Excuse my lack of a more appropriate/creative image for this occasion since it just hit me ^^;. Today, this blog has reached another milestone- 1 Milliion views! Didn’t even realize it until I saw the counter earlier and thought “oh crap… 1 million already?” xD. How unfortunate that this occurred when the blog’s activity is at an all time low due to a certain someone not updating ^^;. I know I said this oh so many times throughout the year but it doesn’t hurt to mention it some more- Despite the lack of frequent posts and updates, this blog is still kept alive and running instead of collecting virtual dust and tumbleweeds is because of you- the readers. It makes me quite happy to see that everyone is willing to just kick it here regardless of me posting anything new or not. Even though this blog has its own purpose, I absolutely don’t mind anyone just hanging around and chat about anything anywhere on here. It makes stuff all the more interesting when I’m not doing my part ^^;. I also appreciate all the feedbacks from time to time here as well. So for all that, I’d like to thank all of you again.

Honestly, the 1 million hits doesn’t feel so grand anymore^^;. It was simply a milestone I set back in the beginning when I used to get about 50 hits a day and it sounded like something that would take forever at the time so thought I’d at least celebrate it just for the sake of it. I do remember how awesome it felt when the stats shoot up but I’m over that now. Blog views are simply that- how many times people see this blog in a given time frame. I am not saying it is not important though; blog stats could a measurement of how one’s blog is doing in terms of producing quality content. I don’t believe in blogging solely to increase traffic; if you want traffic, then put in some quality content that people can enjoy. The traffic will follow (eventually).

Another thing that really helped this blog are the networking among everyone (linking, blogrolling, etc). People visit me from other blogs and I do the same. Networking is awesome- we can all learn new ideas and trade news just like that *snaps*. This blog’s top “referrers” (where traffic is coming from):

ngeekhiong.blogspot.com

animenano.com

otaku.fm

beamknight87blog.blogspot.com

gunstray.blogspot.com

plamoaddiction.blogspot.com

quentinlau.blogspot.com

There’s also Gundamaniac (Marvin Ryan) but his site has been down for awhile . Of course, and everyone else who linked here as well. Thank you all! ^^

Okay, enough yapping. As with every event on this blog, it is time for another giveaway to celebrate. Usually, I would be benevolently sadistic about what you need to do in my giveaways but this time, I’ll be taking it easy. This was a bit sudden and I’m lacking free time to plan something big like the Gundam Fight contest (previous contest). Heck, I don’t even know what to give away. If I knew this was coming , I’ve ordered something from HLJ along the new stuff I picked up. I won’t be posting any details right now though. I’ve already set up an automated post for tomorrow about noon. Get ready for it

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, ate plenty, and found something nice the following Friday ^^.

Päkapikuvabrik

Täna tegelesime Jõuluballi kutsetega, see pidi toimuma ühise tunni ajal, meil oli niivõrd palju kutseid, et me tegutsesime ka vene tunni ajal edasi (nii ropult palju, et me tegutseme homme veel edasi xD). Ma olen suht kindel, et Silja (vene õps) on solvunud meie peale, minuarust keegi isegi ei maininud talle, et me lähme kutseid meisterdama anoh.. vbl keegi, kes tundi läks, mainis. Vähemalt pole ekoolis mingit puudumist märgitud. Et siis jah, 200 kutset oli, kuldsed ja hõbedased, kusjuures hõbedased maksavad eelmüügis 100.- ja balli ajal 125.-, kuldpilet maksab muidugi 500.-. Kaunistamisel sai päris mõnusalt aega veedetud. Ahjah, meenub üks naljakas asi, hakkasime vanasse majja sisenema, et minna kaunistama pileteid, tee peal tuli teemaks Jõuluballi kleit, Piretil on juba 5-st erinevat kleiti, millest ühe peab ta lõpuks välja valima, mina aga ütlesin nukral toonil, et mul polegi ühetgi kleiti veel, Kadri hakkas siis midagi sogama, et ta võib mulle ühe musta kleidi laenata, (seda mida me Kadri peol vaatasime) et ma olevat öelnud, et see on äge ja värki, et mulle see kleit meeldis. Ma jäin siis korraks mõtlema ja ütlesin: ‘Ma ei kasuta sellist sõna nagu ”äge”….’ Kadri siis minuteid hiljem: ‘Ahjah, ei kasuta jah…’

FEIL KADRI… FEEEEEEEEEIL !

Täna oli Vihte heas tujus. Ta küsis  ühe küsimuse ja nimetas mu nime, siis hakkas rääkima, et ta tahtis mind kuidagi teisiti nimetada, ühe ilusa nimega.. Aga seda ta nagu ei tahtnud teiste ees öelda, ütles, et ütleb mulle isiklikult. Armas. Nagu arvata oligi, läks see tal meelest ära. Ma ei läinud üle küsima ka.. Et siis… ilus nimi.

