Whine & Cheese

'Dancing' Banner

Work is not being very agreeable today, so don't have much for ya!

However, while I was waiting around for all hell to break loose (well, sorta kinda) I was reviewing my rotating W&C banner collection... and decided it was time to make some changes... add something new and say goodbye to others.

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to it... but a prime candidate for a banner of its very own was... Dancing With The Stars!   Below is a mini-version of it, if you want to see the full version... just re-load this page until you see it above... or else head over to my banner gallery... right now, the DWTS banner is right at the top.

To keep it "current"... and a tad ironic... the banner doesn't contain any "stars"... though DWTS fans may agree with me that the pro dancers are now as much the "stars" as their celebrity counterparts.  Granted the pros do come and go from season to season, but I included my favorites: Maks, Julianne, Mark, Edyta, Kym, and Derek... and I really loved that graphic of Carrie Ann, Len, and Bruno.

Alas, it was time to bid adieu to two banners.  Heading into "retirement" are my Las Vegas and Reality Show banners.  Since it prominently featured the cast of the now canceled NBC "drama" of the same name, it was time for the Las Vegas banner to go. I'm guessing it will be re-incarnated with a focus on the actual city and its entertainers.  The Reality Banner was showing its age as well... while it featured some of my favorite (and still current) reality hosts... the 15 minutes for Bobby Jon, Charla, and Janelle having come and gone... these banners live on in retirement in the banner gallery as well.

The Return

Today is the day!   As I write, Todd is somewhere over the Atlantic and in a couple of hours will be landing on U.S. soil and returns home later tonight.  Thankfully, he's not flying American Airlines or else I think he would have truly went ballistic, though I imagine it can't be fun flying at all domestically given that situation. 

Needless to say, it's been a very long two weeks.  I want to thank my friends, near and far, for all the kind words and in general, just putting up with me.  I tend to go a little bonkers on these longer trips... but this time around, all the messages, emails, posts have truly kept me sane (well kinda).    And I am thankful for this blog as an outlet as well.   Yesterday, I mentioned to Jen that one quote that resonated with me this week was from my current read (I am behind in book posts big time!), The Diary of Young Girl, where Anne Frank wrote "Paper is more patient than people"... and while my "people" have been quite patient, I am glad to have this outlet to write however much, however long I need to.

Continuing on this philosophical babble/rant, one thing I intended on writing about earlier this week was a fun little blogger gathering I went to last weekend.  I was a little hesitant, I didn't really know anyone I was meeting or even their blogs... it was a degree of separation between my friend Scott and the visiting Bossy... and yet another degree of separation between everyone else attending... but given the lack of human interaction on the homefront, that little Liza Minelli angel that sits on many a gay guy's shoulder was whispering "What good is sitting alone in your room?"... so I figured, what the heck (but stop calling me chum, please!).

It ended up being quite a wonderful night.  I am continually amazed how quickly people click in real-life based solely on previously cyber-only (at at least non-face-to-face) interaction... and heck, for the most part, I didn't even have that much with the rest of the group, which just happened to be 5 other women ... all that could easily play "Grace" to myself, Scott, and Buckaroo's "Will."  (Bossy's base is pretty much women and the gays... though that's pretty much my base). 

It was kinda fun meeting up with some new people and sharing our stories.  I think everyone had a moment that was greeted with an "oh, wow" from the rest of the group... whether it was where we grew up, our relationships, or even how we started blogging.  Good stuff.

One common thread was that when most of us started blogging we never thought it would blossom into something beyond a personal pet project... and now here we were, most of us having already made some new real-life friends out of it... and a bunch more that we certainly hope to meet down the road.

Endnote:  You should really read about Bossy's Excellent Road trip... Scott wrote about it, there was an article here... it is a true testament to all I was saying above with Bossy meeting "260 bloggers across 207 cities in 43 states" (yep, she's pretty much a blogging rock star!)... traveling cross-country (and back!) at 25 blogger gatherings... you can read her continuing adventures at her blog (i am bossy) and here's a direct link to the Scottsdale meet-up. 

Around The Cyber-Block... And Back!

I really don't consider myself a geek... I have decent knowledge of most things computer-related, but just dabble in all the code stuff, more trial-and-error than anything else.

I added the Twitter Update to top of sidebar last week... and that took some work.  Twitter has a TypePad widget that easily puts your "tweets" on your blog... but slight problem, I used an advanced TypePad template (mostly for that hard-fought rotating banner above)... and time and time again, the easy add-ons aren't so easy when you have an advanced template.  So I ended up using Twitter's HTML template to show my latest "tweet" on the blog... but what took time was figuring out how to get all the text colors right to match up everything else... accomplished, but after sacrificing a couple of productive hours of my life!

My next "kill 2 birds with one stone" move was to get Twitter to update my Facebook status line.  Again, it was pretty easy to do thanks to TwitterSync app in Facebook... though I had to ditch the whole Facebook 3rd person (Ed is...) thing since Twitter aesthetically doesn't work well in referring to oneself in that way.  Ok, fine.

The next bugaboo was that the Twitter @replies were showing up here on W&C.  I didn't really like that.  In Twitter, you can reply to others in your circle... but these are pseudo-private conversations and most of the time would be totally out of context showing up here.  For example, if I told one of my Twitter friends "Oh, Cool"... you wouldn't know what was "cool" and it would take a few steps to get there... and perhaps just maybe it's none of your business!  Ha!  Unfortunately, the Twitter badges and HTML code do not filter out these @ replies... though in Facebook's TwitterSync they can be ignored.  Nice!   But that doesn't solve my problem.

So my next thought... can I can get my Facebook status (now updated via Twitter) onto W&C?  Yes, by creating/finding the RSS feed of your "status stories"... click "see all" on your mini-feed... click "status stories" under the view menu... voila, there's RSS status line feed waiting for you under "subscribe to these stories"!

Now, to just add that RSS into your TypePad template ... it's there under Design / Select Content / Feeds... Add new feed!   That would normally be it, but guess what?  Can't add it via this method if you're... wait for it... using an advanced template!   Ergh!  So I add this new feed module into a dummy blog I have set up to practice on... pull it up and "View Page Source" in my web browser... find the code and copy/paste it into my advanced template!   Whew!

And there you have it...  I update my Twitter... it updates it in Facebook... my blog picks up the Facebook via an RSS feed!

Okay, I guess I am a bit of a geek...

Oh, and after all this... can somebody please tell me they actually read my Twitter W&C update!

We're #2!

The gay blogging award season is over... well, at least for me... and, as expected... but given my thoughts when this whole thing started, still very pleasantly surprised, I came in #2 in the polling... 31% vs. 27%.

Not a bad showing for a rookie.

Congrats to Queer Beacon for the victory (again something I expected when I saw the entrants)... it certainly is a full-time entertainment blog... and queer!

Congrats also go out to my buddy Scott-O-Rama who (as expected!) added to his cyber-trophy shelf with two awards for Best Personal Blog and Best Blog Writing, the latter nicely shared with his buddy David from Someone in a Tree.

And a big thank you for those of you who voted for me!   Again, I am not sure how the heck I got nominated in the first place... so to make the cut and finish second still is quite an accomplishment... and certainly puffed up what can get to be a deflated blog ego every now and then... while it is cool to say that one blogs for oneself regardless of who and how many people read it... it is still nice to know there are wonderful people out there in the dark.      

It's An Honor Just...

... to be nominated!

That's the politically correct thing to say... right??!   Especially since my lack of self-esteem modesty tells me I won't win.  While I have "won" things in the past... "Did Most For His Class" in high school and even President of my college dorm my senior year... for the most part, I only enter competitions I feel reasonably sure I can win.  This "not of my own doing" stuff and what surely boils down to a popularity contest makes me somewhat anxious.

