Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

Drop me a line!

Friday, Oct. 14, 2005
8:34 a.m.
Last night Hubby and I saw Johnny (melt) Depp in Willy W0nka and the Chocolate Factory at Centennial Theatre. It was very much like the first movie from R0ald Dahl�s book, the one with Gene Wilder, except with some more contemporary additions, and the O0mpa L00mpas were definitely funnier in this one. The main difference was W0nka himself. I shan�t spoil it for anyone, so I will say no more on the subject except that the actor who played Charlie�s grandfather looked like a twin to my mother�s late Aunt Betty.

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But that isn�t what this entry is about. I have a site meter installed on my page, you can see it at the bottom of the right-hand column listing links, and anyone can access it, although I am the only one able to make changes. So, if you are curious to know what your ISP is, just click on the link and find the appropriate reference.

What�s fun about this stats tracker (and no, I am not a spokesperson for sitemeter.com) is that you can view your visitors either by referrals (which is what I usually do) or by location (which is fun because it displays the national flags) or even as dots on a world map. You can, of course, get details such as what text was put into a search engine which brought up your particular page, and even information regarding the kind of operating system your viewer has installed, what browser he uses, and the definition of his screen. I suppose all that is useful for commercial sites intent on getting hits and being accessible to the largest number of surfers possible. I am more interested in who is visiting, and from where.

Most of the people who visit my diary come from Diaryland itself, and access me through their buddy lists. There are other Diarylanders who don�t have me as a favourite, but come by every day nonetheless by linking me from someone else�s buddies. Then there are the ones marked �unknown�. I am always curious who these strangers are, especially when they are regular visitors and come from far-flung time zones.

For instance, someone from Stevenage,�Norfolk in the U.K. visits me every day through one of my diaryrings. Another frequent reader lives in Tianjin, China. I don�t know who you are. I would love to know how you found me, why you keep coming back, what it is that we have in common and I would just be tickled pink if you would leave me a note in my guestbook. I love getting mail!

Here is one thing I have learned since I started using the internet: There are a lot of people out there, people who resonate with me somehow. This computer monitor in front of me is a window into the world, allowing me into the offices, bedrooms, studies, kitchens, etc. of people I would otherwise never even know existed. Let�s not be strangers to each other.

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