The Blogosphere

I have to admit that lately I’ve been obsessed with tracking every little detail of my blog since I joined Google Analytics. As we all know, Google knows all and through this program they’ve decided to share a little of their knowledge. I can now track not only how many unique hits and page views I receive on a daily basis, but also where exactly on the page people click, what keywords are entered into a search engine that lead to my site, what links people click on to leave the site, and all sorts of other technical stuff that I don’t understand. Today I noticed what I consider my most fascinating find.

Someone came to my site by searching for “twilight zone drinking game” and was lead to this post. Curious, I tried it out myself and, true enough, if you perform that search not only does this blog pop up, but I’m the first on the list! As far as Google is concerned, Great Diversions is the authoritative source on doing shots while watching Rod Serling. That’s the biggest thrill I’ve had in a while. Now if I can only replicate that success with Rocky IV. (Being a favored blog for those interested in the Foreign Service would be nice as well.)

Blog Notes: I’ve added another two Foreign Service blogs to the sidebar. One is place2place, the blog of a Foreign Service family on their first tour in Niamey, Niger. They’ve been active posters lately and have some great insights to both the FS and living in Africa. I believe Peter is a Foreign Service Specialist (a doctor if I’m not mistaken) rather than a Generalist like me. Specialists are hired based on their specific education and experience in a particular field (often security, IT, medical, facilities, and administrative) while Generalists are considered more like a jack-of-all trades.

A second blog I’ve added, and I’m not sure what’s taken me so long, is The Koch Co. Ryan and his wife are heading to Kiev in the near future so we’ll be colleagues at post. His blog is full of fantastic photographs all taken by Ryan.