Monday, September 2, 2013

What The Heck Happened? Where Are You? Floods, Tornadoes, Cards and A Move...

Last spring seems like so long ago.  I was fighting with personal, family, and health issues and around April things were about at its worst.  To many who I have traded with know my story about my nearly decade in the Army, injuries during my deployments in Iraq, and suffering from sometimes painful bouts of PTSD/memory issues.  Mix in another variable, for those who live in the Midwest know of all the spring flooding we had.  My home is just blocks from the Missouri River and sewer back ups due to flooding caused damage about 25% of my collectibles.  After the flooding went down, it left my basement a moldy muddy mess.  Our landlord did very little after the April floods to clean up the mold, mud, and all the damage done to the lower level of our home that some of you may have seen me thinking about selling my collection.  We spent thousands of our own money trying to clean up the mess in hopes that the landlord help would come.  Having four young kids living in a house with now water damage we knew that we needed to move.  My wife and I started the process of buying a home in St. Louis, and my card collecting became almost forgotten since I was wondering if I really needed to sell it to make a deal on a new home.  I apologize if I left a few loose strings, but please hear me out.

Forward to the heat of June, with the water damage in the basement and AC unit taking water damage, it left our old house a moldy, mildew, musty mess.  We finally got things together and were able to move into a new home on July 1st.  It was a depressing month of June having to box up/and or throw away my damaged sports items.  On the bright side, most of my card collection was no longer stored in the basement but much of my other items such as balls, jerseys, hats, pictures...were still in the basement.  Here is a photo of what my basement looked like last year, I don't have a photo of what it looked like after since we had to turn off the downstairs circuit breakers since water got into the outlets. The sewer back up went nearly to the top of the pool table, which was a loss too.


Late May and June also hit our family hard when the tornadoes hit Oklahoma City (we lived near OKC for two years in the army) in an area we have a lot of army friends lose everything.  In a time we had issues of our own, we decided to help our friends who lost even more.  Here is our story in a local paper:

http://quicknewsnow.com/article/local-family-travels-oklahoma-helping-tornado-victims

I also brought to Oklahoma City nearly 15,000 sports cards to give to local shelters for children who lost everything.

Jason Pilarski
Hannah and Joshua Pilarski
Some of you may have had these moments when you think to yourself, what else could go wrong?  Well I am now happy to report that things are STARTING to work out once again, and I am once again looking at spending more time collecting and shifting through the remains of the boxes of damaged items.

So I'm offically back, I've missed a lot, I hope to get back into trading, and I have a small list of people I still owe something.  Thanks for the patience, hope you understand!  I have lots of great content I want to write about, but I really wanted to let you know I am not dead, gone, or forgotten...just hit a few months of bad luck.  I am going to retool my site in the next few days, so please PLEASE stick with me!!!

Thanks,
Jason aka Joe Average Collector
(REMEMBER:  I have a new address)

10 comments:

  1. That's a real shame, but it is awesome to have you back! Let me know (via email) if your address changed, so I can update my address list. Glad to have you back man. You were missed!

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    1. Yes a new address, and I will email you a new address. Look at the picture of how my old basement USED to look, and notice your O's jersey! ;) Yes it has been VERY hectic, more than I want to write, but I'm back!

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  2. Welcome back! Glad to hear that you have come out on top!

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    1. Still working back up to the top...but thanks for the encouragement! I have been missing reading and collecting cards the past few months, it is hard to walk past a Wal-Mart Card Rack knowing that I can't buy anything.

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  3. Glad to see things are looking up...email me your new address as well and I'll see if I can get you a care package in the mail!

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    1. Thanks! When it rains it pours, but me and my family have battled everything from a flooded basement to wars...so just being alive and having a healthy family means everything to me!

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  4. Glad to hear things are looking up. Will keep your journey in my prayers.

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    1. Thanks! Glad to be back, itching to get back into the game.

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  5. Really glad to have you back, I need to get my blog started up again and seeing you post has inspired me to get off my rear and make it happen. Very cool article, I had a chance to drive through the Moore area a couple weeks back when I was out in OKC for work and the devistation is unbelieveable. Great work by you and your family!

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  6. Water damage shouldn't be ignored for it can greatly affect the structure of your house. Also, it'll cause mold and mildew molds that can be harmful to the health of your family. Don't you have any plans of repairing the problem first before selling the house?

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No negative comments please, this blog is for fun and not intended as a business...just a collector giving some views.