Night Owl Cards

  It's another day and another set complete. Another fairly easy one, too. I've wanted to complete the 1983 Topps Glossy Send-Ins set for a long time, probably ever since I discovered from an advertisement inside a pack of 1983 Topps that you could send away for some totally new cards from Topps that were ... glossy!!! Glossy was the original shine in cards, I've discussed this before. Long before the '90s came up with foil and dufex and chrome, shiny cards were glossy cards. They were definitely appealing to youngsters of the time, like me. Why else would I bide my time accumulating enough scratch-off "loser contest cards" to send in for five cards at a time? (The glossy cards were kind of a consolation for not winning one of the big prizes from the scratch-off game, like I wanted any of those big prizes anyway). If my math and memory is right I gathered enough cards to go through the process four separate times. These are the cards I've had since 1983: A...

  I know people who absolutely despise their email. For them, it lost that late 1990s excitement long ago. Their email is now filled with all of the things that we detest about regular mail: junk sending, political badgering, business pandering, etc. My email is filled with those things, too. Every day, when I get up at 11 or so, one of the first things I do is sweep out any garbage that's found its way into my email overnight. But then there are the other things that make my email still worthwhile. A couple of months ago, P-Town Tom from Waiting 'Til Next Year sent an email telling me there was a collector he knew that was looking to connect with me. He had some cards for my collection. Well, as much as I feel awkward about sending a response to someone I've never met solely to say, "Yes, give me free stuff," I certainly was happy to get that email! And I was even happier when the collector, Richard, sent me the cards! You want to see what happens when you respo...