Please Mr. Postman (A trade post) -- The best "sushi platter" ever

It's currently 80 degrees outside while I'm writing this post.

80 degrees. It's technically still winter. In Chicago. I need to take a picture of this moment, because other people wouldn't believe it.

I love days like these. It's great walking home from school with my MP3 player on in this great weather, then cracking open a can of Diet Coke and plopping myself on the couch once I get home.

In today's case, I was tearing open a package from Michael over at "Nomo's Sushi Platter" while enjoying my Diet Coke.

As I've mentioned before, the first thing that caught my attention in the blogosphere was the amount of attention a marginal player like Nomo got. Heck, the title Michael's blog is in honor of him.

Anyways, Michael sent me an email about a week ago about a possible trade.

The trades I've made since I entered the blogosphere are among the quickest and easiest I've ever completed. This one was no exception, as we agreed on a nice and simple deal within minutes.

My Steve Garvey collection was inspired by my grandma, of all people. She was an avid Garvey fan while she lived in San Diego.

This Kellogg's Garvey card is a great addition to my collection of his. Most of the Kellogg's cards I have are cracked or in bad condition (which is fine) due to the fact that most of them came from dime boxes.

They look a hundred times better when they're clean, like this Garvey card.

I've been thinking about starting a new mini-player collection of cards of the late Gary Carter during his days with the Expos.

This one is a great start, capturing "The Kid" in all his glory.

I don't know that I've ever seen a picture of him where he's not smiling.

This is my first card that pictures Carlton Fisk playing first base, as he did in the later years of his career.

This great shot is just icing on the cake, as Fisk already graces the front of arguably the greatest overproduction era card ever made.

It's fitting that a package from "Nomo's Sushi Platter" would contain a Hideo Nomo card.

That '97 Upper Deck card may well be my new favorite Hideo Nomo card, since it's a new addition to my hitting pitchers collection. (And it's way better than the obnoxious Nomo card I featured in that post.)

Night Owl did a great post a while back about the '79 Topps Welch rookie card. I'm glad I have a copy for myself.

Michael also included a couple great new pieces for my Hall-of-Fame collection with these two Jackie Robinson cards.

I've wanted one of those "Prime 9" redemption inserts for a while now after seeing them on a few other blogs.

This was my favorite card in the package.

Michael also collects Ichiro, like me. I'm assuming this one was a double of some sort from his collection.

This is also my first card from the 2011 Topps Tier One set. They're waaaaay out of my price range, and they haven't been out long enough for the base cards to wind up in quarter boxes yet. (I've found a ton of Triple Threads base and parallels with that tactic over the years.)

It's my first card of Ichiro sporting a throwback Mariners uniform, not counting this one.

Thanks to Michael, or "Spiegel83", for the fantastic cards!