Clean, Rinse, Repeat

Before I begin, let me say thank you if you read my posts this weekend.  I've gotten good feedback on the posts, and it was some of the best writing I've done in a while.  I'm not sure if I will do articles such as that a lot, but it gave me a bit of adrenaline actually looking up meaningful things online and gather the information to write an article.  I made sure I cut down on mistakes and re-read it a number of times before I posted it.  It may not have translated but the time I posted the article last night was at 5:40 PM.  The exact time the tornado struck down in Joplin.  I didn't actually think about doing that until early in the morning when it just hit me.  At any rate, it woke me up a bit, and I think it might have given me hope of writing more on the Missouri Sports History blog now that I know I can do it.

One person reached out to me on Facebook and liked what they read but wasn't sure how to leave a comment on my blog.  Ever since I started my blog, I have been trying to figure out the best way for people to leave a comment.  I know it sounds easy, just sign in and leave a comment, but there are tons of different ways to sign in, and it does seem a bit confusing. AIM is an option?  I know not everybody has a blogger account or a Google + (I haven't used mine in a year), and that's not to mention the tons of other blogs that have other ways to sign in.  If card blogs had anything close to an east coast vs. west coast feud, it would be Blogger vs. Word Press.  I will read it no matter what, but Word Press (I forgot if its one word or not) just seems weird to me when it comes to comments, so I hardly ever do.  Having said all this, I think at some point soon, I will be switching to Disqus comment section.  It is pretty widespread and you can sign in with existing accounts or through Twitter or Facebook.  It's easy and free to create an account, so I think it will work out good.  I haven't seen many bloggers use it but it is free for me to include and I use it on many other sites I go to so it seemed like a smart choice.

I don't plan on doing that for a couple months though, so if there is an outcry for me to keep it the same, then I might reconsider.  In August I'll be blogging for two years and I like to redecorate, so it seems like a good time to do that.  I'm not sure how drastic it will be, but I am looking at options right now.  One factor I never really took into account is how many readers check out my blog via mobile.  I don't have a mobile phone (I feel old for calling it a mobile phone, I guess a cell phone is better), so I just never take into account all the people who read it that way.  If you do view my blog that way, let me know once I change things if its better or worse.

Anyways, lets get into today's blog.  I've stated before I'm not good with work space tidiness.  It took me a year to sort 3000 cards, I mean I just don't do things the most efficient way.  I've mentioned I needed a new external hard drive because mine was acting up (this was over two years ago) and could use the space.  My desktop and laptop have a combined total of about 1.5 TBs of space, but when one or the other acts up, I need to transfer files to the other quick.  As a result I have a lot of duplicate files, and I need to clean it up.  I have a 500GB hard drive I use, but sometimes it is wonky it even crashed before so I'm wary using it.

The other day I made a trip to Walmart.  I wasn't expecting anything, but I always look at electronics.  Even though technology has passed me by, I still like looking at stuff.  They had a table of clearance items, and most were things I didn't need or want (though a wireless keyboard and mouse does sound like a good idea for my desktop).  Anyways, I found a hard drive.  It was a 3TB external one that was priced at a very nice 50 bucks.  The problem I had though is that it was a Toshiba.  Nothing against them, but I don't know how their hard drives are.  I've owned a few of their computers, but to be honest, while I liked them a lot, they weren't the most reliable.  So 50 bucks made me consider it, but I decide to put it back.  I really wanted one and have been eyeing a 40 dollar 1TB one for a while, but always passed on it.  I did hide it in case the impulse came back and I wanted it.  Anyways, further down the table I saw another one.  This one was a 1 TB and this one was only 30 bucks.  This seemed too good to pass up.

It is about the right size (1 TB) that I need, and 30 bucks wasn't a big risk.  I brought it home and checked out online reviews (I guess one disadvantage about not having a "mobile" phone is being able to review things on the spot) and it seems like a great deal.  I considered going back and getting the 3 TB one, but decided not to.  As of this writing, everything from both computers fit onto this hard drive and now I can sort things and erase the duplicates.  Its a small step, but will be greatly beneficial once its done.  I have another desktop tower I need to see whats on it, and might do that soon, and can probably fit that on here too.  It seems 1TB was all I really needed.

One thing that is good about this but also worries me is the physical size of it.  Its a portable one which I've never had one like it before, and it worries me I might be more prone to drop it, like I have with others before.  The USB cord is really small so I need to find an extender, but again worries me I might drop it.  It is powered by the USB cord, so luckily I don't need to plug it into a wall outlet like my other, but its not a USB to USB connection, so I have to use this cord in addition to another cord if I need a longer cord.

