Morning
Our walk was cut short today. About two-thirds of the way along, we hear a sound coming from the brush. Couldn’t tell what it was, maybe a bird, or a cat? Eventually, the cutest little baby goat came stumbling out. Walked right up to us and everything. This goat couldn’t have been more than a week old and was all alone.
So what do you do when you find a lonely, lost kid in the bushes screaming it’s head off for it’s mother? You take it to the nearest farm! I wish I had gotten some decent pictures of it, it was the cutest little thing ever. It was so sweet and friendly. I wish the rest of the goats here were like that. I just want more friends.
Cherryl is finally back from her week-long training. I still find so many things they do over there to be strange. During the training she wasn’t allowed to use her cell phone at all, they actually took it away. That just sounds like a recipe for human trafficking.
I’m really hoping I can visit her before she goes off on her next work assignment. It would be nice to finally meet her in person. Surely some time in the upcoming months I’ll be able to get a flight and go there. Flying halfway around the world isn’t cheap or quick though.
On To Work
Our Google Analytics still show a pretty high bounce rate. I’m going to have to do some research into why, but I think it’s possible it may just be due to the website itself not being so great. It’s possible that even though I’ve turned on the option to ignore bot traffic it isn’t working. The category with the highest bounce rate is direct traffic and the direct traffic that’s bouncing is coming from networks that are very likely being used by bots of some sort.
Oh, would you look at that, I’ve found a way to eliminate those bots from the reporting. All you have to do is add a filter to your view settings. Although, after applying the filter it still shows the traffic on my report. I guess maybe it takes some time or maybe it only affects future data. We shall see as time goes on.
One thing that’s annoying me in analytics is that I have this notification about remarketing, but when I hit the button to configure it, nothing happens! I really do wish I could see bounce rate by ad and not just by the ad group. It does appear that the ad going straight to the home page has a lower bounce rate than the one that points to the list of rentals.
In Google Ads I was suggested to add 6 more keywords, they all seem pretty fitting, so why not? I think I need to create a couple of new ads too. Eventually I will increase the budget, but for now I’m leaving it as it is.
Not a whole lot to report from Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. On Facebook we’re just over 4400 followers with slow and steady growth. Instagram is up to 350 followers with very little promotion and it’s only been a month since we started. We’ve still got a really low following on Twitter, but we’re not really advertising or pushing that channel.
On Reddit I have a group of subs that I read daily in regards to marketing, SEO, and advertising. One of the biggest annoyances there is so many people who just throw together low-quality posts trying to advertise their service. But sometimes I do find a quality post or two, and hell, it’s how I found the Slack I’m in. The people there have all been very helpful in so many ways. I’m also happy when I can add to a post and help someone else out.
Cherryl shared more about her experience in the training center, it all sounds so sketchy. They were forced to sleep on the floor with no blankets or pillows and were only allowed 10 minutes to shower and had to do it in pairs! She said there were a lot of women there training and it’s just the way things are done there. It seems very inhumane to me. I feel like that situation is a breeding ground for some unscrupulous person to do some really bad things. I’m just glad she’s back home safe and sound.
Spoiler Warning
While the roommate was out getting a pedicure I had some time to play Sleeping Dogs. I started off slow by taking down a cheating street racer then moved on to recovering a truck someone lost to gambling. I then felt a bit more ambitious so decided to hijack an armored truck, the pay was good!
After that I decided the cops needed some help so I went and stopped a couple of drug runners, took out some armed robbers, and saved a hostage by sniping the guy threatening her. All in all it was a good day for the HKPD.
After that I met Uncle Po, the chairman of the Sun On Yee. He wasn’t too happy about how we retaliated against Dogeyes. He was happy that we didn’t kill Siu Wah, so offered me some work collecting debts while him and Winston talked more. I scored a new swanky apartment too. My handler wasn’t too happy about how things went down at the drug warehouse either.
/Spoiler
Afternoon
The roommate came back from the salon with news that instead of the originally planned “Bubbles & Brunch” we would be going to Cooper Island on Sunday. It’ll be good for me to get out of the house for a day, I probably spend way too much time here.
We were called next door to Calypso by the plumber. He’s just finished installing two new solar water heaters, but one of the tanks has a leak. Due to the design, there’s no way to figure out if the leak can be repaired. We now have to wait for the owner to contact the manufacturer to see what comes next. Luckily, those things are really efficient at heating water and one tank should be enough for now.
I spent a bit of time (as I always do) editing a couple photos to post. You see, the photos I use for the headers of these blog posts are all my original content, and usually are taken on the day I’m writing the post. All of them can be seen in their entirety in my gallery. You can also see my Instagram feed there in case you’re not following me (which you should be).
I played a bit more Minecraft. I moved my villagers around a bit to organize them better and got a couple new ones for trading. During this process, I actually lost three though! Did you know that villagers will turn into witches when struck by lightning? I did not. Worst part is, one of them somehow got struck even though he was completely enclosed! So now I’ve added an extra layer of cobblestone to protect them in the future. Hopefully it’s enough.
While out hunting for skeletons (I need them bones) I actually came across a spider jockey. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen one of those spawning naturally. Only got enough bones to make 6 blocks in a night, gonna take a while. I should go caving and see if I can find a spawner. Or maybe I should build mob farm, I wonder how well they work in this version. Maybe I should start a creative world to test some things out.
Evening
Not a whole lot to report this evening, just the usual. I’m pretty boring in that respect. I’m not really one to go out on the town. Although, in just a couple of weeks it’ll be time for Dragoncon! I’m totally going to be enjoying the nightlife there.
Oh goodie! Etho has a new Project Ozone 2 video for me to watch tonight. Ugh, Quantico is so predictable. Why would she a hatchet instead of just shooting the bitch?
