The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

 I go on hiatus on here often and its mostly due to burnout or lack of anything to write.  However, sometimes I just don't post because I don't have too many posts dealing with cards.  In fact no cards to show this time either.  However, the post still have some fun stuff to show.  Possibly a sad thing or two as well.  I thought about doing this post on Saturday evening, but life got in the way.  I was on Facebook and Twitter and heard about a massive fire not far from where I live (far enough away that I wasn't in danger, but close enough to want to keep updated on the situation.  According to reports, a farmer's combine got hot and they had to cut a piece of the combine off to repair it (maybe the tire not sure).  As they were cutting, sparks hit the field, and started a fire.  Well the last few days have had really high winds (23-35 mph and gustier).  Right now this area is in a severe drought and they warned even a tire driving on cut grass could start a fire.  I feel bad for the farmer, as it wasn't his intention, he just wanted to finish his field.  However the fire quickly spread, and a small town (a village of around 61 people) was destroyed.  I don't mean some of the houses.  They estimate 20-25 buildings were destroyed, and looking at pictures today and drone footage, I'd say the town is lost except for the post office, community building, and church (which I see the church suffered damage, not sure on the others).  The wind carried the fire, and the smoke was seen for miles, as far as 45 miles away or more.  The smoke was so bad that they had to shut down I-70 around sunset because the smoke was so thick and zero visibility not only on the interstate, but the bridge.  Today I found a photo on Twitter of one of the last drivers to cross the bridge before it was shut down.  At first I thought it was fire, but he pointed out it was just the sunset, but you can see the smoke in the photo.  I thought I'd show it here.

Again, the sunset backdrop is beautiful, but if you look close you can see the smoke. So last night instead of writing this blog, I found a scanner app that let me hear the efforts on controlling the fire.  The fire was controlled somewhat quickly, and the interstate reopened a couple hours later.  It was incredibly bad timing as Mizzou just finished their homecoming game and the interstate was no doubt packed with fans.  As luck has it, what some consider the "back way" a way to avoid the interstate, is currently closed as they rebuild a bridge.  So what would be a possibly 20 minute trek suddenly could take over an hour if not more, not counting the traffic.  The bridge shown above is also in the midst of being rebuilt (hopefully by the end of 2024), but that might have helped with the fire efforts.  Since it is the weekend, I don't know if they was working on Saturday, especially after 4 PM, but once the requests for any help was asked, the construction company assisted with some of their equipment along with a local excavating company.  I believe that helped save much more land being destroyed as they were able to wall the fire to prevent more spreading.  From the report today, over 50 agencies assisted with the fire and between 25-3500 acres were burned.  Thankfully only a couple injuries and no deaths were reported.  Fire departments around the state helped, and they were much needed.  There were a few other fires on Saturday so it was just a bad day all around.  I looked at pictures and this town has survived a few floods, I never thought a fire would destroy it.  I don't see how they can rebuild, and I wonder if many want to take that risk.  They have no real amenities in the town, but again, maybe that is why it is appealing.  All I could think of when I heard about it was how my nephew who is about to have his first child, and how his baby shower was held at the community building, one of the last buildings to survive the blaze.  As I said, if anything, I thought a flood might wipe them out, but not a fire.  I've long said I'm thankful my town isn't near water, and has been fortunate enough to skirt some tornadoes but if that fire had started here, how would my town have done.  In size, its much larger, and possibly more accessible, but I think the houses are closer together, I just think how fast it would spread, especially on a windy day.  It makes me thankful that we are supposed to get a couple days of rain which should ease the drought conditions (but not enough).

Before that happened however, I was thinking of doing a blog.  As I stated, I don't have cards to show, or at least ones I've scanned.  I should scan stuff soon, but since I'm using the desktop, its a bit tougher to set up the scanner.  Maybe in a month or so I might scan.  However, I have started to take better pictures with my phone, so I can show off what I've been doing and buying.  It seems cards has taken a backseat, and I have been buying other stuff. So let's look at that other stuff today, and even a couple contests I won.

This was a really fun puzzle.  It was a recent purchase, and one that maybe one day I can frame.  It was cool to see some of the towns they chose to showcase.  I think it depicts the state nicely.  I've also worked on other puzzles or got some that I plan to work on soon.

Sorry for the sideways photos, the phone has been doing that, and I don't feel like fixing it.  The Scooby Doo one is a floor puzzle for kids and takes like 5 minutes.  I brought some fall puzzles home and that was in the box, so why not.  Its fun and easy.  I'm glad it fit on the table.

The flamingo is one of those Photomosaic ones with tiny pictures on the pieces.  It was not as bad as I thought it would be, and as my mom says "it looks much nicer than it does on the box".  It took a few days but not as long as the Twin Towers one which I may not have shown (but will try to find).

The last one I think my sister got us and we will work on it in a few days, closer to Halloween.  I'm not keen of the mouse on the puzzle, but its only 300 pieces so it shouldn't take long.

I either showed the Twin Towers or didn't take a photo, sorry.