Anyhow, what the heck am I talking about... well, I have been nominated for a 2007 QueerVerve Award for... ready for this... Best GLBT Entertainment/Gossip Blog.  How about that?!

And my competition looks pretty darn respectable, I didn't see one picture of a drunken Hollywood starlet/heiress on any of their front pages... so it's not that type of gossip blog.  I would provide links to the competing blogs, but if there is anything I have learned from (entertainment reference alert!) The Amazing Race it is not to help out the competition.  You tell 'em which camel has the milk and the next thing you know you're the one that's Philiminated!

Mainly I don't think I will win since W&C suffers from multiple personality disorder... and certainly not focused on any one thing... but if you are so moved... feel free to head on over and vote for me. 

And while you're there feel free to throw some votes to my friend, blog guardian angel to many of us, and perennial multi-nominee and past winner... Scott-O-Rama.  I believe it was only divine intervention (of the Bette Midler variety, not God... pffft!!!  Hooah... gay and an entertainment reference!) that kept him out of my category.  And gosh knows where the heck I would have found a decent grade of polonium this late in the holiday season to surreptitiously poison him with! 

And while sometimes competing in the same category with the mighty S-o-R,  there are some worthy nominees that I have found and lurk to enjoy via Scott's site... Someone in A Tree,  Puntabulous, and Rcktman's Launching Pad (and I am pretty sure I am omitting many others).

May the one with the prettiest pony win Good luck to all !!!

New Banners

It was time to come up with some new banners for some old favorites... and it made sense to give the re-furb to two of our current favorite TV shows... The Office and Brothers & Sisters.

The Office had previously been sharing a banner with My Name Is Earl... why I don't know... when creating this new banner it was tough deciding which Office cast members to leave off, let alone what pix to use of the ones that did make the cut!   The new banner also serves as a demotion of sorts for Earl... still watching it, but not quite feeling it this season.

Next up, Brothers & Sisters... the goal was to get all the siblings of the title into the banner.  Though when I created the original B&S banner, I don't believe "bastard" child Rebecca hadn't even been on the show yet... plus I was never quite pleased with the Nora (Sally Field) pic.

Since the banners take up the whole length of the screen and I am too lazy to create smaller versions of the banners... if you want to check them out, head on over to the W&C Banner Gallery.  At the moment (subject to change), they are the first two banners on that page (you can page down to see the old/retired versions). 

Else you can always keep hitting reload until to they randomly pop up above.

Head On Over To...

... Scott-O-Rama today and check out my guest-blog post... and proof that, given a topic, I can pretty much blog about anything. 

My creative juices haven't been flowing of late, so when Scott asked me earlier this week to guest-blog for today I was a tad concerned.  Ultimately, I decided it would be fun to blog about their vacation destination of Vermont.  Oddly enough, it ended up being one of the easiest posts I have done of late, despite never setting foot in the Green Mountain State

In W&C news, you may have noticed that I did go through with my threat of using a more "tag"-like approach to categorizing my entries.  If I was able to find five-ish or more entries devoted to particular subject or person, I gave its own category.   You can check out all the new categories over on the sidebar, either the drop-down menu or the brand-spanking new "category cloud."

Being consistent proved challenging.  For example, I added "Tennis" which used to fall into "Sports"... but I figured it would be redundant/overkill to classify a post as both "Tennis" and "Sports" so I just made it "Tennis."  But then I added "Roger Federer"... but also kept it under "Tennis" as well.  Go figure!  I am not so sure how often categories are used by visitors anyhow. I use them every so often on other blogs, but not a whole lot.

The category expansion is still "in progress"... it was pretty fun at first, but it didn't take too long to get a tad tedious with only 1,300+ posts to go through!   

Speaking of which, I let my Blog-o-versary pass without any fanfare... as I often say, I didn't think it would last more than a month or so... but this past Sunday the 16th marked four years of blogging... just crazy!

Anonymous

Time again to blog about those blogs I love to hate... and as always, if you are my blogroll no need to worry... I like you, I really like you.

There are a few blogs that I read on a fairly regular basis that drive me absolutely batty... yet I can not stop myself from reading them.  I am a glutton for punishment.  While they have quite different primary psychological dysfunctions (as do I... and we all... no pot calling the kettle black here), they handle one thing pretty similarly ... anonymous comments... or more specifically, negatively critical anonymous comments.

There is usually huge backlash whenever anyone dares to disagree with them or calls them out for being vain, insecure, paranoid, or just an asshole... or any combination there of.   At the core, I find these blogs mainly exist as a means of ass-kissing and ego-stroking.  Any outside thought is met with wrath, either from the blogger or their large support posse... via comment(s) back from the blogger themselves or, as I have come to call them, their enablers... or sometimes with a whole new bitchy "response" post, which... surprise, surprise... only leads to more cheerleading from the choir.

(Thus why this post is "blind item"... I have seen the path of destruction directed at any kind of public detractor... and that ain't pretty either folks.)

Ironically, they deem themselves nice, likable, and down-right pleasant people.  As noted, they have their cyber-fans, but a couple of them have quite genuine (and oft-posted!) "real world" pictures of friendship which seem to support this "I'm a nice person" theory.  But based on the blogs alone (and I've been reading them for some time!), they come across pretty much as miserable jerks... and certainly not someone I would want to associate with in real life (and a couple of them woefully wonder why they're single??!). 

I realize blogs are not a 3-D depiction of a person... and "negative" tends to rule... as the saying goes, misery loves company... if you want a reaction (which, let's face it, many of us bloggers do) whining, bitching, ranting, venting, etc. will always "win out" over posts about vacations or one's blissful relationship. 

But, after a while, there are patterns and I stand by my thoughts for these people I don't "know"... after years of blogging and reading blogs, the real personality pops out whether you like it or not... heck, with a few exceptions, I equally don't "know" the bloggers on my sidebar either...  but I have a positive impression of them (for the most part! haha!), even with blogs not devoted to butterflies and blue skies. 

I am bit relieved when I read the occasional anonymous comment that makes me think that I'm not the only one drinking the Kool-Aid.  Granted an anonymous commenter can be as annoying as their target, but if it happens over and over (and over!) again, one can only hope that the blogger could take a step back and wonder why they have created a climate where one needs to remain anonymous and also to even look in the mirror and see if even a bit of what is being said just may be the truth.

UPDATE:
Hello Scott-O-Rama readers!  Didn't think so many folks would be reading this... and here I didn't have time to straighten tidy up the place!?!   Anyhow, just want to clarify/update some stuff.  First, I do believe that anonymous commenters can be (are!) a problem/nuisance.  Thankfully, this blog has not reached critical mass and I have not had to face this issue.  One reason I am very content not being "popular" or one of the "cool kids" on the cyber-block.  In the above instances (and IMHO), they are not dealt with in ways other than publicly cyber-stoning.  These days it's easy enough to ban or moderate comments... but that removes what I call the "rally the troops" pay-off... certainly a much more satisfying and long-lasting (heck, who doesn't want to be liked... loved... adored!).  Now I do think it's largely subconscious, but quite repetitive, behavior to this outsider.

Also, the views and opinions expressed in the comment section of this post are strictly those of said commenter and have not been edited or endorsed by W&C management.  Thank You. :-)

And since you're here, take a look around... this non-confrontational confrontational stuff is not a terribly typical post ... usually much more focused on important stuff like TV shows, hot tennis players, and the minutia of daily life.

Friday Free For All

As occasionally happens, seems like there are a lot of little (and unrelated to each other) thoughts... so we'll just go with it.

