Hail, Gnafia!
It's another beautiful Friday here in San Diego. When the mice are at play, clearly the cats are away. And all of the big cats here in the office certainly ARE away, so we little mice are going to play. Huzzah!
It's been a pretty quick week here. I've managed to complete some free surveys, netting me a solid amount of Swag Bucks (Refer to the Swidget on the side if you aren't familiar with Swag Bucks) and with this weeks wins my total Amazon Gift Cards has reached $100 from Swag Bucks. That is hawt. I'm almost set to make my third purchase for my American Silver Eagle Coin Collection, a Brilliant Uncirculated 2009 American Silver Eagle! I already have the 2011 and 2010's. The only bad news is the price has almost doubled since I started collecting these bad boys. Which I guess in a way is good, but I'd rather have more of a collection if the value is going to skyrocket as it has.
I also executed a trade via http://www.sportscardforum.com/. I traded a 2011 Topps Diamond Stars Matt Holliday for a random Minnesota Twins insert of equal book value. I like these kinds of trades because you never know what you're going to get. I'll be sure to let you all know what I end up with!
I'm also looking for contemporary cards made by Topps that aren't glossy. Regular cardboard types of cards that are good for autographs. I intend on sending some of them in to the Twins to see if I can't get a few autographs from some of the less-popular players. Also, I think I have a winner for my favorite Twin. Mr. Denard Span. He is a devout Christian and really represents somebody I can enjoy watching and not feel bad about because he's such an all-around swell guy. Thoughts?
I've also started putting some things up on eBay to see if I can't generate a little extra cash flow from decluttering the house. Speaking of decluttering...
I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about Listia. Listia is a free auction-based website where people put up their items they no longer want and other members bid on those items using Listia credits. Credits are obtained by various means, most of them 100% free. So it's kind of like a sophisticated swap meet. There's all sorts of great stuff on there, from practical to impractical. Baby clothes, cool coins, baseball cards, random weird stuff, anything goes! I'm getting into it and have already completed my first auction. I encourage everyone to check it out! Click here to sign up and see! You'll start with a few hundred credits to get yourself started, and it might be good enough to get a neat little trinket or something!
Thats all for now, have a great weekend Gnafia!
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Friday, July 8, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Happy July of America!
Greetings Gnafia!
I trust everyone enjoyed celebrating the birth of our nation! Safely, of course.
As promised in last weeks 'cliffhanger' (if you can call it that) I told you I found a new hobby and dropped a few hints. Thanks to a lot of temptation from a certain co-worker, I have found my way back into the hobby of collecting baseball cards.
Now, the Gnodfather's parents are surely rolling their eyes at this point. "Oh boy, we've done this before... don't you have enough already? Come get them out of our basement damnit!" And I said last week that I claimed those and will get them as soon as I am in the vicinity. Now, I investigated the possibility of collecting baseball cards for free. Unfortunately that opportunity just really doesn't exist. It does, but it's very tricky and slow, and I wanted something a little more immediate.
The Rules:
1. $20 monthly limit. Does not include postage for online trades.
2. The goal is enjoyment of the hobby, not to make money. That's why it's a hobby. I'll rant on this later.
3. The Twins are my favorite team. I don't have a favorite player determined... yet.
Now, a bit on how baseball cards have progressed since I was a wee gnome of knee height.
First and foremost, Major League Baseball has negotiated exclusive rights to the Topps company, effectively making them the ONLY source of OFFICIAL baseball cards. Other card companies, like Upper Deck, still exist but they do not deal with current players and logos. Weird, I know. Inserts have become all the rage. Back in the day, inserts were just starting to become popular as the card companies started to move away from just their base sets in the 80's and early 90's. This made opening a pack of cards that much more exciting, and still does. The internet also includes the possibility for an online 'giveaway' which is equally exciting as opening a pack of cards. Double your pleasure, double your fun! The inserts have become much more elaborate and exciting, too. Swatches of game worn jerseys, bats, baseballs, and manufactured glove plates have been incorporated into the card for a really neat looking piece of memorabilia. Topps has also gotten players to sign cards, so you end up with an authenticated autographed card straight from the pack. Very cool stuff. This year is Topps' 60th anniversary, and to celebrate they made a very limited edition set of cards with a quarter carat diamond insert into the card. These cards are not only incredibly rare but incredibly badass and incredibly expensive.
