BennyEast.Com/Blog The official blog of Kenny West

28May/180

A Cat Joke

Two cats walked into a cat costume party. One cat was dressed as a lobster and the other in a onesy ready for bed. The lobster cat went over to the food table while the sleepy cat in the onesy was chatting up another cat at the party. The lobster cat, while no one was looking, took every last bit of the cat treats provided for the cat guests from a bowl sitting on the table. A few moments later the onesy cat walked over to the treat table and, noticing the treat bowl was empty, asked the lobster cat to share some of the treats being held in the lobster cat's paws. The lobster cat replied "No way! I got here first, you snooze, you lose." The onesy cat growled angrily and then replied... "YOU'RE A SHELLFISH CAT!"

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25May/180

Hi Ashburn!

So, someone in Ashburn, VA visited my blog 104 times.  104!  WOW.

Now, as it turns out in the analytics report... Those visits show them going through every page of my blog, and as well my main site.

Interesting.  Let's find out who they are...

So, the network domain is amazonaws.com... Sketchy.

My guess is, it's a bot.  it looks like the time spent on my site/each page, was only a matter of seconds.  Who reads that fast?

 

The referral path isn't set.  So, that's of no use.

The entry and exit pages were each individual page.  Kind of weird.

It's almost like it was a new session per page... Again... Smells bot-like.  They were probably screen scraping for something.

So the browser used was Chrome, the OS is Windows but the version is XP.

Weird, because who uses XP anymore?  No one.

Very much so "bot like".

My guess is it was some sort of virtual cloud PC that was being used to browse the site.  But why?

Very interesting.

Let's take a deeper look... So the Service provider is something called Hubspot.  Hmmm... I'm going to Google a little and see what I can find...

Search terms, "Hubspot" "Ashburn" "Amazon Web Services".  Let's see what comes up!

Interesting...

https://www.statusbureau.com/blog/2017/04/analytics-bot-traffic-ashburn/

So, it looks like there is indeed an AWS bot making the rounds.  That's 104 hits in the last week accounted for on my blog...

There are 3 other cities showing...

Hmmm... #1 is San Diego and #2 San Francisco.

Kind of cool.  Could also be bots, but they do show that the people spent a good 5 minutes reading posts... So, those are most likely real people.  What about #3?

Okay, there's one last city that shows it was a returning user instead of a new user.  All the other cities are new users... This one shows a returner...

Return reader!  Cool beans.  It looks like a blog regular.  Hi number 3!  So, who is #3 of the 3 extra cities?

The final city is named Plantation.  Hi Plantation... Thanks for tuning in. 🙂

Hope you're doing well down there.  Hmmm okay, well, I suppose... That's all for now!

Until the next post enjoy this video of a bot named #5 laughing...

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21May/180

Dating Coach Teams

Okay, so I had an idea for a website... I'm pretty sure I've had this idea before... But, I've refined it.

The idea is that there's a site, that isn't a dating site... And it's not affiliate with any of the dating sites... It's just a site that helps with dating.

Here's how it works...

Anyone can sign up.  There are two choices when singing up... You can choose one, or both.

Choice one is to be a coach.  Choice two is to build a coaching team.

Let's say you want to build a team.  Okay, cool.  So, you sign up, you make a profile, you upload some photos... and you post your current situation.

Now, you build a team.  This is where the coach part happens... Who are the coaches?  Anyone really... Anyone can sign up to help.  Or just follow your dating/love story.

But, they have to request to be a coach and you have to okay it.  You can also ask someone to be a coach, and you either get approved, denied, or waitlisted.

Waitlisted?

Yes.  See, some coaches are pro coaches.  Which means they are actually a paid service.

What?

Okay, so there's tiers of coaches.  Now, when you build a team, you could just choose to have random strangers coach you.  Hey, you get what you pay for though.  Now, if you want, you can convince your friends and family to sign up as coaches and then they can request to be part of your team, and you add them.

Another option is to have pro dating coaches.

How does someone become a pro dating coach you ask?  Easy, they have to get pro dating game on-point points...

If you get enough points and build up your coach profile you can become a pro coach and get paid to coach.