Labor Day - Which in Arizona is kind of like Groundhog Day... only 6 more weeks of summer!  It usually takes to around mid-October for it not to feel like what most folks think of summertime... and it's been an extra hot one this year, Phoenix broke the record for most days over 110 degrees... 29 days (and counting).  The average is 10 days per year.

Plans - Not a whole lot planned for the holiday weekend, beyond sitting in front of the TV and watching hours (and hours) of tennis.  Let's hope there are more thrills like last night's Blake-Santoro match and less of Sharapova winning matches 6-0, 6-1.  On Monday, we get Lucy the Pug for a few weeks as Todd's parents are headed out for a big road trip of their own. 

Big Brother - Ah, the show will not be as fun without Amber.  Though even I was starting to feeling a tad uncomfortable that the folks behind the scenes were encouraging her (What do mean by "encourage"?)  to do things that would make us laugh at her (and not in a good way).  This also means no more prayers where she God blesses God.   My favorite line about that line was on Fox Reality's Reality Remix...  Kennedy pondering, "Well, what do you say to the Almighty when he sneezes?"   Easily the line of the night was the ChenBot's questioning aloud Eric's romance or "show-mance" with Jessica... "Is America's Player really America's Playa?"  Ah, Jules!

Blogs - It seems like there is a " back to basics" renovation trend on many blogs lately.  I have to admit to not being immune to it.  I am kind of tired of the look of my blog.  However, it took quite a bit to get this "design" to work... so not really wanting to go 100% back to a ready-to-go template, I am sticking with this one.  In the spirit of "simplifying," I have tried to de-clutter the sidebar.  Likewise, I am heavily considering deleting my Kiva blog.  I am thinking I bit off more than I wanted to chew with it.  Now this is pretty typical for me... a big initial burst of activity and interest about something (in this case... the blog, not the organization!) that trickles away.  Which only makes that fact that I will start my 5th year of blogging in a couple of weeks a truly amazing accomplishment.

Tags/Categories - In an act of blog un-simplification, I'm going to use categories more like "tags"... so you'll see things get a lot more specific, though I will try to make sure they have (or will) have more than a handful of mentions.  For example, some of my first new additions are things like:  Dancing With the Stars, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal.   Again, I'm not sure if it matters... but something a little new and different. Apologies in advance to Bloglines and other feed readers if these category changes make my older entries show up new/updated.  On a few posts I changed yesterday, some of them showed up while others did not... so who knows!

Hope everyone has a non-laborious Labor Day weekend!

Thanks A (Half) Million

There's seems to be a flurry of milestones going on some of the blogs I read or lurk on... and I certainly don't want to be left out here at W&C.

Early Monday morning, W&C had it's 500,000th visitor!

Here is the lucky, non-prize winning visitor from T'ai-pei, Taiwan.  The landmark visit pretty much sums up the very important work I'm doing here at W&C...

... the entry (and exit!) page was for my post, Is There A Career Path for A Chippendale Wannabe?

Yes, I am beaming like a proud papa!

I am not sure how long it took to reach 500k... when I started blogging (September 2003) or when my first blog morphed into W&C here on TypePad (July 2004)...  the most "valid" number is that I have had 300k visitors since tracking on SiteMeter in December 2005 (I carried over 200k from somewhere).

That averages somewhere around 15,000 visitors/month... that's pretty crazy... but in the past few months, visits have alarmingly risen (another side effect of global warming?)... from July 2006-March 2007, the monthly range of visitors was 7,400-12,600... in April 2007, it shot up to 21,000... and every month since, it's been hovering around the 30k mark.  I have no explanation.

I'll will gladly admit to getting enjoyment at looking at the numbers.  However, I am not deluded to think that only 10% (at absolute best!) are people reading anything I have to write... most are frustrated search engine users... with most of those looking for someone in some state of undress.

Thanks to everyone... especially to those of you read down this far!

Did You Notice? Part II

Okay, in Part 1, I directed you to my new/updated banners... but have you noticed my new blog?!

Yes, I have a new blog, The Whine & Cheese Kiva Home Page! 

I have really become addicted to the Kiva website, that I thought it was deserving of its own blog (and since TypePad lets me create a bunch of them, why not?!).  It's been up for about a week or two, but I wanted to work out all the kinks before making it truly public.

My original intention was just to feature a Kiva loan every month here on W&C.  I would encourage you to join me in contributing to that loan.

But now having spent some time with Kiva, I realize that wouldn't quite work

a) Loans can often be filled within minutes... so more often than not, by the time you (yes, I'm talking to you!) get around to reading my blog, there would be a very good chance that that particular loan would be filled.

and

b) As I said, it's addictive.  I thought I would contribute to just one loan per month, but I am already up to 10 12 13 loans in just a few weeks (the cross-outs are the additions just between the time I started writing this post and "finished" it). 

So while I will feature a loan each month here on W&C, chances are that there be a lot more activity than just one person/loan a month.

But the true spirit of Kiva, is finding your own people.  It's hard not to browse the Kiva website and not be pulled in by someone's story, the smile on their face, or that you are perhaps the same age... and what the particular attraction will be different for everyone.

Given the two points I mentioned above, I have found you really only need to contribute $25 a pop.  Some of my initial loans, I tossed in more money than that into one loan... and it is really not necessary... it seems like the worse-case scenario that a loan request stays open for more than a few days... and it is kind of fun to be part of a group of folks from all across the country (and the world!) that is quite literally lending a helping hand to a particular individual.

While they will never know me... it has been nice to lend that hand to the likes of Ruth in Honduras, Victorine in Cameroon, Rose in Kenya... and most especially Abdul in Afghanistan and an unidentified seamstress in Kirkuk, Iraq.

So I encourage you to check out the new blog... and more importantly, check out Kiva.org!

Did You Notice? Part I

Welcome to the first of the two part series of "Did You Notice?"... a test to see if you have noticed some changes and/or additions here at W&C.

I hesitate to do a real overhaul of this blog... it took me a while to get everything just how I wanted it to (whenever that was!), so to change the color scheme or the layout just gives me the shivers.  But one thing I can do is pretty easily swap the banners around... and I noticed that some of them really needed to be updated.

So... have you noticed the some changes to the banners!?! 

I'm too lazy to pull in the graphics, but I will show you later where to look if you are really interested. 

Updated Desperate Housewives Banner... some of the graphics are the same, but it was time to get rid of Jesse Metcalfe/John the Gardener... he got replaced with Carlos (I know... not a fair trade on paper)... I swapped in a sexier picture of James Denton... but the biggest change is the Edie graphic to the left.  I was always fond of the one I had of Bree... but Edie and the garden hose proved too tempting not to use as the focal point.

Almost New Lost Banner... I think on the Sayid graphic survived from the original Lost banner.  Still there but with updated pix are Kate, Sawyer, and a new Jack graphic on the left.  Charlie got dropped in favor of Desmond, Jin replaced wife Sun, and I made the decision to go with Juliet over Locke.

New-ish Tennis Banner... this was in the most need of an overhaul... it included two retired players (Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters) and a player that has pretty much lost his mojo (Robby Ginepri).   When I was deciding on who to put in, I was surprised to learn that I do not have many "favorites" these days in tennis, particularly amongst the women... so Serena Williams gets a new pic, but is the only woman in the banner.  Roger also gets a new pic... Marcos Baghdatis gets in... W&C fave Tommy Haas remains as-is... followed by two new additions Novak Djokovic (in six-pack showing shot) and Fernando Gonzalez.  Rafael Nadal is featured in a new "action oriented" graphic to the left too!

There are more changes to come... but that's all for now!