The size of it though is nice.  It is roughly the size of a trading card. It's slightly bigger, but the good part (aside from needing an extension USB cord) is that it fits inside my desktop spaces where I store cards I need to sort, so it takes up hardly any room.  So on that end it is a big plus.

I hope to start sorting stuff on the hard drive soon.  Maybe one day I can make a folder of all my custom cards instead of the 30 or so I have now.  Plus I need to weed down my music collection a lot.  I think I can live without having William Hung on my hard drive.  Sure I have the space for it, but who knows, I might not in a few months.  I've already talked to a friend about swapping music and movies, so that will fill up the roughly 300GBs pretty quick.

Another avenue of cleaning I need to take on is with my cards.  I have put them in my closet but I have a ton of boxes, and they vary in size.  Small 100 count boxes, 3200 count boxes and anything in between.  I even have old cheese boxes (the old government cheese boxes works a lot better then the current Velveeta ones), and even used whatever boxes I could find.  I have a corn dog box with cards in it, and a couple others that aren't really the best way to store them.  I've known for a while that I need to sort them so I can start repaying all the bloggers who have sent me things.  I also know once I do that I can start clearing space and maybe work of future trades.

Last week I checked eBay as I do about once a month.  I haven't bought anything on there in over a year, and try to watch what I spend, but sometimes am just bored and look things up.  I usually only sign in to clean my watch list off and see any messages I can erase.  That's what I did last Monday.  I'm really glad I did.  I had a new message from Ebay.  It said they missed me buying stuff (I'm sure every business is like that), and thought they would entice me with a coupon.  I know that game Ebay, give me $5 off a $50 purchase isn't enticing.  In fact I think I've only made one purchase of over $50 in my 15 years of being on Ebay.  That won't cut it.

They apparently thought the same thing.  So they made it $10 off.  Hmm.... let's read the fine print.  WOW.  $10 off a purchase of $25 or more.  Now that is something I could dig.  So at that point, I thought, what could I get that I need or want that exceeds $25?  Well, I have been watching for an old radio antenna, but that is like 5 bucks.  So I thought more.  Hmm.... wait a minute.  I got it!

JIM NEIDHART WAS SELLING AN ANVIL!

Wait, that wasn't it.  Oh and yes I have a book based on the movie Bring It On in the Picture, long story, no need to explain.

Anyways, I bought this item, and today it came.  What is it you ask?

Card boxes!  This is what they would look like once I folded them.

I folded two boxes and realized, I don't really have the room at the moment for 25 empty boxes, so 2 is fine for now.  These are 800 count boxes and from BCW, which is pretty nice ones.  They are sturdy and they seem to work good.  The asking price was $27 bucks and with my coupon it came under $18 bucks and included free shipping (it was 17.25 or something total).  I thought the $27 price was fair for 25 boxes, but getting them under a buck a box was a lot nicer.  There was another auction that had two piece 800 count boxes for about the same price.  I actually liked them more as they resembled the 3200 count boxes with the lids that come off.  I chose these for two reasons though.  First they were closer and I would get them sooner and the second is the better reason.  I figure once I sort the cards, I can just ship them in these boxes to wherever and it will be easier to keep these sealed up when shipping.  I've gotten some like this in the mail before, but its been a while.  Any bloggers know the current rate for shipping and the best way to actually ship it (do I cover every square inch with tape so tampering is easier to spot)?

That fun will begin soon, likely this week.  I have no timetable for completion, but I'll be happy to have them all finally all sorted.

So with Spring in full effect and summer approaching, its time to clean up some, and with a new hard drive and boxes to store cards, that is a huge step in the right direction.

I could end the blog here, but this post is long and lacks a lot of pictures, so let's look at a pack of 2016 Topps I bought a while back with a buck off coupon.

A couple Royals, a nice pack.  Pulling the Ryan Howard was good too same with the Schwarber.  I like this pack.

Nice action shots, so I can't complain.

How about inserts?

I think the Evan Longoria Perspectives has been in every product I've bought so far.  It is nuts, and I have no need for it.  A gold Simmons card was nice to pull, but the best card was without a doubt the Sandy Koufax.  It is the first Silver version of the MLB Debut cards I've pulled, and I didn't have the bronze either, so it will fit right in. I don't have many Koufax cards in general, so this card would stay in my collection no matter if I tried to finish the insert set or not.

So that wraps it up for tonight.  Sorry for a mostly long and rambling post, but it feels good to be back blogging more regularly lately.  It really calms me and that is good.  Thanks for reading and have a great night.