We all know you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose (whether you can pick your friend's nose is completely up to them), but I am now giving you the opportunity to pick your blog post. I have 3 blog posts here, none of which are fit for a post of their own (we do have some standards here at BdW). To a certain people, any of the three items could be of interest. Chances are, all of them won't be of interest to everyone. With that in mind, I allow you to choose one of the follow posts to read and enjoy.

Referrer URLs: A study in how people find BdW
A Year of Underemployment
Lost Images Found: Underwater pictures from la isla bonita

Choose wisely, my friends.

Being the resourceful, curious, and mega-nerdy guy that I am, I recently added code* that records the referrer url of BdW visitors, which is what sites people are coming from. Many of these are from places you might expect, like friends' blogs (IHJ is way in the lead with referrers*). What has been really interesting to see, however, is how people are finding Blog du Wren from the search engines.

Referrals are coming from all the major search engines, although google is the most prevalent by far. Besides google, we have MSN, Live, and Earth Link all represented*. As for queries, we have the standard way of people typing in variations on my name and blog ("blogduwren", "wren schultz Anacortes", "wren portland blog", etc.). The really interesting stuff, however, comes from the other search strings that people have found my blog by. Below is a list of the search strings that have led to my page in the past 3 weeks or so.

supertasters, yumbo c110 manual, runts mango, house, ameture night strip club*, jenelvis, quarry dreamsciencecircus, Mutianya, yumbo c110, organic kumbacha tea, new runt flavors, homemade salt chemical*, solar oven, return to oz wren, lasqueti juggling, cheeseburger in paradise motivational posters, jenelevator, local, macau, hut

It has been almost as much fun following these referrer URL stats as it is reading the comments on each post. The minute that someone stumbles on BdW using the keyword "bungle" will be the moment my day is made!

I have a knack for remembering the passage of increments of one year. Weeks, months, and decades not so much, but years. Perhaps it is a subconscious way of judging the progress of my life. Perhaps it is some internal clock that, being honed by birthdays, holidays, and school years, has learned the exact value of one year. Perhaps it has something to do with the seasons. Whatever the reason, I'm big into "a year ago today..." thoughts. With that as a preface*, let me tell you about what happened a year ago today.

A year ago today, I quit my job at Photoworks and left for Asia with a one-way ticket, a backpack, and a whole lot of enthusiasm, excitement, and tredpidation. For anyone who followed the blog back then (or has heard me gab about it since), you know how successfully the trip went. But what I recognize more about this particular one year anniversary is the shift I have felt in regards to working, which all stemmed from leaving Photoworks. In the past year, I have worked 40-hour weeks only 3 times. Other than that, it has been a couple days here, an odd job there. There has been variety in the type of job, control for when and where to work, and no ridiculously long commutes. I couldn't be happier about it. Of course I am not making as much money, but when compared to how much more fun I am having, more comfortable and sane I am feeling, and how much more time I have to pursue my own ideas and interests*, it is no contest.

So what is the protocol for a one year anniversary of a happy event? I can't help but reflect a bit, but the main protocol is a celebration, of course. Being that, ironically, I have to work in the morning, it will prolly be a tame dinner out or an extra scoop of ice cream, but it will be festive!

The other day, I came across a disposable underwater camera that I remember having bought for my time on that deserted island*. It turns out that it never got developed. Talk about excitement. It has been long enough that I have no idea what to expect, but it was recent enough that the images will probably jog my memory.

Unfortunately, none of the images turned out great. What can you expect with a $12 disposable, I suppose. Plus, underwater photography offers a whole new set of challenges with light filters, murkiness, etc. That said, however, there are a few shots worth sharing. Without further ado, I will do just that.

Sharks were everywhere on Palmyra, even the places we snorkeled. Luckily, they were more or less harmless*. Here's me in my snorkeling attire. (No it wasn't cold. I wore the long shirt for protection from the sun.) The coral was some of the best in the world. It was so good, I'm afraid, that it has spoiled me on snorkeling anywhere else. That's not an overly bad thing, though. Lastly, as my trip was running out and I wanted to burn through the rest of the camera, I took this photo of my foot in Moorea.