...at this precise minute (I know, because I looked it up and then set it to automatically post), RGB Cards was born. The first post, which you can find here, featured, of all things, 1993 O-Pee-Chee, specifically, this guy:

Yes, it's John Smiley, ertswhile ace of the early-to-mid '90s Reds. And I wrote a post about him. Then I decided it was a strong lead, and made it the very first post of this blog. What was I thinking?

Self-deprecation aside, I'd like to take this opportunity to say thanks to all my readers. I have had an absolute blast writing this blog, making trades with some of you (and hopefully more in the future) and just getting back into card collecting. You all have made it easy, and fun. Thanks a million.

At one year and nearly 200 posts, this is easily the longest-lived blog I've ever written. You could combine the other seven blogs I've written over the years and it still wouldn't even be close. The secret to my longevity is knowing that I have an audience, and that they (you) keep coming back to read what I have to say and share. Believe me, I write this blog for you, not me. I enjoy the writing, but I enjoy reading your comments even more.

The usual staples of audience participation (giveaways, contests, group breaks) are cost-prohibitive when you're running things from Australia. While the information and digital world shrinks every day, the logistics world is sadly still massive, and expensive. But there is still one avenue for audience participation open to me - trades. I really enjoy them and look forward to making a lot more during RGB Cards' second year of operation. If you are interested in something I post, or can help out with my want list, send me an e-mail or leave a comment. My goal? To triple the number of trades I participated in last year. Together, we can do it!


From me to you, happy birthday. Thanks for a great first year, and here's to an even better 2011!

Sincerely,
The Staff at RGB Cards
(me, the dog, the lady at Australia Post who mails out the trade packages, and, of course, my long-suffering wife)

Hello everybody, I'm back. I apologise for the long absence, but things happened that either kept me away from the computer or my collection, and when I was with either one, I didn't feel the inspiration to write. In fact, I make no promises with how good this post will be, since I'm a fair bit rusty.

However, RGB Cards hasn't been far from my mind, and I've been kicking around a lot of ideas for recurring segments, interesting posts, and the like. And I've been spending a lot of time organising my collection, just in time to move yet again (something I'll get to later, probably in another post).

When I last wrote, I created a borderline rude post about the superiority of Tim Lincecum over Roy Halladay. Well, I got the last laugh because Timmy now has two World Series wins to go with his two Cy Young Awards, and he got the best of Doc in the NLCS. Lincecum is the best pitcher in the National League, regardless of who wins the Cy later on this week. And it's his bobblehead that will be holding a tiny World Series trophy next year, not Halladay's.

Speaking of the World Series, an interesting fact that I discovered when organising my collection. Bruce Bochy's card in the 1985 Topps set is #324. A mere five cards away, at #329? Ron Washington. Twenty-five years later, and they face each other in the World Series. Too bad the managerial careers of John Denny, Kevin Bass, Brook Jacoby and Bob Shirley (325, 326, 327 and 328, respectively) never got off the ground.

Something else that happened while I was "gone"...I opened my second box of 2009 Obak and completed the base set. That got me to thinking - Obak is a "good little set": 100 base cards (not counting short-prints), interesting subjects, historically based, and fits easily in a binder with a couple of other sets. From that realisation, I came up with the idea of the Good Little Set, or GLS. I bought a binder at K-Mart, and started to fill it with the Obak and two other GLSes that I started on. One is 2008 Upper Deck Heroes. While it's far from little when you think of all the parallels, it is just 200 cards for the base set, and those beige cards are in plentiful supply. I currently have 99 of them.

The other GLS in the binder is another 2008 Upper Deck product, Masterpieces. Beautiful to look at, this set is going to look great in my binder when I'm finished with it. The base set is 90 cards (just ten sheets!) but I'm going to have to try for all the short prints, too, because they're so beautiful, and many of them are players or teams I want to have anyway. I've got a box of Masterpieces heading my way in an order from Dave & Adam's. Can't wait to see how many cards I can tick off the list!

That's it for now, but I promise I won't wait five weeks until my next post. Even though things are about to get hectic around here (again)!

Well, it's hard to post to a card blog when you don't have a scanner. That's what I found out on my trip to America.

I'm starting to get settled in to things here at RGB Manor, my new house. The Internet connection was switched on Monday, then fixed on Tuesday so it actually stays on. I still haven't unpacked my scanner, but I could have sworn I saw it in a box somewhere...

I'm also sorting through all the cards I bought on my trip and updating my want lists. And I've got about six posts that need finishing up, and many fellow bloggers that need recognising for their good works.

Thanks for being patient. Regular service should resume...well, I'm not going to make any predictions. My mouth shouldn't write checks my fingers (and schedule) can't cash.

