A Little Puzzled

Since the beginning of the year, I've been working on cleaning up my laptop.  I have a ton of music and photos, and for the last couple years I've worked half-heartedly to clean the folders up.  For some reason at the start of the year I finally got into the mood to work on it.  In one day I slashed my photo folder by 2/3rds.  Without much effort to be honest, most were doubles, triples, 8x, of the same photo.  The last 1/3rd I've worked on a bit since then and maybe cut another 1/8th or so down.  At current count, I still have over 11,000 photos on my hard drive.  A lot are still doubles, but under different names or sizes, so it will take longer to clean it up.  I'm okay with that, I'm just happy I cleaned up what I did.

In the music department, I haven't gotten near as far, but I have cleaned up a lot.  I won't say how I got all the music, but it's 2020, and its much easier to find a playlist of music online and not as necessary to have all this music sitting around.  Especially since I either don't listen to 60% of it or my tastes have changed.  So while I don't need EVERY Van Morrison or Warren Zevon song, having a personal greatest hits selection works just fine.  CD's I still own or ones my mom has I am keeping so its not like I'm cutting down to zero, but again, its a start.

Combined if I cut most of those folders, I will double the capacity of my laptop.  A few years ago I was really wanting a 2 TB hard drive for all my stuff, today, almost all of it fits on a 1 TB and even then I'm still cutting stuff out.  Soon 500GB might be enough.  Except on rare occasions where I have to switch between my desktop and laptop, I haven't used my external hard drive much in the last 2 years.

A few days ago, I decided to take a break from it.  I decided to clean up other stuff I have too much of- VHS tapes.  I have been working on converting VHS to DVD and eventually to my computer and once I do, I should have more space.  At least in theory.  I still buy VHS tapes when I got thrifting if I find something interesting, so maybe I'll never be done.

Speaking of thrifting and VHS, how about a Savvy Shopping post?  This was my most recent trip to my local second hand store, and my mom and I made out like bandits.  Let's dive in.

Let's start with the last item I got.  Long time readers know I'm not much of a book reader, yet somehow also end up with books.  It wasn't even my intention this time to be honest.  One book for a quarter or 10 books for a quarter.  My mom was in the checkout line and had 10 books.  I'm not much for waiting in line so I did a second browse of movies, and happened to look over and saw this book.  I don't know much about Bo and really didn't care about getting the book, but something told me to pick it up and look inside.

I opened it up and sure enough my instincts were right.  Co-author John Bacon signed this copy.  A signed copy is worth a quarter, so now I have to find a time to read this.  Even if I don't its nice to have a few books that are signed.  Maybe one day I'll do a post on it.  For now I'll just say this isn't high on my list.  I mean I have Roberto Clemente and Johnny Damon books to read first and some much older I never got around to.  So maybe by the summer of 2025 I'll get to this one.  Though in honesty, I did read 3-4 books last year, a new record.  So maybe once I catch up on cleaning up my computer and clearing up VHS tapes, I'll spend more time reading.

Speaking of VHS tapes, I found one I've wanted for a while and ended up getting 5.  The sign says 5 of 50 cents or 10 for a buck.  I never asked if that means 1 tape is worth a dime, or what, but usually find 5 that are worth it anyways, so its never been an issue.  So what was the tape I wanted?

In the 90's whenever a motorsport event was on, there would always be a commercial for "AND THE WALKED AWAY", a VHS series of crashes from all over motorsports.  I've always wanted to watch these, but never went out of my way to check it out.  When I got home I checked Youtube and sure enough, Volume 4 was on there, but cut into sections.  So I'm thinking I'll make a copy and might just upload the entire thing in one video.  I was surprised to see one of the events in this tape happened at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, MO, which is just down the road from where I live.  Even though I never went to many of the events there, I do miss the days the Fairgrounds held all kinds of motorsports events.

Figuring I'd find 5 VHS tapes, I grabbed this one as well, mainly because I knew with it still being sealed, the tape would be in great condition to copy if it wasn't already on Youtube.  As it turns out, it is also on Youtube.  In fact all 5 VHS tapes I got were on Youtube in some capacity.  Some are chopped up, but all are on there.  I go for oddball VHS tapes to get, and never really go after actual full length movies because I don't plan on using the VCR much after I get caught up, and because at best I'll try to make a copy for my own use and for the oddball stuff, maybe upload to Youtube.  At worst, I'll be told to take it down, and I will. 

