I've been using a counter / search tracker called Blogpatrol (click on the demo to see how it works) at the bottom of my weblog for quite a while now. It lets me know how many visitors are looking at my site (an embarrassingly low number, which is why I don't show the counter!), how people are reaching the site (by bookmark, by search engine) and what search terms are being used that link to my site. Also I can see what type of screen resolutions and operating systems are being used by site visitors. I just checked my stats for the last week and surprise, surprise, have been getting tons of hits! (15 hits in a day is a ton, to give you an idea of how many readers I normally get). So anyway, the leading search term for people reaching my blog lately is (not too big a surprise), 'Dell 1901FP review'. While I'm not surprised that people are searching Google for it, I am surprised that my minor weblog is placed so high in the Google rankings. The biggest surprise though is what comes in as my second most searched term! Type the word 'Gawumpki' into Google and see how I rank! I guess that I'm not the only person who ever phonetically spelled it!

I've decided against going all cellular for now, and just got my 3rd cordless phone in 4 1/2 years. My first one was a Uniden that crapped out just after the warranty ran out (2 years). What happened was the battery kept draining extremely fast. So I went and bought another battery and that one drained even faster than the old one! That was it for the Uniden and I then picked up a highly rated Panasonic. Well, after a couple years of the Panasonic (and the end of the warranty) the answering machine takes messages but I can no longer hear them! (they sound like the person talking is under water blowing bubbles). So I have now picked up another phone (sucked into another Uniden!). I hope that this one lasts a little longer, but I'm starting to get the feeling that these things are self destructive after a couple years. I'll keep my fingers crossed :)