Parallel Paul

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 8, 2021

Yesterday was another Super Bowl that didn’t include my Washington Football Team. At times I feel like it will never happen and I should just give up, but then I think to myself…when it does happen (and it will…at some point…it’s inevitable) it will be the greatest thing ever. That’s assuming they win, of course, and not just make it to the Super Bowl.

I know a lot of people really HATE Tom Brady, and I can generally understand it. I just don’t really get why people hate on greatness so much. The guy has been to 10…TEN…Super Bowls in his 21 year career and won 7…SEVEN of them. Just insane. Hate all you want, but that’s Greatest of All-Time material.

Anyways.

When I rebooted the blog, my goal was to make it something more than a “look what I got today” blog. I wanted to be able to find a twist or some other way to make this medium more entertaining or readable…but alas. Work and life. Life is work these days and will be for the next few weeks. So, I’d like to apologize in advance for the dull posts. But, hey. Dull posts are better than no posts right?

One of my favorite guys at our monthly Portland shows wasn’t at the January show. Normally that’s a sign that the guy had decided to give up the hobby or just fuckin died. Well, neither of those were the case with Paul.

Thankfully.

I like Paul. He’s a fascinating guy. Every time I see him, he’s got some new kind of gadgety thing that you get from some mail order catalog. It’s like an Inspector Gadget of card collection. Lots of times he’s there with his kid who seems to be in on the family business. What Paul deals in isn’t your ordinary kinda cards. He’s a parallel man. You know the kind; variations, colors, dots, lasers, patriotic colors, refractors, glossies, not so glossies and super slick glossies. He’s a veritable one stop shop to get your parallel fix. Parallel Paul.

That day, I was planning to spend cash at three tables. Bill, Terry and Paul. Here’s the Paul portion of the morning.

As I mentioned, Paul goes for the gusto on the parallels and all modern stuff. I like going through his stuff because I can pick up Washington guys on the cheap. The majority of his cards are $1. He’s basically charging you for his cost of retail unless there is something really dynamite about the disco parallel you’re picking up. But he’s got ‘em all. Here’s a nice blend of Randy Moss’ kid, Thaddeus Moss.

Ya’ll remember when we used to make fun of blasters and show of a stack of cards for $20? We’d go “…for the cost of a blaster, I got…” Well this stack of cards (minus the baseball and relics) cost a tick under that price point. The sad truth though, if you can find a blaster in the wild it would cost you $20…but you ain’t finding no blasters in the wild. They’re gonna cost you at least $75 for a box of Prizm.

I’ve watched a lot of folks rip those Prizm boxes and to be honest, if I paid more than $20 for them I’d be really really really upset. The hits are rare and the ones you get aren’t that amazing. I like to stand on the sidelines and wait for disgruntled box break investor flipper guy run through a bunch of Washington guys, toss ‘em to the side so I can grab them for a buck.

Like this group of disco sparkles

Prizm does a nice job of the parallels and including a wide variety of great guys from the past. I was able to pick up the Theismann from Paul today, which i hadn’t added to my collection yet. This one is green…i think…

Also picked up some laser show zippity zappity zoom prizms…stupid dad jokes man…

I was able to chat with Paul a bit. Again, super friendly guy and incredibly helpful. I overheard him saying most of what he rips is retail…or something like that. Maybe there was some percentage I missed in the conversation. The point is, he’s got the small sales from small investments dialed in quite well. I doubt he makes a killing each show, but can imagine he’s doing far better than recouping his table and boxes cost. Nice little income for him.

Along with the parallels paul sells, paul puts pride in presenting player worn garments…i really tried to keep that alliteration going.

There were also a few baseball cards ready to be sorted through. I took a quick pass and found a few gems, these were not included in the “…cost of a blaster…” portion of the story, they were a little more than that, but part of the PC. So, felt compelled to grab them.

Honestly, at this point i’m picking up each and every single Rickey Henderson card I can find these days. I’m never certain if he’s incredibly popular or unpopular, but the cards of his that i don’t already have are hard to find.

