by Crazy Ivan
The other day I was looking back over a few older entries on this blog. It's been around for over a year now and when I was in the office full time I was updating it as much as three times a day, so sometimes when I'm looking for inspiration for new entries, I read a few older ones.
And it occurs to me that most of what I was saying back then is still pretty pertinent now. Many of the entries answer basic Myachi questions that everyone has from time to time. Since this blog has picked up a lot of new readers in the last few months, it occurs to me that it might be a good idea to start bringing some of those old blogs back for another day in court.
Now, of course, anyone who wants to can simply dig around on the archives and read as much as they want. I've written a few short novels worth of Myachi related stuff on here and while some of it is clearly dated, much of it is timeless in terms of Myachi-applicability. But only the most dedicated of Myachi Maniac is actually going to start from the beginning and read all 450+ blog entries I've added so far.
So to save you the trouble, starting next week I'll be featuring a weekly "best of" blog. This will essentially be a rerun of a blog entry that I put up a while back. I might amend or expand a few of these and I might add some new pics or video links here and there, but by and large, I'll just be drawing your attention to information that was already there.
And for the long time readers, don't worry, I'll warn you at the beginning if I'm reprinting an old blog. If you'd like to reread it just for old time's sake, great. If not, I won't be offended if you just skip the reruns.
Showing posts with label myachi blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label myachi blog. Show all posts
Friday, March 23, 2012
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
The Most Frequently Asked Questions
by Crazy Ivan
One of my favorite things about this blog is the analytic page. It's here that I can peruse all the ins and outs of the blog. I can see who is visiting, how many people have visited, where they're from (the country, not your street address), how they found us and how often they visit. It tells me what websites have links to our forum, where people most often go after leaving the forum and how long they stayed before they took off.
It even tells me what people have Googled to find the forum. And this is actually one of the most interesting things to check.
One of the main reasons I started this blog is that when I Googled a Myachi-related question, I would always find the wrong information. I'd either be directed to a horribly incorrect wiki-answers or Yahoo Answers kind of page or I'd wind up on some random post on the forum. I might even find myself on some wholly unrelated page that just happens to have a mention of Myachi buried somewhere within it.
So when I set out to start this blog, one of the first things I did was get to answering basic questions about Myachi. That way, if somebody Googled "Who is the best Myachi player?" they would win up finding this instead of some kid on Yahoo Answers anonymously claiming that they were, in fact, the best Myachi player. I tackled many of the basic questions that I hear a lot, such as "Which is the best Myachi?", "What's the hardest trick?" and "What was the first Myachi ever made?" In fact, I make it a point to write an article on here every time I hear the same question 3 times. I figure if 3 people were curious enough to ask me, there were probably several more who never bothered to bring it up.
I also use the aforementioned analytic page to find new subjects. As long as we've been adding content now, pretty much any Myachi related question that you Google is going to turn up at least one link to this blog on the first page. That means that I often get to see questions that I haven't thought to answer yet. For example, if somebody Googled "Which is the best Corduroy Myachi?" they would still find our blog. In fact, I double checked and this is the first link they would find.
So now I can look back at the analytic page and see that somebody found our blog by Googling the best corduroy Myachi and if I've seen that same question asked before (or if I can't think of anything else to write about at the moment), I'll go ahead and write a whole article about which corduroy is best so that the next person Googling it gets a more specific answer.
The other cool thing about that feature is that it allows me to track trends in Myachi Googling. I can track which Myachi questions are asked most often and which ones are being asked more or less frequently as time goes on. Armed with that information, I can try to stay ahead of the curve by adjusting the content of the blog to whatever people are growing more interested in. I can also, of course, track the consistently most asked questions about Myachi and generate more and more content about that subject.
It should come as no great surprise that the most common subject we get questions about is breaking in a Myachi. I've posted a few articles on the subject before and they are some of the most popular articles on the blog. People are always looking for ways to break in a Myachi or new shortcuts to SUMPOY. They are always seeking out the most yummifiable Myachis and wondering which fabrics work best for which methods.
So think of this blog as an explanation in advance. If you start noticing a higher-than-usual volume of posts about breaking in Myachis, that's why. I still owe everybody a MythBusters style test of various break in methods and I haven't forgotten it, though I'm still not sure when I can fit it into my crazy schedule.
Oh, and a sort of side note to this whole thing. If there's a subject you want me to blog about, you can always email it to me or leave it in the comments, but if you wanted a more round-about way of getting it done, just Google your question a couple of times and click on the first link you see to the Myachi Blog...
One of my favorite things about this blog is the analytic page. It's here that I can peruse all the ins and outs of the blog. I can see who is visiting, how many people have visited, where they're from (the country, not your street address), how they found us and how often they visit. It tells me what websites have links to our forum, where people most often go after leaving the forum and how long they stayed before they took off.
It even tells me what people have Googled to find the forum. And this is actually one of the most interesting things to check.