But this isn't a dating site?

No.  It's just a site where you post things about your dating experience and get coaching or feedback on it from your team.

Let's say you like someone you work with, or you like someone you see on a daily basis on your morning commute.

Or a friend of a friend.

Or you decide to go speed dating, or online dating.

Whatever it is... You can post things to your team and get feedback.

Build a team as small or as large as you'd like... You could have a mix of strangers, family, friends, and pro coaches that you pay a fee to... Or, you can just have one friend if you'd like.

When you first start, you start a love story.  Your love story starts somewhere, and more than likely it starts with you home alone signing up for the love story site with no dating prospects what-so-ever.

It's just you and some internet, and some wine.

Let's say you make a profile and you write that, single, drinking wine, watching cat videos.

Hey, that's where your love story starts.

Now let's say you send an email to your friend and tell that friend to sign up as a coach, look at that, you now have a coach.  They can comment... maybe they give their first bit of advice...

"You should go on a date with my friend."

You can decline the advice or accept it.

"I already went on a date with your friend, remember?"

"Oh yeah."

"Just go get your haircut... That will help give you a fresh look and some confidence."

You accept the advice and go get your haircut.  You post that you got your haircut and post a photo.

Some random strange now wants to be a coach.  You accept.

The stranger says... "Try going to a meetup group!  Great haircut!"

You reply, "Thanks!  And okay.... What kind of group?"

The stranger says... "Try a game night."

Your friend chimes in... "No do something more exciting!  Go out to see some comedy or something."

You accept the advice and go out to see comedy with a group.  You meet someone there but you weren't sure how to hint that you liked the person.

So you come back and tell the details to your friend and the stranger.  You say, I think one of my family members would know how to handle this... So you tell your family member to sign up for an account and now they are linked up to your story too.

Suddenly you're building a team of coaches.

They tell you the right thing to say to get a first date... You're in!

WOW!

But what do you wear?  Ask the coaches.

They suggest a few things, but nothing is really making you feel confident.  You bring in more friends... and another stranger... You quickly remove the second stranger from the team when you realize their advice sucks.

Add and remove anyone you want at any time.

Your cousin wants to give advice.

No.  You decline that cousin.

Finally someone suggests wearing an outfit that you wore to a previous party.  You go with that.

It's a hit.

You're going on dates... Now things start to get a little more serious and you're not sure, should you move slow?  Or fast.

Your friends and randoms and family aren't helping.  You decide to ask a pro for advice.

A pro joins your team for a monthly fee, and you can remove the pro at any time...

The pro turns out to be a board certified therapist and marriage counselor...  They give you some advice and you go with it.

Look at that... It works out well.

Now you're with the person for a few months, and then several months.

You post updates for your team about how the relationship is going... Suddenly things get rocky when you start talking about moving in together... Uh oh.

You bring in a different pro and you ask a trusted coworker to join your team.

None of their advice seems to work.  Things go sour.

You break up.

It happens...

But, it turns out that your coworker tells you that another friend of theirs is recently single too.... You ask the team, they say, go on a date and see where it goes, but be honest and say you just broke up with someone.

You click.

The team rejoices!

The professional therapist counselor reminds you that you need time to get over your last relationship and that you should be very open about that with the new person.

The person is understanding... The team rejoices again.

You begin the dating process all over again.  This time, you make it further...

Your team follows along at every up and down, every twist and turn.

You lose one member, you gain another.

You post updates on your love story... The team comments.

Suddenly you're engaged!  The team rejoices again!

Job well done team, job well done.

And that's the idea behind the dating coach love story...

From cat videos and wine alone to engaged.

And now that you're getting married, you need a wedding planner, and photographer, and a venue and caterer... Don't worry, the Love Story site has you covered with suggestions, and of course, your team can chime in as well.

It's up to you when you want to end the story, or if you want to keep going, maybe you want to update about your marriage a year in, or post photos of your first kid... Or your 12 dogs and cats that you rescued because neither of you want kids.

Love Story and the team are there... And even if things get rocky in the marriage, you can go back and get advice from a professional.

