My 14th season of insanity.

December, in my line of work, is the month of darkness.  You may or may not remember that I work in the transportation industry. 

Transportation, a fancy word for getting your packages to you as quick as possible before you start calling and screaming at me. 

Over the past 14 years, I've learned a lot about people, especially when it comes to their packages.  (Speaking of packages, I haven't received any lately....I'm kind of bummed)  People get mad when you leave packages at their doorstep.  People get mad when you don't leave packages at their doorstep.  People get mad when you ask them for a signature.  People get mad when you don't have them sign. People just get mad.

You know what, for the "Christmas" season, this is the time of year when people are the bitchiest. Working the phones this time of year is even more stressful.  At least there's one thing that I can rely upon right now to get me out of the doldrums.

A little insanity.

The boys have been good to me lately.  Over 700 cards are in towards the insanity set.  I've had people send me a couple, I've had people send me a dozen.  I've had people send me blue cards, green cards, orange cards and red cards.  Pretty much most of the colors under the rainbow that Topps has released over the years has found its way to my doorstep via trades, eBay, and of course the mighty blogosphere.

I decided to wax a little nostalgic and dig up some cards that are part of the first 700 and show them off.

First up is old/new Jays manager John Gibbons

Card # 430

Gibbons garnered fame the last time around as Jays manager by getting into a heated confrontation with Shea Hillenbrand.  A couple of days later, Hillenbrand found himself wearing Giants colors, and by the end of the next season, found himself out of major league baseball for good. 

This next card is one that I grabbed very early on in the project, and has been one of my favorites.

Card # 22

There's something to be said for the red X-fractor cards from the 2005 Topps chrome set.  Even the name on top is a X-fractor. 
Fun fact:  Tucker's career batting average during the regular season is the same as his post season average.  .256

Here's a couple of cards that are back to back in the set that you might find ironic:

The Manny is #689, the Rodriguez is #690.  The cards came from two different bloggers.  How wild is it that two consecutive cards, from the same set, come from two different bloggers.  Maybe more coincidental is that they are both admitted "performance enhancers"?

Then, there's the most interesting man in the world (wait, I meant on the free agent market...)

I was going to put card #1391 in here, but that would have been redundant...

This is a guy I want to succeed.  The demons he faces are tough.  The temptation has to be incredible.  Yes, alcohol is a choice we can make, same as tobacco, but once the alcohol demon has a hold of you, it is tough to let go.  I can relate...Josh, I hope you get a big contract and end up somewhere that gives you peace for the remainder of your career.

finally, there comes a time where I just feel like showing off a full page of insanity...

just because...

Here's hoping that my month of insanity for the 14th year helps you, in some way, get all the packages you ordered on Black Friday/Cyber Monday or any other day that you order in the next 2 weeks to your door.

If you leave it past the 13th...you're on your own.

Thanks for reading, Robert