Do Nothing for Two Minutes

Good luck! I made it, but it wasn't easy.

Google Ads

I hadn't really noticed that Google has added ads to the confirmation page when I post a new entry, but this one caught my eye. Since I had just posted a link to a dairy, obviously I'm in the market for Organic Valley Milk e-coupons. Makes sense to me.

Delurking

From merry mishaps, I find out that today is Delurking Day. If you are reading my blog, and have never posted a comment, you are hereby instructed to post one now.

Year's End Meme

I stole this one from Addy N. two years ago. She did it again this year, so I'm doing it again this year. The first sentence from each month of 2008:

• January, 2008: I'm vaguely near Shaftner (Hey, there's not a lot out here!) so I thought I would use this pic of the Nevada Northern Railway as it passes, well, vaguely near Shaftner.
  
• February, 2008: I'm not thrilled with this cover layout, but I do like the band name.
  
• March, 2008: Got March off to a good start, with a four mile run at a brisk pace.
  
• April, 2008: Now this is what I expect Nevada to look like!
  
• May, 2008: So, it turns out that the International Bird Rescue Research Center has a location in Cordelia [CA].
  
• June, 2008: Look at the cool twisted chimneys on this building in Cloverdale [CA].
  
• July, 2008: Humboldt Redwoods State Park is California's largest redwood state park.
  
• August, 2008: So I'm strolling along here in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, and I run across this totally normal sized tree stump, with a tiny little man pushing on it. [You have to click through and scroll down to get the joke.]
  
• September, 2008: One thing that I got to practice this morning -- and I really need to practice it -- is my patience, waiting for the race to start.
  
• October, 2008: After two long days in a row, I couldn't get myself going this morning.
  
• November, 2008: I won't be to Arlington until tomorrow, but as I keep saying, there's not much out here, so I went ahead and plopped myself into this photo of the Village Inn Motel, from Epinions.com.
  
• December, 2008: I'm a bit past Connell, at this point, but their Fall Festival looked like so much fun, I just couldn't resist it.
  

So, what does it tell you about my blog? That it's mostly about the towns that I virtually visit. Eight of the 12 sentences are about my location on the map. Two more are about my runs. One is about taking the day off, and the last is about a fake album cover (a thing I was doing a lot of back in January and February.)

New Map

Longtime readers will remember that for a while, I was tracking my cross-country journey with a site called "BuddyMapping". Then BuddyMapping seems to have disappeared, and for a while I had no map at all. This morning, inspired by the Virtual Run Across America, I sat down and made myself a new journey map, using Google Maps. It seems unlikely that Google Maps will disappear any time soon. It actually took quite a while. I had to go through the archives, figure out where I was at the beginning of each month, find that spot on the map, and create a pin. But now I only need to add one pin per month. And you'll be able to see me wend my way back across the U.S.

Metapost: What I Have Learned From JogAmericaBlog

Non-Runner Nancy left a comment on my last post, saying "This [JogAmericaBlog] is quite the concept....and I'm guessing quite the extended geography lesson." Which got me thinking....

It certainly isn't quite what I envisioned when I first thought of the idea. My very first post was at the Empire State Building, and that was the sort of thing I was expecting. Big, famous, visible landmarks. But there aren't that many of them. For every Pro Football Hall of Fame or Chimney Rock there have been a half a dozen Our Lady of Grace Grottoes or Davis, California, Amtrak Stations. More than once, I've resorted to posting generic scenic views because I just can't find anything specific to stand in front of.

I have found out that all be the smallest towns have a web presence, and that some of the things you find are pretty strange. Louisville, Ohio, has a picture of its recycling bins. In Berthould, Colorado, I visited the Auserehlian Rug Cleaning School. In Peoria, Illinois, I found the Hubcap House.

I've also found some really cool web sites. Without JogAmericaBlog, I never would have known about some of the esoterica that people put on the web. Some of my favorites:

• Lynn, who visited every town in Utah.
  
• Beans Around the World, proudly dedicated to taking pictures of a can of beans in front lots of stuff.
  
• Concrete Disciples a way cool name for a skateboarding site.
  
• My personal favorite, The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things.
  

Nancy also writes "I need to learn that photoshopping technique." To this I reply, It's really not that hard. I have a version of myself already cut out, so I just need to scale it to fit the photo, and sometimes erase part of me that would be behind something. I will admit that once or twice I've done something a little daring.

1 World, 2 Wheels

My local bike shop is promoting a Go By Bike challenge, sponsored by Trek. I have pledged to ride my bike to work, instead of taking a car. It's only a mile. Right now, it's not much of a challenge. I only go a couple of days a week, and the weather is fine. We'll see if I can keep that pledge when the weather gets rough, and I have to put in nine and ten hour days.

Over to the right, I have installed a widget that tells you how many people have pledged here in my little town (we associate ourselves with the bike shop when we sign up). Alas, that widget only seems to work on Internet Explorer. I can't see it on Firefox at all. Perhaps someone will fix something some time.

In any case, I urge you to think about trips that you could make by bike. It's good for you, good for the environment, and a lot of fun.

Now they tell me!

You Should Get a PhD in Liberal Arts (like political science, literature, or philosophy)

You're a great thinker and a true philosopher. You'd make a talented professor or writer.

What Advanced Degree Should You Get?

Hat tip to Addy N.

This blog's reading level

You think that's great? Check out Addy N.'s.

The End of the Internet

While exploring Blessed2Bless, I found the end of the Internet. Well, at least now we know where it is.

More Blogthings

Your IQ Is 130

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Above Average

A Quick and Dirty IQ Test

My "Logical Intelligence" is below average? Please don't tell anyone. Oh well, at least I passed eighth grade science:

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

OK, I'll stop now...

Welcome!

In the last week or so, I've been experiencing an increased number of hits. For the longest time, I was getting 8 to 12 a day (and I pretty much knew who all 12 were, too.) But now I've gotten 26 to 30 each of the past four days. I don't know what that's all about, but if it actually represents new readers, then welcome. Please feel free to leave a comment telling me who you are.

This would probably be a good time to point out the Sponsor Me! link over on the side bar. I'm running a half marathon in Madison on May 27, and raising money for the American Cancer Society in the bargain. If you can contribute, that would be great.

Necklace

Via StyleyGeek, the coolest web toy I've seen in a long time: the Necklace. The Little Joggers and I sat here and played with it for 20 minutes, easily....