The Silly Man-Child Returns!

Yes!  I’m back, baby.  Now let’s see if I remember how to do this.

Finally out from under stupid apartment inspection BS (until fall at least), so I can concentrate things I actually give a damn about.  As such, I’ve done a boatload of scanning and editing to managable chunks, been updating my lists behind the scenes, and I’ve pulled together a few trades to send out in the very near future.  Funner Here, Baseball Dad, Night Owl, Shot Not Taken, Dayf, Paul, and Wicked Ortega should expect something from me this month.  Maybe there will be others that make it out, I do have several piles set aside for people (if you like Michigany things, Football Giants & Saints, or Colts, have I got good news for you!) but eh, you know how I do.  Slow like a stoned sloth.  Or… something.

Also, no long ago promised trade bait postings yet on account of not remembering what all I was actually planning to post or where all the scans are, and having quite a bit of new stuff here and soon to be arriving as well.  Most notably 16 Diamond and Cognac Legend SPs from 2011 Topps just arrived from COMC on Friday.  I really, really like these, but 11-14 of them will be available for trade, depending on how attached I get to certain ones besides the two specifically for myself.

In other news, I won an uncut sheet of 2012 Bowman’s Best inserts from one of the many contests Topps’ twitter person runs on an almost daily basis and it is FREAKING AMAZING.  Holding off on pics for now because it’s so huge I’m probably going to need to have a custom frame built for it.  The most awesome thing about this thing is that of every brand ever to come and go in this great hobby of ours, Bowman’s Best is probably my one true, single most absolute favorite.  I’m also collecting the set in individual form, so if you got some, trade ’em to me!  Also need a lot of last year’s still too.  I believe my wantlist for the 2011 set is up-to-date.

That’s all for now.  I’ll leave you with one of my sweet pickups for myself that I brought along back with the above mentioned shiny in the latest COMC order.

Darrell Evans RC..

Mike: That dorky lookin’ feller in the middle is gonna hit over 400 career home runs?  Seriously??

Rick: … Buh?

Yeah, on that note, thanks for stopping by!

Until our next…

Good News, Everyone!

Well, a few of you anyway.  If your name is Wicked Ortega, Offy, Shoebox Legends, Things Are Funner Here, Big D, Night Owl, Dayf,  Play at the Plate, or Paul’s Random Stuff, you should all have cards ready to be sent your way from me as soon as it gets back into the 40s here, or at least before the month is out, provided a few of you provide me with your addresses.  Specifically, Dayf and Big D.  I think I have the others.  I’ll email anyone I don’t have addresses for in the coming days.

And getting all these sent will open up some space to send other people some stuff.  There are at least a half dozen others I’m hoping to send soon as well, a few that had to be unburied by some of the above.  Anyway, I’ll let y’all know when they start going out.  Thanks for stopping by!

Odds, Ends, Updates and Highlights

Hey.  Wassup?  Got some random stuff to hit on, so here goes.

