Despite the tragedy in New Orleans, along with the craziness of a Tesla full of fireworks catching on fire in Las Vegas, and a bunch of yahoos shooting people at the nightclub in Queens, NY., I hope everybody was able to find some peace, and celebrate the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. These are crazy times, with lots of crazy things happening, but life goes on, and the best thing to do is embrace the good in people and wish peace and happiness to all.

One of my goals in 2025 is to do my best to focus on things I can control and not worry or get upset about things I can’t. I’m not saying to ignore everything and act like things are fine. There are lots of issues in the world, and it’s up to all individuals (including myself) to dig deep and do whatever you can to help make things better. Instead of complaining, you can run for public office, and put yourself in a position to make changes. You can join a non-profit group that is working on issues you are passionate about, or donate your time and money to charities you support.

Take some time to really educate yourself on things going on (Not just reading and reposting Twitter Posts). Take some time to read credible sources and not just scroll through social media for your news.(I would guess that at least 50% of social media is false, fake, manufactured propaganda designed to get you upset – most likley even higher).

Saw this on the RollingStone Website. Facebook and Instagram to Unleash AI-Generated ‘Users’ No One Asked For. Now you can create your own fake profiles, to interact with other fake profiles, while you scroll through all these fake profiles. Not much good can come from this. The article ends with this — If, in a few years, Instagram and Facebook are just places for AI bots to hang out, it stands to reason that the humans may find other ways to communicate. 

Shifting gears, the NY Giants finish up a dreadful season on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. Win or Lose, ownership has some tough decisions to make. As I have stated numerous times, they need to decide if they want to bring the GM and Coach back or let them go and take the team in another direction. My mind was not changed by last week’s win over the Indianapolis Colts. I would get rid of them and start over. Partially based on their track record the past 2 years (more than 1/2 of their games were not just bad, but uncompetitive. Add to that the foolishness shown on Hard Knocks before the season, where both the GM and Coach came across as being out of touch, and it is time to change the entire feeling of the team. If they stay, we will be stuck with another year of excuses (regardless if they draft a QB, or bring in a stop-gap QB). And while I want to be positive about next year no matter which way they go, the thought and chance of them getting blown out on opening night for the 3rd straight year is just not a risk they can afford to take.

As for the New York Mets and Pete Alonso, let’s get something done soon. I really want for him to come back to the Mets. He’s a perfect fit for this team, and it would also be great for him and the fans if he could return and continue his pursuit of numerous Mets records. While Juan Sote should be a great addition to the team, he showed with the Yankees that he is only about the money, and has no true allegiance to any team. Pete Alosno seems to be the opposite and really enjoys being a NY Met. Since you can have both, Steve Cohen needs to get a deal done. And sooner than later, as its been seen over and over that it take players who sign late and miss some of spring training extra time to get ready

As far as Non-Sport Card Collecting, going to spend some time uploading images of some of my older cards to the Trading Card Data Base. The site is great for tracking both Sports and Non-Sports Cards, including base sets, insert sets, autograph cards, and my specialty promos *** Photos to come ***. Its a lot of fun going through old sets and promo cards on the site, and uploading photos of older cards I haven’t looked at in a while. I will be a good distraction for the next few days. After this weekend, things in the job market should start to open up, and it is time to focus on finding a new job

** Updated with Photos of older promo cards **

Music

Had a great time playing Name That Tune with my wife and daughter over the Christmas break. I randomly play songs from our Apple Music account and see if they can name the songs. Since it’s a family account, the music is really all over the map. I have to skip a bunch of my songs when they come up (Prog Rock and Heavy Metal are not my wife or daughter’s cup of tea). Was really impressed with my daughter who can get most songs based on just a few notes (Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and others are no problem for her). Maybe we will try out for “Beat Shazam”

I also took an hour the other night to put on my headphones and listen to some random music. I cap things at 3 songs per artist.

John Denver / Scorpions / Grand Funk Railroad / Blues Image / Marshal Tucket Band / Led Zepplin and the Moody Blues.

TV Shows

Started watching Sqid Games 2 ( NetFlix) (So far really enjoying it)

Really enjoying Beast Games on Amazon (Mr. Beast knows how to entertain)

I finished Season 2 of Shrinking (Apple TV) (Really great show)

I finished Season 1 of Day of the Jackle (Paremont +) (Good news – looks like there will be a Season 2)

Enjoying Silo on Apple TV

Movies

Going to try and find some time to see “A Complete Unknown” in the next week

The time has come to wrap things up for today. Will upload some photos of some of the promo cards I have when I get home

Books

Started reading Familiaris – The follow-up book to “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle”

PEACE

NeverToOldForSurvivor
GiveMeAChance

AveregeAndy

Marillion – A Better Way of Life