My Modest 2014 Collecting/Blog Goals

I did pretty fair on my five collecting goals for 2013, especially my Clean up the Man Room goal. After all of the collating and organizing I found that I really need to close the book on some of my sets.  I also haven't posted about a bobblehead in quite sometime and I'll look to rectify that in 2014 as well.

Without further delay, here's my 2014 collecting/blog goals:

1. Complete at least six of the twelve sets from my Set Needs page.
     A. 2013 Bowman Base and FrankenSet (1 Base & 5 Parallel cards needed)
     B. 2012 Panini Triple Play (18 cards needed)
     C. 2012 Topps Archives (14 SPs needed)
     D. 2010 Topps Cards Your Mom Threw Out (1 card)
     E. 2002 Topps Total (88 Base & 16 Inserts)
     F. 2000 Topps Reprints (14 needed)
     G. 1994 Fleer (17 needed)
     H. 1992 Topps (131 needed)
     I. 1990 Donruss (191 Base & 19 Inserts)
     J. 1989 Topps (7 needed)
     K. 1989 Spotflics (33 needed)
     L. 1988 Donruss (207 needed & 15 Inserts)

I dare say that Present Me is totally hating on Past Me for not finishing those Junk Wax Era sets back in the day.  Seeing my goal through will allow me to move these sets to the other side of the closet and open up room for new material.  That would be nice.

2. Complete a set released before I first started collecting without buying any cards.  I may be cheating here, but this one has been in the works for a while, as I've just been waiting for the calendar to turn before attacking it with a full head of steam.
I started collecting in 1988 and have always loved the wood grained borders of the '87 Topps set.  I've already made a couple trades during recent months that have netted me a healthy stack of cards to get me started.  I'll have a want list up before too long.

3. Chase a Rainbow. I've tackled this in the past with Dillon Maples in 2012 and I think it's time to do it again. Topps did a great job with all of their parallels in '13 and I'm a little sorry I missed out on all the fun.

4. Collect and finish no more than two sets from 2014.  I'll have my hands full trying to complete the sets above in Goal #1, but I'll also have to feed the constant craving to open new product.  Plus, how else will I obtain any trade bait if I don't add anything new to my collection?  Until I win the lottery or earn a substantial pay raise I'll have to be selective with the sets I build.

5. Differentiate the content of the blog.  My blog started out as more of a journal as I would chronicle the happenings of this Chicago Cubs fan as he waited patiently for the team to bring home a winner.  Over the past couple of years it has morphed from posts about cooking experiments, household projects, and thoughts on the Cubs to content which is almost exclusively hobby related.
Because I'm a math teacher who's been on winter break for a while, let me share some data with you:

Year     Total Posts      Card Related     Percentage
2013         198                    153                 77%
2012         174                     68                  39%
2011*         42                      2                     5%  (*Yes, I collected cards this year!)

My present readership, which is largely other baseball card bloggers, probably doesn't mind that 77% of my content is dedicated to the hobby, but I'd like to swing the pendulum the other way a tad. I'm going to make a concentrated effort to post a little less about cards and more about my other interests.

Perhaps a 65/35 split? I envision more posts about baseball ballparks, road trips, food, baseball books, and bobbleheads.  Oh, and hopefully the Cubs will give me more to write about at well!


Well, I think five goals should be enough for me to worry about during 2014. Wish me luck and good luck with your goals/resolutions in the new year!