meatmancgy
Verified Trader ,
Well it's taken me a week to wind down and get things sorted out from the whirlwind trip to Toronto. As usual, I set up the HI booth at the Expo and was thrilled with the event, including meeting a bunch of members I hadn't met previously and meeting old friends.
Thursday
Stupid me decided that saving $89 would be smart when I booked my flight, until I realized that I would have to get up at 3:20am! Being an excitable type, I didn't get to bed until 12:20am, so needless to say I was pretty darn tired by the time I drove down to Victoria and jumped on the plane to Vancouver, then the connector to Toronto. Arrived at about 2:30pm and immediately met up with Dave (artifactsrookie) who took the smarter, direct flight and got an extra hour's sleep and beat me to Toronto!
We decided to head directly to the hotel and get changed and throw on some pit-stick, then headed into the pub at the hotel where we were met by Brian (langway05) and Bill (goalie-bill). Had a great time chatting with them for a time, dropping a couple of wobbly-pops while there. Kelvin (Kard Sharks) dropped in after awhile, and then we decided to head to the Expo to set up the booth.
Got to the booth, set up fairly quickly, then headed down to meet Steven (ssinger), Frank (scooby1970), Steve (quincy) and Steve (No no no... the Other Steve). Then shot over to meet Darcy (RAVMAN) and Doug (FASTMAX), and then found Joey (NWOJoey) and Michael (AllStarCollectors). After a few minutes, Barry from Upper Deck showed up (he ditched his UD compadres to hang with the HI crowd
).
One of my goals this year was to take all the moderators out for a steak dinner and a couple of beers as a "thank you" for all the work they do, much of it behind the scenes; as a few mods canceled their plans at the last minute, I decided to invite a few of these other nutbars out as well - we headed over to The Outback and grabbed some chow. I should have known the bill would have been brutal... buncha lushes!
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hung out in two adjoining rooms, to have a few more drinks with the boys. Met up with Cory (cory orcutt) and his bud Derek, as well as Kelvin's bud Wayne. After a bit, we filtered out and hit Arizona's which a few of us shut down.
Friday
Met up with Dave & Brian, and headed to the Expo around 9am. The show didn't open until 1pm, but Friday morning is the time where a lot of dealers get around to each other's booths and see what's out there. We met up with Erik (silentbrown) at the ITG booth, and met up with David, Emilia and Allan of In The Game, who were very cool neighbours throughout the weekend. Also at their booth was Paul Madden, the artist behind both the Sport Kings base cards and the Gretzky Cards book cover! Had a few great conversations with Paul, who is not only very knowledgeable but also an extremely talented artist!
Around 10am the November's issue of The Insider's Edge arrived (2,000 copies of it!), and Dave and Brian were kind enough to slip in subscription cards in a couple hundred magazines while I shook hands with different people. Brian then hauled a box of mags around and dropped copies onto each dealer's table to get the magazine "out there". I set up the booth with the shirts, hats & golf shirts and then went wandering to meet other HI members.
Dropped over to see Jason & Dean (Players Choice) and Wayne (The Ice Box), as well as Jeremy (gomaz) and Aaron ($thegoldenjew$) and the guys from Game Breakers, Hans & Scott (sprial8). On the way back, I found Jeffrey (Gretzkycards) and his dad, Mike, and did my first purchase of the day - a hardcopy Gretzky Cards book /99, autographed by Jeffrey himself!
Went back to the booth and within a few minutes, Dr. Dave (Sacrebleu) showed up and said hello. As well, the other famous dentist, Dr. Brian Price (bprice) of ITG dropped over to say hi. Being across from ITG was great, as we had Brian's ear several times through the weekend as well as mingling with the other ITG staffers. Good people.
The doors opened and the rest of the day was a blur! Met so many members and non-members, talked about the magazine, the site, suggestions for both and just chit-chatting about the hobby. Throughout the weekend I think I met about 100 members and while I'd LOVE to name them all, I'd be worried I'd leave some out... so let's just say to all of you... it was GREAT to meet you or see you again!