As always, thank you for reading and extra special thanks to those that comment to let me know your reading. I really do appreciate it. The last few weeks of work have been rough and i don’t see them getting any easier. I’m very happy that i am fully employed, but sometimes…it’s just more difficult to get motivated to something that doesn’t quite interest you.

Thank you,

Cardboard Hogs

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This video is a few years old, but really cool. Made with 100% Solar Power…take a look.

Like a wave crashing over me…

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 27, 2021

Ya’ll ever get caught up in a wave of FOMO?

I do. Often.

I hate it, but it’s a part of my brain that grabs a hold of me and won’t let go.

Do you remember that car commercial from 15 years ago or so, the one where the woman wanted a new car and it became an obsession for…a car was growing on her forehead. Every time she saw a car, the forehead protuberance enlarged to a point that she bought a damn car. Well, that’s how I felt about Project 2020, or more slickly branded as MMXX by The Topps Company, Inc.

Roman Numerals for the masses. Honestly, the Roman Numerals looked great for that mostly forgettable year.

So, the draw for me to this specific set was the infusion of sports and art via the medium of a baseball card…in a magnetic holder. I love all of those things and think they are fantastic. Those three things fill the parts of my life not given to family, work and rest.

When the news of the cards were released around this time last year (…I believe…) I was already on board and decided I was going to pursue this set until I realized the cost + the quantity of cards.

400 cards and $20 each is $8,000. That’s a couple cases of cards, well one case in today’s market…but you get the idea. So I changed my focus about 20 cards into the set. I decided I was only going to buy the PC guys that were released, along with Mike Trout…just because he’s Mike Trout. So, what that meant was that every release of:

Rickey Henderson

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Don Mattingly

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Derek Jeter

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Mike Trout

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I was in. I had to be in.

I have to admit, it was fun to see the cards roll out. Almost became a burden on some days. If 2020 was a regular year, I’m not sure I would have pursued these cards so diligently. Vacation would have gotten in the way. Deadlines would have distracted me and I would have missed a date or two. But I was home every day in front of my computer every day and the forehead swelling didn’t go away. In fact, it’s still there.

Now that the frenetic ebb and flow of the MMXX cards is in full ebb mode, you can get them pretty cheap on electronic Bay. Like $5 in some cases. So, I’m going to nickel and dime my way to a complete set, well five and ten my way to a complete set and infill with my Rickey’s, Donny’s, Jeet’s and Trout’s. Luckily (I’m sure there’s a better word than lucky…) I picked up the more valuable and popular guys from that set already, so I’m hoping I can work through this fairly efficiently. Also, hoping to make some trades with a few folks on twitter to get the ball rolling.

Link to my checklist

Here’s a couple newer ones I’ve made deals with to procure for the set:

Jackie Robinson

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Ted Williams

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Mark McGwire

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With all that in mind, I’ve started a new tab at the top of the page for the set. It’s up there, to the right…second row…on the end. Click it. I have a google doc of the cards that I’ve already purchased and the ones that I’ve picked up on eBay the last couple of weeks.

So, the big question…will I participate in P70?

Thanks for reading as always!

-Cardboard Hogs

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I don’t buy clothes often…but i got a new hoodie and i love it. I got it from the guy on the left. He’s Masta Ace. One of my favorite emcee’s of all-time. Next to him is Craig G, followed by Kool G. Rap and lastly, my favorite emcee of all-time, Big Daddy Kane. They were part of the Juice Crew back in the ’80’s and made a posse cut call ‘The Symphony’. In my mind, that’s the greatest posse cut of all-time and it ain’t even close. Here’s the hoodie along with my scruffy chin and the video.

Chasing Idols

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 16, 2021

We all have our idols, people we look up to as kids. We worship them. Not those important parental or educator types…the unattainable kind. Actors. Artists. Musicians. Entertainers. Athletes. Sometimes we grow out of that youthful infatuation and sometimes we hold them for our entire lives. It becomes an eternal adoration or idolization. For me, that person was Rickey Henderson. Yeah, he’s a love him / hate him kinda guy. He can be aloof and impersonal, distant and at times. Possibly even off-putting for some of those old school baseball folks that players should be less flashy and less self-aware. Rickey played to the beat of his own drum. He was the soloist in the Miles Davis quintet. A player that could make a team great, but by his own right was great as well. A singular character that played for some of the greatest Oakland Athletic teams in the 1990’s.

