Wednesday, June 30, 2021

New blog, and some other things

Hey all, it's been awhile, huh? Like most of my past absences, I didn't mean to stay away for so long, it just happened.

My want to blog has been strong in recent weeks, but after not "writing" for over two months, I found myself having trouble trying to get back into the swing of things. I think I've got it down again now, so you're gonna be stuck with me until next year's inevitable disappearance.

I'd like to think I've been busy to doing big things during my sabbatical, but that's probably subjective, so I'll just say that I've been doing some stuff, one such bit of stuff being to get everything in place to launch a whole new blog -- which I just did yesterday by the way.

Despite it being an all baseball blog, mostly of the older variety, it's going to be a very niche blog, and I'm not expecting there to be much interest in it. With that in mind, I'm not gonna ask you to follow it, retweet it, or anything else of that nature. I figure if you want to check it out you will, and if you don't, you won't. Either way is cool with me. I've always maintained that this blog, the one that you're currently reading, was not created just for my own enjoyment, but the new one was. I fully plan to be writing just for the sake of writing on that one; if anyone actually comes around, well, that'll just be a bonus.

I will add though, that if anyone does go on over, it's been some time since I had to try and figure out how to create a layout, and with the 'new' Blogger in place, it seems to be a little harder than the last time I did so. Many tweaks will still be necessary, but it's up and running, and doesn't look too terribly bad. That's all that I really cared about to begin with.

It feels a little weird to start a new blog at a time when my old one is just hanging on by a thread, but the subject matter of the new one will be of much more interest to me than what I've been doing around here for at least the last year or so. I'm hoping that the passion for the new one will rub off on this one, possibly inspiring better posts for those who choose to just read this one. Time will tell though. At the very least, you can expect a few changes around here in the coming months. Of course, I have said that before, so maybe take that last part with two grains of salt :)

In other news...

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I finally took Newspapers.com up on their free-trial offer last week, and all I can say is, wow, that is some site! I didn't think that it was possible for me to enjoy something on the internet as much as I enjoyed that site. Apparently I was wrong though, as I thoroughly enjoyed that site, spending upwards of a couple of hours on it each day throughout my trials duration. 

I was able to get a lot of research done for the new blog, as well as some material for another blog I'll be starting in the very near future. That's right, I'll be trying to juggle three blogs by summer's end. I would've had that one up and running by now too, but the perfect name that I came up with for it, is already taken (by someone who's only blogged once in the last three years 😡), and I haven't been able to come up with another name since. I put all my eggs in that basket!

I won't be able to afford a full-time subscription to the Newspapers.com, but am gonna try to swing a few months worth here and there; I've only just scratched the sites surface. Also, I think I'm going through withdrawal, I got really used to having access to that site, really quick.

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I also went to Chattanooga last week for the first time. It was a long drive (about an hour and fifty minutes each way). I had been wanting to check out the McKay's there for quite some time... it was nowhere near as good as the one in Knoxville... and I probably won't be going back. I managed to find one book, and two DVD's for myself. And one book, and one DVD for my mom. No post coming. I took a few pictures on my way there, while driving (don't do that kids), most of which didn't turn out so good, but a few weren't too bad:




I don't remember exactly where these were on the way, and the windshield was a tad dirty, but as I said, they don't look too bad.

I got a brief glimpse of the Sequoya Nuclear Plant, and was hoping that the highway would turn back that way for me to try and get a picture, but it ended up going the other way. Still a neat sight though.

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It's been a few years since I last saw a Luna Moth (whenever the last time I posted a picture on here of one was), so it was pretty cool to spot this one a few weeks back. She (I don't know it's sex, but I'm gonna call her a she) wasn't the biggest one that I've seen, but was still a good 4" long, and wasn't showing any signs of decay yet (they only live for like a week, and will often be spotted clinging to things with parts of their wings rotting away -- it's both sad and gross at the same time).

