Wednesday, July 2, 2008

And Talk About Easy As Falling Off Of A Log....

The other night I announced that the Design Nathan A New Avatar contest had been canceled due to lack of interest. Some of you responded that it wasn't lack of interest as much as lack of ability. Whatever!

This has inspired me to come up with a contest that doesn't require you to give a crap at all. It doesn't require you to have any particular skill or talent. In other words, winning is as easy as falling off of a log!

As of 8:40 am EST, this blog has had 9337 visits since its inception. So, in the radio tradition of "be the 10th caller and win crap", I'm looking for my 10.000th visitor. I'm currently averaging 470 visits per week, so the winning visit should happen some time the end of next week. And all you have to do to win is keep dropping in.

The only hitch here will be figuring out who the winner is. I recognize some of you just by seeing where you're dropping in from, but I've got a (Yay) growing number of lurkers who I see fairly often, but they never comment, so I don't know who they are. And I suspect that some of you are reading by other means, so I don't see hits from where I know you live. Anyway, we'll be judging by my Sitemeter, since that's all I've got to go by. If I don't recognize who the winner is, I'll put up enough info about the 10,000th visit for the person to recognize themselves and they'll just have to delurk to claim their prize.

What's the prize, you may ask? Well, since most movie theaters now allow you to buy tickets online, I'll be sending you and one guest to the movie of your choice in your very own hometown! How much fun is that?

Jeff. Just to be perfectly clear...the deadline is whenever it happens. Satisfied?

123 comments:

Ilya said...

I suppose you'd not want me to win... At the current exchange rates, you'd be shelling out about 35 bucks for my movie tickets...

Nathan said...

Ilya,

If you're number 10,000, then just tough shit on me. I shall play by the rules.

Also, I meant to thank you for being the only one yesterday who allowed me to set my own bar on idiocy. Yes, I know shit happens to all of us, but...

mattw said...

NOOOOOOOOOOO! I will be out in the boonies starting tomorrow with no access to the internets, let alone a computer. Ah the misery!

On the other hand, I'll be out in the boonies without the internets and computer, so yay me.

Any UCFers going to be in Richland Center, WI this weekend?

Nathan said...

Matt,

I suspect the blog is going to have a longish slow weekend, what with the holiday and all. Come back late next week and I'm sure you'll have a chance.

Enjoy the boonies. I still haven't found anywhere to go. (Actually, there's lots of places I could go...just nowhere to sleep once I get there.)

Jim Wright said...

Did I win yet?

Jim Wright said...

How about now?

Jim Wright said...

Are we there yet?

Jim Wright said...

You just know I'm going to keep doing this until you buy the damned movie tickets just to make me stop.

Jim Wright said...

Wall-E, or maybe Hancock.

Jim Wright said...

Century 16, in Anchorage. Just saying. You know, so you can get things set up

Jim Wright said...

Hello? Did I win yet?

Jim Wright said...

Is this thing even on?

Jim Wright said...

Hey, I'm curious. Where are you at, Ilya? If you don't mind me asking, that is.

Nathan said...

Jim,

Cut it out, ya bastard! ::snort::

And Ilya's in London (IIRC).

Jim Wright said...

Did I win yet?

Eric said...

Did Jim win yet?

Eric said...

If Jim hasn't won yet, who did?

Eric said...

Sheesh, Nathan, just tell Jim he won already. The suspense is killing us.

Eric said...

If you're saying it wasn't Jim, you could, you know, wink twice.

Eric said...

Shit. I just realized: if you're winking, I can't actually see you on the internet.

Eric said...

Maybe you could do one of those winking emoticons. Or two of them, for two winks. Yeah, that might do it.

Eric said...

Okay, I don't see any winking emoticons, so I guess Jim did win. Right?

Eric said...

Right?

Eric said...

I have to go back to work. But I will be back. And maybe there will be a clue of some sort.

Eric said...

Okay, I'm leaving now.

Eric said...

Now.

Eric said...

(But I'll be back.)

Nathan said...

Eric,

Jim hasn't won yet. He's gotta show up another 655 times or so.

MWT said...

Ah, excellent. With the two of them running up the counter, all I have to do is swoop in at the end!

Jim Wright said...

Eric, I'm winking, I'm winking.

Jim Wright said...

Wink

Jim Wright said...

Ah, excellent. With the two of them running up the counter, all I have to do is swoop in at the end!

