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Lee K

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Journal Entries posted by Lee K

  1. Lee K

    Is today a 'business day'?

    By Lee K,

    Or not?
    Wizard World New Orleans is this weekend, so is that a major con? If it wasn't for my cosplay friends in NOLA I wouldn't know about it at all, so if it isn't on my radar, could it possibly be significant enough to count as a work stoppage day for CGC?
    I don't care one way or the other - I'm just trying to track how many business days my regular SA submission has been in Florida and I don't know if I should count today or not. I think I am going to not count it - just because.
    Lee K
  2. Lee K

    YAY! Grades!!

    By Lee K,

    I like White
    Ahh well - 102 "business days" later my books are graded and I am not just satisfied, but happy with my grades.
    Only two books -
    House of Mystery 133 (with a great octopus cover) - 9.0 White
    Tarzan 243 Western Penn (with a great shark cover) - 9.6 White
    While each is a single notch lower than I was hoping for, I mostly expected that the Tarzan was a 9.6 and not a 9.8...although I did anticipate that the House would be a 9.2
    Now to wait for them to be verified and add them to my registry sets.
    Happy Hunting!
    Lee K
  3. Lee K
    2012...
    So this hasn't been my most productive summer as a collector - so many other obligations are wearing away on my finances that I have only added 9 silver age books since the 1st of May (although I do like them - eight raw Capt. Storms and the last go-go check Inferior 5 I needed already slabbed).
    There were no books that caught my interest were at EMCC to purchase - and of the three books I dropped off on April 1st, only the modern SS book is back and that with an unsatisfying grade (I shouldn't grade #1's I'm never pleased with the grade - I should just buy someone else's after they are slabbed)...
    Hopefully more money will be available in the months to come, and maybe some books will catch my eye that aren't too much more than I am willing to spend on them...only time will tell.
    For now - I just need something to read, I guess I'll go through the back issues at my LCS and see what's available in the $5 range for a reader or two...
    and just maybe there's an issue of Rip Hunter or a banged up Sea Devils or even a SA justice league...
    I hope your summer collecting is coming along better.
    Happy Hunting
    Lee K
  4. Lee K

    139 days later

    By Lee K,

    ...
    I'm scheduled for grading...Yay!
    Now after waiting all this time I'm no longer excited about my anticipated grades.
    Oh well, I should know in another 20 days or so.
    *fingers crossed*
  5. Lee K

    Seventeen Weeks

    By Lee K,

    What has happened in the seventeen weeks since April 1st?
    Seventeen weeks ago (come Sunday the 29th of July - I won't be at my computer then since I will be at the ocean celebrating my birthday) at Emerald City ComiCon, I dropped off two packages of books with the CGC representative on-site - one SS modern book which I have received back (with a terrible grade), and a second package with one SA & one BA book.
    Since then...
    I have vacationed in New Orleans (twice).
    I have started six new paintings.
    I have finished four of those new paintings & finished two other paintings that I had started previously.
    I have had a wonderful art opening and reception at an art gallery in New Orleans (Gallerie Royale on Magazine Street - if you know NOLA).
    I have donned my armor and jousted or fought in front of a live audience on multiple weekends, including travel all over to do so.
    I have watched my registry position drop 26 places.
    I have read dozens of newly released comic books - mostly DC, but other titles as well.
    I have gone visiting at Mike Grell's house twice (and three times this weekend)
    I have read the Postman, Startide Rising, Treasure Island, and the last third of Moby .
    CGC has verified my comics.
    A lot can happen in 17 weeks.
    Maybe more will happen between now and Tuesday - which will be 1/3 of a calendar year.
    I worry that if I submit more books today (and I have books to submit) - that the world may come to an end on December 21st before I get my books back.
    Happy Hunting!
    Lee K
  6. Lee K

    Really, CGC?

