Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy

Man oh man, I'm sitting at my desk waiting for the clock to get to 4pm.  And then I'm off to the bar to watch the opening game of the 2011 Football season.  My beloved Packers taking on the Saints.  Should be a good one.  Kickoff is 4:30 Alaska Time so I'm going to be in a hurry to get a good seat.

Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy.

Anybody else excited?

What are we going to do without the mailman??!!??

No not this mailman.

This one.

Seriously.  I've been reading some very ominous news stories about the US Postal Service.  Seems that the USPS is going to be broke by next year if something isn't done.   Pshaw you might say, who cares?

Well first off I do.  Second, the USPS has been around as long as America has been America, and is the only one of a few government agencies explicitly authorized in the Constitution. 

I guess I care because I live in a place where the Post Office is the cheapest way to send stuff.  Living in Alaska, UPS and FedEx are hella expensive to use, since we can't get ground rates.  This means my collecting, trading, and selling future could be in jeopardy!!  Now I realize that something is going to be done.  What?, that is is above my pay grade.  I can see Saturday delivery being halted.  That's alright with me.  I'm bummed that up to 200,000 people might lose there jobs though.  It's funny they talk about layoffs and cut backs but whenever I go into a Post Office it seems there's only one person working the counter and there's a line out the door.  Seems the PO is the place to work being the second largest employer in the US, behind Wally World and not a bad one at that, of course it wasn't always like that, anyone ever read Post Office by Charles Bukowski? 

And I know that the Post Office is often the only government presence in some areas.  Especially rural Alaska, and the lower 48. 

Sorry it just got be thinking what it would be like with out the US Postal Service.  Some say let the private carriers take up the slack.  Hmmm.  I don't know, I distrust corporations as much as I do big government. 

Any thoughts?

How could this affect you?


cb out

Are you the ultimate supercollector?

So last week I get this email from some guy named Chris Butler.  And he wants me to do something.  Now since I started this blog and my other blogs I've got quite a few emails like this asking me to add a link to there site or product, ect.  I usually delete and forget.  I'm not writing to make money, I write to share.

But it was an interesting email.  One I guess is legit.  Okay I didn't call the guy or email him back but I figured I'd see if his description fits you.   Edit: Ok, I emailed him back.

Here's the email:

Greetings!



My name is Chris Butler and I am a Casting Associate in Los Angeles. I'm currently working on a new docu-series for a major cable network (which I can disclose over the phone) that is produced by acclaimed and Emmy-nominated production company: Asylum Entertainment


During my research I came across your blog and really enjoyed it. Thus, I am contacting you in hopes of spreading the word to any potentially interested individuals for a project I'm casting. I'm currently seeking "Extreme" Collectors that “Shop Over the Top” for their collections. I’m looking for individuals who shop all the time and to excess; an "Ultimate Shopper." This person could shop for items to complete a collection or developed collections from simply seek retail therapy. The show will explore the issues of men and women who shop beyond what most people consider normal, highlighting those with large and unique collections.


I've attached a flyer about the show with instructions on how any interested individuals can submit. I'm hoping that you would help to spread the word, (ie. post, email, forward) and that you might be able to refer any potential candidates. Any help in this area would be greatly appreciated, as these types of shows are most successful by word of mouth!


Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this message. I look forward to hearing back from you or anyone you share this information with. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Chris Butler
Asylum Entertainment
Casting Associate
O: 310-696-4494

Here is the flyer he mentioned.

Here is the link to Asylum's website.  Like I said I haven't talked to Chris, but it seems  legit, I have no idea why someone would email me this if it weren't. Sorry to harp on this point, but in this day and age of Nigerian princes who want to give me money and Pfishing I must make the comment. 

 The reason I even desided to post this, other than not having anything to post about was that it got me thinking about my collecting habits. 

 

I'm not an Extreme Collector.  I might have an excessive card collection, but I shop and acquire my cards from pretty mainstream sources.  I buy from my LCS's, online at sites like eBay, JustCommons, and Checkoutmycards, to name a few, and trade with fellow bloggers and collectors.  There's really nothing too extreme here. 

 

As a matter of fact the only extreme collector I've seen in the blogs might be Jeff over at I am Joe Collector.  That man is crazy for UD Masterpieces.

 

So I pass this along for whatever it's worth, and to help Chris out here to find his supercollectors.  You can find his number in the email and his email in the flyer. 

 

CB out.

1992 Fleer Ultra Old Schule Break

Busting out the German for this one.  I was in Bosco's the other day picking up issue #1 of the new Justice League.  Been a fan of the zine a long time so I thought I'd check out the new version being put out by DC. I guess that DC is doing a huge across the board revamp of all it's core titles this month.  I've been out of the loop for awhile, my reading in the graphic storytelling genre steers more toward more adult, ie non-superhero, books.  But I'd figure I'd give it a go. I guess if you buy the first 3 issues of any of the new titles you get issue 4 free. But that's not what this post is about


 I ended up stopping in to the baseball card section as I always do when I go in and looking over the stacks of old wax piled up there.  Pat the sports card manager bought a huge collection recently and I've posted some other old school breaks from this stuff.  Well he had a box of Series 1 and Series 2 Fleer Ultra sitting there for $7.99 a box.  I couldn't resist.  I remember when this stuff came out it was the shit.  And the boxes still had their original price tags on them.  Series 1 was marked for $100 and Series 2 $50.  Needless to say waiting almost 20 years to buy this two boxes netted me a huge discount. 

