The Week I Had

It started last week with a trip up north to help celebrate Grace's 21st Birthday. Amazing to me that she already is 21. It was a lot of fun with a few bittersweet moments thrown in for good measure. We went Macy's to the Mac counter so Grace could get some "Going Out On The Town" make up done and I got new eyeshadow and false eyelashes! I've never had them before and that was wacky good fun. See?

Grace had a fun night, though with a bit of, ahem, overindulgence toward the end. Matthew was an awesome brother and stayed up late to pick up all the 21 and overs from their night of debauchery. Good man, Matthew!

I left on Friday and while it was a good visit, there is much healing that needs to be done in that family. My brother in law is not doing well, still deeply grieving. (I'm being extremely polite here, but I'm not ready to dig too deep on this topic at the moment. If you see me real life, you can ask me all about it.)

The important part is, Grace and Matthew are two amazing, smart, talented, wonderful people and I am so proud to be their aunt. 

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I woke up Friday morning, the 3rd of July, prepping for the drive home and when I checked my email, there were four comments for my other blog, Safety Graphic Fun. I have a few regular readers who occasionally send in funny comments, but have never received four at once from total strangers. I checked my referral page (to see how people got to my site) and lo and behold, my site had been listed on CNN.com as one of "Ten Humor Sites Sure to Make You LOL." OMGWTFBBQPONIES!!!!!11!!1! Click here to read it! It's a blogger's dream come true! Well, when Boing Boing posts about me, then I'll truly be in nerd heaven.

My traffic started going through the roof as I prepared for the six hour drive home. I posted on the facebook fan page and sent something out on twitter, but then had to hit the road. When I got home, I had over 80,000 hits for Friday alone! Then yesterday I got over 172,000 hits! DUDE! My mind is blown and I'm so appreciative of the traffic and new fans and most especially for all the people who are sending in their own images of wacky safety graphics for me to post. That is fantastic.

Is there a downside you ask? Not much of one because it is easy to avoid, but occasionally some assclown will send in a comment that is just rude, obnoxious or generally unnecessary. We (us bloggers) call these individuals "trolls" and when you follow one of the first rules of blogging, you are fine. That rule? "Don't Feed The Trolls." Their words can sting or be annoying, but then you commiserate with other bloggers and all is well.

There is a funny side to all the comments, though for most of the commenters I refer to, it's not funny. But here goes.  99% of the women who comment either just say how hard they are laughing or add an additional funny comment about the particular safety graphic they are commenting on. However, 85% of the men who comment tell me what the safety graphic really means. Or they don't get my humor and explain why my "comments" are not funny or why I am wrong.  My favorite of all time, and most commented on posting is about me and my French language skills. Kurt and I have been howling with laughter as each new person writes in with their correct translation. You can read them all right here. 

There have also been a couple of physicists and audio engineers who have explained things to me about my blog. I *do* appreciate how well educated my readers are. I do. Now if we could just improve their humor education, we'd be doing extremely well! Again, not complaining about the traffic, just amused and observing of these trends!

I'm excited and curious about what kind of traffic tomorrow will bring. Friday was a holiday and while there was much traffic, it did slow down today. *Only* 40,000 hits today. I'm hoping tomorrow there will be a full compliment of office workers checking their bookmarked websites before work actually starts and that they find my site...Can't wait for the new comments!

Lastly, I'm SO STOKED that on that list of Ten sites, four of them (not including my own) were sites that I visit often! To be included in  that company of hysterical blogs makes me even more pleased and proud. 

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Driving home on Friday I got a speeding ticket! This is the first -- FIRST -- speeding ticket I've ever had in the state of California in 25 years! 83 in a 65 on the 101. Does that seem fast to you? That's NORMAL for driving home from the Callahan's. I've set my cruise control for 85 at times. The cop was nice, funny and asked at one point "Why so fast?" and I shrugged and said "New car?" I had to call people immediately to tell on myself and laugh.

And no, I wasn't even listening to Green Day at that point. I was listening to a podcast of This American Life!

Today Kurt was out having a work/writing afternoon and texted me on the way home. He said, "Guess who's getting a speeding ticket?" HA HA HA!! He was going like 90 on the 10. He used the "New Car" defense and the cop gave him a slight break by making the ticket for 80 in a 65. 

Go GTI!! 6th gear will get you! It's hard not to be zippy in that car...

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Tomorrow is Monday. I'm not working!!!! Yay! There is plenty of blog work to do -- new images to sort, emails to answer, blog posts to create for the next few weeks. I have to update Hot Dog Death March and get the donated money to the charity as promised. FUN work! Love it love it love it.