Rehashing 2015 and Setting Goals for 2016

2015 was a good year for me hobby-wise.  I was able to add three new player collections in Brooks Kieschnick, Karl Olson, and The Vogelmonster.  I also am currently 10 cards into the 2015 Bowman Vogelbach rainbow.  Nice!
And Nachos Grande pulled a Kris Bryant auto for me in one of his group breaks, which was HUGE because we all know how pricey those things are.
I started a Cubs FrankenSet, which has been a bunch of fun. I've been constantly updating my set with cards from trade packages and giving credit to those traders who have cards make the cut.  Feel free to check out my FrankenSet and see if any of the cards you've sent have made it to the binder!
Lastly, my humble little blog finally eclipsed the "100 followers" mark a couple months ago.  I'd be remiss if I didn't thank this great community for reading my drivel and sending Cubs cards my way.  I never thought I would have 100+ followers. Thank you.


Now, let's check out my collecting goals from last year and see how I did. 


1. Complete another set from the time before I started collecting.  I already have a jump start on 1984 Topps.  This should be an easy one.
It took a little help from the cardsphere to finish the aforementioned '84 set, and then I filled a couple of larger orders on Sportslots to finish the following sets: '02 Topps Total, '00 Topps Reprints, '12 Topps Archives SPs, and '12 Panini Triple Play. It felt really good to finally put all of those sets to bed!



2. Hit the National.  I haven't been to the "big one" yet.  This should be fun.
FAIL.  At the time I was really swamped and had pretty much spent my self-imposed card budget. I'll have to wait for the National to come back to the midwest, because I'm not making it out to New Jersey this year. 

3. Find a way to differentiate my content even further.  I want to hit that 65% mark. Badly.  In 2014, I did ten book reviews and posted once a month about my Cubs Convention Calendar.  I suppose I'll need to get creative if this blog isn't going to morph into one focused only on baseball cards.
Well, there's another failing grade. 142 of my 191 blog posts in 2015 were focused on cardboard, which is about 74%.   Oh well.  It's my blog and I write about what interests me.  So it goes.

  
Goals for 2016?
For this year I'd like to collect one set in the middle price-range. I've done Opening Day, Flagship Topps, and many of the Bowman sets in the past, which are all on the lower end.  Maybe Stadium Club?  It's a little pricier and fancier.  Maybe Bowman's Best or Topps Finest could be the one I empty my wallet for.  We'll have to wait and see when the card mock-ups come out.

Other than that, I'd like to create more room for my ever growing Cubs collection, which means I'll have to ship out some cards to my readers through trades or contests.  That should be fun! I'll be celebrating 5 years of blogging in a few months so maybe I'll do something then?

I want to keep my goals short and sweet so there won't be any pressure falling on my shoulders when things get busy.

Have a great 2016, everyone!