Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Burnout Tastes Like Burning… Welcome Solstice & Goodbye 2011

Note: Cross posted from Suburban Eschatology Part Two.

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From 2011-12 (Dec)

8:15 PM
I talk about this later in the post, but I wanted to let everyone know right at the top that this will, probably, be the last post until 2012.  I am taking a break.  It’s been a heck of a year, and I’ll be back, fresh and ready, after Winter Break! 

This includes the Photo of the Day on Rubble.  One sign of my burnout is that the Photo of the Day has become the photo of every now and then.  Daily posts will return in 2012.

2:30 PM
Winter Solstice today, thank the Gods!  Now the days start getting longer.  Happy day.  It was also my birthday yesterday.  These days, though, other anniversaries feel like bigger deals than just making another trip around the sun…  It was a nice day, though.


The sun is out and The Big One and I are going to take the dog out for a long walk.  Hopefully I can take some pictures and keep on getting to know the new camera I received for said birthday and for the upcoming holidays.

Yes.  Burnout.  I am very burned out.  It has been a long year.  The new year is not here yet, but I am a year older and the days are getting longer, so this seems as good of a time as any for a 2011 wrap up post.

This is the last task I am knocking down before stepping away from the computers for a couple weeks.  No Photos of the Day (or of the every few days, as it has been going recently), no posts to any blogs, little to no activity anywhere else.  Stick a fork in me, I am done.  Break time.

For the next couple weeks it is about the kids, books, cameras, watching some movies and catching up with some Breaking Bad, Rescue Me, and some other badly neglected shows.

It is going to be some time to get some perspective, to get some rest, and to get ready for 2012. 
This past year was a strange one and not an easy one.  2012 looks to be very different.  No less easy, but definitely more stable. 

2011 was a year when my life was on hold.  I started in California helping my mother with several issues, and ended in Gresham helping my children through several issues.  Those tasks took up the whole year.

But that leaves me in a strange place where my plans for my life in 2012 look exactly like my plans for my life in 2011.  This is not to say that I did not accomplish anything in 2011, far from it.  The work with my family has been tremendously productive and rewarding.  But in 2012, the main goal is to resume work on my own career and to start earning some damn money.

This also not to say that the work with my family is done, of course it is not.  The boys have come a long way, but there is still a long way to go, a lot of healing left.  Their wounds are no longer bleeding, but they are far from being back to normal.  The Big One still has a long ways to go before he is back up to speed with school.  The Little One, well, he has a long way to go before he’s back up to speed with life.

However, the progress they have made since April and May is amazing.  Some solid foundations are now in place and they are both further along than I would have guessed they would be at this point.  They are far enough along where I am feeling pretty good about heading back to work. 

There will be challenges, of course, with this transition, but I think they are part of the growing process now, challenges encouraging growth, not obstacles hindering it.

Time to get out in the sun for a few.  More later.

From 2011-12 (Dec)
From 2011-12 (Dec)
From 2011-12 (Dec)
From 2011-12 (Dec)

6:00 PM
Dog walked, boy walked, errand ran, dinner cooked and served…

Burnout. 

I’ve been putting a lot of work in on the RubbleSites for the last couple months, a lot of posts, but even more time spent behind the scenes getting this and that set up.  I feel, for the most part, this work is coming to a close and that, after a few small projects that will be completed after winter break when the boys are back in school, that I am at a point where I can pretty much just focus on content creation.

And that is a good thing, because once I am back to work, there is going to be little time for anything else.  Posts may get shorter, and fewer and further between…  I think my goal at that point will be one decent post for each blog per week, with some other, smaller “feature” type stuff thrown in here and there too. 

Of course, I’ll be keeping up with my photo of the day and throwing music I like up on Retrovirus Lab, too.

So, the plan is, after the break, to take two weeks to finish the construction of these sites and to put a new portfolio together.  Then my full time work and only major project will be landing a new writing contract. 

