Looking Back to 2019 Goals, Setting New Ones

I know I am a few days late with my 2019 review.  I bought a new laptop over  Christmas break and have been slowly moving things over to it.  While doing so, I came across my spreadsheet that tracked all of my 2019 card related activities.  I was a little surprised to see that I spent $230 on cards, but $270 on postage to mail trades.  Living in rural Illinois cuts back on the number of places you can buy cards in person, so trading is my favorite way to add to the collection.  I do buy from EBAY, but mostly I bargain hunt there unless a needed Ray Lankford card pops up.  Enough of my rambling, on to the goal recap.

1) Add 5 new Ray Lankford cards.  I knew this one would be tough as Lankford did not have any new cards in 2019.  I managed to add only 2 new cards.  One was the last of the 90 versions I needed to complete the 1998 Topps Tek set, so that was a minor win.

2)  Finish the 1970 Topps Cardinals team set.  I started the year only needing card #716 to finish the set, and that is the way it still stands.  I remember going to a show or two earlier in the year looking for this card, but never finding it.  I will most likely buy this one online sometime.

3)  Write 150 posts.  This one came close as I finished with 145.

4)  Get 150 in person autographs.  I also feel short on this one.  My son and I managed 117 at the various minor league games and Cardinals events we attended.  We did have a ton of fun trying.

5)  Pass 21,000 Cardinals in my collection.  I finally accomplished one.  I ended 2019 with 21,401 different Cardinals.

Most people would consider 1 out of 5 a failure.  I on the other hand would not.  For me, these goals were more about the chase than the end goal.  The most fun I had this year was with my family attending the minor league games.  Yes it was fun getting the autos, but it was even better spending a weekend away for the 4 of us.

I am only setting 1 goal for 2020.  That is to teach my son more about collecting.  He loves adding to his Altuve collection.  He has started to learn about the different brands and how to sort the cards by year.  He is even going to put together his first set.  He received 3 boxes of Topps Fire in December.  He loves the design.  With only 200 cards and no short prints to chase, this should be a great set to start with.