2014 Goals

So, have you developed any currency tracking goals for 2014?

Here are mine (in no particular order, but I might come back and order them or strike them out when I complete them):

[updated: 7/28/14]

Break 16,000 Track Score
Enter an average of at least 175 Bills a month (I currently average 163 since I began)
Make 75 % of my new entries Ones
Get 330 or more hits during the year (a 10 % increase over my 2013 number)
Get 50 new "counties" (including international) Hit
Get 75 new Zip Codes Hit (I am at 723 unique Zips)
Make 5 "glob" connection Hits (for my purposes, 3 or more currently connected counties which expand to 5 or more). [does not include my larger globs expanding by a single county, but will include any globs of 1+ that reach 5+ counties during 2014]
Make 2 "fill-a-hole" connection Hits (where I have one or more counties surrounded)

DONE:
2 "fill-a-hole" connection Hits
75 new Zip Codes Hit

On Track:
50 new "counties"
average of at least 175 Bills a month

Still Possible:
16,000 Track Score (if I enter 190 bills a month and get 20 hits a month, I'll make it)
5 "glob" connection Hits (2 down, 3 to go)

Would be nice, but I'm not going to go nuts if I don't:
Make 75 % of my 2014 entries Ones

2014 goals are tough for me, because of my impending move.

So I can't do a lot with my current home glob...and new counties to me will probably come a bit easier than they otherwise would right after my move.

I guess, for me, an interesting goal would be as follows:

1. Hook my current home glob to my new home glob around Wake County, NC.
2. Hook those globs up to my big Florida Glob.

3. I'd like to make a path from either of my globs to Chicago, IL, as that is where I was born.

Goals for 2014

raise hit rate to 2% from the 1.3% it's been at all of 2013
get hits in 5 new states, currently hits in 23 states
get one more international hit currently have 2


enter bills in two new states (currently 5 states)
Reach the 100 zip code mark for entering bills
hits in ten new pa counties currently 20/67
Enter bills in 5 new pa counties currently 17/67
reach 35,000 bills entered

Kalisiin wrote:1. Hook my current home glob to my new home glob around Wake County, NC.

Wow, good luck getting those VA/NC boarder counties. You might have a better chance at them than I do.

Kalisiin wrote:2. Hook those globs up to my big Florida Glob.

All the way through GA? How many counties do you estimate you need?

Kalisiin wrote:3. I'd like to make a path from either of my globs to Chicago, IL.

I imagine this will be tougher as you move south. Getting those pesky OH & IN counties might be tough for you in NC.

cylon wrote:raise hit rate to 2% from the 1.3%

What is your current marking style? You might have to get more aggressive.
If you spend enough in those new Zips where you plan to Enter, I bet many of the rest of your goals are make-able

the current marking style is circular stamp in red ink on the front of the bill. I have been thinking of adding a three line stamp to the back of my bills.

cylon wrote:the current marking style is circular stamp in red ink on the front of the bill. I have been thinking of adding a three line stamp to the back of my bills.

What I recommend is a one-line, small print stamp right above the upper right Serial Number like I use.

I suspect, by the way, cylon...this one stamp is the main reason my TD bills are not being accidentally entered at WG and not TD. Because most people look at the upper right when entering...and my TD stamp hits them right in the face.

Tim:

In NC, Warren or Northampton will get me up to the northern border, I already have Halifax in a glob all the way down to Wake County and beyond.

In VA, I need - at minimum, Sussex or Dinwiddie - and Brunswick or Greensville. That gets me to the southern border of VA...if you would say the Goochland connects to Chesterfield. If not, then I also need Henrico County.

I am solid from my home glob all the way down to at least Goochland in VA. And down to Prince George...if you would count Goochland as bordering Chesterfield (they touch...but a very small place)

As to hooking FL...
I have to get thru SC...currently, SC hooks to GA at Richmond County, GA...and SC needs only Lancaster or Chesterfield to hook to NC...but that part of NC is not yet hooked to Wake County, so would also need at least three NC counties to hook my Charlotte glob up to my Wake County area.

THEN, in GA I would need, shortest route possible, six Georgia Counties (Jefferson, Laurens, Wheeler, Coffee, Atkinson, and Clinch) That gets me to the FL Panhandle.

Then I'd need, in FL, Hamilton, Columbia, and Marion...to hook up my North Florida glob. Then either Martin or Charlotte County in FL hooks the South Florida glob in.

Now, going to Chicago...from my current home glob in PA:
I am already all the way across PA and into OH...
In OH, by shortest route to Chicago, I need a minimum of three counties in the northwest of OH to get across OH and into IN...then I would need four in IN to get across the northern part of IN and into Chicago.

So, a minimum of seven counties gets me to Chicago.
We'll say I need four to hook up current home to Wake County (possibly only 3)
I'd need the right 14 counties to hook all the way to South Florida.

cylon wrote:the current marking style is circular stamp in red ink on the front of the bill. I have been thinking of adding a three line stamp to the back of my bills.

I use a one-liner on the back upper right and lower left. I use the same one-liner just above "Series" on the front of the One and to the left of the portraits of Five, Ten & Twenty. I then use a Rick from Cleveland on the opposite side from the one-liner on the front.

