It's A New Year.... OR IS IT?

 The year is almost two weeks old and I've already behind on a goal I wanted for 2023: Blog more!  Part of my burnout from blogging was from putting a quota on posts, but this isn't a quota as much as a challenge.  I'm not trying to get to 2015 levels, I just want to post more consistently.  So it begs the question, why haven't I blogged yet this year.  The answer is one I hate to give- I don't know.  I am either doing something else, being somewhat busy on a project, or simply, not int the mood.  In the meantime I have worked on a few things including trying to clean up files, and by doing so, I found some stuff I planned to blog about but never did, so there is hope still.  As for now, we'll see how much more I blog.

It's weird how things work.  As the year wrapped up last year, my nephew came home to visit after spending his first few months in the USMC.  So we didn't have as much of a Christmas as a family reunion toward the end of the year.  It was great seeing my nephews and nieces, as well as my sister and brother in law.  Since I'm not hip to what kids these days are into, I always stress a little on how to keep a couple teens and a couple nephews around 20 entertained.  Also don't want to forget my mom was with us as well and my oldest nephew's girlfriend, which a proud new parents shortly after the New Year started.  I don't like talking about private lives of my family much, but I'm happy for all of them.  Anyways, as I thought of how to entertain them, I remembered a couple years ago I put a lot of family videos onto DVD, and so I thought my nephews would like to see videos of their mom, and my nieces would like to see their Aunt who was somewhat little when she passed.  I also had videos of my dad interacting with my nephews and the boys got a kick out of.  My nieces never got to meet him, but were interested in some of the things he did.  Overall, the event I think was a big success, and they even got too see video of their great grandparents who had passed long before any of them were born (I myself was quite young when they passed).  On my mom's side that is.  My other grandpa passed my senior year of high school (I wish I had more of him on video), and my other grandma passed a few years ago.  They were fortunate enough to meet her.

I mention the weirdness because during the event, my sister noticed the tire on the car was flat.  My mom and I wasn't aware and couldn't go anywhere for a few days, and had we known a few hours earlier, it could have dampened the days events.  We needed to go to storage to get seating for hosting so many people.  We thought we'd have enough at storage and planned on going that morning.  However shortly after I woke up and opened the curtains, I noticed something in our dumpster.  Something wooden, and big.  Not knowing what it was, I put on my shoes to investigate.  In the past few years I've accepted I am a dumpster diving, but not to the extremes I see on Youtube.  I only dig out stuff I have a use for or know how to use it.  In the past I've found a cabinet as well as a plastic storage box that I store outdoor items in.  I figured if I found some nice pieces of wood, I could make something.  Hoping for possibly something to build for more movie shelves.  I got out to the dumpster and it was full.  It appeared they were cleaning out an apartment.  I found a bench that was easy to grab, so I picked it up.  It didn't look too sturdy, but after cleaning it up, who knows.  There was also a bench seat that had the seat lift up I guess to store stuff.  It was broken, but again I like to find wood to maybe use for other ideas.  As I was grabbing it out of the dumpster, the guy cleaning out the apartment came to through out more stuff.  I commented about finding a nice piece to reuse, and he told me he had another bench and a table if I wanted.  SURE!  So I brought this bench back, and went to get the rest.  The other two pieces were in good condition, with nothing wrong with them.  I don't have a photo, but it looks like a corner nook/breakfast seating.  After cleaning the good bench, and the other pieces, we had a table set.  The wobbly bench isn't great for sitting for adults, but for my nephews and nieces it would work fine.  The good bench was really sturdy, and the table was too and used to display some Christmas items.  The broken bench I took apart for scrap, and as soon as I did I realized how to reuse it.  My mom has wanted a headboard for her bed for some time, and the back of the bench was perfect for it.  The side pieces I might have a use for but no ideas yet.  The seat part is a nice solid piece of wood and while no ideas yet I think I can find a use.  The side pieces I think I might use for my mom to put plants on when the time is right.

It looks almost exactly like this but maybe a little less nicer.  The best part is it provided seating for us especially knowing later we wouldn't have been able to go anywhere.  After everyone left, we still are using the side bench to set puzzles on.  The nice bench as additional seating at our normal table, and the table I have found a new use for.  I had to move my bookcase and now the table sets off the floor displaying different items.  They are all light weight so I can move them easily if need be.  Maybe I'll take photos later to show how I'm using them.  

After saying all that, that wasn't even the reason for blogging.  Last time I promised to show off some cards, and by golly I'm going to.  There is one slight problem.... I forgot where I got these.  I think my sister got them for me at some point last year, but I really can't remember.  Last year was the first in a long time that cards took a back seat to collecting and as a result I got maybe 100-200 cards the entire year, with a contest win which I need to blog about giving me over half of the cards.  I also still need to scan them too.  More blog ideas.  Anyways, let's dive into some cards.

