Off-Topic Forum

Gotta love it when you get advice from medical professionals/doctors. They don't have a reputation for sensationalism/hype/fearmongering/overreaction. Again, they are trying to help us not become carriers/victims.

Thanks for sharing that.

Ditto!

It has now claimed the life of Larry Rathgeb, former NASCAR crew chief and Chrysler engineer. You may not recognize his name, but if you have watched auto racing you've been influenced by him; he was the first crew chief to get a car over 200 MPH, later created the Chrysler kit car program and was part of the team that designed the Dodge Viper. 

Western NY chiming in (yes, there is more to NYS than NY city/Albany/Westchester😁). Our county (Livingston) has tested 34 so far and 2 are positive. My wife and I are in that group of people at risk of becoming seriously ill or worse, due to her lung cancer and my COPD and my living on one working lung....(Thanks Marlboro). We are staying secluded as much as possible...hard to do though with my wife now on her 2nd chemo trial treatment every week, and my absolute inability to stay indoors once spring even looks close. Luckily, we are way out in the country, so when I go out to work on landscaping/forestry/gardening and 'keep busy' projects there is zero chance of being in groups larger than one! I am also extremely lucky for at least two other things:

1. Fantastic support from our kids, grandkids, and neighbors (I use that term to mean the houses closest to us, or in our town...not people with houses next to ours...there aren't any). Everyone has been helpful and has made sure we don't need anything.

2. The people on this site. I don't know what I'd be doing now without you guys (and gals). I'm not very into TV watching, I can't read books anymore (extensive chemo and surgeries have cost me short term memory...If I take a break from reading I can't remember what I've read so far and have to start again...hilarious, but also frustrating). I thank you all from the bottom of my heart...sincerely. From trading with me, and giving encouragement to this forum that gives me tidbits of information and sometimes even laughter, I truly appreciate you. To be honest, this is the first time I've felt that true sense of camaraderie since my time in the Marines. My wife also thanks you deeply....for giving her "wild man" something to occupy his time and stop driving her %$#@& nuts. This doesn't come easy to someone with my past, but I really love you guys and gals. OK, I'll shut up now, sorry, didn't mean it to drag on so long.

Mike aka Aint56cool

Wow, thank you Mike. I am humbled like so many others I am sure. If I am even included. Times like these have us draw inward with what we know and who we know more than ever. I can not visit my mom and due to her dementia phone calls dont work anymore. So I too have become more visible than I used to be. Be it as oilerRcguy or the more known ranfordfan. I worry about alot of you guys here, older and maybe at higher risk than others. We are a brotherhood here for sure and we all can come and go but are never out of mind. Heck avsbruins just popped up again and I am glad to see him back. Its like a big clubhouse here, not a chatroom by nature but more like a social experiment / library mixed together. All of us do what we can but for the3 most part we are here to listen, chat and be friends.

I have decided that for the time being I will not be actively trading. The choice is easy as we are now on lock down in WI and I don't see trading being necessary. I do have a whole bunch of my collection to organize and log into the database so hopefully I can make some progress with that. I hope that all our members get through this with noi major losses. Take care everyone and as I tell my daughter, make good choices.

This is my first time posting to a forum on the page. I would like to echo the sentiment of thanks aint56cool conveyed.  I'm relatively new to the site and have not had too many trades yet, but I'm happy I found this group. I collected cards in my youth in the late 80's through the 90's. I took a break for about 20 years when I reached an age that I'd rather spend money on cars, girls, and partying. Slowly I got back in to collecting again in the past few years. Man, things have changed. Being a football guy imagine my surprise to find panini was the only company producing football cards.  I miss Topps. Anyway, shortly after finding this site and doing a few trades I was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in early 2019. My health deteriorated quickly and I had to shut down my trading as I couldn't make it to the post office on my own and felt as though i was a burden having my wife run there for me. I was still trial and erroring what the postal works were, so giving her clear instruction proved difficult.  My physical health has improved over the last 4-5 months,  my understanding of good ways to ship securely improved, and i turned trading back on as I was able to handle it myself again.  Now I'm wrestling the decision to turn it off again until this pandemic has blown over. I've read that we shouldn't be concerned at the thought of the virus spreading by mail as the amount of time it takes to mail should kill the virus. I want to agree with that, but am having trouble buying it entirely. Seeing a few others in similar position as myself shutting down I think tells me i should follow suit and protect myself. Then again I'm open to a any point of view that may differ. Mostly wishful thinking, as I'm enjoying trading. 

Collected trading cards has been a good escape for me the past year or so. A lot of purchasing done by way of Ebay while I was down. However, I have been increasing my activity on tcdb as I have improved physically to attempt to wean myself from the Ebay habit. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for being accepting of newbies. This page is a little intimidating and confusing at first, but the more you explore, the more sense it makes. I still haven't decided to shut down my trading. If I do I hope to come through the other side of the pandemic unscathed and trade w you all again. 

Corey

South Central KS

Corey, follow your intuition. I am a cancer survivor - colon cancer diagnosis in 2012 - and nothing we do with cards is worth taking a risk. Once life settles down, and I believe it will, we'll be here ready to send you some Panini or even Score, Topps, Philadelphia football cards. In fact, I've got six matches with you. I'll send you an offer to get them off your Want List, and I'll hold off mailing until you're ready to receive them.

I can certainly see your viewpoint on this. These days there's definitely more emphasis on minimizing/elimating risks. I've always told my son and daughter "Make good decisions" ever since they were small. I half-expect them to one day wear t-shirts that say "Make good decisions", lol.

in scanning this thread i find it heartening that the initial messages from a few precious snowflakes quickly gave way to reason, adult sensitivity, understanding, and great compassion. thanks all.