One of the main reasons I started this blog is that when I Googled a Myachi-related question, I would always find the wrong information. I'd either be directed to a horribly incorrect wiki-answers or Yahoo Answers kind of page or I'd wind up on some random post on the forum. I might even find myself on some wholly unrelated page that just happens to have a mention of Myachi buried somewhere within it.
So when I set out to start this blog, one of the first things I did was get to answering basic questions about Myachi. That way, if somebody Googled "Who is the best Myachi player?" they would win up finding this instead of some kid on Yahoo Answers anonymously claiming that they were, in fact, the best Myachi player. I tackled many of the basic questions that I hear a lot, such as "Which is the best Myachi?", "What's the hardest trick?" and "What was the first Myachi ever made?" In fact, I make it a point to write an article on here every time I hear the same question 3 times. I figure if 3 people were curious enough to ask me, there were probably several more who never bothered to bring it up.
I also use the aforementioned analytic page to find new subjects. As long as we've been adding content now, pretty much any Myachi related question that you Google is going to turn up at least one link to this blog on the first page. That means that I often get to see questions that I haven't thought to answer yet. For example, if somebody Googled "Which is the best Corduroy Myachi?" they would still find our blog. In fact, I double checked and this is the first link they would find.
So now I can look back at the analytic page and see that somebody found our blog by Googling the best corduroy Myachi and if I've seen that same question asked before (or if I can't think of anything else to write about at the moment), I'll go ahead and write a whole article about which corduroy is best so that the next person Googling it gets a more specific answer.
The other cool thing about that feature is that it allows me to track trends in Myachi Googling. I can track which Myachi questions are asked most often and which ones are being asked more or less frequently as time goes on. Armed with that information, I can try to stay ahead of the curve by adjusting the content of the blog to whatever people are growing more interested in. I can also, of course, track the consistently most asked questions about Myachi and generate more and more content about that subject.
It should come as no great surprise that the most common subject we get questions about is breaking in a Myachi. I've posted a few articles on the subject before and they are some of the most popular articles on the blog. People are always looking for ways to break in a Myachi or new shortcuts to SUMPOY. They are always seeking out the most yummifiable Myachis and wondering which fabrics work best for which methods.
So think of this blog as an explanation in advance. If you start noticing a higher-than-usual volume of posts about breaking in Myachis, that's why. I still owe everybody a MythBusters style test of various break in methods and I haven't forgotten it, though I'm still not sure when I can fit it into my crazy schedule.
Oh, and a sort of side note to this whole thing. If there's a subject you want me to blog about, you can always email it to me or leave it in the comments, but if you wanted a more round-about way of getting it done, just Google your question a couple of times and click on the first link you see to the Myachi Blog...
Thursday, September 29, 2011
1000 Apologies (and a Few Excuses)
by Crazy Ivan
I guess I don't have to point out that this blog hasn't been updated in nearly a week. I would think that was pretty obvious. What's worse, there hasn't been a Trick of the Day posted yet this week. One could be forgiven for thinking that I'm a first-class slacker.
But the truth is a bit more complicated than that. As Myachi Masters, we all have a number of different responsibilities. Because Myachi employs such a multi-pronged approach to promotion, we all find ourselves wearing a number of hats from day to day. Our duties essentially break down into three broad categories:
1) Good Will - This is normally the bulk of my job. We're proud of the fact that at Myachi, the relationship isn't over when the sale is made. We go out of our way to try to stay connected with our customers and add continuous value to their Myachi purchase by providing things like this blog, the trick of the day videos, the forum, contests, etc. Basically, this is the part of the job where we try to turn Myachi players into Myachi Maniacs.
2) Administrative - This is the least exciting but often most important part of the job. In a company this size there is always a mountain of logistics and paperwork to overcome. This includes stuff like human resources, inventory, scheduling, ordering, new product development, promotional meetings and marketing. This is the bulk of Kid's job, though I often find myself immersed in it as well.
3) Sales - Ultimately, this is what keeps the doors open. This is the part of the job that most people think of when they think of 'Myachi Master'. This is the part where we actually go out and teach the game, promote the company, visit the stores and sell Myachis. As important as the other two categories are, this is the only one that actually brings dollars into our bank account.
During the busiest times of year, there is a ton of work in all 3 categories. So much so that even a dozen full time Myachi Masters can't handle it. During the summer and the holiday season we could probably keep at least two dozen busy.
But in the slower times there is less and less to do. One would think that would mean that during the slower times I'd have plenty of time to do things like blogging and filming tricks. One might think this was the ideal time of the year to focus in on the blog and the forum. But because of the seasonal nature of our business, we also have seasonal employees. Some members of the team only work for us during the busier times and during the slower months (September and October for example) they're off doing their own thing.
That means that those of us who are still on full time staff have to wear a few extra hats. A person who, say, normally fills much of their day doing Good Will stuff might suddenly have 20 hours a week of administrative work and 25 or 30 hours of sales work in a given week. And when that happens, unfortunately some things get moved to the back burner.