First, there is one slot left in The Daily Dimwit‘s Ovation Case Group Break!  One team of your choice and a second to be randomed off, for $30.  Go for it!

~~~~

Next, I’ve gotten into trade talks with all of the following recently!  Cardboard Collections, The Good Dimwit again, Things are Funner Here, the legendary Night Owl, Argyled Plaschke, The Lost Collector, Potch Wheeler, Nomo’s Sushi Platter, Too Many Vergrandersons, Cards on Cards, Offy and more!  I know what you’re thinking.  Why do I always get myself in so over my head with trades that at least a couple will end up taking forever?  Well, this time I’m not in over my head (it just looks that way).  Every single person up there has most of their cards set aside for them already.  Once finalized (three already are), these will start going out in June.

Stuff for Marie and Cardboard Conundrum is pretty much ready to go and just needs sent.  I’m pretty sure that despite my extreme brokeness, I will be able to send these towards the end of the week after the weather breaks (it’s storming something fierce as I type this).

On top of all that, I think I’ll finally be sending what I believe are my last four horrendously long overdue trades in the near future as well.

Finally, check back this evening to see what football cards I have available.  I should at least have most of my swatches and autos listed by then.

Oh, and for the sake of having a picture in this post, here’s a look at my latest artistic endeavor:

Pencils on the X-Men blank variant cover I picked up on Free Comic Book Day, which wasn't even close to free. L-R: Jubilee, Storm, Wolverine, Cyclops, Pixie, Angel, Emma Frost.

That’s all for now.  Seeya.

Jubilee is a vampire now.  Vampires are cool.

Trade Packages- Outbound

My cards are becoming somewhat more organized, and my end of trades are starting to get done!  So here’s an update:

• Four trade packages have been packaged up and are ready to go.  They are for Marie, Heartbreaking Cards, Community Gum, JD’s Wild Cardz, The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame, no one’s going to read this blog, and I believe Carl Crawford Cards.

• Packages for Too Many Grandersons, Hey That’s Mine, Shoebox Legends, Indians Cards, Play at the Plate, Dayf and Mojo are organized and almost ready to be mailer’d up.

• Sooz, Baseball Card Stuff, and the First Day Issue I just need to sort… Yes, I’m still at the sorting stage on these, my three oldest trades still left hanging.  Sooz and BCS’s were ready long ago, but their Jeters got mixed up again somehow… 😦

• Wicked Ortega, Offy, All Your Base Cards, The Real DFG, anyone who wants Cardinals cards, Dinged Corners, and Drew also have very disorganized piles of cards picked out for them.

• I have also found some stuff for My Cardboard Mistress and Drinking the Orange Kool-Aid and could almost put them up with the almost ready to be mailer’d up bunch.

• Thoughts and Sox, I believe your cards were sent at the beginning of this week.

• Who else, if anyone, do I owe stuff after all this?

• Man, October’s gonna be a busy month for the post office.

• Finally, does anyone want a really big stack of 2008 and 2010 MLS soccer cards?  Or a much smaller stack of hockey cards?  Or a pile of random wrestling and/or non-sports “entertainment” cards?

• That is all.  Seeyas. 😉

Frustration…

I am getting really frustrated with my collection.  It is a total mess that I can no longer keep up with.  It’s holding me back from sending out my end of trades to Baseball Dad (the Alomar is missing), McCann (one of the mini Chipper jerseys is missing), The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame (Tyronn Lue card and Rich Hill jersey missing), and Baseball Card Stuff (most of the topps206 Bronzies are missing).

This really sucks.  My frustration has reached a boiling point and I want to be rid of most of this stuff.  It’s just taking up space.  I’m not quitting, I’m just starting over.  I’ll still buy cards in the future, I just want 2/3 of what I’ve got, gone, so that then I’ll be able to organize what’s left and be able to easily shuffle new cards into the collection and also find stuff!  So if you’d like a random assortment of cards from your team and/or possibly off certain wantlists, email me your address and I will stuff as much as I can into a 4″x7″ bubble mailer and it can be your problem.* 😛

All I ask for is something off my wantlist in return.  It can just be one card or it can be a whole bunch of stuff.  I’m not so concerned with keeping my PC so in order, because it ain’t going anywheres, so just send whatevers.  I just want the stuff I don’t want or need that is getting in my way outta here and hopefully to people it will be useful to.

