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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

20,000 and Counting

I have an announcement to make.  Somebody, somewhere (probably in Wyoming) just became my 20,000th hit.  20,000th!!!  WOW!!! I know some of you are saying 20,000???  What took you so long?  To all of you who are saying that I give you a royal.... :-P

To the rest of you... I'm not sure what took me so long. :)  10,000 of those are ME so I should have hit this number MUCH sooner.  Also, I have spent my life studying and researching what people want.  I have made spreadsheet after spreadsheet, charting and measuring what it will take to make sure I please the masses.  And apparently it's NOT working.  I really need to re-evaluate my methods of cultural wooing because I suck.  Maybe I should just offer money.  Then I would probably read my OWN blog instead of just clicking for the hits.

Maybe I should focus more on the ever-growing 62 - 68 year old female skateboarding Mercedes mechanics demographic.  That's what my magic computer program tells me anyway.  (I have been debating on getting another program to pick the right demos to appeal to.  This latest suggestion might have made my decision for me.)  But whatever it is, I really wasn't planning on hitting that particular number.  Especially when I found out that just because you write it doesn't mean people will read.  Apparently, that "Field of Dreams" logic only works in the movies.

I have chatted with a few bloggers who I think have GREAT sites and most took a while to reach 20,000 hits.  So I'm convinced it doesn't particularly have anything to do with my crappy content.  Because their content is WAY better than mine and it took them a while, too.  So, I'm leaning on the side of luck in this case.  Just consider me lucky.  I'll take it.  I would rather be lucky than good anyway.

I was going to end it with that but before I could post this I saw something else I consider noteworthy but wouldn't be enough to have a FULL blog about it.  But I just thought it was interesting.

Imagine this 2 times plus 4 more figures.
The other day I went grocery shopping. Of course that's not news.  I grocery shop every Sunday morning.  (Something that IS worth mentioning is that I actually found EVERYTHING on the list (including some "made for her" junk that was added while I was in the checkout line (grrr)).  This seldom happens and is almost more notable than 20,000 hits!)  But as I was leaving, I saw a car that had those cute little stickers on the back that show all of the members of the family.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  The ones where you know the dad is a businessman because his little figure has a briefcase and the daughter is a cheerleader because her little figure has pom poms.  Well... this car had 18 stickers!!!  (At first I thought it was my friend SPUDS but it would have to have at least 8 more figures.) I had to actually STOP to count all of the people in the family.  There was mom and dad.  Then there were 12 kids (their own little "Cheaper by the Dozen").   (Some of you are adding that up and saying, "DUDE that only equals 14!"  And your math would be correct.  But they also had stickers for their 2 cats and 2 dogs.  I actually laughed because the pets were stick figures too and with THAT many mouths to feed, those stickers were probably accurately showing what the pets looked like.)

Those stickers went ALL the way across the back window.  I had never seen anything like that.  It looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics!  (I couldn't quite translate it, though.  I narrowed it down to either it was telling me the world was going to end on New Years Day, 2012 or that Best Buy was having a 2 for 1 sale on big screen TVs next week.  I'm sure neither translation was accurate but I know which is more likely to happen.  So I'm going to party like it's 2011!)

I also couldn't help but think... Good thing the parents opted for the luggage rack package on that Nissan Quest they were driving or they wouldn't have ANY place for those extra kids.  If I were them, on my Sunday grocery trips, I would strap 4 car seats to the top of the car in the luggage rack with the actual kids names taped to the back of the seat.  That way, anyone reading that back of my car would really have to think if those car seats are really used this way or not.  (I would also embellish the joke if I saw people staring at the car when I came out of the store.  I would start calling for one of the kids whose name is on one of the car seats.  After a quick search, I would end it with, "I told Johnny to stay right there (pointing at the car seat) until I got back!  Oh, well... I have 11 more just like him at home.")