As much as I hate to admit it, this blog is one of the first items to be shelved in favor of the other stuff. The fact is that the company can operate without this blog. It can't operate without somebody there teaching people how to play or delivering the orders to our retail locations. The blog is only important if we're doing the other two jobs.
Well, as you may have guessed, this week there's been a lot of category 2 and category 3 stuff for me to do. On top of that, I had some work to do to make sure that Pinky's birthday was legendary.
I'd love to say that all of that is behind me and I'll be back to 2 or 3 updates a day now, but the next few weeks look to be every bit as hectic as the last few. I'll be trying some new ideas when it comes to time management so hopefully we won't have another 5 day lapse on the blog, but I'm afraid I can't promise anything more than an update a day between now and then.
It pains me to leave you, the loyal reader, hanging like that. A lot of you have been with us for quite some time and I think it's fair for you to expect a new entry on this blog every day. After this long of giving it to you, I'd venture to say that we owe you a new entry every day. We're looking at some ways of spreading this responsibility around a bit, but my guess is that for the next month to 6 weeks I'll be struggling to keep this thing regularly updated.
But you can help, and you can help in several ways.
One is, of course, to write a guest blog. The best entries on this blog have come from readers anyway, so I'm always to happy to see more entries from the MMFLs, Katanas and Hunters of the world (among others, of course). Getting the viewpoints of people in other parts of the movement is great for the reader and it also makes my life a little easier so it's a real win/win if you're a fan of writing.
But if not, you can help simply by suggesting topics. Sometimes the hardest thing about writing a blog entry is thinking of what to write about. I don't want to get repetitive on this blog (although I don't think this is the first 'sorry I haven't blogged' article I've written), but I also don't want to overlook the topics that are important to you, the loyal reader. If you have an idea for an article or even a question you'd like to see answered, by all means send it to me. You can email me at crazyivan@myachi.com with your ideas (or guest blogs).
The third way that you can help is to simply be patient. Keep checking in with us. We may have lapses again in the future when this blog will go unchanged for a day or two. Just try to forgive us for all the hectic insanity that goes along with trying to create a worldwide movement and check back in the following day. And remember that everything we're doing is designed to help expand the Myachi movement. If I'm not blogging, it's always going to be because there's something more pressing that demands my attention. It's never going to be because I just chose to neglect you.
Except on Pinky's birthday. I can admit that I actually did have time to blog yesterday and instead I went out and got stuff for Pinky's party. But Pinky is the only thing that comes before Myachi for me and she only has a birthday once a year so that won't crop up again very often...
I guess I don't have to point out that this blog hasn't been updated in nearly a week. I would think that was pretty obvious. What's worse, there hasn't been a Trick of the Day posted yet this week. One could be forgiven for thinking that I'm a first-class slacker.
But the truth is a bit more complicated than that. As Myachi Masters, we all have a number of different responsibilities. Because Myachi employs such a multi-pronged approach to promotion, we all find ourselves wearing a number of hats from day to day. Our duties essentially break down into three broad categories:
1) Good Will - This is normally the bulk of my job. We're proud of the fact that at Myachi, the relationship isn't over when the sale is made. We go out of our way to try to stay connected with our customers and add continuous value to their Myachi purchase by providing things like this blog, the trick of the day videos, the forum, contests, etc. Basically, this is the part of the job where we try to turn Myachi players into Myachi Maniacs.
2) Administrative - This is the least exciting but often most important part of the job. In a company this size there is always a mountain of logistics and paperwork to overcome. This includes stuff like human resources, inventory, scheduling, ordering, new product development, promotional meetings and marketing. This is the bulk of Kid's job, though I often find myself immersed in it as well.
3) Sales - Ultimately, this is what keeps the doors open. This is the part of the job that most people think of when they think of 'Myachi Master'. This is the part where we actually go out and teach the game, promote the company, visit the stores and sell Myachis. As important as the other two categories are, this is the only one that actually brings dollars into our bank account.
During the busiest times of year, there is a ton of work in all 3 categories. So much so that even a dozen full time Myachi Masters can't handle it. During the summer and the holiday season we could probably keep at least two dozen busy.
But in the slower times there is less and less to do. One would think that would mean that during the slower times I'd have plenty of time to do things like blogging and filming tricks. One might think this was the ideal time of the year to focus in on the blog and the forum. But because of the seasonal nature of our business, we also have seasonal employees. Some members of the team only work for us during the busier times and during the slower months (September and October for example) they're off doing their own thing.
That means that those of us who are still on full time staff have to wear a few extra hats. A person who, say, normally fills much of their day doing Good Will stuff might suddenly have 20 hours a week of administrative work and 25 or 30 hours of sales work in a given week. And when that happens, unfortunately some things get moved to the back burner.
