2011 in review

It’s the week of lists and reviews, the year in review, top 10 lists of the year past, and lists for the year that is just hours away.  Well, if newspapers can do it, then why not Embarkations?  So, forthwith and without pause, looking back on the past year.  (Skip to the end to see the most popular stories.)

Sparing for a last minute run-up in the numbers, 2011 saw:

·         3,385 visits from 2,346 unique visitors (about 9.3 hits/day)

·         The average visit lasted for a little over a minute and looked at 1.4 posts

·         68% of visits were from new visitors

Top countries of origin were as followed:

1.       United States

2.       Moldova

3.       Canada

4.       U.K.

5.       Romania

Although by far, the most interested readers came from Moldova, whose visitors stayed longest and visited the most pages.

Some surprises coming from the U.S., where I’m most popular in Tennessee, followed by California, New York, Texas, and then Illinois at #5.  Colorado came in ninth and Iowa fourteenth.  Overall, visitors represented 95 different countries and all 50 states.

In life, 2011 was a pretty awesome year, with a few strong highlights:

·         Friends: ringing in 2011 in Brasov with Amanda, Sinh, and Miranda.

·         Service: finishing my first year, and all of a sudden being the “experienced one” in the Bloc

·         Work (youth): Winning Plural+ Moldova with my students’ first short film

·         Work (medical center): opening our public showers and hygiene improvement project for the elderly who use the soup kitchen

·         Work (partners): seeing my partner teacher coach new partners through practice school and standing next to my nurse partner – who is terrified of public speaking – speak to a room of more than 80 women about breast cancer

·         Vacation: hard to choose, they were all so amazing, but I think I’ll choose Krakow and Berlin for the HIA conference.

·         Family: seeing Keith and Eugene get married in Korea (cheating, I know, it’s also vacation)

·         Integration: My host-sister Rodica’s wedding

·         For the Peace Corps family: Thanksgiving (integration points for killing a turkey)

I’m also critical of lists, of course, because they tend to wax over the daily flow of life and make it all about the big moments.  In reality, life, and most of Peace Corps, is what happens in between the big successes.  Still, when most readers are so far away, I suppose it doesn’t hurt to distill things down a bit.

And finally, what were the year’s most read stories?

·         Most read story written this year: Another Cup: follow-up on Greg Mortenson, with 523 views

·         Most read post of the year: My Peace Corps Aspiration Statement (posted prior to my departure with Peace Corps), with 1,467 views

The Mortenson piece also generated the most daily traffic I’ve ever seen, garnering 200 visitors in a day and earning first place as the most commented piece on the blog.  Maybe I should follow scandals more often in 2012. (Kidding)

This time last year, I had finished my first semester, and thought, wow, 25% done, looking forward to a productive year of new initiatives.  Now, I’m looking around and saying, wow, it’s almost done, but there’s still so much to do.  How am I going to tie it together?

So, with that, here’s to what has been a great 2011 of successes (and trials)! And here’s to a great 2012 ahead, a year of transitions.  And what could be truer to Embarkations’ theme than that?  Happy New Year and fiți sănătoși!

Poll Results and the Apology to End all Apologies

So it’s been a month since my last post, and three weeks since the poll closed for votes on the blogs new look.  At first, I was thinking that having been on a silent meditation retreat for almost 2 weeks of that time gave me a decent excuse for not posting.  But then, looking back at how often posts begin with apologies, I decided on a more permanent approach: eternal absolution.  So, I’m henceforth swearing away all apologies for belated posting. For the rest of time.  Period. Bookmark this post if you want, you’ll have my timeless penance enshrined here.

Now, for both our loyal readers here at Embarkations, onto the poll results. The plurality's impression is I’m a narcissist (a whopping 42%).  I’ll own that. All these great new social media tools we love are, fundamentally, narcissistic. I’ve always been bothered by the cognitive dissonance of the perception that viewing friends’ Facebook photos is somehow “stalking.”  Isn’t that why one posts them?  I won’t succumb to the fad of propagating the myth that this stuff isn’t somehow posted to be looked at.  Dear lord, I hope somebody is looking.  Otherwise I’m wasting a lot of time.

Along with narcissism, the general evaluation seems to be that the new look is an improvement (71% total).  No scientific accuracy there, but thank you to those who did take the time to vote.  I’ll also work on getting some more pictures incorporated once I’m in Moldova.  The full results are posted after the jump.

In the meantime, I’ve started a page about the blog itself to track its evolution; comments and suggestions are always welcome there. Whether in terms of design, navigability, or content, I’m always looking for ways to make Embarkations a more interesting place! (Or εὖ τόπος…)

Take the Poll!

Hey Readers,

Check out the page's new look!  Then, VOTE!  This is your God given natural inalienable eternal right as a reader, but if you don't vote, you can't complain!  SO, down with apathy, the poll is to the right.

I'm still tweaking the new layout...  I want to add a photo-stream over in the sidebar, and I want to figure out how to make the background a separate color over to the sides (past the text), and once I get to Moldova, I'd like to maybe make it a bit more, Moldova-ee, but, for now, this is it!

You know, sometimes ya just need a change.  The poll is open for 17 more days.

I'm Zachariah, and I approved this message.

 

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Welcome (to a place of in-betweens)

As I sit down to welcome you, I am immediately struck by the juxtaposition of the point in my life from which I issue the welcome, and the particulars of this blog to which I am welcoming you.

My own life is at a crossroads – recently graduated from Colorado College (CC), I’m setting off to give the expatriate life a try. Having just completed a six week fellowship in Europe with Humanity in Action, I’m now back in the States for just long enough to put my life in order (deep storage) and say some goodbyes. Then it’s off to Budapest for a year at the Central European University (CEU). After that, who knows? The only thing that seems certain is that the coming years will bring constant transition.

As a blog, these words exist in no fixed place – the words, like everything else on a computer, are endless 0s and 1s that can be assembled in any place, but are anchored in no geographic point. I am reminded of the double-entendre Sir Thomas More penned with the creation of the word “utopia,” the Greek roots of which imply both a “good place” and “no place.” Find a word for both “no place” and “any place” and that would be this blog.

As a window into my life, this blog will reflect this transitory phase by offering a place from which one can catch a glimpse of the various paths leading towards and away from the present crossroads. As such, the topics will be eclectic. This page will host everything from travel blogs and photos to reviews and political essays. Someday, maybe even advice for other young internationalists. Like my own life, however, the content won’t be fixed.

So, as I stand at these crossroads, I welcome you to this virtual space – both no place and any place. To friends, family, and the random passerby: WELCOME!