My initial attraction to him as a player was in 1982. I was six going on seven. He was headed towards 130 stolen bases. Stealing bases like he was put on earth to do just that…well, rattle the opposing teams pitcher as well…and I loved it. For me, that was IT! On the other hand, the baseball my father loved were the George Brett and Mike Schmidt kinda guys, phenomenal hitting third basemen that had a completely different way they approached the game of baseball…by no means bad at all…just different.

Around this time, I really began to love the game but didn’t have a favorite team. I grew up in San Antonio and really was not into the Astros with their sherbet rainbow pullovers or the players, short of Nolan Ryan. The other option I had as a kid in Texas was the Texas Rangers…yeah…NO. I had already fully established myself as a Washington Football Team (nee Redskins) fan and couldn’t attach myself to a Dallas area team of any kind. So, for the short time being I was a half-hearted A’s fan…really a Rickey Henderson fan, and he just so happened to play for the Oakland Athletics. This all changed in the Winter of 1984. He was traded to the New York Yankees. By this time, I’m a nine year old savant baseball fan…not really. I just watched games and bought baseball cards, but I loved the game so so so much before my first decade on earth. So, now it seemed like the perfect time to pick a ‘favorite’ team. Well, I might as well pick the team that my favorite player plays for, right? The New York Yankees. Yes. The Bronx Bombers or Evil Empire depending on whom you root for yourselves. I was a Rickey Henderson fan first and a Yankees fan second, but a close second, really it was 1A and 1B

By this time, my parents had split up and I was your typical latchkey ’80’s kid. The son of a single working mom. She attended night school working towards her bachelor’s degree. She worked a lot and we were ok financially, by no means set, but we were good. Well, not good enough to do anything we wanted to do, like take a trip somewhere fun and exciting. My mom knew this but she also knew how much baseball meant to me during the summer of ’87. She managed to purchase two seats for the New York Yankees vs. Texas Rangers in Arlington. Just a mere five hour drive to the north on I-35. That’s how far Rickey Henderson was from me. My idol. In my mind I was going to meet him and we were going to become great friends and I would write him and he would write me. I had it all planned out, you see. My mother reminded me that you should never meet your idols or those that you admire as they will underwhelm you. I wasn’t going for that. I wanted to get his autograph and tell him that he was my favorite player. Nobody in Texas could possibly be as big a fan as I was. I was his biggest fan in the biggest state…well the biggest state in the contiguous continent.

We headed up to Arlington early that Saturday morning for the five hour drive. South Texas is hot, but North Texas ain’t much better. The old 1984 Buick Skylark had marginal AC at it’s best and a strong tendency to overheat and breakdown on occasion. Guess what? It did just that. Broke down. On the side of the highway just north of Austin. Barely an hour outside of our home. That was it. I wasn’t going to see my favorite player on my favorite team play. I was dejected. Broken. On the verge of tears. Keep in mind, I was a kid that didn’t cry much, my expressions were released more physically and in a way that now embarrass me. My mom could see this and to her credit, she wasn’t letting this trip get away. After we found out from the local mechanic that we could ‘maybe’ make it to Arlington and back if we take it slow and constantly check the coolant in the engine we would be able to complete our road trip. And so, we did. I will never forget this act from my mother, she pressed forward when the smart thing was to turn back around and play it safe…she pressed forward. That five hour drive turned into a nearly 7 hour drive. We ended up going straight to the park, deciding to check into the Holiday Inn after the game. Arriving just in time for the first pitch. This wasn’t my first baseball game, but it was my first game outdoors, I had been to a few games in the Astrodome. This was different and it was AMAZING! The New York Yankees, THE NEW YORK FRICKIN’ YANKEES vs. the Rangers. We quickly made our way to the seats to watch Jose Guzman get Mattingly to ground out to first. I missed Rickey’s first at bat…damn.

