5000 Hits!

My blog has over 5,000 hits now. I have to say that I have really enjoyed the blog. Not that it has anything that exciting on it, but it is good to write about life, document the funny things, and post pictures. I love reading friends' blogs because it is fun to keep up with everyone and the changes. The biggest thing that has been fun to me is the statcounter. I put the statcounter on back in September I think, and it tells you areas that your visitors come from, the top searches used to find your site, and even the operating systems and browsers used most often. The top things I have laughed about in the stats.

1. I have had visitors in over 20 different countries and almost every state (Florida, California, and North Carolina have the most visitors)
2. The top things that people search for and come to my blog are kidney stones and stents (by far the number one search), quiting smoking, Misys (and Misys sucks - which of course I don't think I have ever said but my blog has Misys and the word sucks), Amy Gleason, couch to 5k, and Bond Clinician. I think that is pretty interesting.
3. The majority of people use 1280X1024 as their resolution.
4. People use IE7 10 times more than IE6 (at least in my visitors)
5. People use XP 35 times more than Vista (at least in my visitors)

I guess I never thought that my ramblings on life could provide so much information. I hope that people with kidney stones have found some information or at least the knowledge that someone else out there has been there. I hope that people quitting smoking or losing weight have gotten some strength from reading my experience as most people who know me thought I would smoke forever and that me running a 5k was less likely that me winning a million dollars. :) For those searching for Misys, it appears that most of you are trying to find someone you worked with or trying to find some dirt on the company (or as Histalk so eloquently said maybe you are taking the highway over Misys MyWay - that one cracked me up).

Chris did have a fracture in his fibula. Bummer. He is in a boot for 3 weeks to start. Mike took him to Shriner's, and I think he was as impressed with them as I was. They really do a great job there. Morgan's toes are still sore, but she survived the second day of cheer this week. :)

So, for my new thoughts, I decided that I will comment on my favorite weight loss snack - popcorn. Now, I have tried just about all kinds of popcorn in my day. I have always loved popcorn, and we used to make it in the pan, as jiffy pop, in the electric poppers with the yellow top, in air poppers, in containers you put in the microwave, in brown paper lunch bags, and in real microwave bags. I worked in a Carmike Cinema for years, and we used to experiment with the popcorn trying to make it bright yellow, pale yellow, white, and many other variations. So, I would say I am a pretty good judge of popcorn.

Back in October when I was starting Weight Watchers, I was in Publix and walked passed the sample stand. They had popcorn! I had to stop and see what they had. It was Orville Redenbacher's Natural Buttery Salt and Black Pepper Popcorn. It comes in a mini bag, and it is so good. Each bag is 2 Weight Watchers points and it is very flavorful and filling. I have at least one bag a day and have for the most part since late October. It has really been a valuable weight loss tool. I think the people at the office tell time by my popcorn popping. :) As this popcorn has become very popular, it is difficult to find. So, I have tried many other types. I have tried the simply salt variety of Orville Redenbacher's Naturals. It is very good, but it only comes in the big bags (not mini) so each bag is more like 8 points. Ick. Orville Redenbacher's 100 calorie bags are MUCH better than Pop Secret and Newman's. So, for microwave, I have to give it to the black pepper popcorn HANDS DOWN. I do also pop popcorn in the Presto Microwave Popcorn Popper (also Orville...hmmm... I see a trend here), and I use Pam, popcorn, and some salt. 4 cups of this is only 1 point. YUM...:) What kind of popcorn do you like?