I am back. I have not yet figured out whether I want to be yet. This isn’t my typical Monday morning attitude, but it is prompted by a large pile of material precariously stacked up on my chair. I had to move it to get started here. I will have to go through it later.

More than a decade into the Internet Age I still receive quantities of snail mail that mount up quickly in my absence. I make arrangements for the mail to be handled so the news gathering process never stops, but even then some of the mail requires my attention on my return.

I am anxious to learn what occurred at the Long Beach show. It is a major event on the hobby calendar.

In the 1980s and 1990s Long Beach always seemed to be marked by a swoon in the price of gold. Not anymore. I don’t know of anyone who actually tallied the number of times gold weakened going into the show. It might have been a mirage, but it was a mirage that many of us shared and commented on at the time.

The fourth calendar quarter starts today and many will want to know how business is settling down now that we are in the heart of the autumn collecting season. I want to know too and that makes this a good point to stop for today.