Category: Niko’s Soap Box

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A Day Late.

07/21

They changed our Mailman, and now I haven’t seen a Mailman in over a week. I’m waiting on packages, and cards, and as much as I hate to say it, bills. Where’s my bills? And, where’s my packages so I can pay for the bills. Does anyone know who to contact?

I need more bulk! Lots of it. I need to replenish our bulk lots. I got 10 lots started, and hopefully they’ll be ready to go soon enough. That also means I want your bulk. All those FFTCG cards that are just gathering dust. I’m paying $10 per 1000 cards.5

I’ll even send you the shipping label. KardboardKorner@gmail.com

The shoes, finally dried up.

Yeah, nothing really happens on Mondays.

07/22

Started a Gunslinger in the Abyss Coupon on eBay. We need to make some room for it, cause the office is already crammed with boxes, cards, toys, and video games.

Started working on the bulk lots, halfway through 10 of them. Hopefully we have enough cards to complete them all.

07/23

I was expecting my orders to come in today. But, where is the Mailman? I just saw them once in 2 weeks, and all they had was a single piece of junk mail. My orders should have arrived already. People need their cards.

Checked the tracking, and it said that delivery was attempted.

Restock on Opus VIII for TCG Player and eBay. Plus I added to the bulk lots, with some Opus VIII.

07/24

One of my packages finally came in today. This is about 100 foils, plenty of Full Arts. Expect them to go up on the site tomorrow. At some point. Well by the time you read this they will all be up somewhere, whether it’s Kardboard Korner, TCG Player or eBay.

Did a restock on Opus IX – Lords & Chaos. Those are already up on TCG Player and eBay as well.

07/25

It’s the start of the weekend, that means I’m going to have to be at the restaurant 12 hours a day, and then still find time to put my orders together and go to the Flea Market. This is the time where organization and a clear schedule will help you shine. Unfortunately, I have neither. I just get up and go.

Sometimes I try to stick to a schedule, but I get sidetracked easily and well, chaos comes marching in. Controlled Chaos, but chaos none the less.

Put up the Full Arts on the website. And slowly working through the rest of the cards, they should all be done today.

Restock of Opus X – Ancient Championsthrift store

skunk

on TCG Player and eBay.

07/26

It’s supposed to storm all day. Still made my way to the flea market today, and I wished I didn’t. There was probably a total of 12 vendors, where there would usually be close to 200.

Can’t do nothing about it, so I just headed to the restaurant where I stayed all day.

07/27

Sunday, Sunny, hot.

Off to the Flea Market cause yesterday was a bust. Alsip was bustling today. Time to make my rounds. And around. And nothing. Nothing worth my time. There were a couple of things, but they were overpriced. They were trying to sell them for more than I would sell them, so I had to pass on them.

Walking away left a bad taste in my mouth, so I decided to head to the thrift store. And I found a big fat skunk there too. 2 hours wasted, finding nothing.

Headed home, took care of the weekends orders and called it a day.

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Breath of Kardboard

07/14

It was a long weekend. And, today was a long Monday.

Spent the whole morning trying to find items to source. And some days, you can look everywhere and there is nothing in sight. That was today.

Then for some reason I was looking at Storage Auctions. And, that is a crap shoot.

Tried organizing the office, and it always seams like I’m going 1 step forward then 2 steps back. It’s sort of starting to look like less of a mess, but we’re not quite there yet. No where close to finished.

07/15

Just when I thought I wasn’t finding anything, I stumbled upon a small lot of Final Fantasy TCG cards. All Foils, a few Full Arts scattered in the mix, I didn’t even think twice. The guy was asking $50 for them. And, I gladly gave him the money. Now, all we have to do is wait for them to get here. We’ll be adding a few new Full Arts to the site.

I was looking at Storage Auctions again, I might get one soon, try our luck on one, just to dip our toes in the water. I don’t think it’ll happen before Gunslinger in the Abyss comes out. We still have plenty to do to get ready for this one. Mostly writing our opinions on the cards.

