the magic number

Today is the third anniversary of this blog. Blimey. Half of me thinks it's flown by, I've only just started, half of me thinks - three years, that must be enough, I have nothing left to say.

Anyway, I hope you'll forgive a little birthday indulgence, it seems traditional to celebrate with a round-up of stats and posts so I'll do the same.

994 posts - I should have made it the round 1,000 for the third anniversary. But the 2,782 comments, that's all down to you lot. Well, mostly. Many thanks.

Technorati says that 978 links point to this blog. Or maybe 1,082. Who knows? More than you'd think anyway. Which makes me the 8,217th most read blogger in the world. (So if you think of Boing Boing as Liverpool FC, this makes me rather like a reasonably succesful junior school team. Doing quite well at a county level. Though I've just noticed that if you combine all my blogs I get to be the 3,924th most read blogger in the world, which maybe more like being Loughborough University's second team. Don't knock it. They do a lot of sports science there.)

According to statcounter (which I've been using since June 2005) I get an average of about 1,500 unique visitors a day. But that includes ebcb too, I've never worked out how to untangle them. The big spikes are visits from the BBC website, to do with the book.

But what always blows me away isn't the numbers, it's the fact the all these people come from all over the world. Brilliant. Out of the 9,000 visits in the current usage log (and I have no idea what that really means) 3,431 are from the UK, 2,247 are from the US, but more interestingly 32 are from Bulgaria, 15 are from Peru, 1 is from Angola and 122 are from Unknown.

Looking through the archives it becomes very clear that I have a very limited number of ideas and that I just keep repeating them. But these are some of the bits that stick in my head:

Benches. They crop up here and here, two and a half years later.

Silly projects like 'Brands In Our Bathroom' and Hotel Telly. And of course, there was disappointment.

Remember this picture from ShowStudio?

And I think this is the post that taught me what blogging is all about. You just put stuff out there and the world decides what to do with it. Have a read of the 98 comments on this thing. They own this post, not me. Very interesting. And then this is when I noticed I was being read.

I won a pair of FLOM dunks and then I went on sabbatical starting here with Arthur's first appearance on the blog.

And ending 66 days later here, with Arthur worn out in the car.

Looking at the sabbatical entries again it's become clear to me that that was when I decided to build a life that involved more not-working regular hours, hence Nike, freelance and OIA. If you're a little disgrunteld with your working life, don't take a sabbatical, it's fatal.

I found this sign on the door of the loo's at Unilever.

Went to Bucharest with Bill.

I talked about life in badges.

ebcb won a yahoo prize.

We geeked out at the Acton Depot. And I stuck some of my w+k music up, featuring jed and joe. And actually started writing stuff about planning and that.

I think this is my favourite picture on the whole thing.

Here's the first APSotW mention and the first bit of video. And now I'm starting to think like I'm boring you all and there's no point recapping stuff that's not that old.

That's something else I've noticed about my blogging. Lots of it just seems to peter out...

...but before this one does can I just say how much I've enjoyed it all, because of you lot. That's been the best bit about the whole thing, making friends with all of y'all. Thanks.

Comments

[Ben]

122 from Unknown? Where might they be?

Brands in my Bathroom was brilliant. Any chance of any more rooms appearing? (Sorry, you've got enough blogging to do already, I know...)

[Anne]

Happy birthday - one of the best things about your site is never knowing what you're going to come up with next, but it's always interesting.

[javier]

hey that's me on the map ! that little dot over Mexico! I moved to london recently (in fact, your blog was part of the inspiration to move here) so I guess I don't belong in the visitors from “exotic places" list anymore, that's sad. Anyway, Felicitaciones por el blog, Russell.

[Sylvain]

Growth of unique visitors, even bigger growth of comments, measure of popularity, international implantation, highlights of a 3-year history (focus on the emotional bits)...
Russell, it looks like you've become a brand now.

[Steve]

Happy birthday, russelldavies.typepad.com! You are a wonderfully clever, curious, insightful and generous blog. Your master feeds you well (diner fare, no doubt).

[Itay]

Russell, you have at least one reader in Israel, too.

[Oakie]

I maybe the one of 122 unknown. I am from Bangkok, Thailand. Happy Birthday!

[Mike]

Happy, happy birthday Russell.

Thanks for the look back to where it all started and the timeline. Great Stuff.

(That's the easy bit over, now all we need to do is figure out how it'll all end;-)

[RajaB]

Another one of the 122, from Dubai... It has been an interesting and inspiring one and a half years for me (since I found your blog). Thank you very much. Happy birthday!!

[henry lambert]

happy anniversary! Keep up the great work.

[blaiq]

Another one of the 122... from India. Happy Birthday!.

[isee]

and Happy Birthday from one of the 122, in China. Thanks for the great reading, the opportunity to get talking to so many great people and the chance to get involved. And God bless you for your work on behalf of the Great British Fry-up.

[Seb]

on of the first thing in the morning (after pressing the power-button of my powerbook, checking emails and starting safari) is reading your blog. it’s strange that someone (you) who i’ve never met has become a part of my daily life. i know how you look, what you’ve done over the weekend, can see arthut growing up, get an overview of the brands in your bathroom, know what your thinking about planning, can even be a student at APSotW (more or less) and even watch you swim with sneakers without you knowing anything about me. it’s weird but a great gift. maybe sometime i can change that „you know nothing about me“-thing. but until then: thank you, russel. thank you for all that.

[gemma]

Coffee Mornings. Links to other Planning-type blogs. Comments like this one. We're all learning a little bit about each other. Which is lovely.

[picklin paul]

Happy Birthday Russell - your blog/ blogs have been a joy to read over the last 3 years. They're continually interesting and inspiring. We only hang around here because you make it so much fun.

[picklin paul]

Happy Birthday Russell - your blog/ blogs have been a joy to read over the last 3 years. They're continually interesting and inspiring. We only hang around here because you make it so much fun.

[pgaughran]

Congratulations Russell, you give all us planners some great food for thought both in work and out of it. To Seb's point, it's funny how you feel you know someone you've never met.

Here's to many more years of fry-ups for the mind.

[kevin r.]

Three is the magic number after all. Happy magic number good sir.

[Mark McGuinness]

Thank you and many happy returns!

[Dino]

Happy Anniversary Russell!

You're in a class of your own, looking forward to seeing what's in store!

[Kirsty]

Happy birthday, and thanks for some fabulous reading.

[Juliana]

Happy Birthday!!!

Thank you for everyday inspiration, good humour, amazing thoughts and Arthur´s pictures (I feel like an aunt, I´m watching him growing up, it´s soooo cool).

Words are not able to measure the impact you have in my life.

Thank you!

[Jason Oke]

Russell -
Many happy returns. Thanks for taking in all the stray planners. And rest assured, you don't look a day over two.

[Rodney Tanner]

Happy birthday Russell.

This was the first blog I started reading about 2 years back and is still the first I go to every morning. Goes down very well with the coffee!

Thanks for the triangle tip. Works like a charm at least twice a week!

[BobG]

what a keen blog, Russell! I love your lesson witht the "the post that taught me about blogging" - 3 does seem to be a magic number. A celebration in order when I get 3 unique comments to a posting :)
Happy 3rd anniversary!
Bob