This is what happens when you procrastinate

I ordered these cards over 2 months ago, before I moved to the land of sunshine.   But for some reason I've had these Joe Sakic cards sitting aside, in their penny sleeves, just watching them sit there while I delayed putting them in their binder, and marking them off of the Sakic checklist.

Why, I have no idea.  Maybe all the warm weather has me thinking of anything but hockey...

Then I look at the cards and think of a time a couple of decades ago when these cards were plentiful.  It makes me wonder why I never found these cards back in the 90's for my collection.

Maybe I didn't think far enough ahead...

Then I see cards like the gold parallel O-Pee-Chee premier on the right hand side of the scan above, and I think back to when I lived in Canada, and my card collection was still growing and very disorganized.

Fast forward to the turn of the century, and my Sakic collection was still there, but I never took time to look at it or even pay attention to what I had or didn't have.  Putting together a checklist was the furthest thing from my mind.  I was in my early 30's when these cards were released, and to be honest I was still growing as a collector. 

Fast forward to later in the aughts, Upper Deck rules the game as far as hockey cards go.  It makes me wax nostalgic a little bit, wanting a little more variety like there was in the 90's.  But then I snap out of it, realize that you can't go home again, and accept the fact that card collecting is what it is today.

I'm a better collector than I was 20 or 30 years ago, because I'm more organized and my collection is more focused.  What's sad is that the collector that I am now doesn't have the variety that existed back in the day.

When I sit down and think about what I want to do from a collecting standpoint going forward, I look at things like my Joe Sakic PC, which I have really enjoyed building over the years, and wonder if I might be slowly progressing away from set building.

I really have enjoyed the challenges that some of the vintage sets that I'm working on have provided, but the time and expense have been a little daunting to say the least.  I know what you're thinking, player PC's can be costly and time consuming as well, especially for star players like Joe Sakic.

See, this is what happens when you procrastinate.   You think too much about what you're doing, instead of enjoying what's in front of you.

I do enjoy what I'm collecting, who I'm collecting, and being a part of a group of collectors who enjoy writing about a great hobby.   It probably would be even better if I started writing more about it instead of thinking....

Thanks for reading, Robert

Testing the waters

Today was the first trip to the monthly card show down here in the south.  When I visit regular card shows for the first time, I usually go just to scope it out and see what kind of selection there is.

To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised.  I would say that there was roughly 20 vendors there (not bad), and the selection was a little better than I expected.

To say that I was shocked to find hockey at a South Florida would be an understatement.

Finding a Maple Leafs 1971-72 OPC logo card shocked me even more.  Only paying a buck for it was even better!

The 74-75 Topps Borje Salming rookie for $3 was also a great find for me.  I think that I already have a copy in my collection, but a 2nd copy of this card doesn't hurt.

The long lost quest to complete the 1973 Topps set actually took one step forward today.   I found this Hank Aaron all time total bases leader card for $5

All my purchases wound up at just one table, which will probably be a regular haunt for me.  This dealer had quite the vintage selection, similar to the vendor I frequented at the monthly shows in Pennsylvania.  The other five cards that I bought today were from the '59 Topps set, including card # 462 of Rocky Colavito.

This Colavito, along with the other 4 cards bring me to just over 3/8's of the '59 set.  I saw an off center Stan Musial for $25 today, but passed on it.   $25 is actually all that I spent today, buying just 9 cards.

I saw enough today to know that I'll probably attend the show on a regular basis.  Next time, I think I'll bring a list...

Thanks for reading, Robert