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 My blog posts are becoming more and more infrequent, but if you're interested in an update please head on over to Baseball Card Breakdown. Thanks, Gavin, for reaching out! 

Thanks for visiting. For your troubles, here's a picture of Hugo and Holiday welcoming me home. Yes, those are in fact their "excited" faces.😄

3 Highlights of My Week

No sense in burying the lede here. Acquiring a button relic card has been on my to-do list for years and I've been watching a Kerry Wood button card Ebay for quite some time. The price, unfortunately, hasn't budged.

Enter Panini's 2020 National Treasures. 

I can sit watch National Treasures case breaks on YouTube for hours. It's a fun break to watch for sure.. I knew Dan Vogelbach had a traditional jersey card in the set, but what I didn't realize was he had a button card!

I set a timer and sniped this auction at the last second for a very nice price. How cool of a card is this!?!

The back might even better as it recounts the story of Yusei Kikuchi giving his son the middle name of VOGELMONSTER Daniel.

From time-to-time I've stopped in at Dunkin' Donuts, on a Friday, to grab some coffee to help me finish off the school week with a little extra kick. I guess my students have noticed and one of them introduced me to Dunkin's app. I earned a free coffee right away and decided to cash in. While I was there I splurged on a donut as well. 

Behold! The Ghost Pepper Donut! It's a yeast donut, with pink frosting and sprinkles. I'm fairly sure the ghost pepper was only in the frosting. I picked up a tiny hint of hot pepper taste, but little, if any heat. I would definitely say this donut was far sweeter than it was hot. 

I think those who can't normally handle spicy foods would have no problem consuming this tasty, sweet pastry. See if you can locate one and impress your friends!

Here's a picture of Hugo on our back patio. I like to think he's protecting us from the sparrows and juncos who frequent the nearby feeder. 

He's wearing his vest of Kryptonite, as well like to call it. When we first introduced him to the vest he flopped right over on his side. Later he learned to walk, but he did so as though his joints were fused together. The Kryptonite within the vest has slowly begun to wear off. Or perhaps he's built up an immunity? Now the vest only hinders his mobility enough so that he is not a threat to our little flying friends.  Good times.

What were the three highlights of your week?

David Ross Addition & Rotating Cats

David Ross and Ben Zobrist were my favorite players on the 2016 World Series team and sometimes when I get the inkling I go searching for new cards of both.

Usually my search for "2020 David Ross" in Ebay comes up empty, but not this time!

This is a promotional card from this year's Spring Training for the Special Olympics.

The back of the card shows it's definitely a promotional item, which I'm perfectly fine with. It looks like an event I would like to go to!

Now, onto the rotating cats part of the post.

Holiday loves her ears rubbed.

 For those of you have cats and windows on multiple sides of your house, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

Hugo prefers belly rubs.

 When I need a break from sitting at the computer "teaching" all day I go looking for a cat.

 They seem to like the ear and belly rubs I give and it makes me feel better.

I don't always know where they are in the house, but depending on the time of day I can usually narrow it down quickly. 

They seem to rotate around the house as we rotate around the sun.

It may be the floor, a window sill, a chair or a stair, but all those locations have one thing in common: sunlight. 

It's got to be hard work being a cat. Especially with that pesky sun moving an all.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cat Tree: Out with the Old, In with the New

 We've had a cat tree, which I constructed, in the our home office for a few years now. I built it from spare lumber, carpet remnants and some old carpet tubing which I picked up for free from a local big box store.

This cat tree served us well, but it needed a good tightening up after all the times the cats climbed to the top. My wife mentioned that she wanted to get back some of the floor space. At 2-feet by 3-feet it was taking up some serious space. Hmmmm... that got me thinking.

So, I broke down and bought six shelving brackets from the hardware store. I then cut, sanded and painted some old plywood. I topped the homemade shelves off with leftover carpet from the original carpet installation in the office.

Lastly, we took one of the posts from the old cat tree and brought it into the new design.

It didn't take long for our cats, Hugo (tan) and Holiday (gray), to get the idea.

We have regained all of our floor space and the cats still have a place to chill when Laura and I are at our computers.

It's much better to have the cats sleeping on the new shelves than at my desk where all blogging and card sorting takes place!

Remodeled Man Room

Finished.

My wife and I picked up the new cabinets from Ikea in the Chicago suburbs on July 1st. I erroneously thought I could assemble and install the cabinets within one week.