Love Story is there to help you through the rough parts and, of course, rejoice when it all goes "just right".

I think it could be an extermely useful site if done right.

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8May/180

Sly Fox Goat Race!

Sunday was the Sly Fox Goat Race.  It was tons of fun.  This was my 3rd year going.  I basically just walked around, watched the festivities, ate food, drank beer, and chatted with strangers.  Then  I closed down the place waiting for my buzz to wear off drinking a coke.

It was good times.

I imagine I'll be back next year for sure.  I got the mug and the T shirt.

I think my favorite part was taking some selfies with the person dressed in the goat costume.  Always fun times.  Who doesn't love a mascot photo?

The only sad part was that the goat I rooted for, Vincent Van Goat, didn't win.  I was rooting for him last year too.  I love his hat.  Haha.  It's just super cool and fun.  Vincent even had a Go Pro on his back, that's was cool too.  There's video on his Facebook fan page.

Another goat had a superman costume on.  I dig the accessories and costumes.  I feel like there should be more of that.  I just think if I ever decided to get a goat and then enter it in the race, I'd totally have it all accessorized out.  Do something funny or interesting or unique every year.

Well, anyway, it was just a great time.  Hung out, drank a few mugs full of beer, and had some delicious food too.  And I had several conversations about everything and anything under the sun.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next race next year, but also just looking forward to the next event that I head out to as well!

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3May/180

Online Scavenger Hunt

So, the other day I was thinking how it would be cool to do a digital/online scavenger hunt.

You know, like, basically how a real scavenger hunt works, but online.

So, in a real scavenger hunt you have people who set out with a list of items to accomplish, and they all start at the same time, and the first person to collect all the items on the list wins.

This would be kind of similar to that.  There would be a start time, and everyone would get the list at the same exact time.  And then, the first person to finish the list wins... I guess they would get bragging rights or something like that.  Although, there could be prizes.

It would work something like, there would be a list of items for everyone who participates to complete.

First item on the list could be to take a selfie.  Pretty easy.  Then the second item could be to take a selfie with a friend.  And then the next item could be to find a street sign with the letter Z in it.

Now things are getting harder to find.

Things like that.  I think that would be cool.

And then there could be different kinds of themes for scavenger hunts.

Maybe even philanthropic ones.  Buy something at the grocery store and donate it to a food bank.

Buy a toy and donate it to toys for tots... Stuff like that.  And then you just check-in and post a photo at each check point or item on the list.

The idea would be to compete with a group of friends or family and see who could get all the items first.

Next item on the list?  Buy some washable sidewalk chalk and write something nice for people at the park to find.

I mean, I'm just making things up as I go here, but if someone really sat down and came up with a list, I bet they could create some pretty cool digital scavenger hunts.

There could even be an app or a website that you track it all in.

I mean, anyone could just do this all on Facebook with posts.  Just start at the same time by all posting your start time in a group chat, and then post photos and such in the group chat.

That way it's all time logged and stamped and what not.  There's no possible way to cheat.

And as well, everyone would see everyone else's posts, so you'd know when that final item is posted and who won.

Just an idea.  I think it could be cool.  And maybe it already exists, and maybe it doesn't.

I would say, start with 10 things and start with 3 to 5 friends in a group chat on Facebook.  Pick a start time, everyone posts "starting".  And then everyone would go.

Now, the only thing is, without some sort of timed release site with a password encrypted release of the list... Okay, hang on, let me back up, so the way I envision it would be that you log into a site, and you sign up for a start time.  Then, at exactly the time that the scavenger hunt starts, a link appears and you can click on it and get the list.

Or an email is sent, or a text, or something.

And then everyone starts and gets a first look at the list at the same exact time.

But all that aside, someone would have to be the moderator and come up with the list and then they would be the one to post the list to the Facebook group chat and moderate the scavenger hunt.

There's really no other way to do it, because if you helped make the list, you'd already know the questions and then could cheat and already have some items completed.

Anyway, there are definitely details to iron out.

It could be fun though.  At least I think it might be.

What kind of online/digital scavenger hunt questions would you come up with if you were to plan one for your friends?

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