by Debbi | Feb 11, 2008 | Stories, Web/Tech
Once upon a time, long ago in the early 1990’s, The Sandbar installed a webcam. We were one of the first businesses in Lawrence to have one, and it caught on as kind of a fad around town. The LJW has written about our webcam several times; I couldn’t find any of the early articles, but one of the later ones is here.
Back in those early days, we also had a television hooked up in a front corner of the bar, always tuned to
show the picture from the webcam. The camera was also in the front of the bar, near the television, and it was a hoot to watch customers hamming it up for the camera and watching themselves on the screen. People would call up their friends and family, give them our website, and then do something goofy in front of the camera. I’ve even heard of soldiers in Iraq logging on to see their friend’s birthday celebration. Note for those of you uncomfortable with the idea of web voyeurism: we purposely chose a camera that doesn’t function as well in lower light, to keep our customers slightly blurry and unidentifiable.
Our former website host/bartender/doorguy Josh used to tell us that our website got a million hits every month. I’m not sure what he was drinking, but I’m quite sure we were not *that* popular. Because if that were the case, given that the internet is way more prevalent now than it was then, our hits would be considerably higher now, and I can assure you that they’re nowhere near a million a month.
Anyway, somewhere along the way, we lost the television set to technology or something, and never replaced it. No longer could patrons see themselves on a screen or encourage their far-away friends to watch them, and consequently the interest in our website began to drop. We still had the webcam, nothing changed there (except the location, it’s now in the back corner of the bar where it gets more even lighting), but it was suddenly less visible.
Until now. Last month, bartender Joe (who should be interviewed on this site soon) sold Dave his old computer system, which included a flat panel monitor. Dave was able to hook up the monitor over the bar, and voila! The days of watching yourself while you’re at the bar are back.
So, tell your friends and family and long-lost cousins that if they must know what you’re doing, they can log on to www.thesandbar.com and click on "webcam," and they just might be able to pick you out of the crowd.
by Debbi | Jan 31, 2008 | Web/Tech
It’s been almost a year and a half since we began this adventure in creative marketing, sharing Sandbar antics, and documenting our history. I think it’s been a successful journey, if for no other reason than it gives me something enjoyable to do with my time. (Because I needed more things to do.)
To give you an idea of just how far we’ve come… exactly one year ago, in January 2007, this blog had 382 hits. For the entire month. That’s about 12 per day- not really very many. Especially considering that most of them were probably me, Dave, and Brother Pants.
Right now, three and a half hours before the end of January 2008, the blog has had 780 hits. That’s 25 per day, or in other words, double the number of a year ago! I know it’s probably not very many visits in the grand scheme of the blogosphere, but it’s very exciting to me.
I’m not really obsessed with the numbers, but I like to check them out every once in awhile. What’s more interesting to me is to see where the visitors came from- not only their physical location, but also the referring site that sent them our way. Those are funny.
And the best part- the comment conversations. So if you’re one of those people that surprise me at a party by telling me that you regularly read this blog, leave a comment once in awhile!
by Debbi | Jan 14, 2008 | Web/Tech
I forgot to let you know that I added pictures from New Year’s Eve to the 
album.
I always try to upload pictures
that include a wide variety of people, so that it looks like more than just the same five people actually go to The Sandbar, but sometimes it’s hard because I tend to take pictures of the same five people. Because I know them, and they do funny things.
Usually, other people share their pictures with me so that I have more to choose from, but it’s almost halfway through the first month of the new year and I have yet to see anyone else’s pictures. Come on, people, get with it; I have a blog to write and people to entertain.
So, check out the photos I have so far from the most recent New Year’s Eve party. No theme this year, though you really can’t tell from the pictures, because there’s always someone who shows up in some wierd costume. And if you have any photos to share, send them my way.
{If you don’t understand why this young man is standing on the bar wearing a blow-up fat suit on New Year’s Eve, don’t feel bad. It’s a long story.}
by Debbi | Dec 15, 2007 | Web/Tech
Q from one of my new favorite blogs tagged us for this look back into our history. I’ve been digging through the posts that have been written since this blog started back in September, 2006, to find some good ones.
Here’s the deal:
Post 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5 key words given below.
I’m also supposed to pass this on to five other bloggers so they can do the same. But I’m probably going to plead lazy again and skip that part.
Link 1 is a little bit of FAMILY: A Trip Down Massachusetts
- We like to refer to ourselves as the "Sandbar family." Once you’ve worked there or been a regular, you’ve become part of that family, whether you like it or not. I chose this link because St. Patrick’s Day is biggest day of the year for the Sandbar and a day when our "family" is all together.
Link 2 is a little bit of FRIEND: Jack Sparrow in The Sandbar
- Obviously, we have lots of friends. But this guy was one of our favorites. We liked him so much, we gave him a cameo in our new video (which will be unveiled on New Year’s Eve!)
Link 3 is a little bit of YOURSELF: Love is in the Air
- Awww, the story of how Dave and I met.
Link 4 should be your LOVE: Dave is a Trivia Question
- There were lots of posts about Dave to choose from, but this was one of my favorites. How many people can ever say they were a trivia question?
Link 5 can be ANYTHING YOU LIKE: Wrapping up 2006
- This post is an example of why I started this blog- to keep a written record of all things funny, sad, and wierd that happen at The Sandbar.
I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, I know I did.
by Debbi | Dec 11, 2007 | Web/Tech
Helloooooo? Is there anybody out there?
Apparently the last several posts did not meet the usually low expectations of the fan base here. Or else you’re all just fairweather fans and the ice storm has forced you into hiding.
Four posts in a row without a single comment, even from Brother Spam, I mean Pants. What gives?
by Debbi | Dec 7, 2007 | Stories, Web/Tech
Ironically, this post will probably only encourage the very thing I’m writing about, but that’s okay. It’s not a complaint, merely an observation.
I’ve mentioned before that I often giggle about the various Google-ing that leads people to this blog. I like to check out the referring URL’s for our visitors just to see how they found the Sandbar blog, and many times I’m left wondering "how in the heck did that search get them here," or more frequently,"what in the world were they searching for that for?"
There are a lot of people on the internet who really want to know what happens during a hurricane. That’s so exciting! The Sandbar is famous! Oh yeah, they probably aren’t looking for our hurricane. In fact, they probably don’t even know we exist.
At least once or twice a day, someone uses that phrase in a search engine and they end up at our blog. And it’s probably safe to say there are many more people who do the same search and don’t click on our link because it’s obvious to them that we don’t have their answers, therefore I never knew they existed.
So, to those of you who are reading this because all you wanted to know is what happens during a
hurricane, welcome. If you want to know what happens during an actual hurricane, go here.
And on a side note, I’m a little bit alarmed, because when I did my own Google search for "what happens during a hurricane," one of the results was this: "What happens if you get diarrhea after the hurricane?" Are there people who actually ask this question? It’s apparently a popular result because it was the fifth one on the list.
The internet is a strange place sometimes.
