Rise and Shine --- Focus

Good Morning and welcome back to a whole new week!

Until last Christmas, I had never heard of a toy called Beyblades.
Actually, my Mom was looking for a gift for somebody else and asked if I ever heard of Beyblades. I had no clue.
A few months later, though, these tops have taken over the mind of one 9-year old I know.
For the uninitiated, Beyblades are basically tops. You spin them in an arena, where one knocks the other over. The last one spinning is the winner.
Apparently, these are big things in the fourth grade. They 'battle' during recess, trade parts and talk about which are the best.
So, after purchasing two Beyblades last weekend, I thought I was safe this weekend.
No such luck.
"Can we go get a Beyblade?" came the first question at around 7 in the morning.
"What?" I said through a sleepy brain. "First, it's like 7 in the morning. Second, we got two last week. That's enough for now."
"You're not fair," came the retort. Actually, this scenerio played out throughout most of the day.
I finally broke down and said we could go to the store, but wouldn't think about buying one unless it was on sale. Of course, this week they weren't, so no Beyblades.
"You're not fair!!"
I should be grateful, though. At least it gets them off the video game requests.

Rise and Shine --- Saving things?

Good Morning and welcome back to the Internet!?!

So, I read this interesting story this morning.
Really, somebody's uncle kept these old comic books around and the collection might get $2 million at auction? Is it really that easy.
Well, no. I remember for years my Dad talking about all the old baseball cards he collected. He talked about having Mickey Mantle cards, Joe DiMaggio cards, Robin Robers cards. He talked about saving them in boxes.
Then, he always adds: "My mom threw them out. She never threw anything out, but she did throw them out."
I collected cards in my youth. I read comic books. I had Star Wars figures.
All of them, though, were opened, tortured and disappeared.
The comic books had ripped pages. The Star Wars figures sometimes took flight off the roof. The baseball cards ended up in the spokes of my bike.
What I always wonder when I read these stories of collectables is, who the heck saves this stuff?
Obviously, some people had the forethought of keeping old stuff in fine condition. I guess that's why a bunch of comic books can $2 million.
I also guess the way I played with mine added to the value of theirs.
So, there, I am part of the process.