If you want to check out the new banners (without having to hit reload until they randomly show up above), check out the Banner Page... current banners are shown first, followed by the retirees.

Featured Creature

Hey folks... three entries in one day, what did you do to deserve this?  I'll leave it up entirely up to you whether you feel that this is a result of being good or being bad.

Anyhow, the reason I am here again is that my "cyber" turned "real world" friend, Scott-O-Rama, asked me to be part of his "featured blog" series.  Scott's blog is wildly popular ... even rating a recent video shout-out from Cyndi Lauper... so each week, Scott shares the spotlight (and please make that an energy-saving CFL spotlight!) with another blog... and today was my day!

For my regular W&C readers, in the rare chance that you do not know enough about me... head on over and see how I answered the questionnaire... me, me, me, me, me...  it's self-indulgent blogger nirvana!

For those of you visiting from Scott-O-Rama... well, hello... in the rare chance that you know do not know enough about me based on all those terribly and typically verbose answers to those questions.... sit back, relax, take a look around, kick the cyber-tires... or else just keep hitting reload and watch my banners rotate!  Enjoy!

5 Years

Yet another March milestone! 

Last week, I posted about the puppy (who continues to grow at warp-speed, stop it!) breaking into double-digit "weeks old" and then there was the one-year anniversary of the Cooper... and now on this Ides of March... we mark our 5th anniversary of the big move-in together.

Every year, I note that we can't quite figure out the start date of this relationship, so March 15th is the closest to a "day" that we have...well, except for Valentine's Day of course (and if you didn't read sarcasm into that last statement, you need to read this blog a bit more closely)... but still this anniversary of sorts is only a fraction of (given last year's guess-timate) our 12-13 year range of together-ness. 

So, yea for us.. but no big plans (it's a Thursday night... and 5 years in the house... and 12-13 years together... you've got to be kidding me?!  haha!)

In other "news," I am trying to figure out what the heck is going on here at W&C... take a look at my moving 7-day average:

From Under 250 visits a day... to Over 550 (581 to be exact!) just a month later?!

No person/subject is notching more than 1% of my traffic...   

In the past, American Idol has always provided a nice bump... contestant names or the lucidity of certain judges have cropped up on my list of search hits... but this year, pretty much nothing (probably since so many more folks are blogging about Idol)... so I can't quite figure out the upward trend.   No complaints, and we all know the saying "what goes up... "  and there certainly will not be a good explanation when it starts heading south!

The Heat is (Back) On

Good news... the heat is back on in the house!

Now, I have to admit I felt pretty stupid about yesterday's post after watching the national news last night.  They had reports all about the big Midwestern winter storms... with tons of people losing power, deaths, injuries, people going to shelters, etc... and here I was merely sitting in somewhat chilly house drinking a vanilla-caramel Keurig coffee and watching the Golden Globe Awards.  Whoops!

Just keep in mind this blog is Whine & Cheese, so I do have a free pass for a "woe is me" post every so often!

So, one half of the house did not have any problem at all!   Silly me!  Apparently when it gets really cold outside, your heat doesn't work as well.  I know, common sense... right?!?

On the side of the house, where we really did not have anything happening... the culprit was a busted capacitator that was preventing the blower/fan from starting inside the house.

Total cost... $174.   Unbelievable. I figured the labor alone would be more than that!

However, the technician said that we should probably think about replacing our two heating/AC units.  I asked them what their typical life span was and he said 10-12 years.  The age of our units: apparently 12 years.  And how much do those run?   Umm.... around $4,000 each!    Yikes, but we'll just think about that another day (and hope that this one doesn't bit us on the butt).

Anyhow, speaking of heat (translation: any excuse to post the picture below).... it is mighty hot down in Australia.  The first Grand Slam of the tennis season, the Australian Open, started on Monday and temperatures in Melbourne are over 100 degrees... as you can see, my own personal space heater, Rafa Nadal, got a bit schweaty:

And speaking of Aussies and weather, another segue to one of my new blog finds (something that has been sorely lacking of late!)... Craig at Outside the Box.  Craig recently stumbled on this blog and quite nicely left a few comments.  I have since been checking out his blog (the have yet to break my commenter shyness).  An Aussie transplant now living in the Pacific Northwest, Craig is discovering all fun things about life in the U.S. and the joys of a Northern hemisphere winter and new stuff like snow!   

130,000

A year ago yesterday, I signed up with Site Meter to track visitors here at W&C.  It doesn't take long for a blogger to get over how many (or, for some of us, how few) visitors you have... you want to know what is bringing them in.

Then, you realize you probably don't want to know the answer ... for many of us, I suspect it is not what we want it to be (i.e., our sparking personality, razor-sharp wit, etc.) ... but something much more basic and/or primal (i.e., the mention of the word "shirtless" or "gay" attached to any number of famous folk).

So here is my 365 day review...

A smidge over 130,000 visitors and just about 178,000 page views (i.e. when people searching for something wonder why the heck they were brought to my site and explore further) for the year.

So not too bad at all ... and average of about 350-ish visitors a day/2,500-ish a week (the 260 noted above is for the past week)... and fairly steady throughout the year.  I can't explain the "peaks" in February, July and October... and we'll just ingore the November and December down-turn (though that's only half the month for Dec).

I guess that's it... boy, I was spoiled having a season's worth of Amazing Race Monday "sure thing" material to get the week started!

Oh, some other W&C notes I have been meaning to mention.  A few weeks ago, I created a new banner for our favorite new TV show of the season... Brothers & Sisters.  It'll pop up randomly, but if you feel you must see it now, check out the Banner Gallery.  I also "retired" the Big Brother: All Stars banner.

Also, you may have noticed I added Snap to W&C... if you put your cursor over any external (non-W&C) link in my posts or on the sidebar, it will preview that particular web page.  It seemed like a pretty cool feature (plus the code was free and easy to pop in), so I thought I would give it a try.  I hear that it doesn't work for all folks/browsers... so if it is causing any major problems let me know.   

Time

Were you surprised as I was to see my 1000th post?!

It was pretty funny.  I knew my big blog milestone was coming, so I had prepped that entry in advance. Like many bloggers, I often stet entries to post at a later time and/or date.... so I wasn't planning on publishing that entry until today.  And here I was thinking I wasn't going to have to come up with something original for today!   So turning a negative into a positive... what better thing to blog about than this little "oops"!

The vast majority blog entries are "baked fresh daily."  However, I usually like to let them "stew" for an hour or so before posting... that way I can give it a "once over" (not that I am a perfectionist... grammar, spelling, etc... by any stretch!) or insert a new idea or "line"... you know how it works... you finish something and then think "oh, I shoulda..."   

So some W&C posting "time" secrets revealed!

If my morning is going well... "real work" is cooperating... my blog muse is in 'da house... you will more often than not find a 10:18am post.  What time is that for you?  Well, that's a bit tricky.  Given that most of AZ does not observe Daylight Savings that'll shift an hour depending on the time of year.  We're MST but, at the moment, we're on the same time as PST.  So why the heck 10:18?  Well, that's my subliminal (or subversive) reminder to all of you of my birthday.  Sneaky, huh?

Otherwise... you'll find posts at numerically "alliterative" times... such as 2:22 or 4:44...  or if my morning post is "running late" perhaps an 11:11 time-stamp...

Go ahead ... look at the times... you'll see the pattern.

1000th Post

A little while back, I hinted that a Whine & Cheese milestone was ahead...  here it is! 

Welcome to Post # 1000!

How did I ever manage that?  Well, it shouldn't come as a complete surprise. I started blogging in September 2003... and with an average of 5-7 entries a week, all you have to do is some simple math.