    By Lee K,

    11 weeks...
    So I take a beautiful, 9.6 or 9.8 copy of a modern book to ECCC in March, I have it signed, and although I'm not a big fan of the signature series books I decide I will go ahead and have this one book certified...
    The book, with it's crisp edges and sharp corners, is signed by BILL SIENKIEWICZ, and then immediately handed over to the CGC rep, who carries it back to the booth. I wait 11 weeks. And I get a 9.2?!? Really?!? If I get my book back and it has a pizza stain, because the CGC reps were all eating peperoni pizza in the booth, I'm am going to be livid.
    Right? The book wasn't shipped, so the "I didn't pack the book properly for shipping excuse doesn't fly" - it was clean & sharp when I handed it over to be signed, and it was clean and sharp when Bill handed it back and when I handed it to CGC...
    Just sadness and anger.
    Oh well, at least I won't waste more money on signature series signings.
  8. Lee K
    Am I the one that needs a ticker?
    Is it possible, that the best use of a ticker would be in the grading area at CGC? A huge ticker that reads out how many days the oldest order has been there for each tier?
    I would love to have my new books added to my registry sets before the 6 Days and 22 Hours run out - but they've only been with CGC since the 4th of April - 63 days (or 45ish business days) so there isn't any chance I will see them before my birthday at the end of July - and probably not before then either.
    So I guess there just isn't any sense of urgency on my part any longer. The graders took that away from me and buried somewhere in the swamps of Florida.
    Happy Hunting
    Lee K
  9. Lee K

    Emerald City CC

    By Lee K,

    It is that time again...
    and as always the real question is: do I have the money to go?
    I hope to - and if I do, I intend to go Sunday only like I did last year. I know, I know, I'll miss some of the hoopla - but I will be able to move, and I should be able to get to the boxes of comics I want to see (raw copies of Strange Adventures)...
    Plus, even though their piles of pages and sketches have been picked over, I'll have a better opportunity to enjoy talking to the artists themselves...and maybe, like last year, I will still find a page that I want to buy - I got a great deal on a back splash page of Elasti-Girl from the modern Doom Patrol run...I should have it framed soon so it can go up on the wall in my studio...
    Well, here's hoping I have the $$$ and the time - and if not, well there's other cons and other years.
    Happy Hunting
    Lee K
  10. Lee K

    Business Day 75

    By Lee K,

    I'm finally 'Shipped Safe'
    Economy turn around time - in the off season is 75 business days (not counting Thanksgiving [2 days], Christmas, New Years, MLK Jr Day [whether they observe it or not], President's Day, or the friday before Wizard World New Orleans)...yeah, that's right my comics were received before Thanksgiving, 11/17/2011 to be precise. If my math is right, that's 115 calendar days...by the time I receive my books (UPS Ground) I haven't seen my books in a third of a year...it's kind of sad. I've forgotten what they look like.
    Grades - I supposed now that they are confirmed I should share grades, at least here I am not unhappy.
    Strange Adventures 155, 8.5 C/OW - I was hoping for a 9.0, but it was borderline, so I'm ok with that.
    Strange Adventures 192, 9.4 White - that was a nice surpise I was expecting either a 9.0 or a 9.2, although I have to admit I did expect White pages, they looked real nice to me.
    So now I need only peruse my raw books to determine the next two books that I would like to part with till my birthday, in July...
    Happy Hunting
    Lee K
  11. Lee K

    Scheduled for Grading

    By Lee K,

    67 business days today
    Or for those of us using a Gregorian calendar, 103 actual days since my books were received.
    In the 27 business days that have elapsed since my target shipped safe day, 41 calendar days have elapsed - that is to say the entire month of February and 12 days of January.
    All I can do now is hold my breath and hope that they go from Scheduled to Graded to Shipped Safe in less than 19 calendar days, otherwise my books will have been in Florida for a third of a calendar year.
    Say that out loud: one-third, 33%, four months, approximately 80 business days...
    Hmm.
  15. Lee K

    Big Corporations Back Down

    By Lee K,

    CGC doesn't
    In response to negative feedback from their customers, both Verizon Wireless and Bank of America scrap plans to add 'additional charges' to their existing fee structures. Bank of America's was originally to be a $5 fee per month for having a debit card, and Verizon Wireless' was a $2 fee every time you pay your bill on-line using the 'one time only' payment option.
    CGC's website still says that there will be a $5 handling fee per invoice - in truth it says it four times on one page, twice in italics.
    Perhaps CGC should consider this additional fee once again, in light of the behavior of those 'big' corporations.
    Just my $.02 worth.
    Lee K
  16. Lee K

    Scheduled for...

