blogging – For the Archives

Little did I know that while I was strolling an isolated beach and dancing barefoot with the locals on the day of the ‘new now’, there were monkeys in cyber space collecting data about me. Release any images of the flying chimps associated with Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West. I believe these ‘helper monkeys’ are friends – they’re Word Press monkeys, apparently, and they’ve been watching blog stats.

So what’s the haps in stats city?

Well, For the Archives got a check up by the monkeys and below you can see the appraisal via their nifty Blog-Health-O-Meter. Looks like I’m fit as a fiddle as far as the primates are concerned.

On the same day of my stat status summary, this site had the most visitors it has ever seen. In the past I’ve just hoped for enough readers to equal double digits. Yesterday nearly 80 people took a look (note to self: photos of bikini clad women in paradise may help stats). Maybe in 2011 I’ll crest 100 readers in a day.

Ultimately, it’s not about the site statistics. I actually started For the Archives afraid anyone would see it at all. But as this project has evolved, I have found the power of the writing and a desire to touch a common space of humanness with whoever reads the words (single, double, triple digits, no matter).

Word Press monkeys say that three 747’s worth of folks had a chance to scan the Archives in 2010. We’re all on this trip together. Let’s make the ticket first-class and keep it open-ended. Remember to put on our own oxygen mask first. Remind each other to enjoy the ride.

If you dig the Archives, subscribe.

Thanks for flying with me!

Your 2010 year in blogging

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2010. That’s about 3 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 82 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 177 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 109mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was November 6th with 41 views. The most popular post that day was About.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

About January 2010

15 Seconds of Grace December 2010

Love and Woo Woo with INXS August 2010
3 comments

November 6, 2010 November 2010
2 comments

You Are the Masterpiece November 2010
5 comments and 2 Likes on WordPress.com

I’m doing the very thing they say you’re not supposed to do.

If you have insomnia you should not get up. Certainly do not turn on the computer.

But let’s not call this insomnia. It’s much more romantic to blame it on the brightness of the moonlight that’s casting midnight shadows through the window. Wild with a full, illumined moon, I’m throwing caution to the wind at 1:15 and posting my daily chronicle.

In this reckless abandon, I’m tossing open the curtain in raw exposure to reveal myself in all my cyber nakedness. Yes, here’s a screen shot of my Sexy (in this case, not so sexy) Stats. Thanks to Nick, who’s hiding out in Saginaw (at least one of my of two loyal site visitors is going to love the mitten connection) I’ve got Flot to make my charting more robust than ever and my stats page “super sexy.”

Posting about your blog stats is pretty unsexy, I would say. Especially when you’ve got single digit numbers like me. But I’m feeling careless in the moonlight. Besides, what do I have to lose to expose myself this way? As the bar graph reveals, this bold move will only be viewed by a handful, half of which are crawling search engine robots. They’ll never read these words.

So what am I doing here, standing naked all alone?

The words of William Stafford come as some semblance of an answer (October 9 post: The Way It Is). I’m following the thread.

And I sort of like that no one’s following me in this process.

An artist reminded me recently of the cycle of the cocoon to butterfly. That there’s no need to tear into the chrysalis before it’s time.

And there’s no holding back the butterfly at lift off.

Who knows, maybe my site stats will get sexier. For now I’m just following that silken thread which may unravel to me to flight or wind me down some other road.