Whoa, settle down there, fish boy, I'm winning those tickets.

Eric said...

So Jim hasn't won yet?

Eric said...

But MWT has the 655 whatevers, right?

Eric said...

Wow, who do I root for?

Eric said...

This is pretty tough.

Eric said...

Hey, you know what just occurred to me? Wouldn't it be really funny if Nathan won his own contest? Does Sitemeter distinguish between "own-visits" and "other-visits"? I know Google Analytics doesn't.

Eric said...

How long do we have to wait, anyway?

Eric said...

I'm bored.

Eric said...

Anyone want to play Scrabble?

Eric said...

Clue?

Eric said...

Risk?

Eric said...

How about Twilight Imperium?

Eric said...

If I had my dice, we could make D&D characters.

Eric said...

(Yes, I am that big a nerd. And I don't apologize for it, either. The whole "Neverwednesday Nights" thing is a pre-emptive blog entry in case I don't have time to blog because of a regularly-scheduled Neverwinter Nights session with friends. NWN being a computer implementation of the D&D 3rd Edition rules. A good way for geeky friends to hang out, especially now that one of them spends much of his year teaching in Tennessee.

Eric said...

Oops, I forgot to close that last parenthesis.)

Eric said...

"Rain falls in gray, far away
Please, please, baby lemonade--"
berng, berng
"In the sad town--"

What. Oh, sorry. I was singing to myself. Old Syd Barrett song. Not sure if the words are right or not. Doesn't matter, tho', I guess.

Eric said...

Has Jim won yet?

Anonymous said...

You know, on Ebay they have the practice of bid sniping - swooping in at the last second to pre-emptively win a bid. Maybe we could create some comment-sniping software to swoop in and win Nathan's contest. We have a few days to code it. Not that I can write much code besides html and php... but shoot, I can learn Java and code something like this. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Anonymous said...

Nathan, maybe you could install scrabulous for us to play while we run up your hit counter. :)

mattw said...

Eric, I'm that big of a nerd too. Haven't played Twilight Imperium though. My wife asks how D&D can be fun if there's no board (she's a Clue, Sorry, Life) kind of gal. I try to explain it to her, but she doesn't get it and I just can't find the words to make her understand.

mattw said...

Oh, and did Jim win yet?

mattw said...

Maybe you should give him the prize cause the anticipation is just killing me.

Anonymous said...

Crossword plugin?

Anonymous said...

Oooh... I think it's "Name that Movie Quote" time. It's a perpetual game, of course, because if you name it, you provide the next one for someone else to guess.

So, without further ado:

"Would you believe Chuck Norris with a BB gun?"

Eric said...

TI is awesome, but you need more than four people to play it. (It's not even negotiable; in fact four is really almost too few.) Actually, if we got two expanded sets together and a really big table, you could set up a 16-player game that would be freakin' sweet, tho' it might take a few weeks to finish it. That would be insane. I heard the company that publishes it did something like that at a convention one year.

TI, if you're unfamiliar with it, basically takes the best mechanics from a dozen other games--including classics like Dune, Cosmic Encounter, Axis And Allies, and Puerto Rico--and meshes them together into one totally awesome game if galactic domination. It's an example of how you can make something brilliantly unique without necessarily being original (strictly speaking).

Matt, it's funny how the ones who say "but it has no board" are almost always the ones who become fanatics after they've actually played an RPG and seen how it works. You oughta see if you can come up with a gaming group.

Eric said...

Did Jim win yet?

mattw said...

I've gotten her to branch out into Munchkin and a couple others. There were a couple times that she played some LOTR Risk (I own three versions of Risk).

Alas, my gaming friends are all scattered now and none of us have any damn time.

TI sounds pretty cool. If you're into card games, I would recommend Guilotine and Burn in Hell. They're quick and fun.

I've made a vow to never play Axis and Allies and Conquest of the Roman Empire with certain people again. It would probably lead to bloodshed.

mattw said...

Oh, and did Jim win yet?

Anonymous said...

I don't like playing Risk much because it's one of those games that's not much fun to play if you're losing. Other games can be fun, win or lose - but Risk is *painful* once you start that downhill slide to oblivion. My sons love it. Of course.

Anonymous said...

?

mattw said...

I'm usually not the winner when it comes to Risk, but I like that when you start that downward slide, and you know you're going to lose anyway, that leaves you free to be totally reckless and really try to inconvenience whoever you like.

