people.

Maybe everyone in the world should have their own card collection.