One of the things that has been a little rough the last month or so is that I’ve fallen into a strange schedule with life.  Since most of the uninterrupted work time I have these days is at night, after everyone is in bed, I’ve become rather nocturnal these days.  I get a few chores done during the day, then the afternoon and evening has been spent working with The Big One and his homework, cooking dinner, usually more work with The Big One and his the homework (let’s face it, it has been more homeschooling than helping with homework), then getting everyone to bed. 

Only then have I found the time to get the serious work done on the bigger projects I’ve been working on, like the One Day on Earth video, the Occupation photos and videos, etc.  Since The Ex One gets up early, she’s been handling the mornings, getting the boys out the door to school.  Through the end of November and up until the last few days, I’ve been going to bed about the same time she’s been getting up to get her and the boys’ day started.

This schedule actually worked pretty well for that period, for the most part.  The Ex One was fresh for the mornings, and I was fresh for the afternoon and evenings, and the boys were spared dealing with a tired and grumpy parent!

Now that the boys are home, though, this schedule is terrible!  Today we hardly got anything done.  I have a few chores I need to complete before I start my break, the day is almost done and I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything.  Of course, on the old schedule, my real work wouldn’t have even started yet, but I am done with the nocturnal thing.

Once I start the job hunt, I will need to be on a normal schedule.  Since it would be murder on me to swing back and forth between day and night schedules every two weeks for the next month or so, I am not.  I am just going to switch to a days only schedule and keep it there.

After break, my days will be compressed into what I can get done while the boys are in school.  That means I will probably be a lot less productive, but there are no big projects, just a few small ones and wrapping up some big ones, so that should be fine.  The challenge will be not getting sucked into any new big projects.

So, for the rest of break, I am taking some time for me.  I might get caught up editing a few pictures here and there, but that is pretty much it.  I have a small project, also, that I need to complete for my mother’s Christmas gift, but that is a small project. I might also finish the One Day video, but probably not until the boys are back in school.

That is the project, the One Day On Earth video,  that was really burning me out, and it is still not done.  I put a lot of time into that video and, at this point, I am not crazy about the results.  With the limitations of the camera I shot the video well, there’s not much more I can really do with it. 

I took a break from the video for the last 10 days or so, once the deadline was extended for a month, to get some distance from it and to make some decisions about it.

Pretty much, I needed to decide if it was something that I wanted to put another 40 to 80 hours in to or was it something I wanted to just wrap up and move on from.  The break was good.  It is time to put a few final touches on it and to move on.  I was thinking about recording new music for it, nope.  I was thinking about re-cutting the whole thing in Lightworks, nope. 

I do need to put a couple more hours into it, but that is all.  Upload it and move on.  But it took several days of distance from it to realize that this was the best thing to do here.

The other big project I still need to finish is editing and posting all the Occupy Portland material.  Of course, that stuff was sort of time sensitive, so the longer I go without posting it, the less relevant it becomes, the less of a priority...  Still, I do want to get it up while it is still something of a current event and before it becomes history.  But at this point, January is fine.

And that is about it.  All that stuff, in a nutshell, was 2011.  And since I am putting everything not done at this point off until 2012, that means my year is done.  And I am tired.  It is time for a long break and a lot of rest.

See you next year.  It should be an interesting one!

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Thursday, December 15, 2011

2011 State of the Blogosphere by Brian Solis

From 2011-12 (Dec)

I hate that word, by the way…  Really, with a deep passion. 

Anyway, one of these days, when I have a chance, I’ve been working a bit on a piece with a similar theme.  Not so much because it is the end of the year, but because of all of the changes to my on-line profile over the last couple of months.

I’ve been doing this blog thing off and on for a long time in many different formats, longer than the word blog has been in existence, and I will say this…  With all of the different options out there, short form, long form, link oriented, picture oriented…  The “blogosphere” is far more confusing, the social media landscape is far more cluttered, now than it ever was before.

But that is not entirely true.

It is also less confusing than ever before, if you are purely a consumer.

If you are one of the 90% that purely consumes content, is it really that confusing?  No, you just find what you like and stick with it.  More options means more opportunities to find a platform you like, increasing the chances that one becomes a regular consumer of social media. 

