Another week in the books and if the Americans, Russians, Israelis, Iraqis, or whoever else is stirring up $h!t doesn’t start World War III, it will have been a quiet but productive week. With my workshop/office set up (you might have seen something about that on social media) and my bedroom to get done on Sunday morning (or at least that’s the plan), it’s time to look towards my NASCAR room (which is also part-office and part-TV room). I ordered some shelves (actually shoe racks) to better house my NASCAR diecasts, and a new desk. I’m hopeful that next weekend might be the time to get that part of Project 56 completed.
So… I was reminded on Friday that people do actually read my blog. More on that later but the reason I bring this up here is that Jane A., the former Comms Director at King’s, made a surprise visit to our office, and both she and Chantal Q. made reference to reading my blog.
Of course, as soon as I saw Jane I knew I had to ask her one question: How was your visit to the Holy Land? Jane, you see, had gone to Talladega in late April for the NASCAR race weekend.
What? Other people have their Holy Land, I have mine.
Anyways, I got spend about a half hour talking NASCAR and Talladega with Jane. It might very well have been the best half hour I’ve had on a job…well, ever!!! Jane was also nice enough to pick me up a “Dega” t-shirt. (See the attached photo.) This is actually the second t-shirt I’ve gotten from Talladega as my next-door-neighbour’s next-door-neighbour, Adam, got me one when he went to the race a couple of year’s ago (when Kyle Busch won for RCR).
I referenced knowing that people do read my blog. One of the cool things about WordPress is the ability to get stats. (One of the things I’ve learned about myself – and this being a positive thing for once – is that I love stats.)
With WordPress, you can go back as far as three years and see where people are visiting from, right down to the country, region and city. With the JohnMilner.ca website (not just this blog but the whole site), Canada is the top country, Ontario is the top region and Toronto is the top city. No real surprises there (save London is not the top city.) But you drill down and you find some interesting (to me at least) stats:
First of all, my website already has more visitors this year than in 2024 or 2023. Maybe posting updates on my Facebook helps, since Facebook is my top referrer.
Germany is third on the countries list, after the United States, naturally. Ireland and China round out the Top 5.
Quebec, California, Oregon (?!) and North Carolina are the rest of the Top 5 regions. Dublin (#7) is the first non-North American region.
London, Ontario is second to Toronto on the cities’ list. Montreal is third but then Menlo Park, California and Forest City, North Carolina round out the Top 5. (They actually reference some locations I would call a town, rather than a city. For example: Delhi and Delaware, Ontario make the list.)
Hmm…since my Track Talk page is the second-most visited page (after the main page), any chance some NASCAR folks down in North Carolina are reading it. A quick check of the NASCAR Reference site says that John McFadden (who made 11 starts in the NASCAR Cup Series between 1982 and 1992 – with 11 DNFs!!!!) is the only NASCAR driver to come from there.
P.S. Another thing I’ve learned about myself – and I learned this very late in life – is that if you need something built, I’m not your guy (and that I’ve known for years) BUT if you need something torn down (i.e. drywall taken down or floorboards ripped up) then I’m your guy!
To take this in a completely different direction, I picked up a used copy of Star Wars Battlefront and have played it here and there over the last week. I pretty much suck at it (other than the Scout Walker mode and the Vader on Hoth scenario) but it’s kind of a cool way to spend 10-15 minutes shooting at stuff.
And on that note, I am heading out. As always, however, if you read this – and actually know me – and want to discuss anything covered above (or below), chat me up on Facebook Messenger or via email.
johnmilner.ca 