Happy Birthday to me!

Periodically, I look at my blog stats to see what sort of traffic I'm getting. I admit that, as a writer, it does give me a bit of a thrill to know that someone, somewhere, is reading this stream of consciousness.

In an interesting confluence, today is my birthday; it is also the day that I topped 20,000 all-time page views!

I don't know if 2012 is just my year or if suddenly people are finding my random scribblings vaguely interesting, or if it's the whole one hundred monkeys and one hundred typewriters in a room syndrome; but I am very thankful to everyone who stops by and reads - or even glances at - my blog.

In honor of the whole twenty-thousand thing, I thought I would take a look at my top five all-time posts.

5. I'm not Charlton Heston (July 4, 2012) 187 views: Independence Day blog? Nope. Apparently on the 4th of July I was thinking about my personal relationship with God. I think it's important to understand how people come to know God. It's not that I chose to be a Christian; religion (I use the word here even though I don't equate my belief in God with the following of any set of particular tenets) is not something that you can put on and take off like a new pair of shoes. Belief in God is not something you can just try, and see if it works for you. That's what I think anyway. If you're interested in how I came to know Jesus, check it out!

4.  Literary Review: The Scroll (February 10, 2012) 219 views: This was my first blog review for WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing, who offer free books (at least to read) in exchange for written and publicized reviews of the books I read. Seems like a fair deal. I've only done a couple so far, mainly because I don't have a ton of time to spend reading and reviewing. The Scroll is a cool book if you like historical adventures. Check out my review and check out the book if you're in to that sort of thing.

3. Landon is on the Board (January 28, 2010) 236 views: This is probably the shortest blog post I've ever written. It consisted of roughly a paragraph of text and an embedded YouTube video of Landon Donovan's first goal for Everton (of the English Premier League). I'm not a sports blogger per se, but most of my friends know that I'm a bit of a football (soccer) nut. I enjoy seeing American players succeed overseas in the tougher world leagues and the Prem is perhaps the toughest. Landon has had a 2nd loan stint at Everton but still calls the LA Galaxy his permanent home. We'll see what the future holds as he comes to the end of his contract there...

2. Space...the final frontier (that we'll never get to?) (December 6, 2011) 303 views: Despite my belief in God, I still keep on eye on science and things scientific. Religion and science are not necessarily exclusive. This particular entry was spurred by the discovery of an earth-like planet orbiting a sun not unlike our own. The problem is, Keppler 22b is a LONG way away. While it's fascinating that we've been able to discover such a world and it's interesting to ponder the what ifs of a manned mission, with the technology we currently have it would take someone seven MILLION years to get there. How many times can you say, "Are we there yet?"

1. I dislike equivalent temperatures (January 7, 2010) 506 views: Far and away my number one blog post by views is the one I wrote complaining about things like heat index, you know, that annoying phrase the weather person utters that goes something like, "Bob, it's going to be ninety-eight degrees out there today but it will feel like one hundred and three."

Honestly, I don't know why people view my blog. I know there are probably a small number of people who actually read my blog but I suspect the vast majority of my page views come from my clever use of labels. Labels are those little terms you include that - I assume - search engine optimize (SEO) your blog post so people can find it. I admit, I am guilty of writing my posts to the extent that I can take advantage of certain SEO words that I think might attract the casual surfer to my blog. Shameless, I know, but as I noted above, what's the point of writing a blog if no one reads it?

So, it's my birthday! Make sure you share this blog post and all the others with everyone you know!

Bilbo Baggins advising all Hobbits to read The Stream of Consciousness blog

With gratitude and humility, I appreciate every one of you who have ever read my blog - either on purpose or by accident.

Thank you!

X

Why can't I be famous? Everyone else is...

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning of April 27, 2012, my blog surpassed 10,000 lifetime page views. That seems like a pretty large number to me. I've published 133 blog posts at the Blogger home of the Stream of Consciousness, beginning on August 1, 2009.

Let's break that down.

Thanks to Al Gore, I can easily use the Internet to determine that there have been exactly 1,000 days between August 1, 2009 and today. Math in factors of 10 being easy, even for a math moron like me, most of us can calculate that my readership has averaged ten page views per day I've been on Blogger. What does that mean? On average, by accident or design, ten people have landed on one of my blog pages every day for the last two years, eight months and twenty-six days.

Sure, those aren't Kim Kardashian or Tim Tebow numbers but I'm in this for the long haul - I'm not generating much Stream-sanity.

                    Ten THOUSAND page views...

As I was pondering this new milestone in my blogging career, I happened to read a thoughtful article on the types of people our modern society reveres by Simon Doonan. According to Mr. Doonan, inside most of our heads at any given time is a dynamic mosh pit of useless information on celebrity goings-on. He bemoans the loss of true accomplishment as the bellwether for celebrity.

The reason Doonan gives (in the next to last paragraph of the article) for reality stars and other non-accomplishing folks being elevated to the modern pantheon of celebrity is this:

"We are living in an everyone-is-special-and-there-are-no-losers society. As a result, we are fearful of accomplished people because they can do stuff that we cannot do, and giving them the spotlight would un-level the playing field. We are, as a result, much more comfortable with the famous-for-nothing paradigm, because then, we, the great unexceptional masses, still have (a) shot at celebrity."

I don't think this is a new concept. I could have my own little curmudgeon party while highlighting ways our society have taken competition and achievement out of the societal equation. A trite but revealing example would be in youth soccer. More than one league around the country has done away with keeping score.

Excuse me?

If you have a bunch of young boys and girls chasing around a field kicking a ball and occasionally putting said ball into one of the nets at either end of the field, but you are not keeping score, then you actually are more likely playing a dynamic game of kickball or just letting the kids participate in free play. And if it's free play you want, why do you need lines? Why do you need goals? Heck, why do you need teams? Just gather the kids together at the park, charge the parents some money and let them run around and randomly kick one ore more balls.

Kicking it old school; no unis, no cleats, no field, no goals

In this I agree with Mr. Doonan: we need to start lifting up people who actually accomplish something. Snooki doesn't deserve one iota of my time, unless we're going to have a conversation about how disappointed I suspect Jesus is with her. And before all the thou shalt not judge-nicks come out of the woodwork, I'm not judging Snooki. She is free to live her life in the way she sees fit. More power to her. But that does not mean I have to pay attention to her life or agree with it. 

However, I am allowed to disagree with it, not like it, and feel that she (and many others) are part of a burgeoning problem in our world where we mistake being famous for being useful.

What do you think?

X

Greetings to the big 'G'

Nothing tremendous here, just a hi, hello to anyone who happens by. I am maintaining the original Stream of Consciousness at Live Journal until such time as I can determine a) How to successfully export all posts from LJ to here and b) If it is worth my time and effort to do so. Frankly, the only reason I am here is so that I could post to a member's blog over at CFRB. That awesome group of folks is currently touring/reviewing Seabird, by Sherry Thompson - a fabulous book that you simply MUST read. For now, please link over to the original Stream of Consciousness and follow the adventures of Xanthorpe there. Perhaps he will move here eventually; perhaps not. In either case, you will be entertained or, at the very least, some thoughts will be provoked. Thanks for stopping by Stream II. X