MY SUMMER OF 2007 LOOKING BACK PART III

 

                            Well here's the Final Installment of the summer of 2007 looking back. If you been not following along I suggest you read the previous posts to catch up on the matters, for those who have followed along I thank you for reading my misadventure to England & Back to the USA in the summer of 2007. 

                          Now here I am at a Holiday Inn Express in Columbus, Ohio watching The Bronx is Burning while cracking opening some packs of the 2007 Upper Deck Holiday Inn that I asked for the lot since no one was claiming them during their stays at this Holiday Inn Express. Waiting for me back home in Michigan is an unopened box of the 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man along with an email of a list of cards that a mysterious bidder whom I out bidded on eBay wanting my dupes. 

                     It was 4:00 AM & I get a phone call from the front desk saying my shuttle to the Columbus Airport was here to take me to the airport to catch my 6:00 AM flight to Cincinnati then a 1 hr layover to catch a flight back to my hometowm in Michigan. Everything went according to plan, arrived at Columbus Airport plenty of time to check in & then get a board to Cincinnati. The flight lasted 30 mins after all it was a short flight all I had on my mind was sleeping in my own bed after eating a meal that I long craved say what you will but there's a nice restaurant in my hometown that I like to eat a nice king 6lb size cheeseburger plain w/pickles on the side to have the following sides of onion rings & Chilli-Cheese French Fries Crinkled Cut only to wash it all down with an ice cold 2 liter of Pepsi (Just think about this as I type this is making my mouth watery for this meal).

                 I get into the Cincinnati Airport I felt the adrenaline drained right out of me cause I looked up to see the delayed posting for my connecting flight. So I did an inquiry on the status at the ticket counter I was told that it be a 2 hour delay not a problemo I can arrive no later than noon so I thought. The 2 hour delay turned to a 3 ½ hour delay In between the waiting period I called my parents keeping them posted on the delays & asked about stopping for the meal I mentioned above.

              So eventually I hear the boarding call for the flight to my hometown. I get a board just got comfortable in my seat when the pilot announces that since were already running late would anyone object if we going faster then most flights to make up for lost time. I was shocked & amazed sure warp speed Mr. Pilot just get me home I am exhausted.  After arriving in my hometown less than 45 mins due to the fast speed I was the 2nd person off the flight & made a beeline towards my mother who was there to pick me up & take me home after we get my luggage. So we make our way down to the luggage carousal watching all the suitcases come out others gather around grab their luggage & go on their merry ways I continue to wait......15 minutes later after being the first to arrive for luggage there was no luggage for me to claim.

              I then make my way to the ticket counter to file a claim about my missing luggage turns out that was put on a different flight to Cincinnati via LaGuardia & that they would drop it off sometime the next day. Heading home I told my mother about my trip as well what all I did while I was there & asked if she sent out the payment for the 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man box. She said its waiting for me to crack open at home. So after eating the meal I took what I thought was a short cat nap turns out I was very tired I had slept until the next day, the only other time I did something like that was earlier this year when I drove right after getting done with work & drove straight to Maryland to see my buddy Greg from The Collective Mind Blog. I didn't sleep until 3:00 AM after driving 9 hours non stop & staying awake telling him what plans I would have in making a blog to as well cracking open our case of the 2024 Topps Heritage (For more information on how the break went I suggest you check out his blog since it was his idea to break down our case).

              So after waking up I went to my neighbors house to talk to them about my trip since they wanted to hear about it, while I was there I saw shuttle bus from the local airport stop at the front of my house & quickly I ran to see that my luggage had arrived. I was so excited that I opened it ready to distribute the gifts I brought back from my trip. Upon opening it I noticed that a couple of things were missing from my suitcase the 1st was my Harry Potter 7th Book on CD  "NO NO NO!!!!!!!! NOT FAIR!!!!!!!!!" I Groaned. The 2nd thing was

 

         2 Polo Shirts for my father & I from the local brewery there in Blackburn similar to the one featured in the picture again. I was upset cause it was going to be my new go to shirt when I would go bowling that up coming year. I got it after going on a tour of the Thwaites Brewery best way I can describe the taste of the brew similar to the taste of Strohs beer. I then quickly wondered if the would be thieves might had taken the 1 thing I won 1 night when my girlfriend & I went bowling that being a 1975 bottle of Dom Perignon unfortunately they didn't touch it. The story behind the bottle is this after talking to a radio personality who was going up & down the lanes doing what is here in the USA we have like DJ Trivia Night but he was doing Trivia or Dare. Considering I would've failed if I were to be asked a trivia question that I couldn't answer so I chose the dare & I told him that I came all the way from Michigan in the USA  he added more pressure saying if I got 3 strikes in a row that I would win the bottle. Now I am not a good bowler by no means I am lucky to break 130 when I was on a bowling league but after watching how I was shooting I figured I would give it a chance. The crowd cheered me on as well my girlfriend then came the moment of doing it. The 1st strike was right in the pocket my heart was racing. The 2nd strike was right there on a nose then I had to do 1 more time the crowd went silent with the exception my girlfriend who did her English accent her best Waterboy moment "You Can do it Sweetie Louie."   