And for the other 9% that fulfill the function of aggregators of information, sharing links and what not on Facebook, Twitter and what not, then I suspect, it is pretty much the same.  You find what you like from sources you like and pretty much stick with it.  The only real difference is that you take the next step and share what you find.  Then people from the 90% who share your interests start following you.

Again, pretty simple.

But for the 1% focusing on the creation of content, or some mix of aggregation and creation (which is where I see myself), things are very confusing these days. 

Unless you are already well established, where you are pretty much just looking at continuing with the core platform that established you in the first place and are looking merely to use the plethora of new social media formats (Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, Pintrest…) to augment and, perhaps, publicize or advertise your already successful site, page, blog, or profile, the emerging new choices offer some challenges, but those challenges are not “life or death.”  They are about growth, not survival.

However, if you are new on the scene, or launching in a new direction, then where do you start with all of this?  These are the challenges that I am currently facing, and this is why I find these sorts of articles so interesting right now.

I will conclude with the thought that finding the right balance and blend, the right peak in the social landscape on which to plant your flag, is life and death for any content creator in the current blogosphere.  And with all the choices available these days, getting this right is not always easy.

I’ll save my breakdown of what I am doing and what I have learned for my article, which I am planning on finishing as soon as I actually finish building this site.  For now, I’ll just throw up some excerpts from Solis’ article, focusing on the points that I find most relevant to my own experience the last few months.

Another note…  Solis tends to draw a line between Social Media and Blogs.  I am not sure I agree that they are two separate things, though I reserve the right to change my mind as I spend more time working on my analysis of the current state of Web 2.0.

The State of the Blogosphere 2011 - Brian Solis:

We are focused, against a different standard than that of five years ago, on what is important to us. If long-form content is shared within our interest graph and possesses relevant information that is true to our interests, it will be consumed. If it content, no matter how great its length, is true to who I am, I will share it. Not just because I want others to share in its relevance, but because doing so is a form of self-expression and the words of others can lend to a piece of the puzzle that completes me online and offline.

Over the years, blogs have formed the foundation of social media, democratizing the ability to publish thoughtful commentary, build a noteworthy community and equalize influence along the way.

Blogs are underrated and largely underestimated. Not only are they platforms for self-expression, shared experiences and observations, they are becoming a live index of history in the making as told by people for the people. Each year, I take to my blog to share the state of the blogosphere based on the annual report published by Technorati. Going back to 2004, Technorati has documented how blogs have changed the landscape for information commerce to not only provide insight into the world of blogs and the bloggers whose voices we are growing to trust across a variety of topics, but also into the numbers behind their ascendance.

…bloggers aren’t focused on any one property. Professionals will blog at as many as four properties. This is up from an average of two blogs noted in the 2010 report.

In aggregate, most bloggers will spend anywhere between one-to-three hours blogging per week followed by three-to-five and five-to-10 weekly hours. 25% of professional bloggers are dedicating upwards of 40 hours or more per week.

In terms of frequency, bloggers across the board will publish two-to-three posts per week. However, a notable percentage of professional, corporate, and entrepreneurial bloggers post once or twice per day.

Of those bloggers who are investing greater volumes of time and energy in blogs, it’s for good reason. It’s not just about pontification or sharing experiences in long-form. Bloggers can point to the ROI specifically…and it’s encouraging many to invest more in their blogging routines.

Most note that blogging has proven to be valuable for promoting their business or to one’s profession. Additionally, professional, casual, and corporate bloggers city audience engagement as motivation to create.

As many as 40% of today’s professional and 35% of corporate bloggers once worked as a writer, reporter, producer, etc. in traditional media. The skillset is certainly optimized in terms of content creation. Learning social skills becomes critical for their continued success. On the corporate or entrepreneur fronts, the move to brand publishing or brand journalism as it’s often referenced, appears to be gaining momentum…

To help consolidate sources, I am also including some excerpts from Solis’ 2010 report…

The State of the Blogosphere 2010 - Brian Solis:

With the rise of Twitter, Posterous, Tumblr and other forms of micromedia, many believed that the glass was half empty. Blogging appeared passé as many individuals opted for microblogging, investing in the art of the short form. After all, the blogosphere at one point seemed to succumb to the allure of the statusphere and the effortlessness and trendiness of rapid-fire, micro publishing. But, something was lost in translation over the last few years…context.

