Tag Archives: Wordpress

Something to help that ‘not so fresh’ feeling

FreshThere I was, sitting in the waiting room for my annual gynecological exam a few days ago.  (My puns are out of control here so don’t  worry – this isn’t going to be gross.)

At any rate, this visit is not my favorite of visits to make each year but something that feels good to check off the list.

But this visit seemed different than other visits before.  This time after I checked in with the perky but tired receptionist, I had to scan the very large waiting room for several minutes before finding the one, single empty chair surrounded by giddy and emotional pregnant 20- and 30-somethings staring at their ultrasound pics giggling.  I was literally surrounded.  And I was the only one taking advantage of the freshly brewed strong black coffee most likely because my days of having babies are a distant memory punctuated by the fact that next year I will have two kiddos in high school.

I sighed and texted a couple of friends to express how suddenly I felt like a yogurt in the fridge that had gone just past its expiration date.

When the nurse who I call Wonder Woman because she looks like Linda Carter (even though the waiting room full of preggos are too young to even know who that is) took my blood pressure, I asked her if I was the only non-pregnant person there.  She replied, “Yep, except for those of us who work here.”  I sighed and we giggled together as she assured me us ‘regular patients’ were still welcome.

So I was happily surprised to learn of something very fresh today. My last post,  “Recipe For: Life on Wry” has been Freshly Pressed!

To put this in perspective,  I tried to research a bit on Google about the odds of being Freshly Pressed, and VERY coincidentally found a conversation where someone was comparing the odds of being Freshly Pressed (the Holy Grail of Blogging, so to speak) to being the one sperm out of 200-600 million sperm that makes it to the egg.  Which I thought very appropriate given my not-so-fresh analogy.

To help me further grasp the odds, I discovered that there are currently 68,600,151 WordPress blog sites in the world. There are 37 million new blog posts each month. And WordPress editors select 8 of them each day to be Freshly Pressed. Being Freshly Pressed sends your blog visits and views through the roof and exposes your blog to oodles and oodles of other bloggers out there.

The odds of being Freshly Pressed are said to be about 12 per million on any given day.  And to have it happen for a second time in less than a year (my last one was “If you aren’t registered to vote, quit reading my blog and register”  last September – only published because I deleted the all caps DAMN IT at the end of the headline most likely – just kidding) … well that’s just math I don’t even know how to compute (I’m a Journalism major, after all).

So thank you WordPress,  and thank you patient and kind readers.

Remember, it’s all wry.  Otherwise life would be way too boring.

Feeling lucky?

morning

I snapped this as I was leaving the school parking lot this morning. I’m lucky this is my view every weekday as I drive away from the school.  The others waiting to pull out of the lot behind me are not so lucky.

I’m feeling lucky.  Lucky, that is, that I discovered WordPress and to be part of the WordPress family.  (As well as to have stolen this shot of the sun peeking out of the clouds this morning.)

As I’ve told many, I feel truly grateful to have such a wonderful group of bloggers out there who are so very supportive and kind.  It really is like having another family out there.  Fellow bloggers who don’t judge or compete, instead offering kind words of encouragement and support.  I truly thank you.

I’ve been nominated for the WordPress Family Award by Sonel, writer of  Sonel’s Corner (I get to experience Hartbeespoortdam, South Africa and wonderful photos through her blog), and Kira, writer of Wrestling Life, who writes some terrific poems and is also part of the Rome Construction Crew organized by Green Embers, and Let’s Talk About Family who is a wise and caring fellow soldier in this parental Alzheimer’s battle.

wordpressfamilyaward_2

Thank you so much for nominating me. I am honored to be considered part of your WordPress Family.

The founder of the The WordPress Family Award established the award because they felt that the WordPress family had taken them in and showed them love and care like a family, always there for them.  Even though we may never meet in person. I’m continuously impressed by how cool of a concept this blogging thing is.

Here are the rules to accept the WordPress Family Award:
1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate 10 bloggers who’ve had an impact on your WordPress experience
4. Let them know you have awarded them
5. That is it. Just please pick 10 bloggers that have taken you in, and spread the love.