However, here is something else my sister got for me, a Bo Jackson book (again sorry for the sideways pic).  I just realized that Dick Schaap cowrote this.  Nice.  I might start reading it soon, but you never know.  I love that I have a bookshelf for my books, and have actually pulled a few off the shelf, so I hope to start reading them soon.  Winter time is a good time to start anyways.

Besides books and puzzles, I've also been adding VHS tapes to my collection.  A couple weeks ago I went to a Goodwill store and tapes were 5 for a buck.  Not that I needed them, but a couple caught my eye so might as well get 5.

I just realized the tape I wanted to show I don't have a picture of.  I know I took one, but oh well.  I got Dutch because I don't own that on any media and figured I might watch it one day.  It was never a high priority, though now I try to find movies I never watched, so it could be a good one for the holidays.  I got the Richard Simmons because I wanted to get 5 and I figured I might as well have at least one Richard Simmons tape.  The next one is Ducktales, and while I was never really into Ducktales, I didn't have too many other good options, so I since the case looked good I got it.

The Muppets Christmas Carol I got because its another one I haven't watched, but its one of my sister's favorite holiday movies, so maybe I'll break out the VCR when she visits.  All in all these were all good pickups, but the one I was most excited to get was produced by a St. Louis TV station in the late 90's.  It was a tape on the Pope's visit to St. Louis.  I like oddball tapes especially if they aren't on DVD or Blu-ray.  I doubt this one got an upgrade, and it will be fun to check out.  I'm not currently watching my tapes because I don't really like the VCR I have (which I am also using to convert blank tapes with commercials to dvd so I can upload to Youtube).  Until I can get a better VCR (IF) I try to limit the usage.

I probably have more movies to show, but I'll show one more just because I took a photo.

These are some more recent additions, either I bought or my sister gave me.  My movie shelf is quickly filling with VHS, and I'd say the end of next year will be all VHS tapes (probably much sooner).

So before I wrap things up, I thought I'd show a couple recent contest wins. The first is one I was super excited about.  For two years I've done RT contests on Twitter trying to win, and finally I won.  What did I win?

I WON A SIGNED GABRIEL IGLESIAS FUNKO!  I've wanted to win one for so long, and I've told myself I wouldn't collect Funko's until I got a signed Fluffy Pop.  So this is my very first Funko Pop, and I am so happy.  I don't have it on display just yet because I want a Pop protector because it gets real dusty in the apartment, so I don't want the signature to come off.  Once I get a protector, it will be proudly displayed.  You'll see it in the next picture on display, but I put it back in the box after that photo to keep it clean.

A day or two later, I was notified of another contest win.  The website GottaDeal is a site I use for Black Friday shopping.  I've been a member since 2005, and usually I win a T-shirt from one of their many contests.  I also am active in a thread where you can get swag from the site.  However this year they announced funds were a bit limited, so no t-shirts, but they would have a few hoodies.  So one of the first contests they held, I was a lucky winner.  A few days later, I got the hoodie in the mail.

The hoodie is a full zip, and it not only fits perfectly (was concerned since its a smaller size then I hoped), but it feels nice.  I was very happy to get it.  I haven't worn it out yet, but I think in a couple weeks I'll have the chance (I'd rather wait as long as possible because I don't want it to get cold).

I decided to pose in front of my movie shelf (as you can see just that middle section contains dvds, so maybe 40-50 more VHS and it will be all tapes). I moved most of the baseball stuff out, and replaced it with wrestling and football.  Behind my head is where the Funko will sit.  It looks so nice there.  I think if anything, that wall is my proudest accomplishment of the year.  Not only building the shelf itself, but how I have every thing displayed.  If the light above my head didn't stick down so much, I would have a much better photo.  Maybe in a week or so I'll try again (I also have some houseplants at my feet I had to crop out).

So I think I'll wrap it up for tonight.  Thanks for reading and have a great week.  I hope to have get some cards this week, and maybe I can do a post about them.  I also hope to have some more stuff to show off, so stick around.

How I Spent My Summer 2022 Edition

 I can't remember if I addressed it in my last post, but my laptop was on the verge on dying.  For over a month I toughed it out and listened to what sounded like a the fan or heat sink getting louder and louder.  Eventually it went from happening every few minutes to nonstop.  I still contest it isn't the hard drive or anything else, but I can't really replace them right now and can't afford a new computer.  Finally about two weeks ago I decided to drag out the old desktop.  My laptop lasted about 5 years of heavy use, however my desktop is 10 years old.  Its to slow to run Windows 11, and I missed out on upgrading to Windows 10, so its running on Windows 7.  I'm weary on using it too much for safety reasons, but its working fine.  It doesn't have Wi-Fi, so I had to find an ethernet cord which I still had, and so far so good.  I've transferred most of my data from my laptop, with only a few movies left behind (for now) and only because I don't have enough space to move it over yet.  I should correct that soon.  In the meantime, I will probably clean out all my hard drives and computers so I don't have to move stuff around so much.  Losing the laptop means finding room for about 700 GBs or more of data when most of my hard drives were almost maxed out to begin with (including an old 500 GB external that lost data before and almost 10 years old itself).