And that movie quote is nagging at me like I've heard it before, but I don't want to cheat and google it.

What's the time limit for someone to drop in a new quote if no one gets that one?

Anonymous said...

Matt, I'll give you a hint. It's a movie that was very, very recently released.

But hey, feel free to drop in a new quote any time if you're stymied.

mattw said...

If it's new, then I have no idea. Haven't gotten out to the movies since Cloverfield.

How about: "You can get a good look at a butcher's ass by sticking your head up there. But, wouldn't you rather to take his word for it?"

Anonymous said...

Haven't a clue on the quote. Maybe someone else will.

Did Jim win yet?

Nathan said...

Guys,

You do realize that Sitemeter counts visits...not comments. You've barely made a dent in getting it up to 10,000. (It's been very amusing...just not all that productive.)

And I have my Sitemeter set to ignore my IP, so I won't win.

And Jim hasn't yet either.

Nathan said...

Oh, and the first movie sounds like something from Get Smart. I haven't seen it but the whole "Would you believe..." think is pure Maxwell.

Eric said...

Yeah but now it's fun that you have 70 comments, Nathan.

Some friends I used to game with had to ban Risk 2210 because it got too hostile. The downward slide in any Risk-type game can be ugly.

TI3 gets around that a little bit by having a point-based victory track; it's just possible for someone who's getting slaughtered to steal the game in a few turns by racking up a run of points for achieving objectives.

I'll play almost any kind of game except collectibles--I think gaming should be more like a hobby than like a crack addiction, and I kind of loathe the idea of a player essentially being able to buy wins by spending more money than the rest of the group. A game ought to be something one person buys and then shares, not something everyone has to invest in just to stay in.

No idea what the quote is.

And now I'm off to Neverwinter with the guys.

Eric said...

Jim hasn't won yet, has he.

Anonymous said...

Ding ding ding ding ding ding

We have a quote winner, and it's you, Nathan. At least on the first quote. I cheated and disqualified myself by googling Matt's quote.

And commenting your post to death works if we hit page refresh before doing our next comment.

Anonymous said...

And refresh again. Are we there yet?

Nathan said...

Jeri,

Are you reading on something other than you 'puter? You don't show up on the sitemeter at all for that most recent visit(s).

Last IP noticed was Eric's.

Random Michelle K said...

Has Jim won yet? I think not, since he hasn't bee here for awhile.

Never ever ever play Risk with my uncle. He will charmingly beat the pants off you. My aunt has refused to play Risk for decades because of him.

Here's a quote, "I always take pink because then people will think I'm wimpy and feel sorry for me."

He gets you to join with him in his nefarious plans, then turns and CRUSHES you into little bitty bits.

Me, I hate Monopoly. What sadist invented that game?

Random Michelle K said...

"Give me your shirt, and your truck."

Anonymous said...

I read posts via RSS feed - but not comments, and certainly can't post comments via RSS. Maybe hitting refresh doesn't register a fresh hit.

Anonymous said...

I can also visit from my work network and really screw with your head, since that is located in Alaska, right next door to Jim. :) Although, to be clear, this is not-Jim, this is Jeri.

vince said...

I've been lurking on the interwebs
all the live-long day
I've been luring on the interwebs
just to pass the time of day

Now I must go do my radio show for the first time in TWO MONTHS! (silly baseball games at night).

Oh, did Jim win yet?

::ducks and runs to the radio station::

Nathan said...

Jeri,

Is that you who shows up from Soldatna? I've always assumed that was a random lurker.


If not, where in Alaska would you IP show up from?

Anonymous said...

My IP address should show up as an Anchorage address from this browser - but I usually don't recreationally surf from my work machine so Soldotna would be someone else.

Nathan said...

Anchorage, Wasilla, Soldatna, Fairbanks...OK, got it straight now...I think.

Except that Soldatna must go back to lurker status unless someone wants to fess up.

Anyone else think it's a little odd that I get more hits from Alaska than from any other state? Michigan and Ohio run a close 2nd.

Jim Wright said...

Alaskan IP? You called?

Did I win yet?

:::refresh, refresh, refresh::::
Now that's fresh. Weehee!

Nathan said...

Silly K'nigit!

Anonymous said...

Did I win yet?

Anonymous said...

Did I win yet? Huh? Did I?

mattw said...

Just got home from my shift at the library. Did Jim win yet?

Eric-We've only played Risk 2010 a handful of times. I agree with the collectable game vs. regular game. There's no skill or strategy involved in spending wads of cash to boost a deck or whatever. I did play Magic in high school, but that was about the extent of it.

vince said...

Nathan, did you fart in Jim's general direction?

And it appears Jim hasn't won yet.

It also appears that insanity has been loosed among members of the UCF.

Random Michelle K said...

It also appears that insanity has been loosed among members of the UCF.

Vince, that statement seems to ignore the fact that insanity has been galloping around naked clothed only in its hair, rings, and toe bells for many months now.

Luckily, insanity is easy on the eyes, so we don't mind so much when it gallops by.

Eric said...

So I come back before bed to see if Jim has won yet or not....

Eric said...

...and as far as I can tell, he hasn't.

Eric said...

Or did I miss something?

Anonymous said...

What hast thou done? Why hasn't thou obeyed My divine will and given this gift to Jim, who is in appropriate awe of My divine nature?

A curse upon thee, and upon thee's thee's, and thee's knees if thou hast not done mine will. For I am the tangled skein within the gut of Creation. I attach and detach. My segments are many, my mouthparts but one. From My scolex to my tail are many segments, and I have many segments to fill. With eggs. Because that is My will, and My will be done. Thy hast disappointed me, Nathan Gendzier. Thou mightst wantst to cook thy hamburgers especially well-done, for thou hast displeased Me with thy failure to let Jim win.

So I hath spake. So it shall be.

Anonymous said...

Thou hast disappointed Me. Thou. Thou hast made Me, the God Of Tapeworms, commit a mistake most typographical. Thou shalt pay. Unless thou shalt let Jim win. Than I shall be mostly forgiving.

Mostly.

MWT said...

No time to sit down and roleplay anymore? Friends scattered everywhichway? Come on down to RPoL for some play-by-post action. :D

When I try to explain roleplaying to others, I start by calling it "group storytelling." Then go into explaining how the GM comes up with the setting and plot premises while everyone else has characters. It seems easily grokkable that way.

The last time I played Risk, it was a Starcraft UMS. After an hour I had over half the board and it was basically a stalemate, and I was really tired of playing. :p Thusly did I decide to stay away from all Zone Control style games - I do really well up to a certain point but am completely unable to finish anyone off.

Speaking of ... anyone else here into Blizzard games?

MWT said...

Oh and also. For a really long time I was certain I had an unknown lurker in the Seattle area (it definitely wasn't Jeri). Then I found out it was a friend in Texas. Also, on some of the stat breakdowns, my friend in Croatia gets lumped into a category called "UK." I don't know whether Sitemeter is better than Statcounter at keeping track of locations, but some of the unknowns probably aren't as unknown as you think. ;)

Tania said...

Blogger ate my post. Waaaah. The gist of it's glorious verbiage:

Hail the Vermificent One!

Jim needs to win!!

Alaskan lurkers, reveal yourselves so that we might bond!

Must go and visit the front page again to bump up site visits.

vince said...

Jim hasn't won yet. This is good. I wish to win. But Janiece wishes to win, too. Nay, verily I say unto you, it shall be me. Because... well, just because.

Tom said...

"Insanity riding naked..."

UCFers FTW!

I didn't have much to say, but joining into a 100 comment thread is worthwhile for no other reason than to be joining in.

This is sure to be one of the epic NCIs, and Nathan really didn't think of it, just promulgated it.

You keep using that word! I don't think it means what you think it does.

Verily I say, "SKIP TO THE END!"

Nathan said...

Not that anyone's counting...or seems to comprehend how it works, but we're 579 visits from having a winner.

And it's not Jim yet.

(I'm actually rooting for it being some kid in Tunisia who was innocently Googling "Amish Underwear" or "Dominoes Pizza Tracker".)

Eric said...

When did Jim go to Tunisia?

kimby said...

Sure, I go offline for a few days and its all contests and stuff!
101 comments Nathan? That must be the new record....and it wasn't even Michelle and my doing!

vince said...

Kimby, much insantity has been happening while you were doing your real world thing.

It's been kinda fun!

Anne C. said...

Ah! HERE's the contest! Got it. I am way behind on these things. Darn work!

Bravo for Tom on the PB references. You've come a long way, baby.




Did I win? ;P

Anne C. said...

