Google Analytics and Censorship

A bit of a meta post this one. Google analytics is a free service that anyone with their own website, even just a simple hosted blog like this one should give a try. google analytics is basically a site usage reporting tool - a big step up from the hit counters of the internet's infancy.

The statistician in me loves to pour over the reports it offers and it's always interesting to discover how people find this blog and also what they check out while they're here. I usually check once a month or so and see how the latest ran has been received etc and to see where I get he visitors from. I've linked the blog from my facebook profile, my Twitter and other social bookmarking sites so the majority of direct traffic comes from there. the other traffic comes from search engines like good ol' google. i can reveal that the most popular searches have been along the lines of "gym motivation" thanks to the couple posts I did on that and also Jonathan Ross whose podcast I wrote a review of - I guess the scandal with Russell brand has kept those searches going. There is of course some gaming and f1 searches due to my leaning toward writing about those subjects. in the past I've tried those search terms which have led people here and fair play to them digging deep through the search results as they didn't show on the first couple of pages for me!

Now I took a stance that I would not go on about my current job although I have no doubt made my thoughts clear and even lamented about them in a Your New Favourite Podcast episode. I have also named my employer, only once and that was a "first day" post but someone managed to stumble onto the blog. I fear what kind of impression they would get from the rantings of one of the employees. it's also worth reiterating that any thoughts and opinions expressed here within this blog are mine and mine only and in no way reflect that of my employer. Checking the google analytics recently and it seems someone (or many) have been clicking round the blog, in particular the "work" category.

Until I had to answer the phone late on in the morning one day, the only words to fall out of my mouth were "Spineosaurus" and humming of the Jurassic Park theme

Everything written here was correct as at the time of writing and to be honest I'm a little sick of censoring myself. I do it constantly at work, being on the phone to strangers means I can't really say what I think.

In fact I had some work colleagues as friends on facebook and xbox live but I've decided that I will draw a line at the office hours - all other times I should not feel restricted in my opinions because of fear that someone from work may be listening. of course I know better than to bad mouth the company - I have some sense of professional integrity combined with an ever present fear and anxiety of my actions towards others. That being said I should be able to say whatever I feel like and I'm not fussed by being confronted by people over these words. It's all my opinion, and it's true, but who really pays that much attention to what I say and do - I can say that at work that that's not the case. Until I had to answer the phone late on in the morning one day, the only words to fall out of my mouth were "Spineosaurus" and humming of the Jurassic Park theme - thank you /filmcast!. In fact, I feel it's become so bad that I actually think of the person you see during the working day as a different persona, a separate slice of me is a better way to put it as I only share a small section of me - I am content to share this mostly silent but sometimes blithering idiot that they call "Jonathan".

Apologies for the rant but I'm making a (small) effort to blog more as a friend has recently started blogging and another friend is keen on starting a podcast with the working title "the toast rack" which I think sounds awesome. so look at for more blogging, hope to get back into the routine of reviews in what ever form they take, and maybe some more Your New Favourite Podcast episodes time permitting of course.

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Watching other people exercise = 12cals/min...

Hey, another gym-related post as it is something I am very pleased, excited and generally happy with.  The second time I went (Thursday) I unfortunately was not alone like the first time.  It did mean having to potentially worry what other people thought of me, but it was ok, as these two older women come in, and they were larger than me, one in particular was very much so, the mechanics of it don't bear thinking about (except the initial thought which determined that the mechanics would not be appreciated if thought was applied to calculating their values).

 

Anyways, I can appreciate the social aspect of going to the gym. Many people go with friends/work colleagues.  Some people pick up dates at the gym. Hell, there's a lot of people that express going to the gym as a hobby, which seems bizarre. Bizarre enough to warrant my current facebook profile (see facebook).  That being said, these girls were coming to the gym, you know good for them, it's the one of the steps towards improving yourself, but it seemed they spent most of the time chatting to each other, either one of them walking on a treadmill and the other on a bike machine, or one of them on the rowing machine and the other with the crayzee sit-up aid thing, and vice versa.

 

It wasn't that much of a problem to me, I was pretty much able to use the equipment when I wanted, all the weight equipment was available, and I got in my mile and a half jog so I was ok.  Now, the gym itself is just off to the side of the sports hall which as you imagine is used for extra curricular activities - that evening's was five a side football.  Anyhoo, the last 10-15mins of their "workout", which turned out to be about 40-45mins of the allotted hour, was those two watching the football. Now I don't think for a second that these women were fans of the game, even at this, one of the lowest levels you can technically have, it was just those two checking out the guys on display in the hall.  That made me shudder to myself, but then again, fat girls need lovin' too...

 

Here's waiting for the Girl's five-a-side tourney at the school...

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