100 Days in--I'm sure that the turkey is frozen by now

I kind of feel like I've been in a collecting cocoon for the first 100 days of the calendar year.  Maybe being in a snail's shell would be a more appropriate description.  Staying away from new product has kept me in kind of an isolation; at least that how it feels to me...

I've been to the big box stores a few times in the past few weeks, and have pretty much resisted any kind of temptation to buy 2018 product.

It appears as if I've been the only one who has done so if you look at my twitter feed.  I'm seeing all kinds of tweets and posts about Series 1, Gypsy Queen, Heritage and Opening Day.  Lots of great pulls and a lot of joy over this year's releases.  That's why my twitter feed is heavily populated with card collectors; I love seeing what people pick up or pull from packs.

I see that Pat Neshek sold a Shohei Otani autograph on ebay.  LOL, the rich get richer.

But then I sit and think about this merriment, and I'm glad for everyone.  And I'm also glad for myself, for a couple of reasons.

1. I'm at day 100 of not buying any new product.  I expected to have the shakes by Valentine's day, but focusing on my want lists and picking up cards off of ebay, COMC and Sportlots has made staying away from new product that much easier.
2. I'm actually working on getting my Jays collection in order.  This project which has been on my plate for over a year now is finally getting the attention it deserves.

Over 3500 cards have been added to my Jays collection on the TCDB, and the craziest decade is to be added next.  I did not realize how many cards I have from the 1990's!  I've spent a couple of days going through this pile that took up two rows of a 5 row monster box, and found a bunch of cards that I'd totally forgotten about.

Totally forgot about the '91 Upper Deck Silver Slugger cards.  Love the design of '91 UD, and the Silver bat just adds to the enjoyment.  Would have loved to see Kelly Gruber stay healthy and have a longer career with the Jays...

Collector's choice at 99 cents a pack.  Check.  Art card of one of the best players to wear a Blue Jays uniform.  Check.  Silver signature parallel (personal weakness).  Check.  Hard for me not to like a card such as this '94 Collector's Choice checklist card.

I could look at cards featuring catchers that wear hockey goalie style masks all day and never get bored.  This is a '97 Upper Deck card, and I didn't realize that catchers had been sporting this style of mask for 2 decades now.  My how time flies.

I've seen a lot of cards of guys who only spent a season or two (or even less) in Jays colors.  Jose Canseco for one.  Benito Santiago.  Omar Vizquel.  Raul Mondesi.  Lance Parrish.  I think some of my apprehension for sorting all these cards was having to look at all of them.

Now I realize that that was the blessing...

Los Azulejos de Toronto.  Because of this card, I now know how to say Toronto Blue Jays in Spanish.   Good thing, because where I live I'm bound to run into a Spanish speaker just as easily as an English one.   Oh, and seeing the old school Jays logo is pretty cool too.

Yes, I've made it to 100 days, and the proverbial cold turkey that I've gone is frozen.

At least for a while longer...

Thanks for reading, Robert