Daryl Strickland

The web stat information that inherently comes with our hosting is horrible (maybe, I should be more positive. Okay, I’m positive that it is horrible). This week I really wanted to track our hits to see how the mailer impacted our web traffic but my secret decoder ring didn’t come in the mail and I couldn’t understand anything that I was looking at.

Enter Brent Maddox and Google Analytics. Brent designed our website and he told us about Google Analytics. Just like everything with Google it’s free. They give you a block of code to put in your website and magic happens. I wish I could show it all to you here but it’s amazing. I can see not only unique visitors but where they are from, how long they were on each page, what browser they were using, what version of that browser. I can view a map of the US and it shows me where all the hits came from. Then I can go by state and city. It is so intuitive that somebody from Apple must be working with those guys. This map shows that somebody from Wichita, Kansas spent 31 minutes and 2 seconds on our site yesterday. Actually we had hits from 22 states yesterday, crazy!!!

Thanks Google!

I been drooling over this baby all day! Pray for me!

God definitely uses a Mac!

Well almost. I purchase a second generation ipod back in May of 2004 and although I usually say no to the warranties that companies offer, the guy talked me into this one. The saleman said that the warranty would pay for itself, just with the battery replacement on my device. He was right. I had to send my ipod back 4 times and the last time they did what they call a junkout. Sounds bad but it’s great for me. Basically, Christmas came early for Strick. I got to pick out a replacement ipod that matched the cost of my original. Although my 2nd gen ipod was black and white, no video and 20GB, it was worth $399 today.

So I picked out the itouch ipod that is basically an iphone without the phone. This thing is awesome! It does video, it surfs the web, obviously it does my music, it has my contacts, my calendar and more. This is definitely one time that the warranty was worth every penny and then some. This is a cool little device.

Congratulations!

I watched my boss like a young kid in a candy store, stand in line on opening day and get the toy phone that he has been dreaming drooling over for months now. We picked it up on the way back from DC so we had to find somewhere with wireless so we could activate it.

Jeff then (like a salesman) began to show me all that it could do. I have to admit, I am amazed. There is nothing like this out there right now, I don’t care what anyone says. He have full web access and even blogged while we were driving. You can put your thumb and index finger together on the screen and if you spread them apart the image enlarges, if you squeeze them together it shrinks. Within a few moments, all of his appointment, contacts were sinked up. They thought of every convenient nuance for this phone.

As for the price. Before you rib Jeff about how much he spent on this thing let me tell you a little about this guy. He does buy expensive jeans and gadgets, I will give him that but I get to be around him all the time and he is a penny pincher everywhere else. He drinks water and not sodas, he shares meals, he drives an 93 Honda that is paid for, he doesn’t subscribe cable and there is no Big Bertha in his golf bag.

So Jeff, enjoy your toy new productivity device, you deserve it!

I had to get a new phone a few weeks ago because my flip phone decide to become a convertible. I try to stay low key on my gadgetry desires but I am definitely into cool stuff. So, my new phone is Samsung Blackjack and I am digging it big time.

I now have on my hip, my entire calendar for the whole year, access to all my email, favorite blogs, the latest news and sports, my task list, important date reminders and the list goes on and on. I even have a converter program that will help me convert any currency, measurement, anything to anything. Tell me you don’t need that in your life. And before the month is out this thing will be opening my garage door and taking out my trash.

Anyway, I had to share. This little guy is making my life easier. Oh yeah it makes and recieves phone calls to!!

I am on the meaningful relationship kick right now so let me tell you about one of my newest freinds. His/Her??? name is Google Reader. I am so into blogs right now and this thing saves me so much time. Jeff introduced me to it about a month ago and I can’t imagine doing life without it now.

You can download it for free if you have a google login and what it does is check your favorite blogs sites and lets you know (audibly and visually) when there is a new post. Saves you tons of time (no more going site to site to site). I think Google has more pull that W. It would be pretty close if Apple and Google were running for office.

Update: You know what is better than google reader? Google Reader Mobile. Through using the Personlized Google page I can read all my favorite blogs on my phone. Can life get any better (I submit that it can not).