Page Views, Blog Hosts, and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!

Nothing to do with this article--Just Springtime in Lubbock

     I started this blog in January of this year.  I have never done anything like this and had no idea what to expect.  I have been doing it now for five months and I still don’t have any idea what’s happening.  I have no inkling of how these essays get from my house to yours.  I have no idea who reads this stuff or how often they read it.

     According to my blog host, I have had almost 5000 “page views” since I started.  (I will explain blog host and page view later.)  Of these views about 4500 originate in the United States.  I have had 189 views from Russia, 17 from Canada, 16 from Germany, 9 from South Korea, 5 from Great Britain, 3 each from Latvia and Taiwan, and 2 each from Costa Rica and Hong Kong.  This is confusing, because a few months ago, I had several visits from South America---Columbia, Equator and Peru.  I also had one visit from Georgia, not our Georgia, the one in Russia, and several other visits from locations I cannot remember. These visits are no longer listed and I wonder what became of them.

     If you are one of those faithful viewers from Russia, I wish you would send me an email and tell me where you are and how you came to be interested in Lubbock.  I have fantasized that the Russians might be some sort of descendants of the KGB, just keeping up with America’s heartland, but I am sure that is not the case.  I will put my electric mail address at the bottom of this missive and would really like to hear from you.

     This plea applies to the rest of you readers (or is it viewers)—I’d love to hear from any of you.  Tell me how often you view my blog, how you heard about it and what you think about it.  I know there is a place for comments at the bottom of each post, but people tell me it is next to impossible to fill out the form for submitting a comment.  That must be true, because in 5ooo views, I’ve had 12 comments, and several of them were my own.  Send me your comments by electric mail---that way, I’ll get them and it won’t be a lot of trouble for you.

     I want to write things that you folks want to read, so I checked the overview to see what items were most popular.  Overall, you are about equally interested in Barbeque, Road Trips and Texas History, so I’ll stay in those areas, because that’s what I like.  I took several road trips, checking out barbeque and Texas historical sites, while I listened to country music.  I will do that again.

     My most popular post of all time was the bit on Tom T. Hall, which gets me back to the country music vein.  He got 56 page views, followed by 54 for the “Mysterious goings on in Lubbock” story about R.G. Box and the Roadrunner.  Close behind that, in third place was “The Continuing Saga of World Championship Barbeque,” with 51 page views.

     I have about five more articles to do on the Road Trip West that Wayne and I took, and then it will be time to start our Road Trip East series.  The problem with that is we have not done our Road Trip East—we plan to run the rest of I-Ten to wherever it terminates in Florida, then go out to Key West and smoke a Hemmingway cigar and drink something straight with two ice cubes while we watch the sun set. 

     We will then leave the Keys and drive up the coast to Norfolk, Virginia, or there abouts, and turn west, catching all the Civil War battlefields we can find on the way back to Texas.  On this trip, I want to ride the Jamestown Ferry, like the song says.  I missed it last time I was in that area.  We’ll be off on this trip so soon as I work through a temporary financial crisis.  Be patient, Ratisseau.

      I said I would explain blog host and page view.  The blog host, if that is the proper name---maybe it should be sponsor, or even benefactor--- in any case, I mean the entity which publishes my articles.  I will call it my “blog host.”  This blog host gives me an overview page to look at any time I want, and this page gives me an “overview” of my blog.  It tells me how many “page views” I have.  I can see the numbers by the day, by the week, by the month, or a grand total to date.  This fantastic “overview” even tells me which countries are providing these “page views,” and how many I get from each country.

     Now all that sounds really spiffy doesn’t it?  Well, here’s where the cheese gets binding.  I don’t know how they count “page views.”  I will post something and the next day get ten electric mails from friends who have read it and have some opinion.  I will then check with my overview page and it lists zero “page views.”  Later in the week, the overview may say I have two page views.   I suppose there is some limit, say twelve readers to make one page view, or something like that, but I can’t find any explanation.  I suppose it is my job to simply take the blog host’s word for number of “page views.”  That’s asking a lot from a cynical old man.

     Then, other little things bother me.  What happened to those page views from South America and Georgia?  Why is it so difficult to post a comment?  Is there a book somewhere that will explain all this to me?  Please don’t ask me to look at the explanations in this electric machine—I’ve done that and it is far too confusing for a fellow of my age and disposition to understand.

     On another person’s blog, one with a different blog host, there was a box to check if one wanted to be notified of a new post.  I think that would be a fantastic tool, but evidently my host doesn’t provide such a service, or if it does, it is complicated to arrange.  If you can find how to do that, let me know—several people have asked me about that.

     This is already longer that I planned, but I want to thank those of you who have joined my blog.  Twenty-nine of you have signed up to be members—my nephew, Dr. Jerry, signed up twice.  I don’t know what, if any, benefit you receive, but I appreciate your efforts.  Thank you all, members or not, for your interest.  I’ll try not to bore you in the future.

     My Electric Mail Address:          Jimmac@ktc.com                        Let me hear from you!
                                                                                                                        Jim


Do you suppose Key West looks anything like this?