The definition of cool

Back during my trading forum days, I'd pound out about thirty trades a month.

I swapped cardboard to my heart's content. Day in, and day out.

I was proud of the sheer amount of trades I'd made.

These days, my pace has gone down considerably. I haven't made a trip to the post office in a couple weeks.

That's fine with me, though. Recently, I've learned that it's not about how many trades you make.

It's who you trade with, which instantly makes the blogosphere the best place to swap cardboard.

I received two trade packages yesterday. Way back when, a two-package day wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary.

However, they were two of the greatest mailers I've ever received, and that's no exaggeration. As you might've already guessed, they came from two fellow bloggers.

The one I'll be showcasing this afternoon comes from none other than Greg, author of the blog that introduced me to the blogosphere, "Night Owl Cards".

Now that I think of it, we've never really agreed on an actual "trade". Sometimes I send him Dodgers, and sometimes he sends some stuff back my way.

It's definitely the best way to do things.

It was no different this time around.

I recently shipped a handful of Dodgers cards out to Greg, just a few goodies I'd accumulated from various dime boxes and the like over the last few months. (Given how many fans of the club are in the blogosphere, Dodger cards have become one of my main dime box focuses lately.)

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I saw a mailer from Greg poking out of the mailbox yesterday.

One of the first cards that fell out of the package was a sparkly parallel of Mr. Coco Crisp.

There's something special about the combination of the gold sparkles and those gold A's uniforms.

However, that was the only card I knew Greg would include. I'd asked about it a while back when Series 2 first hit the shelves.

Other than that, I was completely in the dark about the cardboard that awaited me.

Boy, was I in for a treat.

Greg always seems to find a few neat Cubs cards to send my way.

I'm not exactly a "team collector". I collect a bits of pieces of every team, some more than others.

However, I probably take the most pride in my trio of Cubs binders. It's like taking a ride in a time machine through the history of my all-time favorite team.

From what I've seen and heard about him, Brett Jackson has a chance to become a major part of Cubs history.

This is the first card of his I've received. As a result, I've decided to make him my newest "binder inductee".

I'm betting he'll have a lot more cards down the road, though.

You can never go wrong with '75 minis, even if they are of the knock-off Lineage variety.

I actually like this blue-yellow color combo better than most of the actual colors Topps featured on Cubs cards in '75.

Like brown, for instance.

Topps, please bring this set back.

I'm begging you.

I hope Topps doesn't end up overdoing the whole "sparkly" thing.

They were great in flagship last year. The "gold sparkles" were okay this year.

With a set like Lineage, though, they look a bit out of place. I don't think the design fits all that well with the diamond border.

Still, I'll never be able to pass up anything of Cy Young, sparkly or not.

The cards Greg sent me included a little of everything.

Except for a few Cubs cards and a shiny piece for my Hall of Fame collection, there wasn't really any rhyme or reason to it.

However, those are my favorite types of packages to dig through.

After all, literally anything could be waiting for me.

Sometimes, even a random assortment of cards results in one that I've specifically wanted for a while, as is the case with this Papelbon "masterpiece".

I'd seen this card around the blogs a few times in the past, and I'd desperately wanted to claim a copy for myself.

Thankfully, Greg was there to take care of that, as the Papelbon was one of the first cards that fell out of the mailer.

It's funny, scary, artful, and awesome.

And it's all rolled into a single piece of cardboard.

Unlike Papelbon, the rest of the guys you'll see in this post have never been "inducted" into my binders.

As a result, I've created a small pile of miscellaneous "cool" cards that don't quite fit anywhere else in my collection.

That stack almost doubled after I sorted this package.

The great thing about the word "cool" is that I can shape it any way I want.

Card of Greg Olson on a mini-tractor, or whatever you'd call that thing?

Cool.

Awesome action shot of Jay Bell bellyflopping into third base while wearing a throwback jersey?

Cool.

All this time, I thought my '82 Fleer Pete Falcone was the only example I had of a card within a card.

Or, a "Cardboard Inception", as I like to call them.

Turns out that Upper Deck snuck one into their 1999 set with Brewers pitcher Scott Karl.

Now, if UD snapped a shot of Karl signing his '99 issue and used it for a future release, wouldn't that be a card within a card, within a card?

I'm already confused.

I'm not sure what's going on with Landon Powell's 2009 OPC issue.

If O-Pee-Chee taught us anything about Powell, it's that he has nicely-clipped fingernails.

Speaking of not knowing what's going on, can anyone tell me what the deal is with either of these?

I'm especially in the dark with that Darren Lewis card. That's the oddest leap I've ever seen. Perhaps a bee flew into his uniform at that exact moment.

Either way, both of these are definitely "cool" in my book.

All in all, the sheer randomness of these all of these is what made them so fun to peruse through. I've probably featured more cards in this post than in any of my past trade posts.

That's how much I enjoyed digging through all of these.

These cards were indeed "super random", as Mr. Night Owl noted.

They most definitely worked, though.

Like I said, it's all about who you trade with. Before I joined the blogosphere, I'd never received a "super random" package out of the blue.

Chalk it up as one of the many reasons why the blogosphere is so awesome.

Thanks, Greg!