Opinion

Blogging and other stuff

I don’t look at my stats much because — as mentioned before — they can be skewed by many things. Views can be skewed by having a gallery in the post, and visitor numbers can be skewed by back-and-forth comments between two people. Meaning, two people conversing over the course of a day would show up as multiple visitors (as far as I know, the system doesn’t check for unique visitors on any given day — or ever).

There are widgets that will give you better stats. I have one on my sidebar, but, as I said, it don’t matter none since the only person with any possible interest in the number of visitors during the recent past is me, and I’m not invested as much as some.

But, I am casually interested in another metric . . .

It would be nice filling-in that world map. Having said that, I got to thinking about how many countries I’m missing.

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A comment on comments

In yesterday’s post, I linked THIS<<link post and my sister AnnMarie mentioned how nice it was to see multiple comments. I went back and counted . . . there were 16 unique individuals leaving comments.

It’s something I’ve also noted as I occasionally go back and read old posts. Namely, there used to be more people leaving comments as late as four years ago than this year. To be clear, the slowdown started sometime in the last three years and it has now reached a point where I can expect comments from a maximum of two, maybe three people leaving a comment, and it’s the same two or three people.

Most of the readers who at one time I considered “regulars” are no more. I don’t mean they’ve died (although — sadly — a few have, and they are deeply missed). I mean they no longer seem active in the blogging community. Some have blogs that have gone dormant without explanation, and some indicated their focus and interests have shifted.

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Well, which is it, young feller?

Warning: this post is just words. About 2,400 words. No photos, and all opinions. The reader is warned.

One of my favorite movie scenes is from Raising Arizona (LINK) and it’s where the title of this piece comes from. Here’s the relevant part:

Gale:
Alright ya’ hayseeds, it’s a stick-up. Everybody freeze. Everybody down on the ground.

Old Man in bank:
Well, which is it young feller? You want I should freeze or get down on the ground? Mean to say, if’n I freeze, I can’t rightly drop. And if’n I drop, I’ma gonna be in motion.

So, why this title? Lemme ‘splain in my usual tedious way.

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It’s Getting Real

Note: this post is approximately 1,250 words with a 9th Grade readability index. Click HERE for complete statistics.

It may not seem like it, but I’ve mostly abstained from posting opinion pieces . . .

Because they are emotionally draining.

Because issues are more complicated than what you read or hear or see, and discussing them get’s messy.

Because I don’t even for a moment think my input will sway anyone’s opinion.

Because the majority of readers are uninterested in my opinion. Especially, opinions they might find challenging.

In real life, I don’t converse with anyone about any of the stuff that’s happening. Some friend might occasionally ask for my opinion, but the amount of time we spend on it is minuscule. Instead, what I like doing — what I enjoy — is reflecting on stuff. I’ve not named this practice, but if it were to demand a name, I’d call it having private thinking parties.

When I write a piece, it’s mostly to put my own thoughts in order.

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Sunday with my thoughts – it seems a no-brainer

This is only 1,200 words. Why, even some Australians should manage to stick around to the end of it. 

As I mentioned before, photos appearing on Sunday with my thoughts are gathered and presented in THIS SmugMug Gallery. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you can also click on the photos for a larger version or check out the gallery at the end of the post. This is another one of those where I post an original and then variations of the same, one or maybe more. Except for the above; that’s a straggler from another post.

It’s Sunday, so no exercising today. I’m still sweating, though, but with two fans on me, it’s somewhat under control. FYI, I find snacking is a good way to counter sweating.

Readers might have noticed that I’ve left my opinion posts slide a bit. Oh, sure, I’ve dropped comments here and there, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a dedicated post about “things.”

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I am, therefore, I muse

I never know how to introduce these posts. One could well argue that the point of these posts, the purpose for their existence, is to show off a few photos.

On the other hand, given their quality, one could rightly assume the photos are but sacrificial offerings to the brilliant musings therein . . . you know, if only these were brilliant musings.

Right . . . that sets up the first topic: Photography.

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Sunday with my thoughts – but only a few

Uncharacteristically, this will be relatively short. Maybe. Oh, look, a photo.

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 As I mentioned before, photos appearing on Sunday with my thoughts  are gathered and presented in THIS SmugMug Gallery. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you can also click on the photos for a larger version.

So, what’s on my mind? Well, mostly writing. And food. I always think about food. But, mostly, writing. Specifically, come November 1, the daunting task of setting myself back on the writing track. 

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Sunday with my thoughts – still thinking

It’s late on Sunday evening . . . so this might go out on Monday. Heck, it’s already Monday in most of the U.S. Mainland. 

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“What could you be thinking about?” you ask.

Good question, Bob. One thing is the Ironman Triathlon. The 2016 Championship war run yesterday here, in Kailua Kona. Our original plan to attend the event — or at least the beginning of it — morphed into let’s go for a drive far away from here and the 30K+ people that are attending. So, that’s what we did. Sorry. No photos of the event. 

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I got me other photos, and no, the photos on this post are not them. These are all miscellaneous photos suited for a post where I am not specifically discussing said photos. Filler photos, if you will.

Yes, you can click on them for a larger view and you can see the original size photos at the ongoing SmugMug Gallery HERE.

I did get a few photos of various athletes and spectators during the week leading up to the event. I also have to admit I will miss certain aspects of the event. This whole past week there was an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation, so much so that even we felt it. That’s why we actually considered standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a bunch of strangers looking at people we don’t know doing things we don’t do. 

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Sunday with my thoughts – more just stuff

Don’t know if I will get this out today . . . certainly, I will miss the East Coast midnight deadline. Such are the perils of time zones. 

Not even sure what I will delve into . . . stuff be swirling round and round in my brain and I’m going to grab one or two things and see if I can mold them into anything cogent. If not cogent, perhaps interesting.

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One thing I can touch on — before I get into stuff from my brain — is the  above photo. It’s from a recent drive we took and the weather was not cooperating. It was a hazy and mostly blah day, perhaps drifting into a dark day. The above was shot at a higher ISO than I would have liked and required a three-step process to make it look like that. What did the original look like? This:

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I had mentioned before that as a photographer I ain’t worth spit . . . but I do have me some nifty tools at my disposal: DxO OpticsPro11, ON1 Photo 11 (Effects module), and Lightroom.

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