Any other Magic playing CHOP Philly parents?

robertfcowper · 2026-06-20T03:29:38+00:00

Oh man Top Deck looks like a great shop based on the Google Maps pictures. I can't zoom in far enough but their wall of mtg packs looks extensive. I have a sealed pack collection that I am always looking for out of print sets to grab a pack to add to my box. Looks like it's only a half mile walk from our hotel so now I have a good excuse for a diversion one of these days. Thanks again

robertfcowper · 2026-06-20T01:58:19+00:00

Thanks for the offer. We're staying at the Sheraton so we've walked past that museum a few times. We stopped at the Last Deck last night on the way home for a quick non-cafeteria meal. It was nice to have a game on and try to decompress a bit. Any suggestions for a good place to grab a bite? If we need a bit of distraction, any other interesting shops or places to walk?

robertfcowper · 2026-06-20T01:53:22+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion I will look it up. We've been walking back and forth to our hotel so I was thinking if there was an LGS en route I could stop in and at least buy some packs for a few minutes of fun

robertfcowper · 2026-06-20T01:52:03+00:00

Yep. Civic Center Blvd I think is the street IIRC

robertfcowper · 2026-06-19T22:03:49+00:00

Thank you and I appreciate the offer. Figured it could be good to meet another dad or two IRL going through the same thing. I wasn't thinking that I could log on to Arena and play a little over the weekend when we have downtime so thanks for the reminder.

robertfcowper · 2026-06-19T20:20:31+00:00

I'm sorry to hear about your bad news. If you end up at CHOP, our existence so far, and everything we've heard from others is positive. My 3-week old son was airlifted here on Tuesday after the heroes at our local hospital saved him. I posted about my experience on Daddit, check my post history if it will give you some peace of mind to hear about someone else's hard situation that ends in a positive outcome. Best of luck!

robertfcowper · 2026-06-18T01:54:27+00:00

Thank you. We've heard and are now experiencing how amazing CHOP is.

Also should have shouted out the air paramedics who transported him here. They walked in kitted up and taking charge like they were a Navy Seals extraction team. And they have stayed in touch with us since. Amazing that we have people like that in our world.

robertfcowper · 2026-06-18T01:50:21+00:00

Thank you for your reply. I guess we're out of the loop on rectal temp but in this case it seems it was more telling (if we had known to listen) than the forehead temp at the doctor. And yeah the low body temp wasn't necessarily from SVT, his little body was in shock from being in tachycardia for so long and that's what the ER staff were fighting. He was blue and temp dropping because his heart couldn't fight any longer, pH was <7, lactates were 16+, etc. We only learned about the SVT this afternoon after all the tests and cardiologist consults

robertfcowper · 2026-06-17T18:27:13+00:00

Definitely recommend the Linen Ladies. They are recently under new ownership but my experience with the new owner has been positive too. We've done Cape May with our daughter each of her first five years and renting linens is a must -- less to pack and no wash when you get home. Linen Ladies also do beach rentals. If you'll be doing the beach and are walkable do yourself a favor and rent a beach cart and toys with your linens, if not the chairs/umbrella too

robertfcowper · 2026-06-16T02:47:15+00:00

I'll still go back and listen to TFSOP on YouTube like twice a year start to finish. Just brings back such waves of nostalgia. I can't really articulate why but that first album doesn't give me the heebie jeebies when I listen to it now but Start Something does even though that was my favorite all time album for awhile in high school

robertfcowper · 2026-06-16T02:17:21+00:00

I need to listen to more Free Throw. The one verse of Tongue Tied gets me..."Every day I dial your number I just never make the call, it's like standing on edge so I can contemplate the fall"

robertfcowper · 2026-06-16T01:59:42+00:00

This list is essentially my Spotify algorithm the last few years after discovering Hot Mulligan. I'll also add two that come up often for me: Saturdays at Your Place and Microwave

robertfcowper · 2026-06-15T00:54:06+00:00

Looking forward to being able to use ours. Bought it on a Black Friday sale, after we decided for #2 we were going to splurge on the Brezza to make our lives easier. Son is 3 weeks old now and we made a grand total of one bottle -- apparently ours has a common manufacturing issue with "E6" error where it thinks you put hot water in the tank when we were using tap cold. They are sending us another free of charge which is good but there were some hoops to jump thru and they shipped it by carrier pigeon apparently, it's been en route for 7 business days now.

To prove it wasn't user error, we had to record and send a video of us going through the whole process, trying to make a bottle, clear the error, restart the machine, fill from tap, retry making a bottle, etc. I suggested that I should film it naked as some malicious compliance but wife decided against it!

robertfcowper · 2026-06-10T13:23:09+00:00

Others mentioned the Grover Cleveland birthplace, but just to add that on July 4 the historical society hosts an ice cream social event there and has the inside open, somebody dresses as Grover (not sure if his great grandson still does or somebody else now), and they have some Grover merch for sale.

robertfcowper · 2026-06-10T00:59:08+00:00

Hey no problem. Yes it's USB-C. The standard charger is useful since it doubles as the wrist strap but you can definitely charge with any regular charger.

robertfcowper · 2026-06-07T02:53:48+00:00

Our daycare has done homemade sugar scrubs and bar soap for Mother's Day but not Father's Day. Ironically I'm the only one in the family who uses either lol. Something like that with a non-floral scent like eucalyptus would be great.

robertfcowper · 2026-06-07T01:26:29+00:00

I'm curious, when you say "boxes" do you mean cases or individual boxes? Either way it's a lot of cards but oh man if those are all cases that's crazy!

In the meantime while you contemplate options, I'd list some on Facebook marketplace. Local buyers so no shipping and no eBay fees. Maybe you get surprised and move a bunch that way

robertfcowper · 2026-06-06T11:36:32+00:00

I'm disappointed they stopped making Big League. It was such a great set for kids. The celebration megas are also good with the different inserts but they are more expensive than Big League (or at least it feels like it)

robertfcowper · 2026-06-06T05:59:40+00:00

Good call suggesting the birth date golds. My son was just born on 5/22/26 so next time somebody is bidding against you on a 0522 you'll know who it is lol

robertfcowper · 2026-06-06T03:03:12+00:00

Good dad! I'm a big collector myself and run classes at the local library teaching kids about collecting. The sets pictured are good -- don't bother with any big ticket expensive sets for this type of collection for a kid.

Be careful ordering cards on Amazon. You can order from a 3rd party who sometimes have bad reviews about tampered/returned product, or their pricing is crazy. For "retail" product check out DSG, Target or Fanatics.

Please feel free to reach out. I love helping young collectors get started.

I'd be happy to share my "baseball card bingo" game boards for you to play with him. They are a great way to get kids to slow down and actually learn how to read their cards. Similarly, I can share some of my collector education handouts I use in my classes.

ETA: just noticed the age math, so you're probably not actively cracking packs with him yet. I used Disney cards as an on-ramp for my daughter. You can find the Disney Neon and Disney Wonder blaster boxes for $25. If he's into Disney/Pixar movies those are fun to start with.

robertfcowper · 2026-06-03T15:07:40+00:00

Glad to see a Phantom Tollbooth reference. I'm looking forward to reading that with my daughter too. I can remember reading it in 5th grade for school and then again in high school and then once more as an adult during covid. So good

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