PSt, tal oli niivõrd hea tuju täna, et kui ma klassi sisenesin ja SIRLIlt küsisin: ‘ Sprechen Sie Deutsch ?’, vastas VIHTE: ‘ Ja, Ich Spreche Deutsch, und Du ?’ ja mina siis: ‘ Ein Bisschen..’ … ROOOOWL… =D Mitte, et ma temalt seda küsisin aga noh…

Nüüd on siis kindel, järgmisel neljapäeval Tallinna, Teeviidale :3, Jaanus pidavat ka sel ajal Teeviidal olema. =D

Huvitav, mul pole ammu pea valutanud ja üle pika aja tegin ka lõunauinakut ! Niiet, selline tunne on nagu oleks täna reede.

Btw, Blog Stats: 3,986 hits.. =D, tea, kas homme tuleb 4,000 ära ?

Muse – Undisclosed Desires

Elamine nõuab julgust

Üritad ja tahad, kuid kõik läheb alati persssse..

katherine jenkins boobs
katherine jenkins helicopter
amy winehouse freckled nose
katherine jenkins boobs
amy winehouse fish
freckles on her nose
amy winehouse painted freckles
how big are katherine jenkins’ breasts
katherine jenkins pvc
amy winehouse’s boobs explode
why are there freckles on amy whinehouse

On June 24th and June 26th this year, I posted about synchronicity and mentioned the author of, “Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting” Lynn Grabhorn.  Why do I mention her in this post?

From time to time I check my blog statistics; who’s searched me, how many people have visited my site, and who is checking out my links, like links to my favorite books.

What is particularly interesting is this year’s largest referrers to my sight from people who are finding me for the first time, is from people searching for information about Lynn Grabhorn.  She’s deceased, so there isn’t any new material out there by her.  But, I will say, her book, “Excuse Me…” is one of the best books I’ve read about the Law of Attraction in action.  It is full of practical examples including many from her own life that illustrate the amazing power of our beliefs. So, if you haven’t read it yet, you may want to check it out.

katten bæsjer hele tiden
katten bæsjer mye
egersund sjokoladefabrikk
vg.no forsiden
hvor får man kjøpt datarock joggedressen
mathare slummen
lamu esel
systematikken
spillopper
altforseint
kiwiuniform
sokkemonster
hanekamkleiv
portrett emo
under brua
ore pupper
pupper.no
isbjørnskinn
slakteindustri
raske menn
familieidyll
karius og baktius

= Tre år oppsummert i stikkordsform

There are two people in our family who are just so funny that you love to be around them and often the comment is heard, “if we could get Sharon and Carol together one day, we would die from laughter.” 

Sharon lives in Indiana and Carol in Wisconsin, so it has not happened yet, but Sharon has begun blogging.  She was shamed into it really by a couple of bloggers, okay, me  and her friend.  She tried her hand, Just who are you people? « Braindebris’s Weblog, and was (as we suspected) hysterical.  She is one of ‘those’ people, who if she wrote regularly enough would be publishing a book.  She is that funny, just check out the The Immortal Rabbit « Braindebris’s Weblog if you want to split a gut.

She took a long break from blogging, much to our disgust, and is back now on a weekly blog schedule.  You would think she has a life or something!  She also mentioned it takes a good hour to put a blog post together.  Who knew!   

So, this morning, I checked how her weekend was and she brought up the often mysterious workings of the blogosphere and the people who take the time to read your blog but rarely write comments. 

My readership is not huge, it has dropped since I have gotten less regular in posting. However, in the beginning, when my readership would hit 1,000 for the month, I never had commenters, other than one.  There were 999 people out there lurking.   XUP always comments, all the way from Canada.  Aren’t you ashamed fellow Americans?  I have to get comments from Canada.  Pollyanna Rainbow Sunshine and the Needles of Doom often commented, but I have been really remiss commenting on their blog lately.  Don’t you love that name though!

 I have also been blogging a bit less lately myself, as I work on my eternal update to my website.  I feel like one of those people on the commercial, staring wide eyes, pupils dilated from staring at the screen, mind numb … anyway, you get the not pretty picture.  I only have one section left to go on the website and am soooo look forward to it being done.

This morning, here is a copy my monthly stats.  Notice the slow decline.

So, I checked Search terms. 

“no blood for oil Viggo” – as in Viggo Mortensen, no surprise there. Half of my readership is searching for “Viggo” -  Talk about stalkers! 

“Worms …” – EUWWW! especially when in the house. 

“actor with low ears” -  Okay, is this person casting a movie?  I have written about actors, and I have written a post due to the lovely commercial based on the old song “do your ears hang low. ” But, I have NEVER written about an actor with low ears.  I am not even sure why you would want to find an actor with low ears.

In an effort to raise my stats, I realize that I have three sure winners:

• Viggo Mortensen
• photography
• Movie reviews

Okay, Viggo Mortensen is hot and I do understand the fascination.  He keeps his private life mysterious and he’s hot and he likes dark chocolate and he’s hot.  What more could you want?  The only thing is, I do not actually know Mr. Mortensen (I love his name by the way— Viggo Mortensen—-it’s lyrical.  This is coming from someone named VanVleck.  Not so lyrical.