I'm using the forum www.sportscardforum.com to negotiate trades and network with other collectors from around the country. So far it's been pretty productive and the other traders have been very welcoming. This means I can trade all those lousy A Rod, Derek Jeter, and other crummy Yankees cards for much more appealing Twins cards. I mean, who the hell wants to look at present-day Yankees cards, anyways? Yuck.
So, I hope this has been informative for you, I'll be sure to keep you posted as to pulls, trades, and other progress in the hobbies. I'll probably try the method of obtaining autographs that my mother used in the early 90's - mailing stuff to people with a SASE requesting an autograph. I won't be getting a Joe Mauer autograph or anything, but some of those other players that kind of make you go... "Who?" and autographs are really neat, anyways!
Thats all for now, PEACE!
I trust everyone enjoyed celebrating the birth of our nation! Safely, of course.
As promised in last weeks 'cliffhanger' (if you can call it that) I told you I found a new hobby and dropped a few hints. Thanks to a lot of temptation from a certain co-worker, I have found my way back into the hobby of collecting baseball cards.
Now, the Gnodfather's parents are surely rolling their eyes at this point. "Oh boy, we've done this before... don't you have enough already? Come get them out of our basement damnit!" And I said last week that I claimed those and will get them as soon as I am in the vicinity. Now, I investigated the possibility of collecting baseball cards for free. Unfortunately that opportunity just really doesn't exist. It does, but it's very tricky and slow, and I wanted something a little more immediate.
The Rules:
1. $20 monthly limit. Does not include postage for online trades.
2. The goal is enjoyment of the hobby, not to make money. That's why it's a hobby. I'll rant on this later.
3. The Twins are my favorite team. I don't have a favorite player determined... yet.
Now, a bit on how baseball cards have progressed since I was a wee gnome of knee height.
First and foremost, Major League Baseball has negotiated exclusive rights to the Topps company, effectively making them the ONLY source of OFFICIAL baseball cards. Other card companies, like Upper Deck, still exist but they do not deal with current players and logos. Weird, I know. Inserts have become all the rage. Back in the day, inserts were just starting to become popular as the card companies started to move away from just their base sets in the 80's and early 90's. This made opening a pack of cards that much more exciting, and still does. The internet also includes the possibility for an online 'giveaway' which is equally exciting as opening a pack of cards. Double your pleasure, double your fun! The inserts have become much more elaborate and exciting, too. Swatches of game worn jerseys, bats, baseballs, and manufactured glove plates have been incorporated into the card for a really neat looking piece of memorabilia. Topps has also gotten players to sign cards, so you end up with an authenticated autographed card straight from the pack. Very cool stuff. This year is Topps' 60th anniversary, and to celebrate they made a very limited edition set of cards with a quarter carat diamond insert into the card. These cards are not only incredibly rare but incredibly badass and incredibly expensive.
I'm using the forum www.sportscardforum.com to negotiate trades and network with other collectors from around the country. So far it's been pretty productive and the other traders have been very welcoming. This means I can trade all those lousy A Rod, Derek Jeter, and other crummy Yankees cards for much more appealing Twins cards. I mean, who the hell wants to look at present-day Yankees cards, anyways? Yuck.
So, I hope this has been informative for you, I'll be sure to keep you posted as to pulls, trades, and other progress in the hobbies. I'll probably try the method of obtaining autographs that my mother used in the early 90's - mailing stuff to people with a SASE requesting an autograph. I won't be getting a Joe Mauer autograph or anything, but some of those other players that kind of make you go... "Who?" and autographs are really neat, anyways!
Thats all for now, PEACE!
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