Traffica Electronica

So there's this thing called Google Analytics that can show you a bunch of information about your website traffic in purdy charts and graphs. I got invited to a beta account by a friend a while back (thanks Melly!) and check in on it once in a while, just to see what's up.

Now, these maps are going to be ugly because A) I can't figure out how to export them from Google Analytics so that I can embed them in my blog and B) I'm at work and only have the Print Screen button and Paint to work with. But if you click them you'll get a better version.



I wanted to post proof cuz I don't believe it myself, but apparently I've gotten 351 visits just this month from ten countries, including such far away places as New Zealand, Brazil, and Nebraska. And over a year period, more than five thousand people from fifty-one countries have stumbled onto my site, probably looking for some kind of weird porn or something. Compared to the sites I visit that isn't a lot, but in my mind 350 hits a month for my lil' ol' Interweb page is pretty awesome.

Google reports that besides direct traffic, a couple of people are responsible for this "success" of mine. In order from top to bottom, my amigo Aero's website LevelUpNinjas.com is responsible for 40 hits this month alone and 10% of my new traffic. Next up (after Blogger, some Yahoo mail server, and another blog service) are my kindred spirits over at A Year of Bike Commuting, who have sent 10 hits this month but are responsible for a whopping 50% of the new visitors. After that it's a couple of sites dedicated to fixed-gear cycling, then Twitter, then my own website. So apparently I'm giving myself the reach around as well, but I just barely made the top 10 list of those doing so.

Another fun feature is the Keywords list, to see the top ten things people are searching for when they hit my site. This month the top three (besides the name of my website) are "retarded pug", "story of O" webcomic, and "tom waits is my religion". So people coming to my site are looking for mentally handicapped dogs, webcomics of a naughty book, and a Tom Waits-based religion. It's interesting to me that not one of the top ten keywords has anything to do with cycling.

I have half a mind to start posting nudey photos about every third post or so even if they have nothing to do with the subject material and see if my stats change noticeably. "Hey, have you been to AbsentMindfully.com yet? Aw bro you gotta check it out, this weirdo will be talking about almost getting ran over or some shit but will have a hot naked chick right in the middle of all this writing crap. It's awesome!"

Yeah, I can see it now.

- David

More Vidi-hos

When I used to ride to my friend Jeff's house late at night, this would happen to me all the time. But it was just deer faces. And I was sprinting out of fear:


Also, tomorrow, if I can swing it, and if I get enough commas into his sentence, I'm going to start doing my own morning ride on days off, cuz, you know, I want to have disproportionately large legs, and all.

- David

More Tiny Videos!

People love these more than they love my wordsmithin', and I can't say I blame 'em:


Bathtub II from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
Apparently it's called Tilt-Shit Photography and if I knew this was how people in Heaven could look down and see the world, I might just start putting in some time on my knees. ...praying. Wait, what were you thinking?

- David

Holy Shiat

Have you ever seen something that is just so crazy and awesome that your eyes mist up a little bit?


The amount of planning, dorkiness, creativity, and friend-participation that went into this makes this the best thing I have seen in a long while. Stolen from Dublin Messengers.

- David

Want to See Something Really Scary?

I can't stop laughing at this. Thanks How To Avoid the Bummer Life!

- David

Tiny Videos!

Stolen from here! I love stuff like this.


Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Bathtub III from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.


- David

Goosebumps

Seriously.


- BuddhaDave

GOOOAAAAAL!

This guy is awesome, and he has balls. Of both kind! I love the victory run he does. Maybe every time I successfully make the ferry on time or eat shit on my bike I'll do that run.

Today is Friday. My sleep schedule is fuuuucked. I've been so physically sleep-deprived lately that my body is sore. For some reason my brain, which usually gets tired first, is up and active but my body is the one protesting. Yesterday I accidentally took a nap on the couch for an hour and a half. That's bad when you get home around Six, sleep until almost Eight, and have to go to bed at Eleven. I think I fell asleep around One and had to get up at Five-thirty. Ugh.

I got up late but somehow made it to the bus on time showered, dressed, and packed up with My Girl Friday underneath me. Nothing wakes you up like a quick bike sprint twenty minutes after coming awake. It's probably an evolution thing. Anyways, I made it on time but the bus rack was already full. I'm glad the public buses have them, but two muh-fuckin' spots is not enough. And as gas prices rise it's only going to get harder to get a spot. Yesterday there was three people with bikes waiting for the same bus, and I had to do some serious covert hovering to make sure I got my spot.

So I waited for the next bus. If I'd been riding Jenny, I may have left her. Maybe. But My Girl Friday is too purdy and I would cry a little inside if something happened to her. I walked up and down the line of idling buses, asking each driver if they were going into Norfolk. No luck. Thirty minutes later the next bus came, and after sitting across from a girl obviously bound for an office job (that I swear was staring at me) I caught the next bus and settled in for a relaxing ride with Rilo Kiley. "Salute My Shorts" (the song, not the show) made me feel a lot better this morning.

I got stopped again at the gate this morning, and after pulling my bike up onto curb and producing some paperwork I was allowed into the base. The police officer advised I had to keep my helmet on at all times in the base and added amicably, "You're saving gas money... going green." I pulled a sweet one-handed wheelie off the curb and manualed all the way to the stop light. Actually, I battled with getting my pedal flipped over and my foot in the toe-clip. Damn things.

Training is back on, have a good weekend if we don't speak again.

Piece.

- David

Mic Check, One Two, One Two Three

Let's see if this works!

Just switched to Google's Blogger so lets see how it works. It came highly recommended and so far looks good.

Have I mentioned how much I love my iPod? I didn't even like Apple before (One mouse button? Ewww) but iTunes and the iPod are just awesome. Even if I didn't have an iPod I'd still use iTunes, it's just such a nice management tool. If you're on the decision see-saw about whether to get one or not, I hightly recommend doing so.

Think about it man! Every song you own on one little device! All your adio books, albums, everything in the palm of your hand. After a week you won't know how you lived without it.

I've been listening to Nine Inch Nails' new album "With Teeth" a bunch lately. At first I didn't like it and set it aside for like a month. But then I went back after the "Only" music video came out. (P.S. this song rocks) What I took at first to be a butt-rock album (Sorry Trent!) is actually really good. Some of my favorite songs are "Right Where it Belongs", "Only", "All the Love in the World", and "Sunspots". It's like $10 on iTunes, go get it!

I just finished reading this cute little book called "The Tao of Pooh". I didn't know much about Taoism before reading this but I'd heard good things about it and I like books with this type of format. I'm still reading "The Dharma of Star Wars" and it's honestly the best book on Buddhism I've ever read. The best thing, actually. And I've read a bunch. It's so much easier to understand abstract philosophy when it's based on things like Star Wars and Whinnie the Pooh.

Taoism (pronounced DAOism) is pretty simple. Now I may not have this exactly right, but the gist of it is as follows: Everything is governed by the laws of nature, i.e. cause and effect. The same laws that govern trees growing and snow falling and the formation of planets also governs us. The harder one works against these laws the farther away one moves from harmony and the unhappier one gets. Sooo...the more free-flowing one is and the more one can just let things be the happier one will be. I have to read a lot more to be sure, but I think that's it. So that's new and cool for me.

Imma post this because I still don't know if everything is working correctly, so I'll add more later if necessary.

Adios!

- BuddhaDave