It Wasn't All Bad

Within the next couple weeks the daughter is going to a dance at the local Boys, and Girls Club. They have these every month except the theme for this month is Winter Formal. Wanting a new dress for the dance I came up with the idea of going to some Goodwill Stores that were farther than the usual trip I make most weeks. One of the planned stores I only get to visit when going to the card show in Beaverton. There are other rare occasions I get to visit this store, but it is rare still. First I wanted to hit one of the stores I get to quite often in hopes she might find something. Even if she did the plan was to still go north, and hit the rare store.

Entering the first store we both headed off in our different directions. Only one item in the store caught my eye. The item was a bear salt shaker or maybe pepper in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform.

It looked like the ones above. I can't remember which one of the two it was as I left it behind. Just wasn't quite sure if any of the Dodgers bloggers out there would be interested in it as I haven't traded with any of you. After deciding to pass on the shaker it was time to see what the daughter had come up with for choices. One seemed decent, and got the go see how it looks on you treatment. Liking how it looked, but feeling it just wasn't THE dress, she passed.

Our next option was to go visit the store I was looking forward to as I've had some great success in the past getting bobbleheads. Arriving we did the going off on our own to see what the offerings were. Along the way I found a Rhubarb bobblehead. For those that don't know Rhubarb is the mascot for the Tacoma Rainiers. Excited about the discovery I went over for the daughter to try on two dresses. As you see I don't have a picture of the Rhubarb bobblehead. The reason for this is he didn't get to come home with me. While the daughter was trying on dresses I noticed Rhubarb looked like he once had two stickers on his uniform that was missing. Despite this I was still sold on him until noticing that his right antler was broken, and missing. The broken antler ended up being the deal breaker.

My next goal was to head farther north, and go to a card shop. I've known about this shop for a few years, but only get to it every two years or so. Since the last trip its been more like three years if not longer. Wanting to do some damage to some of the sets I'm working on we heading to the shop. Once inside I got lucky, and hit two different sets.

The first hit was to the 2013 Chasing the Dream subset. Other than building a base set for series 1, 2, and update. This subset is the only one of the many subsets for 2013 Topps flagship that I am building. Currently the missing cards stand at #2 (Mike Trout), and #24 (Brett Lawrie). I know I have Brett around here someplace,and need to find where I placed it. Once that is done all that is missing will be the toughie in Trout.

2010 Upper Deck Ballparks, I call this one of my self created subsets. I picked up two of these at a card show in 2013, and immediately wanted to get all 30 stadiums. This led to some research on the cards, and a list for the set. While going through the list of missing cards the shop owner said building this set alone was a pretty cool idea. While I am only showing four of the cards I managed to buy 12 of the missing cards. Leaving the grand total in this set at two cards #547 (Great American Ballpark) and #567 (Tropicana Field). Both cards will have to come via trades as I've hit the card shops I know of around here that sell singles, and am still missing the two cards.

Ending this journey on a funny note. While buying cards we talked to the owner some, and mentioned what we were up to. Glad to help he pointed us to a Goodwill just a couple miles away from his shop. Thinking we had nothing to lose we made the trip. While there I found an advertising baseball for the Bend Bandits. It wasn't in perfect shape, but I had to buy it as I lived in Bend during the time the team existed. The daughter had success in this was the shop she found her dress. The funny part is it was a dress we thought about buying at our first stop, and passed on. This version just seemed in better shape, and thus came home.

West Michigan WhiteCaps Ballpark Fire

I believe this has been said over, and over again in this blog. If not I will say it now "I am a huge minor league baseball fan". Being a fan means when something like what happened today goes down I've got to write about it. Around 11 this morning a fire broke out at Fifth Third Bank Park. The stadium is home to the West Michigan WhiteCaps who represent the Detroit Tigers in the single A Midwest League.

From reading stories such as this one. The fire did serious damage to the skyboxes, and collapsed on some of the lower seating.

The good news is all the WhiteCaps employees got out safe with no injuries. On the bad side from reading the article. It seems that fire hydrants in the area are on the rare side. Only two were close which meant they had to use hydrants that were much farther. The longer distance slowed down the ability to put out the fire. WhiteCaps ownership plans on going all out to get the stadium rebuilt in time for their first game on April 8th. I for one am wishing the team best of luck in getting things ready for the season. I also hope this sends a message to any teams be them MLB or minor league. Make sure there are enough fire hydrants to take care of any possible fires. Ideally you will never have to use them, but just incase they are nice to have.

