Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

It’s a phrase we’ll hear many times throughout our lives.  Most of the time the way it’s uttered is riddled with cliche.  It’s small talk.  You could be discussing something as mundane as your weekend plans on a Wednesday and that co-worker chimes in “Good things come to those who wait.”

Right.  Thanks for that.

This may be why people at work don’t attempt to socialize with me too much.  I can’t force myself to blurt out meaningless phrases like that.  I’d rather nod and say nothing then fill empty space with empty words.  I’m sure that makes me seem like an ass.

Lucky for me, I won’t have to deal with this set of co-workers anymore.  After nearly 8 years I’m moving on to a bigger and better opportunity.  Starting in December I won’t have to commute a total of 2.5 hours a day anymore or spend upwards of $50 in gas each week.  I’ll be working from home for a new company.

Good things come to those who wait.  And it’s been a little bit of a wait. The wheels were in motion for almost a year for something similar to this.  Back then I was expecting a drastic pay cut.  Now, after waiting, the situation is such that I’ll be making the same salary and working from the recliner.

The best part is that I should have more time to devote to starting my own business, which is what I went to school for in the first place.  I’ll still have to wait for that good thing, but hopefully a lot less now.

I’m hoping that having that 10 hours plus per week driving back will translate into more blogging.  That way I won’t sit on some of these trade packages for over a year.

Take this one, for example.  My cousin, Brian (alluded to here in this early post, as well as this one) sent me a package sometime way back in 2011 with a few cards and a note about how he enjoyed reading the blog.

I put it off to the side for a couple reasons. 1) I was trying to get current on my trade posts – still am, really – and this wasn’t technically a trade.  2) He’s family, so I made the decision that showing cards from strangers was a slightly higher priority.  I know that’s not really a good way to approach things, but it made sense to me.

I figured I could thank him personally if nothing else.  The sad part is he’s told me that part of the reason he sent me the cards was to see my write-up.

Damn…now not only do my co-workers think I’m an ass….  Let’s just see what my ass got handed.

The makings of a .300 avg

No, it’s not a Sportflics card, it’s just Pinnacle taking the multiple exposure route that Upper Deck made semi-famous a couple years earlier.  These ’95 Pinnacles always fool me with the gold foil stamping.  It’s fools gold.  I think it’s some parallel, because there’s no way the regular set would be so over the top.  Then I remember it was the mid-90s.

The Ol' NADOF -- Name And Date On Front.

Here’s a card you don’t see everyday.  It’s part of the 1991 Topps Debut stand alone set.  I guess this replaced the Traded box sets that had been around for years, at least in name. The contents I imagine were similar.

Maybe it's the psychedelic baseball background, but Maddux looks high as a mub.

In 1996, I had switched over to basketball and Fleer was consistently my favorite brand in those years.  It was due in large part to insert sets like this.  I would buy enough packs for two full sets in order to get the one per pack inserts because they were almost all well-designed and some seemed uber-fancy like the Soaring Stars seen above.

That’s a pretty good random package if I do say so myself. I am truly grateful for the cards and for the thought and the kind words about the blog.  I feel bad for making Brian wait so long for any sort of acknowledgment on the blog (and it took a long time in person, too).  So, even though it wasn’t designed to be a trade, I had to make it one.

When I saw Brian a couple months ago at a family reunion, I finally returned the favor.

"What year did this trade start?"

He’s a big fan of The Hawk and an autograph collector to boot.  He’s been working on getting the 1987 Topps set autographed for as long as I remember and last time I checked he’s extremely close.  Here’s hoping we can convince him to share his story with a guest post sometime.  Anyway, this card seemed like a no brainer.

And hopefully it was worth the wait.