So, I shall now vow to make more of an effort to review movies about Viggo Mortensen and you, my kind readers (numbers 13 to 30 and occasionally 1,000) shall occasionally drop me a line to let me know what you like, or do not like, on my blog.

Oh, and I will try not to be a stalker myself.

Holy crap! For the blog date of 11/20, I hit a new record for hits! 550 hits that day, beating out my previous record of 521, which if I remember right was on the day of Obama’s inauguration.

I’m not sure why there was a huge increase yesterday, but I likes it!

When I was a little girl, I remember wondering, “How much is a million?” Well, I still kind of wonder that because it’s way more than I want to sit down and count even now. But today, I have some feel for just how much a million is.

We’re getting ready to reach a major milestone here at My Sister’s Kitchen. Sometime this evening, November 19, 2009, we’ll log our millionth page view! We are amazed and blessed to have such wonderful readers. Thank you for visiting our Kitchen, sampling the food, sharing a cup of coffee, and exchanging ideas!

When a WP blog shows off on its sidebar the following:

or worse,

without any additional information, I start asking: “What exactly does that mean?”

If a blog stats are presented in this fashion, the numbers look like a block of meaningless information.

Blog Stats widget dialog box

I know this may be hard to swallow, but that is the truth.

Let me just backtrack a little bit and elaborate before someone starts calling me names.

1. Currently, there is no method which can claim to produce web statistics with 100% accuracy. And the resulting numbers are dependent on what methodology is applied to generate those numbers. The fact that even Google has to explain the terms used in its analytics and how the Google numbers are calculated shows the difficulty in coming up with commonly accepted standards. You may wish to check out this page as an additional background.

2. Without being critical, WordPress.com in its Support page provided not enough information as to what the Blog Stats numbers are. Perhaps, to others the numbers need no explanation? Or perhaps there is another related Support page which I missed? I certainly don’t have the answer to that.

3. Again, without being critical, the same WordPress.com Support page says that we, the bloggers, can choose which word to use in describing the numbers. The two popular words, according to WP, are: “hits” (which is the default label in the Blog Stats widget dialog box), and “views”, the label “views” being more consistent with the label “Total Views”, used in the Blog Stats Dashboard | Summary Table.

4. The use of “hits” was okay, and even a buzzword, many many years ago. Is it still okay to use “hits” these days without defining what you mean by “hits”?

5. In technical terms, “hits” is not “visits” nor “views”. “Hits” are the number of files served when a web page (no distinction here between WP “post” and “page”) is requested from a server. A graphic, an icon, a banner and all sorts of files that make up a page are, technically, “hits”. For example, when you opened this page, the server’s log should have recorded at least 40 “hits” just on the bullets, icons and images alone displayed on this page.

Given this background, where does that leave us if we want to show off our WP blogs stats?

You may have other ideas, but right now I can think of only two things we can do to correctly show off our WP blog stats:

1. Stick to using “Views” to label those numbers. I will not use labels like “hits” or “visits” if I were you. In the absence of additional information from WP, these labels may be inaccurate information. You may be describing the numbers something that they are not. In the Blog Stats dashboard, the numbers are labeled “views”, remember?

2. Disclose the period covered by the stats. Again, the numbers are pretty much meaningless unless the period to which they relate is described. Here is an example to show how futile and frustrating it is to read blog stats crafted using the Blog Stats widget:

If you are the owner of this blog and you know that your blog stats are for 12 months, no problem. You know what your stats stand for. But if you are a visitor of this blog and you don’t have that same information, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? What do these 3,000 views represent? Are these yesterday’s views? Or perhaps, last week’s? Or last month’s? Or, last 12 months’? And how do I compare the “popularity” of this blog with another blog with only 1,500 views but I know that this other blog has been online for only 2 months?

Any suggested wordings?

By the way, I am not fond of showing off my site’s stats whether here at WP or in my company’s websites. We also do not display in my company’s websites any stats counter or meter. But if I were to show off my blog stats on the sidebar, I would probably disclose the numbers this way:

or something like:

A little bit long, you think? But no one will argue the suggested wordings are not misleading. And they are easy to understand.

Again, in a worst-case scenario too, you can present a screenshot of your blog stats dashboard plus some other information about your blog to prove that the blog stats you are claiming are factual. That is, if someone starts questioning your numbers and you need to show proof. About your friends being very pleased? I am sure your friends would be happy to come to your rescue and say they are pleased with your blog!

.
End Notes: The WP Blog Stats inside my blog’s dashboard is an excellent tracking and management tool. With the Blog Stats, I learn a lot about my blog. But when used as a widget and without additional information about the numbers displayed on the sidebar, the stats are meaningless. Did I step on sensitive toes with this post? I hope not. But if I did, that’s a risk I take.
.

I get a kick out of checking my blog stats.  Don’t we all?  How many people visit each day, where they come from, where they go, which posts are the most popular…and of course, best of all, the search terms.

