Saturday, April 28, 2018

One Year, 200 Posts, And The World's Lamest Contest

I don't usually post on weekends, but today is special. In addition to being my 200th post, today marks the one year mark for my blog!


Personally, I'm impressed. I didn't know one year ago how much I'd enjoy writing this, and how much fun I'd have interacting with so many people who share this wonderful hobby. I didn't know exactly how much I had to offer, and if anyone would really want to read it. From Day 1 it's been a blast, and I've gotten nothing but support from all of you, so thank you!

Prior to this, I'd been a blog lurker for awhile - often reading, rarely commenting, just enjoying the daily musings of people who still enjoyed a hobby I loved since childhood.

A series of blog posts, The 30 Day Challenge, pushed me here. I loved reading everyone's responses, and it made me consider my own answers. I started up Diamond Jesters so I could take part in the discussion. Thirty days went relatively quickly, and I had to think of other stuff to write about. The 30 Day Challenge begat the Bracket Challenge. My desire to post at least weekly led to a series of quick little haiku. From this blog I started trading with others, and the idea for Time Travel Trading was born. I'll be the first to admit my posts aren't always the most interesting, but I've enjoyed writing, and that's really what it's about, right?

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I thought it would be fun to go back through the 30 Day Challenge topics and see if my answers would change one year later. I only found four that would be different if I did this challenge today.

Day 1: A Card From The Current Year With A Photo You Like

2017 Topps #8a Jose Berrios
 Replaced 
with
2018 Topps #297 Kevin Kiermaier

Obviously the current year would require a different choice from last year. There has been a lot of great photography, but this Kiermaier card stands out. He is almost perfectly mimicking the Air Jordan pose, and it looks like he's throwing out the Texas Longhorns gesture to boot. It's just an awesome shot.

Day 5: A Certified Autograph Card Of One Of Your Favorite Players

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen - Autographs #GQA-DP Dustin Pedroia
 Replaced 
with
2017 Topps Archives Luis Tiant

One of the things I tried to do during the challenge was keep my picks to cards I actually owned. That proved to be quite difficult in some respects. I didn't have a certified autographed card of a favorite player, so I just found one I liked online. Since then, I have been gifted this amazing certified auto of El Tiante from Tyler of Rekindling The Cardboard Flame. He would have been the easy pick here.

Day 24: A Favorite Oddball Card From The 1960s

1962 Auravision Records Ernie Banks
 Replaced 
with
1962 Post Cereal #58 Frank Malzone
Again, I didn't own any 1960s oddball cards. I searched through the Trading Card Database looking at the different oddball sets, and found this beauty. This record/card ended up being the winner of my Bracket Challenge, but wouldn't have even made the list if I did this today. I recently picked up this Post Cereal card as part of my Time Travel Trading adventures.

Day 28: A Favorite Relic/Manufactured Relic Card

2006 Bowman Sterling #BS-LE Lee Evans (MEM)
 Replaced 
with
2012 Topps Gypsy Queen - Relics #GQR-KY Kevin Youkilis (MEM)

I don't collect football cards, but my only relic at the time was this Lee Evens swatch. Paul at Scribbled Ink recently gave be a bunch of relics, and I would have to go with Youk over Evans a second time through.

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OK, Since I hit the anniversary mark, I'm actually going to try and run a contest here. Nothing spectacular, mind you, as my collection is more disorganized than I am. One of the fun little things I do on my blog is a weekly haiku based on some random card I get in a repack from the Dollar Store. I recently purchased another Presstine repack to continue the series. 3 lucky contestants will win a one-of-a-kind, never-before-published haiku! (insert cricket noises here).

Here's what I'm thinking: I've created 3 lists of all the cards in the repack. List #1 is the list of names. List #2 is the set each card comes from. List #3 contains the team and position of the player on the card. The first winner can pick one of the lists, and one of the options from that list. Winner # 2 gets choice of the remaining 2 lists, and the final winner can pick a choice from the last remaining list. That way, you still get surprised by which piece of crap junk wax amazing work of art you'll receive! The haiku I create will be an original, and it's up to you if you want to share it or keep it locked away in the unlikely event it becomes valuable. I'll try to protect this masterpiece by padding it with some other cards, hopefully something tailored to your wants and needs if by some miracle you need more junk wax. To enter, simply leave a comment below. I'll arbitrarily decide to end the entry window at some future date, and use some random form of randomizing to determine the lucky winners.

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Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and visited my blog!  I'm counting on Year 2 to just as fun!


13 comments:

  1. Congrats on the first year! I've enjoyed your posts, keep up the good work.

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  2. Happy Number One! It's taken me 4 years to get to 200 posts. Well nearly four years and not quite 200 but... congrats!

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  3. Happy Blogiversary! The first year of blogging is sort of like the first year of marriage, OK I have not been married but I have heard it been said that the first year is the toughest to get through. If you get past that first year hump the rest is smooth sailing. With Blogging I have noticed it is more of a roller coaster type of thing. There are ups where you seem to have blogging diarrhea and just can't stop, then there are the downs where you are lucky if you even think about blogging about once a month or two. I have a self enforced posting limit of at least one post a month (for all 3 of my blogs). I don't like looking at my posting history and seeing a month without a single post. it has worked for me for my regular card blog Sept 2012 was the last time I had a skipped month without a blog post, My Curly W Cards blog I went Oct AND Nov of 2014 with no posts. My non-card blog, the oldest of my 3 blogs, I don't think I've missed a month since I started it Feb of 2006. I have many months for all my blogs where I just have one post for a month on the very last day of the month. Once or twice I fudged the timing a bit since I technically posted in the early hours of the first of a month. I try to avoid doing that.

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    Replies
    1. That's why I've done the haiku. I'll do them in batches and then schedule them to post every Wednesday. That way I'l have at least one post a week, even if I hit a dry spell.

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  4. Congrats! Love the time traveling series!

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  5. Congrats on making it to a year! It ain't easy!

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  6. 200 posts in one year is very impressive! And you've got a lot of neat themes going. I'm looking forward to your next Time Travel post!

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  7. You run one of the most unique card blogs out there. Congratulations on a year and don't stop anytime soon!

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