So in honor of the big event, here are 10 Things About W&C. 

This will replace my 100 Things About Me sidebar item... I posted that January 2004 and is woefully out-of-date (i.e. I have since been outside the U.S./Canada, it's been years since I watched Trading Spaces, have probably seen more musicals, etc., etc).  But if you still want to check out the list (most of it is still accurate), click here.

So this is just a new informative/intro type post... a review for you regulars and a welcome to newbies!

Here we go...

1. I watch and blog a lot about television!  One of my most often used categories is Television, here you'll find entries about dramas and sitcoms (network and cable).  I am fairly obsessed with reality television, so one category just wasn't enough.  There are individual categories for my personal top 3 reality shows... The Amazing Race, American Idol, and Big Brother.  You can find a slew of posts about current/previous seasons of these shows by clicking those links.  The rest are thrown into Other Reality... here you may find stuff on Survivor, Dancing With the Stars, and many others!

2. My so-called life! If you are looking for some drivel about my day-to-day life, head on over to Everyday Life.  Not always the most exciting entries, but hopefully I give the most banal thing (i.e. a trip to the dentist) a comical/witty twist.  You can also learn about my other household members in Pets... we've had our losses and new additions over the years, you can read all about them... along with any current canine and/or feline goofiness.

3. When I'm not watching television... I may actually watch a movie, listen to some music, or go to a play, musical or concert... you can find all the specifics there.

4. But I do enjoy reading... one of my burgeoning categories is Books.  Every time I read a book, you'll read about my experience here.  Since adding this "feature" to W&C, it have been inspired to read more... and that makes me very happy.   

5. I'm gay... however, oddly enough, one of the categories that I have stopped using is Queer.  It's just that pretty much anything I write is somehow and some way infused with "queer" that is nearly impossible to separate something out as explicity "queer."  As with many gay male bloggers, I dose out a regular servings of hotties... so if you are hankering for some male eye candy... Fine Wine is place is the place to go (and dare I say these are my most viewed/searched for entries).

6. But I do watch sports... well kind of.  If you go to Sports, 90% of the time you find that it is about the only sport I seriously follow... tennis.  But occasionally you'll find something about baseball (likely an entry of our hometown AZ Diamondbacks) or perhaps some sports story of the day.

7. ... and occasionally dabble into the political scene.  However, given the current climate in this country, I don't blog about Politics all too often... W&C is generally a happy place, so I try to keep the drag to a minimum... it's not that I don't care... but it would just make me miserable if I blogged about in on a regular basis.

8. I own a MINI Cooper! A relatively obsession addition to W&C.  I ordered a MINI Cooper in November 2005 and meticulously followed its journey from England to pulling it into our garage in March 2006.  Disaster struck two months later with an accident, but we're back on track.  Having always just viewed a car as something to get me from Point A to B... I love my Cooper like it was a child or pet. You can read all the current and past adventures and all things MINI in the... MINI Cooper Chronicles!

9. Traveling the world... ok, it's been more like traveling the country, but working on that... if I get outside of Phoenix, AZ you'll read about it in Travel.  If you are looking for some pictures, head on over to my Flickr gallery... that gallery does include some more worldly pix from Todd's overseas business trips.

10. I love to hear from you!  Comments keep the cyber-blood flowing for any blogger.  When I started all this, I never imagined becoming part of a community or developing friendships.  A few weeks ago W&C also reached a millennial milestone... my 1000th comment... appropriately enough it was Scott-O-Rama, one of my blogger friends that has turned into a "real world" friend.  There are many other "friends" out there... I won't single you all out, but hopefully you know who you are... too bad we live so far apart!

June 15: Today in W&C History

This September will mark my 3rd blogging anniversary.  For those who have been around for a really long time, you know it all started on Blogger with Blog Over Troubled Water which then morphed into this current TypePad incarnation... Whine & Cheese.

As you know, I am pretty regular when it comes to blogging... no cyber-Metamucil needed.  Like most bloggers I take the weekends "off"... but otherwise there is a good chance there is an entry on any given day.  Now, whether it's any good... I leave that up to my dear readers.

Now while this all borders on being a tad self-indulgent, I thought it would be fun every so often to look back and see what was going on in ... [trumpet blare} This. Day. In. W&C History!   And, heck its a good "gimme" on those fairly rare writer's/blogger's  block days.

1 Year Ago: Back in the Swim of Things :  Well, this might just kill this new feature right off the bat!  This time last year, I was telling you how I was sneaking off to our pool in the afternoons.  Since a good deal of my clients are East Coast, with the three hour time difference I tend to be able finish work by mid-afternoon local time in the summer.  I was telling you how the temperatures were in the 106-108 range and that the pool was a somewhat comfortable 82 degrees.   Well, we are a little "cooler" this year... today's high is expected to be 104 (with a 110+ heat up expected this weekend)... and the pool is actually warmer... it has been around 86 degrees since it got re-done/re-filled.  So, yeah... I probably need to get out there and enjoy it!  And it is also nice to see I had 4 comments on that post and all them still poke around and leave comments!

2 Years Ago: Not Enough Sex on MTV?

In this entry, I was telling everyone that I was getting ready for the premiere of the latest season of The Newlyweds on MTV.  In an article I read about the new season, it appeared that Jessica's manager/friend CaCee was going to be moving into the house, leaving Nick odd man out.  I even quoted this exchange (which I called "a hoot") between the happy couple:

Jessica: "You always opened doors for me when we first got married."

Nick: "Well, when we first got married, I was getting laid."

Hmmm... sounds like trouble was brewing...  anyone know if the kids eventually worked things out??

Any Resemblence?

When I started blogging, I pretty much made a conscious decision that I wasn't going to show my face. Actually, the anonymity of blogging was one of the things that attracted me to it in the first place... I could be judged by the content of my words and not by the "average joe-ness" of my looks.

While I am not phobic about it, I am not a big fan of getting my picture taken ... let alone sharing it with the world.  I have opened that window ever so slightly over the years... if you have poked around you have caught a glimpse/snippet here or there... but no big ta-da! moment... and you're not getting that today either.

Today you may get the "essence" of what I look like... I saw this website on a recent edition of VH1's Best Week Ever... but just like all good pop culture... I pretty much forget everything I just saw in about 10 minutes time (or, in the spirit of the show, should I say 15 minutes?!!)... but, this morning, Kenneth reminded me about MyHeritage.com.

Here you upload a picture of your shot (preferably a head-on face picture)... and the website will scan the picture (with cheesy Steve Austin/"Six Million Dollar Man" graphics) and pop out a list of "celebrities"  who your most resemble... and not limited to folks of your own gender or race.

Just a warning, you do have to "sign up" with the site in order to get the results... you name (I just used my first name and last initial) and e-mail address.

So I found a fairly recent picture of myself that I was "ok" with... and this is what popped out:

And... surprise, surprise... I don't resemble anyone famous!  In this first round, the closest match was a 61% match.   The resemblence goes from top row (left to right) then bottom row (again, left to right).

#1 - Frank Lampard (61%) - Who??!   That was my question as well... he is a British footballer
#2 - Justin Timberlake (61%) - Apparently I resemble him when he wasn't quite as good looking
#3 - Liberace (60%) - The depression set in... until I reached...
#4 - Tom Welling (59%) - Ok, I am somewhere between Liberace or TV's Superman...
#5 - Aidan Quinn (58%) - Better, better...  I can deal with that
#6 - Bob Hope (57%) - This thing is a dang roller-coaster
#7 - Russell Crowe (56%) - Eh, whatever... maybe on my angry days
#8 - Oliver Hardy (56%) - Are you kidding me with this?
#9 - Hayden Christensen (54%) - The mindf&ck continues... how do you go from Oliver to Hayden?
#10 - Lance Armstrong (54%) - By now, I am just too confused...