Saturday & Sunday
Both days seemed to FLY by and were highlighted by more members dropping by to say hello. As I said in the other Expo thread, I've realized I enjoy the Expo more for the social aspect than the card-hunting, as my wants have really become streamlined and very few Ontario-based dealers bring Richard Brodeur stuff to the show. On Sunday I was worried that I'd have to pay a couple $thousand for extra baggage to take the leftover magazines back to BC with me, so made the decision to hand them out for free to anyone. At the end of the day, I had about 700 left and Frank & the Other Steve made a very kind offer to take the mags back to Windsor with them and either hold them for me, or give them out at local shows & shops.
After-Expo Events
Friday night, Dave, Darcy, Doug, Brian and I went out for some grub at about 10:30pm then headed back to Dave's room to crack some wax. Doug & Darcy had a case of UD1, while Dave & I opted for a case of Rittenhouse's James Bond: In Motion! Brian was a quickly-fading spectator, but it was great having him there to share in the breaks. My Bond breaks are posted in the Non-Sports section here. The case took about 2 hours to crack, so I passed on further frivolities at Arizona's.
Saturday night is historically the "let your hair down" night during the Expo. After a nice meal at the pub at the hotel and hanging with Jeremy, Dave, Doug, Darcy, Brian, Bill and Wayne, I decided that I didn't want to start Sunday morning with a hangover so became designated driver (it was raining very hard and turning to slush). Had some fun at Arizona's watching the UFC fight as well as a replay of the "Hail Mary" Doug Flutie college game from 1984 between Boston College and Miami. Spent some time chewing the fat with Eli (LSOH) and a few others, then headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep! Some other members (who shall remain un-named in this thread) burned the midnight (7am) oil and were very much worse for the wear Sunday morning... one member in particular looked worse than I've ever seen him! Kinda fun to be on the other side for once...
All in all, it was a very fun weekend but my feet & calves were dying by the end of the show! After packing up and saying goodbye to some good friends, Steve (quincy), Dave and I headed to the airport. Dave was on a stand-by seat so had to bolt to the gate right away, but I had a nice meal with Steve, then off home to Victoria. Should be the end of the story, right? Nah...
As we're descending from cruising altitude, the pilot comes on and says that there's fog in Victoria so they can't land there... so we're diverted to Vancouver. Great. 11pm at night. The last ferry to the Island left at 10:45pm. After some discussion, Dave and I decide that a hotel, taxi, ferry and taxi are much more realistic than a 6:30am flight into fog again.
So I finally walked through my door at 12:00pm on Monday. Good times.
Alright... so that's the "Tell"... here's the "Show"!!!!
Brian and Dave, patiently waiting for The Insider's Edge magazines to show up... notice the slackers haven't even broken out the shirts yet to display!
See what I mean? The slacker went over to have a coffee with Kelvin, leaving me to set up the booth alone... man it's hard to find good help these days!
wned:
Actually, I will say this publicly... Brian was a God-send! He was there at the booth more than I was that weekend, and gave me an opportunity to really mingle through the crowds, talk to a bunch of people and help sell some magazines! I couldn't have made it through the weekend without Brian.
Norm (trekrun) taking a load off after a day of scouting out snags!
Brian was VERY thankful for a card provided to him free of charge by HI's own "Most Generous Member", Mark (LogoPatchCards)! Brian wanted this pic taken, and it turned out to be a great picture that will end up in the magazine! Notice the stylish HI t-shirt!
Having ITG across from us, and Sport Kings beside us, was a blast. Here's some pics of their booths:
Saturday Set-up.
The Sport Kings booth, being staffed by Emilia & David.
The ITG booth during the show, with the Ultimate Memorabilia 8th Edition redemption program. The young fellow in the seat was opening product for Action Coin... unbelievable how much he opened!
Paul Madden, an absolutely great guy and the artist who draws all of the Sport King base cards, was there showing off his talents. As well, Jeff & Mike hired Paul to draw the cover of their Gretzky Cards book.
Hmmm... just realized that I never got a picture of Dr. Price, Allan or Erik... that's odd.
