Night Owl Cards

I'm sure you've seen many posts over the last few weeks from collectors featuring what they bought on COMC on Black Friday weekend. COMC hosts its best deals of the year that weekend, from what I hear anyway. And lots of people -- who are very on top of the latest "thing to do" -- pounce. It's actually very smart, lots of money to save, free shipping, etc. But I'm not nearly that together. I am never in any shape to buy cards on COMC on Black Friday. It's usually a day for some family activity or recuperation. Two years ago, I was in a bowling alley with lots of babbling nieces and nephews (OK, one of them was my own kid). Last year I was dealing with the final days of my mother-in-law. Today, I was driving home in a haze very desperate to get some sleep. The sales -- again -- passed me by. However, I love cards and I love COMC. So about two weeks ago, I placed a small order with some money I had budgeted for Christmas purchases that it turns out I ...

There is a quote from the movie "Dazed and Confused," in which 20-something loser Dave Wooderson utters what is now a T-shirt/meme/excuse to eyeball 16-year-olds: "I get older, they stay the same age." This is meant as a distasteful, lecherous statement, but as you get even older than 20-something, it transforms into a lament. Yes, I'm getting older, but dammit, there are always all these young people, all the same age, looking the way I used to and enjoying the things I used to, and it's a little difficult sometimes reconciling that. It's apparent every time I look in the mirror. Less hair, more lines. The body doesn't do what I ask it to do often enough or well enough. And then there's my view on things. I try not to sound old, but it's a fact, the music, the styles, the clothing, the hair, the card stock, it all used to be better. It's obvious, I get older and nothing is getting better. At least from my perspective. But there ...

Long ago, during a year far, far away, Jeff of 2-by-3 Heroes held a "Tis The Season contest in which he was giving away stacks of surplus cards in a variety of categories. I looked at the cards available and immediately targeted the 2013 and 2014 A&G stack as pretty much the only item I wanted. In a case of "why can't be life be like this contest", not only was I selected as a winner, but I got to pick my first choice, the Ginter stack. A short month-and-half later, it arrived at my domicile, and a short two weeks after that, I'm showing my winnings. The best part of card blogging is there are no deadlines. Jeff, was right, the majority of the cards in the stack were 2013 A&G. In fact, since I was fairly close to completing the set even before I won the contest, here are my "extras' of Jeff's "extras": Those are available to whomever would like to make them theirs. I'd prefer sending someone the whole stack, but i...

The myth of New Year's is that a flip of the calendar will change you as a person. I think we all know that's not true. If you want to change, you have to do some work. But even with that, you're still basically the same person. Habits and outlooks are changeable. But you will still be you. This was never more clear to me than when I was in the Target card aisle today, the very first day of 2015. I buy cards a lot on New Year's Day. The stores are deserted. The weather sucks. People are brainwashed by college football. It's a great time to find some cardboard. Besides, it's one of the few times I have cash -- because someone gave me one of those nifty red Target cards. My pre-Christmas plans, if I were to receive one of those Target cards, was to spend it on some 2014 Allen & Ginter. I had so little money in the past year that I managed just one blaster of the stuff and a couple stray packs. It was time to prove that I was still serious about coll...

A year ago, you may remember that Topps pushed back the release date for Allen & Ginter to August because some skateboarder broke his arm and couldn't sign all of those cards by the deadline this is a true story stop looking at me so oddly. I am still paying for this decision. August is a wretched month full of bills and no money. And because of that I still haven't completed 2013 A&G and don't know when I will. This year, Topps returned A&G's release to July -- a month that is reserved for frivolous things like buying cards -- and because of this I found and bought a blaster three days after the release date. This is the way it should be. Topps, take note. Also, because I'm still 34 cards short of my goal to complete A&G for a sixth straight year, I grabbed one of these: If, nothing else, it would get me some minis for the binder. Here are some of those very fine minis: Unfortunately, I struck out on my reason for buying the bla...