Wednesday, October 20, 2004

It's Watski's Fault

It's not that I like to place blame or not accept responsibility for my own actions, but it really is Watski's fault for my new obsession. After reading his post about his stat counter, I decided to add the same one to my page.

I then noticed the same thing that he had. There are a lot of views that are 0 seconds. I do think the stat counter may be defective. I decided to test it out. I went to Watski's blog, read several of his posts, then looked at his stat counter to see how long I was on there for. It showed 0 seconds when in fact I had been on his blog for over 10 min. I haven't figured out why it does that, but at least I know that particular part of it is not accurate.

Then I noticed that he also had a nifty thing at the bottom of his page that indicates the sites that have visited. So I followed the link and added that to mine as well.

So now I have become obsessed by these things. Comparing the data to see if it matches or if it is remotely similar. Why? I have absolutely no fucking idea. That's just the way I am sometimes. I can become so mesmerized by something that I can't stop playing with it. Such as this. Which, by the way, has eaten up some of my blogging time. I missed blogging today and last night by checking stats out, trying to figure out who was here and where did they come from. Do I know them personally, or is it a random next blog visit.

It really doesn't matter. I write because I enjoy it. I write what happens to be on my mind, not because I really believe that anyone else particularly wants to read it. I also do it as an alternative to writing a ton of individual emails to my out of town friends. This way they can catch up with my exciting life, yeah right, at their own leisure. Apparently many of my friends do just that. Which is complimentary when they give you shit for not updating more or saying that they miss reading because they've been too busy etc.

The tricky part is that when you finally get together in person, it's hard to know what they know and what they don't. I hate to start telling a story because I'm not sure if it will be old news or not. This may be the beginning of the end of chatty Shelly. Which, depending on your point of view could be a good thing.

Well enough of that. I'll try to keep my obsession with stats and referring sites under control so that it doesn't interfere too much with my enjoyment of reading other people's blogs and updating my own.

On another note, I have been amazed at another one of my Mother's skills and just have to comment on it. I'm considering writing a screenplay and seeing if I can get a movie made. I'm sure it will be a box office hit. Not sure who will play the lead but it has to be someone like Maxine, because she really epitomizes my Mother.

I'm thinking of calling it The Animal Whisperer. You've heard about the Horse Whisperer, well my Mother has the ability to communicate with different kinds of animals, not just horses.

Just the other day I heard her having a conversation with our dog, Sammy.

"Yes, yes ok Sammy. Just a minute. I told you that I need to finish my cigarette first. Then I'll take you out. Don't bother looking at her for a treat, you know that one won't give you anything. I'll get you something as soon as we get back in."

Two seconds later, the sliding door is pushed open and my Mother comes back inside from her smoking room (the balcony).

"Ok boy, you're so good to wait for your Nana. Yes I'm getting my coat. Settle down, you know your legs aren't that good on these damn hardwood floors. What is wrong? Don't you want to go out? Oh you want a piece of cheese. Of course, why didn't I know that. There you go boy. He's such a good boy for his Nana. Now come on, we'll go outside before it gets dark. I know you don't like to be out there when the big pitbulls might be around. Maybe if we ask nicely, your real Mother will come outside with us."

Other conversations take place with the cats, but I'm sure she would be able to converse with just about any species. It's a gift. It's a special gift that might just make me a load of money one day.

7 comments:

PPQ said...

That stats thing is ADDICTIVE I tell ya.
When my mates see me checking mine out they say "You stalking your readers again?"!
I think I need to limit myself to 3 visits a day or something!!!

Suzy Snow said...

Ok Jack you're in. I need a male in the movie. hehheheee

Good to hear I'm not the only nut in the crowd, PPQ! ;o)

Mick Flynn Images said...

Make sure you exempt your IP addy, and the Blogger IP's from the statcounter, or it will count you every time you glimpse at your blog, or upload a new post.

Watski said...

Why do I always get the blame for everything?

Suzy Snow said...

Mick - Thanks, I was wondering if I could do that, now I'll have to dedicate large amounts of time to figure that one out. ;o) I'm sure it won't take me that long, but I will use that as an excuse to justify the time spent on the computer.

Watski - I just knew that your broad shoulders could handle it. Kind of had a feeling that you probably get blamed for everything!

JonnyB said...

Boring technical comment:

Most blog visitors will be zero seconds, because they generally only look at one page of a website (the most current entry).

The stats thing can only count duration of visit by measuring the time difference between when the little graphicky thing loads as visitors look at different pages. If people only look at one page then there's no time difference so it can't work it out.

So all in all it's pretty useless.

Sorry - you can all wake up now...

Suzy Snow said...

Thanks Jonny! I knew someone would have the answer to my enquiring mind. :o)