A Special Day!

This is a big day. Not because it is Valentine’s Day or the first day of the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese New Year – although those are important days in their own right if you celebrate them!

No, this is an important day for me, because two years ago today I uploaded my first post to blogger. This is also my 300th post! My how time flies!

As I mentioned in my first anniversary post, I have a couple of free hit counters on this site. I can’t identify individuals unless they tell me through other contact when they visited. The hit counters basically tell me the time of visit, OS, browser, entry/exit pages, country of origin and maybe a region or service provider.

I find it fascinating to see where the hits are coming from. I wish that I had had the foresight to keep a more detailed list from the start. I know I have had hits from every Canadian province and territory and pretty much every state in the U.S.A. I recently took a look at a list of all the countries of the world – over 200 are recognized. I tried to make a list of all the ones I recalled seeing in my stats. I was amazed and thrilled to see that well over 130 countries have been listed in my stats over the last couple of years! The only continent that I have not had a hit from is Antarctica!

It is also interesting to see what people are looking for! Again, I haven’t kept an exact list for each subject or post, but there are a few posts that are hit over and over again!

The most popular recipe has been Farmer’s Sausage Casserole – a delicious oven meal that is great on a winters’ night or when you want a simple but filling meal. Another kitchen related subject that gets a lot of hits is The Mixing Fork – a tool that EVERY kitchen should have!

My post on The Blizzard of 1986 has gotten a lot of hits since it went up in November 2008. It was a major blizzard that pretty much paralyzed the city of Winnipeg and parts of Manitoba for several days. Given the record snowfall in parts of North America in the last few weeks, this post is still getting a lot of hits!

The post I did last summer on Dating In The Dark was my take on a reality series that had strangers meeting in a darkened room to alleviate the rejection factor of first sight in the dating game. I live that every day in my real life as a visually impaired woman so why would I want to subject myself to something like that on a TV show?

By far the most popular posts have been Sylvester and Tweety, Thufferin' Thuccotash! and A "Tweet" Birthday. Anything to do with the loveable Warner Brother characters’ gets a big response – at least one hit/day and usually more - from ALL over the world!

In the two years of the blog, I have had over 3100 visitors and more than 4000 page views! There have been just over 3000 page views by 2350 visitors in the last year alone. That is amazing! Thank you so much!!

I am honoured that so many people have found their way to my little corner of the web and that some stop by on a regular basis to see what I have posted. My interests vary greatly and I can’t write about something if I haven’t lived it, tried it, like it, believe in it or have an opinion on it!

On a personal note, I think there are a couple of posts that really resonated for me this past year.

The first was My Parents Were Stoners, which was the story of the yard work my parents did and the first slideshow I made. I received a lot of wonderful comments and notes from friends and strangers for this. My mom doesn’t have a PC but I was able to show it to her when she was in the city last fall. She cried as she watched and recalled fond memories of her and dad doing all the work. I’m hoping to put together some more slideshows of old pics from the farm over the coming months.

The other post that was really close to my heart was Thanks George! I wrote about the impact that we unknowingly have on the people around us – the George Bailey factor.

It’s hard for me to believe that I have made 300 posts! The ideas come from so many sources. I can be listening to the radio, watching TV, reading the paper, surfing the web, opening emails, talking to people or just living my day to day life! My list of ideas for future blog posts continues to grow!

The biggest issue for me is finding the time and the energy to keep up the pace that I had set for myself. I made 200 posts in the first year and 100 this past year. However, I’ve come to realize that I need to make some changes – if only for the sake of what is left of my sanity! I love writing and find it a great way to think things out and to vent or share my thoughts. The problem for me is my limited vision and my horrific typing skills. Most of my posts are anywhere from 750 to 1100 words. An average post can take me over two hours to type and at least another hour to edit and upload the way I want it to publish.

That doesn’t even count the time I spend researching or thinking through what I want to say and how I want to say it! Depending on the subject, the research and thought process can take several hours over a few days or weeks. If I am writing or researching on the web, I have to take regular breaks to rest my eyes and that can be very frustrating when I am in that writer mode. The thought process beforehand can happen almost anywhere. I have thought out ideas while working out, showering, riding the bus, trying to fall asleep or when I’m awake in the middle of the night with insomnia or a hot flash!

All in all as much as I love the writing, I won’t be posting as often from here on out. I am going to try for once a week. Even so, I hope you will continue to stop by to see what is on my mind and if you see something you like, make a comment and feel free to invite your friends!

Thanks for reading!

dn