Update time:
Strike 1 off the Glob list -- Northampton, VA finally allows me to tie my Tidewater area VA counties into my main glob.

Of course, I went the LONG way around through MD and DE in order to get there, but Norfolk, VA Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News and James City County all join my main glob.

My Northampton hit is the first one site-wide

OK....since you are counting Northampton, VA....as a hookup. and it is on an island with Accomack...

Just curious what counties do you count as hooking up to Northampton, VA....and Accomack, VA?

I've always been curious about this, because I have never known whether I should consider Accomack part of my own glob or not, when I get mainland hits nearby.

Similarly, in MA, Dukes and Nantucket...are they considered to border other counties, and if so, which one(s)?

Am curious is there is any official position on this?

I don't think there is an "official" position on this, but I will explain how I see things. (BTW, Northampton isn't an island, it's a peninsula with that side of MD and most of DE)

From Northampton northbound through Accomack, into MD and Worcester, into DE and Sussex, Kent & New Castle, back into MD at Cecil and from there it's highly populated counties on the western (going south) side of the Chesapeake Bay until you get to the far suburbs of Richmond. I connect Northampton to Norfolk by-way-of the Chesapeake Bridge Tunnel.

The shorter trip would have been through either New Kent or Charles City counties in VA.

In regard to Dukes and Nantucket in MA, I would consider a connection through Bristol or Barnstable into Dukes and a connection through Dukes or Barnstable into Nantucket.

I think there are "easy" ways and "tougher" ways of achieving most of the self-imposed achievements. Perhaps my connection is an "easy" way, perhaps not. Of course if I count it here, I certainly can't count it later.

OK, was not aware that Accomack and Northampton actually connected to land in Worcester, MD and Somerset, MD

So, I can count Accomack in my glob, then...because Worcester, MD is in my glob.

I'm starting a job soon. As far as currency tracking goes, I don't know how that will affect my cashflow and my time for bank trips or entering bills en masse, so I don't know what goals will be reasonable.

irritate the snot out of people with marked currency that and get hits in more new counties.

To enter a few more $2s so I can confuse young cashiers. I love it when they have to check with their managers to see if they can take a $2.

Also, just keep entering bills to keep my hit streak going.

Vesuvius wrote:one and only one is to enter 500 bills a month

Glad to hear it, Vesuvius, that means you'll be hanging with us! Good to see you back, we've missed you!

Check out the Cooperative County Challenge...hope you'll join us and play along.

Tony wrote:To enter a few more $2s so I can confuse young cashiers.  I love it when they have to check with their managers to see if they can take a $2.

No, I'm annoyed at waiting for cashiers to get a manager with a clue.

I'm still E(M)Sing as many $2s as possible, now at 874 on TD, should top 2000 easy.

I tried to start a two dollar thread awhile ago. Half the fun of spending twos is people's reaction. I have entered 1249 so far. Is there any one else interested in restarting a two dollar thread. I have plenty of funny stories about twos.

Update Jan 28:

Knock one off my "fill-a-hole" wish list with Passaic, NJ - which had been surrounded by every one of it's neighbors for the last 7 months. Perhaps I set that particular goal too low?

I have reached my 175+ bills entered for January, but my hits received are under performing.

dctim wrote:Update Jan 28:

Knock one off my "fill-a-hole" wish list with Passaic, NJ - which had been surrounded by every one of it's neighbors for the last 7 months. Perhaps I set that particular goal too low?

I have reached my 175+ bills entered for January, but my hits received are under performing.

Dunno what's up, my hits are underperforming, too. Not the first time I have had a lull for no reason, though...

As to $2 bills - I never mark those, I keep them.
I know, tell me they aren't rare all you want, I still keep them.

Kalisiin wrote:
Dunno what's up, my hits are underperforming, too.  Not the first time I have had a lull for no reason, though...

January is usually an off month for me. This is actually the first year out of 5 where my Total Hits Received is above my all-time monthly average.

End of First Quarter Update:

Break 16,000 Track Score
-- I need to pick up the pace on bills entered AND, especially, hits received.

Enter an average of at least 175 Bills a month (I currently average 163 since I began)
-- I missed my goal in March, but hit it in Jan & Feb.

Make 75 % of my new entries Ones
-- Currently 65 %. My typical auto-pilot has me going to the ATM for my cash, so I may not get this one.

Get 330 or more hits during the year (a 10 % increase over my 2013 number)
-- Hits have definitely been lacking. Only 58 hits received this year - I needed to be closer to 80 at the end of the first quarter.

Get 50 new "counties" (including international) Hit
-- 13 down, 37 to go.

Get 75 new Zip Codes Hit (723 unique Zips at the end of 2013)
-- 29 down, 46 to go.

Make 5 "glob" connection Hits
-- 2 of these completed thus far. San Bernardino, CA (on May 6) ties Clark, NV to the rest of my southern Calif. hits.

Make 2 "fill-a-hole" connection Hits (where I have one or more counties surrounded)
-- Half way done.

Updated my "glob" goal (and my summary post):

Make 5 "glob" connection Hits
-- 2 of these completed thus far. San Bernardino, CA (on May 6) ties Clark, NV to the rest of my southern Calif. hits.