Jan 31 2009
The Top Ten Coolest People You’ll Ever Meet
Confession: I am just not into the internet memes that go around the internet. They’re like a virus, spreading from blog to blog, tying up time that could otherwise be spent doing something useful, like watching paint dry.
I know, I know, I should tell you how I really feel, right?
But I just can’t help myself - internet memes just seem like such a waste of time. And so it was with trepidation that I saw that there is a massive one happening today, called the International Thank All of Your Entrecard Droppers Day (or something like that) where everyone who uses the Entrecard system is supposed to write up a post, linking to the top droppers for the month on their site.
Well, I have to say that yes, I like Entrecard, and yes, I am glad that people come and visit my site through the EC system. But a thousand times better than a simple drop from EC is someone taking the time to write up a comment and leaving it for me, to give me some feedback, insight, or even just give me some laughs!
So instead of writing up the list of EC droppers, I am going to list out the Top 10 Commentors (ie, the Ten Coolest People You’ll Ever Meet) on my site this month. That, to me, thanks the people who really added something to my site, instead of the people who just drop and run.
Of course, this meant that instead of just going to my EC admin panel and looking at my stats to see who I should link to, I’ve actually had to go through and count my comments by hand. You can give me lots of pity - I’ll let you, promise.
Actually, being the obsessive compulsive spreadsheet maker that I am, I put together a spreadsheet so I could make sure to keep everything straight (not to mention that I just like making spreadsheets. Everything is so neat and orderly in a spreadsheet. It’s okay - you can call me crazy if you want to. Most people do.) So honestly, this was kinda fun.
Now we’re back to the whole crazy thing, aren’t we?
Well anyway, after compiling the numbers, I found out the following:
I’ve had four family members leave comments on my site (so much for making fun of my family behind their back…) plus five coworkers comment on here (how am I supposed to make fun of them behind their backs, either?!) and a whopping 65 unique commentors total. That was pretty cool to see - that means that although my family and coworkers obviously love me (as they well should) that there are other people in this world who love me too. Who knew?
So onto the list. I’m focusing here, really.
First Place goes to Stephanie Barr of Rocket Scientist, without a doubt. Apparently she’s spent enough time on my site, I might as well put her on the payroll and keep her here permanently. With 34 comments, she rivals even me in chattiness. Not something people can normally accomplish - well done, Stephanie, well done.
Be sure to go check out Stephanie’s site - she has an unusual blog topic (yes, she really is a rocket scientist) and her posts are simply awesome. I don’t comment on her site nearly as often as she comments on mine, but that’s probably just cause she’s way cooler than me.
Second Place goes to Ruthie at A Jedi’s Musings. Despite what you might think, she doesn’t actually put up YouTube videos of Star Wars videos, but instead writes reviews of books in the sci-fi and fantasy genre (with the occasional mystery book thrown in for good measure). If you’re into that genre, then you’ll definitely want to go check her site out.
Third Place goes to Callista of SMS Book Reviews. She writes reviews of nonfiction and children’s books, and it was from her that I heard about The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I thought it sounded like an interesting book, so I checked it out of the library, and yeah, it was fun. :-) I love books that stay with you long after you close the book, and Knife does that. I keep looking at my dogs, expecting them to talk. 
Anyway, if you love book review blogs, SMS is another great one to check out.
Fourth Place is Ravyn at Exchange of Realities. If you’re really into RPG or D&D games (and if you don’t know what those acronyms stand for, then HINT: You’re not into them!) then you’ll love Ravyn’s site. She is a talented writer, so go enjoy!
Fifth Place goes to my sister, Sariah, and her fun blog called Sagebrush and Hollyhocks. I actually helped her set the site up, but she’s since done a ton to it that I never even had to show her how to do - way to go, sis! She started that blog as a blogging newbie, but she’s really done awesome things there. She’s a homeschooling mom, so if you do that yourself, be sure to check her site out. 
Sixth Place goes to The Secret of Newton, a blog that I found through Rocket Scientist, actually. Brian is pretty new into the blogging world, but it doesn’t show. His posts are funny and informative, and you leave feeling like you’ve actually done something constructive with your time. Two thumbs up for Secret of Newton.
Seventh Place goes to laneerg at The Single Frugalton. Along with great tips on how to make your dollar go farther, she also has funny stories and a great writing style to boot. Not to mention that she’s a readaholic like me, so really, what could be better? Be sure to swing by her site.
Eighth Place goes to Flit at Flitting on Fiction. Flit makes me laugh - she is in college too, so I get to read all about all of the fun she’s having (her English class sounds like H*ll on Earth!) and then there’s her rants and raves about her local library…It’s surprising that she wants to come to my site at all, considering how bad her local library is. I’m just glad that my library has it together a little better than that.
To round out the top ten, I have two people who do not have websites themselves, but still deserve thanks because they’ve spent a lot of time leaving comments on my site. Ann and Chris, you know who you are. You guys rock.
Want to be on this list next month? Well, good luck, ’cause knowing me, I won’t put one together next month. But just in case, you ought to leave a comment every day, on the very off chance that I’ll sing your praises next month. No really, you should, I promise.
Thanks to all of my commentors for their insights and humor - it’s been real. It’s been fun. Heck, I’ll go the whole 8 yards and say that it’s been real fun.
Hava
PS Today.com has changed it so we can play around with our colors and stuff. Whadaya think of the new look? I’m open to any and all suggestions!
PPS For any Today.com bloggers out there reading this post, be sure to vote in the Blogger’s Choice Award of the Month thread on the forums. Somehow, I strangely managed to get on that list, so even better than just voting would be to vote for me. I’ll slip a $5 later, k? And if you’re not a Today.com blogger, sadly enough, you will not be able to access that forum, but thanks for wanting to try anyway. I appreciate your willingness to be bought for $5.
