Off Topic: 1993 Leave It To Beaver Model Airplane Magazine Card

 

One of my favorite hobbies is writing for "A Pack to Be Named Later," where the goal of the group is open at least one pack of every collectible card ever made. Within that, I go out of my way to find weird packs of cards, such as the 1993 Pacific Leave It To Beaver (above). 

As you see in the picture, Beaver is holding a "Model Airplane News" magazine. When I posted the card, Bo did some poking around and found that the issue of Vogue was from 1960. So, I went on a quest to see if I could find the magazine that Beaver is holding. 

After a bit of searching, I was able to find it! The issue in hand is the March 1960! In the enlarged photo above, you can make out the USAF and the TA-143, but everything else is a bit harder - partly because it is small text and partly because he is bending the corner. But, this is it:

The hobby of collecting cards, baseball or otherwise, often leads to us chasing wild geese and falling down rabbit holes. In this case, we chased an airplane on the cover of a magazine from 1960. And we came up Aces!

Off-Topic: Short Story to be Published!

I am so excited and honored to have "A Game of Tag" included in this collection coming out SOON!! http://gallencook.com/2017/10/29/hardclay/

The story centers around a boy who is essentially confined to his room a decade after World War III. He watches his friends play a game of tag. Not all is as it seems.

Off-topic Cross-post: I'm a published novelist!

Summer vacation brings the promise of ice cream, backyard games and adventure for ten year-old Corey Decker and his friends.  As summer breaks, the band of seven friends watch in horror as a tragic car crash plays out right in front of them.  From there, the next weeks are spent laughing, playing, fighting and making up again.  When the gang learns of a "mad man" rumored to live in the nearby woods, they set out exploring parts of their Western Pennsylvanian suburban neighborhood they never knew existed.  Set in an unspecified timeless past, follow Decker and his friends over a creek and through the woods, into an old quarry and through a corn field as they seek out on an adventure to find the "Mad Man of Appleton."  What they find along the way will amuse, thrill, disgust and surprise readers who enjoy a little summertime escapade.

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I am thrilled to announce that my debut novel, Summer Breaks, has been published!  Originally, I had called it "Summer of Seven" and it was just the first chapter.  That was in 1998 or so.  I had written it as part of my undergraduate project in the hopes it would one day become more than a single chapter.  Though it had been revised for inclusion in my Master's Thesis Project, it still remained one chapter.  In fact, I had to change the ending of that piece because it made no sense outside of a larger body of work.

Then, I read about NaNoWriMo.org in a magazine and decided to take "Summer of Seven" out of the dusty digital archives and see where things went as a challenge to reach 50,000 words.  What ensued was a flurry of writing almost every single night for the month of November.  I was so spent after that, I set the book aside and let it marinate.

When I started reading it, editing it, shaping it, I saw the story unfold in front of my own eyes.  I grew to like certain characters and not like others.  I had no real plan when I started "Chapter Two" other than to tag along as Decker and his friends started out their summer vacation from school.

With the help of Shan, my mom, and Oretha Ferguson (a colleague I met through the Technology Infused Education program and fellow Plurk user), my novel was honed and fine-tuned.   And then, as mentioned in a previous post, Mr. Adrian Cain was incredibly generous enough to grant me permission to use his artwork for my cover! 

I don't know how other people feel when they publish their first novel, but I am excited, nervous, relieved, and thankful.  I am especially thankful for all the folks that have supported and encouraged me to put myself out there.

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Author contact info for interviews, book reviews, etc: David Henderson, davidinark@yahoo.com.  David and his family reside in Prescott, Arkansas.

The book is available for purchase in paperback: http://stores.lulu.com/davidinark for the debut price for $9.99.  Readers can also download an electronic version from that same site.  A Kindle version is currently "under review" and I will let everyone know when that is ready.  Other ePub formats can be obtained from Smashwords.com.  There will be an iBooks-friendly version available (hopefully) soon as well.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in a holding pattern

Three things:

First, I know there are a few folks that did not get their "Trick or Treats" yet.  I *hope* to get those out first thing next week.  My deepest apologies.

Second, BigD sent me a bubbleope of cards some time ago and I had hoped to have those posted by now.  Alas, I have not, but rest assured, BigD - I got them and I appreciate them VERY much!! Thank you!