Today, 100 million Tweets flew across Twitter.

On Facebook this month, the average user created 90 pieces of content and contributed to the more than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) collectively shared each month.

But blogging perseveres – as it should. It is a place where context, thoughtfulness and continuity are rewarded with inbound links, ReTweets, bookmarks, comments and Likes. Blogs are the digital library of our intellect, experience, and vision. Their longevity far outlasts the short-term memory of Twitter or any other micro network. In fact, with Twitter, we are simply competing for the moment. With blogs, we are investing in our digital legacy.

Half of all bloggers who responded are currently working on their second blog. 81% have blogged for over two years. And for those who doubted the future of blogging, 96% have blogged for at least one year.

Blogs form the basis for the formation of interest graphs, which, for all intents and purposes, represent the next stage of social networking. Close behind, a significant faction of bloggers use the platform to speak their mind as tied to areas of interest, specifically hobbyists, part-timers and the self-employed.

Blogging without an audience is merely a public journal. Bloggers are sharing their soul for a greater cause…your attention, your actions, and ultimately, the prospect of circulation. As such, writing is not enough to build desired audiences and desired outcomes. 55% of bloggers, including me, list their blog on Technorati in the attempts to attract a greater array of visitors. As such, a significant number of bloggers use Technorati tags to help boost their posts and blog when visitors search keywords.In general, Social Media Optimization (SMO) remains underestimated. While it’s an extension of SEO, it is none the less as important as SEO…it’s traditional search vs. social search.

It’s also worth noting that no blog is an island. Even with RSS, bloggers take to Twitter and Facebook to help create bridges between social and interest graphs to related content. And, we can’t overlook the act of commenting on other blogs in the hopes for reciprocal traffic.

2011 is the year of information curation and the dawn of the curator. Curators introduce a new role into the pyramid of Information Commerce. The traditional definition of curator is someone who is the keeper of a museum or other collection. In social media, a curator is the keeper of the interest graphs that are important to them. By discovering, organizing, and sharing relevant and interesting content from around the Web through their social streams of choice, curators invest in the integrity of their network as well as their relationships. Information becomes currency and the ability to recognize something of interest as well as package it in a compelling, consumable and also sharable format is an art. Curators earn greater social capital for their role in qualifying, filtering, and refining the content introduced to the streams that connect their interest graphs.

Curators play an important role in the evolution of new media, the reach of information, and the social nicheworks that unite as a result. Curators promote interaction, collaboration, as well as enlightenment. More importantly, services that empower curators will also expand the topography for content creation. Forrester estimates that 70% of social media users are simply consumers, those who search and consume the content available today…but never say anything in public about it. However, the ease of curation combined with the pervasiveness of microblogging starts to entice consumers to share information, converting the static consumer into a productive curator or creator.

 

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from tag Interwebs

Saturday, December 3, 2011

~24,617 Views Last Month: November Statistics Wrap-Up

2011-12-03 total

Most sites had a lot of growth this month, especially Rubble and Democracy In Distress.  The grand total is down a bit, but this can almost entirely be explained by the drop in activity on Photobucket, which is fine with me.  The music sites experienced little growth this month, which is expected, because they are really just place holders for now, to be used later when I am actually actively involved with a musical project again.

image

Overall, there is a whole lot of up and to the right on these charts, which is exactly what I want to be seeing.  The next step is to look a little more at how to convert this traffic into revenue.  However, that is a slow process and it may take quite a bit of time to see some real progress in that area.

There are also some new sites and collections of my content here and there, but they are new and small and I do not have enough data yet to throw into this mix yet.  Primarily, the additions are the new tech blog which is only a few days old and still very much a work in progress, a Vimeo account for my One Day on Earth material, and delicious.com, which used by my posting utility to add the related posts code to my blogs.

