Okay - one problem gets cleared up, and another surfaces.

The (very nice) lady who had purchased the CDs that turned out to be scratched tried them out, and they work (although with some noise), and I gave her a partial reimbursement since they were not in the stated condition. She is, I believe, satisfied now with the transaction.

BUT, I then had my very first comic book sale through my store, which was great...except...I CAN'T FIND THE COMIC BOOK! I have NO idea where it is! It's not in the stack of "comics to be sold" where it should be (every OTHER comic in my store is there). My brother has no idea where it might be, my two sons have no clue, my wife is unaware of its location.

I have emailed the last 10+ people I have sold comics to in the hopes that maybe I accidentally added it to their shipment. I don't expect to get it back...but at least I would know what happened to it!

I write to the person who bought the comic (who very nicely paid within minutes of buying the thing) and told them the situation. If I haven't located the thing within 24 hours I will reimburse him for the full amount.

I can't believe this has happened. Where could that blasted thing be?

In other news: the Ice Age commons are up, and all of the photos are taken. I need to finish the uncommons and rares tomorrow - too tired tonight to tackle that many.

I accidentally stumbled across other store selling the basic lands from Revised, Unlimited, etc. and I realized there might be a market for mine - I have several hundred. So today I took a break from typing up my Ice Age cards (110+ common card entries) and listed my basic lands as well. We'll see if anyone's interested!

Yesterday I finally managed to get the Fallen Empires expansion cards up into the store. Today I want to work on Ice Age. I probably have more Ice Age cards than any other set, with the possible exception of Revised, which is already up. I think I'm about at the half-way mark for cards now. Only Ice Age, Homelands, Alliances, Mirage and Visions to go.

I haven't decided whether to put the non-English cards I have up, or the signed ones. I'm not sure if there's a market for a Korean version of a Stronghold common card. I'll need to investigate. But they certainly will be put off for last.

Oh - I almost forgot I promised a description of the game of Magic: the Gathering.

This was the very first collectible card game (or CCG). It created the concept, which later lead to perhaps more famous games (in some circles) like Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh.

In M:tG, you and your opponent are playing combating wizards. Your deck of cards represents lands from which you can draw magical energy ("mana") and spells which you cast in an attempt to defeat your opponent. Some spells directly do damage to him/her. Some summon up creatures to do your bidding (such as bashing your opponent over the head). Some conjure up mechanical devices, called artifacts, which can assist you in your battle. Some affect the "world" you're playing in, or modify lands, creatures, or artifacts already in play.

You and your opponent take turns placing land into play, casting spells, attacking with creatures...until one of you loses (most typically by losing all "life points" - you start the game with 20 - but there are other ways to lose).

It's a very well thought out game, which is pretty easy to learn the basics of, but possibly difficult to get REALLY good at. There are, believe it or not, tournaments at which large amounts of money can be won. I've even heard of them being televised on like ESPN23 or some such station.

And, once upon a time, I bought every card which came out when it came out, and was a crazy M:tG geek and collected thousands of cards. Now I'm trying to spread them out to the people who will actually put them to use (hopefully) instead of having them sit in a dark cardboard box, fulfilling no purpose.