Given that this blog is mostly about whatever pops into my mind and comes out of my craft room (or would if I had a craft room, which I don’t) on any given day, it’s always amusing to see what search terms lead people to the site.

I’ll give you one guess what the most popular internet search to bring people to In THIS Life is.  Crochet?  Family?  Kids?  Nope.  It’s any combination of the words frosty and fries.  Given the subject of that post, and Jason’s insistence that I’m uniquely warped for enjoying that culinary combination, I find endless amusement that the overwhelming majority of people who find this site through a search engine do so because they’re searching for fries and Frosties.

The second-favorite search term is equally amusing to me: snakes.  I think we’ve established before that I am extremely ophidiophobic.  That people come to my blog looking for “snake food,” “cute snakes,” and with the question “how do snakes stay cool” is rather amusing.  On a similar, but much cuter, reptilian note, 18 people have come here looking for “tutles.”  Apparently I, along with 18 other people, misspelled ‘turtle’ somewhere.

And “circulatory system of an owl?”  Scientific inquiry was the last thing I expected after my post about Twilight last year.

Most of the other search terms make perfect sense.  Things like “plarn crochet,” “star wars valentines mailboxes,” and “solas caomh” all fit rather nicely.  Of course, there’s also the occasional search term that makes my stomach quiver.  There are certain things one would only ever search for on the internet if one had evil intent towards minors.  As one such term began to point people to my blog more and more frequently, I finally realized why a certain post was drawing their unwanted attention, and I changed some of the terms I used it.  Sad how innocent conversation can draw unwanted attention.  (I’m happy to report that since changing that post, precisely zero inappropriate searches have come my way.)

And look, now we have a whole new post, just jam packed with keywords, albeit low-frequency ones.  I wonder what that will do to my stats!

Throughout the blogoshpere there seems to be one consistent question.  How do I get more traffic?  Whether you are starting an online business or giving your business an online presence or writing for your church and most anything in between, the question remains.  What can I do to make my online presence more valuable to people?  How can I drive more people to my page?  While there are many ways to answer this question and many ways that I have discovered, that isn’t what I really want to focus on today.  I’m thinking more of how does this question apply to ministry blogs and self-promotion.

We are all human.  Part of being human is having to deal with the issue of what others think and the desire to be liked by others.  I think we all struggle with this to some degree.  And this issue is no different in the blogging world than at school, work, or the gym.  Each writer wants his or her work to be appreciated and liked.  Once something is written or created, the writer now has to help others find this creation.  One major way for online writers to feel that their work is being appreciated and enjoyed is by the website statistics.  There is good information out there to learn from.  You can find out where people are reading from, what they click on the most, what they search for the most, how often the come to the page and so much more.  But then the writer has to make sure they don’t fall into the trap of putting too much emphasis on the stats.  Obviously this is a different scenario for those selling things, but for ministry it is something to think about.

If you are not careful, it becomes very easy to pay too much attention to your blog stats or number of Twitter followers or Facebook friends.  It becomes too easy to forget the reason your site is there in the first place.  It is no longer about the ministry or what is being written and read.  At that point why are you blogging anyway?  I have found myself there before.  I become worried about how many people are coming to my page or how many people just stopped following me on Twitter or if anyone is a fan of my page on Facebook.  I forget why I started doing this in the first place.

Another very related issue is that of self-promotion.  Once your page has been created, there is a necessary amount of promotion that must be done in order for anything to happen with your page.  But at what point is there the line that is going too far with the self-promotion?  Is it wrong to Twitter when you have a new post?  If not, how many times is it ok to push your site?  Is it wrong to link your page?  Is it wrong to sign your blog up on the blog database websites?  Is it ok to have your website be your name or should it be something more generic and churchy?  Or can you chalk those actions up to desiring to see God work through another avenue in your life and hoping to impact someone else’s life?  I think I can see both sides of the coin here.  On one side it is annoying and a deterrent when someone pushes their page too much, but on the other side, if they don’t push it at least some, people won’t know about it or they will forget about it.  What kind of impact can you have if no one knows about your page?  What kind of influence could you have on God’s people if you did promote it?

For me, I know that I would love to see the Lord use my writings and thoughts to impact people’s lives.  Kinda part of being a pastor I guess.  Maybe it’s just my way of preaching so I don’t have to get up and talk in front of people.  If the readership I have right now is doing the max of what God has planned for this blog, then so be it, but if there is something bigger in the future for this blog, that’s ok too!  I just want to use the gifts and resources that I have been given to impact the lives of those I might come in contact with.  I pray that God would help me see that this is a tool for Him to use and not an ego booster.  I pray that I can move past the “what do they think” and “did people like that” and help fight the stereotype that being a pastor at a church is basic narcissism.

Who knew that googling sex with your sister was a bi-monthly activity? The last time I had a spike in blog readership it was due to an article I wrote when I discovered how many people were finding me using search terms involving sex with sisters. Sex With Sister Tips. Um…Yeah got 402 hits in July, 67 hits in August, 235 hits in September, 10 hits in October, and so far 280 hits in November. Each of these spikes in hits occurred within a short span of time, which makes me wonder what happens for a couple of days every other month that makes people want to know about having sex with their sister. On the other hand, perhaps I don’t want to know.

