As I think I've mentioned before, I read a lot of other blogs. I love reading about south Asia, so one of those blogs that I read is Full Stop India. A couple of weeks ago, Full Stop India hit its 2 year anniversary (of the site) and the author published the post Full Stop India Turns 2: 10 Posts Which Shaped the Past Year, which I really enjoyed.
They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery…so without hesitation I'm going to say that part of the idea for this post came from that Full Stop India post. The other part of the idea for this post came from the My 7 Links post that I recently did on my travel site, Travel Adventures of a Desi Blonde.
TripBase's 7 links project only did 7 topics, whereas Full Stop India's did 10, so I'm going to follow their model this time. My blog turned 2 back in June, but I'm not going to let that stop me from (loosely) following Full Stop India's model. Their post described topics that shaped Full Stop India in the past 1 year. I'm going to span my entire 2+ years in this post.
Before I get into that, I also wanted to take a moment to say how much I love seeing comments and reactions that people leave on my site. If you're a longtime reader (or even a new reader) of this blog, THANK YOU!
So, without further adieu, the topics are:
Most Popular Post: Have a Smurfy day! ... iPad style
So this one is kind of a hard one to answer. My true most popular post is actually the time I wrote about a celebrity sighting in Vancouver. But…that page has since moved to my Travel Adventures of a Desi Blonde site, and I already flagged it as the most popular over there in the My 7 Links post I did.
After that, my 2nd most popular post was my Introduction page which is understandable given the amount of traffic I get from organic Google links. My guess is, people Google something that lands them on my site, they read the one thing that brought them there, and then they want to know more about me. Maybe some stick around and become followers, maybe they don't. Either way, I was surprised at the sheer number of people who've read my Introduction page.
I'm going to talk about the 3rd most popular post in the Most Controversial Post topic below.
Which brings me to my 4th most popular post about an iPad app that I found to be a huge time suck, Smurfs' Village. At that time, we had just recently gotten our iPad, and I was still trying to find good apps to buy. I was a huge fan of the Smurfs when I was younger, and even though I hate Farmville, I thought "OK, cool, I'll give this a shot." For several weeks I nurtured that Smurf Village…even fast forwarding my iPad clock to force my crops to grow faster. Several times, I talked my husband into harvesting my crops for me. And that was about the time when I had to cut myself off. So…if you like getting involved in activities that are huge time wasters, Smurfs' Village might just be the perfect app for you!
Post Which Never Took Off: Give a drop charity for clean water
Maybe it was the fact that this charity involved clean water…something which not everyone in the world has access to. Or maybe it was the fact that it involved a singer I really love, Jewel. Either way, I really liked this topic. But I was disappointed to see that this blog post failed to deliver and get people reading.
Most Helpful Post: 3 Most Important "Phrases" in Urdu
As I've mentioned multiple times before, I speak several languages, but one important one (with respect to south Asia anyway) is Urdu. I've taken several Urdu classes over the years, and my Urdu improves immensely when we travel to south Asia. I still use my Urdu a little when we're in the U.S. (mostly when we're at some party talking with other desis), but it gets used the most when we're visiting family in Pakistan. Last time we were there, I got left at home with our servants (my choice, since the alternative was riding around in a hot -- cramped -- car all day), and we communicated together just fine.
Most Controversial Post: Not Trying Hard Enough?
I'll admit that I'm not really one to write on controversial topics even though I did post something about animal abuse when I first started blogging.
Something about this other topic got me really fired up at the time. Because of that, I wrote it in point-counterpoint style. (This post was also the 3rd most popular post on my site.) In this post, I talked about the efforts that I've done (and continue to do) to make desi culture a part of my life. Some people liked this post…other people, not so much. Check it out, and you be the judge.
Most Surprising Post: Master bedroom redecorating reveal
We bought and moved into our home 3-4 years ago. When we first moved in, we had a mishmash of furniture that seemed to work out ok in the apartment where we previously lived but did not work well in our new home. We initially bought new couches and a dining table for the living areas downstairs, but the upstairs bedrooms remained, well…a mess. That is, until some cousins decided to come stay with us last summer. Their visit spurred us (and our wallets) into action, and we made quick work of redecorating both the guest bedroom and the master bedroom (and have since made over the office too). The paint colors in our bedrooms have all turned out quite nice--one is green and earthy, one is blue and serene, and one is purplish and airy. What surprised me the most about the post is the number of times people search for some combination of "master bedroom redecorate" or the various paint swatches that we used in the rooms and land upon this page. I guess a lot of people are looking for inspiration for their home decorating efforts.
