Happy Blogaversary: Part 1. In the Beginning...

Two years of fun and frolics on the last geek bus home.
Doesn't time fly? Seems like only yesterday I watched Firefly for the first time and was consumed with the thought that I was missing out on the awesome. From my first post, "numfar, do the dance of shame..." to yesterday's technobabble, I've racked up 317 posts covering subjects as diverse as blog layouts, Captain Kirk, Star Wait, a whole slew of Whedony-related ramblings, sci-fi plus, of course, The Guild and Felicia Day.

Felicia was one of first people to comment here (although I didn't even realise it was her...). To all the people who have read and commented I offer a huge - THANK YOU! Blogging is a lonely sport when no one reads or comments. I'm always happy when lurkers decloak and say something. These days I'm all over the web and I talk to people on Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook daily (and now Google Buzz?). I still enjoy reading and responding to comments here, though (hint, hint).

Speaking of Twitter...
I asked people on Twitter what they wanted from this two-year extravaganza post and it was unanimous - you want to see more of the silly searches that people use. I can't blame you - they are hilarious.... I did this once before and it proved very popular. BUT! Before that here's a few scintillating facts from Google Analytics about this blog:

People from all over the world ride the last geek bus:

Posts about The Guild seem to be the most popular:

Searches for naughty things are also popular:

And now here's some lists of random searches that have brought people to my little blog.

Totally Random:

• 2 horse 1 speedo
• a geek catches a sexy fairy comic
• autobus erotic scene
• blogspot boypants
• bookends sex store
• bus station geeks
• bus-do you wanna f*ck
• harrison ford chest Indiana
• galactica chest hair
• velour fetish (12 searches for this!!!)

Searches that piqued my interest

• gorgeous tiny chicken machine show nathan fillion
• casting call for pj haarsma the softwire
• channel 7 news felicia becker
• compilation of fan-created applications to the evil league of evil
• delicia fay +interview
• unicow costume (4 searches)
• how to make a vork avatar costume
• good questions to ask for an interview for guild

Searches where I think they got an answer

• chick from the guild legend of neil dr horrible 
• do i have to watch webisodes before bsg premiere?
• does felicia day sing 'do you want to date my avatar'
• who plays riley on the guild?
• who plays zaboo in the guild
• sean becker fired (17 searches and lots more combos for this!)

You want to what my who-now?

• do you wont to dat mi avatr
• do you want to sate my avatar
• do you want to dave my avatar
• do you wanna date my avbatar
• do you wanna date my avitar

All about Felicia:

• felicia day ticklish
• felicia day save my soul
• felicia day makes my heart ache
• felicia day librarian
• felicia day kim evey monkey sock
• felicia day is egotistical
• fanfiction codex zaboo

There were also all manner of searches with the word 'erotic' in them that I'm not going to share. Just know that I would think twice about tagging any posts with that word again (and I totally blame Zoe Winters, because it is actually her fault...).


In Part 2 I'm going to recap some of my most memorable posts and adventures  - so if you have a favourite please let me know and I'll include it!

Insight 101: How I KNOW what you are thinking....

Blogging, eh? It's a funny old business...  

And nothing has amused me more in these last few weeks than checking up on YOU, my dear readers. No, I haven't been cyber-stalking you (apart from, you know, those people I do stalk, and they know who they are). But I have a good idea about how your brain works. For a start, how did you get here at all?

Statistics, not metaphysics 

And by that I mean, how did you find this lil' ole blog? Some of you searched your way here, and I will return to you in a moment. And some of you headed this way after clicking a link on another site. Perhaps you read one of the articles on Whedonage and were desperate for more, or you first read about me on my other blog over at Wordpress. Or you are thinking of joining my community on MyBlogLog (do it - it's free and easy!). The thing is, I know how many of you have done this through the power of Google Analytics. This free and spanky piece of software shows me where the traffic on my site has come from, how long it stayed and which posts are the most popular. Here are some highlights....

Most popular search phrases:

repo brothers

paley buffy

Nathan Fillion

Most popular posts:

Nathan Fillion: The Repo Brother Rise Again

I've seen Doctor Horrible Act I! It ROCKS!

Doctor Horrible, Neil Patrick Harris plus Felicia Talks

Most popular referring sites:

MyBlogLog

worldofhiglet.wordpress.com

Twitter

Most surprising search phrases:

Velour fetish

Boypants

What are boypants

widget geek

Want to know more?

Well the real reason for this post was not to bore you useless information but to share with you one fact that has kept me amused out of all proportion these last weeks. On my Wordpress blog do you know what the most searched for thing is? Do you? Well, please don't tell Felicia, but here is a screenshot that tells you all you need to know:

Of course, Wordpress allows you get the IP address and email of everyone who visits, so I know that most of these searches are one person. I wonder who Mr S Parikh is.....? 

Tomorrow, we'll look at what these results mean (if anything).

P.S. One of the facts above is incorrect. Do you know which one?

Operation Full Burn

A 'Verse to publicity
Having written last time about a new 'Faces of Serenity' petition I've discovered many and varied examples of other action taking place all over the, well, place. 'Operation Full Burn' is a shiny campaign that is completely free and requires so little effort it's embarrassing. But try to make that tiny effort if you'd be so kind. The idea here is that Universal is going to show the whole series in High Def (Yea!) starting in March 08. This is fantastic news and to maximise the impact "we get as many Browncoats as have ears to sign up to these Universal HD Firefly Fan Forums as we can. It don't cost nobody a nickle yet it lets Universal (makers of Serenity) know that we are still here and we still want more of the 'Verse. It's as easy as lyin." (quote from campaign lit).

So, a quick 'n' easy way to show your appreciation of Firefly/Serenity - go do it!

Fireflyfans
And another site well worth a lengthy visit is Fireflyfans. This is a beast of a site (in a good way), full of information and some very active message boards. A great place to find like-minded folk of the Joss-persuasion. Try the Caption Competition for some Firefly-fan-fun-n-frolics. I've added them to 'Further reading' section.

Conventionally speaking
So, where are you going this year? I've not booked any hols yet but maybe Mexico, LA, New York...no, wait! This is the year that I go to my first Convention. Yes, it is. Now I've done some quick research and unfortunately the Buffy Con at the Paley is sold out and the guest list is to die for. Nevermind. I need to get to see Joss this year, preferably at a Con that also features Firefly/Serenity. With Dollhouse finally underway Joss will be busy busy busy, but they'll have to be publicity...when I get some places shortlisted I'll let you know. In the meantime let me know where you plan to convene.

Google Analytics
Which brings me nicely to the subject of comments/posts/reader. Now, I'm new to blogging (dur!) but I've got a good grasp of the essentials. I've made a sitemap (after much puzzlement), submitted it via Google Webmaster (very easily) and waited to be listed. I'm still waiting, so you and me could be here on our own for a while yet. I wonder if I'll be listed before I get the 'Star Wait' dvd? I know there is a couple of you out there (unless Google Analytics is up the spout) and don't think I don't appreciate you swinging by this way - I surely do. But more would be, you know, more.

England shock quake!
Yes, the earth did move for various people in England on Tuesday night with the first 'significant' earthquake there for 25 years. It was only 'significant' when equated to other British earthquakes, however, and compared with many parts of the world this earthquake was typically English - not too outspoken, didn't do much damage and went away quickly. A quick call to the old country confirmed that while it woke people up, no damage was done and all the family were right as rain.