Ended up going to our Storage Unit today. Pulled some nice things out. By the time you read this they all should be posted up on the site, or on eBay, or on TCG Player. Lots of Final Fantasy TCG sealed product, lots of PS3 video games, and a couple more things as well. And, there’s still a lot of stuff in there that we had forgotten about.

Also through out a bunch of garbage as well. We didn’t even make a dent in it. There’s still a couple more trips we need to take over there.

07/16

Didn’t have a lot going on today, for Kardboard Korner. Was running around taking care of other things all day long. And at the end of the day, all I had the mind capacity to do was get the orders ready for tomorrow.

And, that was it for today. I did look at some storage auctions, but my eyes were just closing. Off to bed for me.

07/17

It finally cooled off outside. Nothing better than opening up all the windows and having a cool breeze come through.

The restaurant life will take over for a while, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be working on Kardboard Korner, it just means that I’m going to be running around more.

My kids are about to start Soccer Practice, so we were out shopping for cleats, for them. They are excited. So, am I. I’m going to have a couple of Tsubasas on my hands.

07/18

Ordered some Japanese Pokemon cards for the Sticker Machine, ended up picking up a couple of Magic/Final Fantasy cards as well.

I haven’t been able to see these up close yet. I’m still hoping to get a couple of boxes, or at least a bunch of bulk.

Restocked Opus VII on TCG Player and eBay.

Then I spent the rest of the day looking at Gunslinger in the Abyss.

07/19

Had to be at the restaurant earlier than usual today, So, I headed out to the Flea Market a little bit early. This time I hit up Robbins first to save some time, since I usually get to Alsip a little past 8.

But, it was a ghost town, I got there too early. People were still setting up, and I had a restaurant to open. I didn’t stay long, and headed straight to the Swap in Alsip.

Alsip was a little better. Had more vendors there, and found a Among Us Imposter Edition for the PS5. And, a bunch of shoes. Hokas and On Clouds. The guy said he would save those shoes for me.

Washed them up, and now they look ten times better.

07/20

Sunday, I had a bunch of running around to do this morning. Mostly getting supplies for the restaurant.

Checked on the shoes, and they were still wet. No use putting them together.

Got back to organizing the office, and I want to say it’s getting there, but it’s not. At least I don’t have a lot of things on the floor anymore, and I cleared off one of the desks.

Spent the rest of the night putting orders together.

And, sat down with my kids to watch “My Neighbor Totoro”. They said they didn’t like it, but they kept laughing.

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Kardboard Fantasy : Mystic Korner

07/07

Monday is usually spent working on writing and other aspects that don’t have much to do with cards. Unless we get a collection in, then we’ll be working on sorting that collection as fast as possible. Luckily for us, our whole week in review that we usually write was gone, and we had to re write it. It;s probably missing 50% of what we had in the original, but you got a great summary there.

We missed plenty of days with the holiday weekend, and now we’re back on our 30 day plan, it’s day 4 right now and our task is to “Optimize Page Load Speed – Caching & Plugins.”

That’s what we did, we fixed the Caching options, somehow figured out how to load pictures before they load. That doesn’t make sense to me but it was an option. Hopefully the website is a little faster right now.

Got an order on the website, and I’m missing one of the items. This is the first time this happened on KardboardKorner.com, there have been a couple of mistakes on TCG Player and eBay, but never on our own site. Sent the kind gentleman an e-mail, hopefully they’ll get back to me before the night is over.

07/08

Hit up the Robbins Flea Market today, after one of the Vendors told me that it’s poppin’ on Tuesdays and that I should get there real early. I thought I’ll give it a try and got there around 9AM. It would have been earlier, but my son did not want to wake up. He’s going to bed early tonight.

We got there, and it was, they even had vendors outside of the space, cause there was no space inside. We started making the rounds, and I noticed that we did come late. Lots of cool stuff, but nothing in particular for me, until I stumbled upon a box of Nintendo Switch Accessories. Docks and Controller Grips (I think that’s what they’re called). I picked them up and called it a day.