2014 Bloggolutions

While I have mentioned in my last two posts that there was a possibility that there would be no goals for 2014. The reality is that having these goals was good in keep me focused on three of my hobbies. Keeping that in mind I decided to run with some goals for 2014. Most of these goals will be the same as with 2013, but adding some difficulty to make them more of a challenge. I liked the idea behind most of these, and feel they keep my collecting going in a direction that has been fun. Keeping with the theme of 2013 as well. I'll be going with 10 goals, and rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 when the year is finished. Now without beating around the bush any longer lets see what the plan is for 2014.

1- Make over 240 posts for the year.

This is one of those goals that can go either way. While I came close to this amount of posts in 2013. Come November the amount of posts I was doing slowed way down. Despite the slowdown all it will take is around 20 posts per month to make this happen. Going against me is a planned two week vacation, and a bunch of work we plan on doing around the house. If I can post around those this is an achievable goal. Working in my favor is we did two weeks at Disneyland, and Las Vegas in 2013. I posted around that vacation by writing up some generalized posts. This is a possible idea once more, and odds are something I will attempt.

 2- Finish 10 sets or subsets of baseball cards.

This could be considered one of those are you crazy type things? My 2013 goal was to complete five sets, and I came up short by only completing three. So how do I follow a failure like this? I double that goal, and go for ten sets or subsets. The good news is I added some new stuff to work on, and some of those were hit pretty hard. Currently there are 14 different sets, and subsets that are within five cards of completion. I will go out on a limb, and say half if not more of the ten completed by the years end will not be from those 14 sets. That alone will make this goal even more impressive when it's completed.

3- Add Rosario, and Trout nectar to the collection

For people who don't know about this whole nectar thing. Recently I saw the word used on another blog. The first time I heard it though was on a metal detecting show that I've seen a few times. While the two guys on that show are absolutely nuts if you ask me. I kind of like the word, and am more than happy to join the revolution of people throwing it into the collecting phrases dictionary. As a collector of many different items here is where I want to go with this idea. Being back into the collecting scene I've been toying with players to collect. I've decided to go with Wilin Rosario, and Mike Trout as my main guys. To me for something to be nectar it has to be sweet. This means for an item to count as one of the ten additions the item will have to be someplace in the following. Autograph cards, game-used cards, bobblehead, or SLU.  Other things will count as well, but I'm not going to count basic cards, or subset stuff. I want the stuff that leaves people saying "now that is sweet!" Hopefully this work out at five items apiece, but I'm a realist here. Trout auto's, and game-used cost a ton. With my budget that's not very realistic so unless I pull something in a pack. All my Trout nectar will probably be in the category of SLU's.

4- Complete 52 trades of baseball cards.

If there is one thing I have learned in just over one year of blogging. It would be that the definition of a trade is different than it is to the rest of the world. In the non-blogging world a trade consists of both parties agreeing to send certain cards to each other in an exchange. In the world of blogging a trade is another blogger sends you a batch of cards out of nowhere. In return the sender of said package gets the wonderful feeling that you've made a collector's day or possibly even week. Sending out that feeling is something I want to do 52 times this year.

5- Add 40 cards into the Rosario, and Trout collections

While I am making these two the focus on my new player collections. My Wilin Rosario collection is fairly small at under ten cards. Currently I have no idea on how many Mike Trout cards I have. Getting Trout's cards into a binder will be my first priority in the collection. From there I will be able to see where that player collection stands, and what cards I can use. More than anything Mike Trout is where most of the cards will come from. Rosario usually only gets one card from the various sets while Trout appears in some of the subsets as well as the regular sets.

  6- Continue to improve my artwork for the artelopes

While I made giant strides in my drawing, and ideas. I want to keep the improving going strong. Some of this will be getting better in the drawing category. The majority of this will be coming up with fresh ideas to use for teams we mailed in 2013. A big wrench will be when I send requests to the colleges for pocket schedules. I collect football schedules, and basketball from three different colleges, and want to mix things up when mailing them. Maybe coming up with ideas for these three will get the creative juices flowing. The benefits of this won't only help in the artelopes, but help with the blog writing.

