Saturday, April 17, 2010

a bit of a ramble, because I've missed you

I saw #1 blog fan Mac last night and was reminded that I hadn't given the people what they wanted since Tuesday.  Sorry, imaginary readers.  I lost track of time and neglected you for far too long.  (Although I would argue that I gave you such great material on both Monday and Tuesday, that I deserve for you to cut me a break.  But let's not argue, friends.  I'll just do better next time.)

I've got a few posts/ideas in the hopper, but none of them are quite ready for public consumption yet, so I'm just going to meander through the rest of this post with no clear direction.  I'm sure you won't notice the difference.

I was in kind of a foul mood last week.  If you saw me or had interaction with me from Monday through Thursday, I'm sorry for being a grouchy jerk.  I don't know what was wrong or why I was crabby, but I just had the case of the blahs.  Lucky for us all, my moma and the Popster came for a visit, and spending the day getting stuff hung on my walls and some decorative stuff in place lifted my spirits.  Plus seeing my moma just does that for me.  She's good people.  And because we got so much stuff done, there's going to be at least one more home improvement post in your future, I bet.  But not today.

Google Analytics has been my special friend lately.  I love knowing how many people are visiting me here and how they're finding me and whatnot.  It was through the miracle of Google Analytics that I discovered my brush with HGTV internet-stardom--when my visits spiked last Saturday, I discovered that nearly all of those visitors were coming through the same referring site.  I also discovered this week that some decorating/home improvement Spanish language blog had created a post using most of my process pictures and linked to my blog.  I was severely disappointed in myself that I could comprehend almost none of the text, but thanks to the incredibly literal translating efforts of Microsoft office products, I think I got the gist of it.  It definitely seemed from the translated version that the writer may have been trying to pass the project of as her own, but she did link to my blog, so I don't think it was in a nefarious way.  I will say the poorly translated version that I read definitely didn't convey the charm and wit that I used to originally recount the project, but I'm willing to bet that if I could have understood the Spanish without the help of a translator, it would have been lovely.

In other Google Analytic news, it seems as though the increased traffic from the HGTV plug is dying down.  I was back down to less than a hundred visitors yesterday for the first time in a week.  Before this thing happened, I averaged between 20 and 30 a day.  I know the quality of the product really shouldn't be affected by the stats, but I did feel a certain amount of pressure to perform well for all the increased traffic.  The truth that I learned from my stats is that almost none of the new visitors explored beyond the dresser post on which they landed.  My bounce rate increased by about 50% this week (though the fact that my visits were up over 500% sort of made up for that a bit).  I guess it comes down to preferring  a smaller number of readers who I feel like are at least moderately invested in this blogging adventure or a huge number of people who just happen by.  The point of all that convoluted wandering is that I've reminded myself today that stats don't drive what I do here, so it's cool if none of those people ever return--though if they do, I'll be here to greet them with my usual standard of excellence . . . or something. 

And here's one more thing I learned from Google Analytics--and then I promise I'm moving on.  I realized this week that it can tell me what service providers my visitors are using, and I discovered that in the days following my open letter to Penske, I had several visitors originating from their network.  I guess those open letters were more powerful than I realized.  I'll have to use them wisely from now on--though I still have no statistical proof that the Michael Jackson mime found my blog after my open letter to him.

Last Sunday I set a lofty goal and shared it with Shane about catching up on my Daily Bible reading.  I didn't come close on the goal, but I did make some progress this week.  Faithful project 4:4 fans (or just faithful fans of the Bible) will be receiving a new prodigal 4:4 post soon.  But I'll still be five weeks behind.  Sigh.  Speaking of other things I'm behind on . . . I requested all seven books that FHDM recommends to improve one's writing.  Because not reading books I already owned or already had checked out from the library wasn't enough.  I had to bring more books into my immediate vicinity that I wouldn't make time to read.  But I warn you, imaginary readers, if I ever get those seven books read, you won't be able to stay away. 

I want to start food blogging, but I never think about it until after I've already made and eaten something that would make an interesting post.  I'm going to think more about this--my kitchen does have great natural light, so if I were ever home to do any cooking during the day, I think it would make some great photos.  Maybe someday.  Today at the library, I was going to make those dirt cup things with the gummy worms and I would have shown you a picture of that, but no one showed up for the program.

Things are about to get so intense at work that I may not be able to resist blogging about my job.  I'll truly know then that I've run out of decent ideas--or that work has so consumed me that I don't have time for other thoughts.  If it happens, please don't give up on me.

I have discovered what I believe to be the perfect hypothetical question.  It reveals so much about those that answer.  So let me ask you here, imaginary reader, and maybe someday I'll analyze your responses and tell you what they say about you as a person.  Ready?  Here goes:

If you were ordering a pizza for yourself and didn't have to share with anyone, what three toppings would you choose?  You must choose exactly three toppings.  You may explain why if, like me, you can't answer a direct question without justifications and explanations and personal history.

8 comments:

  1. This is a great question. I like pepperoni as a single topping, but with multiple toppings its largeness makes getting the right sized bite difficult. So my meat of choice on a three topping pizza is sausage. I would like to have pineapple on this pizza also but do not know what vegetable would go best as the third topping. So I will have green peppers and red onions with my sausage. If I had decided to go with two meats, I would have chosen sausage, bacon, and pineapple. I did not pick the traditional Canadian bacon because it comes in large pieces like the pepperoni and is often too thick to bite through with my dull teeth. But as everyone who has ever seen me eat knows, I will eat any and all pizzas that are within arms reach of me. By "within arms reach," I mean a ten mile radius.

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  2. Picking three is hard for me. I want I-talian sausage and pepperonis and bell peppers and onions and mushrooms. If I have to pick three, I drop the peppers and onions, but I would be sad about it.

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  3. Let me start with the best pizzas are made in NYC. The pizza should have homemade tomato sauce and fresh mozarella on a thick crust. This is called a Sicilian Pie.

    Anyway on to answer your question,my choices would be Pepperoni, Portobello Mushrooms, and
    Chicken Masala. The reason why is I love Pepperoni on a pizza, Portobello Mushrooms are out of this world, and I love Chicken Masala.

    This is a very good question. You can learn a lot about people from what they eat. You should do this again with another food.

    WGW III

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  4. 1. My favorite pizza ever is the deluxe from Cassano's in MIddletown. It has sausage, green bell pepper, onion, mushrooms and pepperoni. It makes me want to weep with its deliciousness.

    But, if I can only have 3 things...
    2. Mushrooms, pork sausage, and very finely chopped red onion

    3. I love that Penske saw the letter--I wonder what they thought? You know they loved the game. How could they not?

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  5. Mmmmmmm pizza with bacon, pepperoni, and green peppers.

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  6. I had no idea you were a green pepper guy, Joshua. My top (usually anyway) is bacon, Canadian bacon, and green peppers. We're almost pizza twins. You're not a blacks sheep, after all.

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  7. I don't think pizza toppings can take away a status I have earned over the last 31 years especially since we didn't describe the whole pizza.

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  8. Being as picky as I am, you would think that it might be hard for me to come up with 3 toppings for pizza. But it's not!

    1.) Bacon. Nothing should be said to explain this choice. It's bacon.

    2.) Chicken. Ever since I had a bbq chicken pizza at a brick oven pizzaria, I love chicken as a topping.

    3.) Canadian bacon (aka ham). Love it on pizza.

    I'm sure you are not surprised that I did not list any veggies. I'm pretty sure that green beans would not be good on pizza. ;)

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what do you think?