I don't know what to say, other than a lot of life has happened in the past year.
1) I've retired following 37 years of military service as an Army 1st Sergeant..
2) We've reached the realization that we really like living in Johnston, Iowa (a suburb of Des Moines). When I retired, I had applications all over the country (and a few foreign ones to boot), so we moved into an apartment to us mobile and ready to move, just in case...
3) However, after living in that 850-square foot, cramped apartment for nearly three years, we decided to pull the trigger and have since moved into a 16,000 square foot townhome. I now have plenty of room for my cards, and I don't have to do the weekly fandango with my wife, as to how many boxes of cards I actually have stashed in our office.
4) I also got horrendously bored and took on a part-time job as a Substitute Special Education Associate for the Johnston School District. Perhaps Marcus (All the Way to the Backstop) and Fuji (The Chronicles of Fuji), both teachers, helped influence me into this decision. Needless to say, it's a very rewarding job, plus I can work as many (or as few) hours as I like.
Also, I can't end this post without something with Padres cards in it, so I'm posting my favorite Tony Gwynn card, as well as his first baseball card - his 1982 TMCA Hawaii Islanders (#10)
Well, that, in a nutshell, is what's been happening over the course of the past year or so. Here's to getting back on the shtick and continuing "Bleedin' Brown and Gold."
