January is a black, black month

January needs to be erased from the calendar. Eliminated. Eradicated. Expunged. Scrapped. Put out of its misery. Taken out and shot.

I apologize to anyone with birthdays in this month (my grandmother was born in January, as well as a sister-in-law, a niece and a nephew). But I have no use for it. Any month that comes between me and a card show makes it on The List.

As you've probably figured out, I didn't go to the show. It J.T. Snowed all over the place around here. We got a foot of snow last night, and then the lake effect junk moved south and set up shop right between me and the card show. Clear at my place. Clear in Syracuse. A blinding storm of white terror in between. I thought about taking a chance, then read the warning about "major travel problems" on the interstate and decided not to risk it.

Before the weather forecast changed for the worse late Friday, I had gone to the effort to print out multiple lists for the show and had ranked them in order of priority. And here they sit, mocking me.

I decided to drown my sorrows at the nearby hobby shop and at Target. It's not the same as staring at vintage cards from the '60s. To add insult to injury, the card shop owner took a lot of the good stuff with him to the card show (to make myself feel better, I envisioned him in a snow bank somewhere, hobby boxes of Sweet Spot scattered in the ditch).

But I did pull some semi-cool items. I'm not in the mood to show them right now. I'll do it tomorrow.

The main thing I bought was a hobby box of Allen & Ginter, just to chase minis and other cool items. That means I have a lot more base card doubles. I'll be sending them off to those bloggers that I know are still trying to complete the set. But if you're looking for a certain A&G card, let me know in the comments, and I'll see if I've got it. (I'll let you know up front, I don't have dupes of Brad Lidge or Matt Diaz -- two cards that seem to elude everyone).

Meanwhile, I'll try to stay patient until the next card show -- three freakin' months away. Yup, January is a black, black month. As black as Scott Boras' soul. Dipped in dark chocolate.

Topps 2009, where are you?