Don't Call it a Comeback...

...I haven't been here in a year! So just let me (re)introduce myself! 

Sorry for shamelessly borrowing from two of my favorite, old school hip hop songs(and very loosely from my pal Matt) but those lines seemed quite appropriate for this occasion. It has been exactly one year since my last post on this blog. I never intended to take break or go on a hiatus of any length. I don't have a crazy 'life happens' story about why I haven't had time to write and I wasn't even burnt out or having writer's block. In fact, I have missed writing about the hobby I love. I've thought about coming back too many times to count. So, what has kept me away? Well, the truth is, my laptop died and once Google made the significant changes to many of their offerings last year, I couldn't find a reasonable way to mange the blog using only my iPad. Apps that I had previously used no longer allowed me to post pics. The alternate option of trying to use the Blogger website from the tablet was not feasible(unless I was writing a really short post) because I couldn't scroll down to see anything beyond the text/pics that filled the top of the editing screen. Anyway, I think I finally have a solution in place that will allow me to get back to a semi-regular posting schedule. I don't know about any one that may be out there, but I'm excited to get back to it!

In my absence from the blogosphere, I've still been very active in the hobby. There have been many completed trades, trips to multiple shows, and more purchases than I can count. I've found a few ways to supplement my normal hobby budget which has allowed me to end up owning some cards that I never thought would find a home in my collection(future post planned to share some of these tips). Finally, I have slowly and organically built a decent Twitter(@CardpocalypseNC) following which has allowed me to share some hobby moments in short form. So much has changed in my hobby world over the past year. Therefore, I guess it's best to take a brief look at my collecting habits(new and old) and then talk briefly about how some parts of my collection have evolved over the last year.

To start, I am still a huge Yankee fan. I'm still picking up almost any Yankees I can for the PC, but I have really turned up the focus on acquiring Bernie Williams cards that I don't have. A few months back, I took the plunge and signed up for a Trading Card Database account(CardpocalypseNC for anyone interested). I have really enjoyed using the site to catalog some of my player collections and to keep up with checklists/needs on some of the insert sets I'm trying to complete. After entering all of my unique Bernie cards into my database collection, I stand at 374 which is my top total for any player thus far and places me in 8th place among other Bernie collections on the site. I'd like to add to that number and work my way up that list. In the interest of keeping this post on the shorter side, I'll only share a single new(to the blog) Bernie acquisition.

It's not high-end or anything, but I cartainly remember how popular, hard-to-find, and expensive these International Refractors were while navigating the 1997 collecting landscape. With that in mind, I was pretty happy to grab this for just a few bucks several months back.

I'm also a big Negro Leagues fan. I have been passively hunting for singles from the 2001 Fleer Tradition insert Stitches in Time. I still have a handful of base inserts to find, but I have decided to go after the more difficult auto and relic portions of the checklist.

Updates on this hunt to come in a future post.

From here, the remainder of the collection is very similar to how it has always been. Denver Broncos, Durham Bulls, and NC guys are still some of my favorites. In the coming days, I'll be sure that my 'Who I Collect' page is up to date. I have scrapped several of the previous unfinished set chases and added a few insert sets so updating the set needs page will also be an upcoming project.

One of the biggest differences in my collecting comes in the form of chasing some more ambitious set goals. A few of these new set goals were in their infancy stages as my blogging was grinding to a halt. First up, I am searching for all of the 1998 Skybox One For the Ages Star Rubies parallels. This 15 card subset focuses on highlights from Super Bowl XXXII. To date, I have tracked down 7/15 of these. They don't pop up very frequently and when they do, they tend to be quite pricey, but I'd love to own all of these some day.

Similarly, I'm on the hunt for all of the 1999 Ultra Platinum Medallions from the Super Bowl XXXIII subset. This is a 10 card subset that focuses on the Broncos' back to back championships. Right now, I only have 1/10 of those, but it's a big one.

There is a second Elway-only card in the subset, but at least I've got a great start to this chase!

There is so much more that I want to write about, but if I don't reign it in soon, I'll never actually publish his post. So, I'll focus on one more area that is a bit newer. I don't think I've posted about this previously. Somewhere around 15-20 years ago, one of my day job interactions led to me having the chance to meet Serge Zwikker. For the many out there who have no idea who that is, he was the center on the UNC Tar Heels teams of the mid-90's. From that first meeting up to the present day, I've had a chance to spend a good bit of time working with him in the context of my professional setting. I'm not saying that he and I are best friends, but we are certainly more than acquaintances. It didn't occur to me until about a year ago that he may have some NBA cards out there(he was drafted by Houston in 1997). I quickly found a few base RCs from that year's sets and then picked up all the parallels I could find as well.

          

These are a few of the base RCs I found. He was also in the Hoops and Fleer Tradition sets. I have multiple parallels from Fleer Tradition(not shown) and A copy of the Ultra Gold Medallion. However, I have been looking for the Skybox Star Rubies and Ultra Platinum Medallion for several months and haven't even seen any come up for sale or trade. Ultimately, those are the focus of my Serge-hunt, but I'd happily add any college cards I don't have if they're floating around out there.

I'll stay true to my word and cut this post short right here. For anyone interested, I'm planning expanded posts with more pics from these varied focal points of my collection along with several other areas that I didn't have space to write about here. I hope you've enjoyed what I'm looking at as a 'soft re-launch' of this blog. As soon as I can finish updating pages and maybe giving the design an update, I'll plan something for a Grand re-launch. Stay tuned for additional details about that coming soon. Thanks for reading.