So, I upload another picture and... shocking... not one repeat from the first round... here is an abbreviated listing...

Again, we open with a head-scratcher...

#1 - Claude Chabrol (67%) - The French director is my highest % yet... where's the Prozac?
#2 - Pearl S. Buck (63%) - My first (and only) female resemblence
#3 - Mikhail Baryshnikov (61%) - He still bugs me as Petrovksy from Sex and the City
#4 - Guy Pearce (61%) - Ok, getting better... but I am detecting a disturbing trend as the resemblence percentage goes down the people get more attractive...

(Full disclosure... skipped some folks here that I never heard of from the 1800s or something)

#5 - Matthew Fox (51%) - Our hairstyle is about the only resemblence and Foxy's is still much better than mine
#6 - Jacques Rogge (50%) - We bear a striking resemblence only when I declare the Olympic Games officially open in our household.
#7 - Tom Cruise (47%) - Only when I jump on couches and dance around the house in my tighty-whities.

So, while a great deal of fun, this didn't tell me much of anything... as I said, I really don't think I resemble anyone famous.  I guess if you look at all the pictures as a whole... you get, as I suggested, the essence of what I may look like.

However, of all the pictures above, I think the one of Tom Wellling looks the most like me... a little facially... though I think it helps a lot that this particular picture does not feature his hair!  And believe me, we wouldn't be mistaken for twins!

Maybe Todd or the handful of other folks who know what I look like and read W&C can give you some insight and if I do bear a resemblence to any of the above (free dinners for those who give the "right" answer(s)).

New Banner

Time to introduce another new W&C banner... slipped this one in late yesterday, but will officially introduce it now.  It will pop up randomly but if you just can't wait here it is (click to make it bigger):

It is a combo banner featuring the stars of My Name Is Earl and The Office.  I didn't feel as if I had enough to fill up everything with just one of the shows... so I figured since these comedies are paired up on Thursday nights why not join them up here as well.

While "Earl" and "Michael" are the true leads in the shows, I have to say I love the women.  I contemplated featuring both Joy and Pam on the left side... but that didn't quite work out... so Joy gets the spotlight all too herself, I suspect just the way she would want it!

When we add a banner...  one generally gets "retired"... and alas it is time to move on and let go of the Arrested Development banner as the S.O.B (Save Our Bluths) campaign seems to have proven unsuccessful.  But if you miss it too much, you can see it, and all the current/past banners here.  My thought was that an Earl/Office banner was a suitable successor to the A.D. gang.

There are more banner retirements ahead... The West Wing will be saying farewell next month... and the 15 minutes for the American Idol 5 will be up as well... so look for more some new stuff in the relatively near future... but I've got to get thinkin'!

What's Going On Here?

I have honestly stopped worrying/caring about how many people read Whine & Cheese...

... that said, I still find my current 7-Day Moving Average Visit chart mildly disturbing!

My ears are popping just looking at it!

I know "a watched pot never boils" so I shouldn't even be looking at this (well, on second thought, it does... I watched a pot with pasta water boil just last night, but anyhow)... just go about my normal routine (as the prez would suggest) and not worry about, right?

But some kind of "ratings stunt" seems to be in order to reverse this ugly trend... any suggestions? 

Do I have to resort to nudity.... with the nudity not being I.... that would likely not work!

Respectful Leader

Taking a cue from Jeff, took the Personal DNA quiz.  It is probably one of the more interesting web-based quizzes I have taken... as Jeff notes, it is interesting that they use sliding scales, grids, and buckets to do the self-analysis... really allows you to explore the grayer areas of your personality.

So what am I?

That kind of threw me.  I get the "respectful" part, but "leader" is not a word that would roll off my tongue when describing myself.  But then, I read what they meant by that...

"Your solid grounding in the practicalities of life, along with your self-assuredness and your willingness to appreciate new things make you a LEADER."

Ok, that I can kind of get... and just to complete the other half:

"Your reserved nature, understanding of the world, and faith in others make you RESPECTFUL."

My highest rated traits were: openess, confidence, trust in others, agency (how much you believe you determine your own outcomes), and earthy/imaginative.

Lowest rated traits were: spontaneity, masculinity (as Jeff noted, "degree of your stereotypically-male traits"), and attention to style (effort you put in to your own style).

If you interested in doing the quiz yourself, I would set aside at least 10-15 minutes... and as they mention, go with your first instincts.

I Am A Volcano

I'm back!
(Why do I sense this statement was not greeted with any surprise?)

Remember how just a couple of  hours ago I mentioned that I should probably just zip my lip during my appointment with my account?  Well, mission not accomplished.

My current state reminded me of this passage from Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation (now available in paperpack!):

When I am around strangers I turn into a conversational Mount St. Helens.  I'm dormant... dormant... quiet... quiet... old guy loners build log cabins on the slopes of my silence.  Then boom... it's 1980.  Once I erupt, they'll be wiping the verbal ashes off their windshields as far away as North Dakota.

Let's just put it this way, my accountant has a MINI Cooper... enough said for the reason behind this particular "eruption"!

But that got me thinking... W&C is my own personal volcano... explosive in thoughts, unpredictable topic-wise, and, more often than not, a lot of written "ash." 

My buddy Scott wrote yesterday of blogging sometimes being a grind.  I have to say a rarely feel that way.  When faced with blank TypePad post template...  the question is not "What am I going to blog about?" but "What am I going to blog about today?"  Just one little word, but a big difference.

Now this is not to say I am not susceptible to "the grind"... there are many (many!! many!!!) times I hit the motivation and inspiration brick wall in life... even things I really love doing... cooking, reading, working out (well I don't love, even like, working out... but you think the results would keep me motivated)... so, even I am baffled, why this phenomenon has yet to surface in my blogging.

I guess I am not terribly worried about my readership (no offense, dear readers).  I just don't feel (or need!) the pressure of having thousands of readers each day awaiting my next pearl of wisdom...and heck, the posts that send my stats into the stratosphere are usually among the silliest things I blog about. 

As I have admitted before, W&C is not terribly focused... it is an A.D.D. mega-mix of reality television, tennis, studs, Coopers, movies, music, politics, books, dogs, cats, ... well, you get the idea.  So I have these little core audiences, they drop by... but if today's post de jour is not to their liking, off they go (Hmmm.. is this why my average visit length is 54 seconds?).  But I like having my little group of "friends" who I know will pop up when I post something on that particular subject.

I think when blogging turns into something for "them" vs. something for "you" that's where it gets problematic.  Before I type the first character into TypePad, I know that it will probably please somebody...  but certainly not everybody... and that's okay. 

Sometimes when Todd comes home from work, I'll glumly say of a comment-less post... "I really liked my post"... to which he'll respond (every time, bless his heart!) "I could tell."  So what was intended as a whine (!!) about a non-reaction, really circles back to the real reason I blog... so what?  As long as it made/makes me happy.

So welcome to my volcano... or maybe I should say geyser, like Old Faithful, W&C goes off pretty regularly...  and if you miss it... another eruption, maybe more to your liking, is usually right around the corner.

Couple Of New W&C Banners

It's been awhile and since I had some time on my hands I added some new banners into the W&C rotation over the weekend. 

Alas, we also have our first banner "retirements."  We say goodbye to two of my HBO-themed banners.  Both were pretty much identical... I just couldn't choose my favorite image of The Comeback's Valerie Cherish (Lisa Kudrow), so I just created two of them. The Fishers from Six Feet Under were also featured.  Since both shows have have long ended their runs, I figured it was about time to send them on their way (though you can still see them in the "See Them All" archive atop the sidebar).

