Friday, July 30, 2010

Cool Tool, or Do You Know Where You’re From

I’m guessing that you’ve noticed the new blog background. Last Saturday morning I discovered that my blog background had crashed. (At the same time that Blogger had upgraded their system. Coincidence? I don’t think so.) Anyway, I enlisted Ariel to find me a new blog background—do you know how hard it is to find a background that’s not girlie?! Not that I mind girlie. But if and when I get my novel published, I want guys/men to feel comfortable at my blog site and not overwhelmed by pink, paisley, or frou-frou.

Despite the hassles of finding a new blog background, I can forgive Blogger’s update mess because they gave me a hip new toy, a Stats tab. This allows the blogger (me) to find out all kinds of cool statistics about their blog traffic. I found out that a lot of people read my blog on Sundays. And that certain posts, from more than a year ago, are very popular. Two examples: “Vodka Repellent” and “Maybe I Don’t Want a Castle.” It’s kind of strange to me—those are far from my favorite posts. But maybe it’s the titles that are enticing.

But the coolest new Blogger stats feature has been discovering where my readers are from. I always assumed that most of my readers are from the US and one or two were overseas. But I had no idea. I’ve got readers in Germany and the Netherlands (where my mom grew up, though I don’t think any of my relatives there know that I blog). I’ve got readers in Canada, India, the Philippines, China, Russia, and France. And I’ve even got readers in Moldova, Latvia, New Zealand, Japan, and the UK. I have to say that I’m thrilled. Welcome, all of you!! I want to thank you all for reading my blog! I hope enjoy the posts.

In celebration of our newly discovered internationality, I’m sharing a favorite recipe. (It came from a magazine, but I can’t remember which one.)

Frozen Hot Chocolate

½ c. chocolate syrup
1 c. fat free evaporated milk
½ t. vanilla
3 c. ice cubes

Put ingredients in a blender and blend. YUM!

P.S. If I’ve missed your country, let me know in the comments section.

8 comments:

  1. Ooooh so have to try out that recipe :)

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  2. Doesn't that sound decadent. I will have to give that a try. Thanks for the stats tip. I'd looked where my traffic was coming from, but didn't see the other stuff. I'll have to go check it out. I came here from Laurel's Leaves. Nice site!

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  3. Haha! That is cool! Its called a stab tab? Hmm...I wonder if it got its name from a booger picker weapon...

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  4. Welcome to the blog, Victoria!

    Also I have new readers who live in Ireland. Yay!

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  5. I must have forgotten to mention that I'm from Latvia.

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  6. I find it somewhat odd that your traffic tops on sundays.

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  7. I'm from right here, good ole' USA. Thanks for the recipe!! ANd I like the new background!

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  8. Thanks for the tip about the stats - for some reason I never got that email from blogger (spammed probably) so I had no idea this option was available - checked it out right away and it was fun looking at the results. Indeed there is something very interesting about those two popular titles - Vodka Repellent??? and Maybe I Don't Want a Castle. Can you give me the links?

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