Waiting for that mail to roll on in -- will there be something I want in it today?

Hope so!

Bummer, no such luck, nothing even worth opening before shredding..

Guess I'll poke around here for some gems, as both my other sites are having database issues today.

Ah the start of the holiday shopping season. When the majority of people are too busy grabbing up junk to show a little respect for their fellow humans.

No wonder so many tragedies occur during December...

Just a reminder to stay on your side of the double yellow line

Crud, all the turkey is gone

The wife is going out, so looks like nachos for tonight's dinner

Occasionally I take a spin around the internet and look for any new card related forums that have managed to find their way into a search engine listing.

This is how I found the forums I trade at, and I figure there is always the chance of a new gem emerging one day.

I use a simple analysis to see if a forum is worth revisiting - if in comparison between the four major sports the thread count in the Hockey area is not at least 25% of the thread count for the other 3 sports - the forum will not be on my revisit list.

There's no scientific formula behind this, just my experience that in forums where hockey is largely ignored, I will never see any activity in trades, or worse will get smarmy anti-hockey comments when I post.

Of course if it hits highest in threads, that's going to be a hot spot, and if it hits 3rd on the list of the 4, that's a good sign trades will roll too.

Today, however, I found nothing new worthwhile it my search. There are a substantial number of forums out there that have no membership even after being out there for years, surprising.

Stumbled upon another of those cards I couldn't seem to find anywhere for several years on the trade boards today, so snatched it up.

Still working on finding some cards for you fellows who have sent me Avalanche lists. May not "strike any gold" until the January show tho, so just keep those cards in orbit for me, thanks.

Now perusing a list of some other stuff the guy has to see if it makes sense to add some others to the package, and reduce the shipping hit.

I guess it's true...it is always better to get even a small package in the mail than to not get one.

Trying a more focused approach to trading now. Buying stuff at random was a bit slow in working trades....they still worked, but the real good stuff never seemed to get offered for those random lots.

So now I'm calling out lists of Avalanche cards from people in an attempt to get some of those holes filled in. I figure if they provide a good list of cards they have, I can sort thru it to find the ones I need, and get a fix on exactly what they are looking for in trade. Then when the next show hits, hopefully I score a hat trick on some nice trades.

Maybe this will energize my collection again. It's been a while since I've had a nice big variety of 100+ cards to add in.

It's blog entry # Gretzky....

Waiting for the mail today, hoping there is something in it for me, since there was no mail delivery on Saturday. Post office was crowded this morning, have to remember to go in the late morning before lunch time. Yes, I hate waiting in lines for anything...

So Roy goes into the HHoF today, and the induction ceremony isn't even on TV here...I really found that surprising. Have to make that trip in the next couple of years, hopefully this coming summer. I don't recall actually being in Toronto before, even tho I've been thru most of Canada at one time or another...

Always surprises me how I can have a full stocked trade list one day, then have nothing left to trade the next...now have to figure out what to pickup to put in there...

I hereby add a potent "no-comment" aura to this blog entry.

Rage open at home tonight, trying to score some free tixs, or at least some swag. No hits yet, but there's gotta be someone...

Down to the bones now with the trade list, not sure if I'm going to bother to replenish it, at least until UD series 2 hits, then maybe a few packs will get broken. Guess that all depends on the player inclusion.

Some of the non-sport stuff has interested me - Supernatural, The new Harry Potter release...but due to how hard it was to trade the stuff last time, doubt I'll be making breaks on any of it...will just enjoy seeing pics of what others are pulling out.

Getting back to my pocket sked project now - northeast team fans, where are you?

So UD is stuffing 100 rookies into the S1 and S2 releases? Now there have been some complaints about this, but I say: "Hey, why not?"

I get trade offer after trade offer which indicates that a person is only interested in "GU/Auto/RC" in trade. This makes it so I will have plenty to offer those guys Plus, those short print problems will become less problematic for those of us wishing to return to set collecting.

In addition, if not during their rookie season, when are RC supposed to be issued for new players? I enjoy seeing cards of a new player for my team the year he hits the ice enough. It seems too many would be happy to simply see Malkin, Crosby, Ovechkin and other "super-touted RC" cards being the only ones issued. I find that sad

There will be an influx for at least the next few years as the league readjusts to the new game. High priced veterans have fewer places to go as the cap wears on.

To those who chuckled that the Avalanche NHL record sell-out streak ended...think about that when your team's payroll cap is lower next year due to a downturn in league revenue - more of those veterans and high priced fan faves will see the door...

"That's your heritage..."

"Heritage??"

"Yeah that's stuff other people leave you when they find out it doesn't work."