As much as I hate to admit it, this blog is one of the first items to be shelved in favor of the other stuff. The fact is that the company can operate without this blog. It can't operate without somebody there teaching people how to play or delivering the orders to our retail locations. The blog is only important if we're doing the other two jobs.
Well, as you may have guessed, this week there's been a lot of category 2 and category 3 stuff for me to do. On top of that, I had some work to do to make sure that Pinky's birthday was legendary.
I'd love to say that all of that is behind me and I'll be back to 2 or 3 updates a day now, but the next few weeks look to be every bit as hectic as the last few. I'll be trying some new ideas when it comes to time management so hopefully we won't have another 5 day lapse on the blog, but I'm afraid I can't promise anything more than an update a day between now and then.
It pains me to leave you, the loyal reader, hanging like that. A lot of you have been with us for quite some time and I think it's fair for you to expect a new entry on this blog every day. After this long of giving it to you, I'd venture to say that we owe you a new entry every day. We're looking at some ways of spreading this responsibility around a bit, but my guess is that for the next month to 6 weeks I'll be struggling to keep this thing regularly updated.
But you can help, and you can help in several ways.
One is, of course, to write a guest blog. The best entries on this blog have come from readers anyway, so I'm always to happy to see more entries from the MMFLs, Katanas and Hunters of the world (among others, of course). Getting the viewpoints of people in other parts of the movement is great for the reader and it also makes my life a little easier so it's a real win/win if you're a fan of writing.
But if not, you can help simply by suggesting topics. Sometimes the hardest thing about writing a blog entry is thinking of what to write about. I don't want to get repetitive on this blog (although I don't think this is the first 'sorry I haven't blogged' article I've written), but I also don't want to overlook the topics that are important to you, the loyal reader. If you have an idea for an article or even a question you'd like to see answered, by all means send it to me. You can email me at crazyivan@myachi.com with your ideas (or guest blogs).
The third way that you can help is to simply be patient. Keep checking in with us. We may have lapses again in the future when this blog will go unchanged for a day or two. Just try to forgive us for all the hectic insanity that goes along with trying to create a worldwide movement and check back in the following day. And remember that everything we're doing is designed to help expand the Myachi movement. If I'm not blogging, it's always going to be because there's something more pressing that demands my attention. It's never going to be because I just chose to neglect you.
Except on Pinky's birthday. I can admit that I actually did have time to blog yesterday and instead I went out and got stuff for Pinky's party. But Pinky is the only thing that comes before Myachi for me and she only has a birthday once a year so that won't crop up again very often...
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Less and Less Computer Time
by Crazy Ivan
You don't have to be all that astute to have noticed that I didn't blog over the last several days. You might also have noticed that no Trick of the Day went up Friday or Monday. You could be forgiven, in fact, for thinking that I'd forgotten about you altogether.
But I haven't. I've just had less and less time to spend on the computer.
In Myachi, we like to keep a lot of irons in the fire at any given time. Our in-store sales still account for the lion's share of our profits, but there are a lot of other angles we take in the Myachi Movement. We're always hard at work looking for new customers for customized Myachis. We're always hard at work finding new vendors in hopes of spreading the Myachi Movement ever farther afield. We're always hard at work looking for more gym classes to take over.
And sometimes, all of this stands in the way of me being able to blog regularly. Needless to say, this week has included some of those "sometimes".
Monk has been rocking it out over the last few weeks signing up new schools. He's spent much of the last three weeks visiting different schools and talking with principles, athletic directors and gym teachers about bringing in the Myachi program. He's been having great luck with it as well, having already signed up at least half a dozen schools.
Of the many consequences to that is that he's been able to spend far less time in the stores. I've been making up some of the shortfall so I've been spending a lot more time recently at FAO and Toys R Us. For what it's worth, I've been having a blast with it. It gave me my first chance to work with Metal and Strike, which has been mad fun. For those that aren't aware, Metal is hilarious at least four or five times an hour.
I've also gotten to work with Mav and Animal, which I haven't done on a store level in over a year. Working with them is awesome if for no reason but all the new tricks and challenges they show we every time I do. Mav has me working on some crazy foot splits and merges and Animal has given me a few new directions to go with my 3 Myachi juggles.
As much fun as I'm having, I'm also painfully aware that I've had to neglect the blog. It seems like about every fifth article on this blog is one about me regretting not being able to blog more often. I would say that I'm just going to redouble my efforts, but that's not realistic. If I'm already devoting 14 hours a day to Myachi, I can't exactly double it (and work 28 hours a day?). I would write a bunch of articles when I have the chance and then schedule them to drop throughout the week, but I feel like the quality would plummet if I was trying to force myself to write 6 or 8 blog entries in a single day (or even a single sitting).
The solution is pretty obvious to me. We need more authors on the Myachi Blog. It so happens that Animal and Bones are both really talented writers. Kid has a way with words and so does Monk. Pinky always has some interesting insights on the Myachi movement and we still haven't talked Myachi Man into writing a blog for us just yet.
