Sick mail

I realize that I'm starting off today's post with a statement that everyone knows to be true, one that doesn't need to be uttered by another living being, ever, but I'm gonna do so anyway... being sick really sucks!

Though finally on the road to recovery as of this writing, I've had a cold for the last week and change. I felt something coming on two weeks ago, and after a couple of days of minor symptoms, thought that I had successfully fought it off, but if I did, it didn't stay gone for very long, because it, or another virus, came on strong shortly thereafter -- and decided to stay for the week.

My mom has been sick too, so I don't know who gave it who, for blog purposes though, I'm gonna say that she gave it to me. Her symptoms were worse than mine, but she too is starting to get better, thankfully! 

My memory is such that I can't really remember past colds, so every time I get one, which isn't often (this is only my second one in the last 10 years), it always seems/feels worse than it probably actually is. So feel free to take everything I'm saying with a grain (or two) of salt. I don't recall ever having a cold during the summer though, it's a weird juxtaposition. I'm not sure if it's necessarily a good thing or not, but even as un-fun as they can be, it's kind of comforting to know that the common cold hasn't been eradicated by the Rona. I mean, if you gotta catch one or the other...

We also had the hurricane/tropical storm remnants roll in late Monday, and not leave until early Wednesday. Much doom and gloom was predicted ahead of it's arrival, but most of it, at least around here, ended up being more hype than not. We did get a couple of inches of rain, but that could just as easily have happened on a random day in March, so it really wasn't worth getting worked up over.

Two pieces of fun mail arrived this week, the first coming courtesy of the King of Diamonds. Kevin recently had himself a show for the ages, and amongst his swag, was an extra copy of each of these two fellas. I inquired about them in the post, but didn't know they were coming, so it made for a nice surprise. I'll talk about it at some later date, but I recently started working on small card project, and need a couple of cards from both of these guys (and those of similar ilk). I've never had very many 1984 Topps, and have never owned any 1984 OPC, so these work well, as they're something "new" for me to look at. Thanks again, Kevin! 

Speaking of bloggers, I'm sure that everyone has seen by now that Chris is trying to leave us. This announcement wasn't unexpected, but is still the shits. I have exchanged more cards with Chris than anyone else over the last few years, and he's been one of my favorite people to interact with, so his absence will be felt. The good news is though, Chris is a blogger at heart, so I fully expect him to be back doing so in some form or another after his initial respite -- even if it does manifest itself into an emo music blog for current, and former, pre-teen girls 😂.

My other piece of mail this week comes from a small Sportlots purchase:

I can't remember exactly when it was, but some weeks ago I got to wondering what Alan Autry had been up to lately, so I did a quick Google search, which then directly led me to buying this card. You see, I didn't realize that Alan, who despite his numerous roles, will always be (to me) Bubba Skinner from the In the Heat of the Night television series, had played pro football. Once I found this out it was only natural to go see if he ever had any cards produced, and he did, there's his 1977 Topps rookie here, and then he's got an uber-difficult to find 1977 Topps Mexican rookie as well. The COMC and eBay asking prices for this card are stupid, seriously, don't even bother looking. Thankfully though, Sportlots came through, and I was able to get this one for less than a buck (which is still probably multiple times higher then it would sell for at a show).

A funny thing happened too while I was waiting for this to arrive, I happened upon a Twitter discussion from some people who had also just found out about the cards existence. I didn't participate in it myself, but did find the timing to be interesting. In typical me fashion, I already have another one on the way, but am thinking that that one might get used for a TTM attempt. I haven't done so yet, but I'll have to see if he signs stuff for folks.

Since I mentioned Twitter, I might as well mention that I happened upon a weekly vintage baseball open sales thread last week, and in a completely impromptu move, put something up, and sold it within minutes. This prompted me to try again a few nights ago with two small lots and one single. It took a little longer this time, but by the next morning all had sold. Normally I don't even bother looking at the myriad of sales threads on Twitter, mostly because of the obscene prices, but clicked on this one for some reason, and am now glad that I did. I don't have a lot more unwanted baseball items to sell, but it has been nice to move a few things and not have to pay eBay fees. It's not a paid endorsement, but if you have anything you want to sell, or even if you're looking to buy (there's lots of graded cards if you're into that sort of thing), this guy runs the thread every Wednesday night. I will say that there does seem to be a lot of expensive items being listed, but unlike most open sales threads, cards actually sell. In fact, most of them seem to sell. It's probably not for everyone, but I thought it was worth throwing out there for those that might be interested.