My History with the Cards

In 1986 a new family moved in across the street, they were from either Penn. or New Jersey and their two sons collected baseball cards. I was 10 and hadn't really been interested up to that point. So I guess I went out and bought some Topps 1987 cards and I remember having Wally Joyner in that first pack. (Thought has name sounded silly) I really didn’t watch baseball on TV at the time so I really learn the players by looking at the cards. I started trading cards with kids at school (as much as the teachers would allow), but for the most part I was a typical kid collector. Over the next few years I started going to Baseball Card shows and looking at all the latest and trendy hot cards. I ended up with like six Mark Grace rookie cards. Score and Upper Deck had come out and the market was officially flooded. I remember an old man telling me when I was 14 to try collect the old cards that these new cards which may be selling for $20 now would soon drop off. For what ever reason that tip stuck with me as I tried to collect cards from the seventies. I bought an old 1949 Bowman card for $11 at a shop one time, it was a common, but I know I had something that was really old. As I went through high school and college I stop buying baseball cards, because other things were important like CD’s and posters. It wasn’t until 2003 that I dug my old cards out of my parents house and starting looking through them that I remember how fun it was sorting them and seeing who I had. I soon discover that Mark Grace, Kevin Maas, Ben MacDonald, etc weren’t worth what they use to be. But none the less I enjoyed looking at them. I started buying packs ever now and again when my wife and I would go to Target. I soon discovered that the system of cards that I left was now in ruins. That there were over 80 sets to choose from, but Target only sold 4 or 5. Now that is 2006, some twenty years later, I am collecting once again. I have less than 3 mega boxes full of cards and maybe a handful of valuable cards, but I enjoy it.

Stop this nonsense

Back in 2004 I bought a pack of Topps 2004 Opening Day series and got the top card for Cliff Floyd. Then later on when the normal series from Topps came out I notice that they just reprinted a bunch of cards and sold them as new. Something about the fact that I spent money of two different series and got the same cards rubbed me the wrong way. I felt cheated. They could have put on a different picture, but all they did was change the border to white and removed the "Opening Day" logo.

I hope that for 2007 this is stopped and they just simply remove that series from the shelves. I'll be hesitant next spring when I see that pack for sale.

Couldn't take this card seriously

I got this card from a Bazooka Topps in 2005, (one of the many insets that Topps put out that year) and I almost laugh. It looks so silly as a card, it like they combined the awe factor of putting in a slice of the bat, but then drew cartoons all around it for the little kids. I know the Bazooka theme is cartoons, but someone should have revised that card, just my $0.02 on the matter.

Ron Kittle a guy who was knocking Home Runs out of the park from day one. His first full year as a Major Leaguer he had 35 bombs, follow up with 32 the following year. One the down side he wiffed 287 times in those two years making him not a clutch hitter. The following years were plague by injuries (from what I can read on the web).

Signatures May Differ

Last year I sent a card off to Todd Wellemeyer to get his autograph. After a few months I did receive the card back from him (top card), I was really happy to get something back in the mail. But then I noticed something when comparing this card to another card (bottom card) with his autographs, they look nothing alike. I mean they aren't even close, I know I get lazy with my signature when I'm buying crap at Target and just scribble on the screen. I heard that they say not to sign your real signature when giving an autograph so people can't steal your identity. Maybe Mr. Wellemeyer learn that lesson since signing the first card, or maybe he was feeling lazy one day. Either way I am excited to have an autographed card from him. Good luck with the Royals.

Got access to a scanner

I moved the scanner into my office this afternoon, which means I can now scan cards. It was kinda bought for me because I complained about not having a scanner and we where the Technology Department. So hopefully I'll scan some cards in to share the joy. Anyway I am continuing on my journey of sorting my cards. I came across an old Dusty Baker card (Topps 1987 #565), and at first I was thinking it was him as a manager then I realize that at the time he was still playing 1B-OF position. It kinda made me laugh to think how much has change since I first got that card back in 1987. To me he has always been a manager and to see a card from my era of him as a first basement threw me for a bit.

I've officially sorted up through the B's, but 90% of the C-F are done. Found out that I had a Craig Biggio rookie card in my collection. I don't think it has huge dollar amounts to it, but it is neat to have it without knowing it.

Nothing went as plan

I had a loose plan of getting certain things accomplish today. Though I am always flexible to what pops up, I was a bit frustrated that what I had set out to do didn't get done. A while back we got some NCS machines, and we are having problems with them rebooting and BSOD. I think I have narrowed it down to the motherboard, but I have only determined that on one of out of the six reported bad. So I spent most of the day working on troubleshooting that problem and elimnating non-issues. I was suppose to knock a bunch of tickets for MHES and then install some testing software for a person at the SAO. Oh well tomorrow will come soon enough, I'll just have to push my schedule back on all those other tickets.

Some times I wish that I could push all my events back in Outlook by a day. So that way I wouldn't spend gobbs of time rescheduling my week.

