2015 goals

Another year is in the books. Now, it’s time to look ahead.

I’m not one who is big on resolutions. Instead, I like to make goals and work toward them. I don’t do the weight loss thing, or exercise, or this or that like many do. I’ve found when I do that, I’ll go to a gym for a while and then fizzle out. I know I need to do all of the above and I’ve been working on that. But that’s because it’s for my health, not some silly resolution.

So, as I’ve done here for the past few years, I like to come up with a few goals I can aim for. These goals run a gamut of different things, so it’s always fun to see how far I get with each of them.

Let’s face it — I don’t always succeed, but I’m always pushing to attempt to succeed.

So, here, I present to you my annual list of goals. We’ll see how it all goes and by the end of the year, hopefully I am talking about how I succeeded in doing all of these. Some of these were done last year, so I am tweaking them slightly as they were ones I didn’t think I fully succeeded on in 2014.

1. Photography

This is easily the biggest goal I have this year.

Last year, I got away from taking pictures with my DSLR. I purchased a new one right before Christmas, so I am going to be working on using it a lot more. Further, part of my current Day Zero Project has a lot of photo-based things, so I want to work on those. Add in the monthly photo blogging challenge and other challenges and I want to use it a lot more.

On top of that, next December will be the 10th year I have done an annual photo book. I have big plans for that and I want to go back to how it was when I first started that yearly tradition, which means stepping away from the iPhone as the main camera.

That being said, I won’t be leaving the iPhone completely. I love Instagram and the social part of it, so I am going to work on finding a good balance.

One part of this will go hand-in-hand with one of my other goals — travel. I want to visit more state parks in New York, which should give me many chances for photos (as well as geocaches), so it should be fun in that regard.

2. Geocaching

I didn’t find many geocaches in 2014.

In fact, it was the lowest total I’ve had since starting in March 2008. In 2014, I finished with 221 finds — an average of 0.6 per day.

Not good!

I say not good because it means I didn’t get out as much. Geocaching, for me, is a game that is fun because it gives me something to do outdoors and it gives me an excuse to go see and do some things. It’s also a nice way to get some exercise with walking and such.

So this part of my goal is several parts. The things I’d like to do include:

• Reach 4,000 finds (I need 205)
• Place at least 15 or so geocaches
• Host 5 or more events
• Average at least one find per day for the year
• Add another state or country to my totals (hopefully more than one)

Some of this will require some travel. I have other geocaching goals with my Day Zero Project, so if I can do some of each, it will be a good thing. I also want to do more photos with geocaching, but I basically want to do more photos with everything, so that shouldn’t be so surprising!

Honestly one other thing I’d like to make sure I do is geocache with somebody I’ve only known through the internet — such as through blogging or Twitter. I have always wanted to do that for some reason, so 2015 seems like a good time for that.

Travel

My travel in 2014 was a tad limited, mainly because of the Summer of Baseball. An anticipated trip to Montreal (haven’t been there since 2009) never materialized and a few other places I was hoping to go didn’t happen.

So this year seems like a good one to try and take advantage of it.

Outside of Montreal, I’m not sure where else I’d like to go. But it could be a weekend getaway in New York, or a three-day geocaching road trip. It could be for some baseball, or for some brewery tours. It doesn’t have to be a 10-day European getaway (though that would rock), but something different would be nice. Maybe a extended weekend to Vegas? That would give some great photo ops and I am sure geocaching, too.

Part of travel, too, is meeting people. Maybe I’ll figure a way to set up a few geocaching events. Or I’ll look to play some disc golf. Or … anything. I want to expand some things when it comes to travel. It’s all about people.

I know I’ll get to places this year, and hopefully it will be ones where I can see things, do more and meet some people.

Better my blog

A repeat from last year, but I think this year I am ready to actually do this a bit more.

There are several aspects of blogging I am putting here that I feel will better this blog, as well as make it better overall for me. I want to expand blogging-wise, and I don’t necessarily mean by getting thousands of readers per day (though I could dig that).

Blogging to me, still, is about the community and having a place to express myself through writing. Whether it’s a feature, or a journalistic-style post, or something going on in my world, it’s my little place on the web. I don’t get advertising or anything like that, it’s just me.

But I do love visiting other blogs and talking with other bloggers. I learn as I read and peek around at other ones. I get inspiration and I’m always amazed by the talent and ability of other bloggers.

So, with that in mind, here are a few things I’d like to do this year with blogging:

• Tweak my design a little (new header, maybe color scheme, maybe some other small changes)
• Blog a tad more often and keep up with comments and such
• Have, at a minimum, 250 posts for the year
• Take part in a few challenges, as well as continue the Photo Blogging Challenge throughout 2015

Blogging is a fantastic community and a great activity. I don’t plan on making money through it, so I need to keep it on a personal level and continue to enjoy writing. Hopefully, it won’t change and I will enjoy tweaking and learning a bit more about the look of the blog.

Day Zero Project

This is a simple goal.

My current Day Zero Project goes through April 28, 2017. But I still need to be working to actually get 101 things done by then. The goal this year is to complete, at a minimum, 25 of those items. I’d also like to have several of them be in the “working on” stages.

I truly don’t know if I’ll get through the full list of 101 by the deadline. Some of the goals aren’t easy and might not be able to be done in time. But it keeps me reaching for something. As much as I would love to finish the whole list, if I can get through 75 percent of the items, I would easily consider it a victory.

Home brewing

I’m adding a sixth this year. And, much like the last one, this one is going to be somewhat simple.

I just want to brew more.

In 2013, the only beers I brewed were in December. I am hoping to do it much more often this year. I have ideas and thoughts for beers, so I need to see them through. I have some kits I still want to put together, and a few I want to order. Eventually, I want to work into three-gallon batches, and maybe the bigger, 5-gallon batches. Though, honestly, I like the smaller ones because it’s much easier to get through them if they are ones you don’t like!

The whole process is a lot of fun, so I look forward to doing several brews. For the purposes of a goal on here, I’ll say I’d like to brew a minimum of five beers, though I’d be shocked if I didn’t do at least double that.

There you have my 2015 goals. There are other things I hope to accomplish (such as playing disc golf more, learning more about the board game world that I’ve been getting into etc.), but these are the goals I hope to focus on.  Come next January, we’ll see how I did. Until then, I hope you all have a great new year and follow any goals you are hoping to accomplish throughout 2015!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!