I had to work from home today to get some stuff done around here. The summer is a slow time in the law as it is in other professions as well -- yes, lawyers do take vacations from time to time, and the trial calendars tend to be fewer and farther between in the summer...probably because judges also take vacations.
So, when given the opportunity today to work from home, I did that for a few hours. Then, I did some reorganization here on the blog.
You may have noticed that I changed the background last week. I decided to go with a cleaner, easier-to-look-at background of blue and old-school Brewers logo. I like the cleaner look, and that, I suppose, is the important thing. It'll change in the future, I'm sure.
The second thing I did is more organizational. Unlike a few folks who are undergoing a complete collection reorganization, I decided to make my want lists a bit more user friendly. Once again, while I'm hopeful that everyone else will like it, it really is more for me than for anyone else.
You see, I have had this blog organized around the years that cards were issued for quite some time now. And, it worked for a while -- for the time it took me to start getting a lot of cards in that I didn't have before and as my initial effort at organization.
But, as I started looking at other lists online that other bloggers have, I realized it could be improved. More to the point, whenever I was at a card show, I'd spend so much damn time trying to find the correct year for the group of cards I was looking at that sometimes I'd just say "to hell with it" and buy cards on the hope that I didn't have them -- because I didn't want to take the time to try to find my place.
So, instead, I've reorganized by the name of the company that issued the cards. I've got the Milwaukee Braves broken out by pre-1970 and post-1970 cards.
For the Brewers, I have it broken down into a number of categories:
Oddballs, Team Issues, & Short-Term Manufacturers
The Oddballs page includes Sportflics, food issues, the Wizards of the West Coast cards, Kellogg's, Star Company, TCMA, Classic, SSPC, and whatever else doesn't fit into the other pages. Along with the Oddballs, I created the "Team Issue/Police Set/Stadium Giveaway" page because of all the cards that beer companies and cops have given away at County Stadium over the years.
Then, the Major Manufacturers. We have Bowman (post-1989), Donruss (including the Panini revival of the brand), Fleer/Ultra/Flair, O-Pee-Chee (including the Upper Deck revival), Pacific, Panini, Score (including Pinnacle), Topps pre-2000, Topps post-2000, and Upper Deck.
Hopefully, these want lists will be more useful, and it won't be as daunting of a task for me to update them as it feels like it has been in the past for me.
Finally, speaking of card shows and because no post should be posted without a photo, I recently got a PWE from a formerly active blogger named Von from Von's Cards. I first met Von at my usual card show last year in May, and we have run into one another on a few occasions since then. I've sent him a few cards he was looking for, and this time he sent me a card that I can always use:
A serial-numbered Brewers post-win celebration in the form of Corey Hart will always be welcome in my house.
Von, thank you very much for the card.
Just before I met my wife in 2009, I was traveling a ton for work and for enjoyment. My travel was so frequent on Delta that I qualified as Platinum Medallion (before Delta devalued Platinum Medallion by adding the Diamond Medallion level as one step higher than Platinum).
The reason that frequent travelers like having "status" on an airline is simple: most of the time, as a Platinum Medallion traveler, I would receive free upgrades to first class even if I was traveling clear across the country. Now, the only status I have on Delta is Silver Medallion, which is good for...well, there are some places where I get to check my bag in a different location and I can get on the plane in Zone 1 so I can stow a carry-on. And, that's about it.
Upgrades are good. Is there ever a time where someone offered you an upgrade and you would turn it down? Sure, if you're traveling with your significant other and the two of you would be split up for a flight, maybe you'd turn down the upgrade, but otherwise, nearly every upgrade conceivable is a good thing.
The same applies in card collecting. Unless every card in your collection is a graded Gem Mint 10 -- which, since I own a grand total of one graded card, I can vouch for myself not having that collection -- then you and me both are on the lookout for a condition upgrade for cards we know are in rough shape.
One of those "rough shape" cards for me has been my Robin Yount 1979 Hostess card. This is a card I have had since, as an 8-year-old, I cut it off a box of Ho-Ho's:
We have deep creases, part of the card gone, corners rounded away -- truly the definition of "well-loved." If that card were from an 1880s Allen & Ginter set, it would not be a badge of shame to have it in my collection. But it's from 1979.
As a further aside, Ho-Ho's might be my favorite snack from my childhood. Who can beat whipped cream wrapped in a devil's food chocolate cake, then dipped in chocolate?
Anyway, I recently received an e-mail from the proprietor of Von's Cards asking me if I needed the 1979 Hostess Robin Yount card. Von and I have crossed paths a few times at the local card show here in Roswell, including one show where I was helping his teenage daughter find some cards that she liked in a dime box.
Von warned me that the card had a crease on it, but I told him not to worry -- that I was almost positive that the card would be in better shape than my current version. I guessed correctly on that:
Yeah, there's a crease on the bottom, but this card has sharper corners and the card is pretty much intact! Of course that is an upgrade from the old card.
Von, thank you very much for the upgrade. Upgrades are always good.