In other nature news:

We have had a LOT of black snakes around the house this spring/summer, which isn't a bad thing, as they keep the rodents at bay. I don't normally take pictures of them, but this one was right under the laundry room door. Thankfully I always look before I step out. It was kind of funny too, after he ( this one was a "he" to me) saw me, he hid his head under the piece of creek driftwood at the top of the photo, like maybe I wouldn't notice the rest of his two and half foot body if I couldn't see his head :)

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Card collectors lamenting over not being able to find unopened retail product has been a daily occurrence for over a year now. I don't get it, but the Walmart that I go to never ran out of cards, and always has boxes out for whoever. I couldn't tell you what those boxes (and packs) are, because I never go in for a closer look, but they are there. My problem has been that the store rarely ever gets any of the cool new toys in, and when they do, they're gone almost as fast as they're put out. Imagine my surprise then when I actually found this Berserker Predator from Lanard's semi new-ish Alien/Predator line last month. The Alien figures look like poo, but from what I had seen online, I knew I'd want the Predator figures if I ever found any in person. This was the only one that was on the peg, but it was the one that I wanted the most, so if I was meant to only ever find one, I'm glad that it was this one.

He'll be coming out of the package at some point, but for now I've just been enjoying him like this on my desk.

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A few of my blogging friends have been kind enough to send me a few packages in the last couple of months, and I received an order from the Baseball Card Store not too long ago. There's been a few purchases from eBay as well, and some TCDB trades, so I've got no shortage of material in the weeks to come. Hopefully there'll still be a few people around to see it.

27 comments:

  1. I'll be heading over to the new site at some point👍 Loving that Predator fig,too!

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    1. Thanks, even if you don't stay, I still appreciate you taking the time to look.

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  2. Glad to see you are back. My blog is really three or four different blogs at once at this point. For example my post today probably won't get any comments because it's not about cards or even baseball. Looking forward to the Portland blog. Do you have a wantlist of players up yet? I love helping projects like this!

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    1. Yeah, you've really added quite a bit of variety to your blog in recent years. And from the viewpoint of this particular blogger, I think it works very well :)

      I have been working on a list, but have sort so slacked off as of late. Since this collection is going to be so personal, and will be one that I end up spending a lot of time looking at, I'm going through each player and trying to identify the ideal card (when applicable) that I'd like to add to the project. It's taking an awful lot of time to do so, but I'll probably have a partial list up sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'll be sure to let everyone know when it goes up.

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  3. I've always enjoyed your writing, so I'll be keeping tabs on your passion project as well! Good luck with it!

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  4. Good luck on the new Blog(s). Um yeah juggling 3 blogs is quite a chore. I have been doing that for a while now. My first blog that I call my "main" blog (Kirk's Knook) I began as a regular blog not trading card specific (but occasionally I'd post about cards), then a few years later I started my trading Card blog (Captain Kirk's Trading Cards Blog) and eventually a DC Baseball specific cards blog (Curly W Cards) which concentrates on the current Washington Nationals and Senators cards, but occasionally I do some non-card team news. It can get frustrating at times. My biggest problem has been my natural laziness. I do However have a self appointed monthly quota of at least 1 post per month per blog. I don't like going too long without making posts on my blog. I don't like seeing a gap in archives.

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    1. I have no doubt that it will be, and at this time, have no idea how I'll be able to manage it -- but I've got the itch to write right now, so I'd like to try. I've been following all of your blogs for a few years now, and know all about your quota. Ideally, I'd like to add one new post a week to each blog, but I'll have to see how that goes.

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  5. I've actually been thinking about merging my other hobby blogs into Cardboard History. It's not like I post on the others too often...I think 2017 was the last time on some or all of the others.

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    1. You're telling me, some of us have been waiting an awful long time for new posts to appear on your Action Figure History and Comic Book History blogs :)

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  6. Cool, a new baseball card-type blog to read!

    As someone in the journalism biz, I know all about the amazing Newspapers.com site (no, we don't have a complementary subscription). I should really sign up.

    That moth: my goodness.