So what are the new additions?

Well, no huge surprise that the first new entry is a homage to... American Idol - Season 5  (click on the link for a pop-up image). Once I found that image of Randy, Paula & Simon I knew it had to be the centerpiece of the banner (tho I am sure Randy would prefer that I had found a post-gastric bypass photo).  Originally, I had Ryan "in" the C... but then I figured I would move him out and save the "letters" for the contestants... who I am sure I have officially jinxed by featuring them so prominently in the banner.  So it is a little "busy" graphically... but I like how it turned out.

The second new entry is also an HBO show that has long ended its run.  However, I have become re-obsessed with it in syndication... so now the gals of Sex and the City have a banner of their very own!  I did something a little different on this one... got rid of the big yellow/gold Whine & part and instead incorporated that part into the "centerpiece" image.  So, a bit less busy than some (most!) of the other banners.  And while I know Smith was not a major character, I could not leave out the "Absolut Hunk" image.  Hee hee.

Some more retirements lie ahead...

Probably for Arrested Development (haven't heard much news on it being picked up elsewhere of late... I hear the final 4 episodes were truly a good "ending" to the series... they are still on TiVo "to be watched").

And definitely for The West Wing, which will end its run in May (though "boo" to NBC for giving away a spoiler in the promos airing during the Olympics, but hopefully it will encourage folks to tune in!).

So I hope you like the new banners!  I certainly have a lot of fun creating them!  For those who are familiar with W&C, what would you like to see next?  I am open for suggestions!

P.S.  Todd arrived safely in Hong Kong, he called around HK bedtime as I was just starting my day here in AZ (15 hour time difference!). 

Looking for DwtS Trivia?

I see I got another mention from A Socialite's Life...

For those looking for my Dancing With The Stars "Trivia" post.... click here.

(Regular W&C Readers.. there are new post(s) below, I am just keeping this at the top of the page until the traffic generated from this link dies down a bit)

Zoom Zoom Zoom

No, this is not another post about my MINI... but it does have to deal with traffic... heavy traffic here at W&C.

Since I signed up with Site Meter, I had yet had a "breakout" day... for those who keep track of your blog stats, you know what I am talking about... something well above and beyond the normal hits.  As I mentioned just a bit ago, W&C has been averaging around 300 visitors a day... a number that I am still truly pleased with... but I was still waiting for "the next big thing"... something that usually comes as a surprise!

But then on Saturday, I had that crazy day... which is quite unusual, since on weekends the blog hits usually take a noticeable dive... but you can see what happened in the chart below (we'll get to today/Tuesday in a bit):

So what happened on Saturday (and into Sunday)?  Over a year ago, I blogged a little bit about a reality show about a Vegas casino... and the search hits have pretty much never gone away...

So item #1 in the chart above has always been one of my most searched names... however, when item #2 happened on the show (thus the top item on the list) the search hits were just off the charts... so I don't even have to check a TV Guide to know when that particular episode re-airs (the show used to be on The Discovery Channel, but they have been repeating it on The Travel Channel).  I had 821 visitors on Saturday, 633 on Sunday.

So that was the weekend.  But this morning (Tuesday), I fire up the computer check my search hits... and I honestly thought that the "today's hits" counter must have been re-set back to zero... I had nearly my average hits for the day already... but a closer inspection showed that I had over 150 visitors on my site in the last hour!   

Some easy investigating showed that I had been blessed with a link from A Socialite's Life to yesterday's post about the TAR9 teams... never doubt the power of a one-line mention on a popular website... check this out:

Now, that's amazing... the numbers seemed to increase faster than the national debt every time I checked... heck, the chart that I just posted is already out-of-date... over 1,015 visitors just today...and counting... yikes!

And here I was thrilled with those 100+ hits from the stevecare11.net!  (And I still am!)

So I am happy for now... but fully prepared that there is only one direction to go stat-wise over the next couple of days.

My Desktop

Ok, all the cool kids are doing it... so I figured it was time...

I am too lazy to link to all of them, but if you've done it and I link to your blog (or if you link to one of their blogs!)... I got the "idea" from you!

So here's a screen-cap of my computer desktop:

The backdrop is my "money shot" from our trip to French Polynesia last year -- sunset at the Intercontinental Beachcomber resort on Moorea.  Just a gorgeous shot (if I do say so myself, though I can't take a whole lot of credit... it was just a simple point and click).  I like how the overwater bungalow and palm trees are shadowed out and the refections in the water ... and best yet, no Photoshop-ing required.  I didn't put up this up until a couple of months after our trip... it was just too painful to face this picture on daily basis and be reminded we were not there!

Compared to other desktops I have seen, mine seems much more cluttered than most.  But in real-life, I am pretty prone to clutter... so no big surprise that this is reflected in my desktop.  Too many folders (mostly pictures) that could probably be consolidated or removed... many blog-related folders:  "FW" (Fine Wine... so all those hunks), "birthday" (the pics I use for my "birthday studs"), "banner" (all those banner graphics I have randomized above).  Usually whatever pic I am posting on a current blog entry is sitting on my desktop.. those are either deleted or moved to a "misc" or other appropriate folder.

My task bar is pretty typical of the applications I have open all day long... two emails (work and personal), Firefox, Word & Excel, software for work, and often some graphics program (more often than not Adobe Photoshop Elements).

Have a great weekend!

Get Your Stats

Yesterday, marked one month since I put Site Meter on W&C.  No surprise that since then I have been quite obsessive compulsive... looking at the who, what, and where... and, of course, the how many!

Here is the chart from this past month:

I have had just under 9,000 visitors and approximately 12,800 page views since December 17th... so an average of just under 300 visitors and just over 400 page views per day... and to make those numbers even more impressive they do not include my own visits and page views (I was able to exclude my computer from "counting" towards these numbers).

I am kind of floored by the numbers and quite happy with the steady traffic... and considering the steep drop it took right around the holidays (though somewhat balanced by the Jan 3rd peak, the day many of us were getting back into our "normal" schedules), I expect those figures will probably increase if I look at things again next month.  Also, you can pretty much pick out the weekend dips on the graph.

More gratifying was to see my non-search engine visitors held steady at 25-26% over the past month.  I am making an assumption that this is my "core" audience... and while that might not seem like a high number, I think it is actually quite good.

So what have been the most popular searches over the past month?

Immediately shooting to the top of the list were three items:  this Ex-Newlywed and soon to be divorcee, the cancellation of this show on Fox, and this Las Vegas casino hotel manager who has been in my Top 5 search hits since August 2004 (yowza!).   Lately, many permutations of this former (??) television gardener's name has taken over a few of the top spots on the search hit list.

The word "shirtless" always brings in the crowds, the most popular ones were for: this plumber from Wisteria Lane, this real-life carpenter, and again for that Newlywed guy.  Watching my stats, I decided to see if I could spike some searches.. and it worked!  I managed to get this fictional stay-at-home Dad into W&C's Top 10 searches.

Country-wise, the USA (needless to say) dominates with 62% of visitor traffic, followed by Canada (6%), UK (4%), and Netherlands and France (3%).  Continent-wise, outside North America... Europe accounts for 19%, followed by Asia (5%) and Australia (2%)

Browsers... it's 80% Internet Explorer, 13% Firefox... and then a couple of surprises... 4% Safari (one that I am not terribly familar with), and just 1% for Netscape (my preferred browser prior to Firefox).

Top Operating Systems are: Windows XP (81%), Windows 2000 (6%), and Mac OS X (5%).