Boy, was I wrong. I didn't plan on painting the entire room or replacing the carpet when I made the premature prediction.

Those upgrades ultimately stretched the timeline out about ten more days than I planned. I'm okay with that though.

We moved in during the summer of 2008 and the man room has pretty much been the same the past decade, save a few modest updates along the way, like a homemade TV stand, coffee table or a bat rack.

I figured if I was going to do a full tear down, then I better build it back up the right way.

With that in mind I pulled out some graph paper and made a scale model of the room. For reference, each square is four inches by inches, with the before on the left and the after on the right.

 As a geometry teacher, who spends an entire chapter on ratios, proportions & scale factors during the school year, I was pretty psyched about this part. Yes, I'm a math nerd, but playing with the furniture pieces, while adding and subtracting others, helped me to envision the final product.

As you can see Hugo was a big help with the production.

Once I had a game plan the fun started.

I had three cantilevered shelves in the room and one of them had affixed itself to the wall. When I finally pried it from the wall, well, some of the wall came with it. 

 It was only a minor set back, as I'm fairly adept at dealing with drywall and drywall repair.

So, here's where the man room stood at this point.

Thank goodness there was room in the workshop and hallway to temporarily store all my junk! The last things to go were my couch, the coffee (sorting table) and the TV.

Next step was to pull up the baseboard, the carpet, and remove the tack strips that bordered the entire room.

Super helpful cats!

In the picture above you're looking at a concrete floor and you'll notice the bottom three inches of the drywall is missing. When we had water in the basement I never thought about mold growing behind the baseboard. Black mold is no bueno. So I cut out the drywall and filled it in with some spare wood scraps I had lying around. I purchased a taller baseboard to cover things up so it didn't have to be too fancy.

Paint. I'm not a fan of painting. I hate cutting in, but I'm good at it because I'm probably a little too meticulous.

 Regardless, I took a small shelf to one of the big box hardware stores and had them match the color. Above, the cats are inspecting my handwork as I started to assemble the shelving units and cabinets.

 I decided to go with carpet squares over traditional carpet.

First, it's a basement, so it's not like it has to be Grade A carpet material. Secondly, we have cats and have had water in the basement once already. We've made corrections so the water shouldn't be an issue going forward, but hairballs are going to hairball. Picking up a tile and washing it off is such a convenience.

Here's a picture of Hugo holding down the first four carpet tiles. He probably deserves a raise.

 Holiday on the other hand just likes to be in the way. All. The. Time. Guess what I needed at that particular moment. Whoever guessed "another carpet tile" would be a winner!

I laid about two thirds of the tiles in one afternoon, but boy were my knees sore.

 Knocking out the last third, which all had to be cut, took twice as long. Please, take note of Holiday laying on the carpet tile pile again.

Once the carpet tiles were in I was able to install the new baseboard and connect the cabinets and shelves to the wall.

Did I mention earlier that I changed out all the electrical sockets and light switches to bright white? No? Well, I did that a few days earlier.

That brings us up to this past Monday.

I spent Monday afternoon playing with ceiling tiles so the entertainment system could be on the other half of the room. I should really invest in a soundbar or some wireless speakers, which would have saved so much time. But, I'm kind of partial to my old school sound system and all of its wired speakers.

Finally, the fun part!  I spent yesterday and today, when time allowed, moving everything back into the man room.

Below is the view from the door to the hallway.

What you see above are four of the five storage units I purchased. Below is the fifth and it's place on a separate wall between the doorway and the electrical box to the house.

The cabinet above holds an abundance of my Chicago Cubs and Peoria Chiefs memorabilia.

Here's a view of the doorway.

 My homemade bat rack and the toy chest (filled with complete sets of the baseball cards) in the corner are the only two objects that wound up returning to their original pre-remodeling locations.

 The card closet and entertainment system. For what it's worth, I have quite a bit more space in the card closet now thanks to the new cabinets. Woo-Hoo!

As we keep moving around the room we can see a couple of my favorite wall hangings, my homemade coffee (baseball card) table and my little window.

The furniture will be the last change, as it doesn't really go with the room. All in good time... or maybe not at all!

Below is another shot of the cabinets and book cases.

 And here they are up close:

The lower portions are filled will old pictures, posters and pennants...  and wait for it... baseball cards! I plan on rotating things on the wall in the future. The bobbleheads, which are seen on the left, are finally allowed to space out some. I have one bobblehead for each MLB stadium I've been to. (Actually, I still need to purchase one for Oakland and Philly.)