I’m going to miss perusing stats such as these, but if I’m going to be spending less time online, the stats will have to go. Though I find them fascinating, checking stats is an unproductive activity. Does it help me to know that blog readership is down? Does it help me to know that blog viewership is up due to sex with sister tips? Not really.

And why am I writing about this instead of promoting my blog tour? Because it’s more interesting than announcing that, once again, my host bailed on me. I posted the article on the Dragon My Feet blog so it didn’t go to waste, so if you want to see it, you can find it here: What Do You Do When You Have Too Much Background Information?

Lazarus Barnhill, a fellow Second Wind author has posted an interesting article: In Praise of Romance. It’s mostly about the Second Wind romance writers (so you won’t find my books listed), but it’s still worth taking a look at — for the question he asks, if nothing else: Can a man write a romance novel?

So what else is interesting? I spent the morning unfollowing people on Twitter who unfollowed me. If you want to find out who unfollowed you, go to Friend or Follow. It’s one of the more interesting Twitter-related programs I’ve seen in a long time. The unfollowing is the beginning of my new focus — quality, not quantity. I’m not going to automatically follow people just because they follow me. If my promotional actvities aren’t going to make me rich, then I’m going to have fun.

Speaking of fun, tomorrow should be a fun day. I’m going to be hosting romance author Judi Fennell here and at Dragon My Feet, and she will be hosting me at her blog. I will be talking about mountains and mermaids. Bet you never saw that one coming!

Don’t forget, you can download the first 30% of each of my books free at Smashwords.

Oh, and in case you’d like to follow me on Twitter, you can find me here: Twitter

: : : : : : : : : :

Please, God, forgive me [us] for making fun of these “people “.  I [we] know it is wrong.  But then again, their silliness can be gist for some reasonable thought – as hard as that is to believe…

As noted below, yesterday we hit a daily view record.  This happened with the likely help of a conservative blog sewer at which some of us used to post.  This blog is the frequent subject of comments there.  The “people” there contend that we don’t post there because we are “close-minded”.  This accusation comes from “thinking humans” who contend the planet earth is 8,000 years old,  that global climate change is some liberal ploy to deny them their SUV’s, and that the government exists to attempt to deny them access to their firearms.  Don’t these “thoughts” sound like material one could naturally be drawn to?

In regard to one blogger there [oko], I used to contend that if she had a half-way responsible family, they’d do an intervention and take her keyboard away.  But, I think it is likely they would rather hear her keyboard clicking up in that locked attic room over hearing her incoherent yelling and slobbering.  Another open-minded confederacy apologizing fool, abandoned a friendship of his because the offending party had the gall to post on this blog – doesn’t he sound like a “friend” one would hate to lose.  The list of idiotic ravings and rantings could go on and on… But hopefully, these examples provide a window into what I am talking about.

I am recalling the words of a supervisor who once told me, “When those folks disagree with me, I know I am on the right track.”  I believe today, that I know what he was talking about…

* This occurs in the Bible, Job 10:15 (King James Version) in the form ‘woe unto me’.

Job is one of the oldest books in the Old Testament, early versions of which date from about 1200BC, making the phrase in the original language 3,200 years old. The first occurrence of it in English would have been Wycliffe’s Bible translation in 1382.

Over on The World of Sherby57 I have a monthly feature called Post From The Past. In it I take a look back at all the blog posts that I made in that month in the previous year, in the form of a pop-charts style countdown. I’m the first to admit that this is a cheap ploy in order to try and get some hits on my older posts. In fact, I even go as far as to put the following disclaimer on each entry (when I remember to do it):

This is an extremely self-indulgent feature and is a cynical attempt to recycle stuff that I have written in the past in the vain hope that someone will actually read them. Please feel free to slag off “Post From The Past” to your hearts content.

I’ve always assumed that I wouldn’t do a similar thing on PSGOM, but, as we approach its first birthday, I’ve changed my mind (hence this post). I believe that it’s the duty of every blogger to shamelessly plug their blog in any way that they can, and advertising old posts seems like a great way to do that. Welcome to Post Recycling.

I’m going to try and do more than just a ‘top 10′ countdown of the posts and try to comment a bit on why I wrote them and what I think about them now. I really am a fascinating man. The first post of the month, and the first ever, was Why I Is Here, from the 29th November. It’s basically a quick explanation of why I started the blog, which I will summarize for you: I like writing, I want to get better at it, I started a new blog. I did already have Sherby57 on the go, but, since it is basically just a stream of consciousness, it wasn’t really improving my writing skills.