So rather than making an unrealistic promise to double my efforts at writing more blog material, I'll offer the much more feasible promise: I'll triple my efforts at getting more writers on this blog and that should be way more effective.
Until then, I hope you've enjoyed this long-winded excuse.
You don't have to be all that astute to have noticed that I didn't blog over the last several days. You might also have noticed that no Trick of the Day went up Friday or Monday. You could be forgiven, in fact, for thinking that I'd forgotten about you altogether.
But I haven't. I've just had less and less time to spend on the computer.
In Myachi, we like to keep a lot of irons in the fire at any given time. Our in-store sales still account for the lion's share of our profits, but there are a lot of other angles we take in the Myachi Movement. We're always hard at work looking for new customers for customized Myachis. We're always hard at work finding new vendors in hopes of spreading the Myachi Movement ever farther afield. We're always hard at work looking for more gym classes to take over.
And sometimes, all of this stands in the way of me being able to blog regularly. Needless to say, this week has included some of those "sometimes".
Monk has been rocking it out over the last few weeks signing up new schools. He's spent much of the last three weeks visiting different schools and talking with principles, athletic directors and gym teachers about bringing in the Myachi program. He's been having great luck with it as well, having already signed up at least half a dozen schools.
Of the many consequences to that is that he's been able to spend far less time in the stores. I've been making up some of the shortfall so I've been spending a lot more time recently at FAO and Toys R Us. For what it's worth, I've been having a blast with it. It gave me my first chance to work with Metal and Strike, which has been mad fun. For those that aren't aware, Metal is hilarious at least four or five times an hour.
I've also gotten to work with Mav and Animal, which I haven't done on a store level in over a year. Working with them is awesome if for no reason but all the new tricks and challenges they show we every time I do. Mav has me working on some crazy foot splits and merges and Animal has given me a few new directions to go with my 3 Myachi juggles.
As much fun as I'm having, I'm also painfully aware that I've had to neglect the blog. It seems like about every fifth article on this blog is one about me regretting not being able to blog more often. I would say that I'm just going to redouble my efforts, but that's not realistic. If I'm already devoting 14 hours a day to Myachi, I can't exactly double it (and work 28 hours a day?). I would write a bunch of articles when I have the chance and then schedule them to drop throughout the week, but I feel like the quality would plummet if I was trying to force myself to write 6 or 8 blog entries in a single day (or even a single sitting).
The solution is pretty obvious to me. We need more authors on the Myachi Blog. It so happens that Animal and Bones are both really talented writers. Kid has a way with words and so does Monk. Pinky always has some interesting insights on the Myachi movement and we still haven't talked Myachi Man into writing a blog for us just yet.
So rather than making an unrealistic promise to double my efforts at writing more blog material, I'll offer the much more feasible promise: I'll triple my efforts at getting more writers on this blog and that should be way more effective.
Until then, I hope you've enjoyed this long-winded excuse.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
In the City...
by Crazy Ivan
So first off, let me offer up an apology for not blogging yesterday. I had a super busy day in the city and a meeting last night so I was never able to carve out a few minutes to throw together an update.
Next, let me apologize for not blogging today. Okay, so technically I'm blogging right now, but I've only got a few minutes before I've got to head out to the city today. Incidentally, I'll be at Toys R Us Time Square and FAO today so if you're in the NYC area feel free to come by and see me.
Over the next couple of weeks I'll be spending a little more time in our retail sections, which is pretty typical for this time of year. One of the consequences of that is that I won't be able to blog quite as often... or at least quite as early. I'll try to find some time this evening, but the two or three posts per afternoon that I write when I'm in the office will have to be put on hold for a little while.
The other result of it is that the trick of the day will be late going up again today (and tomorrow). It'll still go up today, but it will probably be posted around 8 o'clock or so rather than 1 or 2. I suppose that's to be expected when you have as irregular a schedule as we have in Myachi. The only thing consistent about my job description is inconsistency...
So first off, let me offer up an apology for not blogging yesterday. I had a super busy day in the city and a meeting last night so I was never able to carve out a few minutes to throw together an update.
Next, let me apologize for not blogging today. Okay, so technically I'm blogging right now, but I've only got a few minutes before I've got to head out to the city today. Incidentally, I'll be at Toys R Us Time Square and FAO today so if you're in the NYC area feel free to come by and see me.
Over the next couple of weeks I'll be spending a little more time in our retail sections, which is pretty typical for this time of year. One of the consequences of that is that I won't be able to blog quite as often... or at least quite as early. I'll try to find some time this evening, but the two or three posts per afternoon that I write when I'm in the office will have to be put on hold for a little while.
The other result of it is that the trick of the day will be late going up again today (and tomorrow). It'll still go up today, but it will probably be posted around 8 o'clock or so rather than 1 or 2. I suppose that's to be expected when you have as irregular a schedule as we have in Myachi. The only thing consistent about my job description is inconsistency...