I've seen Carman in concert at least 3 times, maybe closer to 5.  I always liked his music, and to be honest some of his videos have interesting concepts.  This tape was oddball enough I took a chance even though the case is torn to bits.  But what do you expect for a kids tape?  I watched some of it on Youtube, and its not the best.  In fact I went ahead and made a copy of it yesterday because some was cut on the Youtube version, and I doubt I'll upload it.  It was not my thing.  However while reading the credits I noticed one of the videos had a couple kids names I recognized.  Taylor Hanson and Isaac Hanson.  This was around 1992-1994 and they were unknown at the time.  Later they would form a band with their brother and be know as Hanson.  MMMBOP indeed!  *At least Mmmbop is a bit more catchy then what was on this tape.

I haven't really checked out much on this, but it is on Youtube.  I'm not sure if I was more disappointed some of these weren't any good or if they were on Youtube.  If I had a cell phone I could have looked them up before buying them, but its 50 cents and goes to a good cause, who cares?  This one appealed to me because I like tigers.  That was the main reason I got it and I don't regret it.  It's probably the second best tape I got.

I was very excited to find this one.  Not because I knew anything about it, but it seemed oddball just because it was exclusive to JC Penney.  Honestly that was the only reason I got it, and I've yet to watch it, but from the clips I've seen I'm on the fence if I'll like it or not.

At this point I want to say I'm not advocating copying VHS tapes like these, and the main reason I'm even doing it is because I have some home videos I need to convert.  However, since I don't plan on selling these, I'm making copies of stuff I might watch again.  Some I may try to upload to Youtube, but even if I don't, its mainly for my entertainment.

Okay moving on.  They also have a DVD section and it is usually stocked, but not with stuff that is interesting to me.  On this date though, I found something I've wanted for a while.  Well, something I had but lost.

Walk The Line is a movie I love and have seen a ton of times.  At one point, maybe during a move I lost the dvd.  I still have the case, but the movie is gone.  I told my mom earlier in the week that at some point I was going to buy it on Blu Ray, but finding it for a buck on DVD was good enough.  Not to mention having a remnant of Blockbuster Video was nice as well.  I'm still going to upgrade, but in the meantime I'll get use out of this.

I also found some movies for my mom.

My mom is a somewhat big fan of John Wayne.  She likes True Grit, so she was happy to get this.  I was never into Westerns all that much, but maybe I'll watch it one day.

I showed her this one, and while it was 2.50, she wanted it and so I got it.  It had a slipcase, but it looked nasty so I tossed it when I got home.  The DVD's look scratchless, but they don't look too clean.  I don't think it will affect their playing but we'll see when she watches it.

Moving on, lately my mom has wanted to put together puzzles.  Since she retired she tries to find things to fill her time.  She hit the motherlode this time.

Like me she is a bit cheap.  She won't pay more than a buck for a puzzle, so finding these for 50 cents each was great.  She even passed more up.  For the price of all of these, she could have bought ONE at Walmart.  I've helped her on a couple of these and all have their pieces, so I hope when we go back we find some more.  The Christmas one has been my favorite so far.

As we were leaving I stopped at the free box.  I usually never find anything, but this caught my eye.  It turns out it was from 2019, I thought it was the 1994 version.  Oh well, its still a cool piece to display.  It goes well with this I also found.

Pretty sure this Rafiki is the 1994 version.  The tag is ripped off, but I'm fine with that.  Lion King is one of my favorite movies, and I've been looking for a Rafiki trading card for some time, so this will work in place of that for now.  I want one because Robert Guillaume is from Missouri and I'm sure he doesn't have an actual trading card so the closest I can get is one of Rafiki.

All in all this was a great trip and hopefully I'll go back soon and find more deals.  I can also get rid of these photos off my computer once I post this blog and will clean up my folders a bit more, so I'm happy about that too.

Thanks for reading and have a great week.

Once I Was...

