Four of my Galapagos Islands photos were featured last week on sprol.com, a planetary sightseeing blog that focuses on showing the worst places in the world via satellite imagery.
Though I am tall, my photos were taken from ground level. Sprol featured these images of mine in their story entitled “Wind Power in the Galapagos Islands.”
This weekend, I head to St. Louis to meet the folks and grandmother Momsi. I’m bringing with me The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture as a late Father’s Day gift. Dad spotted this book while strolling through a Pottery Barn with me a few months ago. It’s a huge book, loaded with photos of contemporary buildings and interiors. Next time you are in Pottery Barn, look for this book, grab a seat on one of their comfortable couches, and enjoy.
On Friday, the Indianapolis Star did a little story on me and my “No Repeat Lunch Week” routine. The story included a URL to my website in the forth of eight paragraphs (told you it was short).
Some of my coworkers thought my site would receive a huge spike in traffic for having it’s URL mentioned in the city paper; others didn’t care.
The result? I received only a minor spike in traffic. It was more than average, but not even close to my busiest day this year, which happened to be three days earlier for no apparent reason.
A measly 18 visitors came directly from www.indystar.com by clicking on the link in the online version of the story. Two strangers sent me emails — one to recommend a food site and the other rambled about doves for some unknown reason.
During lunch today, we came up with three reasons why my site received little traffic.
My guess is all three are likely reasons.
Though I can definitely guess at least three people read my website (I can hear you breathing), I’m sure more read the Star.
Which leads me to believe few people read a URL, remember it, and type it in the next time they sit down at a computer.
In contrast, when I published “Keeping Navigation Current With PHP” on a little website called A List Apart, traffic to my site quadrupled the first two weeks and eventually leveled off to nearly three times the amount of traffic I received a few months prior.
My appetite made the news. On the front cover, beneath the fold, section E, in the “Just 1 Minute” sidebar, of the Indianapolis Star, you’ll find a few words about my “No Repeat Lunch Week” campaign.
Reporter Shari Rudavsky from the Star called me earlier this week. We conducted the interview over the phone and I emailed her the photo. Some of our staff knew I’d be featured in the paper, but others were completely surprised.
The title of my story is “Now He Can Go Back for Seconds,” and it’s featured in their Indiana Living section.
Today is the last day of my campaign and will mark my 100th unique restaurant. Most of the staff will attend today’s luncheon. Right now, everyone is pushing for the new Rock Bottom Brewery that opened just a few blocks away.
Next Friday, June 3, 2005, I will officially conclude my “No Repeat Lunch Week” campaign after having visited my 100th unique restaurant for lunch.
The whole thing has been silly and fun. At noon, everyday, I knew I was going to eat somewhere new. Thinking my whole experience might make for a fun lifestyle story for a local newspaper or radio station, I published this press release:
i-Newswire, 2005-05-25 - INDIANAPOLIS - For Jason Pearce of Indianapolis, Indiana, variety comes in 100 flavors as he soon ends his “No repeat lunch week” campaign.
Fed up eating at the same restaurants for lunch each week, Pearce decided to see how long and far he could go without eating at the same restaurant twice during the workweek ( Monday through Friday ). On June 3, Pearce will eat at his 100th unique restaurant.
“At first, some of my lunch buddies didn’t like the idea of trying new places, or returning to restaurants ‘banned’ long ago for reasons no one could recall,” said Pearce. “But a few took to the idea, and our daily lunch excursions became more of an adventure than the monotonous routine they once were.”
To keep track of the restaurants he visited, Pearce kept a log on his website at www.jasonpearce.com. “I know this is a silly project that shouldn’t be taken seriously. But keeping a list of restaurants I’ve visited helps me and the guys from my office remember where we’ve already eaten. Otherwise, we’d waste five to 10 minutes every day arguing before coming to a consensus.”
Most of the restaurants Pearce has visited reside in the northwest corner of Indianapolis, though he has ventured to Zionsville, Broadripple, and downtown. He even counted restaurants while on business trips and on vacation, including one far-flung trip to Easter Island, Chile.
“I don’t think I’ll have to worry about eating on Easter Island ever again,” said Pearce. “They were likely the most remote meals I’ll ever have.”
Pearce has decided to end his “No Repeat Lunch Week” campaign when he visits his 100th restaurant on June 3. “One of the disadvantages of the project is I haven’t been able to return to the newly-discovered restaurants that I liked,” said Pearce.
When asked where he’ll have his 100th meal, Pearce replied, “Well, if you visit my website, I tell you 99 places where it won’t be.”
It will fun to see if anyone picks up on it.