It’ll just be a random stack of your team of choice, or non-random stack of set needs (or both), but should you offer up a hit or something #’ed in the email, I will very gladly return the favor for that.

And remember, my email is available via the link to my google account profile on the sidebar!!!!!

In other news, I need the good Troll’s address to send him some Pirates for the kids, and the now Pirate Japanese Aki card that turned out to be the boobie prize from my contest.  Brian, you’re winnins be on the way soon too!  Did second place and beyond ever choose the card they wanted?  Would like to get those sent one of these years too.  Need to move it along so I can have another contest on account of just passing 10,000 hits.

Also, who got the Hello There, Ball thing waaaay back in the day?  I’ve got a Zack Duke jersey card with their name on it (not literally, of course).

*Offer doesn’t apply to Cardinals or Red Sox, because the Red Sox are already part of a major trade, and the Cardinals will be soon, or the Rangers and Marlins, because I barely have any of them.  I have a disturbingly decent amount of Steelers and Cowboys (and probably a few other teams) football cards though, if anyone wants them though.

Another day, another time…

Cards from the Owl in the Night

Time for a trade post! Hopefully I can get in one more of these and the booty from the Old School Group Break before I have another art-related post, though it’s just a sketch card-centric mail day (been lazy & haven’t done any drawing since HanRam & Markakis).

Anyway, I got some noice cards from Night Owl to show you all today, and hopefully I can quickly get through it without going off on any tangents, which I was shocked to learn I am apparently capable of, if the post before this is any indication.

Though you will see I scanned it upside down in the (chronologically) first scan, the Cey was supposed to be showing the back of the card in this one. Oy, was not on my game that night.

There was almost a massive rant here about getting rid of stupid pointless redundant Bowman Chrome or yet another unnecessary retro set and replacing it with old school-style (as in mid-to-late-’90s) Bowman’s Best.

I want Upper Deck to bring back UD3 too, though their current design team (in baseball at least) probably lacks the touch to pull it off.

Next question.

A little bit of everything on this page. Always like getting early & mid-'80s Fleer & Donruss, because until very recently, not only did I have none, I'm not sure I'd ever even seen some of the sets.

I think I must be over the halfway point on Sandberg cards from 1989-1992 by now, and somehow I’ve managed to not have many duplicates yet.  Maybe I should put up what I have somewhere so I don’t start getting overrun bby dupes.

Need more Billy Williams cards.  I think that’s only about my fifth.More Fergie Jenkins too please.

The one in the middle is the back of a Kerry Wood topps Tek card.

I have no idea why I did the first scan last. Or why two of the Ceys came out looking sorta Co-Signer-ish Hyperplaid. I am tempted to finish cutting the '87 topps box card of Cey to proper size, but I won't unless Night Owl gives me his blessing to do so..

Mmmhmm, lots of Ron Cey as a Cub.  Too much for Night Owl’s liking, according to the note that came along with the cards.

Man there were a lot of bad-to-mediocre third basemen that bridged the gap between Cey and Aramis Ramirez.

Awesome cards, good sir.  I had exactly zero Ron Cey cards before this.  Now I have enough to consider tracking down more; his Cubbie ones at least.  Well, the idea of being a team collector requires it, but now I have some idea of how many there are, and have the option of spinning him off into a player collection if the mood strikes.

Finally, I have two packages completely ready to go out on Monday (Baseball Dad and Roll Out The Barrel), and will hopefully have three or four more sent by the end of the week (Blazer Shane, Baseball Card Stuff, Play at the Plate’s uncirculated contest winnin’s, and maybe just maybe the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame and/or da Rook‘s cards).  And since nobody has seen fit to Bip me yet, I suppose I shall have to fire the first shot myself to get people’s attention.  Mwahahahaha… Yes. >:3

Actually I only have one or two shots worth of Bippin’ material to fire…

Tales from the Mailbox

Click this pic for the eBay listing..

This isn’t the thing I mentioned at the end of my last post, but I think it’s still pretty dang cool.  It’s a sketchbook by Ian Walker.  It is about comic book-sized and 24 pages in length.  All the pics within are done in black & white, hence the title.  I picked up two on eBay, one for myself and one for my dad to put up till Father’s Day and/or his birthday.  The cost: $5 each + free shipping (for disclosure purposes, that means I bought them myself and wasn’t compensated in any way for this promotion, in case that’s not clear).