Once I was 10 years old.  No this isn't a Lukas Graham song, but I was thinking about something earlier.  Last night the Kansas City Chiefs made it to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years.  I've never seen the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, and this will make this Super Bowl the best one ever (well, unless they lose, then the 2003 Buccaneers win will be the best ever).  I thought about my nephews and how they will be 19 and 17 this year and they've experienced an amazing run of Missouri teams with success.

I forget the year, but I was around 10 or 11.

I brought up being 10 once because I use it as a jumping off point of sorts.  I remember stuff from before I was 10, but it was really around the age of 10 that I really got into sports.  Being born in 1982, I was alive for the Royals and Cardinals World Series victories, but I don't remember them.  So in the 90's I was stuck with two baseball teams that had odd decades.  The Royals were going through a phase where a new owner was needed after Ewing Kauffman passed, and they weren't willing to spend money until a new owner took over (which would be David Glass around 2000).  The only year they had decent success was 1994, where they might have had a shot at the World Series, but its not like it was a sure thing.  George Brett retired in 1993, so the team was looking for a new face of the franchise.  Aside from a standout year from Bob Hamelin, nobody got much of the spotlight nationally until the turn of the century where three outfielders started to turn heads: Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye, and Johnny Damon.  Knowing the team couldn't retain them, all three would be traded and eventually all win a World Series ring elsewhere.  Over on the other side of the state, the Cardinals had moderate success but weren't really contenders, just more consistently towards the top.  Much like Kansas City, their face of the team was starting to wind down his career, but Ozzie Smith still has many memorable moments.  While nowhere near flailing, the weren't a champion caliber team like they were in the 80's.  Things changed at the end of the decade when Tony LaRussa came to town and shortly after Mark McGwire.  With McGwire hitting home runs, fans got over The Wizard retiring, and seemed content with a home run record over a World Series.  Things turned better after the turn of the century with Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina joining the team, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Dad loved that Chiefs shirt.

So did I.  I still have it today and wear it often.  I'm pictured with my sister who is an avid reader.

In other sports, Missouri had no NBA teams, and St. Louis was still without an NFL team when the football Cardinals left for Phoenix in the mid 80's.  That changed when the Rams came to town.  It wasn't an overnight success, as it would take a couple years for the team to employ a former bag boy from Iowa as their starting QB, which would lead to the Greatest Show on Turf.  By the turn of the century, you wondered if the Rams were going to become a dynasty.  We'd find out later they wouldn't.

My nephews posing at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield.  Around the ages of 8 and 6.

I'm not sure their age here, as I wasn't with them on this trip.  I found it while going through photos.

In Kansas City, things actually looked bright.  After a decade of more or less horrible teams, in 1989 the Chiefs started to make moves to start a serious run.  The era of Martyball entered the NFL lead by head coach Marty Schottenheimer and on the field perfected by the duo of Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith.  In 1993 the Chiefs had Joe Montana and Marcus Allen on offense and seemed unstoppable.  With a 13-3 record they were ready for a return to the Super Bowl.  However at the time, Buffalo and Houston (Oilers, not Texans- they are yet to come) proved to be very talented as well.  As the decade progressed, the light was dimming, and before long Martyball was over, Montana and Allen retired, and Neil Smith did the unthinkable- he went to Denver to win a ring (which he did).  The time was up when driving to a playoff game to see the Rams, Derrick Thomas crashed his car and would pass away a short time later.  The team still had flashes of greatness, but nowhere near the level they had in Martyball.

My high school days, I was preparing a speech for a FHA event.  I really liked that jersey.

Elsewhere in Kansas City, talk of possibly landing an NHL team or an NBA team was so constant it put more emphasis on the state motto SHOW ME! Neither happened but hey, they have a new arena for when WWE or Elton John comes to town.  However a new league began in the mid 90's called MLS.  Major League Soccer was helped in the early years by Lamar Hunt who even let the Kansas City Wizards play home games at his NFL teams stadium- Arrowhead Stadium.  The Wizards didn't have much success, but still brought excitement to soccer fans in the state.

On the other side of the state, St. Louis DID have an NHL team.  A moderately successful one at that.  Well, I mean they made the playoffs every year, but forgot how to advance past the first round.  The Checkerdome was replaced by the arena with more name changes than Prince and it seemed like they were destined for mediocrity.  However with stars like Brett Hull, Curtis Joseph, and Brendan Shanahan, the team brought hope.  Then they all went elsewhere.  Fortunately the team found a player with some name value to draw in fans.  Wayne Gretzsky brought in the fans, but never brought home the cup.