2011-12-03 total chart 

Rubble:

October:        1,531
November:     3,377
Change:        +1,846
All Time:       11,483*


2011-12-03-rubble
 

Democracy In Distress:

October:        4,198
November:     6,129
Change:        +1,931
All Time:       15,524*

2011-12-03 DinD

 

Retrovirus Lab:

October:        1,282
November:     1,312
Change:         +30
All Time:        2,927**


2011-12-03 RVL 

Suburban Eschatology Part Two:

October:        368
November:     873
Change:        +505
All time:        1,475**


2011-12-03 SE2

Panoramio.com:


October:       5,101
November:    5,998
Change:       +897
All Time:      19,234***

2011-12-03 panoramio

Photobucket.com:


November:   3,685
October:      855
Change:      -2,830
All Time:      18,180****

2011-12-03 pbucket

Picasa Web Albums:


October:       1,719
November:     471
Change:       -1,320
All Time:       4,280*****

YouTube:

November – Channel Views:  110
All Time – Channel Views:     318
November – Upload Views:    953
All Time – Upload Views:      1,515

* Blogger has been keeping stats since May 2009, these blogs have been around much longer.  However, since they were essentially dormant until March 2011, they do reflect the activity on these blogs during their current, active incarnation.

** These blogs were created in August 2011.

*** Since August 2011, when I first started posting on this site.

**** I hate Photobucket and I rarely use it.  I believe 11,007 is the total since May, not March, since I had 10,909 hits on June 15.  I've arrived at this static by adding the monthly counts since June to 10,909, which is probably more accurate, but still leaves 15 days worth of hits unaccounted for.

***** I began recording statistics on Picasa in March, 2011. I was posting to the site earlier, but not by much, so this should be a fairly accurate statistic.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Another look at the Lytro Light Field Camera

Note: Cross posted from Rubble.

From 2011-12 (Dec)
Thanks to Sean S. for spotting this one!

Wired took a look at the Lytro camera through the eyes of two professional photographers…  I suspect the article may have been written from a press release, but there is some useful information there.

The first time I posted about this camera, there were a couple questions I had.  One question was how pro photographers felt about it after having a chance to take it out for a decent field test.  The second question was about the camera’s unique shape and whether or not this was a good or bad thing.  The Wired article suggests some answers to those questions.

As for the former, “Wired.com recently chatted with photographers Stephen Boxall and Richard Koci Hernandez, who have been using the Lytro for two months and four months, respectively.”  As I said, this article actually had more of a press release chat, with quotes from the photographers presented by Lytro rather than asked by Wired, a feeling not helped by the fact that Boxall’s images are featured on the Lytro web site (perhaps Boxall’s too, but I didn’t click through very far), but let’s see what they say anyway…

Mostly they talk about how simple the camera is to use and Hernandez says that he “loves seeing the reactions of his friends and family as they’re viewing the light-field pictures he’s taken.”  These would be the digital images on his computer, of course, not prints, because the reactions are to the novelty of clicking around the image, refocusing it…



Yes, that can be fun.  For a minute or two.  A few seconds for each photo.  But, it also feels pretty gimmicky. 

My interest is in creating beautiful, static images.  Obviously, especially depending on the shooting environment, especially in a fast paced environment where you have little to no time to set up and frame your shots, this after the fact editing capability seems like a very useful tool.  Having this functionality in a camera would have been great while out shooting the recent Occupation protests. 

However, for the landscapes and for most of the photography I shoot, I have all the time in the world to set up my shots.  Those mountains aren’t going anywhere for millions of years.  In these cases, it is the quality of the final print I am the most interested in and not the ability to change the focus of the photo after the fact in editing.

Which leads into another question I had about these images.  Okay, we get it… “These micro-lenses capture up to 11 million rays of light.”  Very exciting.  A big number, very spectacular.  But what does that mean?  Really?  How does this compare to megapixels?  What sort of prints am I going to be able to make with these images?

Here is where the pros knock a little enthusiasm out of the sails.  The article indirectly quotes Hernandez as saying, “the living pictures the Lytro camera takes are square-shaped, and most closely proximate a 6MP to 8MP image.”

