Behind the Scenes: A Look at the Statistics of Stadium 110

Right after I finished packing to return to Carleton, I began browsing the blog editing section of Blogger and realized that they added a wonderful new feature without me noticing. Once again displaying its tendency towards world domination and evil without being quite evil, Google has begun recording statistics about how many people visit Stadium 110. One can see how many people visited on a certain day at a certain hour, what OS they were using, which browser they browsed upon (through? is it a window into the internet?), and from what country they were surfing this complicated series of tubes known as the World Wide Web. These results are, of course, fascinating.

These statistics reveal the demographics of our pageviewers. While Stadium 110 has an obviously strong appeal to citizens of the United States, I must say that I was proud to see 7 pageviews from Russia. I believe that the most surprising statistics may be found at the bottom of the graph: 4 people in Latvia and 3 in India and Luxembourg have experienced the force that is the Ocho. If YOU happened to be one ofour international viewers, well done sir (or madame)! You have discovered a future cornerstone of American society.

Our viewership is also surprising Mac-oriented, with both Safari and OS X taking the top spots in the browser and OS categories. I must admit that I am surprised by the fact that Internet Explorer defeated both Opera and Chrome. If YOU use IE: SHAME! I am also interested in the fact that Android defeated iPod and iPhone. If I had to guess, I would say that the typical Stadium 110 viewer is an upper-middle class American who just can't use AT&T. Google can make a fortune on this info!

Another interesting feature of Google's statistics is that it reveals the search keywords used to find Stadium 110. As can be seen above, our blog has provided valuable advertising for Middlebury's Moscow Program, MSTRKRFT, and Guido van der Werve. It has also provided valuable information for those looking to find naked black men and Elliot Bartis. Dave showed a lucky person just how wonderful being funemployed can be and Tim brought it to Minnesota, while Alfredo didn't exactly answer the question regarding the safety of pajaretes but provided priceless information about milking cows for the sake of alcohol consumption.

I look forward to using this data to make Stadium 110 more user friendly and appealing to its viewership. With the help of Google, Stadium 110 is already one step closer to the oh-so-lucrative joy of Monetization. This post here already contains every single element that has made Stadium 110 a phenomenon that has taken 3 of Earth's continents by storm! My goal: a view from Antarctica by graduation.

UPDATE: At approximately 1:00 PM on September 11, 2010, Stadium 110 received a milestone 50 page views. This is unprecedented in the history of Stadium 110 and is a sign of the pageview potential of Stadium 110. A stock broker would be unable to handle statistics like this if we went public.

There comes a time in every man's life when he must...

...quit his job and take another that pays more money and makes him work harder.

After much deliberation, I decided last Wednesday that now is my time. I'm leaving the relatively focused media portion of advertising to move into the relatively broad account management discipline. This means that instead of deciding where to place ads, I'm now going to be making sure that everybody works together, that the client knows what the agency is thinking, and that the agency knows what the client is thinking. I have people skills; I'm good at dealing with people. Don't you get that?

So, basically, through some alumni networking, I've managed to snag a job at a much larger/more prestigious agency working in a department that I'll enjoy more on a very intense and challenging automobile account. I will be working much harder and dedicating more of my life to this. I like the challenge.

Now that we've gotten the job news out of the way (and yes, Mark, I will post when I have worked for a while and tell you all about what I do), I can tell you all about how Johnny V and I had dinner in the Crow's Nest on Sunday night. We drank wine, ate delicious food, and peed off the top of Stadium. That's pretty much it.

There are plenty of other things that I could talk about, but I'm lazy so I'm done for now.

Foran out!

Employment & 40s

It turns out that I am now gainfully employed, complete with full benefits, a 401k, and a salary. Most of you know about this recent positive development in my life, but I've yet to really explain to anyone what exactly I actually do. I wrote this post at the end of my first week, but was hesitant to post for reasons explained to all of you in person.

So, let me tell you a bit about my new employer before I start. The company I'm working for is a privately owned advertising agency with its offices in Minneapolis (Advertising, you say? In Minneapolis? Go to New York!). The private ownership is a positive thing - we aren't accountable to some giant multinational holding company, so we have less bureaucracy, more creativity, and a much more comfortable work environment. One of the things that the agency prides itself on is community - everybody in the office gets to know everyone else, there's all sorts of parties, sports teams, happy hours, etc. They make it a really fun place to work. We're also on the rise.

So what exactly do I do? Well let me start by explaining what media does. In a nutshell, media takes the creative produced by, well, "the creatives" and figures out what exactly we should do with it based on the target audience demographics suggested by the account strategists. Media figures out what types of media to buy, where to buy it, how much to buy, etc so that we can place ads for our clients. It's sort of like creating the battle plan, where the creative material serves as your soldiers and the strategy info is your intelligence. At a non-traditional agency like mine, this requires a lot of creativity and brainstorming. Nothing is off limits. I was in a few brainstorms this week and it's really a pretty cool process. We also hear plenty of pitches from sales reps from different media companies.
From a hierarchical standpoint, I am at the bottom. There's a lot of more "administrative" stuff that I have to learn to do, along with just the general art/science of the whole discipline before I can even begin to think about moving up. This stuff includes media plan flow charts, media buy authorizations, learning the billing software, etc. It's a lot of "support", but that's how you learn. I'm enjoying it.

