altadenablog

**100,000!***

Altadenablog has passed a a couple of significant milestones today -- 1,500 entries and 100,000 page views since our debut in October 2007. 

We thank our advertisers, who help us make it better (if people are throwing good money after you, you're under obligation to make it worth their while!)  We thank all our partner correspondents, who are the eyes and ears of life here in the neighborhoods and are so good about getting us the news we inevitably miss.

And we thank our readers, who have made this a part of life in Altadena.

We will continue to strive to improve it and make it more useful for the residents of our sometimes strange and wonderful community.

We love this work.  We love Altadena.  Thank you for supporting Altadena's community news source!

Family -- above it all

Deb Swanson Patrick, one of Altadena's four mightiest bloggers, and our potluck partner (I still have your picnic tablecloths, Deb!) is deservedly taking some time off from Altadena Above It All to attend to her husband, the fabulous Steve.  We wish them both well, keep them in our prayers, and look forward to her renewed and revitalized return.

No town like Hometown

Our friends at Prospect Park Books premiere their revamped Hometown Pasadena page today, which looks like an invaluable compendium to living here.  They also highlight 12 essential area blogs, and we're flattered to be in the same company as Larry Wilson, Petrea Burchard, Vroman's, JPL, Caltech, and ...  well, all the others!  Check it out and bookmark it now!

Blogs we love

Nope, we're not going the Esquire route, putting an arty black and white picture of a starlet in a revealing outfit and calling it "Women We Love" (altho' it would certainly help our page numbers!)  But the folks at Prospect Park Books, the ones behind the invaluable Hometown Pasadena book, have a blog now, and guess who's first on "Links We Love," their blogroll? (It's alphabetical, that helps!)  But we'll take love where we can!

Your daily helping of PhotoDena

Our collaborator in potlucks, Debbi Swanson Patrick, has started a new endeavor: Altadena Daily Photo, a look at the sights of the High 'Dena.  We look forward to seeing through her eyes!

SGV Blogger's potluck picnic @ Farnsworth March 28

 Altadenablog proudly joins forces with three of Altadena's greatest bloggers and fabulous babes Susan Carrier (Open Mouth Insert Fork), Karin Bugge (Altadenahiker), and Debbi Swanson Patrick (Altadena Above It All) to host the SGV Blogger's Picnic on March 28 in Farnsworth Park.  Bloggers, family members, and groupies are welcome (we're sure that bloggers have groupies ... theoretically).  Details in the graphic above, and if you're a San Gabriel Valley blogger, pass the word along and join us!

 

On the local blogs

• We're always looking for ways to recycle and/or safely dispose of our stuff (we have a mammoth collection of expired fluorescent tubes), and Dan Westphal via Stonehill News has pointed out a couple of good places to find out how to get rid of it all without messing up the environment.
• Lori Webster @ Webster's Fine Stationers (and fine Altadenablog sponsor) has a thoughtful essay up on her blog about the importance of buying locally, especially in hard times, that we highly recommend.

Yes we can -- 50,000! Did we say 50,000?

As of sometime today -- Monday, Nov. 10, 2008 -- Altadenablog has passed 50,000 lifetime page views.  Our lifetime per-day average is now up to 123 (which includes many months when page views didn't get above the dozens), and we are safely hovering in the 250-500 page view per day range these days, depending on what's going on in town.

Thank you to all our supporters -- to those who keep us informed about what's going on in their corner of the world, so we can share it with you.  Thank you to our advertisers for being smart enough to know where the community is going for news (and we still have charter rates, so if you advertise with us now, you'll always get the best price -- shameless plug).  Thank you to those community members and institutions whose support we have received, who send us their news, and endure our nosy questions.  Thanks to all of our commenters, both praising and critical (Robert Heinlein said "I never learned from a man who agreed with me"). 

And a special thank you to our readers and those who say we've helped them or brought them something they needed to know.

Thank YOU for supporting Altadena's community newsblog!

(Even Prof. Lowe is breaking out the balloons!)

Update 6 PM: Our provider, Typepad, begins the daily page view count at 0000 GMT.  Therefore, for Nov. 10, we scored an all-time high of 716 page views.  Thank you!

