Joe Morgan Just Doesn’t Get Vangelis’ “Albedo 0.39”

Joe Morgan: The guy that wrote “Albedo 0.39” can’t teach me about the Earth. That is what I meant. If you haven’t been on the planet, why should I listen to your song? How can that person teach me about the Earth? I learn plenty about the Earth everyday. Every Sunday night I learn something. The Earth changes almost every day. But I’m still not going to listen to “Albedo 0.39” or songs written by people who haven’t been on the planet or really experienced what goes on in life on the Earth. *

* Okay, that’s been paraphrased; Joe said that about Moneyball, not “Albedo 0.39”, but since it’s Music Friday at WGOM, well, hey! Just reminiscing about the song and all the “stats” in it had me thinking that obviously Joe Morgan wouldn’t care for the song at all.
Vangelis was a favorite of “my group” in college, and “Albedo 0.39” is a nice little spoken word track.

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Halloween, Incognito

With October 31^st almost upon us, I thought I’d post a few costume photos from the past, fwiw. These are not highlights (good God, no!) but just pictures I happened to have found lying around…

Halloween 1973
Bro Al on the left and me, just about ready to take to the car and do havoc on the neighboring farm homes.

Halloween 1980
First year of college, taken in Livingstone Lord Library at Moorhead State University. Most all of 2^nd floor of Nelson Hall marched through Dahl Hall and other buildings (to Jeff Lorber Fusion’s “Monster Man” blaring on the boombox) squirting anyone with squirt guns if they happened to open their doors.

Halloween 1983
Senior year at college, doing my best D.P. Gumby impression.

Halloween 1985
OMG, how embarrassing! An aluminum bat?!

Halloween 1986
This was just after US News & World Report reporter Nicholas Daniloff was held in Russia on spying charges (notice press pass tucked into hat brim). The key to all good photos is to hold an impressive pose.

Interestingly enough, the hat and trenchcoat have been my typical “costume” for the past several years, mostly because their convenient, warm, and still just as scary!

Enjoy your Halloween night, kiddos…

Pandora Friday Random 10

It’s Friday, which means time for the random 10 songs, today compliments of Pandora.

1. “Hot Fun” – Stanley Clarke, School Days
2. “Blinded by the Light” – Manfred Mann, The Complete Greatest Hits of Manfred Mann
3. “Here I Wait” – GTR, GTR
4. “914” – Liquid Tension Experiment, Liquid Tension Experiment 2
5. “Man on the Moon” – REM, Automatic for the People
6. “Through Toledo” – Greg Laswell, Through Toledo
7. “Hot Town” – Flim & the BB’s, New Pants
8. “Twisterella” – Ride, Going Blank Again
9. “Linus & Lucy” – David Benoit, 20th Century Masters – The Millenium Collection: The Best of David Benoit
10. “Death of an Interior Decorator” – Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism

Go Rangers!

Sometimes You Feel Like a NYBBNUTT

NYBBNUTT from NYBBNUTT’s Baseball Card Trading Page left a comment on one of my past posts, and between us we started trade talks. I already had a Yankees spreadsheet of stuff to trade, by when I received a list of Twins cards, I was initially let down — the page with Puckett cards was standard fare, but then there were several Molitor cards that caught my eye, and by the last page I was hooked. I shipped off several vintage cards, and in exchange NYBBNUTT to a big chunk out of my early 2000’s Bowman and Bazooka needs.

clockwise, from top left: 2003 Bowman Knothole Rainbow #249 Trent Oeltjen; 1997 Pinnacle Totally Certified Platinum Red #115 Todd Walker [1268/3999]; 2001 Bowman #259 Michael Cuddyer; 1999 Fleer Skybox Molten Metal Fusion #8F Chad Allen [369/500]

A Smed Package from the Heart of Twins Territory

I recently completed a trade with Smed at (where else?) Smed’s Baseball Card Blog, and when the package arrived and I opened it, the first thing I had to say was, “Dude, you sent too much!” The second thing I had to say was, “Thanks!” We had agreed in general on what we were swapping, but with a couple relics among the bonus cards, I was very pleasantly surprised.

clockwise, from top left: 2007 Upper Deck SP Rookie Edition auto #179 Glen Perkins; 2005 Upper Deck Pros & Prospects Tier 1 #113 J.D. Durbin [335/999], how’s that “Real Deal” working out, J.D.?; 2009 Upper Deck UD Game Jersey Triple Swatch #GJ-JN Joe Nathan [29/99]; 2008 Topps Chrome Trading Card History #TCHC9 Joe Mauer

My Recent Trade…I Love It!!