I realized I have a very old IBM Thinkpad I bought at a garage sale for 5 bucks, and I might be able to get a good chunk of money for it.  While it isn't ideal, my thought process is to possibly (if I have enough money from selling a few things I should have long ago) buying a Chromebook or something similar mainly to use for being online.  When I need to do offline stuff or things needing more space I can use the desktop.  With whatever I have leftover, I hope to also buy a 1-2 TB external hard drive which I can use to free up some space in addition easily move stuff from the Chromebook to the desktop if need be.  I'd like to get a 2 TB one just so I can retire the old 500GB hard drive or at least use it in emergencies.  Luckily the desktop does have a 1 TB hard drive, so for now I am good with storage.

With all that being said, I haven't been in the mood to write, and even then not much to show.  However I have taken pictures of stuff and figured what better way to clear up some space than to do a blog?  I could do a Savvy Loot Crate post since I've bought a few movies from there as of late, but I'll hold off.  I figure today I will show other random stuff.  I'm not sure what, but I'll figure it out.

Let's dig in.

In June I bought this puzzle at a garage sale.  It was very nice and fun to put together, though I found out it was missing a piece.  Oh well.  Throughout the summer I've worked on quite a few puzzles.  Instead of talking about each one, I'll just show them.

These were part of a box set and former neighbor gave my mom and I.  A few pieces were missing, but nothing too bad, plus you can't beat free.  The challenge was the box fell at one point and you couldn't figure out what pieces went to which puzzle.  I think there were 6 or 8 puzzles in the box, and at one point we were working of 4 puzzles at once.  Still we finished it pretty quickly considering.  I had pictures of all of them, but either misplaced them or my phone is turning photos sideways and I don't want to deal with correcting every photo.  I'm still learning to use the phone for pictures and videos and have almost retired my digital camera.  However, I still have a lot to learn on recording video on the phone.

In July I decided to film my town's annual Rodeo Parade.  Held the third weekend every July, it has been going on for almost 70 years.  This year I figured I'd test out the phone filming it in video.  I also figured I'd use a selfie stick to get a more overhead view.  Nobody was around me so I had the perfect spot.  In the end, the phone worked perfect, but I didn't calibrate the selfie stick right and ended up filming the ground the entire time.  In addition, about halfway through another neighbor came over and despite knowing I was filming, decided to carry on a conversation with me.  She is a fairly older lady, but I don't conversate too well to begin with, especially while filming and with people I've never talked to.  In the end the entire venture was a bust, but at least I can work the camera and video.  I just now need to figure out why pictures are loading sideways even after I crop them with Paint.

Let's see what else has been going on...

In June my town hosted their annual city wide garage sales.  Being mostly broke I didn't have high hopes.  In addition I didn't really need anything.  However there were a few things I hoped to find and surprisingly found a couple things.  None of these were really on my wish list, except maybe the computer fan thingy.  However I had to clean it, and after I put it back together, it broke.  I don't think the few seconds it worked it helped the laptop.  I might have made things worse.  Anyways it was a buck, but the bookshelf above it was also a buck at the same sale, and it was something I was looking for.  It is sturdier than the one I have and its perfect for my books.  I also found a rolling cart at that sale (I'll show in a second) and for 5 bucks, I did good (despite the fan not working).  The corner shelf is small, and was cheap, but at this point I'm not sure what to use it for, but I'll figure something out.

The two radios were unexpected and bought cheaply at the same sale as the corner shelf.  The first one is a hand cranking radio, not really a weather radio, but one to use when power is out.  I had one similar before, but it was broken when I got it (no wonder it was included in Woot's Bag of Crap).  This one works pretty decent from what little I've used it.  Luckily I only had to test it, not actually in an emergency situation.

The second radio is an HD radio.  I've always wanted to try these out, and for a buck, it was worth the risk.  It works pretty good and is compact.  The only problem with it is my area doesn't really have any HD radio stations.  I think I picked up one, which plays classical music.  If I was closer to a place that had more stations it would probably be a much better find.  This one is sort of outdated, and HD radio isn't really catching on, but it still picks up normal stations and works pretty good.  I'm not disappointed with the purchase.

Never mind the stuff in the bottom, but this is the rolling cart I got at that one garage sale.  We decided to use it for a microwave cart and the old cart we had will now be used for my VCRs and the bottom will house my record collection (which oddly on the same day I found more of my records in storage).

I found a few more things I was on the lookout for at other sales.  One sale was located at an old hardware store.  The store closed 20 or more years ago, and most of it hasn't been touched since.  A new owner of the building decided to have a name a price sale.  Looking back I should have went the first day and bought more.

Here was things I wasn't expecting to find, but was on the lookout for.  I was looking for screws (specifically wood screws) to build the 2x4 shelf I showed off in July.  I wanted some longer screws, so I was quite happy to find almost full boxes of screws even if they weren't Philips head.  These were old screws I'd say almost 40 years old.  They work just fine and most of the screws I used for that shelf were these.  I broke quite a few, but that was more on me than on the screws themselves.  Before I found my drill I was screwing these in by hand and thus broke them.  All worked out fine though, and I was happy.