    By Lee K,

    something, I don't know what or when
    But, it's business day 36 on my modern submission - and I appreciate that everyone deserves vacations, particularly around the holidays - maybe to go to Florida and get some sun (OK kidding - but I'm a long way from the sun). On the other hand I've been scheduled for grading for days now and I'm wearing out my keyboard looking to see if my grades are in - because I am totally impatient.
    Oh well....
  17. Lee K

    Merry Christmas

    By Lee K,

    even you Marvel collectors
    Everyone, seriously, Merry Christmas to you - whether you are a registry member or an employee of CGC (cause I know you guys read this stuff).
    Here's to another year of collecting and good fellowship to all.
    Lee K
  18. Lee K
    No, probably not...
    As I reach the end of day 31 on my current modern submission, I am forced to look back and see when my last modern submission was graded. On day 30. Now the current submission could take fewer than 5 business days to go from Graded to Shipped Safe and then my overall process could be faster...but I'm not counting on it - the last submission spent 5 days at Scheduled for Grading and I'm not even there yet.
    Oh well...
  19. Lee K
    Submissions waiting to be graded over another weekend...
    So I had two modern submissions and one economy submission at CGC this past month plus...
    Yesterday was day 41 for the first modern submission and I received my books back.
    Today is day 29 for the other modern submission and it is still 'verified'
    Today is day 19 for the economy submission - and it is 'verified' as well.
    Those are business days, not calendar days and they don't include national holidays...
    oh well.
    Lee
  20. Lee K
    it sounds like the sky is falling...
    While my position on the $5 per invoice fee hasn't changed; that is I am still upset about it and I still think it is a poor business decision as it weighs unfairly on the small collector that cannot afford to submit 30 books on an invoice; I am surprised by the passion that it has stirred in others.
    In review, I submitted ten invoices this year - two coupon submissions, one signature series, on silver age, and six modern. I have no idea if the $5 charge will apply to coupon submissions or not and I'm not going to pop over an look in the middle of my journal, so I am going to assume, right or wrong, that it does/will apply to my next coupon submission - and I will have another. For when my membership expires next September, I will renew again. So let's consider the effect of the $50 I would have had to spend extra had my 2011 submission been submitted under the 2012 guidelines:
    I would have had one less submission of modern books.
    That's it. I would have spent that same money at CGC, not more, not much less - because I have a hard budget for comics, and a portion of that budget is for CGC - a specific hard budget, not a flexable one. And 2011 represents the year I sent in the most submissions - I think I did five or six in 2010, and only four in 2009...I just don't submit that much stuff myself.
    As for the increase in actual grading and encapsulation costs: I guess I would have to had sent in two fewer books in those nine remaining submissions to cover that additional cost. All told - I would have ended up with seven fewer CGC graded books in my collection.
    But - with an increase in all the grading costs - that 10% discount is worth more, right? See, there is a silver lining.
    Would I like CGC to reconsider the idea of the $5 fee? Sure. Am I going to go away if they don't? No.
    Are they going to get more money from me than they would anyway? No.
    But are they going to do less work for the same money? Yeah, they are.
    Happy Hunting
    Oh, and Merry Christmas!
    Lee
  21. Lee K

    Registry & Journal

    By Lee K,

    Because my wife helps me with other measurements...
    Registry & journaling...here - as opposed to Histank or Live Journal or wherever...
    Well, hell, I really enjoy the registry, because I love seeing what other people love and collect, not from some need to beat my chest like some jungle dwelling comic character of days gone by (not that I wouldn't collect all those jungle books if I had the $$$ to do so) - but, more than that, I enjoy seeing what everyone else collects.
    In my time journalling (is that a word?) - I have made some friends, a couple of which are people that I believe I would spend time with outside of comic books, and I cherish and enjoy the contact we have - supportive, although what we collect is unrelated, and positive.
    In the year I spent on the chat board, I made one friend - the kind you get a phone number from, and I even purchased some issues of Swing with Scooter from him - but he was eventually chased off of the boards by the same negativity that keeps me away as well.
    There were other people and are other people on the boards that are wonderful, positive, supportive collectors, but their efforts and positive feedback is overwhelmed by the nastiness - the pettiness, and the 'good old boy' club attitude of most of the boardies. Those people love the boards and I won't take that from them - it's what they like.
    We, those of us who would rather journal, love journalling - and if you don't, then you are welcome to stick a sock in it.
    Happy Hunting
    Lee
  22. Lee K

