What I'm Looking Forward To In 2016

After lamenting about how much I disliked 2015, I suppose I should lay out my road map for 2016. Nobody wants to read a blog that is all complaining, right? Well, here are some of the things I would like to do in the coming year.

1. Get rid of excess cards. Beyond my personal collections and assorted trade bait, I have four 5,000 count boxes full of cards from assorted years and sets. I once hoped to list all of these for trade, but I haven't had anyone hit me up for base needs in a couple years. That's fine, but I just don't have room to keep cards that have no use to me. Living in a one-bedroom apartment with all of one closet makes storage an issue. I'm thinking of sending these to Signatures for Soldiers. This group works with athletes to get signed baseball cards and then sell said cards. One-hundred percent of the proceeds go to Military Missions in Action, an organization that helps disabled service members and the disabled children of active duty service members. That's a cause that I can gladly get behind.

2. Organize and catalog my personal collections and trade bait. My Matt Harrison PC is kept in a bind, but my various other collections and projects are kept in boxes. I need to go in and scan everything that I have for documentation and then store it accordingly. I must get organized. I'm tired of my desk looking like this:

The same goes for the trade bait I am keeping. I have everything housed in a box with no real rhyme or reason. It can be difficult to find what I do have. I need to make sure everything is scanned and listed because I want to be more active in trading.

3. Be a better trade partner. I know that I have talked to a few people about certain cards that I have. I have not been very good about following up or following through. Though the last year has been rough, that's not a good excuse. So I want to devise a way to keep up with all potential trades. This one will require a little thought, but it must happen.

4. Comment more on your blogs. Believe it or not, I read a ton of blogs, even when I'm not posting. I literally check at least once a day. However, I haven't been the best at commenting. I want to change that. I know I feel good when readers comment, so I need to be better at returning the favor. I have been making more of an effort lately, and I hope a few of you have noticed.

5. Pick a pre-1970 Topps set and collect 15% of it. I've wanted to start working on a vintage set for a while. However, I simply can't choose which one I want! I know that I don't want a massive set (1972, I'm looking at you), but I don't know enough about vintage to really jump in. I want a set the has a good mix of well-known players, but also won't cost an arm and a leg. I hope that some of you that collect vintage can help me out and offer suggestions. I would greatly appreciate it!

So there are my Five Main Goals for 2016. I tried to make everything realistic. I'm not saying I don't like a good challenge, but with limited time and money, I want to set goals that can be accomplished. But those aren't the only goals I want to accomplish. Like last year, I have a few that are nice, but not Top 5 worthy. For instance:

- Acquire a card of Mickey Mantle from his playing days.

- Gain 10 new followers for my blog.

- Find five new trade partners.

- Add 100 new cards to my Texas Rangers team set project.

- Incorporate more TTM requests into my collecting life.

And these are just a few. I am trying to learn how to still enjoy the hobby when I'm not ripping into new packs. I think this is a good start and will help me appreciate the history of the hobby. 

So there you have it, my goals for the coming year. I hope we can trade soon!