My nephews taking in a St. Louis Cardinals game.  I believe it was 2011, when they were 10 and 8.

From the age of 10 until the age of 17, sports in Missouri was filled with mostly heartache.  Even the Missouri Tigers brought their share.  The Fifth Down (which I was 9, but I'll allow it), the Flea Kicker, and a field so bad the Rolling Stones had to play a concert so they could replace the turf.  Those were the highlights of the Tigers football team in the early to mid 90s.  Luck started to change when Larry Smith took over and had a QB named Corby Jones and a running back nicknamed "Brocky".  They lead the Tigers to their first good team in years and first bowl appearance in almost 20.  After Brock and Corby left, the magic seemed to run out.  Well, for a while, but I'll get to that later.

In basketball, the Tigers team actually had promise.  Norm Stewart was the steady man that was there forever as coach, and he recruited and created many future NBA players.  They even went undefeated in the Big 8 (which would become the Big 12 a couple years later) and a run for the NCAA Title!  Then freaking Tyus Edney happened, and with that, the bottom fell out.  Norm would retire and it would be a lot of misery and headache for many years before they made noise again.

2011 was the year my other sister Andrea was diagnosed with cervical cancer.  This was on a building across from the hospital on one of her first trips to St. Louis for chemo during the 2011 Playoffs.

Counting the Rams winning the Super Bowl in 2000, and the Wizards claiming the MLS cup in 2000, my teenage years weren't the best as a sports fan.  But things turned around.  Since this is long, I'll shorten it a bit.  The Cardinals started making it to the World Series again and actually won a few.  And the other teams played.

In 2001, my oldest nephew was born.  From his birth to age 10, Cardinals won a World Series and appeared in another, but I don't count it because like my first 10 years, I'm sure he doesn't remember it.  The other sports didn't field any contenders.  However in 2011, things started to turn.  The Cardinals made another World Series run, and won.  in 2013, they would go back, but would fall to the Red Sox.  The next year the Royals were 90 feet away from possibly winning the series but fell to the Giants.  In 2015 though, they would win it all against the Mets.  So while I was alive for the 1985 World Series, I didn't remember it.  When my nephew was 14, he got to see the Royals win it all and his uncle be so excited.

This was a 2015 game I atteneded which a rain delay lasted long enough that my friend and I left.  They ended up winning the game that started about 30 minutes after we left.

Not all was lost, as we explored the Royals Hall of Fame and got to see many great items.

In MLS the team formerly known as the Wizards were now Sporting Kansas City.  While they relocated to Kansas City, Kansas, many fans in Missouri still claimed them.  In 2013 they won the MLS Cup.  If they won when I was 12, I'd be really excited (though they didn't form until I was 14 so there's that).  While the Rams were going through the motions and the Chiefs started the 2010's with a coach who didn't know why he ran plays and a player who would kill his girlfriend then kill himself at the Stadium in front of staff.  So the only team he might have cheered for was the team his grandma rooted for- the Packers.  When he was 10, the Packers won the Super Bowl (well, he was about 2 months shy of 10 but still).  We'll fast forward to now in a bit.

As for Mizzou, they moved to the SEC and actually played in back to back SEC championships (where they didn't fare well) but he got to see the team succeed.  The basketball team had times of brilliance, but have pretty much stumbled throughout the decade.  There was promise when they hired a former assistant under Norm Stewart who had just won the D-II title.  Kim Anderson was a nice guy, but he couldn't keep up with the SEC and was replaced.  Then Cuonzo Martin came in and the Porter brothers were recruited.  Then Michael got hurt and never played a game.  Then his brother got hurt and decided to go pro and went undrafted.  Now they are no better off then when they had Kim.  On the women's side they've had pretty good success and even had a player make it to the WNBA.  Sophie Cunningham is no longer here, but the Women's team are still putting up a fight with nationally ranked teams.

in the 2010's I attended many Mizzou Football games, and then sold programs for a couple years.  I had a lot of fun.