Third, I've been neglected all my blogs lately for two reasons, one of which is personally-motivated and the other is well, flat-out selfish.  The first reason is because of the work I am putting into my novel for the www.nanowrimo.org contest.  I am writing at least 50,000 words by the end of November.  So far, I am more than halfway there!  The goal after that is to rewrite and edit and eventually shop it out for publication (and most likely subsequently self-publishing it via LuLu.com).  The other reason is my latest addiction to Plurking.  It's yet another social networking site, combining some features of facebook with those of twitter.  If you'd like to read more about that, you can check out my post here: http://www.poppedinmyhead.com/2009/11/do-you-hear-crickets-chirping.html

In the meantime, keep the Tribe on your mind!

I'm Published! (off-topic, but then what isn't with me!?)

Well, it's official! After working through several short (and some are short, short) stories, and walking through the publishing process at LuLu.com, I have published my first collection of short stories!

I have to tip my Indians cap to Thorzul for not only pointing the way to LuLu.com, but for also helping with some of the logistics. Thanks a bunch!!

You can buy the book here!

"All This Digging and other stories" is my debut collection of short fiction. Each story gives the reader a glimpse in a moment of time into the lives of the characters portrayed in each tale. While none of them are card-related, or even sports-related, really, in this collection, I know some of you are avid readers and thought I'd share the announcement of my first venture into print (of this magnitude) with you.

Different stories will appeal to different tastes. I hope hope that each reader will find a little of himself or herself in here somewhere. If not, then he or she will certainly find bits of me in each one! Good luck. Thanks for reading!

And, if you order a book during the Labor day weekend, you can take 20% off!! Just use the word WHITE when you check out!! How cool is that!?

You can buy the book here!

Thanks for reading my own version of the "I've Sold Out" post. :-)

Times square has nothing to do with the Indians

But, I thought I'd share some pics, anyway:

I hate words problems - Anyone offer help?

This is way off topic and is something I would normally post on my personal blog. Frankly, more people read this one, so I am asking for help. I do not want to know the answer, but rather how to work the following problem (actually, I've edited it so that it is not the actual problem):

A cargo plane flew to a destination and back. It took one hour less time to get there than it did to get back. The average speed on the trip there was 350 mph. The average speed on the way back was 325 mph. How many hours did the trip take to get there?

As I said, I don't want to actual answer, but rather the "how do I solve this?" I am generally pretty good with the math homework my son brings my way, but word problems (or whatever they call them these days) drive me up the freakin wall.

I have no idea what I can offer in the way of a prize for helping, but I will come up with a game-used, auto, something or other....

Of course, I have to know by Monday night. Figgers. And THANKS to anyone that can explain this in English!

Packs to be named later...

I am now a contributing member of the latest pack-busting blog, "A Pack To Be Named Later!" (see it here)

When I first read about the blog's launch, I thought it was something done to compete (though that may be too strong a word) with "A Pack A Day." As it turns out, though, the site is actually trying to accomplish something rather monumental: Open at least one pack of EVERY kind of card ever made. "A Pack A Day" is focused more on sport-related packs, and I believe that is the right direction for that site. "Things Done to Cards" is mainly sports related, but with an eye for the weird things that are either done to sportscards or are done in the name of being passed off as sportscards.

"A pack to be named later," however, blew the blinders off the horses and is letting them run free. No pack is off topic. Though, I would venture to say 'adult'-related packs are probably not appropriate, but that's not my call nor my place to act as any kind of censor whatsoever. In fact, I was told, "The weirder, the better!"

Now, THAT'S my kind of bustin' wax! I've got my first post up and two others are already scheduled to launch for Friday and Saturday, by which time I hope to have some of my eBay oddball/non-sport packs ready and waiting.

It's really too bad I'm not doing this for a living. I could get used to it....

Tribe-al Metal - It's, um, Mega

As I reported a while ago, Motherscratcher sent me all kinds of card packs. Included in those packs were three "Mega Metal" packs from 1991 Impel. This is one of those "And then some..." posts. Feel free to read along, skip the whole thing, or some combination of the two. If you're old enough to remember when a lot of these guys were around for these cards, it'll be a trip down memory lane with some snarky commentary, I'm sure. If you have no idea who these people are, well, read along anyway. You just might learn something. Or not. You just never know with me.

These are presented in absolutely no order.