The blank covers I was looking for because my mom didn't want her bed right up against an outlet.  She needed two of these and wanted plastic ones.  I found these and figured I'd try them out.  In the end, we didn't use them for those outlets, but the apartment we are in had a couple cable outlets hooked into the wall that aren't in use anymore.  They have those old connectors sticking out of the wall.  So I decided to use these for those instead so we can place stuff up against the wall.  The screw were a bit short, but I managed to get them to work.  When it came time to name a price (I always hate naming prices).  We realized we didn't have much money.  In fact we only had 3 bucks in our pockets.  This place was pretty big and everything was dusty.  He wanted it gone, so he was happy taking 3 bucks.  I wish he'd open it up for another sale and if he does I'll spend more time looking and maybe even spend more money.

While all that was cool, the 3 bucks was well worth it.  However we spotted something else there that wasn't hardware related.  In fact to most people it was trash.  Normally I'd agree, but I'm a sucker for advertising.  This was basically a throw in, and worth the 3 bucks to me.

A KFC bag from 1987.  Yes its used and a paper bag, but to me it is totally awesome.  Even If I only wanted the logo, it was worth it.  Now if this was 3 bucks I wouldn't buy it, but like I said, it was really a throw in.  The guy said he saw the bag when looking around and was going to throw it away, but figured someone might like it.  I'm glad he didn't.  I don't know what he plans to do with the building, but I'd like to look around again, and see what he does with it.

I might have bought more at these sales, but I either didn't take pictures or moved them.  Like I mentioned I stopped at storage that day to look for my drill (which I found about 2 weeks later), but did bring a few items home from storage in addition to the records.

I'm glad I found some drill bits because it really helped me out with that shelf.  My drill wasn't too reliable in the past, but worked really well, so now I might use it for more projects, so the bits can stay here for a while. Just realized those screws are old.  The Dollar General price tag is really old, at least 20 years.  Then again my dad passed 15 years ago, so it makes sense.

With that I think I'll stop so I can find more pictures for a future post.  This desktop runs a bit slower so it takes a while to do blogs, but maybe I'll post a bit more frequently since I don't hear loud noises while on a computer.  If I get a Chromebook, it should be able to handle doing more posts, so maybe I'll keep looking. Anyways, thanks for sticking around and for reading, have a great week.

Building and Rebuilding

 I figured I'd give an update.  I'm still around, I'm still collecting, and I'm still not sure what to write about.  Thanks for reading and have a grea...... wait, I should post more than that.

The truth is the last couple of months haven't been too eventful in terms of card collecting.  I've won a card or two on Listia, and that's been it.  My focus hasn't been on cards at all.  In fact on Listia I'm starting to find other things to bid on, and even won a few auctions of books and movies.  Though the book is for my mom.  I just haven't had a desire to collect cards lately.  It also doesn't help when the fan on my computer is giving me fits so I haven't been on the computer as much.  I really think (and hope) I just need a new fan and its an easy fix, but until I get a little extra cash, I'll just have to tread lightly.

However it doesn't mean I haven't been busy.  For a while I've wanted to build a bookshelf.  Well, a movie shelf.  I knew I had some 2x4s in storage, and a month or two ago I decided to get them.  I figured I had maybe 4-6 good ones about 6 feet long.  I could build maybe 3 good sections from floor to almost ceiling.  Well, it didn't quite end up that way.  I got the boards and they were 8 feet long.  Not a big deal but still they barely fit in the car and the house.  I guess the apartment has 8 foot ceilings.  That wasn't an issue.  However I realized the boards I wanted to use as shelves just wasn't going to work.  I also had other issues.  I needed some screws first and foremost, ones that would got through a 2x4 and was strong.  Luckily my town had city wide garage sales and one of the places having a sale was an old hardware store.  The new owner wanted to clear everything out (the store had been closed a good 20 years).  I found some screws, probably 200 or so a couple boxes.  Original price 3 cents each, my price 3 bucks for all in addition to some other things.  I guess I should post that, anyways back to this story.  The other issue- I needed a drill.  I knew I had two in storage.  One was my dad's which had a frayed cord, but was fairly dependable.  The other was mine, a cordless one that has never held a charge for more then 5 minutes.  I never found my dad's, but I finally found the cordless one a week or two later after realizing I left the charger here.