The St. Louis Blues stayed consistent.  They made the playoffs and forgot to advance.  That all changed last year when they finally won a Stanley Cup title.  Something I never seen in my lifetime, but my nephew got to see before he turned 20.

Now last night the Kansas City Chiefs did something they haven't done in 50 years.  Make it to the Super Bowl.  Something I've never seen in my lifetime, but my nephew got to see before he turns 20.

I guess what I'm saying is, my nephews are either good luck charms, or I'm a bit upset my teenage years wasn't as successful in terms of sports as theirs are.  Hey if the Chiefs can win it all, I can deal with that.

Overall, since 2013 every professional sports team from Missouri has made it to the title game of their sport.  With exception to the Rams who moved a a few years ago, but actually DID make it to the Super Bowl last year.  So I can't really complain.  A part of me does like it better this way because maybe I can savor it a little more then I would have in my teenage years.  I should also mention I have two nieces who are a few years younger, so hopefully their teenage years will be filled with more success for Missouri teams.  Maybe at some point the Missouri Tigers can join in with the winning besides just winning in wrestling and track and field.

My excitement for the Chiefs making it to the Super Bowl is much more calmer then when the Royals went to the World Series, but I am pretty excited.  I started blogging at just the right time when the Royals were hot, and it made blogging much more fun.  I know I don't take much time to write these days, but maybe this will spark me to get out my Chiefs cards and do a few posts before the game.  The past decade I went to two Chiefs games, both preseason, and the first two I've ever seen live.  The first NFL game I saw live?  The Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers.  Let's hope the end result will be different than that game.

A photo I took of the 2011 game I saw between the Chiefs and the 49ers.  San Francisco won with a late comeback when all the backups came in.  I'm pretty sure the QB in this photo for San Fran is Colin Kaepernick who I also saw play in college.

Thanks for reading and have a great day.  Also, sorry for the lack of card related content, but I do have some in the works and I need to catch up on some Savvy Loot posts.  Maybe the Chiefs are the spark I need to start writing more.  We'll see.

Sister Care Package

This time of year I'm sorting stuff a lot on my computer, mainly to find Christmas stuff.  Each year I try to make a mix CD of Christmas or Holiday songs and I have a lot of music on my hard drive.  The last couple years I haven't really looked forward to doing it, and I'm not even into the Christmas season much this year like normally.  However, I worked on making a CD for my friend the other night and actually am about half done and so far none of the songs repeat (its amazing).  I try to find new versions or make sure I didn't use the same song in a previous CD, but I can't remember anymore.  Now all that's left is finding about 12 or so more songs and then adding my mix I make at the beginning of the CD.  I find an instrumental beat (usually hip hop or rock in nature that is seasonal) and put soundbytes of Christmas movies and TV shows.  I have fun working on it, but this year I'm in a rut.  I found the beat, but having trouble with finding different soundbytes.  I'll figure it out.

Anyways, when I go searching around my hard drive I usually find stuff I forgot I have.  The last two years with my lack of blogging, I at least have taken scans or photos when I get new stuff, so  I can always circle back to it.  I stumbled upon a few photos I took of stuff my sister gave me some time in the summer.  I found a lot more too, including probably 10 or more Savvy Loot posts, but I'll hold off on them since they don't have cards.  So today here is stuff my sister found for me, most from some thrift stores in the St. Louis area, and even has some cards.

Ooh, even though I don't use binders anymore, I like this.  Its perfect if I wanted to showcase a few Royals cards or something else.  There were cards inside, and I'll show those in a bit.

I like how a couple stickers are in it, makes it more personalized.  I could use this to showcase some Greg Maddux cards since Cubs and Braves stickers are already in it.

My first thought when I opened this and saw cards two per page was "someone just used a photo album to put ball cards in".  I've seen it before, and probably did it when I was younger.  They were tight and tough to get out, so I didn't care for them in this.  However when I closed it...

I'll be dog gone, it IS a baseball album.  I'm not sure how to use this going forward.  However I still might use it for pictures.  I have a few pictures I took from some Royals games, they would fit nice in here, and then I could display them as well.  Its a too nice of a binder to not use or even toss, so for now it will be stored away until I make room and figure it out.

Before I show the cards I do have some media to show.  My sister found a CD a couple months prior that she wanted to give me, and finally brought it this time.  I was excited.