Most Rewarding Post: Help make my friend Laura's iLatch invention a reality
More times than not, we all get so busy in our own little lives and forget that other people are doing great things…that sometimes require support. My Twitter friend Laura is just launching a product for iPad, and she could use all the support she can get while she tries to raise money and get it off the ground. She didn't ask me to tweet about it (multiple times). She didn't ask me to promote her product on my blog. But I did both. Now, I can't tell if any of my blog readers were motivated to go out and donate to Laura's Kickstarter project, but I sure hope they did. It felt good (OK, rewarding!) to help someone.
Most Fun to Write: Breaking up is hard to do…
I wrote this post around the time when I was doing a lot of online and in-store shopping for clothes for my daiwar's (brother-in-law's) wedding. I had fallen in love with a particular pishwaaz style shalwar kameez I'd found online. I obsessed about that pishwaaz for weeks (months?), and this post was about how the price had gone up which forced me to let it go. I really enjoyed writing this because the title and subject became so funny and misleading. A lot of people who read this thought my marriage was having some kind of problem (because of the title and subject--not because of any basis in reality!) and that cracked me up.
Most Eager to Write Post: I've got a bone to pick
I'm a huge fan of customer service and treating customers right. In America, companies usually care about how the customer is treated. In Pakistan, not so much. This post was about a couple of different companies (both on different sides of the world) with which I had some customer service issues.
Most "Lost in Translation" Post: Respecting elders big and small
In south Asian and Pakistani culture, elders get nicknames as a term of respect. This post was about those names and how the names can sometimes be funny or confusing, depending upon who they're referring to. This concept of respectful names is just "lost" in American culture and America since we don't really have any terms of respect that people get other than Mr or Mrs or sir/ma'am/miss.
Most Honest Post: Three cups of…
Quite often, I don't mince words when I talk about my love for the people of Pakistan. I've been there more many times in over the years, and I've thoroughly enjoyed my visits. I love seeing family there, and I get completely caught up in shopping and eating out at my favorite restaurants. Many years ago, I read a book about someone else's travels there and the work that he's doing in that region. That book was Three Cups of Tea, and it touched my heart. This post was about how the author's organization and work recently came under fire and my feelings and thoughts on the subject.
I kind of hemmed-and-hawed about this topic for several weeks while deciding if I really wanted to say anything or not. (After all, all the facts weren't in yet.) I felt like saying something in support of the author and his organization would put me on the wrong side of the fence if it later turned (turns) out that there was (is) some wrongdoing….but I felt like NOT saying something just didn't seem like the right thing to do. (If you're looking for another honest post, here's another good one to try: Where in the world is…Meliha?)
That's it for me. Is there any particular post or topic that I wrote about that you especially enjoyed?
They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery…so without hesitation I'm going to say that part of the idea for this post came from that Full Stop India post. The other part of the idea for this post came from the My 7 Links post that I recently did on my travel site, Travel Adventures of a Desi Blonde.
TripBase's 7 links project only did 7 topics, whereas Full Stop India's did 10, so I'm going to follow their model this time. My blog turned 2 back in June, but I'm not going to let that stop me from (loosely) following Full Stop India's model. Their post described topics that shaped Full Stop India in the past 1 year. I'm going to span my entire 2+ years in this post.
Before I get into that, I also wanted to take a moment to say how much I love seeing comments and reactions that people leave on my site. If you're a longtime reader (or even a new reader) of this blog, THANK YOU!
So, without further adieu, the topics are:
- Most Popular Post
- Post Which Never Took Off
- Most Helpful Post
- Most Controversial Post
- Most Surprising Post
- Most Rewarding Post
- Most Fun to Write
- Most Eager to Write Post
- Most "Lost in Translation" Post
- Most Honest Post
So this one is kind of a hard one to answer. My true most popular post is actually the time I wrote about a celebrity sighting in Vancouver. But…that page has since moved to my Travel Adventures of a Desi Blonde site, and I already flagged it as the most popular over there in the My 7 Links post I did.
After that, my 2nd most popular post was my Introduction page which is understandable given the amount of traffic I get from organic Google links. My guess is, people Google something that lands them on my site, they read the one thing that brought them there, and then they want to know more about me. Maybe some stick around and become followers, maybe they don't. Either way, I was surprised at the sheer number of people who've read my Introduction page.
I'm going to talk about the 3rd most popular post in the Most Controversial Post topic below.
Which brings me to my 4th most popular post about an iPad app that I found to be a huge time suck, Smurfs' Village. At that time, we had just recently gotten our iPad, and I was still trying to find good apps to buy. I was a huge fan of the Smurfs when I was younger, and even though I hate Farmville, I thought "OK, cool, I'll give this a shot." For several weeks I nurtured that Smurf Village…even fast forwarding my iPad clock to force my crops to grow faster. Several times, I talked my husband into harvesting my crops for me. And that was about the time when I had to cut myself off. So…if you like getting involved in activities that are huge time wasters, Smurfs' Village might just be the perfect app for you!