So I decided without the shelves, I would run the boards long ways, and without a table saw (I usually use a hacksaw to cut, and I never cut even), I tried to think of ways to support the boards.  I remembered I had some old table legs for a coffee table, enough to use 3 of the four boards, and plenty of room for some of my movies.  So I built it, and then I set it up.  Then I found an issue- the boards weren't on straight and they were bowed.  So I had to redo it.  I'm not a good DIY-er, I joke that I should start a Youtube series called "The round-about way of DIY" where I build something but not perfect and way more complicated than it needs to be.  Anyways.  I thought of how to correct this problem.  I knew I needed some sort of backing board to keep it even and maybe give more support when screwing it into the wall.  As it turns out, I have an old science fair board that wasn't in great shape (older folks might remember science fair boards being wood and not the foamboard or whatever they use today, if they still use them).  So that fixed the one issue.  The other one I solved by using a different board for the top shelf.  It won't be perfect, but it never is.  When I finished 2 days later (I took a lot of breaks), and finally put it one the only wall that would have enough room for three 8 foot boards, I was happy with the finished product.  I also decided to move some furniture to make the area really pop.  In addition to using two shelves for movies, I used the top shelf to display various things.  I then modified a few things and was really happy with the finished product.  So now is time for some pictures.

Now the original idea was to use all three shelves to display movies, and the hope was if I used all four boards, I could put all my movies on the shelf.  Well, I have a lot of movies.  I have close to 1,000 blu ray and DVD's plus I forgot the count on the VHS.  There was no way to display them all, so the idea is to display all the VHS and then at one point organize the DVD's so I can either rotate them out, or just keep my favorites on display.  Holding the boards in addition toe the backing board and having it screwed into the wall, is three black shelves, two of which hold my CD collection.  I used to have much more, but had to downsize.  Luckily I gave them to a friend and if I ever need to borrow them I can.  My CD collection is mostly organized, with almost all of them cataloged on Discogs.  I also have a bookshelf with all of my books (though some are hidden).  It doesn't include my yearbooks and a few random other ones like Mizzou books, but all my actual books are here.  Having them on display I hope motivates me to read them.  Right now I'm actually reading a book, which I read maybe one book a year, so maybe this is a start.  I don't have the books organized.  Same can be said for my movies on the shelves.  I hope to organize the VHS ones soon, but haven't yet.

If you remember that nightstand type cabinet, its because that's the one I salvaged from the dumpster a few months ago.  I was using it for my album collection, but when I went to storage to look for the drills, I ended up finding more albums, so I ran out of room.  Turns out, I have another cart I am now housing them in and have room to expand if I ever decide to.  It also holds my stereo by my bed.  For now though, this cabinet is holding my cassettes and 8 tracks, and I actually forgot what else.  Maybe my NES games.  I hope to work on it more at a later date, but for now it works.  I'm glad most of my media can stay in the general area.  Since I took this picture though I moved the kitchen table in front of it, so most of the stuff below the top shelf of the CD shelves are hidden.  They are still accessible since the table is easy to move, but I still like having more room.  Plus I have plans to bring another item or two from storage so it will work out.  As for the items on display, let's take a closer look.

As I type this, I've already thought of rearranging a few things, and a lot of this display might change in a week or two.  However for now a few things you might notice is some McDonald's and other kids meal toys (I still think my favorite is the squirrel from Wendy's). A little side story- I worked at Wendy's for almost 10 years and in that time (we was inside a truckstop), for some reason we never got the right kid's meals toys.  It was always crap and never what the regular stores got.  The two that stand out are Maya and Miguel educational CD's, and a water bottle that looked like a tennis shoe (because who doesn't want to drink water from a shoe?).  Anyways there were only 2-3 times we got toys that were current and might be interesting for kids.  When the Johnny Depp version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory came out, we got toys promoting the movie.  When I was opening the box for the first time I started laughing like crazy.  One of the toys was a squirrel.  I never watched the movie so I don't know the relevance, but this toy was dumb, yet made me laugh.  It was a pull string toy.  You pull the nut and he vibrates.  I still laugh at such a silly toy, but for someone with a dirty mind at times, why that would make you laugh.  One of those went home with me that day, and I still laugh when I see it.  

In addition, I have some sports items, including a couple football Pinnacle Inside cans, which I vow to open one day, but not until I get a straight edge can opener (I mean out the doesn't give you jagged edges when cutting it open).  The Wheaties box is a mini Cal Ripken box. Also an old E.T. toy that still has the Speak & Spell in his hand (having that adds good value if I ever wanted to sell it, which I don't).  Some trophies my dad won, and also part of a shelf he built with his name on it.  In front of that is items reminding me of my dad.  He drove a school bus, loved 57 Chevy's and competed in Demolition Derbies.  The Taz is similar to one he had on the front of his garden tractor when he would compete in lawn mower pulls (I still call them lawn mowers, despite most calling them garden tractors).  The trophys are from his pulling days.  I decided to display the two Employee of the Month plaques I got while at Wendy's and cool to me at least, they have two versions of my name (one is my first name, the other my middle which is what I go by).  I also displayed a few name tags and pins I got from Wendys.  I guess I should display the Wendy's bowling medal too whenever I find it.  Not sure how I got that since I didn't bowl and had to watch the store.  Oh well.

