2021 Donruss

 Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post. The last 10 days or so have been tough, but it seems like with every day that passes, it gets a little easier, and I find myself getting through everything. 

With everything that has happened, as well as since we got our stimulus check, both me and my wife have splurged a tad. We went to a nearby outlet mall and spent an afternoon on Friday getting some larger clothes for Kyler, Karen got a new bag for work, and all of us ended up getting some stuff from Old Navy. I got a big puffer jacket that I look forward to wearing when it gets in the 40's here in Florida. As well as the outlets, I ended up making 2 trips to the card shop that is about 15 minutes from my house in hopes of finding 2021 Donruss. 

The first time, they had it, and I got a (8 dollar!!) pack. With the cards I got, it was almost worth it. I also picked up a few new Rays, some guys for my Favorite Player binders (including 3 Logan Gilberts), and picked up some guys for the rookie card binder as well. I had also been planning on going through the end of one .50 cent box that I dug through a few weeks ago, as it had some of those Leaf X Draft or whatever you call them cards in it, and I was hoping to get a few of the top guys from last years' draft. I totally forgot, so here is what I got on the first trip to the shop. 

The Donruss design is ok. Kind of reminds me of this M&M's set they had in the '80's. I pulled a few nice cards, the Sanchez rookie, Lowe Diamond King, Alvarez Independance Day?, and the Hendu '87.

I know Johnny and probably others have said it, but how freaking confusing is it to know if you got a parallel card from Donruss? They don't distinguish it anymore, and I'm not going to compare text spacing of 2 different cards to see if I got a parallel/variation/SP or whatever. I don't really count a variation as a different card unless it is something like a nickname that is on the front, like they did on the set a few years ago, or a different photo. If I get any more Donruss packs, I'll probably have like 50 variations that I just toss in my dupes box.  It's Donruss's fault and the flippers loss.

I went back a few days later, and totally forgot to take pictures, but I got a pack each of 2019 and 2020 Heritage Minors, pulling 3 Rays, and a jersey card out of them. Not too shabby. I also dug through that box I forgot about on the first trip, and got some rookies like Asa Lacy, Robert Hassell, and Yoelqui Cespedes. They had already sold out of 2021 Donruss, but I'm hoping to maybe get lucky at Target. 

Speaking of Target, I assume Heritage and Opening Day should be hitting their shelves for 2.1 seconds pretty soon, and I've noticed that the Heritage checklist is already out, and I have to say that I am disappointed with Topps. Randy Arozarena was good enough during the last month of the regular season to deserve a base card in Topps and Heritage, but somehow, he isn't in Series 1, and he is strangely in Heritage on a Playoff Highlights card and an insert, but nowhere in the regular set. With all of the postseason heroics, he surely deserved to be in Series 1, and get a base card in Heritage. How is he not in those sets? He somehow got into both 2020 Update and the Holiday set, so you can't tell me it's an issue of not being able to add him to the checklist in time. He is in the regular set of 2021 Donruss and 2021 Topps Opening Day, so unless it has something to do with the incident he had with his father-in-law and kid, I don't get it. I guess just Topps screwing Rays fans over again and moving on to the newest, hottest rookie. 

Yesterday I did some much needed yardwork outside and was able to (mostly) weed all of the flower beds around our house, plant some seeds, trim back a huge bush that has been growing into our back porch, and transplant some plants I started in this cool thing my wife got. I really wanted to take pictures, but might wait until I mow the lawn next time. 

The thing my wife got is pretty small, but it allows you to grow some seeds in the house, and it give 12 hours of UV light, and I got some marigolds started in it, and took them out and am now trying sunflowers. Last year, I had a few sunflowers started, and I think some darn squirrels got them. I'm thinking about buying some spray that gives them a bad taste to thwart the suirrels off and I hope that works. 

I did take some pictures of some stuff happening in the front yard. One of the aloes that my stepdad gave me a few years ago is blooming,and I think like last year it is still parched even though I have been pretty good about watering it. Next to it kind of cut out of the photo is one of my pineapple plants. I think that one has a good 2-3 years before it blossoms. 

Over to the left of the aloe, there is a mini rose bush that I got Karen a few years ago, and I recently pruned it, and it surprised me and gave me a flower even with all of this heat. Kind of gave me a little hope with all of the crap that's happened lately. 

One thing that has kind of just told me to keep going even though sometimes I don't want to was a memory from 2001. I had just graduated high school and had just started going to college at the University of Mobile in Mobile, Alabama in August of 2001. The photo below is an overhead view of part of the campus. Towards the top left, you can see houses. I lived in one of them, outside of the view of the picture. The big, gray building in the bottom middle is our cafeteria. Every day, I would walk from my dorm house after class and get dinner. Many times on those walks, I would just look to the sky and kind of think to myself  'anything can happen today', and it would kind of make me think that something good was going to happen and to keep my head up even though I was 8 hours away from home and didn't really know too many people. When we got the news last Friday, I kind of asked God if there was any hope and to give me something to keep me going, and He reminded me of those times in college walking to and from the Cafe when I would look to the sky and how far I've come since then. I'm not saying things don't suck and I haven't questioned a lot of things, but perhaps we will never get pregnant again, but I guess there will still be some good in my life, I just have to muddle through the crap from a while. Kind of like the way I think the Rays season is going to go for the next 5-10 years. 

A few lucky readers have some PWE's coming their way, and I have some bigger trades either on their way or kind of sitting in a box getting more and more cards the more binders I go through. I hope to do a big mailing in a few months after getting my loose cards put away, perhaps after going to a show. I expect my mailbox will be happy over the next month as well, as I've been making a ton of customs for Brainiac Baseball Breaks. He has been paying me in baseball cards, so I can't wait to see what Rays he ends up sending. I have a few trades that I'll be getting stuff back from as well, and I think one of the things I'm really excited to see is an envelope from Arizona. Something told me to look on SCN the other day just to see who's been signing autographs lately. Lo and behold, one of my favorite players, Leo Daigle, ended up signing some cards for someone. He only has mainstream cards in the 2007 Bowman, Bowman Chrome, and Bowman Heritage sets. I was looking him up on google to see how long he ended up playing, and he happened to have a Facebook page, as he has gone into real estate. I decided to message him and ask if it were ok to send him some cards to sign. Surprisingly, he messaged me back very quickly and said that was fine and hoped me and my family were doing well. I can't wait to get those cards back, and if you know anyone near Chandler Arizona who is looking for a house, send them Leo's way. 

Thanks for checking out my latest post.

-Jeremy