Saturday, October 31, 2009

Saturday night blatherings

Remember how a couple of weeks ago I said you have to write even when the grim abyss stares back at you from the computer screen? Welcome to one of those days. A jumble of things, certainly, but nothing coherent. Rather frustrating, but here it is on a Saturday night and if I don't get something down soon then nothing is going to come out at all. So a couple of things and if none of them seem particularly interesting, then my apologies. I'll reload and have a better go at it tomorrow.

1. If you blog long enough you become obsessed with your stats. Lord knows I'm no exception. This past September was, by a mile, the best month ever on the blog and I figured there's no way I'm topping that number for awhile.

And yet, as I look at my stats with a few hours to go in October I notice that I've crossed the 10,000 barrier for page loads, the first time I've ever done that in a month. Plus there was a record number of unique readers. I appreciate this is not the most exciting blog post ever, but thanks to everyone who swings by here. Why more people are choosing to come by now is a mystery, but I'm still happy you all are.

2. I found this story in the Globe and Mail amusing, but also true. I was at the curling club today for more than two hours shooting some rocks. In three weeks I head to Toronto for the Dominion. And I can feel it a bit this evening.

I heard someone say that one of the main differences at these kinds of events is not just the shot making, but now the stamina. You're playing a lot of games in a short period of time and if you're not in shape, by the fourth or fifth game you're toast. So clearly I need to step up the workout regime a bit. I don't know how much difference it will make this close to the event and I thought I was making some progress, but I guess not enough.

3. Oh, and if you only had one day to do some shopping in Toronto, where would you go? I figure I'll have a Sunday free and if I opt to not spent $100 on a Raptors ticket, I should go and do some Christmas shopping. Suggestions? I'm staying near the airport, which I know is a wasteland, but I'll certainly be making a pilgrimage to The Beguiling, which is on Markham.

4. I notice that once again we never got any trick or treaters, which is either the benefit, or the con, of living in a secure apartment building. No one bothers. That'll change next year when we're in the new house.

Oh, speaking of which, I think I might have sold my soul yesterday to the bank. Really, if I had known I was going to sell my soul to RBC one day, I might have just sold it back in university with my friend Chris offered me an X-Men comic for my soul. He used to do that sort of thing, go up to his friends and offer to buy their soul for bags of chips or a pack of smokes.

Since many of us were all good little atheists, we were happy to sign Chris's silly little piece of paper and get a free chocolate bar and whatnot. Although I recall one friend freaking so badly later that he bought his soul back and a greatly inflated rate (something like three packs of smokes as opposed to the one pack he sold it for).

My friend Dups put up a bunch of university photos on Facebook earlier today...I'm feeling a touch nostalgic.

And there you go. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you. Even when you have nothing, if you sit in front of the computer long enough and type whatever minor things enter your brain, you will soon have a blog post. Not a great one, but at least it gets your writing quota for the day over and done with.

Last Five
1. D is for dangerous - Arctic Monkeys
2. Trusted - Ben Folds
3. Here's looking at you, kid - The Gaslight Anthem
4. Hangin' on - Sherry Ryan
5. We're going to be friends - The White Stripes*

7 comments:

In Iqaluit said...

I am watching a bit of the World Series and was reminded of a post you did a while back about a baseball game you attended and had to re-read it because it was so funny.

http://towniebastard.blogspot.com/2008/04/two-days-in.html

Nancy Crozier said...

In grad school I had an apartment on Markham St...now you have ME feeling nostalgic.

OK, where to shop in Toronto if you have only a day...depends on what kind of thing you're looking for! Books, clothing, art...

Iwanttodeletemyblog said...

I want to know how you look at your stats. I particularly want to know how you find out what people searched for to find you.

towniebastard said...

What am I looking for? A decent mall and then perhaps an area with some fun, funky little stores I can hit to buy things I wouldn't find anywhere else.

Christa, go to www.statcounter.com. They walk you through the process so it's pretty simple in getting it started. Once you do, you can tell who is visiting, what search engine results brought people to your blog (often hilarious), how many people are visiting, etc.

Let me know if you have any problems and I'll see if I can help.

Kirsten said...

Skip the malls. Funky, fun little stores - you want to be on Queen Street West, between about Spadina and Bellwoods. I heart it there.

If you have time you could also hit Kensington Market... it's more food-oriented and hippietastic but definitely has plenty of Xmas fodder for everybody.

Nancy Crozier said...

Kirsten's right about Queen b/w Spadina and Bellwoods.

The Perfect Storm said...

Aim your starship for Heartland Town Centre. It will be a quick trip from the airport (and nearly within rock throwing distance of your's truly).

Heartland is just about the only thing to rival West Edmonton Mall - and it has the distinct advantage of

a) being closer to you than Edmonton

b) being outdoors so you will better enjoy the Ontario fall weather

c) it's Mississauga, 'nuff said.

http://www.heartlandtown.com/

Regards,
etc.