Just went and looked at my own Statcounter and found that since I started keeping track, back in Sept. 07, I've had 10,073 page loads and 6,571 unique visitors (some of those are me when the idiotic McAfee deletes my blocking cookie).

Just FYI.





Did I win?

Nathan said...

Kimby, actually

this post holds the current record for comments with 130. Interestingly enough, it too was kicked off by a certain Action Hero who doesn't know how to type an entire sentence before publishing his comment.


Prior to that, the record was held by
this which clocked in with 91 comments.

Anonymous said...

>SCLERK< >SHNUFF< >NOMNOMNOM<

mi buddy god ov tapwerms sed jim no win why jim no win why you no like jim me like wodinz gut more than zooses zooses allways eet helfy but wodin allways drink th meed an mak th tapwerm ov th godz feel hapee hapee hapeeeeeee.

im hungre go cerl upen basts colin now an go nomnomnom mm mm gud.

bi!

>SCLERK< >NOMNOMNOM<

Nathan said...

Anne,

I can't keep track of "Unique" visits with my version of Sitemeter. I'd have to upgrade to the "pay-for-it" version to get that info.

If I ever start getting thousands of hits a day, I'll invest in that. At my current rate of 60 or so a day, I'm not paying for squat.

Oh, and did anybody note when Matt Warnock is getting back from the boonies? We totally need a post that's just there to trick him, or make him think he missed something important.

Jim Wright said...

When did Jim go to Tunisia?

Uh, well, not since the 80's. And he didn't enjoy it. And it was a mistake, since he thought he was still in Morocco. Stupid unmarked borders.

eh hem, did I win yet?

Anonymous said...

Ewwww, tapeworms.

Did Jim win yet?

Are we there yet?

Anne C. said...

Mine's free too. It gives me page loads, unique visits, and returning vistors.
I can break down the info by day, week, month, quarter, or year. And it shows me visitor data and locations on a map (that info it only stores 500 "log entries" and if I wanted more, it would cost me).
All in all, I'm pretty pleased with it.

neurondoc said...

Maybe I won... ? (I have nothing more interesting to say, actually)

vince said...

Jim hasn't won, Janiece hasn't won,. no tapeworms have one, and Nathan got a ticket.

See, there IS a God.

MWT said...

Yes, but was Jim wearing Amish underwear while he was in Tunisia??

For the same timeframe as Anne (because we installed them at the same time, right after Jim started talking about his), my statcounter says I've had 12,074 total page loads and 7,588 unique visitors. So on the whole, I'd say Nathan is doing pretty well hitwise since he only started his in January. :)

Also: statcounter allows you to write in IP addresses you want blocked. That's where I put my home and work, so I don't have to worry about deleting any cookies. It's the wrench thingy, second icon from the left, then the top link marked "edit settings."

Anonymous said...

Interesting - I had my site analytics disconnected for six weeks in Feb & March when I was having technical problems. But I've still had 8591 page views since Jan 1 in spite of that.

Yeah Red Lantern award. ;)

Nathan said...

Vince,

Does your last comment mean that if you win and can apply the prize money toward paying the ticket?

MWT said...

Has it occurred to anyone else that if Jim wins, he'll actually have to set foot inside a movie theater? With its sticky coke-drenched floors and popcorn debris and people talking on their cellphones and screaming children? And what about the lines??

Nathan said...

MWT,

You make me want to cheat and put the fix in for him.

Eviiiiiil. This we are.

Tania said...

The counter is at 9,487 right now.

Oh, the anticipation.

Tania said...

9500!

vince said...

Vince,

Does your last comment mean that if you win and can apply the prize money toward paying the ticket?


Nope, I'd still go see a movie.

Eviiiiiil. This we are.

Yep, but in a good way.

kimby said...

Just checking in to see if Jim had won yet.

Shawn Powers said...

I don't know why y'all are still stopping by, I mean I already won... It's just a matter of time catching up to my temporal anomaly.

I'd tell you the date, but that would take the fun out of it. :)

Nathan said...

Shawn, Stay in your anomaly until we catch up to you.

And Kimby's just trying to make this the record setting comment thread.

kimby said...

Kimby is taking a break from spending time with Charlotte....as the next installment is due tomorrow.
I am working tonight, so trying to print out the stuff i am working on so i can handwrite at work on my breaks.

Don't be surprised if my chapter is late.....this week was not the week for me to try and get writing done.