lurking...

So with blogging there all these sites to help direct traffic to your blog, manage your blog, track your blog....just TONS of stuff. It could fill your whole day looking at it and sometimes does.

It's fascinating. It's addicting. It's time consuming. There will soon be a Twelve Step program for bloggers with meetings in every church basement...

"Hi, I'm Nancy. I'm a blogger." (everyone claps)

You get addicted to see how many hits you have, whose added you as a friend on BlogCatalog, FuelMyBlog or BlogSpot. Your constantly editing your site because you saw something on someone else's page that gave you an idea for improvement. You check to see if anyone has uploaded any of the Google ads that would put a quarter in your pocket...

But the neatest software is an invisible tracker that can show where people came from. It's meant to help you find out the keywords that drive traffic to your website. It's a little 'Big Brother' ish...but it really sucks you in.

I saw that last night while I slept there were some people on the other side of the world that looked at my page. It brings the entire world just one step smaller.

My mother grew up on a farm in the middle of farmland country in Ohio; just north of Columbus. It's still considered a rural town...the house address's don't have street names, but rural routes. My mother and her brother went to college in Columbus and left the farm. They were the first of the family to do that. In that day and age, you did exactly what your parents did...followed the tradition. Some people never left town. My grandfather never left Ohio, even on vacation. It boggles the mind how fast, connected and small the world has become since our parents and grandparents generations. The Internet has opened the world and delivered it to our doorsteps. My daughter tries to show my dad tricks and shortcuts on the computer each time we visit. My mother didn't even try to learn. I have weekly conversations with my dad about computer issues.

"Nance...can you help me get my e-mail?"
"Sure dad. Is the computer on? Hit the big blue 'E'...I've programmed that to go directly to your e-mail, then just put in your password if it asks you." (I've made the computer save all his passwords because he'll forget which ones are which.)
"Okay..got it.", he'll reply. "Now, how do I read them?"

You get the picture....

But the really neat thing about this counter software is that you can tell that someone in Singapore read your blog at 1:23:42 am, someone is Spain read it at 8:48:47 am, or that someone in France read it as well at 4:36:01 am. My new blogger friend in El Paso jumped on and read the latest post yesterday evening at 8:22:32 pm. Each one is listed as a 'Unique' visitor, but it knows if they've returned and when. It also shows the link that referred them. Whether it be from the discussion page on BlogCatalog or the from someone sending the link via e-mail.

The creepy thing about it is that the 'SWIBFAZ' that was trying to sex up my boyfriend is lurking my page daily. (see earlier post 'Text of Infidelity' in January for the details) I can see the referring link she came from...sometimes from his WordPress page; most times just from typing it in herself. I mean, I had texted the webpage link to her phone when I posted that message so she would know that I was onto her shenanigans. I furthermore asked her to not contact my boyfriend or myself...which she politely agreed to. And yet since that agreement, she has still called him repeatedly. And now I can see that she's lurking my page...and his. Ick.

Pick yourself up girl! Try to focus and pay attention to your husband and two kids! Stop fantasizing. Use you energy to improve your own life. Stop lurking.....

I love sharing my stories...and I'm glad that people enjoy reading my stuff. I love that someone in Singapore, the Philippines and Germany linked up. That I have friends now in Texas and California seeing what I've posted last. But to have the girl that was calling and texting my boyfriend "I could make you happy and enjoy life" a followerer of my blog?...I would prefer she step off.

Maybe her husband needs the link to my page. That might enlighten her a little. I could do it. I haven't, but I could if I wanted to. I have his name, his address and his phone number.
Now that is the true beauty of the Internet....bringing the world a little closer, one click at a time.

:-)