Rickey came up three more times that night and ended up going 1-3 with a single. No stolen bases and a loss for the New York Yankees. Side note, this was also the last night Don Mattingly homered during his eight game consecutive streak. Knocking a dinger of Guzman in the 4^th inning. I got to see that and that was a great piece of history to be a part of.

The next night, July 19^th. Rickey doesn’t show up for pre-game warm ups. Rickey doesn’t have his name on the scoreboard. Rickey doesn’t play. Damn. We were headed back in the morning and I got to see my idol come to bat three times with one single and no stolen bases. Not to mention, this Sunday night, Mattingly goes homerless for the first time since July 8^th and the Yankees lose 3-20. I did get to see Rick Cerone pitch to Bobby Witt, with Witt almost taking him deep with a couple long foul balls.

I did manage to get a photo of Rickey at the game and here it is!

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Apparently approaching players in the bullpen during a game for an autograph is a no-no. Charles Hudson was happy to let me know that was the case. The trip wasn’t a failure, but it was not a success either in my 11 year old mind.

Let’s fast forward to 1990. The Oakland Athletics are dominant, like one of the greatest of all time teams dominant. A true murderers row of sluggers and solid defense. My mom always coming through knew how amazing it would be for me to see Rickey once again. She knew he was my guy, the only player that I really ever cared this much about. She did it again. For my 15^th birthday, she got two tickets for the two games at the end of September. The last games of the season for both teams…well almost last games. We had tickets to the Saturday and Sunday games in Arlington. Same long hot drive, although less hot due to Fall all around us. Also, mom had a new car, a 1990 Corsica! Yeah! No need to stop and check the engine coolant, plus we were actually able to roll the windows down on this trip.

Our arrival this time allows us to check in to the hotel, get some food and head to the game for early BP. By this time I was a seasoned autograph hound and knew where to place myself for in-person autographs of players I wanted to sign. My mom hated this though, it meant we were in an incredibly uncomfortable hotbox of a stadium on a 90degree day. She had nothing better to do than to just sit in the stands and read a book while I grabbed the autos of my favorite players.

As I made my way to the lower bowl, I attempted to get McGwire autograph which was an absolute joke. He was swarmed and wasn’t even getting close to him. Canseco? Forget about it…Weiss signed. Lansford signed. The Eck even signed a few. The whole time I had my eye on Rickey. Rickey took batting practice. Rickey took in some sprints. Rickey untied his shoes. Rickey tied his shoes. Rickey walked around the batting cage. I’m standing off to the side just waiting, having given up on the other superstars. I wanted my superstars autograph.

Rickey had his head down. Rickey was walking to me. I was modestly shouting Mr. HENDER-SON. Rickey got close. My modesty turned to one of those Beatles fan-girl videos and I was just straight up shouting. RICKEY, RICKEY, RICKEY. Rickey looks up. Rickey sees me. Rickey walks towards me. Rickey gets closer. In seconds, I’m swarmed by other auto hounds…pushed aside by some adults that do not need to be here, but this is my chance. I am not going to fail. I am going to get this autograph. Rickey signs that guys card. Rickey signs that kids card. Then suddenly, Rickey signs my card. HOLY SHIT. I’m shaking…I got Rickey Henderson’s autograph during batting practice on September 29^th 1990 on a 1990 Donruss, number 304. Here it is.

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This is the last autograph I’ve ever asked of someone in person or through the mail, I stopped doing TTM’s. I stopped getting to games early for batting practice autographs. It all stopped. I got the autograph I wanted. Rickey Henderson. Just wish I had a better pen…

-Cardboard Hogs

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I’m your idol the highest title, numero uno…And now, a special presentation from Special Ed…He has a frog, a dog with a solid gold bone.

The Last Post…and a farewell to a Villain

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 31, 2020

This year has finally come to an end. An unforgiving parallel universe of a year where wrong was right and low was even further lower than we could all imagine. Maybe it was the end of a bad dream, the kind of nightmare where you’re about to crash into a concrete wall, screeching brakes being hammered to the floor, arms off the wheel to cover your eyes, barreling towards the wall and nanoseconds before impact you wake up. Sweating. Shaking. Breathing heavily. Saying to yourself, “what the hell just happened!” The nightmare has ended…for now, but is it really over? What will ’21 bring for us? I would love to see an overcorrection from the wrong to the right and some goodness be brought to everyone. More generosity and kindness. Less judgement and crassness towards others. Can we live our lives in a manner that we want to without condescension? I sure hope so.

I love this hobby, I love it dearly. It brings me great joy. In a world where I have marginal control over things, I can control my collection.

It’s there when I need it to regroup emotionally…I’m a highly anxious person.

It’s there when I’ve had a rough day and need to zone out…I worry too much about others opinions.

It’s there when I need a new organizing project and get an idea in the middle of the night…I got some OCD too.

Our hobby is fantastic. A lot has changed about it this past year.

I hope it keeps evolving.

I hope the people that are new are welcomed with open arms.

I hope the new people take some history lessons and learn about our hobby.

I hope we let people collect what and how they want to collect.

For 2021, I will be more involved in helping to make this hobby great. Reaching out to bloggers, twitter folks, flippers, old-school collectors and the new ones as well. I plan to buy more from my LCS than eBay, but I also plan to sell more on eBay. I want to find a happy middle where I can enjoy the hobby without feeling like I am going to strangle myself financially. Creating a net zero cost of cards is the ultimate goal, not sure how that will get done. The architecture and build portion of the world is attempting to reduce carbon emissions significantly with the 2030 challenge, but this is nothing like that.

I just want to have fun with these pieces of cardboard and card stock and shiny whatever the hell they are materials. I hope you do too!

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With the end of the year usually comes collecting or personal goals. I’m not going to list anything, I think that’s mostly been covered by the manifesto above. So, instead, I’d like to take the time to update the annual wallet card and take a look back.

I started carrying a card in my wallet quite a few years ago. It was a way to always keep the hobby with me wherever I went. Every once in a while the card would be exposed to other people and it would start a conversation, or maybe just some ridicule from some colleagues…architects can be a judgmental group, ya know?

At some point along the way, I’ve lost a few cards…but here’s what I’ve got since I started the blog.

2020: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees 1999 Pacific Paramount, card #162

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2019: Dale Murphy, Atlanta Braves 1987 Topps, card #490

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2018: Joe Gibbs, Washington Redskins 1992 Pro Set, card #90

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2017: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees 2014 Gypsy Queen, card #N174-DJ

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2016: Art Monk, Washington Redskins 1985 Topps, card # 185

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2015: Rickey Henderson, New York Yankees 1986 Topps, card #500

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2014: Joe Gibbs, Washington Redskins 1990 Pro Set, card #333

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2013: Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers 1991 Topps Archives, card #1

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AND NOW, FOR TWO-THOUSAND TWENTY ONE! THE NEW WALLET CARD IS (drumroll…)

2021: Santana Moss, Washington Redskins 2006 Topps, card #245

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I know, I know…I can hear the clapping through the keyboard!

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OK, so when I woke up this morning I was thinking about the best video I could share with you all today. Something fun and positive and light-hearted to ring the new year in. I was getting distracted during the day and everything was getting away from me. When I sat down to start writing I first jumped on twitter to get an update on this mad world we’re living in…and my heart sank when I saw that MF Doom has passed away…shit shit shit shit. He was one of my favorite MC’s…crazy entertaining and a tremendous wordsmith. Lots of double entendre’s and just some good ol’ hip hop metaphors. At this point, I’m not sure what took his life as he was only 49 (4 years older than me). The one thing that can make me smile is that he actually passed away on Halloween of this year. That’s gotta be the most MF Doom thing ever. For the uninitiated, he was wore a ‘gladiator’ mask and was well known for skipping out on shows but still having someone perform for him…the mask helped with that endeavor. Not sure of the reason for keeping his passing quiet for two months, but that’s none of my business really. If you have the time, please take a listen to the video below of his collaboration with the producer Madlib for the quintessential MC and producer hip hop album. It’s a classic.

