Birthday!T

Well, my birthday has come and went once again. This year I turned 28, and although I was scared to get older, it was an awesome day. Over the past few months, I have been planning a wedding, going to school, working a stressful job, and purchasing a home. I do not think I have ever done so much grown up stuff in a year, and I really never want to again! I am all for being responsible, but I need balance too! 5 days before my birthday day, my fiance messaged me at work asking what I really wanted for my birthday, as I was a bit mum about it this year. After much deliberating, she asked me if I would want to fly out to Tampa to be with my brother for my birthday. He is not a brother by birth, but I have known him since the day he was born, and his mom raised me through my teen years. Anyways, I immediately checked prices on flights, and the Rays schedule to see if they were in town.  The ticket prices were super low, my brother had the weekend off, and the Rays would play the Tigers at home. How perfect! I was fortunate enough to get to see David Price vs Alex Cobb, my two favorite pitchers go head to head. They did not disappoint one bit, with Price pitching 7 innings of no hit baseball. 

This was his stat line: \

David Price Line vs. Rays: Aug. 21, 2014

IP	H	R	ER	K-BB	Game Score	Pitches (Strikes)
8.0	1	1	0	9-0	87	100 (73)

Me(left), Ben (right)

Then I get back to work, and my good friend Dan @ It's Like Having My Own Card Shop surprised me with some awesome cards! Thank you so very much Dan, I truly appreciate everything you have done for me! Dan knows that my favorite Ray to collect is Alex Cobb, and also that I will gladly accept any and all Longo or Myers. In addition to these 3 awesome cards, Dan also gave me some really cool Rays cards that I did not have. Two of them were different parallels of Alex Cobb's first year card.

Gypsy Queen Alex Cobb Printing Plate
The first one I have ever gotten

Wil Myers Jumbo Boxtopper.
Super cool vintage looking card.

Once Dan got me back into the hobby a few years back, I was unaware of relic cards. The first one I bought was a Longo bat card. Now I have another Longo bat to add to the collection.

Should I Even Try To Catch Up

It has been such a long time since my last blog post, so I do not even know where to start. I have been planning for a wedding, buying a home, and just trying to balance the added stress of school and work. I drop in to read blogs, but as far as actually posting, it has been about 8 months. Since I have had so many obligations, the funds for both cards and sporting events have dwindled down.

Back in July though, I was able to purchase my first home! I am super excited to have my own space that is not an apartment. The room in the front of the house was kind of like an oversized bedroom meant to be for a larger guest room.... I needed an office though, so my fiance was happy to let me put all of my junk into one room.


I will also be able to add some new Rays/Bucs stuff to my room in a few days because I am heading out to Florida for my birthday. It was extremely last minute, but the ticket was excellent. I will be watching David Price pitch for the Tigers on Thursday at the Trop. I am super excited, and already am trying to line up a few deals from Craigslist for a couple bobbles!

Here are a few pictures of what I have done so far in my office. I have always wanted a room painted red, and now I have it!!!

The majority of my bobbleheads all shoved onto one fixture... not ideal, but it has to work for right now!

 The gold Goldschmidt and Longoria "fauxback" have found their way to my desk. Joining those two are zombie bobblehead and Derrick Brooks sacking Rich Gannon.

I tried to get a bunch of stuff in this picture, but these are a few of my favorite things. I broke my old signed Longo print's frame, so I put it in a white frame. I also had the programs for the 2011 All-Star Game and 1998 Devil Rays Inaugural game custom framed. I have a Goldschmidt auto print, a line-up card from the Tigers, a Bucs flag, and then some memorabilia from my two favorite bands. I can't forget my seat cushion.

I recently completed my Associates degree, so my fiance surprised me with this Topps Vintage sign. It is number 19/49. It is much smaller than the picture made it out to be, but the measurements were in fine print.... ah, Topps. They also say it will ship in 5 days, but it turns out being a month because they fail to mention they are made-to-order.

 This is just a shot of my desk area. The desk took me a work day to build, and I have managed to cart that old Bucs locker around everywhere I have moved since 1998. The horseshoe in the middle is from my grandmother's horse that she had when she was 8 or 9.