On the surface, it looks like a normal CD case, but nothing written on it.  I knew what it was already, and I honestly love how this looks.  I'm afraid to take the Goodwill price tag off because I don't want to rip the cover any.  It's a cardboard case.

If you aren't familiar, Missouri turned a large section of the MKT railroad into a trail, called the Katy Trail.  It spans from almost St. Louis to Kansas City, and there are plans for more.  In addition to adding more trail to the Kansas City area, they are also wanting to convert the Rock Island railroad which I hear is moving along nicely though funding is hampering it some.  When finished, the Rock Island Trail will intersect with the Katy Trail in two areas, and will be nice.  In the future I've seen where they want to possibly expand the trail from Kansas City to Omaha, and from St. Louis to possibly Chicago.  That would be awesome.  The Katy Trail runs through my small town, but to be honest we don't contribute much to it.  I hear its some of the roughest parts of the trail near us, making it a challenge for the riders.  I've walked about 6-8 miles of the trail and I like it, but I usually have to rest a couple days after.

The point of all that was in the next town over, they host a yearly event in conjunction with other locations such as Columbia and Rocheport, and the event is called Pedalers Jamboree.  They bike from Columbia to Boonville, and I think some even start in St. Charles at the trailhead.  At the end of the event, and usually along the way bands are set up to perform.  If you register and bike the event, you can get one of these CD's.  They might also sell them as well.  None of these bands are household names, but there are some good ones on here.  I should make a playlist of these bands on Youtube, but I probably won't.  I have a lot of playlists up right now and have a few more planned after the holidays, so I don't want to clog it with more.

So let's move into the cards.  What was in those albums?

80s and 90s cards! YES!  Honestly, I'd rather run across these then 2010's.  At least these bring back childhood memories and usually easier to complete sets if I ever decide to do so.  Some of these obviously stand out, and while I didn't photo every card or scan any, a lot of them are staying in my collection.  Even the Howard Johnson 1991 Donruss.

Out of all the cards in the binders, I might have been most excited about this worthless piece of cardboard.  I don't know Anthony Collins, though I did see indoor football a few times with a player by that name, he was nicknamed "The Cowboy".  I don't know THIS Anthony Collins, but I had this same exact card with my name on it when I was a kid.  Same card and same year.  Most surprisingly, they spelled my name right.  I have it somewhere, but its in rough shape.  I was happy to see this one in better condition.  I even used my card for a school campaign once.  I was running for office of some sort in middle school and it was on my campaign poster.  I ended up splitting the vote with a classmate and we both lost to a girl in the grade below us.  Oh well.  MEMORIES!

I GOT A MADDUX!  Well, a Mike Maddux, but at this point I'm happy to pull his cards too.  Maybe I should start making a collection of his cards.  It will be like when other bloggers get Bipped.  Actually I did get a Greg Maddux card too, its on the top row next to the hologram sticker.  It's one I already have, but its an oddball because he's batting and prepared to lay down a bunt.  It's still a keeper.

There's the Maddux, Also got a Barry Bonds I may or may not had.  This photo though is for the hologram of the Royals sticker.  I had that one, but a corner peeled so I had to cut part of it off to save the rest of it.  I'm glad I got another one.  I got a stack of other teams also, some doubles, but still nice to have.  Maybe I'll work on getting the rest.  I like them better than those Action stickers Fleer put out.

I like these minor league cards.  I got real excited at first seeing this Todd Haney card, but didn't realize until I did more sorting of cards the other day that I realized I confused him with Chris Haney.  Oh well, minor league cards are still cool to have, so adding a handful more is nice.

Post cards!  I really want to build these sets and will get to it one day.  Even if I don't Trammell will slide into my PC for him, and I can find a place for Jefferies too.  Sabo won't be left out, I still keep all Post and other cereal and oddball cards.  Its amazing as many cards as I have that so many of these I don't have.

Speaking of oddball- TAYSTEE! Now, speaking of not having many of these, what would the odds be that I already had the Pat Tabler?  I had three cards already, but getting the Bo was a huge get and I was excited.  I seriously doubt I'll ever finish that set, but man finding one every few years would be nice.  Even if I get doubles or triples, I'm sure a few Royals collectors would be interested in some.