So that's it... probably way too much information for most of you... but I still thought I would share!

Frappr

Ok, I know I am very late to the game ... but I give up... I added a Frappr! map to my sidebar.

If you a regular (or even semi-regular) reader of Whine & Cheese, I would love to know where you call home (even though for many of you, I have a general idea). 

From what I can tell you just have to add your name (or pseudonym), email-address, and zip code... how detailed you want to get to your exact location is totally up to you... you can add a photo if you would like, but it is not required.

So get mappin'... if I don't get a good response, it'll disappear!

UPDATE:  Thanks so much to those who have added themselves to my Frappr! map (see lower sidebar)!   In all honesty, I was going to give it a week and if I didn't have 10 people I was going to take it off... so it was quite surprising to see 10 flags on the map by the very next morning.   Keep on mappin'!

2005

While lying in bed last night, it hit me that today's post would be the last one of 2005.  So quite a bit of tossing and turning ensued as I reflected on the past year... and ...

I have to say 2005 was a very good year, definitely above average. 

I just re-read my last post of 2004... there is definitely seemed a tinge of melancholia... but I'll just chalk it up to a temporary intrusion of the 'holiday blues' ... but little did I know what the new year would bring:

It was a milestone year... I can hardly believe 2005 marked my 15th year in Arizona.  I think that officially makes me a Arizona native. 15 years of a lot of growing up. That 22.5 year old kid would have been pretty pleased (and likely pretty shocked) to see how his life turned at the end of 2005.

2005 was the first time I ever left the country (apologies to our neighbors to the north, but I am not counting two family vacations to Canada).  I have already exhausted the list of superlatives about our trip to French Polynesia in May.  We wanted an "escape from the real world" and that is most certainly what we got... we were in awe of the beauty of the islands and have many lasting memories... sitting out on the deck of our Moorea beach bungalow listening to music and sipping Tahiti drink, walking back to our hotel under a the most incredible starry night and then watching the moon rise over the Bora Bora lagoon.  We also enjoyed each other (get you mind out of the gutter!)... after 10+ years together, it was nice to be together for a week without all the "noise" of everyday life getting in the way.

2005 was a very good year business-wise.  Last year, we thought we had an unusually good year profit-wise, easily busting the bottom line from any other year.  In the last month of this year, we managed to even surpass that!  So while I don't love my job, I love what it affords me to do... I have a sense of financial security (something that was non-existent my first 10 years in AZ) and the list of things that are great things about working from home is far too long.  We already know we are losing some business in 2006 (some clients going in different directions), so I doubt we'll have another repeat... but that's what we said last year too!

We made some new friends in 2005.  I left some friends behind in NJ all those years ago and the handful of friends I initially made here in AZ gradually faded away... so it was the most unexpected and pleasant surprise to meet Scott & Buckaroo.  I was losing faith that at age 37/38 that I would ever have some new friends... thankfully that was not the case and we couldn't ask for two nicer guys!

2005 also widened my circle of "blog" friends. It has been fun to get know other folks via their blogs, but there have been a handful that I have enjoyed some further communication via email. I am sure if the miles did not separate us, I would enjoy a movie, dinner, coffee, or cocktail... with (in blog name alphabetical order) Scott, Kenna, Kenneth, Jeff, and "Atlanta" Todd.  Perhaps our physical paths will cross one day, I would welcome the opportunity!  Also, it was great to meet up again with long-time "Internet" friends (before blogs existed!), JD and Bill... we had a memorable evening of food and fun (even with fire alarms going off at dinner) with them in Vegas in February.

2005 was the first time Todd made a trip back to NJ.  After all these years, it was nice to finally show him "my roots" and also take him into NYC (for what would be a memorably wet whirlwind tour of Manhattan).  My parents bought that house in 1963, so this is a place that is truly "home"... Todd also met my very best friend, the "Grace" to my "Will," so that was pretty special as well.  I am sure he got some insights into my life, for better or worse, from this world he had only previously heard about.

So not bad, huh? 

Having seen a lot of blogs peter out or disappear altogether, I am truly surprised I am still around.  I tend to go through phases... moving onto something else once I lose interest... but we are 2 years and 3 months later.  I know W&C isn't terribly focused... one day it's The Amazing Race, next day its something gay and/or hunky, next day its a trip to the dentist or something about a tennis player... but as the song "Bitch" goes ... I'm a little bit of everything/All rolled into one... so expect more of the same in the new year, and if you don't like what you see or read... just come back tomorrow or the next day!

Best Wishes for 2006!

The Search Is On, Again

After a brief respite from obsessively checking the search hits here on W&C, I am back in the game.  Since I just passed another huge milestone (200k visitors!), I figured it was time to see what is bringing folks into my 'lil 'ole weblog. 

After compulsively checking hits on a daily basis, I got a little tired of it.  I checked in every so often, but didn't really care all that much... but then my old "free" stat tracker started putting pop-up ads on here... that had to stop... so for about a month or so I have not had any easy way of looking at search hits and I missed seeing what was going on.  I love TypePad but one thing that it is not very good at is easily viewing and/or tracking search hits/stats/etc.  So I signed on with the very popular Site Meter and even decided to get the "Plus" service and all the bells & whistles (heck, if I am paying for my blog service what's a couple more extra bucks, right?!!).

Here's an abbreviated list of some of the multiple search hits I received in my inaugural weekend with Site Meter:

As you can see it was a battle royale between two people.... Nick & N1nya (I am purposely misspelling that gal's name).  No surprise why Mr. Lachey is at the top of the list... he is always a popular subject, but his recent marital break-up (have you heard about it?) seem to be really driving through some extra traffic.

I am guessing many of you are probably wondering who the heck N1nya is?   Well, she is likely one of W&C's biggest search hit "honeys" of all-time.  She is the hotel manager for the reality series American Casino (previously seen on The Discovery Channel, but now airing episodes on its sister network, The Travel Channel).   Folks are pretty obsessed with this spunky gal (and former Miss Nevada) and this blog is apparently one of the few websites that mention her!  So she has been high on my search hit list for well over a year... particularly after her boss unexpectedly died last year.

Another interesting stat is that first line. I am taking that to mean that about 24% of those visiting W&C are "regulars"...arriving her "on purpose" and not via a search engine.   While it seems small, it is actually a bit higher than I expected... and I appreciate all 24% of you!  At least I am not letting you down when you are searching for a specific someone who is nude, naked, or shirtless!

Also, it looks like I have the world farily well-covered... here is a map of the last 300 or so visitors:

Again, no surprise the most are from the United States (about 66%), although I am mildly surprised at how much the focus is on the Eastern part of the country.  Europe seems fairly well-covered and it is nice to see random hits in South America, Indonesia, and Australia.  Do you see yourself?!

I am sure I will be re-visiting the search hits with a special post from time to time... always find it fascinating to see what is on the mind of Googlers, Yahoo-ers and the like.

If you are a do-it-yourself-er, you can always click on the Site Meter box in the lower part of the right sidebar and see for yourself what's going on here at W&C!

Weekend Update #50911

Here's just a mish-mash of thoughts from the weekend... so get a drink of your choice, sit down, read, relax...

Ended up being pleasantly surprised with the musical Movin' Out on Friday night.  As I mentioned in my last post, I am a Billy Joel fan... so that show had a leg-up in the "like" department going in... but despite being a little heavy handed at times (c'mon trying to interpret Vietnam and drug addiction to pop songs?!) it was really well executed.  There was no dialogue so the dancers had to tell the "story" through dance... you have to think that Twyla Tharp is some kind of genius to have choreographed every move for about a dozen dancers for a nearly 2 hour show!  (Tho