LCS - Last Card Shop?

So it looks like Beckett got hit with some nasty ransomware and they are slowly coming back on line. Hopefully they fill all their back orders soon. 

Also, speaking of sports card websites that have fallen off hard... COMC is having some kind of Black Friday warm-up sale. I haven't ordered from them in about two years but I decided to check it out on the off chance that they had enough unique cards to make one last final order worthwhile. 

The good news is, their shipping times seem to be better. I had six low-end cards in my cart and the ETA was second week of November at a $7.49 shipping charge. But then I added one more card. A $300 graded card:

no, I did not buy this card

The shipping charge went up. I figured with their newish per-card rate and maybe a $1 surcharge for slabbed singles the new shipping charge would be about $9. 

Oh you sweet summer child.
 

The shipping charge for 7 cards - six low-end singles and a $300 Yaz - was over $22!!

Needless to say I did not complete the order and I am not dealing with COMC ever again. I shall take my $300 to JB's Sportscards in Milford, CT this weekend for one last card shop run.*

*there is a small chance I'll shop at the Card Cave in NJ again, but that's an $18 Uber ride each way, so it's not really worthwhile

I've made a lot of progress with set building projects and reorganized my baseball, football, and basketball cards to clear room. Now I've got to fill that extra space with cards! 

So this weekend I'm headed home to visit Mom for a couple days (my daughters are staying in Jersey - more on that later) and I should have ample time to sort through all their monster boxes of singles and rows of old and new packs (plus those tantalizing mystery packs) without feeling rushed. 

Last time I was at JB's I did a lot of shopping for the 10th Anniversary giveaway. This time, I can focus on finishing sets, filling spaces in my Red Sox binders, and grabbing some random packs. Or a set..

Remember how hard it was to get your hands on cards during the peak of the COVID pandemic? I think the only packs I opened in 2020 were from a blaster of Allen & Ginter my wife ordered for me as a gift. 

I've accumulated a couple packs worth of 2020 Topps singles since then, and I might pick up a box or a factory set if I see one because 1) there's room on my baseball wall for a 700-card set.

There's also room for two 350-card sets, though one of those spots is reserved for 2026 Topps Update.

and 2) I have hand-collated (or factory) sets for almost every Topps flagship release from 2010 to 2026. The only years I don't have are 2020 and the godawful 2021 set with the unreadable names and photos from the icky 60-game season. 

Cardboard cutout fans! Face masks! Corporate branded tarp! Jose Marmolejos!

If I don't end up finding a lot of cheap singles I can always roll the dice on a flat rate box from an eBay seller. But as I recall, JB's has loads of boxes full of commons and semistars all the way back to the early 1970s. And they were in pretty good shape, too. Better than most SportLots sellers :/

That's all the trading card news I have for now, so if you dont want to read life updates you can jump off here. I'm not rebranding back to the Pedestrian Writer (I swear) but there is some interesting stuff going on and I don't have Instagram or (god forbid) Twitter to share my musings with random strangers, so here we are...

Last week I decided to sign up for a free trial session at a local gym. I have never actually gone to a gym.. ever. But a couple weeks ago, when I was bringing my bicycle up from the basement, I got  winded so much my chest hurt. Not from riding my bicycle. From carrying my bicycle. It's long past time I started taking care of myself. I'm 46 and the single parent of two teenage girls. I cannot die on them. Now, was the very fit and attractive woman in my neighborhood a bit of a motivating factor in finally going to the gym? I'm not saying she was. But I'm not not saying that. 

So I made my appointment for Sunday morning and... it rained. It didn't rain all week last week, and it's not going to rain this week. It only rained when I planned to go to the gym. It's a sign. Also, I tried finding the place the day before and got lost. It's a sign! Also, I saw neighbor lady walking two dogs while I was on the other side of the street and she looked damn good and she didn't say hello. [say it with me] It's. A. Sign!

Yeah.. the vibes were so awful that I didn't even try to go and I didn't bother to reschedule. The gym sent me a text saying "we missed you! reschedule your free trial lesson"... and I laughed. Ha! Like Mrs Krabappel. Ha! 

And then I felt so tired and lazy this morning that I decided to take a work from home day. My boss is on PTO, and my co-worker in the credit department had PTO last week. So at least I'm working, right? Well, I did some work and then I took my bike out to the grocery store, and then I rode around a bit, did some more work for the office, cleaned up a bit around my house... and the vibes were better. It was a nice day. Chilly, but nice. And I started to think that I should really use that free session before I go to Connecticut because it might -- might -- prompt me to save some cash for a full membership instead of blowing it all on baseball cards and old world style ahbeets. 

Anyway, I popped a pack of good mood gummies, lugged my bike up the stairs, and pedaled to the gym. Didn't get lost this time! And I even got there early so the trainer could walk me through each station and show me the exercises. He and the front desk lady were very helpful and welcoming; they introduced me to a guy who had been a member for a few months and warned me this was going to be a "tough workout Lots of cardio." I actually prefer that, as I was worried weights would be too much for me. 

There were about 15 other people in the class, of varying fitness levels. I was the only true noob, of course. Despite some minor setbacks (I was pedaling backwards at one point; foot pedals on the rowing machine gave me trouble) I got through it without having a mental breakdown. I was actually chill all things considered. Physically.. that was a different story. I was gassed fairly quickly, thought I was going to puke at one point, and almost tapped out before the final station (one in which I forgot what movements I was supposed to do because my brain had crashed for the day.) 

However.. I finished. I just wanted to finish without embarrassing myself and that mission was accomplished. Both the trainer and the manager lady greeted me afterward and said "great job", etc.. Apparently I impressed them because I .. ran on the treadmill?!? Trainer guy said we could walk / jog / walk but when I don't know what I'm doing I look to the person next to me and the person next to me happened to be this jacked super pro with muscles on her muscles. Guess what she was doing? Running on the treadmill. Because she fucking can. So I ran.. when I could. Not to compete or anything but to blend in. 

Anyway, I like it and I want to go back but I told them I'll need to think it over because 1) I can only go twice a week, and for two workouts a week to have any noticeable effect on my body I need to clean up my diet. And that is harder than any workout. I eat like a frat boy. Except I drink Mountain Dew instead of cheap beer, which is probably worse at my age {hey neighbor lady.. check out this soda addict who collects baseball cards and doesn't drive. isn't he hot?!?}

And 2) it's $99 for the first month. After that it's.. $170 I think? I dunno, I was wiped out when she explained it. Christmas is coming and my daughters (and I) have something to spend money on every damn day. I can't buy a '67 Yaz or whatever cause their yearbooks total roughly the same amount. Ugh!

But hey, at least I don't have to shell out a bunch of money taking neighbor lady out on a date. That would truly suck. 😜

Thanks for reading!

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