Judas Priest "Painkiller" album cover. Metal bands always had the coolest covers. Now, they also tended to have the dumbest as well, but you gotta take the good with the bad, right? King Diamond is a guy I never heard of until this set. His main goal was to show that the bloody rituals of satanic worship were actually based on Christian rituals. As far out as it seems, he actually does have a point - sacrificing lambs, etc... Rob Affuso from "Skid Row." I listened to Skid Row ALL the time. I thought they were more 'pop-rock' than metal, though...

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Richie Sambora. Really, what else needs to be said? Well, he was named after the used car lot where his dad bought his first car... Iron Maiden - by far and away the best covers in metal. Period. I only remember "Number of the Beast" as far as songs go, but I can remember almost every album cover they came out with. What was so funny to me were the number of people who thought "Number of the Beast" was satanic and actually it was all about Christians and their fear and obsession with the number. nice. Robert Plant. Again, what can you say? It's funny that the back of the card simply refers to "Plant's band..." There must have been copyright issues... Of course, by 1991, Zeppelin had gone through some rough times and Plant was busy trying to keep Led on everyone's minds.

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LA Guns? I never heard of them, but that doesn't mean a lot. My metal days are more around 1986-1990, so it may be that I just missed out on these guys. If I heard one of their songs and was told it was by them, I might recognize it. The band was named after their leader Tracii Guns. Michael Schenker is probably best known for his days with the Scorpions. Rob Halford helped pioneer thrash metal with Judas Priest.

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The card set features several foil cards. This one is from "Slaughter." Though I cannot recall any of their songs right now, I do remember listening to them in my early college days. The guy in the middle is none other than Billy Squier. He played with Hendrix, jammed with Les Paul and Jeff Beck, and made quite a name for himself as a rocker in the 80's. Nuclear Assault? I never heard of them either. I'm thinking Impel got a deal with the Great Southern Company as a way to promote some of their bands or something... Anyway, the last card is Dan Lilker from N.A...

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Vixen. A teenaged boy with hormones running amok and a desire to rock out only needed to fire up some Vixen to get the blood flowing. "Fallen Hero" was one of my favorites of theirs. Next, Blas Elias from Slaughter tells us that he started out as Pre-Med but drumming led him away from doctoring. I started out as Pre-Med, too. I never had the guts to go the rock band route... I got all geeky and went technology on myself... Another card of Billy Squier. He once considered becoming a music teacher. I guess in a way, he did.

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Once again, we have LA Guns. This time, they are in a VERY red card. This is Kelly Nickels. he was with Faster Pussycat but Elektra (record company) forced him to leave the band after he was taking too long to recover from a motorcycle accident. Danged record labels! Check out Robert Plant's psychedelic shirt, man! And, Skid Row with Sebastian Bach. He was the heart-throb of nearly every girl I knew.

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Well, here we have the family portrait of Nuclear Assault. By the time this card was made, they already had six albums to their name. Who knew? Dave Sabo of Skid Row is looking a wee bit blue. Of course, his friends called him "Snake." Well, everyone did, really. And then we see King Diamond again. What a scary looking guy he is... The back of his card talks about the eye pendant attached to his necklace. He says it takes you back in time and when you come back, "You can see (other people's) actions, though you might be very far away from them." Uh, yeah...

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Glenn Tipton (no, he is not the reason dinged up cards are called 'Tiptons,' but that's a good guess) is jamming. Another card of Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora. Okay, Sambora as metal, maybe. But the group as a whole? Never in my life have I ever thought of Bon Jovi as 'metal...' Iron Maiden, on the other hand, is all metal. Maiden Japan was one of my favorite covers. I always liked the zombie-looking creature and for me, this is the predecessor of many foes I would face in videos years later.

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Ah, a partial Mega Metal checklist. The cards are divided by group, making collecting easy in the sense that Fleer in the 80's was easy as long as you knew which cards went where. The first appearance of M.O.D. shows up here. This is another group that I do not remember. They were, evidently, a satirical metal group - whatever that means. LOL, and The Front is yet another metal group I knew nothing about until running into them in this pack. One tidbit is that Walter Matthau (actor) makes a guest 'appearance' in "Violent World." I guess I'll have to download it and see what that's about...

