Monday, October 24, 2011

Sarah A. Bowman, "The Great Western"


On our trip this weekend in San Francisco I hunted down the inconspicuous grave of Sarah A. Bowman, also known as "The Great Northern."

This lady was a legend in her own time, a big woman (reportedly at least 6 feet tall) who was a fascinating character in US history - running brothels, nursing soldiers, and being a war hero.

I discovered a few months back she was buried in the Presidio in SF and made a point to find her grave.

A little about her: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_A._Bowman

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Coremetrics Web Analytics - a workaround for channel funnel metrics

Thought I'd share a workaround in Coremetrics for viewing channels in the Session Funnel Report.

Since I can trend full metrics in the Top Line Summary with a segment on them, I trended Tracked Sessions, Tracked Product Page Views, Carts Initiated, and Ordered Shopping Carts.

I didn’t have a pure number for “Sessions that view a Product Page,” which would be the second step in the cart. BUT since I had total sessions and total product page views, I took the Page Views/Session # per week and multiplied it by the weekly Total Sessions to get an estimated number of Sessions with a Product View.

Curious, intrawebs, does that seem credible to you?

I then did a % of total Sessions for each cart step that followed (using the Carts initiated and Ordered Carts metrics).

Gave me a rough views of metrics. Your mileage may vary!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

One week from the 2011 edition of the NFL draft

One week removed from the NFL Draft on April 28th, subdued though it may be this year by the lockout and labor talks that don't seem to be going anywhere.

Three hugely gifted Bama players are sadly leaving the Tuscaloosa fold and joining some of my favorite college players of the past fews years in the NFL.

Rolondo McClain is in RaiderNation, Mt Cody in Baltimore, Javier Arenas is in KC - so the question is where is Mark Ingram going to fall?

This guy was the workhorse of the 2009 National Championship. He willed Bama to win. I'd like to see him slip to the 49ers in the second round, but for his good hopefully he will be a Tim Tebow-styled higher pick than expected.

Marcell Dareus is another amazing young phenom who factored highly in the Bama championship - his interception return in the BCS title game garnered him the MVP. The dude is a stud, and just like Ingram - he has the drive to succeed. Cleveland Browns general manager Tom Heckert described Marcell as "relentless" and "a high, high motor guy who makes a ton of plays for a defensive tackle." Sad he won't be in Tuscaloosa this fall.

Finally, Julio Jones, who is little short of being a superman. He played most of the year last year with a broken hand, and he catches balls. He ran a 4.3 40 yard sprint with a hairline fracture of his foot (that he'd found out about 2 days prior). Julio might go to the Browns, to become the new face of their franchise.

Bottom line is compare these three guys to Cam Newton who expects himself to transcend the QB role and to be a football icon. Really? John Gruden humiliated him and made him look underprepared. Gruden has since downplayed the clip saying Newton is the best of the QB class. Remains to be seen. If Carolina picks him, he could be the next Vince Young - a great talent whose ego could not handle the load of losing because he did not want to put the time in.

You won't have those dedication questions on the Bama boys. Good on them. Proud to cheer for them.

Roll tide roll.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Totaling up where I've lived

Was amusing myself today on all the places in the US I've lived, and I'm not a military kid :)

The list:
Jackson,TN
Tuscaloosa, AL
Kissimmee, FL
Orlando, FL
Greensboro, NC
Winston-Salem, NC
Raleigh, NC
Medford, OR
Ashland, OR
Park City, UT

10 places so far, and a number of homes in each town. Been fun, but a bit of a wild ride.