2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 13,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 3 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

A Note to Readers on Commenting

Recently I had to delete a comment from a reader because of language and name calling. This blog is meant for families and foul language and hurtful comments will not be tolerated. If you wish to comment on a story or respond to someone else’s comment, you are welcome as long as you keep the language acceptable.

Thank you for your understanding.

The Idiocy of Spammers

As a blogger I occasionally find people posting “comments” on my articles that are nothing more than an attempt to fool others into clicking on their link. I find these people both ignorant and annoying, but fortunately the spam tool in the system catches them before any of you have to see the comments. In fact it does such a good job that there have been a few instances where I have had to “rescue” a legitimate comment from the Spam folder. But back to these idiots. If you are going to try to fool people into clicking on a link in a comment you post, wouldn’t it be wise to at least read the article first to see if you can say ANYTHING appropriate? Some of them try to get around it by making very generic comments such as “I like your post,” or “I really agree with what you said.” Well, I’m glad if you like my post or if you agree with me, but that doesn’t meant I’m going to let you leave a link to some low-life site that will try to sell some garbage or hijack visitors’ computers. It just doesn’t work that way here.

Now I know that this isn’t going to change an Spammers out there – they are just low-life idiots who only care about themselves. It’s just that sometimes we writers feel the need to fight back/share our frustrations/call out the idiots.

Next time: real Santee news.

Explanations

I wanted to let you know, dear readers (sounds a bit goofy, doesn’t it), that I have been very busy with some personal issues, but hope to get back in the swing of writing soon. I have some events to catch up on (like the final Summer Concert) and other topics to work on.  Thank you for continuing to look in on the blog, even though nothing new has been up recently.

Stimulus Projects to Slow Down Traffic in Santee

Federal stimulus money is making its way to Santee in the form of asphalt overlay projects along N. Magnolia Ave. and Mission Gorge Rd.  Starting August 24, work will be going on along N. Magnolia Ave. between Mast Blvd. and El Nopal between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.  The work will include filling and patching cracks and potholes, putting in video detection cameras, and putting on a rubberized asphalt overlay.  The project should be completed around September 4, but it will cause delays during that time – but access will continue during the work.

From about September 14 to October 9 similar work will go on along Mission Gorge Rd. from Fanita Dr. to the Post Office.  Most of this work will be done during the night to avoid major traffic delays.  If and when I get more specific details I will post them.

Now Rate This!

Just for fun, I have added the new WordPress rating widget to my blog.  Now you can, if you so choose, rate each of my posts.  Is it average? good? excellent? (I hope I don’t get anything lower than ‘average’).  You will be able to rate posts on a 1-5 star scale, so why not have fun – go back and rate some of my offerings.

On Food Patrol – Cool Summer Treats

What could be better on a hot summer day than a nice cold frozen yogurt?  Over the next couple weeks I’m going to be posting a series of reviews on the four yogurt shops here in Santee: Penguin Yogurt Factory, DIY, Golden Spoon, and Go Get Yogurt.  The series will be topped off (wink, wink) with a little comparison taste test on samples from the four shops, plus a chance for you, the reader, to vote on your own favorite shop.  I hope you’ll enjoy the series, and take some time and check out the four shops:

Penguin Yogurt Factory – 9621 Mission Gorge Rd. (in the Vons center)

DIY Yogurt – 9292 Carlton Hills Blvd. (corner of Carlton Hills Blvd. and Carlton Oaks Blvd.)

Golden Spoon Yogurt – 9640 Mission Gorge Rd. (in the Best Buy center)

Go Get Yogurt – 9802 N Magnolia Ave. (in the Albertson’s center)

Garage Sale Update

Just a quick note to let folks know that I have gained access to a large collection of classic LPs (all the way back to the ’40s) that will also be available at the garage sale.

For more info, check out my previous post on the Garage Sale.

Garage Sale – Blowing My Own Horn

This Saturday, June 13, from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm I will be having a big garage sale to clear out some items.  Among the goodies will be the “leftovers” from my attempt to start an import/export business two years ago.  I had planned to work with a contact in Poland to bring over some beautiful clothes from top women’s and children’s designers in Eastern Europe.  Sadly, the global economic downturn and other problems put an end to the idea, but I have a number of samples left that will be going for way below cost.

In addition to the clothes, there will be some folk art and decorative items, photographic equipment, and lots of other good stuff.  So come over early – but not too early – and you can walk off with some great deals.  The address is 10650 Felix Drive, Santee, and again, the time is 7:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Samples of Clothes

Map to 10650 Felix Drive

Frubble Update

Grand Opening ceremonies will be from 11:00 to 4:00, with ribbon cutting at noon. See you there.