Another PC is Ken Griffey Jr.  These are both new additions for me, and I'm quite happy.  I spent the earlier part of the week sorting cards and working on adding cards like these to my lists, and I'm happy to be getting somewhat caught up.  Maybe I'll do more this weekend or next while I watch some Christmas movies.

In addition to baseball, I even got a few football cards too.  I was happy to find them even though I've thinned out my collection quite a bit in the last year or two.

Rod Woodson is a nice one to get.  Despite not seeking football cards, 1990 Score would be a set I'd like to revisit, and in the last year or two I've actually worked on quite a bit of the set.  Maybe when I clear some more card space and have a few extra bucks I might work on it more.

It seems this kid had the same tastes in collecting as I did as a kid.  My sister noted a lack of Cardinals cards in his collection, and really no team was represented more than another.  It was an interesting point, but I countered that maybe the kid didn't always live in St. Louis. He might have moved while growing up, or as an adult picked up stuff from his parents house elsewhere, and just donated the cards.  I didn't see any hockey, basketball, or non sports so that part is interesting to me.  When I was growing up, I collected anything.  Then again my collection was more than just a couple binders.  This might not have been his "good stuff".

So I want to thank my sister for buying these and bringing me all these cards and the CD.  I was glad to finally feature it on here and even do a post without being about what finds I found that weren't card related.  I found more cards I haven't shown as well while going through my hard drive, so maybe I'll show some of that at a later date.  In the meantime, thanks everyone for reading and have a great weekend.

By the way if you are in the holiday mood and have nothing to check out I have some Christmas themed playlist on my Youtube account.  I have lists of old commercials, parades, Christmas specials, and even sporting events that were from Christmas past.  Even if you aren't in the mood, you might find something you might like.  I have other playlists too, including live cameras.  To find them just search "jupiterhill".  Last month I didn't even realize that I've been on there 13 years.  I have a video about to turn 12 years old.  Its a terrible video but I still keep it on there.  It's had over 11,000 views.

If you like you can subscribe.  I plan to make more playlists, and next year might even post more videos.  I doubt I mix cards and videos, but you never know.

Savvy Loot: Hear Me Out, now with CARDS!

I've been working on a few things recently, but decided to go to my local second hand store, Savvy Seconds.  While I struck out on finding CD's this time, I do have quite a few to show in the future.  However, I did find some cards, and even some free stuff.  So its time for a Savvy Loot post.

Initially I looked at CD's and while last time I got a few of them, nothing interested me this time.  I walked around the store a time or two and still didn't see anything.  I found a couple boxes of cards that was there last time, but I didn't look.  Then right before giving up I spotted two more boxes of cards.  One was an 800 count box that I almost passed on but noticed some non-baseball so I looked.

I'm not focusing on much outside of baseball these days, but for 10 cents a card, I couldn't pass these up.  The Roenick I think is a rookie, so that was really nice.  I was always confused on the Akeem vs. Hakeem naming of Olajuwon cards and such and still am.  I always liked him and even have a Walmart knockoff style practice jersey of his I had in high school.  Its tattered and torn and my gut sticks out, but its nice to wear around the house.  I'd love to find another just like it one day.

The exciting find though was the King B card of Mecklenburg.  I wish I kept more of those beef jerky cards I had as a kid and would totally buy it again if they made them again with cards.  This one I got in hopes of it not being on the TCDB, and it wasn't.

So this is the scan for there.  I kind of cut the top off, so I might have to rescan it, and the back too.

Here's the back.

As fun as that was, it was ultimately baseball cards that made me happiest with this box.

While its not at the top of my list, I've wanted to build this set for a long time, and was actually most excited for the header cards.  I probably have the Grace and Davis cards, but I know the Gwynn is new to me.  If they had doubles of these I'd have got them too.

However, I was excited to get the first 10 cards, so now at most only need 30 more.  I know I have about 10-20 cards already, so I have a feeling I'm half done.  Maybe if I find some cheap on COMC during the Black Friday sale I might work on it. Even if I didn't build the set, I'd still have gotten the Gwynn, Mattingly, Trammell, and McGwire.  Oh, and the Boggs.

At the end of the box was more football, so here are some more from the box.

