My site is getting a lot of Valentine's Day-related hits recently. I'm not complaining. Here are some google searches that have brought people to my site:

• valentine sippy cups
• valentine blog
• valentine widget for wordpress
• valentine's gift ideas
• music for valentine's day
• useless valentine facts
• valentine font

I have also found out about other people with my name. Other Evan Valentines in this world include:

• A highschool athlete who plays tennis and football
• A [female] pornstar (I use the term "star" very loosely lightly here)
• A standup comedian

Who would have ever thought that someone crying at the end of a movie could be so funny and adorable? Parker Stech thought so, and he went where no man has gone before. His wife cries at the end of virtually every movie they watch, and he records interviews with her while she's crying and posts it on YouTube. Just go to cryingwife.com and click "videos" to see for yourself. Some of the movies are sad and deserving of crying, but some of them are not in that realm at all, such as Back to the Future. Hilarious.

I have been discussing with a friend of mine about SEO optimization (at great length). There are different ways to essentially 'game the system' and increase your page rank on google. The fact of the matter is that my URL has no keywords at all and that makes it difficult for me. I have taken some steps towards trying to create backlinks and I have renamed my blog. At first I thought about trying to corner the market on "professional photographers in the DC area," but upon further research it seemed that those were hard keywords to advance my page, so I settled on something to do with "stay at home dads." I renamed my blog "Evan Valentine, The Stay-at-Home Dad" to try to get some more search results. It has worked a few times so far. I am doing research into hosting the same blog via multiple URLs. More on that later.

I have made a few recent posts in a shameless attempt to figure out search engines. First I made my "Kurt Warner Retires" post. I made this post 2 hours before the news was officially announced in an attempt to get a jump on the competition. It did not work. Then I made my "WordPress Plugins Used On This Blog" post in an attempt to get some visits from nerds trying to do research on how to gain an advantage on their blog. That also has proved unfruitful. Running a blog seems like a full time job, and it is a constant learning experience.

The funny thing is that my recent post with pictures of the snow behind my house has gotten way more hits than any of my other posts, because of people searching "snow" and my city.

Growing up in a place that had no winter weather, there were a few things I had to get used to when I moved here. I had never shoveled snow or owned an ice scraper (a credit card/student ID always worked fine in the unlikely event that there was any ice in the morning). Another thing I didn't expect was that chap stick is a near-must when the weather is cold and dry for a prolonged period. I had never used chap stick, and now I have a near obsession with it four months out of the year. Luckily I have like five sticks in my drawer. Another weird thing that you don't think about: I never needed windshield washer fluid in Georgia. Wiping down your windows every other time you filled gas was quite enough. But when you get hit with splashback from a brown puddle of melted snow mixed with salt and sand, it's over. You absolutely need that instant windshield wash.

Ever wanted to be an investigative reporter? Let Charlie Brooker show you how.

A story about Nintendo from 1988. Part of the humor is seeing a very young Bill O'Reilly on Inside Edition from back in the day (back in the WE'LL DO IT LIVE! days). The other part that is interesting is how unbelievable it now seems that adults had never heard of Nintendo--and this is within my lifetime. Asking people if they had ever heard of Nintendo, they respond with "No, who is he?"

Two songs that make me happy every time I hear them:

1. Bruddah Iz - Henehene Kou ' Aka
2. Gui Boratto - Beautiful Life - Great vocals come in just after the three minute mark.

I have a strange view of myself (don't we all?). Unfortunately, I assume everyone doesn't understand me and automatically thinks I'm an asshole, and that sort of leads me to fulfill that role, even though it is self-imposed. I also assume everyone thinks the music I like/make is weird and I am being judged because of it, when in reality that's not true at all. I usually don't speak much when meeting new people. I never talk about my music with people (if you want to see someone in an extremely uncomfortable state, just play one of my songs in front of me. I can't even begin to describe how horrible it is). Some people immediately think I'm cool because of that (silence is often mistaken for wisdom) and some people immediately think I hate them because of that. I think my friend Adam said it best. Some people are focused on what they think of other people (that's me), and some people are focused on what others think of them. Neither is healthy, though I think someone like me is much less likely to get their feelings hurt.

In the end, I know that what I think doesn't really matter, but I am not good at relating that. I realize that it's just one person's opinion, but I can come across like my opinion is the only one that matters.

Here is an article about a Japanese DVD that supposedly helps you maintain eye contact when talking to women. It has all different types/ages of women, some with lots of cleavage showing, and you are supposed to maintain eye contact with them for the duration of the video clips. So odd... Japanese people apparently think they can solve all problems, both big and small, with technology.

Speaking of weird things in Asia, check this out. This fish is called a Human-faced Carp (warning, this video is a bit loud), and now you'll know why. Some of the YouTube comments say this video is a joke/hoax. Real or not, it freaked me out more than I'd like to admit.