That would make ME laugh.  And I guess that's what really matters. (At least that's what my computer program tells me.) :)

For my latest blog post at Nashville Parent Magazine

18 comments:

  1. Wow, that's just plain crazy! I love your idea... putting the carseats on the roof rack and "little Johnny" getting away from you... Dang, that was really a good laugh! Thanks Que, You ALWAYS bring the funny! I'm so excited for you getting the Nashville Parent Magazine gig! What a great start, in what I'm sure will be, an illustrous career in Journalism. And to think, I knew you way back when...
    -ME

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  2. Congratulations on 20,000! I'm over the moon for having topped a whopping 1,000.

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  3. I struggle with 2 kids - the thought of 12 is just scary!

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  4. please tell me how do you find out how many hits??? My old blog was 6 years old had seems like over 700 posts on it... seems like they should have been in a bus not a little ole quest lol... my van seats 7 comfortably 10 tightly an over 10 illegally... :D

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  5. Best one of those stickers was one I saw at a mini sci fi convention... had Mum as Princess Leia and the kids, I think there were two or three, were Ewoks. Very cute indeed.

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  6. Bahaha 12 kids is crazy, but props to them!
    P.S I just got 30,000 hits, so we're kind of even. I'm assuming this will eventually lead to my inevitable discovery of fame and fortune. I'll keep you posted when that happens.

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  7. You keep sending me that envelope of unmarked bills and I will keep trying to get your numbers up!

    When I first started driving everyone had those "baby on board" signs. The first thing I did when I got a car was buy a "baby in trunk" sign. People used to constantly tell me I was sick so I can appreciate your car seat idea. It was so much fun! Wish I had held onto it to display when my kids were little!

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  8. Congrats on the 20,000!

    I think I need one of those decals for my van. Would I be able to put the one representing my son upside down? And baby girl would need a crown.

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  9. @ME - HA! Thanks! I'm not a writer by any means. I never thought about making a career out of it. It's just a fun thing to do in between all of the quiet times I have being a father. Not much goes on here. :)

    @Victoria KP - Thanks! It took me a while to hit 20k. There are a lot of people who started after I did and are getting that and more every few months. So, I'm happy with each 1000 I get.

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  10. @Spencer Park - I would have literally lost my mind at child 4 (which is why we only have 3). So, I can't even imagine 12.

    @Laura~peach~ - I'm not sure of the legality of the car seats on top of the car but it sure would be fun!

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  11. @belindasbaubles - Star Wars theme would be AWESOME! This family could recreate the entire planet of Endor!

    @JoJo - 30,000, that's great! We are no where near close. I'm sure it will take me 5 years to get to 30k. My site and content is just not as "attractive" as yours.

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  12. @lizziehoop - That's pretty funny! I can't see how people would want to get upset about the baby in the trunk sign. I mean, really... who puts a baby in a trunk... and then puts a sign on the car to tell you what they just did. I guess it's about a popular as the "I just robbed a bank" sign they were trying to sell.

    @SandyAnnDee - Thanks. I'm sure you could find one of the decals that do that. I might just get some decals of my family with the kids in the professions I EXPECT them to be when they are old enough. Maybe they will get the hint.

    @Erc - Thanks, DUDE!!!

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  13. And I thought I had a lot with nine decals. Looks like I gotta get busy catching up. Oh wait, I could just go buy a school of fish. THAT'S a way better idea.

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  14. Unless we're talking multiple sets of twins or insanely close child spacing, by the time you have 12 kids, some of them are grown and out of the house, so they don't all need to fit in the car at once.

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  15. @Table for Seven - I'm thinking your school of fish idea is perfect. :)

    @miriamp - Only 2 of the pics looked like grownups. But it's really HARD to tell ages from stick figures. LOL!

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  16. Poor Johnnie. I bet he was in Lizziehoop's trunk! You cracked me up with that practical joke. That is totally something my family would do (as a joke).

    Congrats on the 20k and the Nashville gig. I'm very happy for you!

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  17. Nominating you for the Veratile Blogger award. Check back on my blog to find out what all the hoopla is all about.

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