Gotta be honest, I didn't watch much baseball in 2022.  This might have been my only pack of cards for the year.  I wasn't big on the design, but looking back, they don't look bad.  The design flows nice between cards, and that could be the last "Indians" cards we'll see.  

I'm starting to wonder if I got these in 2022 or 2021.  These cards look a little plain, but not too bad.  I haven't really collected football in a while, but I am happy to pull a Justin Herbert rookie a couple years ago.  As I said, I haven't had cards in the forefront the last year or so, as I've been more focused on VHS tapes.  As I head into 2023 I'm not sure where I'm at in collecting anything.  Money is a huge factor, but also just finding enjoyment in stuff.  A gift I got for Christmas might change what my focus on collecting this year will be (tight lipped on the gift because I will likely blog about it).

I also have scans of more cards, and not sure when, where or even if they are duplicates or ones I needed.

Since I now have two tables, maybe in a month or so I might work on sorting my collection and updating my wants.  I also need to probably scan some cards as well.  Since my laptop acted up and I'm using a desktop, I haven't used my scanner.  Its tougher to move stuff around to scan, so I have to find time to do it. I need to scan pictures, and as for cards only need to scan for TCDB, as I think at this point, I've gotten use to using the camera on the phone to make good enough photos for the blog.  I'm quite impressed with the photo quality.  So maybe soon that will be updated.  The good news about going back to the desktop is it has Microsoft Office installed, so I can use Excel for offline jobs.  I'll likely keep my Google Sheets up to date as well, since why not.

One other change in 2022 related to cards was this.

At around the midpoint of 2022 my SI Kids subscription ran out.  It was one of the many free subscriptions I got, and while I liked getting the cards, I couldn't see a reason to pay for a year when I'm not even focusing on cards right now.  I will miss the cards, but rarely were there cards I wanted to keep in my collection, so it might be cheaper in the long run to find some on COMC or something if I want them at a later date.  I think the last issue I got had a Royals player on the cover, which was cool.  The last few years I've found less free magazine subscriptions in general, and I'm not surprised.  I think most of what I get now once they run out I won't seek to find them for free again.  I don't drink Whiskey, or smoke Cigars.  I don't care about fashion, or Red Bull magazine.  The truth is I got most of them because my mom likes reading stuff.  At first I found good ones, and now not as good ones.  Luckily in the last year she has really taking a liking to reading magazines on her tablet, so I can find them and put them on there for her (not bad for someone who has never touched a computer).  She still doesn't care for reading books on the tablet, but again I understand, and thats fine.  As long as she gets some use out of it, it is worth it.

Before I wrap it up, I thought I'd show a couple books.  One thing I've wanted to do in the last couple years is read some of my books.  I don't have much attention to read long books, I prefer short stories or something, but I did recently read a couple books.  Both books I found last year and one is a second in a series (which might have just had 2 in the series). At least I have outpaced my 2022 reading, and already about to start another book soon.

I have now read both volumes of Jeff Foxworthy's Redneck Dictionary, and I think I's smartter then I ustacould be. Seriously though it was kind of fun seeing what the word was and trying to guess how he would turn it into a redneck word.  Most were good, but a few I didn't get or were just bad.

The second book was a lot less enjoyable.  From the title I should have realized it was a humor book, but I thought it would have some bit of useful information.  Instead it read more like a Hollywood Squares type book where a question was asked and the celebrity would make up something totally stupid before making a guess.  The difference is this book never got to the guess part. Here is an example (not a real one but a made up one that would probably go in this book).

Dear.....  Why are there clouds in the sky?

Answer:  Because it would look rather foolish for clouds to be on the ground where someone could stomp on them.

The questions are short and the answers are usually a couple paragraphs.  From what I gather it was like some sort of a newspaper feature which people would ask questions then the following week readers would write in with humorous answers.  The problem is most of the answers aren't that funny.

So I guess that wraps it up for today.  I know a lot of this seemed like rambling, but I did want to post something so you could know I'm still around.  I don't visit TCDB as much as I use to but was saddened to learn a couple members have recently passed on.  It makes me think of all the people I've met through the years online and how they would be notified if something were to happen to me.  I don't like discussing my own mortality, but I have thought of writing something in case something were to happen to me and let whoever post it on various sites to let them know.  I just hope it is a long time before that announcement has to be made.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a happy new year and I hope to be around a little more this year.  As I write this I notice I haven't been on social media as much lately either, might need to make a dumb twitter comment just to be current.  Thanks and have a great day!