One funny picture that I took, and didn't even really realize the background - Karvin from Upper Deck talking with Mike (Jeff's dad) in front of the ITG booth... :beer:
and Brian chilling out with Karvin & Mike behind him. Notice the stylish HI golf shirt & hat!
Around the corner from the ITG booth was the Upper Deck booth:
During setup on Friday morning.
Chris Carlin, one of UD's best guys, during the redemption program (wow, this picture shows my pathetic camera skills).
The redemption line-ups.
One of the things I did before I left for Toronto was to post a thread and outline where all the HI members were setting up, which was helpful to many I know, including myself. I went around and took pictures of all the members I could (for some reason Jason & Dean were not at their booth when I went to find them, and forgot to go back, although I'm not sure Jason would have liked the pic as it was Sunday morning).
Kelvin & Bill at the Kard Sharks booth.
Aaron & Jeremy at their booth.
Scott & Hans at the Game Breakers booth.
Michael at the AllStarCollectors booth.
Mike (MIKEYSLEAFS) and his son, selling mostly non-sports stuff.
Wayne at the Ice Box booth.
Dave, Doug & Darcy at Doug & Darcy's booth.
Mike (Magootz) and Joey at Joey's booth.
Frank & Steven at their booth.
Other Steve & Steve (quincy) at their booth.
Here's a view point of some of the aisles at the show.
And to try and give you guys who have never been to Expo a true viewpoint of how big the Expo really is, here's a panoramic shot of the whole show (obviously my camera editing skills suck, but you get the general idea!).
And here are the pickups from the weekend!
Part of a deal I completed with Darren (exchefy1) from here, and completed in person with Brian at the show.
This next group was actually from a bunch of mail received over the past couple of weeks. The Naslund Signature Patches was supposed to be a purchase & flip for the Expo, but it took FOREVER to arrive.
A group of King Richards, all purchased off of eBay.
Another group of King Richards, a few of which were given to me by some generous members - really appreciate it! The rest are eBay snags.
The Glenn Hall Ultimate Mem 8th 1/1 was cracked by Jon (cloutier39) at the ITG booth early on Friday (one of the first boxes I saw cracked), and when the Hall came out it was obvious that I would have that. After a fairly tense negotiation, Jon and I settled on a price that he was happy with. This card will be going to my lawyer in Vancouver for his ever-growing Glenn Hall collection! Keeps my legal fees down :dance: The other three cards were donations for the site, to be used as contest prizes... but I honestly don't recall who they came from! Whomever the donor was, thank you!
These next four cards are a new set being produced by UD called "Biography of a Season", with a new card being produced every week (I believe) and only available through hobby stores. UD was giving these four cards out at their booth, and at the end of the show had a big stack, which they dropped on our booth! If you're interested in receiving a four-pack of these cards, just need you to cover the shipping costs and I'll send you some! Shipping to Canada - $2US, to the USA - $2.75US, to International - $4.75US. Paypal is [email protected] and please note "Biography Cards" in the subject.
Three of the Superlative autos were a deal with Jason at Players Choice, the Luongo was from a deal at the Big One in Vancouver with Joe (timber09). Thanks guys! The Jack Johnson was part of a deal with Mark (hutch1118), the Luongo RC a deal with Brian, the Kariya from an Expo dealer and the King Richard was a freebie from Darcy! Thanks guys! Looking at that Johnson more, the patch looks to be from an "R", which obviously isn't a Johnson patch - Kopitar maybe?? Weird...
These four UD Black cards were a site donation by Mark, which is pretty damn generous! These will go out in contest prizes shortly... thanks Mark!
This group of cards were all freebies - the Burke from my bud Dan (27Leafs27) with the other 88/89 cards from Winston (winniescards) - two real gentlemen in this hobby... thanks guys! The remainder, a group of about 40 cards, came from Darren as an extra throw-in for the C55 cards we dealt with previously... a shocker for me as I was totally not expecting them! Thanks dude!
And the final card in my post... I'd like the patch detectives to review this one, but I'm pretty sure it's not a /249... it's a TRUE 1/1!!!! Frank came by and dropped this beauty on my table... definitely a keeper!