The very top is what I like the most.  Also the items hidden because from a distance the light blocks it.  The malted milk can is one my mom has had for as long as I can remember.  The Saltine one is a recent purchase (last 3-4 years) but I have fond memories of that type of can growing up.  The most recent additions to the collection is the Pringles cans.  While the chips weren't that great, I was so happy to find them and actually have a couple more cans the might get displayed somewhere, but didn't have room and didn't want to be obsessive.  The Hershey's tin I've had for a long time, I'd say at least 15 years if not more, and I always try to display it.  The items I've never displayed before were the mini buckets.  We've had them for a long time, maybe since the events they commemorate, but I was quite surprised recently when I took a closer look at them.  We've always had one stuck inside the other, so the one that says Miller on it was always the outside one.  On the reverse side is commemorates Rocheport, Missouri, which had a town wide event (maybe Centennial) in the 70's.  I've always assumed the other one stuck inside was the same.  A couple months ago I pulled the other one out and to my surprise not only was it not Miller (it was of all things Falstaff beer), but it was for my town's 100 (+1) year anniversary in 1974.  It was rusted, but my mom was able to work magic on it, and they both look amazing now.  It is also timely as next year my town is hosting a 150 year celebration, which I am equal parts excited and concerned about (concerned because of how the townspeople are when it comes to organizing an event, and their lack of concern on things like Covid).  As far as I know, they want to make it a 4 day event in June, and if they pull it off, I will be surprised and very happy.

Flanking the shelf on the right is some of my action figure collection (Rick Rude didn't make the cut).  As well as some Peppa Pig lights.  Under it and on top of the movies is more McDonald's toys, some Mike & Ike Hand Sanitizer (and lip balm and Lucky Charms too), an autographed Miz card, and a deck of playing cards from the local casino.  My uncle worked there for a while (actually my mom and dad did for a very short time too).

On the left side is various items including a Smurfs Viewmaster, a couple Pez dispensers (Taz for my dad and Speedy for me which despite hating mice, really like Speedy).  Also more Peppa stuff as well a couple cups.  I'm not sure where I got the Coke/Sonic cup, but had it for a long time.  The Deja Vu cup might have been my sister's but I visited the comedy club a few times before it closed too, so I like to display it.  The top shelf has my George Brett nesting dolls my friend gave me which until I can find space I can't display them all, and a couple stadium giveaway megaphones.  One Mizzou and one Chiefs.  Neither were new when I got them, and I forgot how I got them.  The rest is a theme.  The gopher is of course from Caddyshack, and next to it is a golf ball from a place my sister worked (its on top of a plastic A&W mini mug).  Also nearby is Mickey Mouse who is swinging a golf club.  My late sister also was a big fan of Mickey Mouse.

I'm starting to get tired and my computer fan is annoying me so I'll speed it up.  More items on display is my sister's Mickey Mouse alarm clock (which annoyed me when it would go off), some of my dad's stomper collection (which I really want to display the rest, and the reason I might move stuff around), as well as some Muppet Babies.  Some Scooby Doo stuff as well as a space shuttle which I remember from my childhood and surprised I still have it.  The last thing I'll mention is the I Love You bear.  Forgive me if I told the story, but here it is again.  One year I was working at Wendy's on my birthday.  As I mentioned it was inside of a truck stop.  My birthday also happens to be on Valentine's Day.  Anyways it was close to the end of my shift, and I was either washing dishes or taking out the trash.  Anyways I was called to the front on the headset.  I worked the overnight shift (truckstop never closed so neither did we).  It was three of us, two workers and a boss.  My coworker called me to the counter, and when I got there she told me "some guy dropped this off and wanted to give this to you".  While that would normally seem odd, I knew right away who it was from. I didn't have my license, so my dad was usually the one who would pick me up.  He had already made his way to the car by the time I got to the counter.  My coworker had no idea it was my dad, and she thought it was creepy until I told her who it was.  He would sometimes park in front of the building and could see in, and I looked out and he was just smiling.  My dad didn't always do things like that (I mean he loved us kids, but doing something like that seemed a bit rare) so it always meant a lot to me.  I never have been able to display it much and usually only around my birthday, but as I get older I want to show it off more, so I'm glad I can display it.

I have more stuff to show, but the fan is really acting up, so I better quit for now.  I will show off a few other things next time and even a few recent purchases.  Maybe even a card or two.  Thanks everyone who continues to read my blog, and have a great weekend.

Whence These Come From

 On my last post I showed off my most recent COMC order, and I scanned a few other cards in the process.  When I get new cards to show off, I have a small blue binder that holds maybe 40 or so cards.  When it fills up its time to scan them.  It wasn't filled up this time because I haven't gotten a lot of cards as of late, but I don't have the printer/scanner hooked up most of the time, so I figured might as well knock them out.  So today you'll see some cards from who knows where I got them.  Most came from Listia and some from my sister, but a few I have no memory of them.  I might have even had a few for a while but needed to move them to the binder temporarily.  I'm in the process of rearranging stuff around the apartment, and I decided to move my desk to storage.  I don't mess with cards as much, and since I have the old kitchen table back, I can use that when I need to, which I've actually used more for card stuff the last few months than my desk.  The redesign might be shown off at a later date, but its not the focus for today.  I also have a few cards I know I've had for a while (2017) and not entirely sure if I ever showed them off.  2017 was around the time I got burnt out and its a shame.  I made a big order from a website and got a ton of cards, and I don't think I showed many off.  It's possible I still have the photos and scans, so it might be revisited at some point.  In the meantime, let's look at what I did scan for today.