Just caught a glimpse of the checklists for this years upcoming products...my favorite things found so far....

UD Series 2
Jordan Leopold in the issue - guy hasn't hit the ice for the Av's in a game, and they are including him in not only base issues, but for jerseys/patches too...

Meanwhile Kurt Sauer still has no Avalanche issue...

Ken Klee, Mark Rycroft - new faces, would be nice to see cards by this issue...(I'll forgive them on Parros, since he hasn't been here that long...)

Steve Konowalchuk - I really do like this guy, but he never stepped foot on the ice this season for the av's. A "carrer accomplishments" type insert highlighting Kono would be a fantastic inclusion, but he has no place in the regular set for 06-07.

Joe Sakic - where are the autograph cards????

Young Guns - looks like there will be 40+ in this release as well...and there better be a whole slew of Paul Stastny inclusions

All UD issues
Patrick Roy - I won't go there in this entry...check previous blog entry on this topic...

Black Diamond - svatos single diamond, you must be kidding???! single diamond...other than a Stastny rookie (if it's included) I won't even bother with this product

Okay now a positive:
UD Artifacts
there is actually a set of jersey/patch cards that looks collectible in this set, and that is saying something, since I cannot stand these normally.

Well it finally happened. By some strange twist of fate, cards on my "hard to find" list actually reared their head

Going to pick them up today. In person even, so no wait for mail
he shoots, he scores!
So, to update with something to look at:


To put it simply I am THRILLED to have found five of these in one shot.
Seems like I've been looking for these for 4 years or more. So that leaves 5 left to find, hope it doesn't take 4 more years...

And the blog dragged on....

And the blog dragged on...

Planets in the sky
Mars wears red
Uranus has gas
It 's good day to visit Pluto to get ice for our drinks.

Something is just off in this day, it's like everyone is stopping at green lights and drinking warm soda...

And the blog played on, and the blog played on...

Rolled out the list of Fleer hockey to trade today on 4 sites. Thus far, a few looks but no replies.

Picked up some skeds for the Rocky Mountain Rage (CHL team) and Colorado 14er's (Basketball league). It's a combo sked, so if anyone wants one, talk to me about a trade and I'll just throw one in. Or LMK what NHL sked from this season you have for trade and we can swap.

I enjoy trading base and inserts. As long as I get some of the cards I need in trade, it's okay to spend 63+ cents to send some base away in trade. Problem is so few seem to want to do this anymore, and it's making it quite hard to continue to collect. Seriously...what do you do when you enjoy the hobby, but the cards you are after just aren't available?! And I'm talking the 5 cent to $5 issues...

I broke a few packs the other day. I did this based on how many cards I thought were available in the issue for my team. There's nothing fancy I'm after, so not getting anything fancy was fine by me.

Kinda disappointing how little attention these blog entries generate...

I've posted up the list in the trade area. So now the question becomes...am I going to get any trade offers on these cards?

A Creepy Halloween to All

Broke down and bought a few packs of Fleer Hockey, don't know why, other than I was a bit bored, and hadn't cracked a pack so far this season, and it was less than $5 to do it.

Really, I'm not disappointed with the results even tho it was only 30 base and 3 inserts, at least I'd heard of everyone I pulled. As usual with these early season sets tho, some of the photos don't match the current team.

The cards smell funny tho...

Another party tomorrow night, then rest.

Ahoy me hearties, Today I made my 1400th post here. Reviewing them, I guess that 90% were worthwhile posts. (I guess I can cop to the fact that I post some junk sometimes)

There has been some growth in the hockey interest here, which is nice, as I don't have to post so much in the Water Cooler area.

For Halloween I will be Norville Rogers. I guess it's as good as anything, the whole gang will be represented. The parties start tomorrow and run thru Tuesday night. Some people like Christmastime parties. Me I'm a Halloween guy, even with all the makeup and costuming it's less phony to me.

So get out your treats, or put up with tricks

Add another item to the list of pointless endeavors...raking leaves. Sharpened up the mulching blade and ran those suckers down. That's the way to "rake".

Ever notice how the trash guy arrives early on the morning you have other things on your mind. Yet when you get that junk to the curb by 6am, they never show until noon!

I always enjoy showing someone a little courtesy, that way I can be appalled when they immediately show none for others

Almost time to vote, guess I should send some emails to the candidates to see where they stand on issues that I care about...

Looked back at some old threads on quality topics, and found there were few replies to them...Yet found plenty of current garbage threads with endless banter - seriously, what's going on with that?

Today's sandwich shall be - turkey, pepper jack, lettuce, tomato, crack of pepper, a bit of mayo on rosemary bread.

This weeks reading - "How I Became A Pirate"