My boobs are off-limits

For a long time, I resisted putting any kind of meter on my blog to track visitors. It wasn't that I didn't care, it was more that I was concerned I'd get obsessed with numbers rather than just enjoying the writing process and comments. I finally caved this year and installed StatCounter on my blog on the 2nd. My ego is relieved that there do appear to be a few people reading what I write.

Far more fascinating to me than the strict numbers, though, is how the Internet connects the whole world community. In just two weeks, I've had visitors from 45 different countries which just floors me. I knew I had some faithful readers in the US, Canada, England, and Australia, but there are other countries popping up occasionally. I've seen visitors from 45 states in the US, plus Washington, D.C. I don't know why some states continue to be MIA. Ok, so Rhode Island is so small, the chances of someone from there stumbling upon my blog are pretty slim. But are the folks in North Dakota too frozen to surf the 'net? Or are they out skiing with the Vermont residents? And I'm not sure why I don't appeal to the citizens of Arkansas or Oklahoma.

Another neat StatCounter feature shows the Google searches that lead to a visit to my blog. Many of the one-time visits seem to originate from searches on using wheat berries or making corn tortillas. But one search, in the very first week, startled me and was somewhat disturbing. Someone from a small town in Utah searched on "chilean boobs" and guess who was the #1 result on Google? Yep. Yours truly.

You may remember I was concerned about whether I'd be able to find brassieres easily in the future, especially as I lose weight because I can't grow diddly-squat. Imagine my surprise when this exact search turned up in my stats again a week later, but this time from Santiago, Chile. Hm. I know people are fascinated with breasts but I guess I didn't realize that the ethnicity of the breast was important as well. Live and learn!

As you can see from the search results linked above, it was Alina's comment that seemed to factor strongly in the results. Since she is unwilling to shoulder the blame for this unwanted attention, I think she should know that she has attracted some herself now. A search yesterday on "alina boob" turned up the same post in the #13 spot. Now all I have to do is go leave a comment on her blog to redirect the search results there. Unfortunately, it just wouldn't really fit in with her latest post on a disgusting, completely non-vegan topic.

Well, I guess I shouldn't worry too much about odd searches that turn up my blog. After all, the word "boob" doesn't seem to impact the rating at all. I'm still pretty tame.