Now that is not terrible.  As Ken Rockwell points out, “even the cheapest cameras have at least 5 or 6 MP, which enough for any size print.”  Though I am concerned that, with the square shape, cropping these images into more traditional print proportions may further effect the resolution. 

Again, probably not too much of an issue for several varieties of photography, fine when the trade off is being able to focus the photos later in editing when shooting in high pace, frenetic environments where I might not be able to get the perfect shot without such capabilities (compromise is always an issue when editing with traditional digital photos shot in these environments). 

Still, I think when it comes to my landscapes, I’d prefer to keep the megapixels.  Because, often, in those situations my editing is usually more about cropping than it is about focusing.  All to often I’ll notice, when I sit down and look at the image on my screen, that the real picture wasn’t the one I was shooting, but a detail in the frame itself.  Different eyes at a different time, dealing with the low resolutions of the on camera screen, etc.   There are many reasons why this happens and there is definitely some flexibility to be lost in editing when dealing with a five to eight megapixel image.

So, bottom line, where do the pros stand?  Well, suspecting the source of these quotes is a press release, obviously they are pretty enthusiastic.  But I do notice making a point, when it comes to resolution, that they refer to “living pictures” and not photographs, separating these images from a traditional photograph. 
And, as the Wired writer says, “In its current form, this camera is a great tool for the amateur photographer, these two professionals suggest.” 

That is where my opinion is leaning on this camera, too.  Maybe, though, I’d step it down a notch from “amateur photographer” to casual user.  Kids, family reunions, weekend trips to the zoo… 

Although, I think I would also consider throwing one of these cameras, even in its current form, into my bag as a second camera.  My thoughts, I am setting up in a field, taking pictures of mountains in the distance, when a herd of elk wander through.  I grab the Lytro, get some fun, closer up, dynamic photos of the critters with narrow depths of field and funky focuses, then turn back to the traditional camera and take the picture of the landscape and geology.

The second question I asked at the top of this piece has to do with the shape of the camera.  For those who haven’t seen one yet, here is an image from the Lytro web site


As I wrote in my first post:
Some of my concerns have to do with the actual physical design of the camera itself.  Was the design influenced more by the marketing department or by actual, working professional photographers?
I had a pretty negative initial reaction to the shape of the camera, but after playing with its possibilities in my head for a bit, it is growing on me... slowly and slightly.  I'd have to use one for a day to really know if I like it or not.
Now I notice a little hic-up in the Wired article on the design.  The writer throws this out, sounding like she is plagiarizing a Lytro press release, “Hernandez is also a fan of the Lytro’s unique design.”  A closer look at the words that follow make Hernandez seem a bit more ambivalent on the shape.   He is indirectly quoted as saying “he sometimes doesn’t know quite how to hold it.”

When it comes to design, while there is no actual right form or shape for things, there are shapes and forms that daily users of items are familiar with and have built up long muscle memory over years of use.  When I am in a high paced environment and am grabbing my camera to take a picture that will only be available for a fleeting few seconds at most, I want that muscle memory to work. 

I don’t need to fumble with my camera and have to pause to remind myself where the shutter button is, I need the camera to feel like a natural extension of my body, like all the other cameras I’ve been using for the last 30 years…  If it is not, I run the risk of missing my shot. 

And since this sort of high paced environment is the type of environment where  I suspect I’d be using this camera the most?  Well, If this happened more than once or twice, I think the new camera would end up living in my bag and rarely seeing the light of day.

All in all, it is hard to say.  I would love to play with one of these for a day.  I might even like to have one, as I said, as a second camera. 

Another possibility that does excite me a bit is suggested by this article as well, that this technology might be merged into more traditional cameras, adding to the traditional camera’s capabilities instead of replacing them.  Now that sounds like the true photography revolution they are trying to hype the current Lytro camera as.

Until then, however, it still feels more like an entertaining gimmick to me at this point.

Lytro Camera: How Pro Shooters Use Its Amazing Lens Technology | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

All my base are belong to you… A first post


All my base are belong to you: Geek love poem : Shiny Shiny:
AW for this. Found sketched on a pavement in California. Take a lesson English boys.
Well, I feel that my blog Suburban Eschatology Part Two has a bit of an identity problem.  Half the time I am posting tech related articles about new / social media issues and the other half of the time I am posting long navel gazing musings about my life and silly videos of my children.