Spent the afternoon, Trying to organize the office once more. It seems like the more I try and organize, the messier it becomes. Maybe more space could do the trick, but we don’t have that right now.

07/09

Hit the Swap today and all I got was a big fat skunk.

Almost picked up a metal detector today. Thought about it, looked at it, passed it came back, but I left it there. Then I regretted it. If I find him tomorrow at Robbins, I’ll pick it up. Might have some fun with it, going on paths and just searching for precious metals.

30 day plan, Day 5 – Checked that the website works good on Mobile devices. Make sure that the links are clickable, same thing goes for the menu too. So far everything looks good. Didn’t have to complete much today, as it was already done.

Was testing out a bunch of Cassette Tapes today. I was using a Walkman for them. And, that Walkman is either going out, or the batteries I got went empty in about 15 minutes. That’s Dollar Tree batteries for you.

07/10

Robbins, that’s where we’re headed today. I went looking for the metal detector right away, and I’m guessing the guy sold it, because he didn’t have it. Went around the first time, and some guy had a bunch of Atari games, I didn’t have enough on me to pick them up today. And, it’s a good thing I didn’t cause I would have over paid for them.

Another Interesting thing I found was a Tiger Over Lap, the one with the whole front of the car. I left that there as well. Although it looks cool and all, I have a similar one, that is just sitting there collecting dust.

Next, I found a Marshall Full Stack. And, if I was still playing guitar, and in a band, I would have picked it right up.

Ended up just picking up a pair of On Clouds. These supposedly do well.

The kids always ask me to play Roblox with them, and tonight I managed to get all my orders ready pretty quick, so I jumped on without telling them. They got excited. We played for a couple of hours before I had to send them off to bed.

07/11

I just realized, we’re 3 weeks away from Gunslinger in the Abyss Prerelease. That means that Midnight Prerelease is right around the Korner! And I never got a restock for Tears of the Planet. Let’s hope this release goes a lot better.

Spent the day sorting, and restocking Opus VI on eBay and TCG Player.

Day 5 of the 30 day plan. And all it was was making sure that the website’s menus load up correctly on Mobile devices, and that the links are clickable. Checked and they were all goo to go.

I also grilled 20 pounds of chicken breast for some fajitas.

07/12

I woke up later than usual again.

Still have to get up, and go. No point in staying home. I got to the Swap and I thought to myself, I should have stayed home.
Not much there, and when I got to Robbins it was even worst.

Didn’t head out to 42nd and Ashland today, cause I had to take my wife to her sisters house to help with a party.

Went to the restaurant, left the restaurant, went to the party. That’s what all the chicken breast was for.

07/13

I drank too much in too short of a time. That was last night.

Got up, got ready headed to the restaurant. Was there all day. Hopefully, our other employee is coming back next week, and I’ll have more time to get back to what I’m supposed to be doing.

Got all the weekend orders ready to go. And, now it’s time to get back to it. Boots on the Ground.

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Kardboard Fantasy IV

06/23

It’s still hot.

I woke up this morning and my whole body was sore. And, they said the sun was good for you. It probably is, walking around in 90 plus degree weather isn’t.

Decided to do Opus IV today. Got most of it done, they’re all up on TCG Player, and a restock on eBay, for the cards that were already on there. Still need to get the new cards up.

06/24

Slept through my alarm today. And, that’s OK. Didn’t have much to do this morning. All I knew was that we would have plenty of rain. And, that it will be humid.

For some reason my car had a horrible smell to it. It just came out of no where. I’m thinking that either one of my kids stepped in poop and smeared it in there, or they left some food in there and it’s rotting in this heat. So, I spent the afternoon trying to get that smell out. Deep cleaned the whole interior. Fingers crossed that the smell will be gone in the morning.

Spent the rest of the night organizing a bit, and putting orders together. This restock is starting to move.

06/25

Flea Market Wednesday. It’s been raining all night so I did not get my hopes up. And, it’s a good thing i didn’t because just like last week, there were hardly any vendors there. All the usual suspects though, and they all do not have anything that I want.