Monday, September 5, 2011
Home Improvements
by Crazy Ivan
I write this blog for a couple of reasons. I write to strengthen the Myachi community, I write to share some of the more heart warming elements of my job, I write to keep everyone abreast of the goings-on in the Myachi universe and I write because I simply enjoy writing. I don't have much in the way of qualifications as a blogger, but as a Myachi blogger, I like to think that I bring some pretty impressive credentials to the table. I've been with the company for 8 years, I've donned virtually every job title you can imagine and at both work and home I'm constantly surrounded by the core of the movement.
But even I need help now and again. Despite being so optimally placed to know what's going on in the Myachi world, I occasionally miss some of the big stuff. But that's okay. I've got a pretty impressive army of knowledgeable Myachi Maniacs to keep me informed.
One such slip was discovered when I hopped on the forum this morning. Draco had pointed out that there were some changes to the Myachi home page. Nothing major, mind you. The scrolling Myachis at the bottom have been temporarily supplanted by a note about our upcoming tournament (more on that tomorrow) and the links along the top of the page have changed a bit.
But that last bit is the important bit. Much of it was just a reshuffling to make things make more sense to the first time visitor. A lot of the stuff was consolidated under common headings so there aren't so many options. But there's also a new section titled "Think" along the top with two links that weren't on the homepage before. One is to the Myachi forum and the other is to this blog.
The link to the forum is critical. Since we updated the site and there hasn't been a direct line for new jammers to find it, the forum has gotten fewer and fewer new members. Most of the members now are coming from friends of other established players or small groups from one area or school all joining at the same time. Bringing in more eyeballs to the forum is huge and it should make a noticeable difference on the activity there (which is at near record levels despite the lack of an easy link).
As for the link to the blog, well... it should be obvious that I'm pretty stoked about that. The comments section is radically underused as it is so we'll always welcome more eyeballs here.
And remember, if there's ever something that I've missed; a cool Myachi You-Tube video, for example, or maybe a new fan site that somebody built; don't hesitate to shoot me an email. Even if you just have a question that you'd like to see addressed on the blog, shoot me a line at crazyivan@myachi.com and let me know. I'm always looking for new topics and I'm human... I miss a lot.
I write this blog for a couple of reasons. I write to strengthen the Myachi community, I write to share some of the more heart warming elements of my job, I write to keep everyone abreast of the goings-on in the Myachi universe and I write because I simply enjoy writing. I don't have much in the way of qualifications as a blogger, but as a Myachi blogger, I like to think that I bring some pretty impressive credentials to the table. I've been with the company for 8 years, I've donned virtually every job title you can imagine and at both work and home I'm constantly surrounded by the core of the movement.
But even I need help now and again. Despite being so optimally placed to know what's going on in the Myachi world, I occasionally miss some of the big stuff. But that's okay. I've got a pretty impressive army of knowledgeable Myachi Maniacs to keep me informed.
One such slip was discovered when I hopped on the forum this morning. Draco had pointed out that there were some changes to the Myachi home page. Nothing major, mind you. The scrolling Myachis at the bottom have been temporarily supplanted by a note about our upcoming tournament (more on that tomorrow) and the links along the top of the page have changed a bit.
But that last bit is the important bit. Much of it was just a reshuffling to make things make more sense to the first time visitor. A lot of the stuff was consolidated under common headings so there aren't so many options. But there's also a new section titled "Think" along the top with two links that weren't on the homepage before. One is to the Myachi forum and the other is to this blog.
The link to the forum is critical. Since we updated the site and there hasn't been a direct line for new jammers to find it, the forum has gotten fewer and fewer new members. Most of the members now are coming from friends of other established players or small groups from one area or school all joining at the same time. Bringing in more eyeballs to the forum is huge and it should make a noticeable difference on the activity there (which is at near record levels despite the lack of an easy link).
As for the link to the blog, well... it should be obvious that I'm pretty stoked about that. The comments section is radically underused as it is so we'll always welcome more eyeballs here.
And remember, if there's ever something that I've missed; a cool Myachi You-Tube video, for example, or maybe a new fan site that somebody built; don't hesitate to shoot me an email. Even if you just have a question that you'd like to see addressed on the blog, shoot me a line at crazyivan@myachi.com and let me know. I'm always looking for new topics and I'm human... I miss a lot.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
The Downward Spiral Has Ended
by Crazy Ivan
So I'll admit that I take a lot of pride in the performance of this blog. When we have days with very few views, it saddens me and I am inconsolable. When we have days with a lot of views, I am overwhelmed with joy.
Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I do follow the numbers really closely. If we're close to a record day, I'll toss out a quick entry in hopes of pushing the numbers up. If we're having a really bad week I'll blog like crazy in the last few days to try to even things up. I check the stats on this thing at least 3 or 4 times a day.
