Down in the Dumps & in the Books

This has been a pretty rough start to the year.  I'll take my father's advice and avoid discussing politics, but I will say these are scary times and it's hard for me not to stress over what's going on.  The good news is that I can distract myself sometimes and talk about other stuff.

Today I wanted to show off a pair of books and some baseball cards that were recently sent to me.  Let's start with a Christmas present from my nieces in Oregon.  One of them is a huge Lions fan who happens to hate the Packers.  She made me this lovely tree ornament.

Her favorite author is Alan Gratz and they recently had the opportunity to meet him at a book signing.  I don't read a lot of books.  In fact, I'm lucky to read one a year.  But last year, I ended up reading two... and they were both historical fiction stories written by Gratz.   One of them covers the Battle of Okinawa from two perspectives: a young Okinawan boy and an American Marine.  The other one is about three young kids and their families from different countries and time periods forced to leave their homes and seek refuge somewhere else.

Refugee: The Graphic Novel by Alan Gratz

My nieces bought me the graphic novel version of the latter and had him sign it:

Thank you T & K!  I absolutely love it and plan on reading two more of his books by the end of 2026.

The other book I recently added to my collection was a gift from Jim @ cards as i see them:

1969 Topps Stamp Album #18

Here's a peek inside:

He also included a few Oakland A's inserts and parallels:

2025 Topps Chrome RayWave Refractor #67

The stamp book is a huge addition to my collection.  I'm planning on purchasing the final four stamps and fill the book as soon as possible.  I was also excited to see this Butler refractor.  I've really grown to appreciate the 2025 Topps design in recent months.

Matt over at Cards Over Coffee added to the collection of 2025 Topps Chrome refractors by sending me three more for my team set:

This six pack represents the core of the post-Oakland lineup.  I wasn't familiar with Tommy White, but it looks like he's one of their top prospects.

I'm gonna wrap things up with a Zippy Zapping from Kenny over at Torren' Up Cards.  He sent me this Calbee card of Shota Imanaga:

2023 Calbee #99

I'm always excited to add new Calbee cards to my binders... especially when they feature guys who have found success in the MLB.

While writing this post, Kenny sent another PWE with these three cards:

2025 Stadium Club NPB #180

2025 Bushiroad Dream Order #TBP01-L12

Not sure who Takumu Nakano is, but the card on the right features Tatsuya Imai.  He's one of the NPB stars who is bringing his talent to the MLB.  Back in December he signed a three year deal to pitch for the Houston Astros.

2024 Bandai Carddass Gintama

I'm not familiar with this character, but I enjoy collecting any Japanese trading cards... especially when they're shiny anime cards.

Thank you Jim, Matt, and Kenny for these cards.  They were a nice distraction from all of the drama going on in our country and around the world.

One of the things I'd like to do with this blog is return to my roots and begin ending my posts with questions like I did years ago.  So here we go...

Today's question of the day:

Outside of collecting cards, what do you like to do to reduce stress or help you take your mind off of things?

I'm not proud of it, but ever since I got sick back in December, I've been binge watching television shows like Stranger Things, Fallout, and Game of Thrones.  However normally, I enjoy going out for walks or riding my bike.  I'll also hop in my car and take it up in the hills.  If my back ever gets better, I'd love to start golfing again.  There is a really nice executive course a few miles from my place that is loaded with rabbits, deer, and turkeys.  It's about as therapeutic as it gets.

Well that's it for now...

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!

Chips & Donuts

Eating healthier is one of the most common New Year's resolutions and something I need to improve on.  But my first post of the year centers around cards related to a pair of unhealthy snacks:  chips and donuts.

Before I get to them, I wanted to thank all of you who commented on my post earlier in the week.  I thought I was getting better, but ended up spending most of the week in bed.  Today was the first day that I woke up and wasn't super congested.  Now if I could only kick this cough.

I also owe a huge thank you to my best friend who dropped off chicken noodle soup, orange juice, oranges, miso soup, and other snacks to me this week.  She did it "lockdown" style by leaving it on the porch and texting me from a distance.  Anyone else remember those days?

To return the favor, I woke and took a trip down to Dunkin' Donuts.  They're giving away these little tote bags (and a donut) with the purchase of any beverage.  She really likes stuff like this, while I'm more into stuff like this:

1998-99 EX-Century Dunk'N Go-Nuts #8DG

Back in 1998, I opened a lot of basketball and pulled this insert.

It's just another example of why I enjoy inserts from that era over today's stuff.

Let's move along to the "chips" segment of this post.

Now I've been sitting on a bunch of packages that I was planning on opening over the course of the holiday break.  But "phlegm" happens.

The thing about being congested is that most of the stuff I've been eating barely has any flavor.  Then earlier in the week, I remembered that Ryan a.k.a. SumoMenkoMan sent me a full case of 2025 Calbee Chips.

These are just salty enough to tickle my taste buds.  Plus each bag includes a pack of two baseball cards.  here's what this year's design looks like:

2025 Calbee #63

2025 Calbee #114

So far I've opened seven bags of chips, but this is the only pack of cards.  I'll definitely open up the rest at some point.  The same applies to the eBay purchases and blogger care packages (from Angus, Dennis, and Bob) shown above.

