I Will Not Die

More Reinforcements, Bizarre Traffic and the Best Conversation I’ve Ever Had That I’ve Never Had

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First, the reinforcements:

As promised, here’s the update on Justin’s post. He wrote a fantastic article about the trip and included a lot about the background of my dream, from beginning to end. Thank you Justin, your help is appreciated deeply. Your article introduced me to several other bloggers who are supportive, at least one of whom has written about the event too (see below).

Adam from adampieniazek.com devoted a generous portion of his weekly web quotes to my dream. Thank you Adam for sharing my efforts with your audience. I encourage my readers to go check out Adam’s excellent blog.

Also, Tara, from My Life Coach Tara, mentioned me in her article Asking For Help. Thank you Tara, I appreciate it tremendously.

JJ, Hayden, Sean Asrai, and Ari have all mentioned me recently on their sites. You guys are the dry land I can always come back to, the something firm I can always count on. I thank you throughout every moment of my days.

I’m always afraid of missing someone who has helped. I may not see everyone’s mention, because I count on trackbacks, pings, and google’s blogsearch to find them. If you’ve mentioned me, and I haven’t mentioned you, don’t hesitate to tell me. I would like to thank you publicly.

Bizarre Traffic

More than 20% of all lifetime traffic for this blog has come in the last three days. Unbelievable. Playgrounds in the Night got utterly flattened, which is completely cool because hell, I liked it.

Nice to see it do so well on StumbleUpon, even if almost a month after I wrote it.

Then there was this secondary StumbleUpon impact. To My Unknown Friends got hammered from Stumblers already on the site for Playgrounds.

Then out of nowhere Why Smart People are Unhappy got completely lit up. And I mean completely. One day traffic on that article alone surpassed all the traffic in all of June. Inexplicable. Already, October has had the highest traffic of any month, by over 50%. And it’s just the fifth. Thanks to the Stumblers!

Through that surge, I’ve already met some very interesting people.

The Best Conversation I’ve Ever Had That I’ve Never Had

This deserves a place all its own. I thought it was utterly fantastic. Sure, it’s partly because I’m in it, but mostly because there was so much damned accuracy in it. For those who don’t know Matthew yet, read the background on the kind of posts he’s doing here, then read what he made of it here.

Great work Matthew.

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Dereck :: Oct.05.2008 :: Blogosphere, Site Related :: 14 Comments »

14 Responses to “More Reinforcements, Bizarre Traffic and the Best Conversation I’ve Ever Had That I’ve Never Had”

1. on 05 Oct 2008 at 11:17 pm1Matthew Dryden

   Dereck, thank you. Thank you so much.

   It means a lot to me that you think it’s accurate.

   Matthew Dryden´s last blog post..I Make A Difference, Now What About You?

2. on 05 Oct 2008 at 11:17 pm2Justin Wright

   That is awesome, glad to see your traffic has gone up! I hope it helps raise some more money so you can hop on the bike and take off.

   Justin Wright´s last blog post..Introducing My New Ride

3. on 05 Oct 2008 at 11:19 pm3Jim Gaudet

   Stumble is great. You will notice that after one of your post has a lot of stumble traffic, that it continues. Not at the same rate, but that post can see 1 to 10 hits a day afterwords. I had a post about Michael Moore’s 10 Point Plan and it has received over 3100 visits. All from stumble. One day 2000, next day 1000 and then about 100 to 200 a day since. It has sparked a good comment section too. Not great, but decent.

   But, sometimes of all those Stumblers you don’t get one comment.

   Jim Gaudet´s last blog post..How to say I Love You over the Internet…

4. on 05 Oct 2008 at 11:20 pm4Dereck

   @ Matthew – Like I said then you said I said:

   You’ve got it

   @ Justin – Thanks man. Really love your site. It’s really inspiring for someone like me.

5. on 06 Oct 2008 at 12:21 am5Dereck

   @ Jim – Ah yes. I know that article. I believe I was involved in helping that Stumble. Cheers

6. on 06 Oct 2008 at 4:36 am6Adam Pieniazek

   Thanks for the shout-out Dereck!

   I’m a fellow cyclist and share the same dream as you of crossing the country (and perhaps the world) via bicycle so anything I can do to help let me know!

   

   Oh, out of curiosity what’s the bike you’d be touring on? I’ve been holding off on buying a touring bike though I’m tempted to do so soon and just start heading south…

7. on 06 Oct 2008 at 8:33 am7Hayden Tompkins

   At least I’m sexy dry land.

8. on 06 Oct 2008 at 9:41 am8Dereck

   @ Adam – I wanted the Janis Aurora, but I won’t have a budget for it. Instead, a friend of mine has loaned me a Fuji Ace (from the mid-nineties actually) that I plan to modify. It’s a 10-speed, but I’ll need to make it a 27-speed, then add racks, and get wider tires. I can do those modifications for much less than buying a touring bike outright. If you have a budget for a new bike though, the Janis Aurora was my favorite.

   @ Hayden – lol

9. on 06 Oct 2008 at 11:19 am9Adam

   Hey, nothing wrong with an oldie but goodie, especially if you’re getting /using it for free!

   I’ve been looking at the Trek 520, Surly Long Haul Trucker, Jamis Aurora. They’re all pretty sweet bikes, just can’t decide!

   Right now I’m riding a single speed Shogun which works just fine riding around Boston but is just not appropriate for long distances!

   P.S. I’m talking with Google about possibly moving my adsense balance over to your account (it’s only $30 but every bit helps?)…I’ve heard they allow it…we shall see!

   Adam´s last blog post..Soya Kaas: A Natural Cream Cheese Alternative

10. on 06 Oct 2008 at 11:34 pm10Dereck

    @ Adam – You’re absolutely right. I’m quite fond of the bike. I like being economical in life.

    I looked at the Trek 520 too, it was my second choice (which doesn’t mean much because I’m no pro at picking out bikes).

    Seriously on the Google thing? Gosh, wow, Adam. Not sure what to say…

11. on 07 Oct 2008 at 6:57 am11Adam Pieniazek

    I heard Fuji makes good bikes so that makes sense. The Trek 520 fit me really well, I’ve yet to take the Surly or Jamis for a test ride, but the 520 just fit real snug, though that might be because it was the first $1000 bike I ever road!

    Yup, as long as Google plays along I’m very down. To be honest, I’ve been wanting to get rid of the ads on my personal blog for a while and just really focus on the text, but I hate leaving a balance like that. So in reality you’d be helping me by taking the balance off my hands!

    Adam Pieniazek´s last blog post..Equilibrium: Better than The Matrix?

12. on 07 Oct 2008 at 8:33 am12Dereck

    @ Adam – I was never able to test ride the Janis. The only place I could find one was a bike shop in Canada

    However, this is also Indiana, and cycling enthusiasm isn’t all that high here.

13. on 08 Oct 2008 at 6:23 pm13asrai

    I’m happy to be known as a friend. And now friends who has donated more than just a post.

    Thanks for all the comments.

    asrai´s last blog post..Not writing

14. on 08 Oct 2008 at 7:28 pm14Dereck

    @ Asrai – No Asrai, thank you for everything you’ve done, and everything you are…

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