One of the two topics had to find a new home.

Considering that SE2 was always intended to be my personal journal, well… Here we are.

I wanted to call this All My Base Are Belong To You… but that was taken.  So I snipped them by one word.  That blog is about Japanese culture, this one is about other stuff.  I hope no one gets confused.

Looking at some deadlines today...

I have nine days to get through all of my One Day On Earth photos and videos.  That is a hard deadline.
Before I work on that stuff, I want to get through the last of my Occupy Portland photos and videos from the eviction night and N17.

It is going to be a busy week or so.  But today, I am going to throw up my Photo of the Day and call it good.  It is sunny outside and I want to get a little hike in.  And this evening, an appointment with The Big One. 

I am not worried.  I will still be buried in projects tomorrow.  They are not going anywhere.

That, pretty much has been the theme this week: Resetting Priorities.  After getting my calendar put together, I needed a break.  Outside of my family obligations and getting a little rest and recuperation from the many long hours I've been putting in on all of these projects for the last couple months, anything else that got done this week was bonus.

But, starting tomorrow, it is time to get back to work.

So, there it is... A first post for this blog.  Sort of.

Actually, I've been writing posts for this blog for quite some time, I just haven't had the proper place to post them.

Eventually, as with my other blogs, I hope to run through and sort out all of the old posts over the last ten to twelve years and get them ordered properly in their proper homes.  Backdated, for the most part, so there should be earlier posts in this blog in the near future, but that, as with any further design work on this blog, will have to wait until I knock down some more pressing projects first.

I leave you with the ten year old meme I borrowed the title from...




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Thursday, November 3, 2011

~26,181 Views Last Month: October Statistics Wrap-Up



These numbers are a bit rough, but I believe that they offer a fair account of the activity involving my sites, pictures, etc. across the web.

I am surprised.  Basically, this is all since March or so, with a few exceptions here and there.

So, 62,387 views of my stuff on the web, mostly since March.

And things are starting to take off, since approximately 26,181 of these views have occurred in the last month. I do not know if that growth rate will continue or not.  I would be surprised if it did, but hey...  This is not a bad start for the Rubblebase sites and their associated content.

Taking over the world?  Not yet.  A decent start?  Surely.

A closer look:


Rubble:
Last month:  1,531
All Time:       8,106*

Democracy In Distress:
Last Month:  4,198
All Time:       9,395*



Retrovirus Lab:
Last Month:  1,282
All Time:       1,615**



Suburban Eschatology Part Two:
Last Month:  368
All time:        602**



Panoramio.com:
Last Month:  5,101
All Time:      13,236***



Photobucket:
Last Month:  3,685
All Time:      17,325****






Picasa Web Albums:
Last Month:  1,719
All Time:       3,811*****


YouTube:
All Time - Channel:   208
All Time - Uploads:   562

And now for the very new kids on the block. Considering that these properties are not being promoted in any real way and contain little actual content, it is more than I'd expect for them. 

Rubblebase:
Last Month: 114
All Time:      114

A. F. Litt:
Last Month: 85
All Time:      85

This has been a fun post.  The internet keeps crashing out, so I've had about a five minute break between each entry here.  Fun.  Throw your router out the window fun.  And this is the new, "good" one.

* Blogger has been keeping stats since May 2009, these blogs have been around much longer.  However, since they were essentially dormant until March 2011, they do reflect the activity on these blogs during their current, active incarnation.

** These blogs were created in August 2011.

*** Since August 2011, when I first started posting on this site.

**** I hate Photobucket and rarely use it.  I believe 11,007 is the total since May, not March, since I had 10,909 hits on June 15.  I've arrived at this static by adding the monthly counts since June to 10,909, which is probably more accurate, but still leaves 15 days worth of hits unaccounted for.

***** I began recording statistics on Picasa in March, 2011. I was posting to the site earlier, but not by much, so this should be a fairly accurate statistic.