I got rid of most of the smell but it still lingers. Going to have to give it another clean again.

Listed the rest of Opus IV on eBay. Plenty of Foil cards and Legends.

Spent the afternoon playing soccer with my son. And, he’s starting to run circles around me. He’s taking the pointers I tell him and he’s starting to utilized them. I can’t wait to see him play on a team this year.

06/26

It’s still hot. And, I don’t like it. Give me freezing temperatures. I’ll take that over this heat any day. Tried recharging the A/C in my wife’s truck, and I don’t think that it needs a charge. I’m guessing it’s the compressor. I got to try and figure that out, and see what happens.

Spent the whole day at the restaurant, one of our workers will be out of action for a while, and that means that I will be there 7 days a week now. Starting today.

06/27

Turns out the MacBook Pro that I picked up does not want to work. Went to my guy looking for the AC Adapter, and he had a bunch there, we tried them out and none of them worked. Time to try and get rid of it for parts.

06/28

Time to head to the Flea Market. It’s Saturday, and none of the little ones wanted to come with me. That’s OK, I can get things done faster.

Once again, there weren’t that many vendors there, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to find anything. I recognize most of the vendors now, and I can just walk up and down knowing where to take a closer look and where to just keep moving. First walk through, I didn’t find anything, I decided to take one more trip around.

One vendor had a whole bunch of old trading cards. Nothing great, mostly those Dessert Storm packs from the early 90s. I noticed a green container that wasn’t there the first time around. It was $45 for the whole container. All it had was a bunch of Xboxs. I dug a little deeper to see if there was anything else in there, and lo and behold, there was a Super Nintendo on the bottom! I grabbed it and ended up paying $10 for it. I then asked him about the Trading Cards, and he said each was $5. I grabbed a box of Super Star Musicards. I picked them up, might do a video on them soon. Hopefully someone will like it.

Off to Robbins, and nothing for me, although a Vendor did have all 4 Kiss Action Figures, he wanted $60 for all of them. I had to pass on it this time, cause part of me would have wanted to hold on to them.

One more stop today, 42nd and Ashland. It’s getting hot, and I still need to go and do something with the kids before I head to the restaurant. As soon as I got there, it already looked like there were hardly any Vendors there. I still have to get my steps in so off I go.

Top Loaders! Who would have thought I would find Top Loaders at the Flea Market, still sealed. Sure they were Beanie Babies Top Loaders. I think the only difference is that they have the TY logo on them. I haven’t opened them yet, but a top loader is a top loader, and it will hold up well when shipped. I got excited when I saw Metroid Prime, but unfortunately it was just the box with the Bonus disc, no game. Oh well, there was a Gamecube controller sitting right next to it. So, I picked that up.

06/29

It’s Sunday, it’s hot and I spent the day at the restaurant. And that’s was my day. Took care of some orders, and just relaxed.

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The Korner of Dragoon

06/16

Mondays are the hardest. Not really. It’s just hard to get much done on Mondays. Depending on the Monday as well, We’re mostly getting things set up for the week. Finishing this post for the Website, and scheduling the Card of the Day for Instagram and Facebook.

After that, it is time to figure out what we’re going to do this week. We’re going to start sorting the Basketball cards into team lots, and after that, we are going to start restocking FFTCG. Again. Because well as I mentioned, Organizing the office, is bringing out some surprises. Items I forgot we had. And, what do you do with all that stuff? You give the people what they want.

06/17

Sorted all those NBA cards into Teams, and there isn’t enough to make 100 card lots. Guess I’m going to have to find some more cards. Anyone selling? $10 per thousand. Surprisingly, there were barely any Chicago Bulls cards.

Took out the PS2 and Dirge of Cerberus. I had to try out all these PlayStation controllers and Memory Cards I had, and I figured what better way than play a very underrated game. My daughter saw it and she wanted to play, I told her she could, but we had to check to see if all the controllers work first. She played for 15 minutes and then got bored. If it ain’t Roblox, they don’t like it.

