|
|
|
Home
View Inventory
"Do You Buy?"
About/FAQ
Show Schedule
Links
|
December 2021 Friday, Dec 10: Did you know... I have one hell of an accurate internal alarm clock? It's not often I have to get up early, but almost every time I'm required to be up early enough to warrant setting an alarm, I end up waking up before it does its little duty to chime and rouse me. Today was no exception. I'll explain. This weekend I have a three-day show in Terre Haute, IN. And just a couple days ago I was reminded by the promoter (thank you!) that Indiana is currently on Eastern Time. Ooof. That lost me an hour of sleep. Sparing you the math, I had to leave right around 5AM. That means shower, etc. at 4:30. However, I found myself (relatively) awake of my own volition just after 4AM. If you can believe this, Mellancamp's "Small Town" was playing when I hopped into the van... I thought that was a good omen, but the next two hours of driving involved navigating a fairly dense fog. A lot of trust goes into driving in such conditions. That's what I kept thinking at least. Hopefully there are no pot holes or air conditioning units in the road. Hopefully you don't drop off the earth in the next 200 feet, which was going through my mind over and over. Is that what the old timey explorers like Magellan and cancelled Columbus were thinking about on their journeys 500+ years ago? I checked my phone to see when the sun would rise...7:04. Central time! Lousy earth's axis....I'd be loading in to the show by that time. I knew a guy a while ago who didn't exactly eschew religion, but he did call himself a "sun worshipper." My opinion on that statement has evolved over time. At first I thought he was nuts, or perhaps even an ancient Egyptian. Now I relate to it more and more with every trip around the... well, sun. Spoiler alert: I made it to the show just fine. Not just that, but I found a Post Office so I could drop off a package for a lucky eBay winner from late last night. That's dedication to my customers! I also found a McDonald's for my sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle. That's dedication to my routine! 
As for the show itself...yikes. From 10AM-6PM, there were rarely more than five customers in the room. Lots of dead time with dealers milling around talking to each other and scanning each other's inventory. Not that it was a total wash. I had one decent sale that made it a worthwhile day. But it's an uneasy feeling when a single sale sustains you. Laws of randomness say that can't be counted on. Almost every time I'm bored at a show, I get frustrated. Today was an exception. I dubbed my quiet cutout of the room "Recovery Corner" where I was free to relax. After all, there are worse places to sit and recharge. Home life has been busy recently for both Kate and myself, so I welcomed the chance to sit and do next-to-nothing. (I still made some buys, priced cards, and worked on a Christmas letter to mail. That's about as close I get to shutting it down unless I'm watching TV.) I had plans to go eat with a few dealers after the show. However, I texted to tell them I would take a pass once I saw the wicked cool spread my hotel had for me, for free. Drinks of the adult version plus all the food you see below: 
And there were still more options I didn't partake in: hot dogs, baked potatoes, mixed veggies, salad. Pretty amazing. I won't shout out this hotel while I'm still staying here (security purposes), but at the end I'll be sure to mention it. Additionally, I took a soak in the hot tub, which is OPEN! Bless you, Indiana, for not caring a bit about people's health. I needed a dip in that whirlpool, and I'm gonna need another tomorrow night too. Saturday, Dec 11: If I had to summarize today in one word, it would be: Ohhhhhhh noooooooo! Not that it didn't start with hope and promise and a positive attitude from the owner of Monster Cards. In fact, with all the hospitality from this hotel, how could I start the day with anything but a smile on my face? For a busy place (it's obvious I'm talking about the hotel and not the show, right?), I can tell you that way more people took advantage of the free drinks and food than were interested in the fitness room. I took a quick jog this morning and was the sole soul looking to use any of the excercise equipment. After that, I grabbed a nice breakfast of biscuits and gravy. And sausage. And eggs. And yogurt. Yum. And yum. And yum. But that's about where the fun stopped for the day, or at least took a pause. This show continues to lack customers, so there's not much I can say about it. I'm trying to buy my way out of it, but I've circled the room somewhere between 8 and 62 times and can't find too much to work with. Today I picked up a few cheap wrestling cards (Andre the Giant and such) and an autographed '53 Bowman Warren Spahn...nothing that'll raise too many eyebrows. While I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, I know a few of the dealers aren't setting up. Some are going back to their real jobs and some are traveling to other shows (plans made beforehand...not contingent on performance at this show). I did leave a few minutes early tonight because I wanted to see Indiana State's campus. I think it's pretty evident by now I won't have the occasion to visit Terre Haute again, so I thought I'd take that in while I'm here. If I had to describe it in two words, they would be: compact. I saw a few semi-stately buildings clustered together and that's about it. Too bad this is such an underwhelming trip. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Sunday, Dec 12: Getaway day here in Terre Haute. Soooo, much like 1991 Upper Deck, get ready for the Final Edition of this blog. It does occur to me that writing a recap of a show in Terre Haute might have been somewhere between ambitious and ill-advised. But here we are nonetheless. As far as the show goes, the dealer next to me opted to work his real job today, so like any good Risk player, I expanded over and commandeered his space to spread out my inventory. Turns out, upping my display didn't make a difference. Neither the customers nor the attendance figure were very vibrant today. I did receive a couple compliments on my inventory, but not the sales to accompany those impressed impressions. I ended up leaving shortly after noon in order to jump back into work at home (even more pressing tasks than completing this blog post!), and this time I took another route. Deciding I'd had enough culture for the weekend, I didn't go back through Paris. I'll leave that for some other erudite card blogger. With a subpar three days now in the books, rather than focusing on the negative, let's look at some positives for the weekend (outside of the hotel amenities): *I took a chance on something different. *Thankfully, the weather remained mild where I was, as opposed to some cities that were hit hard. *It was nice to set up my display and then be in town for three days instead of packing up at the end of the day. *I finished the book I referenced in my last newsletter, and my next baseball book is on-deck. Thanks for reading along! Have fun! -T |
Inside My Brain