Strive For '65: Goal not looking so good

Less than a month away til my big birthday (3 weeks from TODAY EEK!), the deadline for my Strive For '65 set build goal. I'm not going to make it. I'm only a little more than 1/3 of the way complete. Not too bad for a little over a year's worth of pursuit effort (starting with only 90some cards of an almost 600 card set), well really only a few months I did slack some during the "year" especially during the winter months. Hopefully between now and the End of the Year I can complete it. It wouldn't be the original goal which sucks, but it is better than waiting til the next big anniversary (75 years) to finally complete the dang set. I might not be around for that anniversary, who knows? So I prefer to get this set complete NOW.

It seems most of the cards I've had to get by buying them from somewhere. Not many traders or bloggers have spares of this set to go around. I got some more cards from this set from a purchase from a forum member over at Sports Card Forum (SCF). I'm sort of scratching my head over a couple of decisions I made about those. I opted to get a duplicate of one of the Senators, which I already have the complete team set for this set, and a graded copy YES GRADED copy of the Boog Powell card. I will have to free it of it's plastic prison to put it into the set binder, or snag a cheaper raw copy on Ebay for the binder.

Current Progress is 207/598 (209/600) 34.9%

For this post I was going to scan the more recently acquired cards from this set like the Powell, but I haven't scanned them yet. They are lounging around in the "to blog about sometime" queue which has been backed up for a couple of years now. I'll mention them when I complete the pages they are from if I haven't made an extra post for them before that.

Card Of The Whenever: A Reprint of a Golden Oldie

1942 Play Ball 1983 Reprint Mel Ott Lifetime Giant

This randomly posted Card of The Whenever is actually a card of two whenevers as it is a reprint of a vintage card I will probably never have in anything above good condition if at all. In the mid 1970s and the early 1980s TCMA (founded in 1976) produced many throwback retro and reprint sets. This card is one of the reprints. The Player represented played for the New York Giants Baseball team, not Football sillies, his entire career and went on to manage them. You know the drill here is the card:

 1942 Play Ball 1983 Reprint 32 Mel Ott NY Giants

(Front and Back)

I am glad that this reprint is pretty true to the original design, no color borders added or colorizing of the original Black and White photo. The back is pretty much inline with the original. Of course the card stock is thinner modern bleached white cardboard and not the old style from the early '40s but you do need to be able to tell the reprint from the originals.

Washington Wednesday: On A Saturday I must be CRAZY

OK so this probably should be a Washington Wednesday episode, but it isn't because I needed a "quick and dirty" post for the end of this month (Feb) to keep up with my minimum of one post a month. I don't seem to have scanned the back of it whenever I did scan the thing. It is blank anyway. I thought I had mentioned it at one time, maybe it was only on my trading card forum blogs I mentioned it. Oh well So on with what you really want to see:

1979-1980 Topps Hockey Mini Poster - 16 Washington Capitals Team

I got this from Ebay I think for incredibly cheap, meaning $10 or less probably more like $5 or less. These mini-posters were included folded up as an insert in the regular 1979-80 Topps Hockey Card packs I believe. It is the size of four standards cards. Mine is in pretty good condition I don't think there are any tears or holes on the crease folds. If there are they are very tiny. I'd like to get the other 15 from this set eventually but it is not a huge priority.

State of the Blog

Just a quick post to keep the monthly quota and to say I'm still around. I just haven't been keeping up with the blogging as of late. Not sure if I'll improve on that or not. Oh well that is how the cookie crumbles or the card wares down or something.

Happy New Year 2014 to 2015

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Goodbye 2014 and hello 2015.

Looks like my Strive For '65 goal to complete the 1965 Topps Baseball set will not be met (even though I have till April to achieve it) I do have a few that I have gotten in Nov and Dec that I haven't added to the tally yet because I have been super lazy and super lackadaisical for the last 2 or 3 months. 

I have not forgotten about my anniversary contest. That has been a big part of the laziness as well procrastinating on that. I'll get around to things eventually.

Bonus to 5th Blogiversary!

OK here is a way or two to get some bonus points for my Blogiversary Contest!

• If your blog has a post you feel has been neglected and hasn't had any comments or the love you think it should then post a link to it on this post. Limit 2 links per blog = 1 point per link.

Now here are some bonus questions Correct answers will get extra points, partial answers might get one point. Post guesses here, only one guess per question. Answers will be provided sometime after the contest is over. Some of these will be sheer guessing on your part since not all of these subjects I have ever blogged about.

1. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it here but I might have. During my college days I participated in an extra curricular activity. I also had a nickname that was associated with the activity. What was that activity and my nickname? (Hint: The nickname came from a movie franchise)
2. Below are some of the many TV shows I have enjoyed over the years. There have been many others, but I can't list all of them can I? I often have difficulty deciding which ones are my all-time faves but for this contest I picked 5 that I always include in my top 10. Guess which are my "All-Time Fave" shows. 1 point for each correct show. Those who get all 5 will get some bonus points: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Primeval, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Planet of the Apes, Return to The Planet of The Apes (animated series), NCIS, NCIS: LA, NCIS: New Orleans, JAG, When Things Were Rotten, Mork and Mindy, Happy Days, Doctor Who, Blakes 7, Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Warehouse 13, Wizards and Warriors, Gilligan's Island, Agents of SHIELD, The Amazing Spider-Man, The A-Team, V, Voyagers, Quantum Leap, The Incredible Hulk, All in the Family, The Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, The Partridge Family, Eight is Enough, Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, Max Headroom, CSI, CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, Eureka, Land of the Lost (original 1970s version), The Man From UNCLE, UFO, Charlies Angels, Xena: Warrior Princess, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, How I Met Your Mother, Family Guy, Homefront, Welcome Back Kotter, SWAT, The Odd Couple, ALF, The Big Bang Theory, Babylon 5, The Fantastic Journey, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Campion, The Black Adder, Mr. Bean, Faulty Towers, Hawaii Five-O, Emergency, St. Elsewhere, Magnum P.I., Taxi, Continuum, The Blacklist, Highlander, Under The Dome, The Muppet Show, Charmed.
3. True of False: I would pay upwards of $100 for a NM/M 2012 Topps Archives Baseball 241 Bryce Harper RC Super Short Print?
4. Of the following four television shows, which TWO have I seen at least an episode of and would most likely watch the entire run of? Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, 24, Lost
5. Yes or NO: I own an HD Flatscreen TV?

5th Blogiversary Contest!

Hey how did this happen? Today Marks the 5th Blogiversary of this Blog. Yay Me! In honor of this milestone I think I should have a contest. So I'll borrow a "Play At The Plate" from Brian's playbook. So this contest will require a little work to win on your part and on mine (I have to remember how I'm scoring the dang thing and for what). I know I usually don't ask for much but in this case it is the concept not me. I hope I haven't gotten in over my head on this thing.

Beginning with this post until the end of the contest at 4 PM (Eastern) on Friday the 24th, you will get one entry point for commenting on any post I've written on this blog. Only one comment per post will get points and try to make the comment relevant to the post subject. If you have previously commented on a post you can make a new comment, but only the new one will count toward the contest. The person who gets the most points, from comments, primping, following etc.. wins. Simple at least I hope so.

Since it is my 5th Blogiversary I will randomly pick 4 runner-ups who will receive cards from their favorite teams, and maybe some bonus stuff.

How to Enter and gain points:

• The first part and first point is easy just comment on this post for your entry and first point. If you don't comment on this post you will not be entered in the contest. It will be easier for me to keep track of people who entered that way.
• Become a follower. You will get one point for becoming a follower if you aren't already. If you are already a follower then you will get two points since you were already following. Loyalty sometimes pays off in the blogiverse.
• PIMP this contest on your blog and you get 5 bonus points. Make sure you include the link to your pimp I will check them out. No link = no points. Your link can be a second comment to this post, it doesn't get extra comments points, just the Pimpage Points.
• Send me some cards from my wants or needs lists (here and on Zistle) especially 1965 Topps Baseball to help with my "Strive for '65" goal. You can also send cards that you think I might be interested in I do also collect some Non-Sport stuff. Number of points TBD. 1965 Topps Baseball cards will score more points. To qualify for contest points a list of cards being sent needs to be sent to me before the deadline on the 24th. Try to get the cards sent to me sometime before the end of the year.

Sometime later I will make a Bonus Post for an opportunity or two for even more points.

The Prize(s):

• An unopened box of something. possibly several boxes
• A hanging rack-pack of 1989 Bowman Baseball - 38 count

In addition to that stuff I will try to cater the prize package to include cards of at least one of your favorite teams from the Top four American Sports (Baseball, Football, Hockey, Basketball).

Good Luck and let the contest comment cascade commence.

Oh it doesn't matter where you live. I can ship outside the US if need be. It will cost me more and take a little longer but it is possible just don't expect to get it before the Winter Holidays. Winners in the US I can include package tracking info.

Any questions about the contest or verification on a confusing issue regarding the contest please email me at klandersen at yahoo dot com

Strive For '65: 1964 World Series Sub Set

Strive For '65: Joy Of A Complete Sub Set:

1964 World Series Sub Set

I am falling behind in this Strive for '65 quest of mine. It is looking like I will not complete it in time. However, at the beginning of August (Friday 01 Aug 2014) I received a package from a member at TCZ for the Summer Secret Santa trade thing they had. It is one of those gift exchange things where you are given another members wants/needs and you send them a package anonymously. Along with 4 Washington Nationals cards my Santa sent 17 cards from the 1965 Topps Baseball set. This lot of almost 50 year old card goodness yielded not only the remaining card (#41 White Sox Rookie Stars: Bruce Howard and Marv Staehle) to finish my first Joy of a Completed Page for the set, but also the final key card (#
134 1964 World Series Game 3: Mantle's Clutch HR) to the 1964 World Series Subset.