06/18

Wednesday, it was raining all night. It’s still wet outside. The way I see it there’s a 50/50 chance for the Swap in Alsip. I decided to go anyway. What’s the worst that could happen? I go and I come back with nothing.

As I rolled into the Swap-O-Rama, it wasn’t busy, but there were some Vendors there. And, it turned out that it was Free Admission today. Probably cause it was dead. That didn’t stop me though. Was it worth it? Yeah I would say so. Found a Memory Card for the PS2, a Macbook Pro, and a bunch of Michael Jordan Basketball cards. You can never go wrong with MJ cards. Also picked up a Soccer ball for the kids.

Spent the night getting back at organizing the office. We now have our photo station almost ready. There’s about 5 more shelves left to organize, and these will be the hardest. Best way I can think of is by getting rid of everything, but that would mean starting over.

06/19

I got up hoping that the rain stopped from last night, and then I thought if it didn’t stop I can sleep for a couple more hours. The rain did stop, and it took me a long time to wake the kids up. They sure didn’t want to get up today. Too bad. We have Garage Sales to go and find. Plus, we have to check if the Flea Market is open today. I doubt it will be because of all the rain, and it’s held in a lot that’s all dirt. That lot was all muddy and filled with puddles.

Found a couple of Garage Sales, but nothing worth buying.

Ended up starting a restock with all the FFTCG cards I found, we’re going to go through all of the Opus again. Starting with Opus I. They are all on TCG Player and eBay. I’m pretty sure that I have more Opus I cards somewhere, but can’t remember where I put them.

06/20

I think I’m going to have a bunch of empty binders soon. They’re all in great condition, I just won’t be using them cause they take up a lot more room than a 1000ct box. I’ll keep some binders ready to go for when I do shows, but other than that they take up too much space and that space is more valuable than the binders at the moment.

Going to start Opus II today. Plenty of Legends to be added.

I started watching the Club World Cup. Mostly for noise, I’ll look at the TV once in a while when I hear something going on.

06/21

          It’s hot outside. That doesn’t mean we’re staying inside. We still have work to do. Better to get out there early before things really heat up. It was pretty empty. Only half the vendors were at the Swap in Alsip. Still found something interesting. Ashton Drake Galleries Peanuts Perpetual Calendar Figurines. It’s a mouthful. I was on the fence about them. I passed by them a couple of times and finally looked them up. Saw the one that was there sold for 30 a while ago. I decided to grab it. Then the gentleman told me to get the one with the box. I looked and there were 10 figurines in total. I picked them all up.

Headed to Robbins, and that was dead as well. It’s too hot and everyone does not want to sit in the sun all day. I wouldn’t either.

Headed home early today, cause we had a birthday party to go to. Pick up a gift went home, and head to the party. The kids had fun, and I was sitting under an umbrella, but the wind picked up and launched that umbrella 15 ft into the air, out into the parking lot. Yep, I’m don’t with that, let me head over to a more open area.

Once we got back home I started looking more into these Perpetual Calendar Figurines. (I wouldn’t have picked them up, but I’m a sucker or Snoopy.) Some of these sold for a couple hundred. That’s all I needed to see. Got them all ready pictured up and ready to go on eBay. Not on the main shop, on our second one that’s for items that are not very Kardboard Kornerlike. I think I mentioned that one before. Not much is on it yet, but we’re slowly filling it up. Actually I hope it always stays pretty empty. That means we’re selling everything fast.

06/22

It’s still hot outside.

I finished up Opus II this morning, and got caught up on this weekends orders. After that my son got up, and I asked him jokingly if he wanted to go to the Flea Market, surprisingly he said yes. So, off we go. It was actually pretty busy, but just like yesterday, there weren’t that many vendors there.

Didn’t find much today. Just Megaman 11, and Def Jam Vendetta. Def Jam would have been a great pickup, but it did not want to work when I tested it. So, in the garbage it goes. No point in keeping it.

Opus III is up right now. Plenty of great cards, that were found in the vault. Legends, Heroes and King Tycoon!

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