          I was so embarrassed and ever nervous more I felt like I was I threw my bowling ball down towards those pins & lo & behold *crack of Thunder* all 10 of those pins fell down at once VICTORY!!!!! I won the bottle to be saved for a later date (Later drank it in 2010 on my birthday). 

I quickly called my girlfriend told her I made it home & was wondering if she could resend me the missing items she still was upset with me but since I asked her nicely she do her best to resending the shirts which she resend to me later that year. 

 

                   Now I bet your wondering what I got in my box well I got an Ichiro Game Used card my first of the great Mariners Outfielder & I reached out to the guy who sent me his list via email remember I gave him instructions in how he was suppose to send me an email & what to do after he sent to it me the I told him to put in all caps 2002 UPPER DECK 40-MAN TRADE WANTLIST DON'T DELETE!!!!! then I told the guy to keep watching for my reply the same way but I had it as RE:2002 UPPER DECK 40-MAN TRADE WANTLIST DON'T DELETE!!!!! so then he had to check his junk folder to keep it from spam.

I responded to the email after pulling all that I had from his list that I have in dupes (In case your wondering I still have a good amount of dupes available if anyone is interested just lmk send me your lists & lmk what you have from mine that I can get back thanks!!!!). I even I asked where can I mail them to as well to where he could locate my lists as well an updated version of his list so he could keep looking for them. Well.....a month passes by I am going to shows checking with others online I trade with ever so waiting for a reply from the unknown bidder on what to do with his 40-Man. Now 2 months have passed not a single peep from the unknown guy I get upset continue to make trades ignoring on top of my computer the stack. That winter I had joined the Sportscardforum & posted that I have a bunch of 2002 40 man anyone interested in completing their set I get a few nibbles on my line I fill as many requests I had bumping my post up then out of no where this guy chimes in with the strangest way of spelling of Lotus ask if I could help him out I give him my terms on where & how to find my lists etc.......He provides me with his lists I go through the 3200ct box not a single hit off it but noticed that this guy wanted some Lumber Yard Inserts. Do I dare to look on top of my computer to see what I have the team bags I had set to the side from a guy I didn't trade with back in the summer. Sure enough I open the first team bag of 5 *ding ding* a hit followed by another & another & another etc.......all the 5 team bags I filled up were all hits that this guy needed. I was excited to tell him at first I didn't luck out but then I told him about the potential trade & *dynamite explosion* it fell into pieces so he came back well wow that guys lost was his gain he chuckles in a message to me back along with a huge list of things I been looking for since perhaps when I first started on that certain set.  

                         I was going to make a deal for sure this time on them but I had to ask where he was from when he said Maryland I was blown away more. I asked if he dabbled on eBay once in a while then I asked did he try to win a box back in the summer time he said he did but, was snipped in the closing minutes of one. He sent a guy an email saying if he wanted to trade for the Lumber Yards to let him know he also went on to say this guy gave him specific instructions cause he wasn't at his home & he was on vacation in England at the time. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!!!!!! I asked him about these instructions he said the guy had a simple email address then it sorta like my instructions about the list. I was screaming in front of my computer THAT WAS ME THAT WAS ME!!!!!!!! I knew right away I had to make this deal.

                   We exchanged information made the deal I even sent him more then he expected cause I found more than that he sent me to help with other things he was looking for at the time. He receives his package lets me know he was surprised in all I sent we struck up about communicating away from the forum as well the cyber trading world just to talk about cards life in general. I later found out the name wasn't a strange way of spelling Lotus in fact in was a name from STAR TREK & the name was LoQtus. He was a Trekkie needless to say he asked why there was no 'A' in my nickname of BSEBALLCOMMISH75 I told him the reason is there wasn't enough space to make the name I wanted plus POISON75 & S.R. `75 couldn't be used. 

It's remarkable that in the summer of 2007 I lose my girlfriend in England temporarily we got back together again in September of 2007 saw each other 3 more times her revisiting the USA that holiday season & during the summer of 2010 & me going back to England during the holiday season of 2010 1 last time before we completely went out separate ways. As for that guy from Maryland I stay in touch with him on a regular basis we've met a couple of times in person without his great friendship & trading methods I wouldn't have this blog. For those of you scoring at home that mystery bidder I yanked the 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man box from off eBay was my good friend Greg & as the great radio personality Paul Harvey would say "......& Now you know the rest of the story of how BSEBALLCOMMISH75 met LOQTUS g'day." Speaking of great quotes I am familiar with 1 that the great Rogers Hornsby once said about signing autographs for kids "Any ballplayer who doesn't sign autographs for little kids ain't an American. He's a Commuinst." with that said I leave the comments open now for you to tell me what you think of the conclusion of this 3 part saga.