Here is the World Series Subset fronts and backs by themselves. I won't babble on about the individual cards as I will probably do that when I complete the two pages that they are a part of.

1965 Topps Baseball 1964 World Series Sub-Set Cards 132-139

(Fronts and Backs)

Note card 138 on the back has a red mark through the card number. I would eventually like to upgrade that card but it is not as big a priority as trying to complete the dang set is.

Strive for '65 Set Total 194/598 (196/600)

Strive For '65: Joy of the First Complete Page 5

The Joy Of A Complete Page: 1965 Topps First Edition

(Page 5: Cards 37 - 45)

Thanks to a "Secret Santa in July" Package I received on Friday 01 August 2014 my Strive for '65 project gained 17 cards and I completed my first full page for the set. There are still four pages that don't have any cards at all, but page number 5 (Cards 37-45) is now complete. It also provided the final World Series card for that subset (I have a post for that subset scheduled for tomorrow) and OH the creative wrapping was a photocopy of a 1965 Topps Baseball wrapper. One of these days I'd love to get a real wrapper but this copy from a website acts as the cover for my 1965 Topps Baseball Binder.

CARD 37: Fred Gladding Tigers.

CARD 38: Jim King Senators. 

Jim was with Washington from 1961-1967

CARD 39: Gerry Arrigo Twins. 

 

Gerry was with the Twins from 1961-1964 he was then traded to the Reds. 

CARD 40: Frank Howard Dodgers.

 

Frank was traded to Washington in 1965 and was part of the 1972 Inaugural Texas Rangers team. 

CARD 41: White Sox 1965 Rookie Stars:
Bruce Howard (No Relation to Frank) and Marv Staehle.

 

 Bruce went on to join the Senators in 1968. Marv would join the Montreal Expos in 1969 - 1970

CARD 42: Earl Wilson Red Sox.

 

CARD 43: Mike Shannon Cardinals. 

 

CARD 44: Wade Blasingame Braves.

 

CARD 45: Roy McMillan Mets.

 

Current set total: 194/598 (196/600) 32.8%

Since I am a Washington Baseball fan I note any connections to Washington Baseball (Senators, Nationals, Expos, Twins, Rangers etc...)

UStream UGH

I recently checked up on my account at UStream to review how to do stuff there. It had been several months seven to be exact since I had last "broadcast" according to my account. I discovered that with the changes I had noticed a few months back that now my archived videos were GONE. I don't recall getting any notice that things would disappear after the changes, if I did get them I just thought it was typical updating with no real action required. I was wrong. With my BASIC account after 30 days any videos are automatically deleted. If you pay for a premium account you can keep whatever. So now any of the box break videos I had done here and the pack breaks I had done, anything I had UStreamed is GONE. I never thought to save my broadcasts offline. Why should I when the server that broadcast them in the first place was storing them?

The thing that really sucks is all the links I had made on this blog, and on some of the trading card forums now lead to an error page. **Sigh** I suppose I should do something about the links on my blogs that I can fix. Everything else OH WELL.

This reminds me of a few years back when Yahoo got rid of the personal photo albums. I hadn't backed up all of the photos I had there (most of them were stuff from emails that had been long deleted and swimsuit pics I found on the web) and so after the shut down anything I didn't have saved any where else was gone. Occasionally when I remember an image and can't find it anywhere maybe it was something from there.

This comes after I noticed that my Logitech webcam wasn't doing offline videos. Apparently as of 31 July 2013 Logitech no longer supported the software for my particular webcam for making videos. They suggest using Skype. Well I don't want to do Skype I don't even know how to use it. It is on my cellphone, not on my laptop. In someways with online videoing I am a super amateur newbie.

I toyed with the idea of using one of the box break services like UStream, but Blog.TV is now part of something else (YouNow?) and doesn't look like you can actually record what you broadcast. I looked into how to record on YouTube and it looks like that will work. I might need to do some practicing, and eventually I should get a better quality webcam. Who am I kidding so long as the cheap webcam works and as long as what I record isn't anything that would totally devastate me if it were lost I'm not going to get a new one.

This checking up on video making came about because I got word that a package I am expecting the sender wants the mailday opening to be video taped. The packaging has a surprise or a story or is in some special kind of order or some such nonsense like that. I was told the package was shipped out on Tuesday, so I should get it today or tomorrow (Saturday)