by Debbi | Nov 20, 2007 | Web/Tech
I’m slowly revising some things here on the blog.
Over to the right, in the sidebar, I’ve added a couple of pages. The first one is somewhat of a Sandbar Frequently Asked Questions (or FAQs). I tried to think of a few questions that seemed to get asked all the time and put them there, along with their answers. I’m sure there are more.
The second page I added is about our staff. This is something I had planned on doing ages ago on our "official" website but I never really got around to it, and then this blog became more fun to maintain than the real website. Our new friend Fringes suggested a bio page the other day, so I thought it might be time to revisit the idea and put it here.
So, feel free to leave comments here or there and let me know what you want to know. I’ll try to answer your questions or at least make stuff up.
by Debbi | Jul 30, 2007 | Web/Tech
So I started this blog last year in September, mostly as a way to share stories and keep people updated on events at The Sandbar. Another reason behind it was to have sort of a running diary of the bar- I’ve always thought it would be fun to write a book about The Sandbar someday, and this is a way to keep track of all the funny things that might be included.
I noticed tonight that this blog is 11 hits away from reaching 5000. That’s amazing! Of course, I know most of those hits are the same few of you who read this on a daily basis (or maybe even more than once daily). But still, 5000 hits is impressive to me.
So, thanks to those of you who log on and read this whether it’s every day or once a month or one time ever. Thanks also to those of you who leave comments (I love that!) and those of you who send me pictures, stories, and other items of interest. It has been really fun keeping this thing up, even though sometimes I feel like I am running out of things to say.
Here’s to another 5000 hits- maybe we’ll reach that goal in less time!
by Debbi | Jul 10, 2007 | Web/Tech
During Coleen’s shift last Saturday in the afternoon, she got a phone call. The caller asked if she would wave at the webcam, and she obliged.
Turns out the guy was calling from Frankfurt, Germany, and had found our webcam on the internet. Later that day, we got a new friend request from him on MySpace, along with the following message:
I wanted to say thanks. I thought that was cool that you waved at us over here. I find it very interesting that ya..ll have A webcam in your bar. Thanks again, and was nice to talk to you on the phone.
We’ve had several calls like that recently. Another guy calls sometimes from somewhere in Tennessee, and asks the bartender to have the people at the bar wave at the camera.
Internet voyeurs are funny.
by Debbi | Jul 8, 2007 | Web/Tech
A few minutes with nothing to do so I googled The Sandbar to see what popped up…
Here’s a fun little photo gallery on lawrence.com. It’s pretty old- from September of 2005- but if you’re a regular patron you’ll recognize some of the people in the pictures. And they have a picture of Dave!
I also found this website, Unthirsty, which is apparently a directory of happy hours and bar specials all over the country. When I searched for Lawrence, I found only two listings, on for Henry’s just down the block from us, and the other for The Sandbar. It looks like this website is sort of an interactive site where visitors can leave comments and ratings on places. Here’s what they had to say about our place. Not much, really, but out there for the world to see nonetheless, and at least it’s something good.
All kinds of funny things on the internet.
by Debbi | Jun 15, 2007 | Web/Tech
Our location in Lawrence has a webcam, it’s been there for at least eight or ten years now. In fact, we were one of the first places in Lawrence to have a webcam. It’s up 24 hours a day, seven days a week- and all you have to go is log on to the internet, go to our website, and click on webcam. It takes a couple seconds to come up, and then you have a view of the bar.
Dave changed the angle of the camera few months ago. For years the camera has been at the front of the bar, pointed towards the back, so you could see down the length of the bar. Now, it’s in the back corner of the bar and points at an angle towards the front, with a clear shot of folks dancing on the bar. It’s not a super high quality camera with a clear view, which is fine. If you know a person, and know they’re at the bar, you can probably pick them out on the screen…but otherwise it’s pretty hard to tell who’s who.
A lot of people watch the webcam because they know someone at the bar. Dave watches it a lot from home, just to check on things and make sure the staff isn’t getting overwhelmed or too busy. And, jealous girlfriends of various staff members have been known to use the webcam. Some of the staff has been known to adjust the view of the webcam when they’re working. Other random folks apparently check out our webcam too. I found this link today for some guy who was trolling the internet for webcams and happened across ours.
by Debbi | Jun 9, 2007 | Web/Tech
I use Google a lot when I’m online looking for things. Every once in awhile, I do a search on The Sandbar just to see what might pop up, and I’m always amused. And sometimes just quite baffled.
Here’s a link for you. Somehow, The Sandbar wound up on the KC Harley Guy’s top ten list of biker hangouts. Not really sure why. And it’s not like we’re #1- we’re at the bottom of the list. But still- never really thought of The Sandbar as much of a biker bar.
And here’s another funny one I found at the Tiki Room- it’s a review of our second location in Ottawa on a website for all things tiki. I can’t really figure out if they’re being complimentary or sarcastic or what. This is one of those sites where they allow comments, and those are hilarious.
And lastly, for now anyway, one of my favorites. This link takes you to an online chat hosted by our local newspaper, the Lawrence Journal-World. The LJW invited a bartender from Johnny’s Tavern- our buddy Kiwi- to talk about New Year’s Eve party drinks, and our very own Matt got some questions posted. Along with some jokes.