7-  Show more blogging love

Much like the get more involved in the blogging scene goal from last year. The idea for this is to post comments atleast 52 times this year. Thus the name of show more blogging love. As I've said many a time, there are tons of great bloggers. Going along with all those great blogs are some incredible posts. Procrastination killed me in 2013, but this year I'm going to fight that urge, and let people know how great their work is by commenting.

 8- Get all three of my hobbies organized

Another of the holdover goals from 2013. During this past year I made some great strides in getting the hobbies in order. The plan is to keep running with these, and take it a step further. Luckily the groundwork for most of this was laid down already. There are some new things that will be added to the list. I just need to stay focused, and knock things off one by one.

9- Continue to improve my writing

Improving my writing is something I will be constantly trying to do as long as this blog exists. No matter what anyone says it is something I think can get better. Using where I currently stand as a point the scoring for this goal will be interesting.

10- Double the amount of blogs listed on my blog list

Part of my progression in blogging comes through in this single goal. Last year I had the gain 33 followers, and early on decided it wasn't a very good goal. Keeping with the so many great blogs out there idea. I currently use the blogroll, and most times only read the blogs listed on that list. Problem with this thinking is not every great blog is listed on the blogroll. Nothing proves this more than on my own list which includes a couple blogs not on the blogroll.
                    Currently my blog list has 23 blogs listed. This means by years end it should be at a minimum of 46 blogs. Adding blogs is another of those things I procrastinate about. Who knows, maybe once this year is over. Goals such as this one will help me stop procrastination in other aspects of my life.

There you have it!  Ten things I plan on working on for 2014. Much like 2013 some of these aren't really all that tough. Some will take a ton of work, and give me a nice mixture to work towards. Unlike 2013 where I had done most the work during the first half of the year. I believe adding some difficulty to the ones I kept for this year will turn this into a year long focus.

WOW!!

Starting with the end of last week I have been debating about what I should do as my first post for this year. One idea that has been tossed around quite a few times of doing the bloggolutions for 2014. The problem is I'm not sure if there will be a 2014 bloggolutions, or if I'll just go where my hobbies take me. Finishing the year with a recap on the year in December or January 1st. Who am I kidding though? Odds are I'll end up setting some goals while watching football games this afternoon.

While thinking up ideas on how to start 2014 the first post of the year came to me in the form of a box on Monday afternoon. Inside that box was something that a few people in the blogging world will recognize.

If you weren't lucky enough to see one of these cards this Christmas season. This was the Christmas card from Duff who runs the awesome blog 'Bleedin' Brown and Gold'. Duff, and the Cat have traded atleast once, and it was a trade I was thrilled to have done. Little did I know it would lead to something as awesome as what came on Monday. Before going down that road though we need to fix a little problem here.

My guess is that this beautiful package was to arrive before Christmas, but a slight oversight slowed it down. Actually its probably a huge oversight that made its appearance on my doorstep a miracle. I'll say thank goodness my first name is so off-the-wall that the post office probably knew where it went. Throw in that I live in a fairly small town. With these two things in my favor the package came just a little slower than expected. For all the crap I've given the post office in the past they did me good this time. So the problem was this. The address label was printed all nice, and neat with "2728 Mercer street". I actually live on "2728 9th street".

 Thinking about this mistake I've come to the conclusion there will only be one way to try, and make sure this doesn't happen again. I will have to flood Duff's mailbox during 2014 with Padres items so the address is ingrained into his mind. Lucky for me we have the short season Northwest League Padres affiliate in the Eugene Emeralds just under an hour away. We always try to hit a minimum two games, and more if the giveaways are to my liking. That advantage will give me a starting point, and then I'll have to work from there.

With all that out of the way it's time to show off the fantastic present that the Duff sent my direction.

This is the 2013 Milwaukee Brewers stadium giveaway Gorman Thomas bobblehead. The crazy thing is Gorman is wearing a Seattle Pilots jersey. Due to the Pilots look Gorman will fit in quite nicely with the Seattle Mariners bobbleheads currently filling the hobby room.

Seeing that beauty it's obvious on how this post got the name, WOW!! That was the only thing going through my mind as I picked myself up off the floor after opening the box Gorman came in. Honestly it is still the one word going through my head as I write this. If 2014 ends up continuing this streak the last two days of 2013 started. It is going to be a great year to be 'The Prowling Cat'. Thank you so much Duff for a great gift.