Finally home from the beach and ready to get back to work. The good thing about turning your hobby into your business is I am always ready to go to the office and dive in. I have packages to pick up, messages to respond to, and lots of sorting and listing to manage. Plus it's time for the...Read More
Fresh out with a new unboxing video today. While I was traveling home from NOAC I spoke to this Scouters widow for more than 30 minutes in the Denver airport. She shared so many stories of his growing up and long career in aviation. His sash is a neat reminder of how the skills that boys learned in Scouting...Read More
I am halfway through my next book club and this time it's got me thinking about Best Hobby Pages. On the website I give kinda the standard list of a dozen reasons why it's a great product. But what I lack is a story and that's what the focus of the book I'm reading is called Building A...Read More
One week after everyone got home from NOAC and the wave is cresting already. You won't find as many 2024 sets going up for bids going forward. It's been a fun feeding frenzy for the hobby. One of my fails at this year's NOAC was attempting to trade previous year NOAC patches. I had made sets with the...Read More
On the last full day of trading outside the Student Union at NOAC I recorded a seven minute video walking around to share the patch trading. As you watch the video you will see young and old faces having fun in a hot western sun. The video is proof that good old fashioned patch trading is alive and...Read More
Just past midnight this morning I pulled up to the arrivals at the Charlotte airport and gave my Philmont Ranger a big hug. Sophia flew out in late May and had an epic summer out at the big ranch. She drank the Kook-Aid and went back for more flavors. On the way home she told me just a few of...Read More
The last 3 1/2 days I've done little during the day but swap perhaps a thousand patches with Arrowmen at NOAC. Whether they were getting a set they wanted or just picking up a flap off my blanket and leaving their patch in its place. I can assure you the pastime of patch trading at National events is alive...Read More
We got in yesterday and I was able to get a few hours of patch trading down at the Union. It was pretty busy for a Monday. Unfortunately, the trading location is outside *(it's north of 95 degrees here) and somewhat limited with everyone sitting on the hard ground. I did not go back last night after the show...Read More
I got an email from John Athayde at PatchVault at couple of day ago. Here is the summary to share. Over the past year and change, we've rolled out cataloging for OA Sections/Areas/Regions, Camps, and Councils (CSPs only to start). Similar to the OA rollout, we encourage editors to volunteer for areas where they are either collectors or somehow officially related...Read More
Over on Facebook there has been a good bit of buzz about the OA Endowment Auction. Jason Stribling is coordinating this year and the good news for most of us is that it's online and you don't have to be there in person to participate. Check out what they have with auctions beginning to end August 1. I am headed home...Read More
This week before leaving for NOAC I'm camping with my friend and his family up in the mountains of NC on the river. Yesterday we took our chairs out to the middle of the river (yes its shallow) and just sat down to cool off and tell some stories. A week to decompress before NOAC. I am really...Read More
I woke up this morning to discover that after five months of serious work I finally crossed the finish line of a marathon. My eBay account is now certified as Top Rated. I know for most of you that are not nose down selling on eBay that won't mean much. But for me it meant upending my entire business and investing in...Read More
Yesterday I literally climbed a ladder in the warehouse and got down some tubs that I have not looked in for almost 2 years. Since coming home from TN in 2022 these tubs of "trade stock" had been sitting idle out of reach and mind. To my surprise there was some good stuff in there that I probably should...Read More
I know this has happened to you before. Your normal routine is interrupted by something small and your whole day gets knocked off balance? We had some workmen show up early yesterday and instead of putting the finishing touches on the Hot Finds I got caught up. As my normal schedule is to send it out early I just...Read More
Not since the junk wax days of the late 1980s have I considered myself a baseball card collector. But on the way home from the beach yesterday I caught up on some episodes of an extraordinary YouTube channel called Chasing Cardboard. This video especially of them going to visit a family in WV to help them deal with a massive vintage...Read More