I've been waiting for this

 

One of the technological improvements of our era that may not really be an improvement is the constant notifications about your purchase.

If you've ordered online, you know what's coming: a deluge of updates about the status of your order. It often goes something like this:

Thank you for your purchase!

Order confirmed/received

Order packaged

Order shipped!

(Long pause, that lasts anywhere from three days to three weeks or more)

Order out for delivery

Order delivered

As a veteran of requesting things through the mail -- I've been doing this since the method was cutting order forms from cardboard cereal boxes -- I don't need nearly that many updates. In fact, it gives me slight anxiety to get all those. And the times when I'm informed that the order has been delivered and it has not, well, is there anything equally inconsequential that's better at putting you in a foul mood for the day?

 

I've periodically longed for the days of waiting four-to-six-to-eight weeks through COMPLETE SILENCE. You want to know when your package is arriving? You'll know when it's on your front step, bud. Maybe that was better?

We waited through changes of seasons to get a package back then, and, yes, it was frustrating, but there wasn't nearly as much angst.

But I get that's the way of online businesses and how they survive. It just makes me feel like I'm waiting longer for a package than I actually am sometimes.

 

 

The latest example is the latest group of cards from the baseballcardstore.ca. This delivery -- which arrived today -- actually developed sometime back in early February when Steven sent me some pictures of Dodgers and asked if I needed any.

I needed a lot of them. But then Steven was dealing with health issues and I was dealing with a money crunch and time passed. Finally, I said I was ready to go and the email updates started rolling in. And so did the anxiety and impatience. I've got to get a grip on that.

Fortunately all that is now gone and the cards are here. Lots of great stuff. Everything was 20 cents apiece, so a lot of cool acquisitions. And the Inception Michael Busch up top was a throw-in I didn't expect!

 

Let's see.

The gold Legends Of New York cards from 2001 are aspects of the set I knew nothing about for years. I don't know if they were short-printed within the set or it's just the fact that Yankees are on them so they were in higher demand. But these four officially complete the team set for me (and, yeah, I thought the team set was finished long ago before I knew about these).

 

 

Another team set complete after it's languished at just three Dodgers in my collection for YEARS. The final five cards I needed to finish 2002 SP Legendary Cuts. Carl Erskine's finally joined his buddies. That's a ballgame I'd like to see.

 

 

Steven asked me about my 2022 Pristine Dodger needs and that's a set I don't even think to search out, probably didn't even know it was a set. Now I've got my first six cards from the set, plus a refractor of the Duke.

 

 

The Pristine cards came with a nice Clayton Kershaw insert. Fancy.

 

 

 I'm not much of a fan of the Panini Prizm cards but I know there's a big segment of collectors who love them so I appreciate that I have them and cheaply, too.

 

There were lots of other Panini Dodgers, too. This could be the last large lot of Panini cards I ever receive. I know I won't be going out of my way to order a bunch all at once.

I'll get these Bowmans out of the way, too, before moving on to cards more my speed. It's difficult for me to believe I don't already have those 2019 Bowmans but I went over the list of cards Steven lined up, and then Steven double-checked himself, and these passed the test.

 

Moving on to some 1990s needs -- the Karros completes my 1999 Finest team set! A couple of these are parallels that I had only passing knowledge of (and I can't tell you what they are right now) but I appreciate Steven being my Answer Guy. What kind of completist am I?

Oh yes, there was diecut action, too. That Eric Gagne barely feels like a card.

Some more modern parallels and inserts, a couple of those Generation Now inserts have been pesky, probably because my interest in current inserts has waned.

There are always O-Pee-Chee cards on the site. I need more 1980s OPC Dodger cards than I think I do. Here are two off the list.

Wrapping things up, a bunch of random cool items (the Strawberry completes that Broder set from '91). Yes, that's a '75 Topps Ron Cey. You offer one up to me and I've got to take it!

Now that the cards are in my grubby little hands and I'm in full updating mode, all the angst about the arriving process seems a little silly. I know companies are just trying to help us out with all of their updates.

But really if you cut that list down to ...

Order Shipped

Order Delivered

... I'll be fine.