I told you that things would be slowing down for the rest of June, although I didn't really think I wouldn't be able to post for two weeks. But, this is a recap of my past week:

• I moved in to my new house
• I had to write report cards for the class
• I had to pack for the trip to America

The result? Too much stuff in too little time, and I was physically wiped out. The blog, and indeed baseball cards in general, had to go on the back burner. But I have three weeks off, and a bunch of scans, so I will be blogging quite a bit during my holidays.

Expect to see the rest of my 2009 Topps Series 1 break, the results of my trip up to Perth tomorrow, and whatever I find when I go to the States. It's good to be "back."

No, I'm not overly distraught from that fella's recent retirement announcement to post. It's just that I will be sans computer for the next few days so I can't post anything, even if I wanted to. My phone will still work (hopefully) so I'll be Twittering. If you're on Twitter and you haven't added me (JonathanRGB) to your friends list, then maybe you should so you can stay in the loop. All the cool kids are doing it.

P.S. Sorry Armando Galarraga. That sucks what happens to you. Maybe the Baseball Gods just decided there's been too many perfect games and no-hitters lately.

P.P.S. I'll have a full report from the lovely town of Goomalling in my next post, coming Sunday.

This is a busy time of year for me. Being a teacher, I'm often busy, doubly so as a teacher at a year-round school (all the schools are year-round schools here in Australia - I like it better, but I digress).

Anyway, we're coming up to the end of term. That's at the end of June, but I have to start writing report cards now so they can be checked by the principal and edited in time to go home. It keeps me busy. Add to that the fact that I haven't had any new cards in a while, and the frustrations of the new house (still don't have the keys yet - grr!) and it's not been easy to find the time and energy to write.

But fear not...I got paid, and I'm about to place an online order for some 2009 boxes. According to the website, they should arrive in 3-5 days. I assume that's business days, but I'll still believe it when I see it. I've also got a trip up to "the big smoke" this weekend, and you can bet I'll hit up Al's Card Shop (shameless plug alert!) for more supplies so I can do some organising when I feel the need to take a break from reports. Finally, I got a lot of about 200 Orioles cards off of eBay. There's some interesting cards in there, and I'm thinking about doing a series a la Thorzul's "Tales from the $40 Card Lot" series. It's not as good a find as that bunch, but I was pleasantly surprised for the $8 that I paid for it. Look for the first post to arrive later tonight as I get the scans done.

I've got big plans. The key is finding the time to put it all down on virtual paper. Thanks for your patience, and for reading and commenting!

Jonathan

You all knew that was coming, didn't you? And you didn't tell me. Thanks. Thanks for nothing.

In a completely unrelated note, the website re-model is pretty much complete. There's still a few little things I'm still ironing out, but it's pretty much good to go. Next up, I'm going to post some want lists. Look for them on the right-hand side.

For me, Opening Day is basically a New Year's Day. Along with all the prosaic stuff about every team being in first place on Opening Day, there's the feeling of hopefulness. A long 162-game season is in front of us, and who knows what storylines it could bring?

Along those lines, I have some resolutions for the blog. Yes, it's new (not even a month old) and I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but I want it to be a place where people check in on a regular basis. Of course, that means giving them something to check in for. More on that in a bit. But for now, here are my New Year's Resolutions for RGB Cards:

1. A new look

What I've got so far is a basic default blog. Honestly, I didn't want to put a lot of work into it at the beginning - I wanted to get up and blogging while I had the enthusiasm. This blog first game to my mind last October, but it wasn't until last month that I actually decided to bite the bullet.

With 22 posts, it's already the longest-lived blog I've ever done. I think that's because I focused on writing instead of designing. But I've always had ideas in my mind of how I wanted it to look. I think it's time to bring some of those ideas to pass.

And yes, one of those ideas is to refer to the blog as just RGB Cards. My focus will be the same, but it's a lot easier to say and type. Besides, I'm not sure why I went with the law firm name. I'm not a lawyer, I'm a teacher. Frank Robinson Middle School would have been better. (Okay, not really).

2. Better writing

Like I said, I have to give people a reason to visit this site. And really, people come to blogs to see what has been written. I'd like to think I'm a decent writer, but looking back, some of my writing isn't showing it. I'd like to come across as conversational. I'm also going to share my (hopefully witty) observations, more than a "just-the-facts" approach. Because that's not me.

And it will start with re-writing some recent posts to better match my original plans for them.

3. The Suggestion Box

Ultimately, it's the readers that have the say in what they want to read. So when I revamp the blog's layout, I'm going to add a suggestion box - really, just a post where people can comment what they think. What is it that will get you excited to read the blog? Any tips or tricks? Post them in the suggestion box. Or, if you can't wait for the suggestion box, post them here.

Along those lines...

Please comment!!!

I know you're reading this blog. I can see the stats. But I love hearing from you. And if you all don't comment, I'll be forced to use what I use when I want to get my students to do something...


...shameless bribery :)

Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope you enjoy the new-look RGB Cards (coming soon)