Counting down the days…I leave this land of the free on Saturday, 4PM from RDU. I can’t wait. My whole family is coming to see me off, and Richelle is following us too. She’s so sweet.
For those of you not paying a lot of attention, I’m spending my summer with CRROBS in the Costa Rican Rainforest. I’ll hike for 30 days, crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast, and then I’ll kayak, surf, and check out some crazy Hare Krishna rituals for the next 30 days. I’ll be coming back to Raleigh just in time for school, August 16.
Well, I don’t know how much time I’ll get to use a computer while I’m in Costa Rica, but whenever I get the chance, I’ll be journaling my adventures online.
Keep checking back here to find out where I’ve been and what I’m doing. Hey, and when you do, click here and here to vote for my website at www.studentcenter.org
This moves me up in a silly little ranking, and drives more visitors to my page. The end result is a happier Brad. I’ll feel like people care about my life and all that, you know? Humor me.
Affectionately yours,
June 12, 2002
June 11, 2002
The results are in! Who has the best free counter and tracker service? In my opinion, Stat Smarts wins hands down.
Why statsmarts? Because it is invisible. NO BANNER ADDS! The counter can either be completely invisible, with no graphic on the page at all, or you can add a counter with just the number of hits and not even a link back to Stat Smarts. Personally, I really like the Stat Smarts service, so I’ve linked to them about 20 times.
Stat Smarts gives you detailed statistics, including visitor’s domains, time of visit, operating system and browser, reslution, color depth, the path they took through the site, the referrer, and an option to exclude hits from your own computer. The referrer listing is very helpful, because it shows how people are getting to your site.
What’s the catch you ask? No documentation….well, very little anyway. Beyond setting up the account you’ll find next to no information on the service on statsmarts.com.
So, if you’re not that familiar with computers and crazy stuff like that, you may be better off with Extreme Tracking (http://www.extreme-dm.com/tracking/).
Extreme Tracking offers most of the same services as Stat Smarts except you have to include a small (and tasteful) graphic and link back to their site. Extreme Tracking comes in a close second.
If you’re still with me, and you want to try Stat Smarts, here’s some info that will help you: Stat Smarts is actually the implementation of the free software POWER PHLOGGER 2.2.1 from phpee.com. This is software that anyone with a linux webserver can run, hosting their own service just like Stat Smarts. Awesome! So, if you need any help with Stat Smarts, you’re most likely to find it at phpee.com. If you’re running a server and want some visits to your site, here’s a really cool, free service you could offer that would make your site useful to lost masses. I would suggest some documentation, though. If anybody does implement this (any of the 10 people that have ever read this blog), send me an e-mail and I’ll be sure to link to your site. In fact, even if you don’t implement it, e-mail me and I’ll link to your site. I just like you that much.
Sincerely,
June 4, 2002
Perhaps you’ve noticed that I have lots of ugly graphics and advertisements at the bottom of all my pages now. Yeah, I hate it too. This is an experiment and an attempt to get some statistics on who visits my site. Since NCSU’s server doesn’t allow me any real access to my web domain, I have to rely on comercial counters and such. (How do you spell rely?)
June 3, 2002
Finally, I’m finished shopping for my 60 day journey with the Costa Rica Rainforest Outward Bound School!
Unfortunately, it looks like I’m going to be taking a little more weight than I had thought. That weight is in the form of two prescription medications and a knee brace. One wild game of broomball and two unhappy wisdom teeth are the cause of my current misery. On a more fun note, my dreams are getting more interesting, thanks to a weekly dose of Larium, an anti-malaria medication.
It looks like its going to rain a lot in Costa Rica. Yeah. A whole lot. This is the rainy season right now, and well, it’s the rainforest. I hear it’s really hot in Central America, too. Something of note…Gortex doesn’t really work in the rainforest. See, when it is really hot and humid, where Gortex is supposed to let watervapor out, it lets water vapor in. Then you’re really wet, and wearing waterproof clothing. Ok, that’s it for now. Pura Vida.
May 23, 2002
I cleaned my car!!!!
It’s been like two years, and it was starting to produce its own fossil fuel. But about 6 hours with the 409, and I won! Three days to clean my room, one to clean my car, but I’m done. Nothing to do until June 15, now. Nothing but sit in the sun and blog.
Spiderman::entertaining, but corny
Movies::too expensive
Hackers::still awesome
Anybody want to go see that Hugh Grant movie with me? Is it called ‘About a Boy’? If so, IM me or something.
::::Must…..Stay……Awake:::::
I’ve been checking out my flights to and from Costa Rica tonight. It was actually a lot more fun than I expected. Everybody should book a flight on American Airlines and then call the reservation line to confirm it. I got to talk to this automated chick who took my flight number and date and then gave me my very own window seat…on four separate planes! Yeah, so I don’t get to fly much.
Anyway. Looks like “Ocean’s Eleven” will be our in flight movie from MIA to San Jose. I’ve been meaning to see it, but looks like I’ll get my chance. 🙂
1 Airbus, 1 Boeing, and 2 MD-80s
On that note…It was about 48 hours ago (You people wouldn’t believe the quality programs on the Discovery Channel after 11 o’clock!) I was watching a program about crash testing. It was pretty neat. You can learn amazing things from television.
For example, if properly restrained, the human body can withstand up to 40 horozontal G’s for very brief periods. Sure, it really hurts, but it makes a good story. Vertically, we don’t do so well. That’s why the ejection seat was a big problem. 10 G’s vertically will break your neck.
This doesn’t really apply to passenger jets, though, since most passenger jets crash at a shallow angle and kinda skid on their belly. The vertical G’s are softened by the crumpling of the cargo bay underneath. It’s the fire and the fumes from the jet fuel that kills you. I’m glad my mom doesn’t read my blogs.
Good night 🙂
May 22, 2002
HEEEEEY! Look who’s online!
So, I hate dial-up. Dial-up really stinks. It’s better than nothing, but it’s slow and it’s boring. And I’m having serious e-mail issues.
I’ve been cleaning my room for three days now, and I’m almost done. Amazing.
And one day, when it warms up about twenty degrees, I’m going to wash my car. Why is it 50 degrees outside in the middle of May?
Lots of love, everybody.
May 17, 2002
Still haven’t packed up the computer. Actually, I’ve been playing on it ever since the last post. Really. It’s being unplugged right now. Good night.
Here it is…Last day on campus…Last day with broadband…Last day with my own server.
Now I’m trying to devise a way to pack everything without unplugging the computer. Actually, the only things I haven’t packed now are an outfit for tomorrow, my sheets and the computer. I’ll let you know how it goes.
May 15, 2002
🙂 One big happy face for all the world! No more exams! I’m done. So now I have about a week to be the only one in Raleigh. I’ll be sitting around here with my feet propped up. Somebody send me an e-mail or something.
The semester turned out really well. Good grades and stuff. Now it’s just chill time until I leave for Costa Rica and Pura Vida.
Happy summer everybody!