Auld Lang Syne...Top Ten Goals for 2016

The song "Auld Lang Syne" is sung a lot on this night.  Most people having no clue what the words are.  Which for a lot of people singing it, they honestly don't care.  The song to many virtually has no meaning.  "Auld Lang Syne" is a Scottish term that basically meanings "Old Long Ago".  The song starts "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind?" meaning should we forget about those who were in the past that were important to us, just because it might of happened a long time ago...in a galaxy far, far away?(Sorry I had too)  The answer is simply no.  We should remember them and hold them in high esteem.  The line "We'll take a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne." means that we'll raise a cup to toast to them, because they were a important part of our lives and they shape how we'll journey on our future. It makes me think why do I have a passion for collecting cards.  It was an important part of my past, a part that I want to remember.  The hunt for the next cool card that I had to have when I was 10. still thrills me today.  My son, who is also 10, has that thrill when he opens not baseball, but Pokemon cards.  I love watching him when he gets excited about getting a certain card.

That was a very long intro for my year end review, but without further ado:

I started the persona GBCardGuy and created the "Unofficial George Brett Card Database" in January.  Up to then I had been, and still do, contribute to "The Trading Card Database".  At one time I was in the top 100 contributors.  I officially unveiled it on March 4th on "The Trading Card Database" with over 850 different cards scanned and had gotten some really good feedback right away.  I also started at that time my Twitter handle @GBCardGuy on Twitter. I posted daily random cards and started getting followers faster than I thought possible,  I had over 100 with in the first month and 200 wasn't to much behind that.

That started a my blog.  I started doing 2 blogs a week.  One being a top ten and the other being a rehash of the random cards that I posted on twitter with a few of my thoughts.  But it took a lot of time and thought to keep up.  More than I anticipated and I just stopped...everything.

A month went by, then 2, then 3.  Finally I ordered some new George Brett cards and put them on the website.  I even post on twitter in July that my database was of over 900 and that I was back, fully intending on picking up where I had left off.  But another 2 months went by, I did another update to the website and then another 2 months went by with little to no updating.  In November finally that's when things started picking back up and I started doing more regular updates to the website and Twitter and finally in December I started blogging again.

So a couple of years end stats.

On "Unofficial George Brett Card Database" I have 962 different George Brett cards scanned and uploaded.  Traffic to the site has been steady, 50 to 100 views a week.  If a would upgrade my Weebly I could probably get better stats on this.

On Twitter I have 350 Followers.  Again, that is crazy to me.  It seems every day I get someone following me, even when I wasn't posting stuff, and I usually follow them back.  I have had to unfollow some of them that choose to post in-poor-taste tweets.

I do have a Facebook page, but that never really took off.

Last but not least this blog, which I done 10 previous blogs with 221 views.

So it is goal time and I thought it would be fitting to do them as a top ten list.

TOP TEN GOALS FOR 2016!

10. I will not take a 8 month hiatus or any for that matter.

      I thought I should make this one simple.  

9.  Over 1000 cards in 2016

      I might as well make 2015's goal, 2016's.  My actually goal is over 100 cards added in 2016.

8.  To tweet atleast 3 times a week that has nothing to do with baseball cards and 3 time about baseball cards. 

      I do have a life other than George Brett and I should share that.

7.  To blog atleast 3 times a month.

      My plan is to do one as some sort of top ten. one as a "whats new" on the website, and a third about what going on in my life.

6.  To spend more time with my family playing games.

      I tweeted this week that Wil Wheaton had a huge impact on my family's Christmas,  That because my wife and I started watching Table Top on Youtube.  A lot of really cool games on there that you will not find on the selves at Wal-mart.

5.  Sell more.

     I have several cards and sets that I have duplicates of that are taking up space that I don't need.  It's time to part with some of them.

4.  Get an autograph card of George Brett.

     This might be one of the priciest goals of 2016, because they don't come cheap.

3.  Expand into other George Brett items.  

     A couple things that I haven't gotten yet are team issued posted cards and pocket calendars that he is pictured in. 

2.  Love and spoil my wife more.

     Even though she doesn't fully understand why I enjoy this hobby, she doesn't make me feel silly or belittling. She is worth spoiling.

1.  Be more of myself and not a fake persona that I think is cooler than me.

Ever since my last post I have been trying to think on how to wrap up the year on this blog.  In March I had such lofty goals with the website, Twitter, Facebook, and this blog.  I was green in all areas and not sure what I was doing.  From different people that I talked too, when I started doing social media, I was surprisingly doing it correctly.  Posting on twitter every day, starting a blog, and doing regular updates to my site.  It didn't take long for me to make that my main focus when I got up in the morning, when I got home from work and before I went to bed.  I wanted to make GBCardGuy cooler than me.  God has a way of steering you back in the correct direction.  I think that is the biggest reason that I took a break.  Look back on 2015 I have had many highs.  My family has gotten a whole year older, my work duties have increased along with a decent increase of wages, and I have been given more responsibilities where I go to church in different leadership roles.  I will say that God has blessed me and my families life in many way this year and I praise him for that.  For that is truly who I am; A husband, a father, an employee, a hard worker, and when there is time and money left a card collector, but above all of that I am a child of the one true king, Jesus Christ.  I will go into deeper details about that in later blogs.  But for now it is after midnight, "Auld Lang Syne" has been sung and this guy, my name is Josh by the way, is ready for bed.  Good night!

It's Here!!!! and, oh yeah, Merry Christmas

It's finally here.  I tweeted it out yesterday, but wasn't able to blog about it.  Without further ado the card that I am most likely ending 2015 on is...