    I have an idea

    By Lee K,

    Maybe...
    Just maybe it would be more appropriate for persons with no registered sets and who don't appear to have any participation in the registry to comment on the chat boards in Comics General and leave those of us who enjoy journaling with out the vituperative nastiness that accompanies any opinion on the chat boards alone.
    Happy Hunting
    Lee
  23. Lee K
    Sounds a lot like a business plan for failure
    I appreciate that the advertised turn-around times are guidelines, estimates, round figures, as it were, and that certain calendar days are excluded. But this summer has exposed a chronic inability to perform at a level that is close to the advertised times. We're well into fall and my most recent modern submission went to 'shipped safe' on business day 35. My current submission is on 'verified' on business day 23.
    I appreciate that any book resubmitted may receive a different grade than the original trip through. This is clearly disclosed in unambiguous english. But on modern books there really isn't any reason for the book to change in grade - unless the previous grade was a 9.9 or a 10 - a 9.8 isn't going to become less a 9.8 because CGC cracked it open and had it signed, it was in their control. And there shouldn't be any difference in grading due to age (GA bump shouldn't exist - and we all know it shows in the grades, whether because the graders of GA books are themselves more lienient or for other reasons), but if I select one of my SA CGC 9.6s and compare the modern books I am sending in, and my moderns are better books, then they should be 9.8s. While I can understand that there may be a difference of opinion between graders as to a 7.0 and a 6.5, or a 5.5 and a 6.5 even. Inconsistancy upsets the customer base.
    I appreciate that there hasn't been a change in fees since 2009. This is well established. But, well, for books from the 70's there already has been an increase because they were moved out of the 'modern' catagory for grading. And there hasn't been any change in the economy since 2009 - I certainly haven't seen an increment in my salary, and most of the nation is in the same boat as me.
    But even with all this - what really makes me angry is the $5.00 per invoice 'handling fee'. You are already being paid to handle my books. Unlike many subscribers - I only submit 3 to 10 books at a time, that's what I can afford. So $5.00 per invoice is an insulting surcharge, it's like going to the restaurant and being told that there's an extra $5.00 charge to have your food served on a plate.
    Yeah, I'm angry and disappointed with the service I received in 2011 and I don't think that paying more money is deserved for the service provided.
    Thanks for reading
    and
    Happy Hunting
    Lee K
  24. Lee K

    Grades

    By Lee K,

    Not what I expected at all...
    So I sent in a package of 10 moderns for my Justice League fix and today (that is day 30) my grades popped up.
    Now, I selected each of these books carefully but I know I'm not perfect and often I'll send in a book that comes back 9.6 and I don't fuss over that too much. All my books have to be shipped by Diamond to the west coast via UPS, and often they are banged up by the time my LCS gets them...but I still choose carefully.
    Oh, and somehow I grabbed the 'regular' covers for two of the books and not the variant covers, #9 & #10, I think. When I went back to my short box, I noticed that the regular editions have the better composed covers - I must've thought that they were the variants becuase of that. Oh well, I'll send them in later.
    Grades - yeah that's what you junkies are are looking for, isn't it?
    OK - seven books at 9.8, two at 9.6, and one at 9.4 (which is really disappointing because it is a great cover featuring Wonder Woman)
    BUT - and here's the part that makes me really, really happy - I did get back my copy of Justice League #1 (1/200 sketch cover) at 9.8/White. Mind you, my LCS only ordered 75 copies of issue #1, so I shouldn't have gotten one at all, and instead I got it super inexpensive and I got an excellent copy. Now all I need is a set to list it in.
    Happy Hunting -
    And Merry Christmas to all -
    Lee K
  25. Lee K

    2011 Failure

    By Lee K,

    yep, I had a goal and it got away from me...
    I had high hopes at the beginning of the year of reaching the 25% point on my go-go check collection, something that would require 132 books from the 527 book set. Time and money (and a new car) have kept me from getting as close as I would like - I am 19 books short, with 1 book at CGC that I won't get back till 2012.
    My other goal for 2011, was to acquire one, or more, of the key go-go check books and there I was sucessful in adding Batman 181 in 9.2 - right on target.
    2012? Well, I'd like to reach 30%, that's 158 books and that seems unlikely unless there is a magic fairy out there to give me a raise. But maybe I can shoot for one of the other two real key go-go check issues that I don't have: Detective 359 or Superman's GF Lois Lane 70, either in 9.2 or 9.4...I keep my head down and see.
    Other than that, Justice Leagues; Strange Adventures; and maybe the occassional Wonder Woman for my wife - sure, but go-go checks 1st.
    And to you - best of luck in 2012.
    and
    Happy Hunting
    Lee K