Liberating retails pulls at the Target close to my school:
2004 Upper Deck II ($1.49) - lame Jason Giambi insert, lame Roger Clemens [checklist] - the best card as far as I was concerned was a Gil Meche base card worth half a nickel - you can see a blurred Ichiro cameo in the background.

2005 Bowman Chrome ($2.99) - Hernan Iribarren rookie card

2005 Topps Fan Favorites ($2.99) - Cal Ripken Jr. base card - but also cards of luminaries such as Jerome Walton [1989 National League Rookie of the Year], Jeff Brantley [ESPN], Ron Blomberg [first ever designated hitter], Jim Leyritz [New York Yankees] and Joaquin Andujar - I wouldn't want to pull these guys' [except for Ripken Jr. perhaps] cards during the time they played, why would I want to now?

2005 Topps Basketball ($1.99) - ugh, why did I pick up this pack of shiite?

And...
2005 Bowman's Best ($19.99 for a blister pack of two) - my auto [guaranteed in the blister marking] was a John Barratt with a 'notch' on the autograph sticker, numbered 422/974.

Briefly looking at his stats on baseballamerica.com, it looks like he was beaten up in the Cal League in 2005.

Looking at the back of his card, he is 5'9" - which makes him:

A.) A long shot to make any Major League roster
B.) A lefty specialist

I know if I just wanted 'some cards,' I could do things a little better than waste my time and energy on retail packs.

I feel so violated - but it is like, I'm the one who succumbed to the crap.

This is where I really hurt my collections.