Quem é meu amigo em Alcochete? + The Wedding Blog Gets Censored

I threw Site Meter on the blog a few weeks ago, and I can tell
you this free hit-tracking service is pretty fab. One gets
FBI quality info on whos viewing your site, entry links, exit
links, referral links, even a nifty world map showing global
hittage. Now, by and large, the overall news picture here is
still massively disappointing: while my hope was to communicate
with a decent number of folks, the overall site visit count
remains pitifully low. I guess some of the blame
here can be pegged to the phenomenon of 'hit fraud' and the
gazillion fake-blogs being created hourly (or so I've read about
lately)... while some explanation probably lies with the fact
that I solipsistically named the blog url after my standard,
none-too-exciting, jewish American name. If I had named it
"bigexcitement.blogspot.com" perhaps I'd be getting 50 hits a
day. Maybe 100! BTW-- its still available.

OH! But before I get on to the blog hit beacon of light, a funny
story.

So, I have this buddy living over in the Peoples Republic of
China, who tells me that he can not access my wedding blog.
My wedding blog has been censored by the Chinese government!This is fairly exciting. And puzzling. Nothing on there about
Falun Gong, Taiwanese Independence, Tiananmen Square, Harry
Wu, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, the disputed islands
near Khabarovsk, the Yuan being surreptitiously pegged to the
dollar, rural poverty and supression, industrial pollution,
political freedom, and............ whatever other taboos there
are out there. Perhaps its a translation thing. I distinctly
remember watching a gameshow back in the mid-90s where
contestants had to guess the foreign language translation of US
movie titles, and getting a real kick out of the fact that the
official Chinese translation for 'The Shawshank Redemption' was
'Big Excitement 1994'. Hmmmmmmm. Big Excitement. There it
is again. What's my coincidence, Lily Tomlin? So, maybe info
on the wed blog about hotels in Oak Park actually translates into
something rather subversive or perverse in Mandarin. Anythings
possible, I guess.

At any rate, if you're still with me, getting back to the blog
hit beacon of light... site meter tells me that someone (or
some thing) in Alcochete, Portugal, has been very faithful to
this here blog, visiting and reading fairly regularly. To
that I say, Thank You! person of Alcochete! You fill my heart
with hope and warm fuzzies. Or, "voce enche meu coracao com a
esperanca e os fuzzies mornos!" (according to babel fish).
But... I desire to know more. Who are you? What do you think of
the world? Heat or Mavericks? How did you come upon my blog,
and why the frequent visits? What did it? Do I have a future
in showbiz in Portugal? I think I could make that career
change. Drop me a line.

Ok, that's all. Good day, and good luck.



Alcochete, you had me at hello.