Holy shit, I have a blog

Allright kids, the last post I made was me mentioning Im getting back into the collecting hobby. its been several months since then, so lets see where I am now. Im going to talk about my collections, break down what I like and dont like about the hobby, and then post a link to some of the sites that have really made this enjoyable for me.

Ok, collections. Im collecting as much as I can of Mike Richter, Dan Blackburn, and Brandon Dubinsky. I mention to people that I collect the now retired Brendan Shanahan, and an up and coming defensemen Mat Gilroy, but Ive cut that down to if I see a nice cheap jersey or rookie. My most ambitious project to date is my set collection. Im trying to put together most of the master set of this years Champs. Im not going after the Case hit fossil cards, or all the parallels though. I currently have 93/100 of the base set, around half the rookies, a good chunk of the NHL veteran Minis, and a smattering of Natural history and world leaders. id like to finish the plain cardboard before I move into the Jerseys and Autos, and Ill be posting what I need in another blog.

Likes & Dislikes:
The hobby has changed since I was a kid in the mid nineties collecting random retail packs. Some of it for the better, some... not so much.

Likes: the internet and Ebay. it makes tracking down what should be cheap inserts and parallels (hell, even low end jersey and autos) easy and inexpensively. Trading sites help too.
Variety: I like having a bunch of sets with different looks out to get. this year I'm putting champs together. next year, I can go with a set thats shinier, or another vintage looking set, or a plain staple set. No matter what I like, I can go for it,

Dislikes: it seems there are more people trying to flip cards for a profit then I remember. its annoying when you have no trade bait of the big stars and are trying to trade for some old inserts for your Player Collections.
People who hate on low end sets. There has to be something for collecters who have hit on hard times, and for kids just getting into the hobby. I know if it werent for $1 packs of victory, i wouldnt be typing this out today.

wow, this is getting long winded. I'll post again next week, and we'll continue from there. Future Maildays and Box Breaks will get their own blog, too.