How does one revive a dead blog? Make a bunch of empty resolutions that won’t be kept past January 5th? Promise to write every day even though you know the day job can be overwhelming, and leave little time at the end of the day because you’re exhausted?

Maybe the key is just to start with one word at a time. No real plan, other than to try and once again put yourself and your collection out there for all the world to see. Seems like a good enough place to start. It doesn’t have to be long. It just needs to…be. So with that in mind, let’s resurrect this thing. I’m paying for it after all.

I wanted to start with some very brief hobby goals for the month of January. I won’t bother with year long ones, simply because I’m not sure what they are at this point. I have not yet put the proverbial pen to paper if you will.

For the last 4-5 months or so, I have been working on completing 1981 Topps. This is part of my quest to work backwards to at least 1976. However in 2022, I picked up multiple vintage cards from sets prior to 1976, so I will definitely be going as far back as I’m able. In fact, I told a seller at the last card show I went to that I plan on going as far back as my wife will allow. For now, I will focus on completing the 81 set. Currently, it is at 559/726 cards (77%). By the end of January, I want to be up to 90% complete. This means I need to trade for, or purchase, 95 more cards. I should have 18 of these on the way through a TCDB trade, but the mail system has been decimated by recent bad weather. Hopefully they come on Tuesday.
At the previously mentioned recent card show, I purchased a starter lot of 1980 Topps so I could a jump start on that set. The box had 420 cards, labeled as being in EX-MT condition. I need to go through them, put them in order, and figure out which ones will meet my centering requirements. If I have more than 50% of the set when that is said and done, then it needs to go into a binder.
Space has become a little bit of an issue in my office/card room. I have cards everywhere. I made a lot of headway in 2022 by donating some unwanted commons to Goodwill. I have another box 2/3 of the way full. By the end of the month, I will drop it off, regardless of it is full or not. That way I can just get rid of it.

I don’t want to over burden myself. These tasks should be easily obtainable over the next 30 days. Let’s start small, and build some momentum. And take it from there.

JDM

My Top 20 cards in my Collection (2023 Version)

Happy New Year - 2023!