Friday, January 19, 2007

THE THINGS A COMPUTER CAN DO

A long time ago I decided not to put a stat counter on my blog because I didn’t believe I was technically capable enough to do it. Then I realized that I would have to be a complete idiot with no hands or feet not to be able to do it so I did. I love my stat counter. I am slightly obsessed. I think that it could become a huge problem for me. I have always liked graphs, facts, figures, useless information, and randomness. The stat counter combines them all. I wish I had done it a long long time ago.

Yesterday I found a friends computer and was able to deduce what she was doing on it by looking at the length of time she spent on the page and my deductions were confirmed. I felt real special, like a secret agent. I also realize that most people who end up on my blog don’t stay all that long, which is ok by me because I am sure that my almost interesting musings aren’t at all interesting to many people. I can deal with that, it makes sense. What I don’t understand is why some people spend over an hour on my page. I admit that I am happy about their interest. I just don’t understand it. At all. I’m only almost interesting.

The country breakdown is also interesting. I knew I had visitors from all over but I didn’t know how much all over. I’m talking about places like Brazil, Malaysia, and Ireland. I knew I had visitors from the UK but not Ireland, and there were a few.

As any of you people with a stat counter know, the search results that bring people to your page are always incredibly interesting and often hilarious. Surprisingly, about 75% of the searches that brought people to me were about figure skating. Granted, when I talk about figure skating I really talk about figure skating but I only did it twice. I’m sure more will come after Nationals this month and Worlds in March but it obviously isn’t my main thing. My favorite search was “Ironman racist lyrics”. Last I knew, Ironman didn’t have racist lyrics but apparently the site that comes up after mine talks about a sir-mix-a-lot song called Ironman that apparently has some racially stereotypical lyrics. Who knew? I thought it was funny that my page came up before the one that obviously answered their query but whatever. “Natalie, I love you, I love you, I love you” was also a nice search. I guess there are a few songs by Natalie’s that have those lyrics in them as well as my many posts about things that I love. Actually, a lot of things got to my page because of song titles or lyrics, which makes sense since I include them on every post. I was flattered to know that if you google the first line from “Little Red Corvette” my blog is the first page you will come upon. I am second in line for “King Herod’s Song” and, as a lover of musicals, which is also a big deal.

For the past two weeks we have been instructed to wear orange and blue on Fridays in support of our Chicago Bears. Most people wear their Bears gear or don’t wear any orange and blue at all. I have no Bears gear but still wanted to show my support. Last week I wore my Orange “Super Dad” shirt with blue lettering. Today I am wearing my Mets shirt, which is particularly hilarious to me. One other person found it funny so far but it is only 10:30. I truly hope that my awesome levels of “spirit” help the Bears get to the Super Bowl. It would be nice. Someone else just told me in a mean voice that I was wearing the wrong team. I explained it was the best I could do and she looked at me crazy. What?

Songs To Aging Children, Joni Mitchell- When I first started to really listen to Joni Mitchell I was in high school and I had a morbid fascination with this song as I felt I was certainly an aging child. I was far too dramatic for my own good. I think it applies more to me now than it did then. Not that I am anything but an adult (although occasionally that could be debated) I just think I understand it better now.

Rise, Public Image Limited- Oh how this song reminds me of “The Rules of Attraction,” the movie not the book. Monica and I watched this movie A LOT for a while. I never thought I would be such a fan of a movie staring Dawson but this movie is fantastic! If you haven’t seen it you should stop reading this silly blog and haul tail to the video store. There are so many priceless scenes in this film that I can’t even begin to think about them. THE NAME IS DICK!

Astro Boy, The Dwarves
- I don’t think this song has anything to do with the cartoon Astro Boy that my Mom loves so dearly. I think her face on Christmas when she opened Astro Boy was almost as adorable as my face when I opened Jabba The Hut after a good 15 years of wanting it.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I laughed my fool head off at your mention of Astro Boy (and my face on Christmas morning)! I waited a lot longer for the Astro Boy cartoons than you waited for Jabba...!

About people who "spend an hour" on your blog -- remember that just because their computer is displaying your page doesn't necessarily mean they are actually looking at it for all of that time.

As for football, I'm hoping for a Bears vs. Colts Super Bowl. Which means I have to watch two games this weekend to support "my" teams. I think it's funny that you have two orange and blue T-shirts (and even funnier that both come from lo-o-o-o-o-o-ng ago-o-o-o-). We may have to get you a Macalester shirt to complete your wardrobe. (Gee, too bad the Bears don't wear black...)

Traveling Matt said...

Your stat counter is scary. With all of the google stalking I do... man that's scary.