I’m so touched, Hava. It’s a great site and, if I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t keep coming back. I think the new color scheme works (feel free to check out my new one, too) and I’d vote for you, but I already did.
I appreciate it too
I was TRYING to do the Top Droppers thing…but someone seems to have broken Entrecard now so I shall have to be a day late…
oh well… won’t be the first time I’ve been late
oh, and I very much like the colour scheme by the way.
Stephanie >> Thanks. I happen to like my site too, but then again, I’m fairly sure I’d count as being biased. I’m glad you’ve stuck around and been such a huge part of this blog. I wish I were better at reciprocating, but some days are just too nuts.
Sariah >> LOL! There are lots of internet memes and awards that go around the internet - answer this, do this, post this on your site, etc. Every once in a while, I find a really great meme (like the one where I posted 6 Things You May Not Know About the Library) but for the most part, it’s not something I’m going to do. Maybe I’m just lazy…
Flit >> I’m so glad it wasn’t just me! Tonight, I decided I was going to get a lot of dropping done, and what happens but EC up and dies on me! I don’t normally have a lot of time to drop cards, so I wasn’t too happy when I couldn’t do anything. I was kinda thinking it was just my computer, so I’m glad to know it’s everyone, so I can stop trying to figure out the problem. I’ll go waste my time on something else now.
Havs
PS Stephanie, thanks for the vote. I’ll slip the $5 to ya later, promise.
I hesitate to do the top commenter thing manually, but I agree, it’s more meaningful than “top dropper”. My hat’s off to ya for taking the time to spreadsheet it all out!
Thanks for the writeup.
I picked up the Julie Andrews book from the library today. I have two other books I’m reading right now, but have that next on my list.
I was actually thinking along the same lines as you - wanting to show appreciation to the people who’ve actually taken the time to respond to my posts, as well as thanking my top droppers. I only did the top 5 and didn’t quite do a spreadsheet to figure it out.
I’m flattered!
(Did you count your comments page by page, or did you use the comment page on your control panel?)
Oh… good, the bribe’s retroactive. I’d hate to think I moved too early.
I don’t do things because I expect something back. If I comment, it’s because I want to. No price tag, no obligation.
Ditto on the voting.
Lynne >> Don’t get me wrong - if someone comes by my site and drops a card, I’m not going to be upset and yelling at them to go away. LOL! It’s just that commentors mean a lot more to me. KWIM?
Laneerg >> You’ll have to tell me how you like it. I don’t know if you’re into audio books or not, but Home on audio book is read by Julie Andrews. I didn’t listen to it, but a coworker of mine did, and she said it was really cool.
And I’m jealous that you figured out your top commentors without a spreadsheet. I just can’t keep that many numbers in my head at a time.
Ravyn >> I went into my control panel and started scrolling back through the month, counting line by line. “One comment from Stephanie. One from Ravyn. Another from Stephanie. One from Lynne. Another from Stephanie. Hmm…I’m seeing a pattern here.” All in all, very scientific. And stuff.
I wish there were an easier way to do it, but there wasn’t that I could tell. Perhaps Laneerg will share her superior knowledge with us.
And of course the bribe is retroactive. You can’t punish people for doing the right thing a little early.
Callista >> Isn’t it a cool feeling when you find out that someone picked up a book on your recommendation? It just gives me all of these warm fuzzies inside.
They haven’t given us the option to change font size in the sidebars yet, but when they do (hopefully!) I’ll see what I can do. The tags system is broken (only categories work) so I can’t do a tag cloud, but they are supposed to be fixing that soon, and when they do, I’ll change out that monstrously long list of categories for a tag cloud. But that still leaves my right column with very small type. Hmmm…
The top commentors of the month widget is a separate download, and Today doesn’t give us access to download things like that. I do have the Recent Comments widget in my sidebar, but since this is such a hopping place *cough, gasp, wheeze*, that scrolls through pretty quickly.
Stephanie >> You mean I don’t have to bribe you to be my friend? Gosh, I think that’s…that’s…that’s like what a real friend is like, right? Wow…
Who knew?
Catana >> I was reading a blog the other day, and they were posting all of the “awards” that they had received from somebody. They had multiples of some awards (the Lemonade one - have you seen it around? It’s all over the place) and seeing the same darn award being listed twice in the same post just made me laugh. If that alone doesn’t clue you into the fact that getting one of these awards doesn’t make you special, I don’t know what would.
I do think it’s nice that someone would think of me when wanting to point out another blogger they really enjoy. It’s not that I get upset when someone sends one of those my way; I just don’t post it or send it along to anyone else.
You used to be a Today blogger? Really? I didn’t know that! What was your URL? Just curious….
Hava
Ruthie >> Well, I’ve definitely loved having you on here.
Brian >> Hey, I think blogo-world sounds much cooler than blogosphere. Let’s put together one of those internet petitions that no one pays attention to, and see if we can’t get that changed.
Who’s with me?!
Hava
PS Thanks for adding to me to your Must Read blog roll. That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Hey! Thanks…but it it’s kinda bittersweet making this list. It just proves how much time I waste on the internet.(Not that reading your blog is a waste of time, but you know what I mean.) Anyway I appreciate it, and i wish you would have the time to continue posting everyday, but I know from experience that work and school and life happens. See ya later!
Chris >> My first instinct is to say, “You think my blog is a waste of time?!” (LOL) but my second thought is “Boy do I hear you.”
I have the absolute worst habit of getting sidetracked easily, so I understand where you’re coming from. I guess the good news is, is that I am interesting enough to cause someone to waste their time by reading my site, right? I’m fairly sure that there is a positive in there somewhere…
Havs