Post Which Never Took Off: Give a drop charity for clean water
Maybe it was the fact that this charity involved clean water…something which not everyone in the world has access to. Or maybe it was the fact that it involved a singer I really love, Jewel. Either way, I really liked this topic. But I was disappointed to see that this blog post failed to deliver and get people reading.
Most Helpful Post: 3 Most Important "Phrases" in Urdu
As I've mentioned multiple times before, I speak several languages, but one important one (with respect to south Asia anyway) is Urdu. I've taken several Urdu classes over the years, and my Urdu improves immensely when we travel to south Asia. I still use my Urdu a little when we're in the U.S. (mostly when we're at some party talking with other desis), but it gets used the most when we're visiting family in Pakistan. Last time we were there, I got left at home with our servants (my choice, since the alternative was riding around in a hot -- cramped -- car all day), and we communicated together just fine.
Most Controversial Post: Not Trying Hard Enough?
I'll admit that I'm not really one to write on controversial topics even though I did post something about animal abuse when I first started blogging.
Something about this other topic got me really fired up at the time. Because of that, I wrote it in point-counterpoint style. (This post was also the 3rd most popular post on my site.) In this post, I talked about the efforts that I've done (and continue to do) to make desi culture a part of my life. Some people liked this post…other people, not so much. Check it out, and you be the judge.
We bought and moved into our home 3-4 years ago. When we first moved in, we had a mishmash of furniture that seemed to work out ok in the apartment where we previously lived but did not work well in our new home. We initially bought new couches and a dining table for the living areas downstairs, but the upstairs bedrooms remained, well…a mess. That is, until some cousins decided to come stay with us last summer. Their visit spurred us (and our wallets) into action, and we made quick work of redecorating both the guest bedroom and the master bedroom (and have since made over the office too). The paint colors in our bedrooms have all turned out quite nice--one is green and earthy, one is blue and serene, and one is purplish and airy. What surprised me the most about the post is the number of times people search for some combination of "master bedroom redecorate" or the various paint swatches that we used in the rooms and land upon this page. I guess a lot of people are looking for inspiration for their home decorating efforts.
Most Rewarding Post: Help make my friend Laura's iLatch invention a reality
More times than not, we all get so busy in our own little lives and forget that other people are doing great things…that sometimes require support. My Twitter friend Laura is just launching a product for iPad, and she could use all the support she can get while she tries to raise money and get it off the ground. She didn't ask me to tweet about it (multiple times). She didn't ask me to promote her product on my blog. But I did both. Now, I can't tell if any of my blog readers were motivated to go out and donate to Laura's Kickstarter project, but I sure hope they did. It felt good (OK, rewarding!) to help someone.
Most Fun to Write: Breaking up is hard to do…
I wrote this post around the time when I was doing a lot of online and in-store shopping for clothes for my daiwar's (brother-in-law's) wedding. I had fallen in love with a particular pishwaaz style shalwar kameez I'd found online. I obsessed about that pishwaaz for weeks (months?), and this post was about how the price had gone up which forced me to let it go. I really enjoyed writing this because the title and subject became so funny and misleading. A lot of people who read this thought my marriage was having some kind of problem (because of the title and subject--not because of any basis in reality!) and that cracked me up.
Most Eager to Write Post: I've got a bone to pick
I'm a huge fan of customer service and treating customers right. In America, companies usually care about how the customer is treated. In Pakistan, not so much. This post was about a couple of different companies (both on different sides of the world) with which I had some customer service issues.
Most "Lost in Translation" Post: Respecting elders big and small
In south Asian and Pakistani culture, elders get nicknames as a term of respect. This post was about those names and how the names can sometimes be funny or confusing, depending upon who they're referring to. This concept of respectful names is just "lost" in American culture and America since we don't really have any terms of respect that people get other than Mr or Mrs or sir/ma'am/miss.
Most Honest Post: Three cups of…Quite often, I don't mince words when I talk about my love for the people of Pakistan. I've been there more many times in over the years, and I've thoroughly enjoyed my visits. I love seeing family there, and I get completely caught up in shopping and eating out at my favorite restaurants. Many years ago, I read a book about someone else's travels there and the work that he's doing in that region. That book was Three Cups of Tea, and it touched my heart. This post was about how the author's organization and work recently came under fire and my feelings and thoughts on the subject.
I kind of hemmed-and-hawed about this topic for several weeks while deciding if I really wanted to say anything or not. (After all, all the facts weren't in yet.) I felt like saying something in support of the author and his organization would put me on the wrong side of the fence if it later turned (turns) out that there was (is) some wrongdoing….but I felt like NOT saying something just didn't seem like the right thing to do. (If you're looking for another honest post, here's another good one to try: Where in the world is…Meliha?)
That's it for me. Is there any particular post or topic that I wrote about that you especially enjoyed?
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