almost a diary

I’m at loss for words. Those of you, my gentle readers, who know me, will be able to certify that being in that state is a rather unnatural condition for me. However, I just found out about a website called savetoby.com. Being a Toby myself, I felt the need to inquire what was going on with my name buddy.

Toby, it turns out, is a rabbit, whose life has come under threat by two anonymous American students, who, according to savetoby.com and MSNBC.com, are planning to kill and eat Toby on June 30 unless they have raised at least USD 50,000 from donations and profits from selling savetoby.com merchandise on the web.
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As this year is slowly approaching its final hours, you should be grateful that I have decided to spare you yet another “bottom line of 2004″ post. Not that there would be much to sum up with respect to “almost a diary” anyway.

But I wanted to tell you that at some point in the near future, this blog will be offline for a while due to a provider change. Of course, you will not be able to read this while the blog is offline, but in case you read this before… don’t be scared: I will be back.

And before I forget it – a happy new year to all faithful and occasional readers!

It was about time to pull out those summer clothes again… I know I’ve been neglecting this blog a little (and as it happens, I have neglected afoe a little, too, lately), so thanks to those who still stick around.

Last week, I read somewhere that google-ad clickthrough rates are to increase significantly if the ads are placed between the posts as opposed to being placed alongside.

Well, from my experience, whoever claimed this correlation was probably just lucky. Personally, I can’t really see any change in the clickthrough rates – it’s still in the 0.1 % range, although other google ad users claim to have far better rates.

So I can confidently announce that this is not a money making blog, as opposed to the ones mentioned in this cyberjournalist report. But then again, it is also true that my little proto-diary has not yet shredded the career of any prominent politician…

For the moment, the average daily “turnover” of this blog reflects what it means to me – my very own two cents (well, Dollar cents…).

Well, my life, for sure. But not least the success of Starbucks in redefining to a certain extent the essence of the drink indicates that the days are gone in which drinking coffee was considered a weakness.
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But don’t call the cops just now, my gentle readers.

As a matter of fact, I’m guilty of a crime that is not part of any tort law in the known universe. And actually, most people probably wouldn’t consider it a crime but simply a fun weekend. However, sometimes, things aren’t as simple as the seem on the first glance… so, in a way, yes, I am a traitor.

I am from Mainz and I am going to Cologne this weekend to celebrate this year’s carnival with some friends from abroad. And in a way, this is really bad, as Mainz and Cologne enjoy a healthy competition when it comes to the question which town has the bigger Rhenish carnival tradition. And being part of one of these traditions is like being part of a ‘family business’ – you do remember The Godfather, don’t you?

Well, I’m not really afraid of a concrete funeral. But I do indeed feel a tiny little bit guilty about the prospective enjoyments within the “enemy’s” heart. So I’m going to make it up: I will certainly make an effort to convert Koelsch infidels to finally say “Helau” instead of “Alaaf”…

And you best believe it takes a man to do that ;)

For those of you, my gentle readers, who haven’t read it yet over at Fistful, I am sorry to announce that I will not be able to write much in the near future, as I broke my left arm and am in the process of reeducating myself to type with one hand, just to avoid the term “single handed typing” which Nick kindly added to my vocabulary.

Sorry for the lack of posts. It’s been busy. But, gentle readers, don’t despair, there are posts in the pipeline, for “almost a diary” as well as for “A fistful of Euros.”

Dear Mac IE users – I know there are not too many of you reading this site, but if you read this, please let me know what it appears like on your screen.

Thanks.

For those who wonder – the server was down from Saturday afternoon on – and for lack of any explanation by the service provider, I can’t even tell you why. Before that, it had worked without any noticeable interruptions for 4 weeks. I hope it won’t happen again.

Still too hot. Still too busy. More later.