:dance:
And that's my novel... holy crap that took wayyyyyyyy too long to type out! Oh well, hopefully those of you who remained enjoyed the rambling... thanks to all involved and I look forward to seeing a big group of you at the next show!
Bruce
Thursday
Stupid me decided that saving $89 would be smart when I booked my flight, until I realized that I would have to get up at 3:20am! Being an excitable type, I didn't get to bed until 12:20am, so needless to say I was pretty darn tired by the time I drove down to Victoria and jumped on the plane to Vancouver, then the connector to Toronto. Arrived at about 2:30pm and immediately met up with Dave (artifactsrookie) who took the smarter, direct flight and got an extra hour's sleep and beat me to Toronto!
We decided to head directly to the hotel and get changed and throw on some pit-stick, then headed into the pub at the hotel where we were met by Brian (langway05) and Bill (goalie-bill). Had a great time chatting with them for a time, dropping a couple of wobbly-pops while there. Kelvin (Kard Sharks) dropped in after awhile, and then we decided to head to the Expo to set up the booth.
Got to the booth, set up fairly quickly, then headed down to meet Steven (ssinger), Frank (scooby1970), Steve (quincy) and Steve (No no no... the Other Steve). Then shot over to meet Darcy (RAVMAN) and Doug (FASTMAX), and then found Joey (NWOJoey) and Michael (AllStarCollectors). After a few minutes, Barry from Upper Deck showed up (he ditched his UD compadres to hang with the HI crowd
).One of my goals this year was to take all the moderators out for a steak dinner and a couple of beers as a "thank you" for all the work they do, much of it behind the scenes; as a few mods canceled their plans at the last minute, I decided to invite a few of these other nutbars out as well - we headed over to The Outback and grabbed some chow. I should have known the bill would have been brutal... buncha lushes!
After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hung out in two adjoining rooms, to have a few more drinks with the boys. Met up with Cory (cory orcutt) and his bud Derek, as well as Kelvin's bud Wayne. After a bit, we filtered out and hit Arizona's which a few of us shut down.
Friday
Met up with Dave & Brian, and headed to the Expo around 9am. The show didn't open until 1pm, but Friday morning is the time where a lot of dealers get around to each other's booths and see what's out there. We met up with Erik (silentbrown) at the ITG booth, and met up with David, Emilia and Allan of In The Game, who were very cool neighbours throughout the weekend. Also at their booth was Paul Madden, the artist behind both the Sport Kings base cards and the Gretzky Cards book cover! Had a few great conversations with Paul, who is not only very knowledgeable but also an extremely talented artist!
Around 10am the November's issue of The Insider's Edge arrived (2,000 copies of it!), and Dave and Brian were kind enough to slip in subscription cards in a couple hundred magazines while I shook hands with different people. Brian then hauled a box of mags around and dropped copies onto each dealer's table to get the magazine "out there". I set up the booth with the shirts, hats & golf shirts and then went wandering to meet other HI members.
Dropped over to see Jason & Dean (Players Choice) and Wayne (The Ice Box), as well as Jeremy (gomaz) and Aaron ($thegoldenjew$) and the guys from Game Breakers, Hans & Scott (sprial8). On the way back, I found Jeffrey (Gretzkycards) and his dad, Mike, and did my first purchase of the day - a hardcopy Gretzky Cards book /99, autographed by Jeffrey himself!
Went back to the booth and within a few minutes, Dr. Dave (Sacrebleu) showed up and said hello. As well, the other famous dentist, Dr. Brian Price (bprice) of ITG dropped over to say hi. Being across from ITG was great, as we had Brian's ear several times through the weekend as well as mingling with the other ITG staffers. Good people.
The doors opened and the rest of the day was a blur! Met so many members and non-members, talked about the magazine, the site, suggestions for both and just chit-chatting about the hobby. Throughout the weekend I think I met about 100 members and while I'd LOVE to name them all, I'd be worried I'd leave some out... so let's just say to all of you... it was GREAT to meet you or see you again!
