Ramblings...

I have a bunch of stuff in my head that I need to write about, but none of it really deserves a devoted post, so prepare yourselves: I'm dumping it all into one post.

First, roughly half of the spots in my 2014 Gypsy Queen Half Case Break are still available! $40 gets you a team of your choice, a randomly assigned team AND shipping! The sooner I get the spots filled and money collected, the sooner I can lock in a great price on a box! Sign up here!
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I went back to my LCS a couple weeks ago. I've talked in the past how awesome he is to me (see here and here). Jimmy was overly kind again. He gave me an awesome Christmas gift:

A Nelson Cruz 2012 Triple Threads triple relic numbered 10 of 36. Seriously, Jimmy is incredible. So incredible, in fact, that I would love it if you would all browse his eBay profile and see if he has anything for sale that you would like. His prices are very competitive (I think). If you do buy something, be sure to send him a note letting him know I sent you. I'm not being paid, I don't get any discounts - I just want him to know that I appreciate him and the way he treats me.
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A couple of nights ago, I posted some of my parallel pages. Some of you may be wondering why I have a Brian Roberts rainbow in progress, others may have figured it out. For those that haven't here's the skinny. Bryce Harper is my favorite player, but his cards do not carry my favorite prices. They are very steep. Mr. Roberts, on the other hand, is fairly affordable AND he happens to share a card with Harper in this year's Topps flagship set. So there you go. Easy as that.
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Lastly, I feel it necessary to mention that I have lost my passion for collecting Ranger team sets. I feel terrible - many have gone out of your way to send me amazing cards to help me with that project. There is no particular reason for this, I just don't find myself caring about them as much anymore. So, that being said, this project is on a temporary hiatus....until when, I am not sure.

So there you have it...an entire's post filled with random ramblings. Go sign up for my break!!!

2013 Topps Update Series Brian Roberts Parallel Rainbow

Blue Sapphire 21/25

Retail Red Parallel

  

2013 Bowman Chrome Jordan Zimmerman Parallel Rainbow

Red Refractor 2/5

Canary Yellow Refractor 5/10  

Pink Refractor 31/35

Purple Refractor 175/199

Blue Refractor 58/250

Retail Green Refractor  

XFractor

   

   

2013 Topps Nick Tepesch Parallel Rainbow

Pink Parallel 31/50

Black Parallel 30/62

Camo Parallel 21/99

Gold Parallel 296/2013  

Emerald Parallel

Red Parallel

Base

2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Matt Derosier Parallel Rainbow

Yellow Printing Plate 1/1

Black Refractor 5/35

Green Refractor 62/75

Chrome Base 

Red Ice #'d 13/25

Orange Paper 34/250

Blue Paper 457/500

Initial Announcement: 2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Half Case Break

With a new year comes new goals. As I mentioned last week, one of my goals for this new year is to host better group breaks. Well, the time has come to announce the first break:

2014 Topps Gypsy Queen Half Case Break

I will be breaking five hobby boxes of 2014 Topps Gypsy Queen when the product streets in April (the tentative street date is April 9). Some of the product highlights:

• 2 on-card autos per box
• 1 full-size relic card per box
• 1 mini relic per box

For those of you that are visually stimulated like I am, here are a few images of cards from the set:

So here is how it will go down. Buy in per team is $40 (this covers cost and shipping). But wait - that gets you one team of your choosing AND one randomly assigned team!!! You will receive all cards for both of your teams from five hobby boxes. Should a card have more than one player on it, the card will go to the person who 1.) has the most teams featured on the card; 2.) has the player on the top (of a card with a top-middle-bottom alignment); 3.) has the layer on the left (of a left-middle-right alignment).

Sign-ups will be completed and payment must be received by the end of February so that I can pre-order the boxes and get the best deal possible. So don't delay - sign up today!

Available Teams:

1. DBacks
2. Braves - Chris Mays
3. O's
4. Red Sox
5.Cubs - Dutch
6. White Sox
7. Reds - Guntha17
8. Indians
9. Rockies
10. Tigers
11. Astros - Bru
12. Royals
13. Angels - PATP
14. Dodgers - defgav
15. Marlins
16. Brewers - Tony L.
17. Twins
18. Mets
19. Yankees - defgav
20. A's
21. Phillies - Brad (Brad's Blog)
22. Pirates - Nate Bell
23. Padres
24. Giants - arpsmith
25. Mariners
26. Cardinals
27. Rays
28. Rangers - PATP
29. Blue Jays
30. Nats - Judson

A Weekend Ruined

...By sickness.

I never missed school growing up because I never seemed to get sick. I never missed any college classes due to sickness. Well, if you takeaway hangovers, that is - I definitely missed class a couple of times because I had way too much fun the night before. And I definitely missed a few classes simply because I didn't want to go. But I'm getting off topic.

As a sports fan, this weekend was supposed to be epic. With the BCS bowl games and the NFL playoff games as well as some Creighton basketball games on FS1, I was prepared to be in the sports zone all weekend.

Instead, I wasted away in bed, praying to God to let me live for just another 24 hours and re-evaluate my situation from there.

So what does this mean in terms of collecting and this blog?

It means that contrary to what I told a few people interested in working out a trade, I wasn't able to pull any cards or sort any of my newly acquired Heritage cards and sort out my needs for those sets. I updated my 2013 Bowman Chrome and 2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects needs this morning, however; I sorted through all of those Friday afternoon before my near death experience.

I'm working as hard as I can to get caught up, but it may take me a few days. I am really am sorry to those who I spoke with about trades last week, and I'm doing my best to get to a point where I'm ready to roll.

So I offer this video as tribute. You will most likely find it stupid, but I find it hilarious. This video (and a few more like it) were precursors to Adult Swim's "China, IL".