30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Sunday, September 3, 2017

A Memorable Day and a Very Humbling Week

When I was a kid, my birthday was one of my favorite days of the year... right up there with Christmas and the first day of summer.

Now that I'm in my mid 40's, it has sort of lost its luster.  Outside of looking forward to having dinner with my best friend whose birthday comes the day before mine, there's only one other reason it remains relevant.  My Birthday PC.

However this year was different.

My friend who teaches next door to me brought balloons and a huge bag of jalapeƱo and cheese popcorn before school.  A few minutes later my best friend called and told me to stop by her school during my prep period.  She ordered one of my favorite morning treats... an egg and chorizo breakfast burrito from La Victoria Taqueria.

When I got back to school, I walked through the office to tell the secretary I was back.  That's when she showed me the Edible Arrangements that had just been delivered.  It was sent by my other best friend who just moved to Portland.  I was still full from the burrito, so I decided to hold off on eating it and brought it to the staff lounge to share with my colleagues at lunch.

I had planned on snacking on the fruit for lunch, but a few of my other friends surprised me with pizza, salad, and cupcakes.  By the time I was finished, I was stuffed.


A few of my students also found out that it was my birthday.  I received a few thoughtful notes and cards.  Plus my 4th period class made a poster and signed it.  One of my 6th period students is a younger sibling to a former student who is in the 10th grade.  She and her friend painted this poster for me:


You can't see it, but they also wrote two really nice notes on the back.  There's absolutely nothing better (not even my '56 Robinson or a twelve ounce juicy cut of rib eye) than being thanked by a former student.  I seriously have the greatest job in the world.

After school, three more former students stopped by and delivered a card along with a bunch of gifts.  We hung out and they talked about their first three weeks of high school.  It was really nice to catch up with them.

I wrapped up my special day by going out to dinner with another friend and then coming home knowing I have a three day weekend ahead of me.

Talk about a birthday to remember.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful family members, friends, colleagues, and students who took a run of the mill birthday and turned it into one of the most memorable days in recent years.  I know that most of them don't read my blog, but if by chance any of them do...

Thank you!

And before I forget, here are the two items I added to my Birthday PC this past year...


There was a brief period where I went through a comic book phase last year.  That's when I decided to start collecting some of the more popular Marvel titles from my birth month.  The goal is to one day hang them up in these special frames I purchased from Michaels awhile back.  Unfortunately, I just don't have the wall space at the moment.

I also picked up these two autographs last summer:


How do these guys fit into my Birthday PC?

Well Carty was one of nine players who hit a home run on the day I was born.  And Stottlemyre was one of five guys who pitched a shutout that day.  My goal is to eventually own autographs of all fourteen of these players, as well as the three players who collected four hits that day.

I'll close things out with a preview of the birthday present I purchased for myself:


A few weeks ago I found a few packs of this product laying around, so I opened them up and was absolutely blown away by it.  Obviously designed for kids, the cards feature all of the top MLB stars with colorful cartoon backgrounds.  The card backs are even better than the fronts.  If you've never seen these before, you can check out the review I wrote over on A Pack To Be Named Later.

I enjoyed the product so much, I found a box over on eBay for $11 shipped.  If you're interested, the seller still have a bunch of boxes remaining.  I submitted an offer of $3.10 and he accepted.

Anyways... I'll be busting this box either today or tomorrow and will share my results in a future post.

Until then...

My thoughts are with all of you who have been affected (or know someone who was affected) by Hurricane Harvey.  Living here in the Bay Area, I've dealt with a few large earthquakes... but nothing even close to what I saw on television this past week.  Seeing the devastation caused by this natural disaster was truly humbling.

Happy Sunday and sayonara!

17 comments:

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

Happy belated birthday my fellow Virgo! (Mine's the 16th).

Commishbob said...

Whoa! That sounds like a heck of a birthday! Always special when the kids you reach show some love.

Jon said...

Happy birthday, Fuji! As far as birthday's go, it doesn't seem like they could get much better than the one you just had. That Avengers #103 has such a great cover, and the Rico Carty auto is something that I think I need to find one of sooner than later

SpastikMooss said...

Man, what a birthday! As a fellow teacher, I love hearing from old students, so all those aspects of your birthday sound amazing...you must do some good work!

And the Topps Kids cards are great too! I had a lot of those as a kid and they're definitely fun!

The Lost Collector said...

Happy birthday! Looks like you've had a big impact on a lot of people!

Hackenbush said...

Happy Birthday! I like your "collecting take" on your birthday. My birthday is in March so I guess I'd have to find some events in hockey or basketball. Not quite the same. Looking forward to seeing some of those cards.

Xavier Higgins said...

Your collection much like your blog is a genuine reflection of your essence.

Nick said...

Happy (belated) birthday! Reading a post like this warms my heart since I'm thinking about going into teaching someday.

Looking forward to seeing the results from that Topps Kids box! One set that never got the credit it deserved.

Billy Kingsley said...

Happy Birthday! I know I'm a little late now, but better late than never.

ketchupman36 said...

Happy birthday!

Corky said...

Happy belated birthday.

Man said...

Happy belated birthday! Looks like you are surrounded by friends who love and care about you, I have a Sporting News issued on birthday with Tim McCarver and the Redbirds on the cover, what are the odds.

Jafronius said...

Belated happy birthday!

Collecting Cutch said...

Happy birthday my friend. I celebrated mine yesterday and am stealing your idea of buying comics from your birth month/year. Marvel Two in One : The Thing #1 and Dazzler #7 are going to look awesome hanging up to really showcase the time. Thanks for the inspiration.

SumoMenkoMan said...

Whoop! It's your birthday, time to celebrate. Congrats!

Fuji said...

Thank you all for the thoughtful birthday wishes! It was definitely one of the more memorable birthdays in recent years.

john - one of my students came up to me at the end of class and mentioned that she was also a virgo. i was like... "that's cool". then she's like... i think that's why both of us are so OCD. lol. the things students say.

jon - i had a heck of a time finding his autograph. according to beckett, carry only has 3 certified signatures.

nick - you probably will never get rich (financially) off of teaching (well maybe if you become a professor... or start publishing books)... but it's really rewarding in so many other ways. best of luck. if you ever have any questions, just let me know.

brady - that's pretty cool. i'll have to see if there's a sporting news that was released close to my birthday

collecting cutch - that's awesome! if you go to michaels, they have these glass frames that display comic books really well.

acrackedbat said...

sorry I missed out on your BD! glad it was a great one! you are obviously a great mentor to your students. Kids need that now more than ever. Be expecting a little something from me in the near future (October-ish.)