I'm Back...And I'm Fearless

It seems like I've been out of commission for a long, long time. In reality, I made my last post 5 days ago, the longest stretch between posts so far on this blog. It feels weird writing from work, but I am going to truck through it for the next couple of weeks. 

As you probably heard around this time last month, I celebrated my 21st birthday on July 5th. My buddy Dikran bought me a couple of fantastic birthday gifts earlier in the year (here and here), but he also decided to purchase a few more cards to give to me when the actual date arrived. I have been slow to post them, but I figured now would be a perfect time to start. 

In an effort to spread out the posts and provide some content, I will spread the card posts over a few days. 

We'll start out with a pair of fantastic looking inserts from Panini Prizm. Though Panini doesn't have licensing, they continue to put out some quality inserts in their products. I'm still a little 'meh' on most of Panini's base cards, but their brightly colored inserts are fun. 

The card on the left happens to be the purple parallel #'d /99, though I'd argue it is more of a pink. The blue parallel on the left, which scanned much better than the purple one, is #'d /75. Both are fantastic additions to my Adrian Beltre PC which now sits at 104 cards. On a slightly odd note, my Adrian Beltre, Shawn Green, and Clayton Kershaw PC's all have exactly 104 cards. Weird.  

For those that got this far, be sure to check out the brand new blog Rhythm and Wax that Dikran started to admire both his cards and his music. His last post actually shows off one of the many birthdays gifts I am planning to purchase Dikran in exchange for all of the wonderful gifts he has showered on me. 

Thanks again Dikran! 

State of the Blog + A Thanks to Judson

I rarely put out these types of posts, but it is a good time to get a few tidbits of info out there. 

I haven't mentioned it before, but I work at a Mini Storage part time. My grandparents have been the managers there for 25+ years. They work four days a week, my co-worker (Rose) and I work the other three. My grandparents also live onsite, in an apartment upstairs, above the office. Starting Thursday, they will be going on their annual 3-week vacation to Hawaii. That leaves me and Rose to work for three weeks straight. It may not be fun, but the money at the end will be nice. 

The point of this story, however, is to inform you that I will be staying in an apartment above a mini storage office for three weeks. 

My dad will periodically drop by and drop off mail to me, but I will be gone from a majority of my cards for a short while. I will do my best to get as many trade packages out tomorrow, but I may be quiet on the trade front for the next few weeks. 

Additionally, posting will also see a small decrease over the next few weeks. Their vacation runs straight up to the point I start school again, which is a whole other conversation. 

Starting this semester, I will be working as an English/Writing tutor at my colleges tutorial center. Believe it or not, I am able to write intelligible things outside of the blog. The blog is a big help in allowing me to type out a bunch of words in a much more casual setting. In many ways, the blog has helped me grow as a writer. Of course, with the less than inspiring writing I put into this, the results aren't always apparent. 

Anyways......with my grandparents Oma and Opa out on vacation, and my impending status as a third year community college student (plus tutor) all overlapping at the same time, I may be busy. If I am slow in getting back to you, or if it seems like I forgot to mail out cards to you, just know that I did not forget. 

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But this blog is about cards, so let's take a look at a sweet card I received from Judson of My Cardboard Habit. 

Woohoo! I love me some blue parallel Dodgers, especially when it features my favorite player. Please Ned, don't trade him......

Thanks again for the awesome card Judson!

A PWE From Nate

I recently competed my fourth trade with Nate of Big 44 Sports Cards. Nate has been one of my go-to trade partners during the life of the blog, so I was pretty psyched when he contacted me about my newest card. 

The beauty comes from the newest edition of Allen and Ginter's, arguably the best one in a few years. Kemp is not a prominent feature in A&G this year, and I have noticed a decrease of Kemp cardboard as of late. So you can say I'm glad to see he was featured on a relic in one of my favorite sets of the year. 

Thanks for the card Nate! I'm sure it won't be long before we deal again. 

Baseball Card Breakdown: A Trade

I recently completed my first trade with the delightful Gavin of Baseball Card Breakdown. Like the name of his blog might suggest, I will be breaking down our trade of baseball cards. 

As a fan of the San Diego Padres, you can bet Gavin had some spare Adrian Gonzalez cards to send my way. In fact, Gavin sent over six new A-Gon cards with my favorite being the Pure Heat insert card. I wasn't a big fan of the Pads color scheme a few years back. They can still use some help in that department, as I think they have the most drab uniforms in the league. 

