Gasoline, New Orleans Jazz, Ray Jackson, and a Math Lesson!

If you're a teacher, you've inevitably been asked... Why do I need to know how to do this? Well today kiddies... I'm going to explain how I figured out the total amount of money I spent on gas, when I drove to Saturday's card show.

Step 1: I calculated the mileage. According to Google Maps, the route I took is approximately 49 miles. So the roundtrip distance was 98 miles.

Step 2: I calculated how much gas I used driving that distance. Since my Toyota averages 32 to 33 miles per gallon and I drove 98 miles, I estimated that I used around 3 gallons of gas on my trip. In other words, I divided the 98 miles by 32 (miles per gallon), then rounded to the nearest whole number.

Step 3: I calculated how much money it took to fill my car up with 3 gallons of gas. Today, I went to Shell and spent $3.59/gallon on gas. Since I used roughly 3 gallons of gas on my trip, I multiplied $3.59 by 3 gallons. Survey says... $10.77.

Now, I'm sure you're all wondering. Why the heck do I care how much you spent on gas?

The answer is... I don't know. I just wanted to see if I truly spent more on gas, than I did on buying cards at this past Saturday's show.

And guess what... I did spend more on gas. I spent a total of $5 on food, $8 on cards, $9 on supplies, and $10.77 on gas.

In short... the show stunk... but at least I was able to pick up some cheap singles... that when you factor in the cost of food, gas, and time... didn't really turn out to be that cheap. Here's a recap of my major card show haul:

Purchase #1: 76 cards for $7

Baseball Cards

I picked up a bunch of 90's inserts for my PC. My favorites were easily these 1991 Fleer Pro-Visions. By now you understand my obsession over "refractors", so the Jose Reyes was a must. The 1986 Topps Traded Bobby Bonilla and the 1983 Fleer Willie McGee rookies were both must haves twenty-five years ago... which means they're must haves for my 80's rookie card collection. And last, but not least, there's the 1978 Topps Rollie Fingers. This is easily my favorite baseball card in the lot. It features one of my favorite players from the 80's in the classic yellow and brown Padres uniform. Simply beautiful.

Football Cards

An insert of Dorsey Levens for my Packers PC. A Terrell Owens addition to my 90's insert PC. A cool 1983 sticker of The Diesel. A vintage card of a HOF kicker. A gold parallel rookie card of Seattle's overpaid and overrated receiver... who happens to share the same birthday as me. And to top it off... a few 1989 Topps rookie cards of a future HOFer, a Packers legend, and of a current HOFer.

Basketball Cards

It was slim pickings when it came to basketball cards this time around. I had to add the Hardaway, since I love oddballs and Timmy is a legend in the Bay Area. The Baron Davis will fit nicely into my all-new Golden State PC. Anytime you can find a vintage HOFer card for ten cents, you have to grab it... so the Goodrich was a must. Plus, I had no idea he played on the New Orleans Jazz. Actually... I didn't even realize that the Jazz once played in New Orleans. FYI: I started following basketball in the mid 80's.

Finally, there's this sweet 1994 Flair Pat Summit card. In August, Summit was diagnosed with onset dementia, an illness that she shares with my 102 year old grandmother. When I heard the story, I immediately wanted to find one of her cards and found out she was part of a subset in the 1994 Flair USA set. I made several offers on some cards/sets, but nobody responded. And now, I know why. It's because I was meant to find this beauty in a ten cent bin.

Purchase #2: Supplies $9

Yep... I spent more money on supplies, than on cards. That's how bad the show was. If you didn't read my Sunday post, the I'll provide a short recap. I drove almost an hour to get to a mall show that had less than 20 dealers. Selection was poor, but at least I was able to pick up two supplies I needed: Magazine Bags & 8x10 Sleeves.

Purchase #3: An autograph and 5 singles $1

I went back to the guy with 10 cent singles. This time, I decided to get a little crazy and look through his 50 cent singles. That's when I found this sweet 1995 Signature Rookies Draft Day autograph of Ray Jackson.

Who the heck is Ray Jackson, you ask? He's the only member of Michigan's Fab Five to not play in the NBA. And I'm now the proud owner of his John Hancock.

I wasn't able to find any other 50 cent singles, so I ended up picking out five more 10 cent cards... but none of them were anything special... just a few Joe Montana cards for my students.

Freebie #1: 1997/98 Topps Chrome "Refractor" Byron Scott

After making my way around the show... I decided to hang out at my buddy's table. He brought out a bunch of singles that he was selling for a dollar each. I helped him sort the singles and he rewarded me with this sweet refractor of Mr. Scott... who happens to be the guy who hooked me on watching the sport.

This card is actually pretty sweet and has been on my wantlist for awhile now... because it's one of his last official cards from his playing days... and actually includes all of his career stats, because he never dressed during the 97/98 season. Thanks Mike! Appreciate the freebie.

Question of the day:

Be honest... did you know that the Jazz used to play in New Orleans?

And... have you ever heard of the lost Fab Five member... Mr. Ray Jackson?

Happy Tuesday everyone... and Sayonara!