This is the part I don’t like – having to narrow down just ten bloggers who have enriched my blogging experience in these short nine months.  There are so many! Please know that ALL of my readers and fellow bloggers enrich my blogging experience in a positive way each day, and for that I am grateful to each of you.

So here are ten of you who I feel like I could easily hang out at Starbucks with even though I’ve never met you (hoping that doesn’t creep you out).  Some of you have been with me since the early days last fall, and some just over these last few months.  All of you provide perspectives on life that make me breathe more deeply, or smile, or laugh, cry or think.

Free Penny Press

Nature Restores Me

Transformed by the Journey

Diane Gray

Lame Adventures

Sonel’s Corner

Wrestling Life

Let’s Talk About Family

Angie Inspired

Ambling and Rambling 

There are so many more that this list could go on and on.  Thank you all!

What do you feel lucky about today?

2012 in review – Life on Wry.

WordPress.com  prepared a 2012 annual report for lifeonwry.com, which I began actively attending to (making  myself write for!) in August. Pretty cool little report on this little ol’ blog.  (And pretty smart marketing technique on behalf of WordPress.) Thanks for following me on this journey of gratitude, of self discovery and growth and of the wryness of life.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,700 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 13 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Places I remember. Gratitude Experiment: Day 90

Post 90!  Holy Cow!

One of the WordPress prompts this week was to write about lyrics to a song which speaks to you.  This instantly made me think of one of my favorites that I started listening to on my car ‘cassette deck’  back in college.  Yikes, that dates me.

At any rate, the song which speaks to me the most  hands-down is by the Beatles, called “In My Life.”  On my Pinterest board for my funeral (yes, I am dark but practical), I’ve noted that this song would be perfect.  I’ve also posted a poem and my favorite flower arrangements.  Again, dark, but practical.

Here are the first two verses of this song which transports to ‘places  I remember’ every time I hear it:

All My Life by the Beatles

(Intro… great little acoustic guitar segment) 

There are places I remember
All my life …though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone …and some remain

All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends …I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life …I’ve loved them all.

There is something about the twang of the acoustic melody in this song that just makes me smile while good memories pour into my mind.

Today I’m grateful that I got to write about my favorite song.  And that I had a better day.  Just as busy and just as lacking in exercise, but a somewhat more fruitful day (despite yet another trip to the DMV only to realize I was still lacking one more document for a title transfer).

The best part was that it was a day of advocating for my son, which so far is proving to have been well worth it.  (I think I want to write an e-book about the importance of advocating for your children.   This and 30 other topics.  More on that later.)

I’m also grateful that I’ve come to the realization that when you are starting an exercise ritual with Cold Turkey as your starting place, three-times a week exercise is a much less self-sabotaging starting goal.  (So if you are on this challenge journey with me, the goal is now three times per week.)

Question for you: What song’s lyrics really speak to you?

My clothes are rarely freshly pressed, but now my blog is. Gratitude Experiment: Day 45

Holy cow! (And I’m saying cow because I’ve been cursing too much on my blog lately.)

I’m officially Freshly Pressed. Which is a big deal to bloggers.  For nonbloggers, this means that WordPress has selected one of my posts to put on their main Freshly Pressed page for all bloggers who follow it to see.

This has made my day, maybe my month. Hell, I think it made my year.  It’s been one of those years.

Supposedly getting Freshly Pressed is a 1 in 80,000 chance. Wordpress editors pick 19 posts per day to feature out of 451,713 bloggers, 934,065 new posts, 1,367,589 comments, and 212,837,940 words posted daily on WordPress.com.

Clearly someone was asleep at the wheel when they selected my “If you’re not registered to vote, quit reading my blog and register” post. Just kidding, it’s more likely that they agree that this is an important issue.

We’ll see how much  my blog traffic stats change after this new found, short lived fame.  I’ll try not to get a big head.  Any bigger than it already is, since my head is bizarrely large and the Sienfeld episode –where Elaine walks in the park and birds fly into her head because her head is so big and the birds can’t miss it — was based on my head size.

PS: Have you registered to vote or made time on your calendar to make sure to vote?

Today I am thankful for getting Freshly Pressed!  And for my loyal readers.  Thank you.