However before I begin, I thought something was off on the last post, I thought I had 26 cards to show, but only scanned 25.  It wasn't until a couple days later that I found the last card.  It was an oversized card that when they sent it caused for the box to be larger than normal.  In fact the package for 26 cards was larger than the package I got for over 100 cards a few months prior.  Unfortunately I still forgot to scan it and I can't find the picture I took of the card if I ever took it, so maybe next time I will show it off.  Still I knew I had another card.  It just got temporarily lost in moving stuff around.  Good thing I'm almost done with moving stuff.  One more project I hope to tackle then I can call it done.  Anyways, the cards, let's look at cards.

We'll start with this one I've had for a few years, and sadly I can't remember how I got it.  Maybe a friend, maybe Listia, possibly another blogger (which I think is the case).  I should probably keep track of this stuff better, but I'm usually disorganized for the most part and I'd likely lose interest in keeping it up anyways.  I should have this in my Royals 5000 count box, but I didn't want it to get damaged, so while it might slip out of this binder, it stays until I can sort my cards a bit better.  I do plan on using a binder or two again for cards, so this might fit in one of those if I have a pocket to put it in.  At worst it can fit in a 1 card page, but I think it would still move around a lot.

That isn't the only large cards I have for today.

These came from the aforementioned large order in 2017.  It was from a website that didn't have the best reviews (they sold the cards by the pound at Dollar Tree), and I don't think they are in business anymore.  Anyways one of the things I bought was a random assortment of 100 packs of cards.  They were not the most impressive, but I got to open 100 packs of cards and cheap.  I think around 25-20 bucks.  The entire order was like 80 bucks or so.  Among those 100 packs were a pack or two of these cards from the 80's.  I got a double of Willie Randolph so I scanned the back too.  I'm sure I got more but not sure where they are.  I might have them stored with cards I'm willing to part with, but I'm not sure.  I like these photocards, they are big and glossy but they just look good.  They would look nicer if they had some Royals.  Though I liked Willie Randolph so it wasn't a total bust.

These I've had for a long time.  The Cardinals ones I'm sure came from my dad's collection because I sold all my cards in 2004 or so, and these would have went with them if I had them.  It's a set I wouldn't mind finishing but I don't have it very high on my list of priorities.  In fact it might not even make top 100.  That could be an interesting post- Top 100 sets I'd like to build. Then again, maybe 100 is too many, this might be set 40 and the last on the list.  I don't have a lot of sets I want to build come to think of it.

The Shannon Stewart I've had for at least a decade.  It came in a repack I bought I'm pretty sure at Walmart.  It was cool to pull the card at the time and I think I even displayed it for a while, but then it wasn't as cool.  A few years ago I tried to find it when I found a Shannon Stewart collector or two on the blogs or TCDB but then I forgot who they were and I lost interest when I found it again.

This card I can remember exactly where I got it from and when.  I got it last month from Listia.  In fact it was so new to me when I scanned it, I didn't even place it in the to be scanned binder yet.  Since I did scan it, I haven't actually put it into my collection yet on TCDB.  I bid on this card because Otto was a pitcher in college at Mizzou, and while I have plenty of his other cards, I didn't have this one.  In fact this might be my first minor league card of him.  For most Mizzou player I don't need EVERY card, but if they are cheap and I know I don't have it I will bid.  I think this was 25 points.  I think that is roughly 5 cents if converted, I'm not sure on the value of points on their site (right before I typed this I was sitting at just shy of 490 points, which then skyrocketed to 725 points after a couple surveys).  I rarely spend over 100 point on an auction, and most the time I don't go over 50.  The cards are probably worth it, but when you don't have a lot of points, and less of a desire, you are more selective on what you bid on.  Having said that I think a future post is going to look back at some of the stuff I've won on there in the past almost 10 years I've been on there.  I looked one day and it was fun to see what I got.  Getting back to this card, I really liked the hat Otto is wearing in this photo.  Totally 80s and totally cool.

Another recent Listia auction I bid on and won was this lot of Kirby Puckett cards.  It was an odd auction that I won for cheap.  I think it might have been 2 points.  I've had a couple of strange interactions on Listia in the last year, and I can't remember if this was the one or not, but I messaged the seller and he replied "glad you enjoy them, but I made a mistake, won't sell cards this cheap again".  I think he meant to start the bidding at 200 points but put 2 instead.  Oh well.  If this was the one, what made it even more odd was they he sent more more cards than he advertised, but they weren't the ones in the photos.  I bid on them originally because of a couple of 90's cards I didn't have.  In the end I think I had 90% of the cards he sent me, but there were at least a couple I didn't so whatever.  Unlike Ebay, I have only ever put like $5 or less into my Listia account (maybe it was 10) and so at most I've spent about a dollar a year, so a pretty good investment, especially considering some of the large lots I've got in the past.  Those two point I bid on these came from a survey I did a few months ago which gave me like 50 points.  When you level up (mostly for checking in) you get bonus points, I think I got like 3 bonus points for the survey, so that covered this auction.  So I wasn't out anything and even if I was it was free points, I have bigger things to worry about.