I have to say these cards hold up really well.  They still look great even by today's foil and chromed out cards.  And the 92's looked way better than the 91 flagship offering. 

Of course the 93's look very similar to this years.  Take a look.

Here are some more of the HOFer's and Stars from the set.

Great photography, a touch of foil, shiny finish.   In 92 Tony Gwynn was the Fleer spokesman and the feature of a commemorative set.  Series 1 also featured the possibility of pulling a Tony Gwynn autographed card.  But at the stated odds of 1:17,000, I wasn't expecting to pull one.  In Series 1 there were also an Award Winners insert set.  Series 2 featured more rookies, less stars and two more insert sets, All-Stars and All-Rookie Team.  Lets have a look at what I pulled.

My one Tony Gwynn Commemorative Series card.  You could also send in for a special set of Tony Gwynn cards with wrappers.  In 93 I remember it was Dennis Eckersley that was featured.    I guess these are about 1:36 since I only pulled one.

Glavine Award Winners.

I guess these are about 1:12 packs.  The odds aren't on the wrappers of series 1, except for the Gwynn auto.

The only name I recognize from the all rookie team was the Karros.

A few names you might recognize here.  I have to say I'm going to see how this collates. There are 300 cards in Series 1 and 2 and you get 504 cards per box so in theory there should be a full set in there.

Cheers
cb out.

4 Packs of 2011 Panini Threads

Well after I opened my first two packs of Threads I was conflicted.  Mainly because the card layout isn't half bad.  And I only got one stupid insert and one Packers card. So I was at Bosco's the other day picking up my hold comics and browsing the new stuff and stopped in the card section and picked up two more packs.  Boy I'm glad I did.

First lets talk about the design this year.

Not too terrible we have some background this is awesome.  Most mid to high end Panini card have the player cut out on the card.  I think we could have done without the strips on the side, but again not too terrible.

Here's what the backs look like.

This looks like a typical Panini back.  Hell this could be the back of a Score card.

Here are the rest of the Packers I picked up from my 4 packs.

Now I only need 2 more vets and all the rookies.  Speaking of rookie cards let's look a the rookie design.

Now some of the inserts.  I only got 2 and they're unnumbered and fairly unremarkable.

Both of these have jersey parallels with verying numbering and patch colors and complexity.  I wouldn't mind a Packer triple jersey Triple Threats.

But the reason I was glad I picked up the two extra packs was this card.

Not only did I snag a rookie letterman patch auto, it's Packer!!!!  Wow, I'm tempted to try something a little pricier the way my lucks been running the past few weeks. 

Next return of the old school break.

cb out.

2 Packs of Topps Lineage and I'm done with it.

Probably not the greatest post to come back with but what can you do?

I'm back from my last trip out in the field.  Five days above the arctic circle and another 3 running around in Fairbanks.  I'll just say I'm glad to be home, although the weather was amazing for late August and the mosquitoes weren't too bad. 

But I realized I had two Prime 9 cards I had to redeem so Friday after work I took a trip down to Don's Sportscards, since I haven't been in his shop in a while.  I only brought my week 6 Prime 9 card with me seeing as this is the week to redeem it, but Don had all of them set out and was redeeming them all, so I'll have to be back to get my Koufax card.  But I did pick up my Hank Aaron card, and I have to say these cards are sharp and shiny. 

I also picked up a few 2011 Topps Football singles for my set I was missing and all the Bowman mini's he had laying around.  And two packs of Panini Threads, cuz I'm a glutton for punishment and two packs of Lineage since I haven't ripped any yet. 

Threads was pretty disappointing.  The base design isn't bad, but I'll actually post about that later. 

But my 2 packs of Lineage were pretty sweet.

First if you haven't seen what the base cards look like here they are.

I've heard lots of people bashing this design, even Don didn't like it, but I don't  think it's all that terrible.  It looks like a eTopps design though.  The backs are very boring.

Each pack you get a mini 75 insert.  Which I like.  I like it even more that both my mini's are keepers.  One for a PC and one for a team collection.

But I couldn't believe what I actually hit in my two pack purchase.  I guess the ultimate hit would be a Robin Yount Jumbo patch card from this set, but this card is a close second.

Yowza!  I love it when I hit great cards of players I collect. 

Well it's good to be back and I do plan on updating all my other sports blogs and this one a little more regularly now that I'm not leaving town again anytime soon. 

CB out.

2011 Allen and Ginter Floating Fortresses Set

My last set I picked up was the 2011 Allen and Ginter Floating Fortress set.  Being a big history buff I knew I was going to go after this one as well.  My only complaint was that there weren't any warships from WWII like the Iowa class battleships or the more modern ships like the Nimitz aircraft carriers.  But it's a very interesting mix of old warships from all over the world.  So here we go all 20 Floating Fortress cards fronts and backs.