So, that'll put the wraps on my big summer project. I'm very happy with how things turned out and I can't wait to start sorting some cards tomorrow and maybe watch a movie.

Thanks for taking a tour with me!

Taking the Cats for a Stroll

My wife and I like to get out and exercise. She has a running partner she meets up with religiously twice a week and I really admire her for that. I'll go for a hike at the local nature center or a jog around the neighborhood when I can.

Wild Turkeys running away from me at the nature center.

Often, when the weather and time allows for it, we'll traverse the neighborhood together on an evening walk. It's a great way to get the heart rate up and catch up on each other's day. During these walks it is not uncommon for us to run into dog walkers. I'm a dog guy, but my work and coaching schedule wouldn't be fair to the dog, so we've got a pair of cats to keep us entertained. 

Hugo is the tan tabby and Hoilday is grey.

Most the time, they just sleep around the house, like in the picture above, but they can be good company on occasion. 

Laura and I have joked the last few years about taking the cats for a walk. Cats are not dogs, and we know this. Their idea of a walk would be go from their chosen sleeping spot, to the food bowl, to the litter box and back to their warm spot to catch more shuteye. Cats. SMH.

Finally, we decided to go for it. Yep, we bought a stroller to take the cats out. 

Hugo seemed really interested in the box at first. He, like every other cat I've known, has a thing for boxes. 

Laura assembled the stroller and we've probably taken the cats out twenty different times during the last two months. I've done a little jogging with them, but mostly we're out just to have a nice walk. 

Holiday has gotten to the point where she'll willingly jump into the stroller, but Hugo generally has to be coaxed in. Holiday will typically lay down in a position where she can look out one of the windows. Hugo's much more active and likes to follow the squirrels and robins as we pass. 

To answer a couple of questions: 

• Yes, I think the cats enjoy going out.  
• No, this is not a special stroller made for cats. My wife did a lot of researching until she found one she thought would work.  
• Yes, we've had many other walkers comment on how "cute" the cats are.
• No, Holiday does not like lawnmowers and we have to steer clear of them whenever possible. 
• Yes, an older lady once assumed I had a baby in the stroller from afar. She asked for me to stop and as she approached she became wide-eyed and started to laugh. 

In general, I think it has been a good purchase. Having the stroller motivates me to go out for a little more exercise than I normally would. It's been good for the cats in terms of socialization. Also, it's put a smile on everyone's face we've encountered.  

I hope this post about a forty-year-old man taking his cats for a walk in a stroller with his wife puts a smile on your face, too!

My 1st Non-Cardboard Trade Package

When I think of beer and our little corner of the blogging universe the first cardboard bloggers who come to mind are Matt and Oscar, the authors of Bob Walk the Plank and All Trade Bait, All The Time, respectively. I was always a little envious of their beer trading posts and decided to knock on Matt's door when I needed some coaching on how to package a Wisconsin beer to send to a friend in Texas.

The package!

Afterwards I mentioned how it might be cool to swap beer between ourselves. Matt seemed more than willing and a beer trade was born. I sent Matt a six pack and some cards earlier this year and today we'll take a spin through the delicious portion of the return. 

Brilliant packaging!

For the record, I thought it better to blog about the beers now, because I am a sloooow drinker. I've been known to buy a twelve-bottle case and have it last the better part of two months. When I do open up a bottle after dinner I do more sipping than drinking and it often takes me more than an hour to finish a twelve ounces adult beverage.  

Making the cats happy.

Yeah, my drinking habits are perhaps a little irregular, but I've also completed five full beer tours at Old Chicago. During that time I have experienced a nice variety of adult beverages over the years and I know what I like and what I won't. I've also really slowed down since I married and I guess I would have to classify myself as a lightweight when it comes to alcohol. 

The big reveal!

In short, here's what I can tell you: I will like everything Matt sent.

Beer #1

Name: Even More Coco Jesus

Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Size: 16 ounce can

Style: Imperial Stout, with maple syrup and coconut added

ABV%: 12%

Description from the packaging: "A few times in the history of craft beer a highly praised beer rises beyond mortal stardom into a higher godly league. Usually the recipe to make such heavenly drops is thick fudge-like body, pitch black color, amazingly overwhelming aromas of chocolate, coffee, dark fruits, muscovado sugar, maple syrup, coconut and obviously only made in limited amounts. People - this is the taste of rare!"

