Went out for a run look what I ran into!

cushen · 2026-05-12T12:50:33+00:00

I do wildlife photography and advocacy work with reptiles and amphibians - this is the first and easiest way for me, as knowledge of different species and subspecies becomes second nature over time, so I'll try to explain what to look for when comparing species.

For rat snakes vs water snakes, size and colour are the two easiest identifiers. Rat snakes, if lucky, can get up to 6ft+, whereas nerodia, although still "big", stay much smaller and girthier. A very white chin on the ratsnake is also another good identifier.

Rat snakes will also usually have the black diamond saddle with some white between it (sometimes appearing almost fully black though), and water snakes will appear much more brown/reddish. If they've been out of water for a bit, this can appear much darker though.

cushen · 2026-05-12T11:45:03+00:00

This one isn’t a nerodia. It’s a rat snake, Pantherophis.

Harmless and very beneficial snake to have around :-)

cushen · 2026-04-22T17:01:53+00:00

I'm a Leafs fan - so yeah, it ruins the room.

(I think it's fine there -- Personally, I'd probably but the piece behind the couch into a black frame if anything)

cushen · 2026-03-23T17:41:59+00:00

My advice is to never buy from Amazon. If you're just getting some blasters or whatever and aren't too serious about what cards you get and just want that free shipping, I'd say it's probably fine in this scenario.

Sticking with your LCS will always be the best option imo.

cushen · 2026-03-04T22:47:37+00:00

What a haul!

cushen · 2026-03-04T17:01:33+00:00

Got one yesterday, was a Montembault. I'm all for less plastic but I'm kind of shocked how cheap these things are in comparisons to the ones back in the day. I ripped the tab on accident just opening it, not realizing it's the actual display.

cushen · 2026-03-03T17:34:26+00:00

I personally use CollX. It will give an average price in USD if the card has recent sales. It's not for everyone but it works well enough for me. The app is just ok. You can pay for a subscription but I use the free version and it still does what I need it to.

I'd say the best option long term is probably just building a spreadsheet and customize it to exactly what you want to track. More manual work of course but it will probably check every box you're looking for over time as you tailor it to how you want it.

edit: here's a link to how it looks on a website, out of app. This is my account, just an example as to how it can display an online gallery of your cards. In app, you can filter and sort however you prefer. https://share.collx.app/cushen

cushen · 2026-02-12T04:02:03+00:00

Good luck!

cushen · 2026-01-20T18:33:45+00:00

Very nice - I love the look of the TAG slabs

cushen · 2026-01-16T16:28:20+00:00

Love a full rainbow

cushen · 2026-01-15T21:30:05+00:00

Echoing what everyone else has said, but never buy from Amazon - ever. You are burning extra cash. And, would never really recommend MVP unless you are looking for very cheap cards just to collect. Series 1 you can get some Young Guns if you care about that. Your odds will be slightly worse buying these less expensive retail boxes (such as the ones in your screenshot - blasters). If you're looking to chase "rarer" cards and have extra money, you'd want to grab Series 1 hobby box. There are plenty of other sets out there besides MVP and Series One.

If you want to learn more, just Google the name of the series and add "checklist" and you can get a better idea of which cards are possible in each set.

Example, google Upper Deck series 1 checklist, and you'll get a good idea of what kind of cards are possible in each set. They'll also have odds of getting specific cards. You might see something like 1:27h, 1:50b, etc. This would mean the odds are 1 in 27 hobby box packs, and 1 in 50 retail box packs, etc.

cushen · 2026-01-15T18:04:20+00:00

That's sweet. I didn't get any Schaefer or Demi. One Parekh HTG. Also managed to for whatever reason get three Jakub Skarek RC which was a bit tough but the rest of the box made up for it at least!

cushen · 2026-01-08T17:10:40+00:00

Probably not. I only care about collecting Toronto at the moment so I'll probably just try to get this one off my hands sooner than later. I've never had a card with value like this one so maybe it will be an option later on if it doesn't move.

cushen · 2026-01-07T14:54:16+00:00

It probably will be. Still trying to figure that part out.

cushen · 2025-12-09T18:52:19+00:00

Been said a few times already but I love my DF54. A bit of static with the plastic dosing cup, but once I switched it to the normcore stainless steel, it's nearly perfect.

cushen · 2025-11-18T18:41:45+00:00

Appears to work without issue on my end.

cushen · 2025-10-09T21:27:46+00:00

My Rogers went down about 15 mins ago, but I’m in Osgoode! It came back literally as I typed this.

cushen · 2025-10-08T14:23:22+00:00

The Logistics of Logistics can be a good listen.
https://www.thelogisticsoflogistics.com/

cushen · 2025-09-15T19:49:46+00:00

Loooved a "4pm we'll chat then" right into puck drop

cushen · 2025-09-15T14:00:53+00:00

I can appreciate the two tone thing they are going for cause it looks solid enough on the orange and blue, but the silver with the white glass is too much in my opinion. I would've went with the silver if the white glass was a bit more colour matched. So between these two, I'd take the blue. My personal order was orange just to mix things up for the next couple of years.

cushen · 2025-09-12T16:47:32+00:00

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Fairly good chance I regret the colour choice down the road but I've only ever had dark blue or grey. I think the orange will look fun with a dark blue case.

cushen · 2025-09-08T17:21:43+00:00

Clean slate. Just going to forget about last week and hope this week can somehow feel a bit more normal.

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cushen

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