When you press the "Next Blog" button, it takes you to blogs from Malaysia and Spain and... Iceland.

Oh yeah. Ian Sommerhalder. Word.

Anonymous said...

And many Internet companies have no qualms at all about turning this kind of information over to anyone in the government who might request it...

I think it's very difficult these days to live "off the grid"...

CS said...

I like the statcounter, too - just put one on less than a week ago. And the cool map! But, I will say there are times I have pulled up a blog only to get distracted by something (work, life, whatever) and left it running until I could get back to it. I guess it would look like I was just there the whole time. Or itmes where i see something interesting on a blog, but don't have time so I go back later. Then agagain later when I have time to make a comment. I guess on a statcounter I'd look like a stalker!

Foofa said...

Mom- I know they aren't reading my page for 15 hours but it is still funny. I really don't care who the Bears play in the Super Bowl because I haven't watched this season like I should. I just would like ot see thm there.

Monica- You would be hard to find, I can't find you. Unless you are this one random Chicago IP address that I thought might be you. I only found Friend (and probbaly my Dad) through their company names. If you are on a home computer it is harder to figure out (at least for non techie me). If you don't have one you should get one. You would like it.

Mom- Stop scaring people.

Jaclyn- Huh, I haven't spotted you. I'm gonna have to go look for Ohio.

CSL- I would venture that 99% of people that care enough to comment and actually read blogs look like stalkers on a stat counter. No biggie.

Anonymous said...

Natalie -- OK, OK. I'll stop being scary.

You gotta root for the Colts though, 'cause Tony Dungy used to be the defensive coordinator for the Vikings when you liked them, and really he should've become our head coach. He's a great guy. And how can anyone not enjoy Peyton Manning's excellent sense of humor. "Cut that meat! Cut that meat!" And the commercial where he wears the fake hair and mustache? He's a funny guy.

ENID P. said...

I think its super cute how your mom reads your blog...

ENID P.

ENID P. said...

I like the statcounter...

ENID P.

lakeiyam said...

i just thought of a reason why someone might be googling "natalie, i love you, i love you." Maybe there's someone out there with a significant other named Natalie (i know 2 natalies with significant others, so i'm assuming there are also a few others out there) and they wanted to let that natalie know that they loved them. and the way they decided to do it was with a song that have the lyrics "natalie, i love you, i love you" in them. (now, granted, they maybe should have added the words "song" or "lyrics" to the search but we're gonna assume that they eventually figured that out).

see, now i've posted.

Eve said...

wait, how do I get a stat counter like that?

Also, when I'm at work sometimes I'll keep a page minimized on my desktop for a while.

notfearingchange said...

wwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooohhhhhhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

hey and i can tell you how many people link to your blog from my blog! oh yeah....love the ability. I had one statcounter that gave me people's IP addresses...now that was a bit more creepy. lol

Michael C said...

I often get concerned that some student writing a high school or junior high paper somewhere will stumble on one of my posts through a Google search on their essay topic. I'm rather loose with my 'fact checking' and would hate to get that student in trouble if they ever referenced something I 'factually made up.'

On second thought, most grade school students are probably smarter than I am. I know they're hipper!!
;-)

Mimi Lenox said...

Hi!
Thanks for your submission to Bestest Blog's Meme Carnival!
I have enjoyed reading all the great memes out there in the blogosphere.

The Carnival will be all day Monday, January 22 at
Mimi Writes
(also known as Bloggingham Palace for this event!)

If you have a chance, can you post about the carnival either Sunday evening or on Monday, and include a link?

Thanks for participating!
Mimi - Queen of Memes

http://mimiwrites.blogspot.com

Dan said...

Ironman doesn't have racist lyrics?? Jeez ... no wonder my search came up short! :)

Blondie said...

My stat counter mostly shows searches for "fat cat" "cat barfing" "cat licking plastic" and once I had one about "halloween costumes for bald guys." It cracks me up!

Foofa said...

Enid- Thanks, she is a funny lady. Stats rule almost as much as fashion!

Lakeiya- See how much better that is than coming into my office and telling me your comments. Now the whole world knows the clever inner workings of your mind.

Eve- The link is on your blog, I also leave things minimized. I think we all do sometimes.

Notfearing- I noticed at least 3 yesterday.

Michael- If they did it is their fault for being stupid enough not to recognize the sarcasm and hilarity embedded in your posts. They deserve it.

Dan- Apparently a song called Ironman kind of has them???

Blondie- Halloween costumes for bald guys is one of the funnier things someone would google. I guess they wanted to play up their baldness for Halloween.