So, that's pretty much my job.

In other news, some of us experienced an epic weekend. Watching you guys swim at conference was pretty sweet - I enjoyed all the races, seeing everyone, etc. 40s last night was ridiculous. I still have a headache despite taking a two hour nap earlier. All I can say is that the cobra struck and I still feel the venom. I need the antidote. I'll let someone else give a more comprehensive post on the weekend's festivities.

I've been moved to write.

It's been a while since I last wrote. I wish I could say that I've been extremely busy and unable to find the minutes to do a quick blog post, but in reality that's just not true. I'd be lying to you... and I wouldn't lie to my friends.

Anyway, what's moved me to write this post is the latest story involving Chad Ochocinco, the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver. Beloved Chad was fined $20,000 by the NFL for jokingly flashing a one dollar bill at a referee when a play that involved Chad himself was being reviewed. Clearly, the idea of the stunt was to pretend to bribe the official. Also, rather clearly, he was kidding.

I recognize the sanctity of sports, and their rules, and all that. I also realize that gambling, betting, bribing, etc should not be tolerated by the NFL or any other professional sports league because of the obvious implications. But let's be honest here, the guy was very clearly joking. The league hates him - he's been fined for plenty of other things before. But he's just a dude that wants to have fun, and all of his previous stunts (and there have been many) are all in an attempt to lighten things up a little bit. I mean really, the man officially changed his last name to "Ochocinco".

In other news, I'm finally up in Minneapolis in my new digs. Through a stroke of luck I got a fully furnished one bedroom apartment in the southern part of Uptown for pretty cheap. I'd put up pics but I can't find the cable for my camera. So anyway, I'm living by myself and trying to find a job. The job search hasn't been the most fruitful but I've been keeping myself entertained. I usually run by Lake Calhoun each afternoon and every time I do I realize that despite being funemployed I really do enjoy this city because that lake is gorgeous.

Beyond running, I've been playing a lot of Bouncing Balls on Facebook, going to a local coffee shop, etc. I've chilled with Liz and Caitlin and Anna some - Liz and her housemates had a party last night from which I now sit here recovering (don't dangle your prepositions). We spent the whole night playing Cornhole/Bags in the basement - pretty good fun.

Since I lack a job, I'm headed home from Nov. 25 until Jan. 5 (yes, I doing winter break and I no longer go to Carleton). This is an attempt to preserve both finances and sanity. While I've been decently entertained and not too bored, sitting in my apartment in December without a job and no real prospects (since nobody hires in December) is not my idea of fun. If any of you east coasters want to find a cheap way to chill during this period, I'd be up for it.

That's all folks.

Since we all know it's never too early to plan a party...

...(except if it's Tuesday and your party is on Friday).. 

WE ALSO KNOW IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY TO PLAN A PRE-GAME!! YEEHAW.

Given that Ted mentioned pre-gaming in his post, and that I am currently "funemployed" (thanks Dave), Nonberg and I have decided that I am going to compile a pre-game playlist for Friday night of alumni weekend since, well, there's nothing else to do!

So, send suggestions via comment and I will SadSteve them and make everyone happy.  And I will also entertain myself while doing so. 

There's also plenty of new music I've been listening to in my new, funemployed state of being.  So, maybe I'll post about it sometime soon.

The new way to look at joblessness: Funemployment

As we are all aware, unemployment in the U.S. is at levels that have not been seen in quite some time. Moreover, as members of the graduating class of 2009, those of us entering the real world (ie no grad school are part of "generation screwed." These past couple of weeks have been tough, until I realized something new, something revolutionary, there can be some fun in unemployment. Now it is with great pleasure that I introduce you to a new way of living without a job or the prospect of a job.....funemployment.

The first pillar of funemployment requires one to actively seek a job. The fun aspect of fun employment can only happen if the person is trying to find a job.

So now let's get to the good stuff:

Pillar 2: Spend some time during the day looking for a job, and dedicate the rest of the day to something fun. You'll feel good about yourself knowing that you looked for a job (send out a resume or two) then go live like you have no obligations.

Pillar 3: Funemployment can not occur if you are impatient. As many older people will tell you, jobs do not come in a day. There are some rare exceptions, but no one is going to hire you as their new CFO right away.

Pillar 4: Try to hang out with your funemployed friends. No one likes to hang out alone. You can do a resume session then go to a surf session. Maybe you share job insights then go pound a few......beers

Pillar 5: To be honest, a lot of funemployment is based on the person who is living it. Post a comment or two and express how you live the life of funemployment.

As allways, I'm sure my enttry is filled with spellying mistakes, so fel free to korrect them.