The countdown is on...

As you can see, the countdown has begun. In just a few weeks I'll be on my way home, and not a moment too soon. I'm so unbelievably sick of Kuwait, it's ... well, it's unbelievable. Seriously.

I also have added a new counter, and it has a lot of interesting features with it. It gives me a very detailed account of everyone that visits this site, and how they found it. Those of you who are friends and family, it's not that hard to figure out how you "found" it: I probably told you. But if you are using a search engine, it knows which one you used. And even more interestingly, the keywords that were used. So far, it's only been running for a couple of days, so there's not much data, but I just noticed something.

Someone in Monroe, Louisiana uses Centurytel Internet Holdings for his ISP. This someone typed in "Scott Grattan" and "Kuwait" into Google, and found, not surprisingly, this website. In addition to their IP address (which is only useful to a hacker if you're not behind a firewall... you ARE using a firewall, aren't you?), it also reports their operating system (WinXP), browser (Internet Explorer 6.0), and the resolution their monitor is using (1024x768).

I don't know anyone in Louisiana (that I'm aware of), but apparently they know me... so whoever you are: Hi!

There's also someone visiting from Carbondale, Illinois that has been on the website for 3 days. They have been reading the archives, but very slowly (apparently).

Also, Tracy, I saw that you visited on April 9th, and I really think you need to talk to your network administrator. I know for a FACT that it was you, because your computer name is TracyStoddart.mcpherson.edu, which definitely means you're not behind any kind of firewall or NAT (network address translator). Any website that you visit can easily find their way back to your computer. Got any problems with spyware or adware? I'll bet you do...

I found something else very interesting the other day. Have you ever typed your name into Google, to see if you're on the Internet? Well, the other day I did a search for "grattan" in Google Images. In addition to numerous pictures of Grattan Raceway, Grattan family crests, and even a kid whose last name is Gratton and they spelled his last name wrong on the image "grattan.jpg"... I know how you feel kid.

Anyway, the interesting thing is that I found a picture of Ryan. It's the picture taken the day we brought him home, and it's the first one in the album. So, for those of you who are keeping score, he's barely a year old, and he's already doing things on the 'net better than I am. There were no pictures of ME in the Google Image search... just him.



I'm so proud!

Love to all!