It’s (perhaps) worth noting that this is not the original location of PSGOM. Sherby57 has always lived on WordPress.com and I’d always been happy with it, but I’d seen a lot of other popular blogs using Blogger, so I thought I’d give it a try. It’s fair to say that I didn’t like it from the beginning – the biggest problem being the lack of any stats – but I gave it a go anyway. Being obsessed by stats makes me sound like a control freak, but there is a simple reason why I like them: I want to know that I’ve had some visitors, even if it was only one a day. Blogger was just a complete black hole – although I probably wasn’t actually getting any hits. For those that are interested (that would be me), the original PSGOM still exists here.

The thing that I really notice about the post is how much I’d like to rewrite it. Even the first line contains an obvious mistake:

So, I should probably start with the age old question, ‘Why are you starting blog?’

It sounds like I’m trying to talk like a caveman. Weirdly, the original post on Blogger contains the omitted ‘this’, so it’s a mystery as to how it disappeared (my theory is mischievous blog fairies). I actually did re-write the post to a large extent on my About Gravy page, but I even want to re-write that again now. I’m just such a perfectionist….no sniggering at the back, please.

I luckily started the blog towards the end of the month, which means that I have only one more post to cover. Fittingly, it is about my favourite blogging topic, The X Factor. The post, called X-Rated, gives some of the reasons why I like the programme and has a few thoughts on last year’s competition. I actually quite like the post and it’s all, generally, still valid; I would just like to go back and punctuate it a little better (and I know my punctuation isn’t perfect now).

On a more important note, one of the reasons I gave for watching the show was:

3) Cheryl Cole. Quite simply, I’m in love

But this year the words ‘Cheryl Cole’ have to be replaced with the words, ‘Holly Willoughby’. People that know me are shocked to learn that Cheryl has fallen from the number one slot on my favourite celebrity chart. It’s a position she held for many years and looked completely unassailable – I’d almost say that she was getting a little complacent. It’s all credit to Holly for accomplishing the seemingly impossible; she should get some kind of special badge. Cheryl must be feeling like a runner who has just had their long-standing world record smashed – absolutely gutted.

The post also contains my first mention of how quickly I managed to watch it all in. It took me 93 minutes to watch 255 minutes of programming. Using new-fangled scientific techniques, this equates to an X Factor ratio of 39.6%. No need to thank me, stats fans.

Anyway, that’s it for this month’s Post Recycling, see you next time. Unless I decide that this was rubbish and I don’t do it again.

On the eve of the first birthday for the Aerie, I would like to present some of the statistics for the past year.

Here is a chart of the views broken down by month for the past twelve months

Table 1

Note that the first 4 months were very poor indeed for views.  November and December ‘08 only got a combined viewing of 81.  January and February of this year were not much better but I was greatly pleased over the increase from the previous two months.  Things really began to take off this past March.  Notice the large spike in May.  It steadied off during the summer and even took a slight dip but took off again two months ago in September.  Last month, October, saw a daily average of 1,311 views.  The views for November to date 11.10.09 are 12,603 which puts the Aerie on track for well over 1,000 views a day for the rest of the month.

There is a large dip showing in the last month, but remember that we are still in just the second week of November and on track for an even better month than October.

Here is a table showing monthly views and averages in non-graph form

Table 2

The best single day was just a couple of weeks ago.  Thursday, October 29th, the Aerie got 1,715 views and a monthly average of 1,311.  Over all for the past twelve months the daily average is 652, but this is skewed dramatically by the sparse first couple or three months.  With views now averaging well over 1,000 a day this overall monthly average is sure to rise.

As for views for individual posts, the Aerie has 375 posts.  On average over a year this comes to just a small fraction over 1 per day.  The majority of these came in the first half of the year when I was posting nearly every day and sometimes two or three times a day.  My pace has slackened off considerably the past six months.  As for average of views:posts it averages to 550 per post.  But, this is GROSSLY misleading.  You can see this just by going down to the recent post Top Fifteen.

Here I show with photo representation (and links) the total views for my top fifteen view getters.  Here by calculation we can see that only 4% of the total posts got over 50% of the total views!

Now by avocation I am a Social Scientist who LOATHES statistics for the ways in which they can be manipulated to the users wishes.  So let me try to make some sense of all these numbers.  First, let’s ask just how it is that I am getting so an impressive number of views and second why such a small percentage of posts is responsible for the majority of views.

I am slightly, but not completely, saddened to say that the views are by and large attributable to the images therein.

I would LOVE to say that the superlative quality of my writing and sharp sardonic wit is what is creating the drove of views.  But, I can’t.  A simple peace sign from google images inserted into Give War A Chance caused the most meteoric rise in views in any post to date.   Since it was posted on August 31, it has garnered 6,714 views–95 views per day average.  Many of those days, at least ten of which, were completely dead days with no views at all.

The reason I am not COMPLETELY saddened is because a lot of the posts that are getting hits for the images are also examples of what I consider some of my best work.  Give war A Chance is just one of these.  The Tet Offensive is another.  So while people may be coming for the images I comfort myself with the hopes that the main content will grab their attention.  Why would you come here looking for a Peace Sign if you were not interested in the culture that generated the symbol in the first place and once here you just might be grabbed by the irony of a peace sign in a post exhorting people to give WAR a chance.

