[Exhibitman]

I will skip the whole TPG good/bad debate and focus on other things:

Likes:

--Collecting is, as Burdick put it, "a magic carpet that takes you away from work-a-day cares to havens of relaxing quietude where you can relive the pleasures and adventures of a past day--brought to life in vivid picture and prose"; the collecting impulse is "the stuff that dreams are made of", as Sam Spade labeled the Maltese Falcon.

--Meeting so many good people all over the world and getting to hang out with them virtually and in person.

Dislikes:

--The bulk and weight of slabs. It is really hard to store, carry and enjoy a large slabbed collection. When I was a kid I had a photo album with my best cards in it and I could easily take it out, enjoy it, and show it to others. I feel like I need a forklift to move my cards now.

--Overemphasis on money, especially when trading difficult to value cards. I miss the days from my childhood when trading wasn't always subjected to a level of financial scrutiny worthy of a stock market. If you wanted my Rocky Colavito card and I did not want to trade it except for your Willie Mays double, neither of us would hesitate to pull the trigger just because the "book" on one card was higher than on the other.