Here is the rest of the Puckett cards, and the Future Heroes on the bottom left and the 1986 All-Star on the top right I know were both new to me, so at worst I spent a point a piece for them.  I'm happy.  I'll never not enjoy the Topps card with the jumbo bat, so that was also fun.  I might not have had the Upper Deck card next to it either.  Puckett is a PC but I don't regularly seek out his cards.  I just saw this auction and decided to bid.  I hope in a few months I'll update my PC's and at that time also work on my Mizzou and Missouri related collections.  Thankfully I have kept my Royals collection mostly current so I don't have to do much with that.

Now we get to a few more cards I can't remember where I got them.  Except the two Beltran cards on the bottom.  I got them a couple months ago on Listia.  Another cheap auction and I think one I might have had already.  Oh well- free points, no big loss.  The rest are all Royals that I needed for my collection.  I can't say which one I like the most, but its between the All-Star Saberhagen and the Topps Willie Wilson.  I never plan to build a complete Topps set, especially ones from before I started to collect, but if I did that would probably be one of the sets.  Most of the Topps stuff after that I have or seen enough.  Anything before this I don't have much of.  As far as Royals sets go, I think 85-86 is where it really picks up steam, so anything from 1984 and before is where I should look if I ever really wanted to make a dent in my collection.  At least having Brett's rookie out of the way, there aren't too many I would go crazy trying to find.  I one day want to find a Quisenberry rookie, pretty sure I don't have one yet.

Outside of the Clemente card my sister bought me a few months ago, I can't remember where I got the rest of these.  In fact many on the bottom row aren't even PC's so I think it might have been a repack which might have came from my sister.  The Murrary is a nice card though, so I will definitely keep that one.  It's always nice to add more Ozzie Smith cards to my collection, especially ones like these two which either somehow slipped though the cracks of collecting or Topps reprints which haven't always been a high priority.  The Carl Hubbell is also a nice addition.  I really need to see how many cards I have of him now and how many total he had.  I know I don't have most of his cards, but I know I have at least 4-5 now so its a nice start.  Its one reason I want to get my entire collection sorted and added to the TCDB so I can have that information right in front of me.

This is an odd mix, but also the last scan for the day.  The Ewing cards I got on Listia.  They were like 1 or 2 points.  I don't try to get too many basketball cards but I am drawn to the 90's players that I liked watching play.  These aren't the best cards, but still random and ones I know I didn't have.  Ewing might be a borderline PC, but like I said, I don't want to build a massive PC of NBA players.  I would put quite a few others before him on my basketball PC, but still under 5 points I'll possibly bid.  The John Morrison card my sister got me.  She knows I like "Johnny Drip Drip" aka "America's Moist Wanted" so it was cool to get.  Especially since I'm not sure if I have many of his cards.  Recently he has shown up a few times on AEW Wrestling with his new name- Johnny Elite.  Wherever he goes he usually has the last name of the company.  In Impact Wrestling he was Johnny Impact.  He went by John Morrison in WWE just because that was one of many names he went by when he worked there before.

On the bottom row, the WNBA card my mom found while cleaning one day.  For a short while she had a few WNBA cards, so this was one she still had.  I wouldn't mind building some of those first 3-4 years of WNBA sets, but again not a high priority.  One day I will do a deep dive into some of their players and sets and see who I want to add to my collection.  I'm not sure if I have all the Mizzou players and I know I'm missing a lot of Jackie Stiles cards (in fact I'm not sure if I have a proper WNBA card of her).  It's nice to see WNBA get more TV time, it seems like I can watch a game 2-3 times a week now, problem is I'm not into sports right now.

Lastly is another Topps card the maybe come from the repack or somewhere else.  I would be amazed if I didn't already have the card though since I'm sure 88-90 Topps cards I have most of.  Still not a bad card.

So that wraps it up today.  I'm hoping the weather is nice and I can make it to storage today to work on a project.  Its not card related but I hope it works out.  I want to build a bookcase for either my movies or CD's.  I have a few 2x4's and hopefully enough boards to build one.  I just don't know all the details yet.  I don't know how I'll support it or how to even build it yet, but I have ideas.  First I need to find all the boards.  Good thing I have a few.  If I do finish it, I will probably show it on the blog.  I'm still pondering another blog to show media stuff (it's set up but nothing worth seeing yet) and if I do decided to continue with it I'll put it on there.  I'll probably mention it on here too.  If I do the other blog this will stay strictly card related.  I think if I decide to do more rants I might use one of my other abandoned blogs for that.  I should also work on my Missouri related blog too, but I mean first I have to get back into wanting to write first.  It seems like I'm starting to get my groove back.  Thanks for reading everyone and have a great day!