Makes sense to me.

The Aerie has a lot of good writing.  Doc and I do a very good job.  We give a lot of good content and for the price you pay as a fraction of your Internet connection fees, we think it’s pretty damn good.  We try to keep it fresh.  We mix it up.  We use personal stories.  We are topical and we write to universal and timeless ideas.  And we are VERY humble–especially Doc.  In fact Doc believes himself to be the MOST humble writer on the World Wide Web, bar NONE!

And now I am rambling.  Tomorrow is the birthday.

If you are a regular reader here you can finish the rest of the last sentence.

And We . . . . .

Gryphon.

]]> http://savanvleck.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/simple-vs-complicated-people/ Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:27:26 +0000 savanvleck http://savanvleck.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/simple-vs-complicated-people/

I know you are not going to believe this, but HONEST, I am not writing this blog to get my stats up.  I rarely even check on them anymore.  In fact, I was shocked to realize today, since I rarely get comments, that I have a following.  “You do love me.”  Well, like at any rate.

So, when I mention Viggo Mortensen, please believe me, that I am not mentioning Viggo Mortensen to ratchet up ratings. 

Viggo Mortensen is again in the news with his role in The Road (2009) and was referred to as being “complicated” in an article I read recently, and I apologize that I cannot find it to link here.  It seemed to me that the author had no understanding of the person he is.  Not that I would know what kind of person he is, having only read about a gazillion interviews of his, but never having met him.

But, I am thinking that he is actually a very simple person and not complicated at all.

Perhaps I can relate, as I have multiple artistic interests also  and feel as though we have a lot in common.  We both love the outdoors.  He speaks approximately five languages fluently and I can speak, let’s see, exactly one.  I was learning Amslan at one time and I have taken a Spanish class four times (obviously, not successfully).  But, I think our joint passion for Dark Chocolate counts.

It seems that he is an honorable, honest person.  I feel it is more complicated to be dishonorable and a liar as you have to keep all those lies straight.  Although, the liars I know are not very good at it.  And, you know who you are!!!

I think, as an artistic person, he is also simply entertained.  Getting in his truck and taking off on a discovery road trip, spending hours sketching, photographing, spending your time as someone else, being honest are all, in my mind, simple enjoyable things.

Now, the guys who have to have their heads full of ringing cell phones, and Wall Street numbers, and never sitting still for one minute to be in their own head—those are the guys who are complicated.

Can I just tell you that the WordPress blog stats are a UPOC (that’s “useless piece of crap”, in case it wasn’t obvious). Basically, all I know is that some people, sometimes, find their way here. I can’t even set up a nice little map of the world on which all two of you would appear as red dots. As far as I know, the situation can’t be improved, not even with money. If I’m wrong and something can be done  – other than uproot this virtual home of mine, skip over a fence and settle among greener grass (although if you know where that pasture might be, do tell), please leave a comment. Thanks. Regular service will be resumed shortly.

So one of the wonderful things about WordPress is that it gives you all these statistics on visitors to your blog, as well as the links and search engine queries that bring them to your wonderful little neck of the internet. Most visitors come here because of that post on Farscape Webisodes, hoping like I am to finally get some news from Syfy about when we can expect to see new material. Imagine the disappointment when they realize that my post is just another whino’s lament. The latest news came out of this year’s Comic Con, in which it was announced that the webisodes were still in the pipeline. Well, frell me dead. In 40 years will I be sitting on my porch telling my grandchildren that there once was a dream called “Farscape Webisodes” and some day, after the meek inherit the Earth, the TV god who comes shall finally keep his promise?

The second largest group of visitors want to see Alexander Skarsgard drinking, shirtless, in his underwear or just naked, preferably with Stark Sands by his side. I’m right there with you. In third place, are visitors seeking “21 things to do when your 21″. To these lovely individuals I must add a 22nd item: learn the difference between “you’re” and “your” before your 22nd birthday or before you’re 22.

Some of the other visitors leave me absolutely baffled. Why would anyone want to search for gassy vegetarians? Are gassy vegetarians the new Old Spice Man? If so, I don’t see it, or smell it for that matter. Three people searched for their “own cleavage,” like it’s for sale. Oh, wait a minute … Wouldn’t “breast enhancement” be a much better search query?

Anyway, you will not be disappointed if you came looking for:

• Ryan Reynold’s cheese grater abs
• Jared Padelecki boy next door
• Hatred for Zac Efron hair
• True Blood fangover cures

You will be sorely disappointed if you came looking for:

• vintage conch shell people (WTF?)
• an uneven tits gallery (Seriously, is this a fetish?)
• vacuuming naked (That’s just asking for trouble)
• sexually biting testicles (No comment)

I wish I were making this shit up because then I would be awesome but the truth is I am not that awesome.

So far no one besides Ayn has come seeking Vladimir Putin. This makes me very sad.

He can kill you with his deadly nipples.

I should start by saying that I track the IP addresses of everyone who visits my blog. Not all obsessive-like or anything, but more for curiosity’s sake than anything else. I don’t really look at them unless I have a day where I have 10 times as many hits as I normally would – then I check out to see where the hits are coming from globally.