Gavin also sent over some awesome vintage cards. I seem to like 1974 Topps more and more every time I get a new card. That Joe Ferguson above is a thing of beauty.

Turns out there was another pair of vintage cards (depending on your definition of vintage) inside this sweet PWE waiting for me. These old school cards hail from 1981 Topps, a set I am sort of 'meh' on. Either way, I love getting my hands older cardboard. 

The best thing in this trade may have been this slick 1/1 sketch by Gavin himself. It is truly a unique piece of Matt Kemp cardboa....paper, that will be a welcome addition to my Matt Kemp PC. 

Thanks for the cards Gavin! Hope to do it again soon!

Rhythm and Wax + Some Other Blog Notes

I wanted to drop by and give a couple of updates on the state of the blog, so here they are. 

1. Check out Dikran's new blog, Rhythm and Wax

With so many bloggers seemingly taking a leave of absence from the blogging scene, it is good to see a new face out there. Of course, this new face happens to be my best friend and card collecting partner, Dikran. 

He plans on showcasing his cards and music, and somehow combining the two from time to time. He put out a welcome post the other day, but he will be posting more and more as he becomes acclimated with the whole blogger get-up. 

Be sure to give him a follow!

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2. I am still waiting to hear back from a couple of contest winners. Email me!

Namely Skroeker and Ruben. Ruben was the last place winner, so I mainly just need an address from him, but I have no idea who Skroeker is. I cannot find anything on Twitter and Disqus is acting up on my end. So this is sort of a last call for Skroeker. 

If I don't hear from him/her by tomorrow evening, I will go ahead and move forward with a new winner in their place. 

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Not really important, but here is another fantastic card from the Archer base set I forgot to mention on the blog the other day. This is one of my favorite scenes/episodes from the show. It depicts Cheryl (voiced by Judy Greer) hallucinating after drinking some Krieger Klense to help eliminate drugs from her system. Seriously, go watch this show!

A Mattycake Bargain

I thought I got the deal of the year when I won this card on eBay a couple of weeks ago. Somehow I topped it a couple of days ago, but that doesn't disparage the great bargain I got this card for. 

Numbered 20/99, this bad boy hails from 2011 Panini Playoff Contenders. Upon my re-entrance to the hobby, I bought a TON of this product. The packs were cheap at my LCS, and each box had 6 autos. I never did pull any quality hits, but I successfully pulled my first ever auto, a Nick Castellanos autograph. That is long gone, so I am pretty surprised I remembered that little story.

But like I said, I got this card for a helluva deal: $5.65 shipped. You can't beat that price with a stick. This beauty pushed the total cards in my Matt Kemp PC to 167 cards, eight of which are Mattycake autos. 

Archer Base Set: "You Look At These And Tell Me They're Not Perfect"

Well...almost perfect. But we'll get to that.

The important thing is that I finally got my hands on the Archer base set from Cryptozoic. If you are not familiar with the show, take a look at the clip below.

It is seriously one of the funniest shows on TV today. If you have a Netflix account, go binge watch all four seasons like I am currently doing. I only 7 more episodes until I have to figure out another show to devote my life to.

But back to the cards. The card you see above features a shot from the opening sequence of the pilot. The cards feature a simple design with elements based on the opening credits. The set consists of 72 cards, each with a quote from a different character on the back. But like I said, the cards are not always perfect.

I'm not sure who Laura is, but I am positive that the quote belongs to one of Archer's love interests, Lana Kane.

Lana, the shirtless one, also happens to be the source for the quote I used in the title. In fact, that quote came directly off the back of this card which features a scene from the final episode of Season 3, Space Race: Part II. 

Although Archer is the central figure of the show, Dr. Krieger may be my favorite character. According to his wikia page, his first name is Algernoop. That is news to me, but Algernoop Kreiger is an 80 name in my book. 

The show is just filled with outrageous characters and scenarios, but Kreiger may be the most bizarre. Whether he is producing clones of himself, drugging the other employees of ISIS, creating cyborgs, or creating a a sexbot named Fister Roboto, Krieger may be one of might just be one of my favorite TV characters of all-time. 

As of now, I only have the base set completed. However, I am currently in the process of getting my hands on some 1/1 sketch cards from this wonderful show. 

Until then, I'll just have to sit and wonder why he was dressed as Hitler.