Football I've really cut out of my collection, but I still collect a few players, so these were some great ones to find.  I might have the Percy Snow already, but the rest were new.  I got the Erik McMillan on the bottom I got for my Mizzou collection.

The other box I felt a little bad picking cards from, but I figured if it was open, it means it had been picked through.  It was a 1992 Topps factory set.  My first thought was "wonder if the gold cards are still in there".  They were, but none I really wanted.  If I remembered the set better I would have looked for rookies and Hall of Famers.  I was ready to leave though so I only looked at one end of the box.  If there next time I know what to look for.

First the sticker was in the other box, but I figured I didn't have it and I was right.  As for the Royals, I think I needed the Brett and the McRae, so all is well.  I still need two more Royals from the set (one being a checklist) so I hope they are still there next time.  Also hope to get the Greg Maddux because somehow I don't have that one.  Overall I was happy paying 10 cents a piece on these.  I could have bought a box for 25 bucks, but this was much better.  Next time I might find a couple bucks more.  I am happy how many cards have been there this year.

So after getting my stuff and leaving I always look at the free basket out front.  Its a shopping cart with stuff they will probably toss, sometimes broken stuff, and sometimes stuff they just don't know what to do with.  When I get to previous finds, there is some good stuff to find.  This time it was mostly loose fabric pieces that weren't really fit to be sold (cut small pieces and such).  Anyways I saw something on the top and took a look.

JBL computer speakers.  Now to be honest, I don't really need speakers, but they were free.  At worst they don't work and I can throw them in the dumpster.  If they work I can decide if they are better than the ones I have and use them.

Turns out, they work great and just needed cleaning.  Also a power source.  I had a power source, so now I think I'll use them when I use my desktop next time.  I was pretty happy.

However, I wasn't done.  I saw a black box inside the cart, and was curious, so I dug around the fabric and found three more speakers.

KLH?  They sound like a brand I've heard of and might be nice ones.

Wow!  These could work as surround sound speakers if I knew how to set it up.  I can't find much on them, but they don't need a power source, but do need speaker wire to connect to a stereo.  I have a stereo in storage, and hope to go get it this week.  When I got them I thought again, at worst, I could take them apart and use the square box for something.  Now I'm not sure.  They have hooks on the back, they could be interesting shelves to put small things on.  Even if they don't work, it would look different.  I have a feeling they work though.  I hope to find a way to hook them up to a tv, and then I could use them as surround sound.  That would be fun.

Anyways, for 3 bucks, I think I came out ahead by a wide margin.  In fact looking up the JBL speakers on Ebay, some of the same kind have sold for $10-$20 bucks in the last month.  Maybe I can make a few bucks, but most likely I'll keep them.

So that wraps it up for today.  Before I go though I want to post a link to my Youtube page.  I'm not asking you to check it out or even subscribe, but wanted to mention it.  It's what I've been spending a lot of time on lately.  In the last few months I've spent more and more time on Roku looking at Youtube and got tired of searching for stuff on there, so I started making playlists so it would be easier to watch stuff.  I plan to make more playlists, but for now I have 3 live camera playlists. One is all animals, mostly Penguins since my mom likes them.  The other two is random places and such.  I have somewhat of a focus on colder places and beaches.  I hope they look nice when it snows, and hope the beaches look warm when it snows here.

In addition I have dedicated pages for Christmas and Thanksgiving.  I hope to build on them in the next few weeks and even work on some dedicated to music.  My main focus right now are parades.  I also have a playlist dedicated to Movies.  They are for the most part Made for Television movies from the 80's and 90's, but they are still some you may not find on other streaming services.

In the future I hope to do more with music and other random stuff, and always open to suggestions.  I never look up too much related to trading cards on there, but if I do I might make a list.  I tend to change them up often, so if something isn't on there one day, you know I've been working on it.

In the future, once I get ideas I might even start uploading more stuff on there as well.  I don't plan on doing any related to blogging, but you never know.  Anyways here is the link.  https://www.youtube.com/user/jupiterhill

By the way I know the ones I created are bad, but they are worth cringe watching at least once.  If you do want to watch or subscribe I thank you, and if you have any ideas of future playlists, let me know.  I might work on some wrestling and arcade stuff in the future as well, but might need ideas.

Anyways, thank you all for reading and I hope everyone has a great week.