MADVILLAIN – MADVILLAINY

Also, check out his earlier work with KMD as Zev Love X and music from his other aliases; King Geedorah, King Ghidra, Viktor Vaughn, Metal Fingers, King Dumile and Metal Face. He also did some work with 3rd Bass back in the day…enjoy. Have a Happy New Year, hug your loved one, tell them you love them and stay safe out there.

-Cardboard Hogs!

The School of Rickey

Posted by cardboard hogs on December 20, 2016

So, last night was a little disappointing…Not only did the Redskins blow a golden opportunity to take hold of the #6 seed in the NFC playoffs, my #1 seed fantasy football team lost by 1 point. As you may have guessed, my roster is filled with Redskins players…it’s my real life team and i like to make them my non real life teammates. Coming in to the game i was in a great position to make it to back to back FF Championship, all i needed was the Redskins to not crap the bed…and they crapped the bed. All over the freaki’ place. Now, i know one of the most annoying things is hearing some random dude complaining or bragging about his fantasy teams…it was just tough man. Still love my Redskins and can only regret the roster decisions that i should have made in hindsight. But as Steve Spurrier once said…”hindsight is 50/50.”

Moving on. The MLB network had a great documentary on Rickey Henderson tonight, “School of Rickey”

Needless to say, i enjoyed the hell out of the show and all of the stories from Rickey’s past…and present. He seems like the kinda guy that is impossible to figure out in real life, not to mention if you were a pitcher attempting to hold him on base during his playing days.

If you are a Henderson fan it’s a must watch.

If you are a baseball fan it’s must watch.

So, watch it!

But first, check out this sweet ass 2016 Topps Dynasty card i recently picked up! It’s a lovely tricolor patch on card autograph of my baseball idol, and it’s numbered 03/10.

16-td-rickey-henderson-310-front 16-td-rickey-henderson-310-back

Fantastic piece of cardboard i say. Some of you fellow bloggers have picked up a couple of these cards recently and noted the bumpy texture of the cards which is pretty evident in person, more so than in the photographs…but these photos were taken with an iPhone in low light, so there’s that. Initially, i wasn’t going to go after one of these cards until the madness died down a bit but i saw a great deal on eBay and had some PayPal money from some recent sales to cover the cost and went for it!

16-td-rickey-henderson-310-angle-front

When i posted a bid on the card i made the rookie mistake of not reading the description…i should have, and you should always do the same! Apparently, the guy selling the card was flipping the card and didn’t have it in hand. To me, that was the beginning of a scam…so, i contacted the seller and he was really cool about it and understood where i was coming from and did an awesome job of following through on the whereabouts of the card. Luckily for me (and probably him too?) the card came in a couple days later. He shipped it out quickly and it was in my precious little hands last night, right before the Redskins crapped the bed. So, i guess last night was all that bad…eh?

One of my favorite MC’s of all time, Aesop Rock is in town tonight for a show at the Wonder Ballroom…well, he’s in town most nights as he lives in Portland these days. Normally, i would insist on going to his show and having an amazing time…if you’re in to Hip-Hop and love the indie version of that form of music, he’s one of the greats and always has high energy shows along with Rob Sonic and Homeboy Sandman. This time though, other family / work related things came up so i couldn’t make it out. Kinda missing out too, wishing I could have made it out…next time. Until then, here’s a cool video from his latest album “The Impossible Kid”

Rickey’s Week

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 18, 2015

Rickey had a great week, not an epic week or amazing, but it was pretty eventful for the wallet card. Rickey as wallet card is a little shy and doesn’t like to come out too often, but when he does, he makes quite an impression. We are working on that though…there were a couple of moments when Rickey didn’t want to be seen with nice old fashioned that was ordered for his photographic purposes…but hey, everyone has their own thing.