Matt Kemp was a Rookie Sensation + New Trade Bait

I recently completed a trade with Kyle of Beware the Hockey Card Closet. He had some Chavez Code points remaining and decided to cash them in. 

In return for some cards I sent his way, Kyle sent me this sweet rookie card of Matty Ice. It is a new addition to my Matt Kemp PC, which now sits at 166 cards. That sounds pretty good, but hopefully I can reach 200 by the end of the year. 

Kyle and I actually swapped some hits. He took a few of my relic, #'d, and auto cards and I received a few back to reload on my trade bait. Included was this relic of ex-Dodger, Brad Penny. Penny pitched pretty well for the Dodger  for a few years ago, but I never really became a big fan of his. I know it's a Dodger, but it is headed to my trade bait.

I decided not to scan every card that Kyle sent my way, primarily to force you to check out my Trade Bait page. I did decide to scan this card though, mainly because I forgot that Soriano ever played for the Rangers. This probably would have been quite the hot ticket item ten years ago, but not so much anymore. 

Thanks again for the awesome cards Kyle! 

Topps BUNT

A few weeks ago I came across a this great post by Mark of Mark's Ephemera. Because I am just soooo creative, I reused the same simple title as his post. 

Simple or not, it does a good job indicating what this post is about: Topps BUNT.

For those with iPhones or Android smartphones, you can download this app for free and create your own digital collection of cards.

To be honest, the idea is kind of cheesy. I mean who wants to have a digital collection if we could just have the real things in person? 

Well, apparently I liked the cheesy idea, because I am pretty hooked on it now. It gives me something to do when it is slow at work, when I am standing in line at Six Flags, or if I am simply laying in bed but not ready to go to sleep. Cards, even the digital ones, seems to have a grasp on my soul. 

The app is primarily filled with base cards, but it does offer some parallels. You may notice the four squares on the far left of the card; this happens to be the silver parallel which happens to have three of the four squares filled. Like in real life, pulling cards like this have tougher odds.

Of course, you may get lucky and pull a gold parallel every once in a while. I was lucky enough to pick up this sweet gold parallel of Dodgers All-Star, Dee Gordon. I have since traded it for the Kemp Gold parallel, which means I have the Kemp rainbow in the app!

This card also reminded me that there are no horizontal shots in the set. It also reminded me that there are ton of those damn up close shots, even in the app. 

But enough of those, the real prizes in the game are the inserts. 

This is the Men of Action insert of Dodgers ace, Clayton Kershaw. Although it is technically an insert, these Men of Action cards are widespread. They seem to pop up every other pack for new users, and the initial packs they come in are very cheap. I found this out after I traded pretty heavily for it, but I don't think it is a big deal. This subset only has three players: Kershaw, Strasburg, and Hernandez and I now have all three cards. 

Remember how I mentioned there were no horizontal cards in the app? Well, you end up with cards like this because of it. Frankly, I don't really want to talk about Joe Kelly right now, but this card is hideous and should be burned. Too bad it is digital.....wait, maybe that's a good thing. 

I found out a ton of useful information about this app after doing some research for this post. I was even able to pick up this sweet piece of #ManBearPuig along the way. Although the app may be kind pointless, it can be fun and addicting at times. I have not spent a dime on any cards, yet, and it isn't really necessary to play the app. You are given free coins everyday, and you can complete team sets for more coin rewards.

If you do decide to download it, be sure to add me as a friend. My username is Chavez_Ravining. Apparently somebody already took my blog's name, which is why I had to throw that underscore in there.

Ya Heard? With Perd!

Let me begin this post by starting it.

The thing this blogger bought on eBay, is a card. That amount it set this blogger back, was a small one.

But enough Perd talk. This card cost just a few bucks shipped, and is a great addition to my Parks and Rec autograph subset. With the addition of this card, I now sit at about the halfway marker toward my goal of obtaining all 13 autos. Check out my progress below.

My Progress (6/13)

Amy Poehler (Leslie Knope)

Rob Lowe (Chris Traeger)

Aziz Ansari (Tom Haverford)

Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson)

Aubrey Plaza (April Ludgate)

Jim O’Heir (Jerry Gergich)

Retta (Donna Meagle)

Jay Jackson (Perd Hapley)

Mo Collins (Joan Callmezzo)

Megan Mullally (Tammy Swanson)

Paul Rudd (Bobby Newport)

Fred Armisen (Raul)

Parker Posey (Lindsay Carlisle Shay)