Update:  I just received three PWE's (not shown above) from Kenny, Matt, & Jim.

I did manage to ship out some holiday cards and care packages on Tuesday to the following zip codes:  

11572, 16933, 97230, 98665, 35750, 95350, 32720, 05866, 85226, 08540, 48105, 34472, 13601, 03063, 17320-8511, and 96326

I have a few more I need to put together as soon as I'm feeling better.

Thank you Ryan for the tasty chips.  And a special thanks to Kevin over at The Diamond King for motivating me to ship out more care packages this holiday season.

Inspired by Jeremy @ Topps Cards that Never Were, here are today's questions of the day:

What's your favorite chip?

What's your favorite donut?

Happy New Year and sayonara!

Whirlwind of a Week

This past week has been filled with surprises of all varieties that are best broken down into the following categories: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good:  Surprise Road Trip

Last Sunday my friend invited me to join her and her mom down in Pismo Beach for a short vacation along the Central Coast of California.  My lower back was feeling good for the first time in weeks, so I couldn't pass up this opportunity.

We spent a total of three days and two nights there and the weather was perfect for walking on the beach, doing a little shopping, eating delicious meals, and hanging out by the fire pit.

Here are a few photographs from our trip:

Tashi & Me

Wallet Card @ the Fire Pit

In a few days, it'll be eleven years since Gavin over at Baseball Card Breakdown inspired collectors to pick a card in their collection that they enjoy and start carrying it around in their wallets.  I don't go on too many vacations, but when I do... I'll pull it out.  

Wallet Card @ the Beach

In honor of Gavin, I made sure to take a photo of my wallet card in the wet sand.  He usually takes things a step further by allowing his card to take a dip in the water, but mine isn't quite ready to swim.

Another thing I like to do when writing about trips is research famous athletes who were raised in the area.  Unfortunately Pismo Beach's population isn't very high, so I couldn't find any notable athletes that I was familiar with from the area.

Ribeye @ Jocko's

However on Monday night, my friend took us out for a delicious ribeye steak at a restaurant in the small town of Nipomo.

2019 Topps Clear Travel #CP-53

Jeff McNeil went to high school in Nipomo and ironically, the New York Mets traded him to the Sacramento A's on the day of our dinner.

The next day we woke up, packed, ate a yummy breakfast then rushed back to the Bay Area in an effort to beat the rain, wind, and predicted flooding.  Thankfully we got home safe and sound, but this was going to be just a quick stop for me.

The Bad:  Under the Weather

My brother met me at my house and the next morning we drove to Roseville and spent Christmas with our brother's family.  We lucked out and avoided any holiday traffic, because we left at 5am.  But we did hit some rain which made it hard to see the roads at times.  Thankfully, my bro got us there in one piece.

Christmas Eve was pretty relaxing.  We watched some movies and ate a delicious miso salmon dinner.  However, I started to feel a little congested.

We all woke up early on Christmas morning, ate fried rice for breakfast, and opened presents.  At around 10am, my head was throbbing so bad from the nasal congestion that I took some Mucinex and laid down.  I kept hoping I'd feel better, but by the afternoon I had quarantined myself from the everyone.

It rained off and on throughout Christmas Day.  There's a creek that runs behind my brother's property that was slowly rising.  It peaked sometime around 9pm and ended up flooding half of the backyard, but thankfully the water had receded by the next morning.

The Ugly:  Worst Headache in Years

The day after Christmas, we came home.  I loaded up on over the counter cold meds, orange juice, and chicken noodle soup and hoped the road to recovery would begin.  It didn't.

Friday and Saturday were rough.  Every time I coughed, I'd feel a sharp pain in my head.  My main sources of relief were sleeping and taking hot showers.  Fortunately, I woke up this morning feeling a little better.  I still have a cough with phlegm, but the headache is tolerable.

I'm planning on resting one more day to help my body fight whatever it is I'm dealing with.  

Hopefully I'll finally ship out the holiday care packages I've been putting together either tomorrow or Tuesday.

In the meantime, I wanted to recap the highlights from my 2025 Topps Holiday Advent Calendar.  Several other bloggers have covered the day by day contents of their calendars, so I figured I'd just show my favorites...

2025 Topps Holiday Buyback: 1997 Topps #410

The two buybacks were the main reason I purchased one of these advent calendars.  To pull one of my all-time favorite baseball player was a dream come true.

The other card I was really hoping to pull was a Nick Kurtz rookie:

2025 Topps Holiday #H40

The Green Plaid parallels pair perfectly with any of the A's players.  I was fortunate to pull one:

2025 Topps Holiday Green Plaid #H32

It seems like The Nice List inserts were a hit with collectors.  I don't love them or hate them.  I just wish Topps made them a little tougher to pull.

2025 Topps Holiday Making The Nice List #MNL-2

Overall I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this product's design.  My buddy opened a couple of blasters and told me I could have his duplicates.  If I have a reasonable percentage of the set, I might just purchase a blaster and attempt to build it.

Well that's about all the energy I can muster right now for a blog post.  I hope all of you are enjoying your holidays.  As soon as I can ship out all of those care packages (hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday), I will write another post.

Until then...

Happy Sunday and sayonara!