45,000

It took only 14 days to rack up our latest 5,000 page views!  You like us, you really like us!

Thank you for supporting Altadena's community newsblog!

35,000

It took two months to get our first 1,000 page views; five months to get our first 5,000 page views; it took only about 22 days to get the latest 5,000.  Our average number of page views for every day of the blog's existence (which includes the opening weeks when nobody but us and handful of friends were reading it) is now almost 100.  Thanks to all our correspondents, advertisers, and YOU for making this Altadena's community newsblog!

30,000

.. that's the number of page views we've passed to date, and we've logged 200 total comments.   Thank you!

And thanks also for those faithful readers (our unpaid staff!) who have kept us informed about the goings on around town and provided us with stories, pictures, and raw information,especially: Monica Hubbard, Alice Wessen, and Bill Westphal, as well as Capt. Roosevelt Blow and Sgt. Yolanda Palomo of the Altadena Sheriff's Station.

And thank YOU for supporting Altadena's community newsblog!

Wishing a good recovery ...

to writerdeb @ Altadena Above It All/Oh Deb U Taunt, who is recovering from surgery this week.

Also, just discovered a new blog: Altadenan Susan C's Cancer Banter (subtitled "I Can't Die, I Still Have to Find the Perfect Purse"), who struggles with the disease without losing her sense of humor.

Same stuff, different place

Many of us are still nursing the wounds of the Pederast Hilton -- when six violent sex offenders were surreptitiously moved into a home on Risinghill, and unceremoniously booted out a short time later.

This story was recently replayed in West Seattle, Washington, and was covered by our friends on the West Seattle Blog.  Just to see a different take on it.

New neighbors moving in -- will they be fresh out of prison? (July 28)

Update: Neighbors say lease canceled (July 30)

We just got a shout-out ...

... from the brand-spankin' new Biking in LA blog (of course, we've known BikingInLABlogger literally for decades).  And we've neglected to add him to the blogroll, an omission we need to correct pronto!

Also Crime Scene Blog twittered an A-blog story, albeit one about Altadena politics, not crime (and no, they are not interchangable).  So we're feeling much happier now, dragging ourselves out of this pit of despair we wallow in, normally.  Ah, validation.

Altadenablog sez: check it out

Just came across this new blog, Second Act in Altadena.  Altadenahiker just quit his (her?) LA Times job after 20 years, and is in the process of re-creation thru writing, hiking, running, and seeing.  There are only a handful of entries to date, but s/he has revealed him/herself as thoughtful and observant.  A-blog says check it out.

July 24 update:  Altadenahiker has sent us a note, and she thanks us for the shoutout.

20,000!

20,000 page views as of today.  Thank you for supporting Altadena's community newsblog!

Starting the count

Altadenablog has gained an incredible amount of respectability in the past week, what with increased page views since the town council election, a fan phone call from our favorite Pasadena Weekly correspondant Andre Coleman, our first sponsor, jealousy over our first sponsor at Foothill Cities Blog, and other pats on the head. 

So now we're starting something new: a countdown.  Our friend Monica Hubbard sent an email several days ago, asking Pasadena Star News' Under the Dome by Dan Abendschein to add us to their list of fine local blogs.  To date there has been no response --- so we're starting the count NOW:

Days Altadenablog is ignored by Under the Dome: 1

Now, in fairness, Frank Giradot's Crime Scene Blog,  also under the Pasadena Star News umbrella, has blogrolled us for several months now. But not to cast aspersions on any of the fine blogs Under the Dome has blogrolled so far and the work these folks do,  many of 'em haven't been updated for weeks or months.  And yet here we sit, Altadena's community newsblog (now sponsored), ignored by Under the Dome despite giving you the latest in Tom Cruise's movements.

So, Day 1.  It's up to you, Dan.

500/14,000

This is our 500th post, and today we passed 14,000 pageviews.  Thank you for supporting Altadena's community newsblog!