Click this pic to see Ian's deviantART gallery page. The gallery itself will require one more click once there,

I scanned a few pages for your viewing pleasure.  Clicking on them will take you places.  Ian is very a talented artist and you can see a lot more of his work at his deviantART gallery.

He is also taking commissions.  You can check out his deviantART page linked in the scan above for more info.  Just scroll a ways and boom!… commission information, prices, etc..

Click this pic for more of The White Ninja Guy..

White Ninja Guy is Ian’s own creation, the titular star of his own webcomic.  He’s got his own website and everything!

Click this link for Ian's ustream channel.

Stop by when he’s on sometime and watch the magic happen.  Never know who you might meet.  I ran into  A Pack a Day contributor darkship there recently (I think it was Ian’s channel anyway).

Finally, as if $5 a pop and free shipping wasn’t enough for these great sketchbooks, he is also offering a free sketch (drawn on the last page in the book) of a character of your choice, for the time being at least.

Here are the characters I chose for myself and my dad:

My sketch: Raven of the Teen Titans

Pretty awesome, huh?  Another great reason to check out his channel: You might get to see your art being done live, as was the case with these. 😀

My dad's sketch: obscure-ish Green Lantern Jack T. Chance

I think Jack is the best one Ian drew all night.  Just outstanding!  He’s an old favorite of my dad’s and an obscure enough character that he wouldn’t expect me to choose him (he asked me to “surprise him” when I chose the sketch).

Well, there ya go.  Definitely amongst of the best five bucks I’ve ever spent.  If you have an extra $5 burning a hole in your pocket, I highly recommend picking up a copy.  I do believe you will be glad you did.

Until our next…

For the Love of Trade Bait!

Man that trade bait post went over crazy well, absolutely demolished my single day record for hits.  Instead of hashing everything out in the comments section, let’s do a whole post on it.

• First, Shane of Shoebox Legends gets the Pedro parallel and Manny bat card.  We have traded twice before, and I have no doubt he will hook me up with some good Cubbies, especially if I end up with any of the Cubbies from the Old School Group Break he is making out rather bandit-like in, lol.

• blazershane gets the Gaylord Perry for offering up a Just Aramis Ramirez auto.  I can’t pass up an auto of my favorite current Cub, but I wouldn’t have gone this way if I didn’t have something up my penny sleeve for my pal, the great Wicked Ortega.

• So don’t worry Alfredo, I do have a different Perry jersey if you want it.  And I also received a 2008 Legendary Cuts Generations dual jersey of David Ortiz and Jim Rice from Shot Not Taken in our latest very impromptu trade.  Fate is funny sometimes though, as I already had two of the Goodwin Champions Aramis Ramirez jerseys you offered, so to do I have said Ortiz/Rice already as well.  So you will be getting one of them if you want it.

• Baseball Card Stuff will be getting the Roger Clemens jersey (and all the 206 thick bronzy parallels I have so far).  I think I have the Donruss Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie already, but I will check to be sure.  Still though, as of now, Clemens is yours.

For everyone needing to email me, behold!

I finally linked things.

My email address doesn’t seem to be available on my blog anywhere.  At all.  It’s been an issue ever since I started trading, so I’ve finally gotten around to doing something about it.  Click on that link in the sidebar, shown in the picture above, to get to my blogger profile.  You can find my email there.

A last couple things before I go,

Eddie Mathews remains untraded.  Sorry to be such a hardass on that one, but like I said, it’s going to take something very special for me to give him up.

And second, where are all the Yankees and Braves fans?  No takers on the Chippahs or the Yankee Hall of Famers?  There are at least as many Braves and Yankee fan card bloggers combined as there are Orioles fan card bloggers, maybe even slightly more somehow, but no bites.  I am… disheartened. u.u

But seriously though, I’ve got so many stinkin’ Yankees I want to get rid of.  And considering they don’t tend to severely dominate sets like the Yanks and unlike a few teams, I don’t seek any extras out at all (that LaRoche auto aside), the Braves seem to be one of my more prolific teams as well.  Come on, man!

