Thursday, April 5, 2012

disappearing act

I've definitely been in the dumps as of late.

I have little desire to pick up any packs, singles or otherwise. I'm really drained on new releases this year already and I don't see it going away any time soon. Museum Collection dropped this week and I don't really care. I took one look at some stuff on eBay just to sneak a peek as to what they look like. I wasn't unimpressed, just not provoked to buy any. I feel ho-hum about Gypsy Queen too. I just don't have it anymore.

I do, however, want to grab more vintage and get going on my 1971 set. It is coming along nicely, although I've only gotten a few cards as of late and that was in a trade from Matt over at Card Anathema. He was a tremendous help, sending me some high numbers and the Bert Blyleven rookie. In return I sent him a couple cards he needed for his set that he found on my trade page and a Nolan Ryan from the same set that I got online just for him, as he said he needed it. I knew I needed something good to get over to him due to the sheer number of high numbers he sent. Thanks Matt, its a huge help.


Now onto more serious business.

I haven't posted much in the past two weeks, as you guys are well aware.

Well there was an incident at the house and we're both having to come to terms with what happened. Well, sometime in the day on Friday, the 23rd of March, our house was robbed. No sign of forced entry and neither of us were home, so it happened while we were at work, or in the few hours we went to go do our taxes in the evening (we got money back this year, woo-hoo!).

It's really unnerving to know that someone was in our house poking around at our things and helping themselves to what they like. No mess, nothing broken. In fact we didn't notice anything was missing until Saturday.

We did a little cleaning up on Saturday morning because my wife was going to have a friend over later on in the afternoon. I wanted to give them some time together, as they don't see each other often and I remembered I had a Best Buy gift card that I could use. Well, I couldn't find it and had figured it got lost in the shuffle of cleaning. It'll turn up, I thought.

Later on that evening, she noticed her computer was missing. That's when we figured something was amiss. The computer never moves, even though it's a laptop. We phoned the police and filed a report. We figured the gift card and computer were all that was missing. We were wrong.

Sunday was kind of a downer day and we spent it around the house. My wife had told her boss what had happened later that night and her boss said to just take Monday off. That's when she noticed more things missing. Monday she called me in a panic while I was at work and gave me a list of things now missing.

A Tiffany braclet, a peridot ring (her birthstone), my Nintendo 3DS (with Super Mario 3D Land inside) and most importantly, her wedding rings. Both the engagement ring and wedding band, both gone. She doesn't wear them usually due to her working with small children at work and wears a mother of pearl band as a representation. It works out well.

She called the officer we had talked to on Saturday to update him on our newly discovered missing items. I did figure out how they had gotten in the house though and that alone gave me a little piece of mind. I was no less pissed off about the incident but I was a complete wreck not knowing how they got in. Knowing gave me some relief and gave me hope that I could prevent it from happening again. I don't really want to get into how they got in but let me just say that I could have easily replicated it myself, meaning it was pretty easy for them.

So that brings us to the now. Not much from the police. They are checking local pawn shops and will get back to us if they find anything but I doubt they will.

It's put me into a funk of sorts and its snowballed into my 'meh' attitude towards buying stuff, namely new cards. So if my posting is infrequent and erratic this is why. I really want to be here though and that's why I've shared this experience with you guys. A bunch of you showed a lot of thought for and towards us when I posted originally that something had happened and I can't thank you guys enough for the support. It's been surreal but we'll get through it.

I'm just down, not out.

12 comments:

  1. I'm not a counselor, but I would suggest you don't try and "shake it off". It is a serious incident and you and your wife have a right to feel very upset. I'm glad God was watching out for you and no one was hurt and there wasn't a bunch of damage. It puts the hobby into perspective when "real life" gets in the way.

    When you're back and interested again, we'll be here to play with. (that sounded wrong)

    I'll continue to pray for you and your family. It will get better.

    Your friend,

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  2. Sorry to hear about that. I hope you can at least recover some of it.

    When I first moved into my house, I accidentally locked myself out. All I had was a chisel and a pair of pliers, and had to figure out a way to get in the house. Sadly, it took less than 20 minutes to get in (in the pitch black night). The next day I called to get a security system and started finding ways to prevent my own method. The lesson I learned is that the next time I move into a house, I'm intentionally locking myself out and trying to get in.

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  3. I'm really sorry to hear that. At least everyone is safe and uninjured.

    Someone tried breaking into my aunt and uncle's place a year back while they were sleeping. My uncle, a big guy who sleeps in the nude, woke up when they broke the door down and ran to see what happened. The would be robbers ran away with nothing.

    It's a scary situation and I hope your family can recover from it soon.
    --Jon

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  4. SO glad you & yours are safe!

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  5. Been there. Done that. It's a scary experience for sure when some violates you like that. This sounds pretty trite, but the best thing is it was just stuff (in the long run). The cowards came in when no one was there. If you or your wife came home and confronted them, what could have happened? While some sentimental value is lost (and may be recovered), you are safe. I'll give up anything for the health of my family. When I think about what was stolen from me years ago, it's ok. It sucked, but I'm okay now.

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  6. Sorry to hear, Ted. Hope things turn around for you guys.

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  7. In the last year, I had someone break into my car, and multiple incidents of people stealing lawn equipment out of my yard. It was certainly less of an invasion, but it just makes you feel sick. The act and the way it makes you feel is worse than losing the stuff. I feel for you, man, and I'm so sorry this happened. I hope you recover the rings, at least. My thoughts are with you and your family.

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  8. everyone has said my same sentiments. the most important thing is you are both safe.
    take your time and return when you feel comfortable. you know our hobby isnt going anywhere. we'll be here...

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  9. Sorry to hear this unfortunate event has hit your family. Hopefully the police can find the thief or thieves and you can get your stuff back.

    P.S. Glad to hear you and your wife are okay.

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  10. Sorry to hear this. I know the kinds of things you're feeling as we had it, too. As Jeff Wilk said, the fortunate thing is it was just possessions, no matter the sentimental value - if people had been home there's no telling what might have happened. The peace of mind takes a while, but it does come back. Glad everyone is OK.

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  11. Man, I'm really sorry to hear that. Glad everyone is OK. It kind of freaks me out - especially reading so many folks who have had a similar situation. It scares me because, most days, my dog is home and he's locked in a cage. I could give up all my cards and other stuff - that would suck, but it's just possessions. But if someone hurt or took my dog, we wouldn't know what to do.

    Like I said, glad to hear everyone is OK and hope you figure out how to best react with the situation moving forward!

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  12. I'm really behind in my blog reading these days & just read this now. I'm really sorry to hear about this Ted. That is an awful thing to have happen.

    There's not much good about a situation like this but I am very glad that you & your wife are safe.

    Take care Ted.

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