Lee K's Journal

A journal by Lee K

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Graded

(teaser) And now they have been graded for 23 business days. With the inclusion of Martin Luther King Jr. Day that is one day short of five weeks. I fail to grasp this as a business model. I thought maybe, as the only reasonable explanation, that books would move quicker from Graded to Shipped Safe if angry submitters were not calling and arguing their grades or asking for a review of their grade. But no - now it takes longer than ever for books to move from Graded to Shipped Safe.
Lee K

Lee K

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What Marvel does for me...

See - I don't only complain about turn around times... While I continue to be frustrated with how long CGC has held my books at 'graded' without shipping them, I was reminded last night by facebook conversation with Tnerb - that there are some books by Marvel that I do cherish and I do think that the writers at Marvel did/do better than anyone ever did at DC. The three big things that I have always felt made Marvel readable to me are: Martial Arts, Norse Gods, and Dr. Strange. I could care
Lee K

Lee K

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Four Weeks...

19 business days The IRS doesn't take that long... Arnold Schwartenegger didn't visit Mars for that long... But my books have been sitting at CGC graded for that long, but not shipped, so I still don't know my grades. *le sigh* Lee
Lee K

Lee K

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Holy Moly - I have a problem with a dark side

Yep Still no grades. It's now 15 business days since my books were graded, and I'm really excited to know my grades and add them to my sets...but they're not shipped, so no grades. Sadness follows me all of my days. (all 150 days that they have had these books). Oh well - ECCC is next month and I'm busy working on my budget. So many cool people and books to have signed: Claremont, Adams, ONeil, Grell, Bisley, Mack, and more...and more... I'm going to have to limit myself...but I have
Lee K

Lee K

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Arrival

but... not my books - no my books are still 'graded' although today is Graded + 11 business days. But my nephew's books - the ones I mailed the day after my books were scheduled for grading just arrive. My books, on the other hand, I still don't know the grades on. Sadness. Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
Lee K

Lee K

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Graded

And they are getting faster At least those that are submitted on the 'slow boat from China' tier - which I use due to amazing cheapness on my part. Hey, money spent on CGC is money not spent on more comics to read. But my last submission was graded on business day 90, and this submission (mailed 21 days after the previous submission was mailed) was graded on business day 80. That my friends, is a 2 week improvement. Now to continue to wait for those grades to be available and to take my
Lee K

Lee K

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Graded...

But still not available. So I posted when my books were graded - but what I didn't disclose is the day that my books were scheduled for grading my nephew had me drop his four coupon books at the post-office and sent them to Sarasota via priority mail. Now my books are graded - but my grades are still unknown - and his books are shipped safe and on their way back to the left coast. Granted, his grades were mostly half a grade lower than I expected - which isn't terrible - but based on the c
Lee K

Lee K

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Graded

But no grades On the other hand - it is only business day #90, so that is 20 business days faster than my last submission on the 40 day tier. Additionally - my other submission finally made it to Scheduled at only business day #71 - which is business days earlier than the previous submission. Things are improving - even if we are getting a little hammered on our grades. Good job CGC on improving turn around times - hopefully you can be close to 50-60 business days on the 40 day tiers bef
Lee K

Lee K

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ECCC

Trying to gear up... Last year there were no signatures at Emerald City that I was interested in - I ended up with one sig-series book from the convention and zero new books in my collection. This year Adams, Claremont, and Denny O'Neil (as well as Grell) will be there - and I have decisions to make. Probably I'll have Claremont sign X-men 94 (it's a 6.0) - and maybe if money permits I'll add a 140 & 141 in 9.2 or so; Probably I'll have Adams sign some Justice League of America issues 9
Lee K

Lee K

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The new year is already great

business day 77 - "Scheduled for Grading" I feel like things might be improving. Good job CGC. Lee To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
Lee K

Lee K

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Grades are not displayed until submission ships.

what? OK - so when was this added to the 'order status' page? Really? CGC needs to build in another delay in an effort to get us all to use the more expensive expedited tier for our submissions, without actually eliminating the economy/standard/modern tiers? Next I predict the removal from the website the projected and actual turn-around times, so they don't have anything to be measured against. Happy waiting! Lee K Oh - current submission times: Submission #1: 101 days/72 bus. da
Lee K

Lee K

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two zero one three...

Mayans, Horses, Mike Grell, and me... If the end of the world does not come to pass as the week comes to a close, then I shall enjoy my Friday and weekend at the quiet retreat that is Mike's house, and ranch. Weather permitting, I may even go for a ride upon one of the many fine horses - of course if the world does come to an end, I intend to be there for the ample food (elk, yum!), spring water, and friends backing up to the Olympic National Forest...and the horses will get ridden as part of
Lee K

Lee K

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Marvel 52 - or Reboot again, again...