After a wonderful weekend, Rickey had to make his way to work on Monday…a little weary and lacking energy to do much of anything. But Rickey is a fighter and did some great things at work. You may notice some other paraphernalia on the desk, the two RGIII’s are from Collector’s Crack from a trade a few months ago. The Ganesh was a gift from an old friend that was brought back from India and i think may not be working too well being that close to Robert’s ligaments…maybe next year I will shift it up a bit. There is also a tiny and outdated photo of our little family along with my vitamin jars. I’m big on those raw, whole food vitamins. Gotta stay healthy and alert! 😉

Rickey got to go on a field trip to my latest completed middle school project. He really liked it! We were doing the photo shoot with a fantastic local architectural photographer and i had to set up some of the staging. Rickey had some thoughts on staging, but they fell on deaf ears. Rickey don’t like deaf ears…but he does like the media center…and those roses, pretty dope eh?

Rickey ended the week with a wonderful date night and dinner with some wonderful friends. We hit up a couple bars on NW 23rd and had a great time catching up with the group. It was a bittersweet meeting though as we found out one of our great friends that both work at Nike are being relocated to Amsterdam. They will be leaving soon and will be greatly missed. We hope to make a visit in the next two years to see them, but who knows. Either way it was great to see the crew again.

We should really clean our mirrors…

What will we have in store for Rickey this week?

Rickey’s weekend

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 14, 2015

Rickey went out for dinner on Saturday night…he went to one of his favorite places, Ataula. It’s a tiny Spanish Tapas place near 23rd and close to downtown. The wife and I love, love, love this place and have many great meals here. Most of the time we get to meet up with friends and have a few tapas and a pitcher of Sangria while watching the chef, Jose Chesa, prepare the amazing meals as well as the bartenders mixing up some fantastic drinks. The atmosphere is really cool and family oriented (not really kid friendly though, at least not ours). The chef came to Portland from Barcelona with his wife a few years and slowly built up his place and it’s become one of the more popular Tapas bars in our area.

The visit also gave Rickey a chance to see what’s up in the wonderful world of culinary delights for Portland. One quick look at the menu and he is already pointing to my staple, Tortilla de Patata. I know it’s kind of cliche, but man i love potatoes and eggs. Love them…and so does Rickey. Just look at that smile! He also loved the Albondigas which is nearly impossible to not order. It’s a meatball with beef and pork. WTF!

Rickey wasn’t drinking today, but the wife and I sure as hell were! Our bill is mostly glasses of Sangria. They won’t let us get our own pitcher unless we have a third party and i was like…hello…have you seen wallet card Rickey! Didn’t work.

By the time our first plates came through, i was one drink in and losing focus…i’ve become a lightweight apparently. Not ashamed or proud of that, just a comment on the evenings events. The quickness with which I downed my first glass may reflect on the poor image quality of the croquetas, but trust me, these fried balls of cod was amazing. I found myself cutting them in to little pieces so i could make them last longer. I always find myself trying to convince my wife to let me have half of one of her balls…there’s a joke there somewhere…

Rickey will have some new adventures coming up soon…just you wait and see. Tune in for the next adventures in #walletcard Rickey!

Rickey goes to Powells

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 10, 2015

…but only to browse…

I ~~like~~ love books, especially those big books with lots of images. The books with eye candy, great graphic layouts and really cool images. Sometimes I even read the words that are printed in the books…but that takes more time…so it doesn’t happen as much. One of the great things about working downtown is being close to Powells, one of the greater things about working at the office I work is having Powells right across the street…like, i can see if from my desk across the street…well, not at my new desk, but at desks that i’ve sat in before. Powells is a great place to stroll around after lunch and see what’s out or what’s on sale for that month. Most of my visits are just visits and not purchase visits…you know, to get inspired. I need that as an architect, visual inspiration!

So, Rickey and I went to the art+architecture section which is in a much better spot with the revised layout. they always had a layout table there, but the one that’s in now is much larger and better for laying out books, but this visit wasn’t about laying out books, it was about finding photo ops for wallet card Rickey! The first stop…was…wowza…Not really sure what’s going on here, but hey, Rickey thought it was cool.

Rickey is all about helping and lending a helping hand. Sometimes the greatest of the greats need some inspiration, like LeCorbusier. It’s not easy being an architectural genius and making ribbon windows and pilotis look magical all the time…but Rickey is there to lend a smile and a wave a wand of confidence!

