State of the Blog and a Return to Semi-Regular Posting

          It's amazing how time flies.  I took a look at my blog today and realized it's been over a month since I wrote anything meaningful.  Well, at least something that pertained to my collection.
     I ran into a plethora of computer issues including (but not limited to) a full hard drive meltdown, a battery failure (its a laptop) and hardware and software updates.  I finally got that back up and running with all of my music ripped and backed up on 7 CD-R data discs.  Sometimes there's just not enough hours in the day to get everything done!
     I've also been hard at work outside in the yard cutting down trees in preparation for my sister-in-law's boyfriend to bring over his backhoe to rip the stumps out of the ground.  I'm nearing the homestretch and I haven't cut my leg off with the chainsaw or damaged anything with falling trees!  There's about 50 trees left (nothing too big but big enough to need a backhoe to pull the stumps out of the ground) that need to hit the ground before I can call this project done.  Then the next project will be finding somebody to come and haul away the firewood.  Anybody know somebody in Richmond that needs some?
     So what does all of this have to do with baseball cards?  Not much, unfortunately!  Just because I've been busier than a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest doesn't mean that my collection has suffered.  Only my blog has been neglected!
     Since Christmas break I've reorganized just about every aspect of my collection.
     I've given about 10,000 cards I don't need to kids I know.  A bunch of doubles that I had no use for and I'm sure the youngins would like them.
     I sent a bunch of stuff to COMC.  Hopefully the processing doesn't take too long.  I'll let everybody know when they go up for sale.
     I also backed off of my complete set complete sell out.  I've decided to keep all of my regular Topps sets  from 1981 thru the present.  I will be selling off all of my Bowman ('89-present) and Upper Deck ('89-'09) complete sets as well as some of the other random sets I have around ('09 Topps 206 regular and mini, '07-'09 Goudey).  I'm still on the fence about whether or not to get rid of my Allen and Ginter near sets, and the UD Masterpieces though.  The are all great sets but I just don't look at them once I complete them.  I guess it's just the thrill of the chase but once I get them all, the thrill is gone.
     I have decided to collect just the regular Topps sets from here on out.  I'm working on 2013 right now.  I didn't buy a hobby box and decided to try and build it just from retail purchases.  It's going to cost me more in the long run, so experiment failed.  I'm not going to write up a pack break or review because I'm sure everyone is sick of seeing series 1 by now.  Just check out my trade list to see what I pulled and have available to trade.
     I haven't totally given up on building the 1974 thru 1980 Topps sets even though I've traded some of those cards over the last month.  They just aren't a priority right now.
     I've revamped all of my trade lists to include the inserts that I have from 2011 and 2012 I've also added a section for the hits and notable cards for each team that are for trade.  I figured it would be easier to find cards from your favorite team than just looking at a long list.
     I even took a little time to change the design of the blog too!  I think it look a little more dignified, even though I did like the little birdies on the old design.
     I should have some trade packages and Ebay auction wins coming in over the next few days so I will have some good material to write about.  Plus, baseball spring training has started so that will probably inspire me to write a little bit more.  I don't try to post on a daily basis but hopefully from now on, I'll be able to get some decent content posted!  I promise, next time there will be pictures of cards!  So let me declare:

I'm Open for Business, Who Want's to Trade!?!?!?