Current Music: Jack Johnson - Curious George soundtrack

First the bad news

Figure I post the articles that inspired me to start this blog. There has been a lot of articles over the last year that state that baseball card collecting is on the decline. Here what I could find.

• What killing baseball cards


• It's no longer in the cards


• Baseball card industry retrenches after sharp decline

So everyone (collectors, card companies, and industry experts) agree that today's baseball cards are a mess. So what is the future for cards? I'm going to find out.

Now the good news.

Press Release from Major League Baseball Player Assocation (MLBPA) on who will making Baseball Cards starting in 2006 (yes I know it is a little late). But it does have insight on where things will be going. Seems like just Topps and Upper Deck are in and Donruss is out. This would be the second time that Donruss has lost its ability to produce cards for MLBPA and release their statement about the decision. Since the 2006 season was first year of this agreement I would imagine that next year will have the issues in full force.

Walk it off

I had to skip a run yesterday. My shins are killing me, it is just over use of my legs. I figure I rest till Sunday and then run again to see if they hurt more.

The results came in for a race. Here. I placed 92nd so you have to scroll down a ways. But hey I achieved my goal for that day, maybe next time I can do better. I also have a photo but I haven't figure out how to get it off the site.

The Gavin Project

Spent the last few nights updating my son's site. But I have it mostly the way I want it. Need to fix the flickr post, but I am awaiting feedback on the forums. Once I get caught up on sleep I 'll throw some more post up.

Current Music: Godsmack [first album] - it really does remind me of Alice in Chains.

Official Race Results

Well on Friday afternoon I decided to run in a 5k race. I figure I give it a try and see where I was physically. So far I hadn't run 3.1 miles at a time so I was a bit nervous about the whole thing. I started near the front and was pass by like seventy people. It was very defeating to be pass by so many on your very first race. Also I had no idea how long it was going to take so I was saving up my energy so I wouldn't stop. In the end I placed 92nd and ran it in 27 minutes. My goal was to run the whole thing without stopping and that is what I did. Next time I'll start in the back so I can pass some people and build some confidence. But really not bad for a first race with only a month of running under my belt.

3.0 Miles and getting dark

Well I drove the distance that I run and it is only 3.0 miles. Even worse since I know I walk the first 0.4 and the last 0.1. So I'm only running 2.5 miles, which doesn't help me prepare for a 5k run. Also what is really bothers me is the face that it is getting darker now. So I am losing my window to run before dark. Not a good run tonight.

Hell Week (Day Two)

Well I looked at our tickets for people submitting problems they have. We have 114 tickets and it is only Tuesday. So I would say that by next Monday we should be sitting around 230 tickets. I have lot's of teachers that need mini switches for their multiple computers and one data drop per room. The SOL require us to have 1 computer per 5 students so we are packing them in. Just need to update the infrastructure which is not an item that sells well to non-technical people. Oh well only three more days.

Last Night's Run

Ever get that feeling that if you go running, that it will be really bad. I had notions that I was going to throw up, have my shins stick out of my skins, and other wild crazy thoughts. But I went ahead and ran and it was one of the best runs I had. I ran more of the of the loop I did without having to stop as often. I only stop once on the dreaded Sanhill Dr. It got to the point where it didn't hurt any more to keep going, I caught myself smiling that sick twisted smile that one does when they do something insane and enjoy it. I'm really looking forward to running tomorrow night. Last night I ran it in 31 minutes, and I would even guess that my 3.1 distance may be further. I need to drive it to double check the mileage. Oh well guess I should sleep now.

Hell Week (Day One)

Well my boss mention that this week is "Hell Week" (borrowed from the Navy Seals mind ya.), but since this week is the one where the teachers come back and discovered that nothing works right with their computers. I spent all day at Madison Heights Elem. School trying to fight the on-slaught of the waves of chaos. Nothing really stood out about the work I did, but I'm glad it is over. More problems were discovered than resolved, so I'm a bit below the tide, but I feel strong. Tomorrow I head to Temperance Elem. School to do the same, their not as big as MHES but I'm not going to lower my guard.

New skill that I've learn

Spent the last two days with an Active Directory consultant at work, trying to fix some replication errors we had. We knock that out in a few hours so I spent the remainer of the time learning from him about Group Policys. I did break one thing though. Our Helpdesk software written in PHP pulled from AD so once I moved some of the OU's around it cause the HelpDesk to stop working. But I just moved things back and the world was happy. (At least for a moment) But I'm eager to play with Group Policy and setup some restrictions on the kids computers where I work. (He-He...J/K)

Run, Run, Run

Well I have been running pretty consistent the last few weeks. Sunday night, Tuesday night, and Thursday night, each around 3.1 miles. Takes me around 40 minutes to complete the loop. I can see progress when I run, I stop less often and my muscles are sore the next day. I've even consider doing a 5k run coming up in September. I don't think I've tone up any, not sure if I have lost any weight. My face still get beat red while I'm running. Oh well not trying to win any beauty pageants.