X-Fractorlicious!

OK, so that post title makes the actual post sound a lot more exciting than it really is. The point is getting you here. Even if I have to trick you.

To what purpose...I'm not quite sure.

This post is to brag about a decent return on a couple of Bowman Draft Rack Packs. The grocery store by my office has a little (very little) section with cards. It's mostly YuGiOh and whatnot. But there are sportscards, and it gets updated every so often. If my wife doesn't want me spending money on a few packs here and there she shouldn't send me on errands. Right?

So I picked up 2 rack packs of Bowman Draft. In these you get the usual Bowman cards, a gold card, and some Chrome. You all know I like chrome because it's all shiny and stuff.

Here are 2 cards that I pulled that pleasantly surprised me.

J.D. Martin Draft Chrome Purple Refractor.

It's not numbered so I don't know how rare these purple refractors are. I suspect they aren't very rare. Still, it was nice to pull from a rack pack. It's the only purple refractor I've ever pulled from a pack of 2009 Bowman draft. Of course, this is the first time I've opened any.

Still...

David Ortiz X-Fractor 189/199

Nice. I love X-fractors. It's hard to tell in the scan, but there's absolutely no reason for me to lie. Except to impress everyone so they will like me. Not too bad getting the Ortiz either. That guy has a lot of balls. No, really, look...he's holding at least 4 balls there.

So, an X-Fractor and a Purple Refractor out of 2 rack packs - not too shabby.

2009 Topps Chrome

A while back, Stusigpi over at I Am Joe Collector finagled his way into Blowout Cards offering Topps Chrome at the low low price of $43 a box. It was cheaper than I'd seen it by far, before or since. So I picked up a few boxes.

Because I love sparkley things.

Here are some highlights of the first box. You might want to pay close attention because you probably haven't seen a 2009 Topps Chrome break anywhere.

Hung-Wen Chen World Baseball Classic

This is my favorite card of the whole bunch. Look at that guy. Is that the worst picture they could have found of this poor guy or what? Plus, his name is Hung.

But the best thing about the card? The first sentence on the back is "Chen missed the 2009 World Baseball Classic,..." What? Why is he on a card then?

He's in the Cubs organization so hopefully this isn't the last we've seen of Hung.
Fu-Ti Ni World Baseball Classic Blue Refractor 168/199

Hung and Fu are teammates. Fu is in the Tigers organization. This card is great for many reasons. I love the name Fu almost as much as Hung. Fu actually has a baseball picture instead of a mug shot. The only thing to distinguish it as a blue refractor is the little stripe at the bottom. It is miscut, I think. There is a small silver stripe at the top that looks out of place.

Mark Buehrle Blue Refractor 184/199

Can you believe this guy pitched a perfect game? Not that he's bad or anything, but man. I thought this guy was only good against the Indians.

Walter Silva Gold Refractor 29/50

Isn't Chroma awesome with their shiny colorful cards. I love this card. Even if the guy on it kind of sucks, I love it anyway.

Will Venable Auto

OK, OK. Not bad. I've heard of him. Cool looking sig too, even if it looks nothing like his name.

Trevor Crowe Auto

Alright now! An Indian. Even if it is Trevor Crowe. I used to have high hopes for Trevor, a first round draft pick. At this point, at the age of 26, he has pretty much cemented himself in that 4th outfielder at best level. But (much like Gregg Jefferies) I still get a little excited when I see one of his cards. I can't help it.

The good thing about a guy like Trevor is I never have to worry about a club like the Yankees ripping him away. The rub is that I wouldn't really care if they did.

Not bad I guess. A few cool parallels and an Indians Auto.

Shiny as hell too.

Back with a few more down the line.

I'm On A Roll, This Time

Here is try number 2

I've figured some stuff out but it still seems like it should work differently.

At the very least you can enjoy this acoustic version of Lucky. With a red border even!

It works OK as long as I type the post before pasting the embed code. Probably not how it's supposed to work but hey...whatever.

******Update******

Of course the picture apparently doesn't fit. But I'm getting closer.

Accidents Waiting To Happen

This is really just a test post.