Comments: Wow. 12% alcohol by volume? One of these and I'll be done for the night. I'm digging the description and can't wait to crack into this one.


 Beer #2

Name: The Toll

Brewery: Raleigh Brewing
Location: Raleigh, NC

Size: 12 ounce can

Style: Imperial Oatmeal Stout

ABV%: 10.5%

Description: "In the days when millers produced all of the flour for a town's populace they would charge a fee for milling grain into flour. The Toll is a nod to the last and longest standing operational mill in Raleigh, the Yates Mill.  By far our most luscious and robust offering. Roasted coffee and chocolate completely permeate your palate with enormous body and highlights of rich caramel. Massive in its flavors, this stout will certainly challenge your taste buds."

Comments:  Oatmeal stouts are my favorite variety of stouts. 10.5% is still pretty high, which makes this another offering which I'll have to consume during or after a meal. Also, I enjoy it when a beer can teach me something. I had no idea what a miller did until now.


Beer #3

Name: NightTime Ale (limited release)

Brewery: The Lagunitas Brewing Company
Location: Chicago, IL and Petaluma, CA

Size: 22 ounce bottle

Style: Ale

ABV%: 8%

Description: "There are two kinds. There is the DayTime kind, which is bright and welcoming, and there is the NightTime kind, which should never be confused with the DayTime. NighTime is dark, deep and may take you to unexpected places, places that the DayTime can not. But then the NightTime is not suited for ordinary life and ordinary tasks, in fact the NightTime may be the answer for that sort of thing, meaning that those sorts of things may never get done. Things take time in the NightTime, things slow down and you pause (you have to, actually) and investigate carefully to find that level of objective detachment that is only possible under the spell of the NightTime. Seek the Day, but fear not the NightTime."

Comments: I enjoy reading beer labels and this one certainly captured my interest, but it didn't tell me much about what I'll be drinking. I can definitely get behind a good ale. The IBU (International Bitter Units) is higher on this one at 74, but it's good for me to get out of my box. This beer is the only one of the six Matt sent in which I might be able to buy locally. I see Lagunitas' product on the shelf pretty regularly in my area.

Beer #4

Name: Holly Jolly

Brewery: Fat Head's Brewery
Location: Middleburg Heights, OH

Size: 12 ounce bottle

Style: Christmas Ale (malt beverage brewed with spices and honey)

ABV%: 7.4%

Description: "Once upon a frozen evening way up north, a sweet local honey named Holly inspired our Jolly Fat Man (as only Holly can) to create this festive spiced holiday ale. We think you will enjoy his holiday creation with its aromas and flavors of Christmas day. Sweet malt, ginger, honey and cinnamon spice. sip this by the fire with your significant other. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a little inspiration of your own."

Comments: I am a seasonal beer guy.  I drink the light shandys and fruit beers in the summer, pumpkin in the fall, stouts and porters during the cold months, and Mexican beers starting in May. I will love this beer. The only question is if I should put it in the refrigerator now or wait until December?

Beer #5

Name: PORTER

Brewery: Big Timber Brewing Company
Location: Elkins, West Virginia

Size: 16 ounce can

Style: Porter

ABV%: 6.5%

Description: "Chocolate Coffee Balanced"

Comments: It's a good size can, but Big Timber Brewing Company doesn't have much to say. Most of the time, I feel that's a good thing. A company is willing to let its product do the talking for them. If I had to pick one beer of the six which most fits into my comfort zone, then this would be the selection. I'm really looking forward to this one. 

Beer #6

Name: The Burly Hickory Stick Stout

Brewery: Olde Hickory Brewery
Location: Hickory, NC

Size: 12 ounce bottle

Style: Stout

ABV%: 5%

Description: "Hickory Stick Stout is a complex beauty. Rich, flavorful, and aromatic but not overly heavy. Roasted black and chocolate malts give this beer its dark color and robust flavors of coffee and dark chocolate. Pale and crystal malts impart a mild sweetness and caramel flavor to balance the intense roasted malts."

Comments: Malts, malts, and more malts. This one should be an education in malts if the description has anything to say about it! This beer also has the lowest alcohol percentage at 5%, which means I may save it for a night when I'm socializing with others. I can drink two beers at that ABV and still function! LOL

Matt, thanks for the beer swap!  It'll take me some time to make it through these offerings, but I'm really stoked about trying some new brews from outside the midwest!