stats

Yep, I’m doing the list this week.  But I do want to put out the warning that there might be weeks here and there where I don’t do the list.  The last couple of days, for instance, it’s been difficult keeping up with my reader.  It’s always like that when we have company or anything remotely interesting going on.  (Which isn’t that often because we redefine what it means to be hermits.)  Anyhow, without further ado… I present to you this week’s fabulous list…

First, you’ve gotta check out Advice from Mom, Part I from Mighty Girl.  The advice in this list was SPOT ON.  I may print it out, laminate it, and give it to Evie when she turns 18.  Hey.  That’s not a half bad idea.

After last week’s sob-fest, it’s nice to see something GOOD from Loralee.  “And now for something COMPLETELY different…” from loraleeslooneytunes.com was a breath of fresh air and I found myself pumping my fist for her.  I will be cheering her on through this, you can count on that.  She is very deserving of a happy ending (or beginning?), don’t you think?

I Am Perfect, You Are Not - A Failure Of The Green… from The Good Human is a perfect example of how environmentalists can turn regular people off of going green.  And I’d say it goes for other facets of our lives as well.  I’m thinking, in particular, of politics.  I think a lot of Democrats turn off people who feel that they’re being talked down to, made fun of, whatever.  And when it comes to saving the planet, it doesn’t matter if you don’t do EVERYTHING, just as long as you do SOMETHING.  Wouldn’t you agree?

I think the “Best Post of the Week” award (shut up, it just made it up) should go to Maybe This Isn’t My Place to Say… from karensugarpants.com.  This post had me from start to finish, brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.  I’m a gulible sort, and I didn’t see where she was going with this until the end of the post, which I felt made it that much more powerful.  This post was nothing short of amazing.  READ IT.

Oh Molly, I know (sorta) how you feel.  In How to fall apart with all (some) of the world watching from LOST A SOCK,  she talks about the quagmire she’s sunk into since her baby daughter was born several weeks ago.  It’s not easy.  And I want to club anyone who would dare even make it look like it is.  It’s a day to day struggle.  I want to send her supportive thoughts.  You’re not alone.

Also, if you’re in the mood for some giggles and blogging introspection, read Stats and Man Ponytails from The Bean.  I know what she means when she agonizes over strange and unexplainable differences in stats.  In feeling sometimes tied to the blog because of those stats.  Stats will ruin blogging, I’m positively sure of it.  I hate trying to decifer those maddening dips!

Maybe I’m obsessed with my iPhone, but My Top Ten iPhone Apps from Greeblemonkey is the sort of post I just GOBBLE up these days.  I feel so new to the technology and there are so many “apps” to choose from that I never know which one is going to be the BEST one.  So having a “cheat sheet” to refer to helps like you wouldn’t believe.  And if you don’t have an iPhone, reading this list will make you want to cut off your arm to get one! (Okay, maybe not.  But it sure sounded good, didn’t it?)

And that’s it for this week’s installment.  I hope everyone has fine and productive weekends.  I will be back at some point with pictures and stories from yesterday’s day trip.  Despite appearances, it did NOT involve alcohol (too bad!).  Has anyone guessed where we went?  (I didn’t really make it a secret, for the record.)

It doesn’t matter that I included this little bit at the bottom of last night’s post:

(this is pretty tongue in cheek, I hope you realize that.  I’m not THAT pathetic.)

Okay, maybe it was because it was in really tiny type or you all thought it was another pathetic link to something I’ve written elsewhere (speaking of: check out the post I featured on Blog Nosh today!)  For whatever reason, I get the impression from a lot of my comments that you guys think I’m whining about not having visitors to my blog.  Which, I guess, SORTA but that wasn’t the point of my posting the post in the first place or the point of the graphic.

I get a lot more people to my blog now than I did even a year ago.  That just rocks my socks.  What puzzled me about those stats the most was the weird DIP they took yesterday. I know stats go down on weekends (I have been blogging for four years nearly, I think I know that by now).  But it was such a DRAMATIC dip and fairly uncharacteristic.  So I called attention to it.  And, yeah, I tried to be funny.  But I don’t think that came across too well (note to self: don’t invest in a career as a comedian).

I just don’t want anyone to think that I am one of those bloggers who once they start getting actual traffic start complaining about their stats when most bloggers are happy to have 50 visitors to their site in one day.  (And yes, I know, it TOTALLY looked like that.)  When I posted that, I was watching the Emmys with Kile and feeling a little giddy.  Why the Emmys made me feel giddy in the first place, I have NO IDEA.  But I checked my stats and without pausing for a moment, thought, “This would make an awesome post.”

Apparently… not.

Anyhow.  No, I’m not conceited.  Please don’t think that of me.  I won’t threaten to fire any of you ever again.  I PROMISE.

People.  What do I have to do?  Do I have to post nude pictures here? (Not of me, of course, that would likely have the opposite effect.)  Would you take a look at this pathetic sight right here?

Do I have leprosy?  (It’s not contageous you know, that’s a myth.)  But SERIOUSLY.  Today I had the worst stats I’ve seen in at least thirty days (if not sixty… ninety… I could go on.).   Was it my obnoxious self-aggrandizing poll?  Was it my links list (have I jumped the shark with that?)?  Was it my total “phoning it in” post from today?

Seriously ya’ll.  If things don’t start looking up, I’m gonna have to let you all go.  And in this trying economy, no one wants to see that.

_{(this is pretty tongue in cheek, I hope you realize that.  I’m not THAT pathetic.)}

Normally, I might look at yesterday’s stats and see that I had the lowest pageviews in the last thirty days and worry and fret about it until I had myself worked into such a froth that I would have certainly felt like the end was nigh and been too discouraged to even crack open my laptop today.

Good thing I’m not like that anymore.

Nope, I’ve learned not to let that stuff sweat me anymore.  I’ve learned that the summer is a notoriously slow time on the Interwebz and people have things to do, places to go and beer to drink.  I’ve also learned that weekends are pretty “off” times in the blogosphere as most of us are busy with our own families.  Which is why I post the You Need to Read links list on the weekends in the first place.  It gives me a relatively “easy” post to put up each Saturday and there’s a “no pressure, read at your leisure” quality to it that lets people go about their weekends but also get a good dose of bloggy goodness too.

I know some people who chose to monitize their blogs get very concerned about stats.  I keep track of them, for sure, because I’m interested to see where people are visiting from (link-wise), what they’re reading, etc and so forth.  But I don’t let those stats rule me.  I can’t.  I’d go crazy.

So instead, I chose to sit back, relax, go about my Sunday business with my family and post as usual.  The stats will take care of themselves.

In other news:  We stopped by Whole Foods today and found these apples which freaked us out so much we had to get a couple.  They were kinda yellowish-pink.  A very strange color and called “Pink Pearl“.  Come to find out?  They are THE AWESOME.  God Bless you, Whole Foods.  First you had a lovely chunk of Pecorino in stock for us to have with our pasta tonight and now these fabulous little apples.  I could just kiss you, if you weren’t just a store.