Saturday & Sunday
Both days seemed to FLY by and were highlighted by more members dropping by to say hello. As I said in the other Expo thread, I've realized I enjoy the Expo more for the social aspect than the card-hunting, as my wants have really become streamlined and very few Ontario-based dealers bring Richard Brodeur stuff to the show. On Sunday I was worried that I'd have to pay a couple $thousand for extra baggage to take the leftover magazines back to BC with me, so made the decision to hand them out for free to anyone. At the end of the day, I had about 700 left and Frank & the Other Steve made a very kind offer to take the mags back to Windsor with them and either hold them for me, or give them out at local shows & shops.
After-Expo Events
Friday night, Dave, Darcy, Doug, Brian and I went out for some grub at about 10:30pm then headed back to Dave's room to crack some wax. Doug & Darcy had a case of UD1, while Dave & I opted for a case of Rittenhouse's James Bond: In Motion! Brian was a quickly-fading spectator, but it was great having him there to share in the breaks. My Bond breaks are posted in the Non-Sports section here. The case took about 2 hours to crack, so I passed on further frivolities at Arizona's.
Saturday night is historically the "let your hair down" night during the Expo. After a nice meal at the pub at the hotel and hanging with Jeremy, Dave, Doug, Darcy, Brian, Bill and Wayne, I decided that I didn't want to start Sunday morning with a hangover so became designated driver (it was raining very hard and turning to slush). Had some fun at Arizona's watching the UFC fight as well as a replay of the "Hail Mary" Doug Flutie college game from 1984 between Boston College and Miami. Spent some time chewing the fat with Eli (LSOH) and a few others, then headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep! Some other members (who shall remain un-named in this thread) burned the midnight (7am) oil and were very much worse for the wear Sunday morning... one member in particular looked worse than I've ever seen him! Kinda fun to be on the other side for once...
All in all, it was a very fun weekend but my feet & calves were dying by the end of the show! After packing up and saying goodbye to some good friends, Steve (quincy), Dave and I headed to the airport. Dave was on a stand-by seat so had to bolt to the gate right away, but I had a nice meal with Steve, then off home to Victoria. Should be the end of the story, right? Nah...
As we're descending from cruising altitude, the pilot comes on and says that there's fog in Victoria so they can't land there... so we're diverted to Vancouver. Great. 11pm at night. The last ferry to the Island left at 10:45pm. After some discussion, Dave and I decide that a hotel, taxi, ferry and taxi are much more realistic than a 6:30am flight into fog again.
So I finally walked through my door at 12:00pm on Monday. Good times.
Alright... so that's the "Tell"... here's the "Show"!!!!
Brian and Dave, patiently waiting for The Insider's Edge magazines to show up... notice the slackers haven't even broken out the shirts yet to display!
See what I mean? The slacker went over to have a coffee with Kelvin, leaving me to set up the booth alone... man it's hard to find good help these days!
wned:
Actually, I will say this publicly... Brian was a God-send! He was there at the booth more than I was that weekend, and gave me an opportunity to really mingle through the crowds, talk to a bunch of people and help sell some magazines! I couldn't have made it through the weekend without Brian.
Norm (trekrun) taking a load off after a day of scouting out snags!
Brian was VERY thankful for a card provided to him free of charge by HI's own "Most Generous Member", Mark (LogoPatchCards)! Brian wanted this pic taken, and it turned out to be a great picture that will end up in the magazine! Notice the stylish HI t-shirt!
Having ITG across from us, and Sport Kings beside us, was a blast. Here's some pics of their booths:
Saturday Set-up.
The Sport Kings booth, being staffed by Emilia & David.
The ITG booth during the show, with the Ultimate Memorabilia 8th Edition redemption program. The young fellow in the seat was opening product for Action Coin... unbelievable how much he opened!
Paul Madden, an absolutely great guy and the artist who draws all of the Sport King base cards, was there showing off his talents. As well, Jeff & Mike hired Paul to draw the cover of their Gretzky Cards book.
Hmmm... just realized that I never got a picture of Dr. Price, Allan or Erik... that's odd.
One funny picture that I took, and didn't even really realize the background - Karvin from Upper Deck talking with Mike (Jeff's dad) in front of the ITG booth... :beer:
and Brian chilling out with Karvin & Mike behind him. Notice the stylish HI golf shirt & hat!