I have been getting quite a few hits from France lately. What’s up France? Am I listed in a magazine over there or something?

Iowa voices were heard yesterday when asked to support their own. If you haven’t been following the friendly feud with the N.C. firm, Media Two then you’ll want to read the last few posts:

The open letter to Mr. Kutcher post
The Worst of the Week: Media Two post
The original vote for Ad Mavericks post

We can’t thank the Iowa Tweeps enough for the ridiculous support this week. We started the week trailing the folks at Media Two by over 40 votes. Right now, we are leading by about 100 votes.

How did we do it? We direct messaged key people that we had an established Twitter relationship with. For the most part, these people had the following attributes:
1. Large Twitter following
2.Previous engagement with the AdMavericks – We tweeted back and forth or retweeted something the other had said.

3. People we’ve met at conferences, parties or networking events.
4. Are passionate about Des Moines business, Iowa business and the Midwest as a place of innovation and growth.

-About 30 direct messages were sent in total asking for support.
-At least 50 retweets (that I saw) appeared on Twitter
-Over 600 people visited our blog on Monday – our 2nd busiest day all time.

The social media spirit is certainly alive and well in Iowa!

Now, I’m not sure if Mr. Kutcher made his way over to our blog, but I’m pretty sure he’s heard us. And that was the point. Cut through the clutter of everything else that gets sent to @aplusk. Isn’t that what good marketing does? Cut through the clutter?

Even if Mr. Kutcher doesn’t tweet up the vote for Ad Mavericks/vote for Iowa this is still a win for all of us. And when I say all of us, I mean, Iowa, MediaTwo, Michael Gass (who started the contest) and the Ad Mavericks.

Now, I don’t expect the folks at Media Two to lay down. Quite the opposite. The voting ends on Nov. 5 so any continued love you can show Iowa and the AdMavericks is appreciated. Oh yeah, here’s where to vote.

Author: AdMavericks
www.lessingflynn.com
:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

As slow as we’ve been here lately, I was surprised to notice our 30,000 visitor mark had quietly slipped by. It was only 5 months ago we reached the 20,000 mark.

Here’s our Top 15 (of 135) most visited posts and/or pages:

The Amero: Hoax, or cause for concern?  12,143 views

Another Installment From The WTF Desk…  707 views

Take A Stand Against McDonalds  550 views

Jeff Beck at Ronnie Scott’s…unbelievable!  295 views

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid…  275 views

No Habla Ingles? Avoid Wyoming!  252 views

Further On Up The Road…  204 views

Joe Bonamassa Morphs Into Large Black Man! Cool!  175 views

Detention Camps?  164 views

About THE BS BLOG  162 views

Contact BS  147 views

Tea Baggers Unite!  140 views

Here’s a “Best of” that Rocks!  139 views

The Monty Hall Problem  131 views

I.O.U.S.A.  125 views

Thanks again!

Things have been quiet (at least since last week) around the blog for a while, and so Evenshine wanders into the always-humbling exercise of Checking The Blog Stats.

I learned early on in this blogging thing that I could either pay assiduous attention to the Numbers, and agonize over my relative insignificance in the world, wondering about the many visitors (or lack thereof) and the reasons they arrived, or…not.

I chose the latter.

Every now and then, however, I have to wonder what people are looking for when they find me. You know you’ve done it. It sheds surprisingly little light into either your writing ability or your attractiveness as a person/blog. But, like waxing and rubbernecking, we do it anyway.

So, then: the latest  installment of What The Huh Were You Searching For, That You Arrived Here, in order of popularity:

1. Victoria Beckham hair short/ Kate Walsh hair: Both of these are near the top in % of searchers. Probably due to this post, where I was in desperate need of a haircut. I can guarantee, however, that you did NOT find what you were looking for. And no, that’s not me in the picture.

2. shamrock/ shamrock pics/ sham ROCK: amazing that such a tiny plantlike thingie could create so much traffic. And what is that last term? Are they looking for a fake rock and roll act, a la Spinal Tap, or a stone that looks real but is not, or is this the title for the new Fraggles’ movie?

3. is it normal to have two periods/ low sex drive/ short periods with Paragard/ Paragard pain/ pregnancy Paragard etc.: Look. I’m not your OB/Gyn. Make an appointment and discuss these things with her/him. I have no idea why you can feel the strings, nor can I shed any light on why Paragard is lowering your sex drive. Really. Stop asking.

4. Latino baby/cute baby pics/ ColombianEcuadorianMexicanPanamanian baby/ mixed baby pics etc. Yes, I’ll own it, shamelessly. I’ve got some cute kids. But seriously: is there some discernable difference in cuteness between a Colombian baby and a Mexican one? Were we shopping??? Add to basket…

5. chicken dough depardieu receipt: I am speechless. I sincerely hope you find whatever it was you were looking for, and that it is in no way related to me or my blog. And I only ate the chicken dough that one time.