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Firehouse released "Love of a Lifetime" and that's probably the only song I remember from them, though as I have said before, if I were to listen to some samples, I might pick out others I know but didn't know I knew, ya know? Blas Elias of Slaughter shows up again. He says Ted Nugent was his role model. Well, he says that after telling the story of how he drilled holes in the dressing room walls so they could watch the girls getting dressed... And, Rowan Robertson of DIO has a card, too. I remember the group, but not any of their songs off the top of my head.

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Here, we have the "Painkiller" cover from Judas Priest again. Dana Strum of Slaughter discusses the band's desire to create "hard rock with edgy lyrics." I thought that was what rock was all about. Guess I was wrong. Dark Angel's team photo is here next. They were formed in '81 and ten years later, they were "on the forefront of ... thrash..." So, there ya go.

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Wrapping things up, we have the Mega Metal foil card. The back is an advertisement: "If you like the Mega Metal Logo as a hologram, wait till you see it on our t-shirt." We have the drummer (Rob Affuso) from Skid Row again, and finally, King Diamond leers out at us on the last card in the group.

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I hope you've learned as much as I did. I have to thank Motherscratcher for giving me an education I would not have received otherwise... In addition to some interesting items for when "Trick-or-Treat" rolls around....

One strange little wagon

While sitting at my computer this afternoon, comparing stacks of cards against my database, my daughter came in to see what I was doing. I happened to have a few web sites open in order to pin down a couple cards that were not showing up in my database. I explained that sometimes I had to search online or in my "big books" (the card almanacs) to see just what kind of card certain cards are.

I then switched back over to the database and started adding cards I had already posted about but had not actually put into the database (the cards from Duane, for example). As I did this, my daughter asked what I was doing now. I explained that some cards were already marked as "Want" in the database (and showed her), and that when I entered the cards, I put a "1" in the 'owned' section.

"Well, how does the computer know what you need?" she asked.

"Because I went through ALL my cards and told the computer which ones I already have," I answered, making a grand circling hand gesture in the general direction of my 3-ring binders.

"Ohhhh..." she said, adding this as she patted me on the back: "You are one strange little wagon."

And then she walked off...

Welcome to Steeler Country

When it comes to baseball, I am a die-hard Tribe fan. And, when it comes to football, I bleed Black-n-Gold since the day I was brought into the world in Southside Hospital!

So, you want to start your own card company...

While surfing the net looking for ... well, whatever came across the screen, I found a site that shows sample contracts used in business. Lo and Behold, I saw an agreement between Topps and the MLB in 2006:

http://contracts.onecle.com/topps/mlb-license-2006-01-01.shtml

Of course, I did not stop there... There is a list of all kinds of Topps contracts:

http://contracts.onecle.com/alpha/6795.shtml

Why does any of this matter? Well, let's say a group of collectors decides they want to start up their own card company. Let's say that same group of collectors has no idea what legal hoops there are with such a venture. Well, then, this group could peruse these puppies and at least get an idea of what they're in for!

It's no wonder card companies in the past would airbrush out logos.... :-)

MLB TV Network reveals logo

In an article (HERE), the MLB announced their design for the new MLB Network. They say they used the 'home plate' design because the network is "home to all things baseball." If I had my guess, they came up with the reasoning after an all-nighter pulled once the logo was finalized... :-)

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And, in response to Dayf's comment, I submit the following for your viewing pleasure(?):

My own memories of Jim McKay

I was very young when the Olympic hostage situation occurred. I don't remember much of it at all. But, growing up, McKay was always the voice of competition. He had a way of telling a story that brought me into an event as more than a simple spectator. Suddenly, I actually CARED about certain athletes.

But, to me, Jim McKay was the voice of a little-known computer game called "British Open." My Dad had found the game in some bargain bin somewhere, so we each ended up with a copy of it. Though much of the commentary turned repetitive (which is understandable given 18+ holes of golf in a game), there was still the familiar voice of Jim McKay. In fact, my Dad and I played the game long after Tiger came onto the scene to dominate golf gaming. The game itself wasn't a bad golf game, but it was the fact that you were playing as Jim McKay made comments about YOUR gameplay.

In a way, McKay gave me some of the best memories of playing on the computer with my Dad.

Comments - DUH

Okay, feel free to leave any comments... I had the goofy things turned off and didn't realize it.. No one accused me of being smart, ya know... :-)