Hmmmm, what to write.....
It was a dark and stormy night....
??
No ?? That one's been done?
OK, I'll start over.
It's a rainy, chilly morning in Alexandria, Virginia, and it's the day after Thanksgiving. I'm, quite thankfully, one of the throng of DC professionals who have the day off, and I'll bet downtown DC is like a morgue this morning. That's because everyone's at their favorite shopping center participating in the shopping orgy known as Black Friday. For the record, I've never jumped into that pile of crazy people, preferring instead to experience it vicariously, via the stories from my friends. I'll do my shopping online or at the Harley dealer, beginning about December 15th.
So WTF does all that have to do with statistics, as headlined? Nothing really, but I haven't had a lot of coffee and I'm still smiling from all the fun I had yesterday. It started by waking up with at Wendy's (more on Wendy as time goes on, but that's damn sure a great way to begin the day), and ended with a great meal and an afternoon/evening with my family. As one family member candidly observed, "We got through this one without a single death threat!", which for my crew, is definitely a step in the right direction. And there was only one trip to the Emergency Room, but that was to sew up an injury from the previous day, so that really doesn't count as a Thanksgiving issue. All in all, a terrific holiday with the Robinson's.
So for the statistics....about the blog:
For something that started as a personal journal, to be read (or not), by a few friends, this blog actually has developed a worldwide following. There are readers from the US, Canada, Netherlands, Germany, Japan and China, in order of number of page views. Russia and the UK (Linda/Charlie, WTF?) are in last place, behind Mexico and India. Now don't get me wrong, there aren't hundreds of hits every day, but rarely does a day go by when a few folks don't read Southern Comfort. Overall, there have been literally thousands of folks reading since I started publishing in May, 2010. Or was it April? I can't remember now.
By far, most hits come from a Google Search, with "East Coast Sturgis" the most popular search phrase. Most readers use Internet Explorer, running on a Windows OS. Mac OS users are next, with most of them using the Safari browser. Firefox users are closely behind Safari. There have even been a few views from iPads, Blackberrys and iPods, and I didn't even know this was viewable from an iPod. Huh.
And yeah, there are some links included on the page allowing you to view and buy stuff. These links are placed by Google, with my permission. And now I'll let you in on a secret. I've made a whopping $2.08 since May with these links, so keep it up. Retirement is just around the corner. I just know it.
I even get some "fan mail" now and then, a few comments, and even a couple new Facebook friends who maybe want to know more about my other activities. Or maybe they're all shrinks, doing post-graduate studies on me. Like a class project or something.
So that's the story about stats and readership, if you're still reading. They aren't exactly exciting, but maybe are sorta interesting. Or not. Figured I'd let folks in on the under-the-hood stuff about blogging, or at least this blog, Southern Comfort.
Cowboy
PS I could have written a paragraph about leaving the refrigerator door open all night, letting the beer get hot. Decided to leave that out... Too sad.
