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My Summer 2014 Resolutions!

As you may have noticed if you read my blog regularly, I've been featuring a much heavier dose of cards from my Barry Larkin Collection in the past couple of weeks.  I've been doing that for a few reasons.

  1. Those posts are usually quite easy to write - short, simple, and a formula of sorts that I try to follow for all entries in the series.  This is important because my school year is wrapping up and the level of crazy is at an all-time high right now.
  2. I have had multiple people ask me if I needed Larkin card x or card y over the past few weeks.  Unfortunately, the only list I have of Larkin cards that I own is my online Larkin Collection.  This is sad since the number of cards that I've scanned and written about is only 260 (so far) but I would estimate that I have closer to 500 (maybe more?) different Larkin cards in total.  Rather than "waste" my time creating a list that won't ever actually see the light of day, I have spent quite a bit of my free time sorting and scanning Larkin cards for my online collection.
  3. My collection reorganization extends beyond physically sorting cards - I consider getting my online Larkin list up-to-date as part of my reorganizational goals.  As such, I feel like I'm accomplishing something with each Larkin Collection post that I write!
  4. Did I mention the posts are usually quite quick to write?  Yeah, that's probably the #1 reason right now!  Only about a week and a half remains though until work will be over for the summer...and then I can return to some of my more detailed writing.  Hang in there kids, I'll be back shortly with "meatier" posts!
Speaking of meatier goals, I already posted my 2014 Resolutions on my blog back in January.  I haven't actually completed any of those goals yet (though I have made moderate progress on some of them).  However, in addition to those goals, I have a few more larger goals that I hope to accomplish this summer!  Since writing goals down seems to generally work well for me, here are my Summer (and beyond) 2014 goals!

  1. Build a barbecue grill stand.
    I've been working on honing my woodworking skills over the past couple of years.  It's now time to start actually building useful things.  I have had my eye on a set of directions showing a wood barbecue table complete with a tile top.  I've never laid tile before so the project will provide plenty of learning (hopefully fun learning) for me - and if all goes well, the end result will be an extremely useful piece of furniture to add to my deck!
  2. Completely organize all my baseball cards.
    This is easily the most difficult goal since my collection is so large (and much of it totally unorganized).  However, I have made quite good progress over the past month or so...and I do think there is hope for this one (for the first time in years)!!
  3. Find a better way to display my LEGO Collectible Minifigures.
    I think successfully completing this goal will mean that I complete a second woodworking project but I'm not sure yet.  I need to find some way to better display my figures now that I have so many (right now they are mostly sitting on top of my dresser).
  4. Complete at least 40 trades before school starts back up.
    This is a baseball card blog after all - and I'd like to make sure that remains the major focus.  I plan to get some Allen & Ginter when it is released (which usually makes for a bunch of trades) but I'd also like to get some trading done before A&G's release.  I'm hoping my reorganization has a side effect of helping with this goal as well!
  5. Film at least 30 different videos for work.
    I applied for (and received) a grant through work in which I will be filming myself solving homework problems that I assign (with the eventual goal of posting the appropriate videos throughout the semester so that students have something to watch when they get stuck on an assignment at 1:25 AM when their professor - me - is sound asleep and not answering emails).
  6. Get back into origami (and share some of it on the blog).
    I just bought a new book that should give me some more ideas in how to tie origami and mathematics together.  I enjoy using paper folding in my classroom - but I'd also like to get back into folding stuff "just for fun."  
  7. Regain my softball swing and play well in 2014.
    This one is simple in concept, but perhaps tough to execute!
  8. Grow my gardens.
    The easiest goal on my list since I've already begun planting a few things!  This year I'm hoping to have a nice pumpkin harvest as well as a watermelon harvest.  I've never actually successfully grown a watermelon so we'll see what happens!  If you like gardening, you should follow me on Instagram - I post plenty of garden photos there.
  9. Get back in shape.
    I used to be super active with sports year round, but as I've gotten older the opportunities to play sports have virtually vanished.  Luckily, I do participate in softball...but beer league softball won't exactly get a guy in shape.  Instead, I hope to start running/biking and keeping a log to show how much I improve as the summer wears on.  
  10. Visit at least one MLB ballpark.
    This summer is going to be a busy one for me with stuff I need (and want) to accomplish, but I do hope to sneak away for at least one professional game.  This goal would be a lot easier to achieve if there were a pro ballpark closer than 4 hours to my hours...but alas, there is not.  Both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are about 4 hours from here...with Washington being only a bit further down the road.  I really would like to go north to either Boston or maybe Toronto but we shall see...
  11. Visit my (relatively) local Williamsport Crosscutter's ballpark at least once.
    I enjoy minor league games - and the Crosscutter's are the Phillies single-A short season team.  The ballpark is quaint, but quite nice...and when I lived in Williamsport I used to go there on most nice evenings.  Now that I'm about an hour away from the city, it's a bit more difficult to make it down but I'm still hoping to make at least one or two games.
  12. Learn how to invest in the stock market.
    This is perhaps the most important goal moving forward.  I've just begun to dabble in the stock market - and as I learn the ins and outs, I hope to do more investing.  Ideally, I'd like to figure out how to use my small bank account in a way that I actually can make a bit of money (as opposed to having my money sit in a savings account doing virtually nothing for me).  Unfortunately, I'm fairly timid when it comes to risk so this goal will probably prove to be quite challenging!
Not a bad list if you ask me!  I don't think all the goals are easy - but if I manage to accomplish them all then I will have had an amazing summer on a lot of different levels!  

What about you?  Do you have any summer goals?  

Comments

  1. Good luck. Pretty wide variety of goals

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  2. Before you tackle the tile project go to Home Depot and sit through their free tile lesson. Every Home Depot (at least every one I have ever seen) has these free classes every two weeks or so.

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  3. As a fellow Larkin collector, I really enjoy reading your editorials about each card that you post, or in your collection vault. Keep up the "quick" work and if you want to visit a ballpark in Cincinnati, I can get you some tickets.

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