The beginning

3 years ago, I backed my first Kickstarter project, pledging $30 for a collection of elastic grocery bags.  It was an interesting and unique concept, and I thought it would help on big grocery trips in college -- with a couple to give as gifts.

A few months later, they showed up in the mail.  They worked well, hadn't cost me too much, and filled a purpose that while I may not really have "needed", but found pretty useful nonetheless.  A few months later (late, by the project creator's original projections), I opened my mail to a set of magnetic earbud clips.  They worked great too.  I had already backed a few other projects at this point, and received one or two of them (well as they worked, the earbud clips were delayed by a lot).  I started checking Kickstarter more often, picking up more new, quirky, useful, unique products I'd often never known I needed.

3 years later and 100+ projects down the line, and I've realized I probably back on Kickstarter more than the average person.  Now, to be fair, not all of my 100+ backed projects are things I've put real money down on.  More than a handful represent $1 pledges here and there to show support or keep subscribed to an idea worth noticing - if not worth buying for myself just yet.  20 or so of the projects on my list never reached their funding levels at all.  And of course there's the other side, the projects that are trapped in development limbo.  The cool ideas I've paid for, waited out the estimated timeline, and kept on waiting through today.  That's the cost of Kickstarter, and for the most part I think what I get is worth it.

Focus down to this blog.  The last few months have been ripe with completed projects, an intersection of recently backed products finishing on time and late arrivals wrapping up in the new year.  I've taken to bringing these to work and showing them around - occasionally garnering the response "you keep getting such neat things in the mail.  Maybe you should start a blog."  So here it is.

I'm planning to gradually work through my backlog of received projects, in a vague order of most interesting and/or earliest first.  When something new shows up, I'll generally skip it to the front of the line -- maybe wait to use it for a while if there's not much to write about otherwise.  I figure the point of this blog is one part reviews, another part cataloging, and maybe even some comic relief as well, if I can manage it.  If this starts gaining steam and interest, I'll probably start putting in more polish and work to keep regular content.  If, at that point, I were ever to insert ads for ad revenue, they'll be unobtrusive and minor.