Covering both ends

We just noticed that one of our favorite blogs, Altadena Above It All, has started prefixing her topics with "Alta-" (as in Altaeducation, or Altacelebs).  Of course, since our inception, we've suffixed most of our topics with "-dena" (as in Edu-dena, or Celeb-a-dena). 

Obviously, you must read both blogs if you want total coverage!

New! Community Calendar

In our never-ending quest to improve our services, please note the Altadena Community Calendar has been added to the permanent pages (right).  Since this is all being hand-built, it'll take awhile to include all calendar items -- if there's something missing, please let us know!

... and now on Facebook

Yes, Altadenablog has a developing page on Facebook now.

8000

We have crossed the 8,000 pageview threshhold this morning.  Thank you for making this Altadena's community newsblog!

And special thanks to readers of Crime Scene Blog who are coming to visit.

7,000

We celebrate 7,000 page views today.  (Special thanks to all those visiting from the many linked Pasadena bloggers).  Thank you for making this Altadena's community newsblog!

Shout outs ...

Altadenablog was overbooked today, but at least had some time to put in an appearance at today's Pasadena Blogger's Picnic at Sunnyslope Park. Caltech Girl seems to have the definitive attendee list -- it was great to see so many people who have amused, confused, and stimulated us for so long.  Looking forward to the next one, and plan to spend more time there!  Special thanks to Miss Havisham for hookin' us all up.

P.S. Petrea has the group shot up.

Improvements in progress

We're adding some new categories based on recurring topics: "Altadena Library" and "St. Elizabeth's Cell Tower."  It'll take a few days to add previous stories to the new categories, but we thought you should know, if you're tracking these.

300

This is our 300th post, and we celebrate over 6,300 page views.  Thank you for making this Altadena's community news blog!

5000

Altadenablog has reached a major landmark today, at 5,000 pageviews.  Thank you for your support of
Altadena's community newsblog!

Holy Week (and shameless self-promotion) dept.

The weekend starts the observances of Holy Week in the Western Christian churches, leading to  Easter festivities on March 23.

This Palm Sunday, March 16, the Altadenablogmaster will be taking off his community journalist hat and putting on his theologian hat to deliver the sermon at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 1014 E. Altadena Dr., at the 7:45 and 10:30 services.  (There's also a family-friendly service at 9 a.m.)                        

The 4500

(We bet you have NO IDEA where we got that headline!)

Crossed the 4500 threshold today, getting in lots of news tips and more comments, so thank you all for reading and contributing to Altadena's own dedicated community newsblog!

Stationary, scrapbooking, video -- and now a blog

Webster's -- one of Altadena's oldest businesses, an institution in this town, you've been there -- has joined blogland!

Hat tip ....

... to Publius and Centinel of the essential Foothill Cities Blog for recognizing our meager efforts even as they are complimenting another blog!   (Please note: there is absolutely no catblogging at Altadenablog!)

4000!

That's our number of page hits to date.  Thank you!

3500/200

Altadenablog celebrates its 200th post, and 3500th page view today (we think that item about The Meadows' new residents pushed us over the top).  Thank you!

3000!

Another big day in Altadenablog history -- we just crossed the 3,000 pageview threshhold! 

2500!

A-blog has met a new benchmark in pageviews -- thank you one and all!  We promise there'll be much more to come.

But for the next few days, Altadenablog will be taking a break from new entries as we do some upgrades around here (i.e. moving from a 7 year old Dell that orignally ran Windows ME to a brand spankin' new Macbook Pro).  This will allow us to get the news to you faster and better, and opens the door to some new blog features (i.e. video).  So stay tuned, and we'll see you back here soon!

2000!

Crossed our 2000th pageview threshold today!  Thank you!

1,500!

It took us two months to accumulate our first 1,000 hits, but only 16 days to rack up the next 500! (And that was with a week off!)  Altadenablog scored its 1500th hit today.  Thank you for making us part of your surfing!

100!

This is Altadenablog's 100th post -- a good time to thank all of those who have blogrolled us to date:  Sheriff's Support Group/Electronic Informer,   Tom Hubbard, California City News, Altadena Library District Staff (kinda internal, hence no link), and  Wild Card Line.  (If I didn't include you, it's not personal!)