What I did on my summer vacation...

...or, What happened after I got laid off.

Yep, I was walked out the door in July, which gave me an interesting perspective on corporate management. The economic downturn hurt my company, whose initials are *@$*# (sorry, can't say them due to non-disclosure agreements) but they also made terrible decisions, lost BIG contracts, and severely messed up new contract proposals. So guys like me get a pink slip, and the management who made the missteps get bonuses.

It didn't take me long, though, to decide that I don't want to be an engineer anymore, so I am going back to school to get my certification to be a high school physics teacher. My high school physics teacher was the biggest influence on my choice of college and career, so I want to be thought of in the same way. I'm taking one course right now, but I am applying for the spring semester and will hopefully be going full-time starting in January.

I've also cut back on buying cards over the last three months since then, but recently I got a BIG shot in the arm to help me get some of the cards I've desired for a while. I finally got my asking price for the Jeter Sweet Spot bat barrel nameplate I pulled in the spring, put half of that in the bank, then have gone on a small but significant shopping spree. Here are a few of the cards that I've purchased with the proceeds:

I'm not going out and blowing money on the first one I find. I'm looking for good deals, and waiting until I find the right one. The Pujols, for example, I got for under $200, his supposed going rate for autos. The Aaron is a 1994 Topps Archive RC reprint. The signature is very nice, and probably authentic, as compared to some of the Aaron autos you see now which are sloppy and, rumor has it, are signed by someone else.

I've also got my eye on a few other classic autos, like George Brett, Paul Molitor, Tony Gwynn and Robin Yount. Any other suggestions?