Looking Back on 2018: How Did I Do on my 2018 Resolutions?

Back in the beginning of the year, I posted my 2018 Resolutions.  As is my habit on the blog, now that the end of the year is here, let's take a look back and see how I did this year on all the things I resolved to do.

Although it is still the holiday break for me, as a professor I do feel compelled to give myself a grade for each of my eight 2018 resolutions.  Let's see if I can pass the year with at least a 3.0 GPA.

1.  Barry Larkin Collection:
My goal was to post at least 650 different Barry Larkin cards as part of my ongoing Barry Larkin Collection series.  Heading into 2018, I was at 575 posts and as of today I'm sitting at 636 completed posts.  I ended up falling 14 posts shy of my goal but I did manage to pump out 61 different Larkin card posts on the year which is pretty good.  Resolution grade:  B

2.  Blog Trading:
I knew that 2018 was going to be a tough year for blog trading for a number of reasons (money for one, but also a major reason that is a later resolution).  My goal was to complete a rather modest 30 total trades for the year.  I managed to blow that number out of the water with 45 trades sent out (and counting)!  Resolution grade:  A

3.  The Great Reorganization:
My goal was to finally clear off my sorting table once and for all.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen BUT I did make major gains in other areas of the collection.  I've completely redone my "man cave" in terms of my shelves of binders and other items.  I've sorted through all of my extra Reds cards and finally created my Reds Frankenset.  And, I managed to almost clear off my desk of cards.  I didn't meet my goal, but I still do fairly well and I can finally see the light at the end of the reorganizational tunnel.  Resolution grade:  B

4.  The Want List:
For the past couple of resolution posts, I've plucked some nearly completed sets from my want list and stated it as my goal to actually finish them in the upcoming year.  For 2018, the sets were:

• 2016 Topps Allen & Ginter:  Laureates of Peace mini insert:  LP-1, 2, 4
• 2015 Topps Archives:  Will Ferrell Insert:  7 (as a White Sox)
• 2014 Topps Allen & Ginter's:  Where Nature Ends: WNE-17 Diego Velazquez
• 2013 Topps Archives: 1972 Basketball Design:  JB (Johnny Bench)
• 2012 Topps Archives:  Classic Combos:  58- KK, LM, SF
• 2011 Topps Lineage:  1975 mini parallels:   33, 103
• 2011 Topps:  Diamond Parallels:  306, 339, 369, 380, 381, 400, 408, 424, 462, 534, 537, 548, 550, 573, 579, 612, 640, 652, 657
• 2009 Topps Base Series 1 & 2:  Legends of the Game (Series 2) insert: (#ed LG-???): Mariano Rivera
• 2008 Topps Stadium Club:  First Day Issue: 15
• 2008 Topps Heritage (low and high series):  Base: #465, 480, 488, 495, 500

Anything marked in green means that I have since acquired the given card.  Anything in black means I failed to acquire the card.  As you can see, I didn't do very well here, did I?  Only one set was completed - and that set happened to only need one card.  I didn't get a single other card from any of my targeted sets.  However, I did manage to complete six different sets from 2017 and earlier in 2018 so it wasn't like I didn't make any progress at all on my collection.  Still, the goal was to kncok off those specific sets and in that sense I didn't do great.  Resolution grade:  D

5.  My LEGO Blog / YouTube:
My goal here was to end up with 40 (ideally 50) new posts over on my LEGO blog Playing with Bricks.  I didn't do so well here - in fact, I will finish the year with only 17 posts - my lowest output on that blog in its six years of existence.  Resolution grade:  F

6.  Teaching:
At the start of 2018, I was slated to teach a Geometry capstone class for Fall 2018.  This was a decision handed down by my department despite the fact that I've never actually taken any Geometry above the high school level!  However, through a series of unfortunate events plus some royal screw ups by those with more power at the school than I have, I managed to escape teaching Geometry and instead got to offer Graph Theory as the capstone course (a course that I love to teach).  In most years, that sort of turnaround would be my greatest resolution success, but not this year (read on for that).  That said, this one is an easy grade.  Resolution grade:  A

7.  Woodworking:
I got a scroll saw for Christmas 2017.  That scroll saw is still sitting in its box.  However, before I go and give myself an F for this one, my wife and I did end up getting a small shed for our backyard late in the summer which means the garage has some space again for me to do actual woodworking projects.  While I cannot give myself an A or a B here, I think simply having a "shop space" available finally is worth something.  Resolution grade:  C

8.  Have a baby:
My wife and I did indeed have a baby - a boy back in May 2017.  He has been an absolute treasure for both of us (despite the terrible, terrible sleep schedule for the first three months of the young guy's life).  This resolution obviously trumped everything else for the year!  Resolution grade:  A

And there you have it, my completed 2018 Resolution Report Card.

My final grades were:  B, A, B, D, F, A, C, and A.  Ignoring plusses and minuses, that would be a final GPA of 2.625.  Not great, but at least I passed for the year.  Of course, that also assumes that all resolutions get weighted equally - something that is most definitely NOT true this year!  Despite less than stellar overall grades, I'm still super happy with how 2018 turned out for me personally. 

Here's to a great 2019 - and ideally, here's to actually finishing off more sets this time around (and hopefully finally finishing off the great reorganization too)!