This is why it was so distressing to let the blog go for such a long period over the summer. I was still writing an entry here and there, of course, but with our insane work schedule I wasn't able to keep up in the manner I had before. Well, I'm happy to say that the downward spiral has ended.
Our peak month with this blog was in May when we had well over 8000 views, but starting in June (the month I went to Dollywood), the numbers took a precipitous decline. They were lower in June than they had been since March (the month after I started this blog) and in July they dipped even lower, setting a record for the slowest month we've had so far.
To be honest, August hasn't been much better. I was still at Dollywood for the first half of it, I was mad busy catching up with other stuff when I got back and I haven't blogged at all over the past two weekends. But that being said, the trend line reversed as of today (and as of 2 minutes before I started writing this entry). We now have 1 more view in August than we had in July.
Sure, one view isn't much, but the important thing is that it changes the trend. July was the bottom and now we can worry about building things back up. August was still a really slow month and will almost certainly end as the second slowest month all time (unless this random entry goes viral), so it will still be really easy to do better in September. By October we hope to be back up into the lofty numbers we were posting in May.
None of this matters much, of course. This blog is here as a resource for dedicated Myachi Maniacs and it serves that purpose whether it gets 270 views a day or 270 views a week. That being said, I'm all about the eyeballs so I'm always stoked about people reading the stuff I'm writing. Keep it up!
So I'll admit that I take a lot of pride in the performance of this blog. When we have days with very few views, it saddens me and I am inconsolable. When we have days with a lot of views, I am overwhelmed with joy.
Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I do follow the numbers really closely. If we're close to a record day, I'll toss out a quick entry in hopes of pushing the numbers up. If we're having a really bad week I'll blog like crazy in the last few days to try to even things up. I check the stats on this thing at least 3 or 4 times a day.
This is why it was so distressing to let the blog go for such a long period over the summer. I was still writing an entry here and there, of course, but with our insane work schedule I wasn't able to keep up in the manner I had before. Well, I'm happy to say that the downward spiral has ended.
Our peak month with this blog was in May when we had well over 8000 views, but starting in June (the month I went to Dollywood), the numbers took a precipitous decline. They were lower in June than they had been since March (the month after I started this blog) and in July they dipped even lower, setting a record for the slowest month we've had so far.
To be honest, August hasn't been much better. I was still at Dollywood for the first half of it, I was mad busy catching up with other stuff when I got back and I haven't blogged at all over the past two weekends. But that being said, the trend line reversed as of today (and as of 2 minutes before I started writing this entry). We now have 1 more view in August than we had in July.
Sure, one view isn't much, but the important thing is that it changes the trend. July was the bottom and now we can worry about building things back up. August was still a really slow month and will almost certainly end as the second slowest month all time (unless this random entry goes viral), so it will still be really easy to do better in September. By October we hope to be back up into the lofty numbers we were posting in May.
None of this matters much, of course. This blog is here as a resource for dedicated Myachi Maniacs and it serves that purpose whether it gets 270 views a day or 270 views a week. That being said, I'm all about the eyeballs so I'm always stoked about people reading the stuff I'm writing. Keep it up!
Monday, August 22, 2011
Getting Back on Track
by Crazy Ivan
It's so good to be home. All the distractions that I'd longed for over the summer are suddenly at my disposal once again. My guitar, my keyboard, my juggling toys, my unicycle, my movie collection, my pets, my books and, most importantly, my physical ability to do something other than play Myachi at Dollywood.
But there is, of course, a price for this renewed availability. It's all the harder to remember that I still have work to do. Over the weekend I spent a great deal of time napping, walking the slackline, practicing scales and watching Buster Keaton flicks, but I didn't spend any of it working. I didn't field a single blog post and, much worse, didn't film the Saturday trick of the day I promised.
The trick of the day thing was a byproduct of more than mere divertissement, though I can hardly claim an iron-clad excuse. I'd left the camera at the office over the weekend and never worked up the motivation to drive up there and get it. I could have used my webcam, of course, or my iPod (though I'd have had to dub the sound afterward) or I could have just committed an hour and a half to going out and getting the camera.
But I didn't. Instead I spent the weekend relaxing with my wife (who I've seen every day for the last two months but still haven't spent any time with) and my cats (who are finally back to "normal" after my long absence). Basically, I spent the weekend being lazy.
On some levels I feel that I earned that right. It was a hard summer; I worked for 58 days with only 5 days off and an average of 12 hours a day (not counting time spent blogging or filming/editing the trick of the day videos) and I did it all in 95 degree weather with high humidity and no wind. If ever there was a reason to take a lazy weekend, that should be it.
But that doesn't serve as an excuse for neglecting things like the blog and the Trick of the Day. It's an explanation, sure, but not a justifiable one. In truth, I'm simply tugging at the sympathy of those who were checking the blog/You-Tube channel over the weekend and hoping that they don't get too upset with me.
