Widget!

My fancy new widget shows me where people visit from. This is pretty cool since I already have EIGHT countries!

The U.S., Malaysia, India, Morocco, Sweden, Singapore, Canada, and Indonesia.

NOW, let's dissect this a little, shall we? I KNOW who the New Haven Connecticut hit came from: ME. I know where the Singapore came from (JP), I know the Morocco and Canada, the TX, MO, PA and NY hits are all people I know. One of the India hits is another blogger who I emailed after seeing his blog on books. The one in LA is my friend Shane and his blog on books and creative writing is here.

WHICH ONE OF YOU told all your friends in Malaysia to check out my site? How did seven Malaysian cities register? What's strange about the hit counter is that I wish I could see EVEN more detailed information. I wish I could see addresses within the towns when I get multiple hits from Madras, India. BTW, Tangerang, Indonesia is pretty much the coolest name for a city ever.

Don't you wish you could get like a big map and a bunch of virtual pins and pin the IP addresses on here? I know I do! This counter is both an excellent tool for marketing, but also a fun widget for me since my wanderlust controls me. It makes me still feel as though I have some connection to the outside world despite my being stuck in my parent's attic.

Before I go I wanted to make a special mention that the last leaves are falling off the trees. This autumn, the foliage was delayed a full two weeks. While this was a pleasure because it meant a prolonging of the season and warmth of fall, it is a sure sign of the global climate change we all fear. This prolonging in seasonal change prevents ice from freezing properly and therefore means the arctic ice sheet will break up even faster than usual this Spring. I want to wish the members of the United Nations and President Obama the best of luck at the Copenhagen Summit this week. It is my hope that they make decisions and come to agreements that are best for humanity, even if individual humans lose out.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

UPDATE!!

Thanks to a friend of mine, I found a site that lets me show a MAP!!! However, this will only refresh every 24 hours so you'll have to come back this time tomorrow to see the international awesomeness!

Google's opinion of me = single anorexic capitalist

The ads on my blog are something of interest to me for more than one reason. It's not merely because I can make a dollar or two during the recession by helping other people make money (yes, economy, you are full of circles). I also feel that the Google ads somewhat define what the website is about. They are geared to my readership, they are representative of the website.

Before today, the only ads I saw were cheerful, successful financial advice ads. I was fine with that. I am trading stocks. I am proud of that fact. I think my trading during the recession and ability to make 15% on 1000$ in two months is capitalistic but also genius. The reinvestment of that gain into ANX was also genius.

Maybe not genius, but we'll see how it plays out. (Yay, fancy interactive blog)

Today, I open up my "frequently updated website" to find a shocking and absurd ad waiting for people to click. This ad mocks me and my macaroni and cheese taste test. This ad makes me feel fat. This ad makes me think I have a problem.

This ad is for eating disorders. One could argue that wanting to eat only Americana traditional food and taste test macaroni and cheese is akin to an eating disorder, but that is not what Google meant. Google called me fat, or worse, Google told me I should stop being so anorexic.

Maybe I shouldn't take it so seriously, but for a company to claim that they will gear their ad content to my page specifically, perhaps something less offensive is in order, like "free kittens and puppies" or ads for my favorite band. I bet Google didn't bother to find out who my favorite band was *sniff* did they?

It's ABBA. *sniff*

...It's not ABBA.

What's next? eHarmony advertisements? Noooooooooooooo! The horror!

Seriously Google, go back to the financial ads. I'm happier with you thinking I'm just a capitalist than an single anorexic capitalist.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya