Still glitchy

 

I'm sure you've noticed that things are still glitchy out there.

Trying to find a doctor to treat a specialized problem is an endless circle of phone calls and waiting. The pasta section of one grocery store has been nearly empty for weeks with that all-too-familiar attached note about "our suppliers."

Then there's the mail. I received a voice mail from my curb-side garbage pick-up service that they hadn't received my most recent payment. I had noted the same thing while watching my account. I figured an actual voice mail after only a couple of weeks deserved my attention, so I called, was assured it was likely lost in the mail and made another payment. Two days later, my account showed that my service had cashed that check that was "lost in the mail."

Card mail has been glitchy, too. I haven't been able to write a particular post because the last cards I needed for it I had expected to arrive by mid-week. They're still not here. Also, an ebay purchase has been delayed -- twice -- we'll see where that goes. Or has gone.

On the other side, my giveaway packages seem to be arriving with shocking quickness. Three of the five that I've sent so far showed up way before I figured (I haven't heard about the other two -- hope glitchy mail isn't the reason).

During all this continuing uncertainty, it's nice when someone lives up to their side of the bargain. That's why Matt of Diamond Jesters is getting his own post.

I've received two PWEs from Matt recently -- both arriving on time, as far as I am aware.

One was related to the latest couple of time travel trades (This is where I emphasize that I am a hypocrite. I've been pretty lax on sending returns to Matt. I'm going to blame spending all that time making calls to doctors and garbage services, but I'm sure some of it is connected to my stupid brain). The other was a five-year anniversary giveaway card.

Here is the five-year anniversary giveaway card first, because it's only exciting to me:

That is a ... uh ... (checks the tiny copyright on the back because I'm not a Pacific fanboy) ... a 1999 Pacific red parallel of Matt Luke, who played in 123 major league games in the late 1990s.

I was about to write that Luke has far too many cards for a 269-career-at-bat-major-leaguer but he has just 57 according to TCDB, which isn't really a lot for the late '90s. I have eight of them.

But the exciting part for me is it's a red parallel and just my third such parallel for '99 Pacific Dodgers. The dream continues.

OK, on to the Time Travel Trade stuff.

Another Dodger. This is unusual in my Time Travel transactions. I usually have all the Dodger cards up for selection already. But this card is relatively new -- from 2019 -- and I'm woefully behind on gathering Dodgers from the last five years or so.

Food issue!

I'm not as enamored with '90s food issues as I am with those from the '70s and '80s but this is right on the cusp, a card from the 1990 Post set. Post was fighting the good fight, issuing food sets from the 1960s all the way through the 2000s. Kellogg's kind of dropped the ball there and Post was there to run with it.

I will put this out there to the cereal companies again: I haven't bought or eaten cereal regularly in probably 20 years. Start putting cards back in your cereal boxes and I'll be in that cereal aisle at the grocery store in no time.

 

 

 I've probably landed more O-Pee-Chee cards in the Time Travel Trades than any other kind of card. Usually I ignore OPC cards in which there is no evidence that the player changed teams. But there are players like Mickey Rivers that transcend my little rules.

Couldn't help myself on this one.

I should be working on cards I need for the 1979 Topps football set if I'm focusing on football cards. But I have a soft spot for the '76 Topps set as it's one of those football sets that was floating around among the baseball cards when I was 10 or 11.

I loved the giant football on each card, I still do. And Roger Carr is one of the few football players I remember seeing on cards during that time. I knew so few football players -- didn't start watching football regular until around 1979, 1980.

So that's what I gathered from Matt and I'm able to show them because he's been quite efficient, which is not an adjective I have used to describe much of anything in the past two or three years.

Now it's time for me to get off my inefficient ass and send some cards back.