Around the corner from the ITG booth was the Upper Deck booth:
During setup on Friday morning.
Chris Carlin, one of UD's best guys, during the redemption program (wow, this picture shows my pathetic camera skills).
The redemption line-ups.
One of the things I did before I left for Toronto was to post a thread and outline where all the HI members were setting up, which was helpful to many I know, including myself. I went around and took pictures of all the members I could (for some reason Jason & Dean were not at their booth when I went to find them, and forgot to go back, although I'm not sure Jason would have liked the pic as it was Sunday morning
).Kelvin & Bill at the Kard Sharks booth.
Aaron & Jeremy at their booth.
Scott & Hans at the Game Breakers booth.
Michael at the AllStarCollectors booth.
Mike (MIKEYSLEAFS) and his son, selling mostly non-sports stuff.
Wayne at the Ice Box booth.
Dave, Doug & Darcy at Doug & Darcy's booth.
Mike (Magootz) and Joey at Joey's booth.
Frank & Steven at their booth.
Other Steve & Steve (quincy) at their booth.
Here's a view point of some of the aisles at the show.
And to try and give you guys who have never been to Expo a true viewpoint of how big the Expo really is, here's a panoramic shot of the whole show (obviously my camera editing skills suck, but you get the general idea!).
And here are the pickups from the weekend!
Part of a deal I completed with Darren (exchefy1) from here, and completed in person with Brian at the show.
This next group was actually from a bunch of mail received over the past couple of weeks. The Naslund Signature Patches was supposed to be a purchase & flip for the Expo, but it took FOREVER to arrive.
A group of King Richards, all purchased off of eBay.
Another group of King Richards, a few of which were given to me by some generous members - really appreciate it! The rest are eBay snags.
The Glenn Hall Ultimate Mem 8th 1/1 was cracked by Jon (cloutier39) at the ITG booth early on Friday (one of the first boxes I saw cracked), and when the Hall came out it was obvious that I would have that. After a fairly tense negotiation, Jon and I settled on a price that he was happy with. This card will be going to my lawyer in Vancouver for his ever-growing Glenn Hall collection! Keeps my legal fees down
:dance: The other three cards were donations for the site, to be used as contest prizes... but I honestly don't recall who they came from! Whomever the donor was, thank you!
These next four cards are a new set being produced by UD called "Biography of a Season", with a new card being produced every week (I believe) and only available through hobby stores. UD was giving these four cards out at their booth, and at the end of the show had a big stack, which they dropped on our booth! If you're interested in receiving a four-pack of these cards, just need you to cover the shipping costs and I'll send you some! Shipping to Canada - $2US, to the USA - $2.75US, to International - $4.75US. Paypal is [email protected] and please note "Biography Cards" in the subject.
Three of the Superlative autos were a deal with Jason at Players Choice, the Luongo was from a deal at the Big One in Vancouver with Joe (timber09). Thanks guys! The Jack Johnson was part of a deal with Mark (hutch1118), the Luongo RC a deal with Brian, the Kariya from an Expo dealer and the King Richard was a freebie from Darcy! Thanks guys! Looking at that Johnson more, the patch looks to be from an "R", which obviously isn't a Johnson patch - Kopitar maybe?? Weird...
These four UD Black cards were a site donation by Mark, which is pretty damn generous! These will go out in contest prizes shortly... thanks Mark!
This group of cards were all freebies - the Burke from my bud Dan (27Leafs27) with the other 88/89 cards from Winston (winniescards) - two real gentlemen in this hobby... thanks guys! The remainder, a group of about 40 cards, came from Darren as an extra throw-in for the C55 cards we dealt with previously... a shocker for me as I was totally not expecting them! Thanks dude!
And the final card in my post... I'd like the patch detectives to review this one, but I'm pretty sure it's not a /249... it's a TRUE 1/1!!!! Frank came by and dropped this beauty on my table... definitely a keeper!
:dance:
And that's my novel... holy crap that took wayyyyyyyy too long to type out! Oh well, hopefully those of you who remained enjoyed the rambling... thanks to all involved and I look forward to seeing a big group of you at the next show!
Bruce
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