Rickey likes space. I liked Interstellar. So this was appropriate for the moment. This book was pretty cool actually. Lots of great images of different space suits and equipment from a fashion perspective.

My favorite architect is Peter Zumthor. You kids in LA are about to be blessed with his renovation and complete reworking of how LACMA is being laid out. Before the wifey and I got married, i convinced her to visit a thermal spa in Switzerland, which really didn’t take much arm twisting. Anyways, the Therme Vals is a spectacular place to visit if you ever find yourself near Zurich. Rickey likes it lots.

At this point, Rickey wanted to see photos of Rickey’s greatness. Rickey likes him some Rickey…and Donny Baseball.

But most of all, Rickey likes it when Rickey sets records. Unbreakable records. Rickey is also pretty fond of this jersey.

Wallet card Rickey has a hot date tonight.

Record Shop Rickey

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 6, 2015

With my minimal card purchases lately and a revival in the Hogs Blog, i’ve decided to do another wallet card post with Rickey. Now, Rickey can be a moody fella and not always interested in some randomness, so i dragged him along to my annual post lunch Tuesday record shop visit. Working downtown, i have two great options for vinyl digging…Everyday Music and my personal favorite 2nd Ave. Records. Today’s visit was Everyday. Now, I wasn’t on a hunt to buy anything (that’s for my lovely wife) but to see what was out and what may peak Rickey’s interest…Take a look at what we found.

Being an lifelong fan of the rap music i always look down that aisle first. Taking a quick scan, what do i see, but the classic doggystle album! Rickey isn’t a fan of soft core porn so he did his best job of covering up the booty on the cover. Unfortunately, that bat is in an odd location…Snoop isn’t too crazy about Rickey blocking the booty, so he gives him a lil’ nudge.

Sometimes you can look in to the mind of a great artist and see greatness. In this case Flying Lotus’ beam of light is actually Rickey Henderson! The glowing orb from a glowing legend, look at that Rickey smile! Side note, this album is wonderful…my favorite Lotus album to date.

There are a couple of things that Rickey doesn’t like. One of them is the way this dude spells his name…and that suit. Jeezy Creezy! That suit man. I can overlook the finely feathered hair, but that suit! They name though had Rickey up in arms…sorry for all the Ricky Skaggs fans out there, I know there are multitudes of you people.

Now, hanging out in a dusty old record shop (which this isn’t really one of those…), you run in to some Riff Raff. This Riff Raff likes babies and puppy huskies, but who doesn’t really. I love puppy huskies. They are soft and cuddly. Babies on the other hands are crazy work and will pee on you. Whether or not you believe Riff Raff is a Neon Icon or not, this dude is blowing up like crazy…not my cup of tea, but to each his own.

Rickey had a good day…but not as good as Riff Raff’s life right now…

Rickey visits Target

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 5, 2015

First day back at work and the first day of toting a baseball card in my pocket all day long. This is a fantastic way to start the year…in order to save some money around our house, the wife and i have been diligently packing our lunches on a daily basis. Typically i hate left overs, but i hate not having money either…that really sucks, like really really sucks. I also really hate staying in the office all day long so it’s a double whammy for me. My solution has been to eat quickly, not stomach cramping quickly, but fast enough to make a nice little walk around downtown P-Town for 30-45 minutes to look at people and things. It’s also a great time to hit up the Target for few random requirements like lithium batteries and cliff bars. These are both vital to me staying active and healthy. The battery for the bike speedometer and the cliff bars to keep me from donking off mid-day. Today was special though. It was a chance for wallet Rickey to see the world…unfortunately i was in a rush today so we didn’t spend too much time with the photo shoot, but needless to say, Rickey likes transformers…you can’t wipe that smile off his face.

See, he has a huge smile…it’s so great to see Rickey being Rickey in the toy aisle. Rickey will be making a trek to the record shop tomorrow afternoon and just might make an appearance at Whole Foods. It’s a big day for Rickey, so he needs to get some rest…his corners are rounding out. It’s time for a nap.