Trivial Matters

I’m taking today to update Trivial Matters itself. I created a page for TNT, which I will be adding to once I get the fundraising page setup tomorrow (this weekend at the latest). I also updated the FAQ page with the last post, and updated the About the Author page to reflect some recent changes.

I’m still waiting for the new site layout to take effect here. I don’t know what Today.com’s schedule is for the final switch, but they have a beta theme up that people can switch to while they test things out. I decided to just wait for them to finish the beta and switch at the end. That way I only have to fix things once (hopefully) instead of every day.

I also added the RSS feed for Trivial Matters to my Facebook page. Right now, it shows the full post on Facebook, which doesn’t help my stats very much. The admins here are going to change that soon, and only the first few lines of text will show up on FB. In the meantime, it would be appreciated that if you are reading this on FB, please click over to the site so that I can keep track of how many views I’m getting.

It’s not just a money thing either. I’m constantly checking my stats after each post to see how many hits a post gets over time. Some of my posts get a mention on my Twitter feed, and I can see a spike in traffic from TinyURL or something related. If people start clicking over from FB, I can monitor similar effects when the RSS feed updates over there (it’s not a quick as I’d like).

The Meetup Email Lists post was a huge hit. It has had 79 hits so far (73 in the first 24 hours), not including hits from the main page (as many as 14 additional hits). The avergae daily visit count doubled overnight, bringing Trivial Matters into the top 350 on Today.com. My hope is that the traffic generated by my fundraising will help bring those numbers up even more. I’ve already pledged all of the money earned by this blog to TNT/LLS, and a sudden spike in visits could result in a payment bonus to that end.

So, the TNT stuff should be up this weekend. I’m still hammering out the details for the raffles. My plan as of now is to offer a different item each month (February - June) and add a bonus item if we surpass a set goal amount. For example, the first item could be an iPod with a iTunes gift card thrown in for going above a certain amount.

I’ve been racking my brain trying to come up with a great fundraising idea for TNT. I want to hit the ground running next month and not have to worry about whether or not I’m going to make my goal.

One of the webcomics I read, Crtl-Alt-Del, posted a notice about a TNT participant who is offering a free year of World of Warcraft to three individuals who donate more that $25 (she works for the software company). She added that if she exceeded her $5000 goal by another $500, she’d give a lifetime subscription to one lucky individual. When I first saw the post, she was about $300 shy of her goal (word had already gotten out at this point). I checked back in today and she has now cleared $17,000! More than three times her goal. And the drawing isn’t for another 2 weeks, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she got above$20,000.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of her for raising so much for LLS, I just wish I had something to offer as well that would raise as much money. 1) Because it is a good cause and 2) because I want to spend all of my energy on training, not fundraising. And right now, all I can do is brainstorm ideas because the sign-up meeting isn’t for another few weeks. (I think she’s a Spring participant and I’m signing up for the Summer events.) After that, I’ll have an official donation page, etc.

With the setup of this blog, just having visitors raises some money for the cause, but I’d need about 25,000 unique hits every day to meet a $5000 goal. I’m not deluded enough to think that could happen. Hell, I’d be happy with 1000 hits a day. So once I get everything set up, I’ll be counting on all of you to post, blog, tweet, and do everything else to get the word out.

So, what would you guys like to see me offer? I might be able to get a couple of iPod Touch(es) and raffle them off. Or some other piece of cool, new technology that just hit the market. Or maybe a membership somewhere. Or any other number of things that I can’t think of, but I know you all can.

Drop me a line or comment below to let me know what you would be interested in seeing offered in exchange for donations.

With a new triathlon season comes a new pair of shoes. This is always the hardest part of training for me because I have such a weird foot pattern and running style. My feet have a high arch, but I over-pronate to compensate. As I run, my knees will actually knock into each other, which is very distracting to say the least.

There was a couple of stores in Virginia Beach that specialized in finding the right shoe. One of them was a triathlon store (the same one where I got my tri-bke), but I never got fitted for a pair of shoes there. I’ve heard that there are a couple of stores like that here in Portland, but the winter storm has curtailed my shopping this weekend.

I found the website for one of the stores out in Tualitan, and they had an online fitting guide. Based on my profile, there are about forty shoes in stock that should work. Of course, I have no desire to spend the day trying on forty pairs of shoes. So, instead, I’m cross-referencing their list with the retailer’s suggestions from their website.

Nike is a match on the Zoom Structure Triax+ 11. ASICS matched on the GT-2140. New Balance had no matches between the two sites, but I may try a couple of pairs anyway. Adidas doesn’t offer a profile system on their site, but there are only two coming up on the shoe store’s site to start with. And the Pearl Izumi’s are a bit on the expensive side. Finally, Saucony’s website has a profile system, but only deals with under-pronation (legs moving outward). In the “neutral” setting, I got a match for the ProGrid Paramount model, which tells me that I should probably avoid that one.

Living down the street from Nike World Headquarters, I’m tempted to just go over there and have them measure my feet. They do it for Tiger Woods and other sports celebrities, so why not for a local guy just looking for a decent pair of running shoes.

Oh well. I guess I’ll just wait the storm out and maybe head over there after Christmas. Google has a listing for a triathlon-specifc store in NE Portland, but I can’t pull up their website. I think the TNT info meeting is over that way, so I may just venture over early that day and see what I can find.