A recent package arrived from Wicked Ortega at My Past Time…I Love It!! I had jumped at one of his famous Trade Bait posts, offering up a Jason Bartlett auto (Rays) for a Jason Bartlett auto (Twins), which became the centerpieces of a small trade between us. The Wicked One made a few additional wantlist hits as well with some bonus cards:

clockwise, from top left: 1999 Upper Deck MVP #122 Corey Koskie; 2007 Upper Deck MLB Artifacts Autofacts #AF-BT Jason Bartlett; 1998 Pacific Online #430 Otis Nixon; 1998 Donruss Elite #138 Chuck Knoblauch

I’m hoping that additional trade bait posts are fruitful as well.

Trade Terminology, and a Make-Good P(s)TBNL

This list isn’t comprehensive by a long shot, but here’s a list of some terms I use when describing trades. Nothing earth shattering, like “bipping” someone (hat remains tipped towards Thorzul), but just some terminology I’ll throw out from time to time.

• team dump : “Hey, I’m sending you every single [insert team name] that I’ve got.”
• prisoner exchange : this is where the Yankees collector trades with the Red Sox collector, for instance
• shotgun trade : a slew of random stuff is sent, in hopes that several hit the mark
• PTBNL : the trade is still open, knowing that another card(s) will be sent later to round out the trade
• wing-and-a-prayer : “I’m going to mail him this card and hope that the card he says he’s sending me is [insert desired card].”
• dosey-doe swap : a long-standing trade with packages that keep getting sent back-and-forth, sometimes over months
• make-good package : a later mailing that cleans up some loose ends from a previous trade(s)
• junk wax extravaganza : name says it all; often times associated with a team dump
• feel-good mailing : unsolicitedly hitting up someone’s want list with no expectation of a return package

Feel free to use ’em (they’re free!), and post a few of your favorites in the comment section.

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In a surprise gesture from White Sox Cards, a package arrived the other day containing a make-good PTBNL (see above). I don’t need to get into the hows and whys of it, but what made this package unexpected was that there was a SECOND player to be named later as well!

left to right: 2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History Cut from the Same Cloth #CSC-JH Andruw Jones/Torii Hunter [04/99]; 2010 Topps T-206 Mini Relic #TR-KS Kevin Slowey, might want to up the SPF

Dude, how very AL Central of you! 😉 I’ve already started stock-piling more stuff for you. Looks like a dosey-doe in the works…

Thoughts on Sox Takes the Shotgun Approach

Okay, technically it was a “team dump”, but since fellow Show Me Stater AdamE from Thoughts on Sox didn’t have a lot of Twins cards to begin with, and they were all relatively recent, I’m going to call it a “shotgun” trade — and the shot was pretty near full choke, as nearly half of the cards were winners. We both have been stockpiling each other’s teams cards to send off to each other at some point in the future, and AdamE reached the tipping point first. Several A&G (and other) minis, a couple 2008 Topps Gold foil, and a nice variety of others. I believe my return package will likewise be appreciated (dude, I really have to bring you by my local card shop the next time you’re in town 😉 ).

clockwise, from top left: 2006 Bowman Heritage #23 Justin Morneau, pre-concussion; 2008 Topps Gold Foil #618 Pat Neshek; 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions #76 Joe Mauer; 2009 Topps 206 (Piedmont back) #281 Joe Mauer; 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter (A&G back) #281 Joe Nathan; 2010 Topps National Chicle #7 Joe Mauer, in fly-catcher mode

Always a pleasure, AdamE!