My own 12 step program for this blog

Good Sunday morning to you all, hope that you're having a great weekend so far.

My Leafs beat Washington 7-1 last night, so that in itself is a great Saturday for me.

If you have read my blog over the past week, I've mentioned here and there about the 12 step program that I devised for myself in order to try and keep my blog both active and successful.  Mind you, not all these steps are related directly to the blog itself, but instead they are more "human" in nature and have to deal with people and not collecting or writing.  By the way, these are in no particular order.

1. I will promote other blogs whenever possible.  To me, my blog is more than just a blog, it's part of a community.  Whenever someone else in your community does something notable or worthwhile, it should get promoted, correct?  To be part of a community, you have to be involved in the community, and promoting contests, or great causes, or even just a great post will go a long way in order to staying part of the community.
2. I will post on a regular basis.  So far, this is a given.  I think I've only taken a couple of days off in a row once since I started the blog back on August 1st.  I enjoy posting, sharing my humor and my sometimes warped take on collecting with the blogosphere.  Trades and blogger generosity also make it much easier to post, as you've probably seen many times so far here on the habit.
3. I will have fun with blogging.  "Once it becomes a chore, then no more."  I look forward to posting every day, trying to keep my brain active by coming up with some ideas for the blog.  Card collecting is fun again for me now that I've discovered this great group of fellow collectors.  I've learned some new things, and I've rediscovered some things from my childhood that I loved.  
4. I will respond to as many comments & emails as I can.  I've made an effort to try and respond to as many emails and comments that I've received so far.  I have it set up so that I receive emails whenever someone posts a comment on my blog, and I try to take the time to respond to each one as well.  I haven't been perfect here, but I do make an effort.
5. Comment on other bloggers posts.  I'm trying to come up with a rule for myself as far as keeping active and posting on other blogs.   There are times when I can hit quite a few in an evening, and then there are times when I go days without commenting.  I know I have to do better here, and I'll figure out some sort of method of tracking my participation.
6. I will "pay it forward".  I've received a few envelopes from other bloggers, totally out of the blue and unsolicited.  I even received a box once (thanks again Ted!).  I've tried to do my best to send a few envelopes here and there without a formal trade or even any communication.  Blogger generosity works both ways.
7. I will participate in group breaks whenever possible.  I don't get to do as many of these as I would like, because sadly with the amount of blogs that I follow and with the number of them that go on at one time, it just becomes too cost prohibitive.  As I get some of my own financial mess cleaned up, I'll be able to participate more in these.  But know this, if I don't participate, I'm not ignoring you.
8. I will "finish what I started".  I joked about this a couple of weeks back on the Van Halen advice post.  But for me, finishing a lot of these older sets that I started is a big goal here.  Getting my ass in gear and getting them sorted and on the blog is something that I need to get done.  Finding the cards to finish them in trades, well that's another matter altogether.
9. I will not hide purchases from my wife.  Now this may sound totally stupid to you all, but I actually did this in my first marriage.  Why, I will never know.  That's probably part of the reason it was my first marriage.  God bless my wife that I have now, she loves me and totally supports me in this.  She knows that if we head to Wal-Mart that I'll be hitting aisle 21 at some point, and totally was in to me heading to the Toronto Expo last week.  My wife even asks me how many followers I have on the blog (she was totally into the contest I did, if you remember).  Wifey knows that I pay the utilities on time and the other bills are not neglected, so she doesn't worry about my spending on cards at all.
10. I will not use a credit card to make purchases ever again.  I did this for the Heritage box I busted a couple of months back, and felt guilty as hell doing it.  No money, no funny.  Easy enough...next!
11. I will try to do more contests.  This is not a given, because other bloggers for the most part don't do regular contests (with a couple of exceptions).  I so enjoyed doing the first one, and getting the response that I did, that I will try to do more.
12. I will mail all trade packages and prizes ASAP.  I actually became a bit of a slacker in this regard lately, and felt guilty as hell doing it.  Bloggers have been good in sending packages to me timely, I in turn must do the same. 

Hopefully, you haven't started snoring by the time you reached here (if you in fact did).  If this post even makes any sense or reaches one person out there, then from where I sit, it will be a success.

Here's the one card rule....

Expo pickup

I picked this up at the Toronto Expo, it was in one of the many 50% off boxes that I looked through, and didn't even notice until I got home that it was #'d 200/200 (lol, the old eBay one of one).  Anytime I can pickup a HOFer jersey card on the cheap is a good thing, and I was able to get a couple of them at the show.

Thanks for reading, Robert


words in this post, 1083.  Total for the month, 10937.