I had the morning off so I decided to see if I could figure out how you nerdy computer people get youtubes and whatnot onto your blogposts straight out of the ether. Then I could download interesting videos and stuff right onto my blog.

From there it's just a short step to me videotaping my breaks of stuff like 1992 Fleer.

So, if this works, you will all be able to enjoy a little of the overwhelming evidence that Radiohead is better than...well...everyone.

Don't underestimate the significance of this (should it work). Me getting the youtube thingy to work in one morning would be the equivalent of 2 monkeys making a satellite dish out of a lawn chair, a rubber hose, and speaker wire. You should all be impressed.

Man, I hope this works. (I looks good in the preview anyway)

*******Update********

Well, as you can see, it kind of worked. Each paragraph, however, runs forever without going to a new line. This caused words to be cut off in the post. I don't know what to do about this to rectify it. A little help?

Also, the font size in the compose page is Largest before the video and normal after the video but it all seems to be normal size after I post it.

Except that last update. Something funny is going on with my font sizes.

What Goes Around Comes Around

It was ego really. Just pure ego. I mean really, how did I think I was going to get away with it? Like I was just going to willy nilly Bip people all over the ether with no regard for human life and common decency? Without any consequences? What a fool.

Well, my checkered past has finally caught up with me. I arrived home the other day to find a package waiting for me. I knew who it was from, even though return address said "Bip Robert". I've seen Beardy's writing enough that I knew immediately. I knew what was in it. Some things you just know.

Beardy knew. Somehow he knew. He'd seen it on the blogs. He's always on line. He doesn't have a job. At least not one that requires work. However he figured it out, there would be no running. There would be no hiding. No escape.

Beardy was sending me home to get my shine box.

As I broke out into a cold sweat, my heart started to race. I felt faint. My wife maneuvered a chair under me a split second before I hit the floor. I opened the package and peered inside, my worst fears realized.

Right there on top was the note. "Christ, he even sent a limerick." I thought. I sent my concerned wife from the room.

She didn't need to see this. She's an innocent.

Four 1987 Eddie Murray Sportflics. My God. It's going to be Eddie Murray. The Oriole Legend. The one time Indian favorite.

Please Beardy...not...not Eddie Murray. Not Sportflics. I love both. Did I really deserve this?

Six 1987 Topps Eddie Murrays. At this point I'm numb. I'm ten cards in and I feel like Eddie Murray is mocking me. I can hear the laughter of a crazed Bearded man some 500 miles to my southeast. I may never recover.

At this point Grady wanders into the room. Panicked, I leap for him. Cover him. Shield him from the still unfolding horror. I usher him, scared and confused from the room and deposit him squarely in front of Elmo's Grill. I retreat back to the office and lock the door. I can't risk him coming in here again. I barely saved him that time.

But I did save him. It is to be my redemption.

Encouraged, I press on.

Six 1988 Topps Eddie Murray Record Breakers. Please. No more. I can barely take this. I see 12 Murrays staring back at me from 6 cards; behind glorious mustaches that my wife will never allow. This isn't fair. What I did wasn't so bad. I don't deserve this.

From the deep recesses of my brain I hear the words of William Munny, killer of woman and children, echoing "deserve's got nothing to do with it."

But I saved the boy.

And with that, I pear back into the envelope. Empty.

It's over. Finally over. And I'm alive. Beaten but alive.

It's 2 days later now and I can finally talk about it. Am I the same man that I was before I was Bipped? Hell, I don't know. Probably not. Who could ever really know a thing like that.

At my core I think I'm the same. A little older. Wiser.

Here's A Card

Anything to get Pink Beardy off of the front page there so he's not staring at me every time I open my blog.

So here's a card.

And, with Cory Snyder you got no complaints.

Beardy Trims His Beard

I stumbled across this picture of Beardy before he grew out his beard. Always an Orioles fan, you can see that he's all decked out for the game.

Looking Good Beardy!

OK, that's not Beardy, nor is it anyone in his family (I don't think). I wish like hell that it was, but it's not. I just ran across it at HCwDB and the first thing I thought of was Beardy. I couldn't stop laughing.

It's probably just me.