Drum roll please....

1990 Topps #60

Just Kidding!!

1990 Score McDonald's #19

This is one of the rarer George Brett cards produced during his playing career.  This is what www.baseballcardpedia.com/ says about this set:

"1990 Score McDonald's is a 25-card set distributed at only eleven McDonald's restaurants in rural Idaho and Oregon during a three-week period in the Spring of 1990. In addition to the 25 player cards, fifteen "Magic Motion" World Series Trivia cards were also produced. Collectors who purchased an order of french fries and a soft drink would receive a free pack of four cards. The back of the packs mention a contest to the 1990 World Series which suggests that the set might have been intended for distribution on a larger scale.

The front has color action player photos, with white and yellow borders on a royal blue card face that fades as one moves toward the middle of the card. The upper left corner of the picture is cut off to allow space for the McDonald's logo; the player's name and team logo at the bottom round out the card face. The backs have color mugshots, biography, statistics, and career summary.

Because of the extremely very limited distribution, this is one of the toughest food issues of the era. The rarity combined with the blue borders make high grade cards extremely valuable."

It is one that I have had my eyes on since I started collecting and it is finally in my collection.  You can go to "The Unofficial George Brett Card Catalog" and check it out with another rare card to end the year off.  So as the first year of this blog and the tale of the first year as GBCardGuy comes to a close, I would be remiss if I didn't share a couple highlighted cards that I picked up this year.  

1977 Burger Chef Discs #71

I love these 70's food disc cards.

1983 All-Star Game Program Inserts #30

 

With this small card, I now have the complete set George Brett All-Star Game Program Inserts. ('81-'86)

1981 Royals Police #2

 

Same as before, but with this oversized card, I now have the complete set George Brett Royals Police Cards. ('81, '83, '91-'94) 

1983 Perma-Graphic All-Stars Gold #1

Only one card left in this set to complete.  (*Spoiler*) This will be one of my goals for 2016.

1986 O-Pee-Chee Box Bottoms Full Panel

If I would have been smarter a couple of years ago, I wouldn't of had to rebuy this panel.  But collecting is a learning process.

1987 Sportflics #5 George Brett  (1987 Copyright)

This was a hard variation card to track down.

2002 Topps American Pie Sluggers Gold #19

I believe I have the complete color set of this card Gold, Red, Blue, & Silver.

2015 Topps Gypsy Queen #326

I think the Gypsy Queen set is pretty cool, I have collect quite a bit of this actual set.

This is just a small sample of the over 100 cards that I collected 2016 and an even smaller sample of the nearly 1000 cards posted on "The Unofficial George Brett Card Catalog".  Who knows what 2016 will hold. 

On a final note, I want to wish everyone that reads this a belated "Merry Christmas".  I know for many people that phrase has lost its meaning and it might not be the "PC" thing to say, but that is what this guy says.  

I am planning on one last blog in 2015 to say a few thank yous and to set some goals for 2016. But until then, it's late and this guy is ready for bed.  Good Night! 

Race to 1000

Back in January I decided to create a website to show case my George Brett cards and when I launched "The Unofficial George Brett Card Database" in March I had a little over 850 different cards uploaded.  There was really only one goal that I had stated on the website, over a 1000 different Brett cards scanned by the end of 2016.

Will it happen?

If you have recently looked at my website you will see that the answer is not yet, and it probably won't happen.  I'm not disappointed.  Since March I added over 100 cards.  That's really more than I thought I would add.  I have at least 2 more cards that I currently know of that will need to be scanned and uploaded.  Unless I order a card and get it here before the new year i should end with 962.  I am excited about a very rare card that I am ending the year on.  I am (im)patiently waiting for it to get here.  I had to email the seller and remind him that he needed to ship the card that I paid for almost a week after I paid for it.  That has happen way too many times this year.  :-(  But, I have a tracking number and it hopefully should be here soon.  I will do a special blog when it gets here.  

I am anticipating two more blogs to end the year out,  First one highlighting the previously undisclosed card and a few other special cards that I picked up this year and spreading some Christmas cheer.  Then I think I'll also do a year end wrap up with a few thank yous and goals for 2016. But until then, it's late and the guy is ready for bed.  Good Night!

8 Month Hiatus

It has been over 8 months since this guy's last blog.  For the month of March to mid April I was active daily on twitter, 2 blogs a week and updating my website almost weekly.  Then it all stopped.  What happened?  I can make a lot of excuses, some are even good.   But instead of making excuses, I am choosing to do an update of what has been happening to GBCardGuy.  In a simple word, Life!  As I said in my first blog "I am a husband, father, employee & when there is time and money left, finally a card collector."  Well those first 4 things I decided were more important than card collecting.  I still collect George Brett cards and I still have been updating "The Unofficial George Brett Card Database", which currently has 960 uploaded cards and counting; but the fire to go all out on the "social media" has died way down.  Don't get me wrong I loved it.  Doing the daily random card posts on twitter, giving my thoughts on them and doing a couple of Top Tens in this blog for however short a time I did them was fun.  But it started to be an obsession to me and I allow it to take, for a short time, my time away from what was really important to me.  Now 8 months later, I have thought a lot about getting back into it, but on a much lower level and making it fun again.  Not sure what it would exactly look like, but I plan on having fun with it.  I know that this post is fairly short, hopefully I will have a longer one soon with my thoughts on some new (and old) cards.  I just bought a very rare George Brett card on ebay and I'm very excited to get it here.  I will probably do a special blog for it.  But for now, it's late and this guy is ready for bed.  Good Night!