Multiply According To Alexa

First, what is Alexa? According to their "About" page Alexa has built an unparalleled database of information about web sites, including statistics, Related Links, and more. Their information comes from internet users who have installed the Alexa toolbar in their browsers. The toolbar collects information about their web browsing; what sites they visit, how long they stay, etc... Alexa then uses this information to rate websites according to parameters including Traffic Rank (how the site compares to the rest of the internet using site visits as a gauge) and Search Traffic (the percentage of site visits coming from search engine results) among others.

The long term results aren't encouraging

Not So Typical Amish Sightings

While on my way home from work this evening I decided that I was going to stop off at the local Chili's to have a beer or two. So I'm sitting there at the bar enjoying a frosty cold Blue Moon draft and chatting with the bar staff when a young Amish guy walks up to the bar and takes a seat. He was wearing the typical Amish attire, black pants complete with suspenders and a light to pastel colored shirt, so he was definitely the subject of a lot of curious looks from the rest of the restaurant patrons. You just don't see Amish sitting at a bar even if they order only strawberry lemonade and some food, as this young man did. Just when the stares and whispering had started to die down a little he pulls a cell phone out of his pocket and starts texting, lol.

When I left Chili's I headed over to Home Depot. As I was leaving there I had to wait for an older Amish man who was pushing one of the Home Depot flat carts down the aisle in the parking lot. He was headed to the far end of the lot where there is a large shed-like structure, the Amish equivalent of a parking garage where they can tie their horses in and keep them in the shade. As I drove past him I glanced at his cart and noticed that the object being pushed to a buggy by this older Amish farmer dressed in regular Amish attire including the straw hat, not to mention the long beard, was a top of the line propane powered gas grille.

The times they are a-changin'

Mothers Powerball 4 Lights Headlight Restoration Kit

I've seen these kits advertised on television before but always thought the ads were full of crap. I just didn't think an abrasive paste grinding away at plastic could produce a clear result. Well, I was wrong because it does.

I finally gave in when headlight restoration was recommended to me when I last took my truck in for service. They wanted $60 for the service, so I figured if they were going to charge $60 for it then it must work. Otherwise they'd be getting so much crap from angry customers that they'd probably stop offering the service.

This kit was easy to find, and only cost about $20 to buy. So for a third of the price charged by the garage and maybe 20 minutes of my time from start to finish I now have crystal clear headlights. It was easy, worked exactly as described and the results were exactly as advertised. Everything you need is included in the kit with the exception of a drill (my cordless drill worked fine) and some masking tape. You get the poofy blue powerball, a bottle of the polishing compound, a nice soft cloth to buff the hazy leftovers off of your clean headlights, and 2 double-sided abrasive pads which are only used for seriously messed up headlights after the rest of the kit has been used to no effect.

My nasty, 13 year old faded and hazy headlights are now looking like new. I can even see where I'm going at night, instead of just seeing where I am at the moment, lol. It certainly is a refreshing change. I didn't use much of it, so I have enough left to use for maintenance cleanings for years to come. All in all it's a good deal for an easy to use product that works exactly as it claims.

Dancing Cats?

While clicking my way through clikr.co I found this photo. How can you look at this and not laugh? Those cats are getting down!

Round And Round And Round We Go...

So here we go again, changing from one platform to another as yet another blogging site potentially discontinues its services. This time it's Multiply, which in my opinion has by far the best toolset, best features, best privacy controls and best/easiest customization options of any similar site. However they have begun reducing their focus on the social networking and media sharing aspects of the site choosing instead to focus on e-commerce.

There's a new CEO now, and their corporate HQ is moving out of the US to Indonesia. I don't have much faith that things there will stay as they are for long so it's time to go out and test the waters. Multiply will be a hard act to follow, I don't expect to find another site which offers everything they do.

Attack Of The Mantid

Today was very traumatic. I was working in the garden when I was suddenly attacked by a vicious praying mantis. The thing was downright brutal! I saw it coming but couldn't do a thing to stop the ensuing carnage. I'm now mentally scarred for life, at the very least I'm sure to develop an acute case of mantiphobia. I'm grateful it was a baby, an inch long at best, had it been a full grown adult mantis I may not have survived! Fortunately my camera was within reach so I was able to document the attack. Now I can show you the evil monster.

There it is, plotting its brutal attack, moments before it threw me to the ground.

Surveying the carnage and its nearly unconscious victim.

A Robin's Nest

A pair of robins decided to build a nest in the climbing rose just outside my kitchen door. They are industrious little buggers, it took them all of 2 days to build the nest, flying back and forth all day long getting little twigs and pieces of plants.  It amazes me that they can build something so solid, which will last for a couple years, using nothing more than a beak.

It's been a couple weeks since they finished so I decided to have a look inside the nest to see what, if anything, was in there. Fortunately for me the nest is low enough that I can stand on a stool, reach up and fish the camera through the rose ending up in just the right position to photograph the nest and its content. I can't see what I'm photographing but after 5 or 6 shots I finally got a decent one. As you can see there are 4 pretty blue eggs waiting to hatch. I'm hoping the parents haven't been scared away by all the activity happening so close to their nest since they are just a few feet from my kitchen door. They probably aren't real fond of seeing Zeus laying in the window watching them either, lol.

I'll keep an eye on them to see if the eggs hatch and if the babies get fed. If they survive, they better learn how to say "Cheeeeeeese".