I think everyone knows that I am a collector. Quite a few of the normal things such as postage stamps, coins, souvenir spoons, pens, LPs, bumper stickers, matchbooks, beer cans, Coca Cola stuff etc…
 And I believe most know that my favourite collection is all things Goofy (as in Walt Disney).
Other things that I have collected over the years include:
Stickers
Seals (Christmas and Easter)
Christmas gift tags
Cereal boxes and included items
Fastfood items
Uncle Sam Wants You theme
American Gothic theme
Packaging
Because we have moved back and forth between the States and New Zealand a few times I have had to purge and reduce over the years. I have also stopped collecting, which can be seen as a good thing — as “you can’t take it with you”, eh?.
The Internet has made some of this redundant. e.g. with a few clicks I see hundreds of American Gothic photos.
 At the pump:
$2.15/litre
$8.28/gal
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It took me seven years to do the A-Z MalleyGrams. In some cases I had to leave things out due to space restrictions. I also reckon I have accumulated a few more items during that time. So I bring you C 2.0
The orignal "C" has been updated read it
CORRESPONDENCE -  I sincerely hope that you won’t believe I am CRAZY, but I do keep track of almost everything. Since the age of 10 I kept every letter, postcard and greeting card I received. In 1977 I began using carbon paper so as to have a copy of what I wrote. Later on it was the old copy machine and more recently I simply keep a copy on the computer. I have never bothered to calculate how many people I have written to, but I do know that there are 151 correspondees that I do keep track of in a spreadsheet. Since 1955 I have written/typed 7224 letters and received 6151 as of Jan 3, 2014 (8832 sent / 7274 rc'd in 2020). Its actually more, because I have adopted a rule that short emails and postcards only count as half a letter. So the numbers are closer to 10,000. That is higher than the average bear, most likely because I am not a phone person and I also don’t a have a mobile phone for TXTing. I wrote the most letters to my mother and with about half as many to Hoffsis, Newsy and my sister. My mother sent me 492 letters and most of them were typed multiple-pages.
COUSINS -  No cousins in Austria, but I do have a multitude in Minnesota. I have met almost all of them. I know Steve the best since we are close in age and share similar interests. I was the first to get a university degree, but Steve went on to match that and accumulate 2 Masters and a PhD. We have been able to visit him and his family in Texas a couple times. And they have been to New Zealand. A cousin from the Northern Tribe, Linda together with her husband Dale and daughter Allison have also been for a look see in Kiwiland.
CUZZIES -  On Gail’s side, from the home base of Lafayette, Minnesota, she has cousins scattered coast-to-coast over the States and a couple who maintain regular contact. Our kids only have two cousins, Chris and Celina, in Plymouth, MN
CHRISTMAS CARD COUNTING - It all began in 1969 in Hawaii when the fellow Peace Corps Volunteer I roomed with had a bet to see who would get more cards from the students we taught. The following year or so a contest developed with Jim and Wallis. We have kept up a friendly banter over the years. At least Jim doesn't lord it over me too much that I have never won. |
2014 - No. 1 www.malecek.com 2014 No 1
