I think it's Time to Take a Break

Me- "Oh, and they have a herd of chickens, or whatever the fuck a bunch of chickens are called."
A- "A flock?"

So, unfortunately I think it's about time to use the dreaded "H" word; Hiatus.

I updated my player collections and team sets lists today and realized I haven't posted in 16 days. Then I realized that I most likely wouldn't be able to post again for about the same amount of time, if not longer.

Am I done collecting? No, abso-fucking-lutely not.
Will I still be trading? Hells.Yes.

This has actually been a great time for me collecting wise recently. I've added a bunch of great cards to my collections, both from ebay and through a number of fantastic trades with familiar faces and new ones. My girlfriend is becoming increasingly interested in collecting cards and in the Mets! Josh Thole has become her favorite player and she's told me that after looking at my Piazza collection, that she wants to start a Thole collection for herself. Whether or not this means that she'll start trolling ebay and asking for trading advise OR that I will be the one doing all the buying and trading, is yet to be seen.

The main factor I'm facing right now is simply time. I'm maintaining my hours at the Animal Hospital while my Dog Training business is gaining traction which means more time spent on teaching lessons and working with dogs plus the additional time being put into the actual business side of it. I also just signed up for another class which will give me an additional certification as well as continuing to look into other classes and programs for even more certifications!

I will still be collecting, trading, reading and keeping up with logging my collections on the side bar, but for now I just won't be posting. Once things settle down, which shouldn't be too too long, you can bet your ass that I'll be back! Until then, one million thanks and well wishes to everyone.

Let's Go METS!!!

(...Joe)

1964 Topps Coins: No More Mantles

Quote of the Day: "If you can prove to people that you're at least a little bit crazy, they tend to give you what you want."

I have been almost non existent in the card world the past couple weeks.It's not because I'm bored, or I'm in a funk or I don't have anything to write about but rather I'm in that awkward stage where I'm making almost as much money in my own business as I am working at the Vet's office. That means I'm seeing clients or drawing up protocols almost every day after I clock out of my 9-5, which leaves very little time for anything. It's great for me, cuz once I get a few bills paid then that means more money for cards! But first I have to see if it lasts, do I cut my hours at the vet? Do I keep them and keeping doing double days? What would you do for a klondike bar?

Enough about my own shit. One thing I have been very active in the past week is knocking off needs from my 1964 Topps Coins checklist! The only real game plan I had going into this was that I wanted to knock off the remaining five HOFer coins I needed, two of which are Mickey Mantles. Well, need them I do NO MORE!
There are three Mantles total in the set, which has actually become a criteria for any future vintage projects that I start, only one Mantle per set. Luckily, the oddball/insert type vintage sets retail for much much less than any of the flagship sets do, so I was able to grab the portrait coin on the left for $26 and the All-Star coin for $20. That leaves me with only three HOF coins to get: Bob Gibson, Willie McCovey and Lou Brock. Unfortunately, the two biggest pieces to this set are still ungotten. There are two very short printed variations of Chuck Hinton and Wayne Causey in the All-Star subset. Hinton played for the Senators and Causey for the A's, but they each have an N.L. variation where the only difference is that they are listed as an NL All-Star on the back of the coin. Two copies recently went for $50+ and $60+ respectively.  Those were for NM copies, but still, that's seriously cutting into my chocolate milk fund.

Hope everyone enjoys checking out this set because there's much more to come!

(...Joe)