Random Thoughts

Things are finally back to normal in my world of madness.  Sort of.  With the power back, it was nice to be able to finally watch something on TV Wednesday night.  Of course, I took to NBC Sports and their coverage of Rivalry Wednesday.  It was the Pens vs. the Capitals in Washington.  The Pens rolled to a 4-0 shutout of the Caps, increasing their win streak to 2 games and looking like they were going to get back on track.  It was fun to watch too as I finally saw some life in Evgeni Malkin.  He didn't score but he was out there grinding and making plays, unlike some of his earlier games this year.  He will get back on track (hopefully soon).  It was also nice to see James Neal back in the lineup.  He came back last week but this was the first game I saw with him suited up.  He tallied on the 4th goal of the game.  Even the announcers didn't get on my nerves, which is rare.

• I couldn't figure out the viewing hits on my Stormaggedon posts earlier in the week.  I was posting them from my phone onto the Blogger system.  But normally I do a check to see how they appear.  This time I wasn't because it was too difficult with multiple browsers on my phone.  I now realize that they weren't posting until 12 hours or more after I sent them to publish.  I don't know if this is a glitch in the system or what but it is kind of annoying. What if I had something important to say?  Should the fact that I'm mobile penalize my thought process?  My readers want my thoughts now!!  

• There is a big card show this weekend in Rosemont, IL.  It's the 46th annual (which I don't get because it happens twice a year) Chicago Sun-Times Sports Collectibles Convention.  It's a Mounted Memories sponsored show so the autographed guest list is something comparable to a National-type show.  Feel free to click the link if you want to take a look.  It's sort of impressive but if you were to get the cheapest things signed by every person autographing, it would cost you $4,033.  I still haven't decided if I am going to make my way out there yet.  I always say that, and I always end up going.  But it wouldn't be me if I didn't at least put on the illusion for a couple minutes.  I'm taking the kids, too (assuming I go).  Maybe I'll post pictures on my Twitter account (which you should follow...that's what Twitterer'ses are supposed to say, right?)

• I have been working on, getting ready to, try and, (you like all those non-excuse excuses?) ramp up my internet sales a bit.  I realize I have way too much stuff and really need to get rid of some.  Trim the fat, so to speak.  I know there are a lot of collector's out there that would want to trade and I am glad to do so.  I take requests.  If I have ever posted something that you like, let me know and I will see if it still exists.  Even if you don't remember anything but still want to trade, tell me what you collect and I'll find something.  But I know I can't give everything I have away in exchange for a bunch of Pittsburgh team common cards and cards I already have 15 of.  That's fine if I'm dumping the same things in return but there are only so many Stan Belinda and Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala cards one person can find room for.  If anyone is interested in anything I have up now, check out my storefront thingy over on Collector's Revolution.  I have been having much better success on there than eBay and with less fees.  I just sold another card today in fact.  

• Do trade fodder posts, as in "Here are X# of cards I have with pictures. Who wants to trade?", actually work?  If so, share your experiences in this in the comments below.  I want to know who does these and does them successfully.  I am thinking of throwing up some good trade fodder but don't really know what will get people to bite or not.  I know I'm not the best trader in the world because I have been known to take an eon to send but I'm trying to improve.  When you do them, how do you decide on trading?  Do you trade by the dreaded book value?  Do you trade by number of cards?  Do you swap auto for auto, GU for GU?  I think the blogging community could tap into the proverbial "trade night" that some B&M stores still do.  Thoughts?

• Speaking of B&M (brick and morter) stores, I am going to be doing some research on B&M hobby shop marketing.  I may reach out to some of you in the hobby world for opinions and such.  Anyone who would like to offer their 2 cents on the traditional hobby shop in today's digital market, feel free to comment or email me.  I will be doing a post about it in a couple weeks with more information.  I know many of you still have LCS's that you frequent and some of you even have some that you drive great distances to visit.  This is all good stuff I may be interested in picking your brains on.

• Are there any hockey "personalities" that really get on your nerves?  I believe there are.  By personalities, I am referring to players, coaches, announcers, executives, officials, anyone that has some type of higher than team janitor or production crew assistant profile.  I thought about this the other day while watching NBCs coverage of the game on Wednesday.  My list started to get very large and cumbersome after a while of thinking.  I am going to share with everyone my list of Top 10 Hockey Personalities That Annoy Me in a future post.  As hockey fans and pseudo-writer/blogger/members of the "press", I feel it is our duty.  

• There have been a lot of interesting hockey products released so far for the 2013-14 season.  I know most of the hype has been around the Double Rookie Class.  Even some manufacturers have built that into their marketing materials and advertising.  Great.  But what good is a double crop of rookies when 2/3 of them may be AWOL in a few months?  I get the excitement and intrigue, but from a collector's standpoint, unless you are a "prospector" by nature, you may be in for a Double Disappointment.  I plan on doing a review of products so far this year and exploring more into the Double Rookie Class of this years product in some future posts.

• I just spent time time explaining future posts I plan on writing in a post.  That was weird.

• I like to use bullet points now.  They're neat.