Why not - maybe Harvey will reboot too... Unlike many of the boardies and some of my fellow journal writers, I enjoy reading current comics. And as my followers know by now, I read a couple of independents and DC. What many of you don't know, is that I'm not some company snob that won't read anything by Marvel - it's just that Marvel's big selling point to most collectors is continuity, which I really don't care about. From my perspective as a reader, what Marvel does do better than any
Lee K

Lee K

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Business Day 55

Or as I like to call it: Halfway to graded on the 40 day tier. Give or take. Happy last day of November all you collectors. Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.
Lee K

Lee K

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Thanksgiving with Oliver Queen

sort of... Last week I received a FB invite to have after-Thanksgiving dinner with my friends at Mike Grell's home, and for some unknown reason, I accepted. Mike & his wife were welcoming as always - the turkey was incredible, as were the sides - many of which came from the garden and orchards on-site. Mike was an excellent host and kind enough to say grace (even though no-one at the table shares identical beliefs) from the head of the table. We ate, we drank (a little), and Mike
Lee K

Lee K

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What a long strange trip it's been...

2012 has been an odd one So my collecting year hasn't passed as I intended in 2012. I have made a couple of good additions to the go-go check collection passing the 20% complete threshold, and I have continued to add and slab books in my Strange Adventures set - finally reaching 5th place on the registry, just ahead of the 420kid...but although 2nd through 4th are reasonably attainable, I doubt I will ever be 1st - at least not as I am going. Perhaps, some day. Money has been the big bugab
Lee K

Lee K

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Arriving at their final destination

Books... So I already journaled about my grades - and I am happy with my Strange Adventures issues - an 8 & a 7.5 for Science Fiction issues from the 50's is respectable and I didn't expect any better (ok - I thought the 7.5 was an 8). But how did CGC do? I mean this was my 4th coupon submission...and turn-around times are an issue with me (and have been for some time - particularly since I am paying more per invoice than I was four years ago)... My books were shipped via USPS Priorit
Lee K

Lee K

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What is it...

About issue 1? It doesn't matter how well I pre-screen my books; and it doesn't matter how they compare to the other books I send in (even in the same submission)...whenever I submit a #1 my grade is hammered. This time I submitted four books (coupon) which I determined where all a strong 8.0 - although I thought, maybe, one of them was a little nicer than the others (it was graded highest). I got back a 7.0, a 7.5, an 8, and an 8.5 - and sure enough, the lowest grade was the book worth th
Lee K

Lee K

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And...

And... and...No grades.Damn.Now I have to wait over another weekend.L
Lee K

Lee K

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14 business days...

And my coupon books are still 'verified' Yeah - so I am really, really excited for tomorrow. As always, my personal grading most often is questionable at best, and I've missed restoration as well (I'm no expert, that's for certain)...but I feel pretty good about my 4 books. I sent it two 50's copies of Strange Adventures, and two early issues of Weird War (1 & 3) and I figure all 4 books to be VF(ish)...Now to hold my breath and see if that pans out. I have to admit that I didn't real
Lee K

Lee K

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Time keeps on slippin' into the future...

and the days just flash by Welcome to calendar day 191. My books arrived today (UPS - not USPS) - on the 40 business day tier. I think today is business day 132 - but I may have missed a day or two or added a day or two, somewere in there, but it is definately outside of the 100 days I was told when I dropped them off on April 1st. (perhaps that was the problem, some sort of April Fool's thing...? nah.) The excellent news is: Today is a business day - my most recent shipment was receive
Lee K

Lee K

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Ask, and...

Ye shall receive. So last spring (2011) I was out at Mike Grell's place helping him shuffle some stuff around in the garage when I happened upon a box of comics (weird, huh?) - only unlike the other 100 boxes of books, these weren't written or drawn by Mike. They were, in fact, his reference books. Later last summer, I went back out just about on my birthday to enjoy the peace & quiet on his ranch and to just generally hang out; but I also had an agenda for one afternoon. I brought a l
Lee K

Lee K

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Science Fiction

So much more fun in the 50's and early 60's In the days when we truely knew nothing about the moon, the other planets in our solar system (remember Pluto?), or the bottom of the sea - I find those science fiction comics fun, or more fun than the current batch of sci-fi anyway. I'm really pleased with my recent acquisitions and the books I have at CGC or on their way back from CGC at the moment. My House of Mystery 133, is coming back as a 9.0 white. I just added a bunch of Strange Advent
Lee K

Lee K

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Over/Under

is now at 1/2 calendar year... That's right, that's right - the over/under on how long it will be before I have my books back from CGC is 1/2 year, 6 months, 182.5 days...weigh in where you will. I sent a small package (all I can afford) on Friday - as soon as it is marked received, I will start the clock. When the books are back in my hands, I will stop the clock...it's a race against time, and the other contestant is the earth revolving around the sun (1/2 way). Now, before you consider
Lee K

Lee K

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Hunting time

My LCS passed on a collection of comics that came in, refusing even to make an honest offer on the first batch of books the seller brought in - fortunately they seller took them down the road to a store that specializes in toys. AND.. There's about 30 issues of Strange Adventures that I am missing from my collection in mid-high grade -call them 7.0 to 9.0- with a couple of gems and THE key issue in VF - I may not need all 30, and I certainly can not afford to pick them all up in one fell s
Lee K

Lee K

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