Trade With Robert of $30 A Week Habit.

       I believe, when all is said and done, trading is the backbone of this hobby.  Sure, we all go to big box stores and hobby shops and drop money on boxes and singles - a necessary evil, to be sure - but one grand thing about the internet is that it has brought back what we all did fundamentally as kids: trade cards.  I found card blogs by accident years ago and really enjoy reading them, but what they truly did was wake up my inner child and my want and need to swap doubles and unwanted cards for things I really want (and need).

       Even before I started this blog, I had been a big time trader with a bunch of my now-fellow bloggers.  Alas, no scanned evidence, on my end, exists of these trades and my memory is useless for even the basic knowledge I require to get through the day, much less the intricacies of long ago trades. Let me just say I have found the enthusiasm and generosity of online traders to be boundless.  I would like to take a moment to thank Night Owl, dayf, Capewood, Kevin, Mark, Dave, Dennis, Matt, Andy, John, the elusive Dinged Corners, White Sox Cards, bdj610, Thorzul, and I am sure a few others I have forgotten, for trading with me in the past and I look forward to continuing our online cardboard bartering. And for anyone else who wants to, I swear I will eventually update my wantlists and I can trade with you, too (don't be afraid to email me anyway if you think you have something I want).  

     So last month when I decided to start this blog, I got a package in the mail from Robert of $30 A Week Habit and scanned its contents in anticipation.  I discovered his blog clicking around a while ago and liked his hook (want to get me to read your stuff? have a hook) but what really got my attention was his other blog.  The concept of the insanity set is, um, insane...and kind of ingenious.  I waited to email him when I saw a card I wanted and we worked out a trade.  Ever since, I have been sending him numbered cards I find in dime boxes and my own boxes (to help with his gargantuan task, I suggest you do the same) and he has been nice enough to reciprocate.

This particular package was in response to a group of numbered cards I sent, and my help in completing his One-Card Challenge©.  I have not been buying much new product, so he was good enough to send some 2012 Topps Mets (amongst other things) my way:

The black Topps cards are especially awesome; they are the low numbered parallels, not the Walmart stuff.  The 3D David Wright was so neat, it inspired me to go on ebay and pluck a lot of nine of the other 2010 3D cards to create a whole page.

I also noted his mutual love of hockey and told him I like the Devils. I have a copious amount of New Jersey Devils cards and he somehow sent me nine cards (perfect!) I did not already have - and all inserts to boot: 

While these won't stay as a page, it was somehow prescient of him nonetheless.  Thanks Robert!

UPDATE: I added a list of folks I have completed a trade with in the right column.  I will update this as trades are made.