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    1. Doing all the research for the new blog has revived my interest in baseball quite a bit, so don't be too surprised if you start seeing some more baseball content on here as well. Though I do still have quite of bit non-baseball stuff that needs to be gotten to as well.

      I was wondering how that works, like if they contact your paper to ask for access to your archives, would they give everyone at the paper a free account as a sort of thank you? And yeah, if you haven't at least done the free-trial yet, then you really should.

      They are quite unique, aren't they?

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  7. I would have guessed that snake was 10'

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    1. I guess it's a good thing there wasn't a contest then :)

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  8. Wasn't familiar with newspapers.com, but access to all of those newspapers dating back to the 1700's is pretty cool. I'm wondering what kind of project or assignments I could do with that site... where I could justify using part of my budget on it. I might have to test out that trial a week in August to see.

    That moth is so cool! I think I'd be freaked out by it in person... but it's gorgeous in that photo.

    Glad your new blog is designed for your own personal enjoyment. I'm not sure about you, but when I enjoy something... I'll put a little more effort into it. By the way... not knocking this blog. I've always enjoyed your content on here.

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    1. I didn't have enough time to seek out and read the oldest newspapers just for fun, but one of my searches did yield a result from a 1777 British paper, and it was quite something. Hopefully I'll have more time in the future to just read some random stuff like that. Not being a teacher, I can't think of anything specific, but one would have to think that the site could be of some benefit to the kids.

      Like all moths, they're very gentle, just bigger. Although, I can imagine it might be a little unsettling if one ran into you in the dark, as they do have a bit of a heft to them. It would probably feel like getting hit by a small bat (those of the winged variety).

      I'm hoping that's how it's gonna go. Although I feel like this has reenergized my interest in blogging as a whole, so I'm also hoping that the whole more effort thing will carry over to this blog as well.

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  9. Glad you are back. That moth is crazy looking. I've never seen one before. My grandsons love the Predator figures. We've gotten them a few and there are always fights over who gets to play with them. Good post.

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    1. Sounds like your grandsons have good taste in toys :)

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  10. A SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) membership is $65 a year and now includes the Newspapers.com World Collection. https://sabr.org/latest/sabr-members-take-advantage-of-free-access-to-newspapers-com-world-collection-online-archives/

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    1. That might be doable. Thanks for the head's up, Jeff! The only downside is that I probably wouldn't be able to critique them anymore, the SABR people that is :)

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  11. Congrats on starting a new blog, I'll definitely check it out.

    I was going to mention SABR, but I see someone beat me to it. So I'll just add that it's great. Plus you also get access to The Sporting News archive.

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    1. Thanks, John!

      You may not have suggested it first, but it's always helpful to has a second opinion as well. I've never read The Sporting News, so it'll be interesting to see what this thing that I've heard so much about, is actually like.

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  12. I will stay far far away from that snake! I hate snakes!

    As for the blog, can't wait to check it out. By the way, your recent comment by you on my blog and this post has helped me make up my mind in terms of blogging and what direction to head. Details on that soon.

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    1. You and Indiana Jones :) I wasn't too keen on them when I was younger, but don't mind them so much as I've gotten older. I guess the monkey part of my brain has mellowed with age.

      With some of your recent comments about losing interest in baseball, I suspect that the new blog might not be of too much interest to you, but who knows. Even if you only end up stopping by once, I still appreciate you taking the time to do so. As for whatever I said, you shouldn't listen to me, I rarely know what I'm talking about, and even when I do, rarely make much sense :) Seriously though, I do hope that you get things figured out soon, blogging should not be causing us so much grief.

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    2. Totally agree. Blogging is supposed to be fun!

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  13. Always appreciate a good road trip blog post. Nice work with the new blog launch, too! Looking forward to more.

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    1. Yeah, and this is about as close I get to a road trip. Although if I can get the third blog up by October, I will be doing a Halloween themed mini road trip post, so that'll be something for everyone to not look forward to :)

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