Anyway, though the post begins it’s slow descent down the blog, the rest of the cards not claimed are still very much in play.  For all the action and blog hits, only four of the cards in the post are actually going out thusfar.  Seeya next time I have something to post about!

I need a donut and some more sleep…

Good News, Everyone!

I’m back on track sorta with the bloggin’ and tradin’ & stuff.  The joy.  Here’s what all is happening.

Within the next couple hours, five bubble mailers with cards in them will be going out to the following peeps:

Marie of A Cardboard Problem (and I totally forgot the sketch card, so you’ll be due for another eventually), Shot Not Taken, Stats on the Back, Nachos Grande, and umm, someone else (sleep-deprived brain can’t remember last one).

That still leaves soon to be sent packages to Sooz also of A Cardboard Problem, Night Owl, Great Sports Name Hall of Fame, Roll out the Barrel, and… I’m pretty sure there are a couple more.  If I did miss anyone else, please let me know!

More good news!  I finally got that last bunch of scans with trades & stuff, and did a couple more of the I picked up from Check Out My Cards.  So I will have some pretty pictures to go with my pithy commentary again, lol.

Side note: Lacking scans and not having much card stuff to write about lately, and seeing this recent post from Ms. Latina gave me much to think about, and I actually started a post along the lines of that subject (race/ethnicity if you don’t want to click the link).  I’m sure it would’ve been interesting, and I may still do it if I can find the words.  And not that it has or ever will stop me from writing about other things, but I am curious about something.  Does anyone even care or pay attention when I write about anything besides cards?

Finally, despite massive sleep problems of late, I do have personal good news too.  I got a HUGE hit out of a retail pack at Walmart last night.  Let’s just say, I also picked up a couple Topps206 packs in the hopes of maybe getting lucky with a relatively easy to pull (1:41 pack) auto, but I ended up pulling something considerably harder to get than the hardest pull from 206 retail, which itself is a little over 1:500 packs.  Oh, and it’s someone good too.

Was that a great tease or what? 😉

Write on, ride on…

Quick Hits

Just have a few of notes to mention tonight, since I’m not up for the 3-5 hours it’ll take to do a post for my first trade Wicked Ortega (It was big!  I don’t think the 9 or so scans I did was more than 40% of the package), which is the only other thing I have handy to talk about at the moment, since my Allen Iverson post is now moot (and I couldn’t be happier!).

I finally got around to doing a bunch of scans of eBay stuff, pack breakage, my second trade with Wicked Ortega, the clunkers and more from Roll out the Barrel, a few other random cards, a couple sketch cards I finally finished, and some quickie sketches from one of my sketchbooks.  And then I forgot to bring them back to my place… Yeah, I suck. -.-;

Anyway, you’ve got that stuff to look forward to when I do finally get all that good stuff over here.  And I’ve got a box of Fantastic Four Archives I picked up on Blowout Cards over the weekend to look forward to arriving near Christmas.  Here’s hoping for a really cool sketch card.

Speaking of sketch cards, does anyone know where I can get some binders on the really really cheap?  I need one for my sketch card and Benchwarmers collections, and probably ones for other stuff eventually.  My ginormo 2005 Bowman Heritage redemption binder won’t hold my random insert/WBC collections and player collections forever.

Provided I pick up some more cases, cards will be going out, starting this weekend, to the following peeps: Nachos Grande, Shot Not Taken, Roll out the Barrel, Night Owl, and The Great Sports Name Hall of Fame, and possibly another 3-5 more to be named later.  It’s gonna be a busy month, or what qualifies as such for me.  Fortunately, there are no $7+ packages here, so I won’t break myself with all this.

Hmm… I thought that was it, but since I just now finished a couple more sketch cards, I thought I’d mention them.  Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn and Batman are now done.  I will scan them someday.  They’ll be available for sale or trade or something maybe.  The blog stars of AnotherMaria and Ms. Latina I’m coloring as I type this very paragraph won’t though.  Once I finish it, I’m going to send it off to each of them to sign.  It will be my first TTM auto. ♥ 😀

Goodnight, and apologies for such a crappy, halfhearted post.  Maybe the next one will be better.

Maybe.

You’re thinking of tacos…