PJ Gomez

@emilstorm, ugh! I'm so sorry about your basement flood. That is horrible in so many ways @nstickney. I think part of my love for the 80s is just my memories of building and building. I had a pretty significant layout in my basement. I do agree about the Modular Buildings. I'm currently short MS and the PR. I actually got CC & a 2nd GG at an estate sale last weekend (no boxes, but pristine instructions included!). I felt guilty about the price I paid, but then thought, if you had an estate sale place manage your sale and they didn't identify the value, not my problem. Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!

@weeble1688, I recently went to the Philly Brickfest and was blown away by the layouts, its one thing to see them online, but getting a chance to see them up close is a whole different experience. I'll definitely check out GardenSLUG (awesome name BTW) and try to come out to some events and meet you all! @emilstorm, they really were some of the best sets. I was truly amazed at how intact most of my sets were when my parents brought them over. Definitely missing some parts and 2 sets (3179 and 6693) but overall I think I counted somewhere close to 100 sets.

Hi everyone! My name is PJ and I've been emerging from dark ages for the last few years, picking up speed in the last year or so. I'm in my mid 30s and grew up during what I would consider LEGO's golden age of the 80s. I've got most of the town sets from my busiest LEGO years of 1988-1992 and luckily, Mom and Dad thought they'd be great for any kids I had and kept them boxed away. About four years ago my girlfriend (now wife) gave me the City House (8403) as a Christmas gift. That was the catalyst I needed to re-emerge (mostly a confirmation that she thought it was OK ). Pretty quickly after that I started acquiring the modular buildings (Pet Shop, Fire Brigade, Grand Emporium, etc). Two years ago we bought our first home in northern NJ and within days my parents dropped off the LEGO sets from my youth, many of them still fully or partially assembled. I've been enjoying my time in the light again, building old sets, playing with LEGO Digital Designer, buying too many new sets (why are the sets I want now so much more expensive then the ones I wanted as a kid???). Thanks to everyone for giving me a great place to come for reviews, awesome MOCs, and some real interesting LEGO discussions! -PJ

This past Friday I went to an estate sale here in NJ and got pretty complete (with instructions, but no box) versions of Cafe Corner and Green Grocer for about $200 total! As far as I can tell I'm only missing about 10 or so pieces total from both (and all common enough that I can find them on Pick A Brick). I have to admit, I was pretty excited, I almost didn't go to work in order to go home, break it down and reassemble :) A few weeks earlier I had purchased a set from Goodwill online that appeared to have the Holiday Train. Along with it was a new 9v train regulator and some megablocks. The Holiday Train bricks were clean and from what I can tell never assembled (the axles were still packaged), Sadly though, the person only left me with half the train (the back 3 cars), so now I have another Bricklink adventure ahead of me.