I'm back in the office this week and back on my normal schedule so I think it's safe to bet that this hiccup is in the rear view mirror, but I still owe everyone an extra trick of the day, lest we further mar our otherwise perfect record of 5 new tricks a week. I'll get that done today. I also owe everyone a new contest and I'll be posting more about that later.
So hopefully this post will be the last mea culpa I need to write this summer. I'm tired of seeing the trend lines on this blog dipping from our spring numbers so it's no doubt time to turn that around. Hope you're up for a lot of reading this week...
It's so good to be home. All the distractions that I'd longed for over the summer are suddenly at my disposal once again. My guitar, my keyboard, my juggling toys, my unicycle, my movie collection, my pets, my books and, most importantly, my physical ability to do something other than play Myachi at Dollywood.
But there is, of course, a price for this renewed availability. It's all the harder to remember that I still have work to do. Over the weekend I spent a great deal of time napping, walking the slackline, practicing scales and watching Buster Keaton flicks, but I didn't spend any of it working. I didn't field a single blog post and, much worse, didn't film the Saturday trick of the day I promised.
The trick of the day thing was a byproduct of more than mere divertissement, though I can hardly claim an iron-clad excuse. I'd left the camera at the office over the weekend and never worked up the motivation to drive up there and get it. I could have used my webcam, of course, or my iPod (though I'd have had to dub the sound afterward) or I could have just committed an hour and a half to going out and getting the camera.
But I didn't. Instead I spent the weekend relaxing with my wife (who I've seen every day for the last two months but still haven't spent any time with) and my cats (who are finally back to "normal" after my long absence). Basically, I spent the weekend being lazy.
On some levels I feel that I earned that right. It was a hard summer; I worked for 58 days with only 5 days off and an average of 12 hours a day (not counting time spent blogging or filming/editing the trick of the day videos) and I did it all in 95 degree weather with high humidity and no wind. If ever there was a reason to take a lazy weekend, that should be it.
But that doesn't serve as an excuse for neglecting things like the blog and the Trick of the Day. It's an explanation, sure, but not a justifiable one. In truth, I'm simply tugging at the sympathy of those who were checking the blog/You-Tube channel over the weekend and hoping that they don't get too upset with me.
I'm back in the office this week and back on my normal schedule so I think it's safe to bet that this hiccup is in the rear view mirror, but I still owe everyone an extra trick of the day, lest we further mar our otherwise perfect record of 5 new tricks a week. I'll get that done today. I also owe everyone a new contest and I'll be posting more about that later.
So hopefully this post will be the last mea culpa I need to write this summer. I'm tired of seeing the trend lines on this blog dipping from our spring numbers so it's no doubt time to turn that around. Hope you're up for a lot of reading this week...
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
An Engagement Extended
by Crazy Ivan
There have been rumors for a while now but we finally got confirmation that our stay at Dollywood has been extended by a week. We'll be hanging out for their "Dollywood Nights" celebration, which is a week long thing where they keep the park open until 10 am. All I can say is "... Glowsticks!"
We're all really excited about it. Pinky, Kore, Bones, Bamboo, Rush and I have been having a lot of fun these past few weeks and we were all kind of hoping for a little more time here. The people at Dollywood are awesome and I'm going to miss a lot of them when I leave. Plus it's a chance to make another week's worth of maniacs.
But like all things, there's a downside too. I have to wait another week to see my cats, for one. And they probably forgot what I smell like by now. More importantly, anyone in NY who is looking forward to seeing Bones, Bamboo or Rush again is going to have to wait. Anyone who hangs out at HQ and has been missing Pinky or myself will have to wait another week.
Ultimately, that's no big deal. What is a big deal is that anyone who was looking forward to me being done with Dollywood so I could go back to my normal (frenetic) blogging pace is going to have to wait another week. With the crazy hours we're working I've been updating this thing a few times a week instead of a few times a day. My contests have been in limbo, I'm barely on the forum, the Trick of the Day videos are getting uploaded after 11, I haven't even reviewed the 5.1x series yet, I haven't been on for the Wednesday Night Brawl in ages and there hasn't been a Wednesday Quiz in months.
I'm looking forward to this extra week, but I feel like I owe our loyal readers an apology at the same time. Our new final date is August 14th, but we're hoping to hang out in Tennessee for a few days after so we might not be back in NYC until the 18th or 19th. Expect me to go crazy making up for lost time on this blog.
There have been rumors for a while now but we finally got confirmation that our stay at Dollywood has been extended by a week. We'll be hanging out for their "Dollywood Nights" celebration, which is a week long thing where they keep the park open until 10 am. All I can say is "... Glowsticks!"
We're all really excited about it. Pinky, Kore, Bones, Bamboo, Rush and I have been having a lot of fun these past few weeks and we were all kind of hoping for a little more time here. The people at Dollywood are awesome and I'm going to miss a lot of them when I leave. Plus it's a chance to make another week's worth of maniacs.
But like all things, there's a downside too. I have to wait another week to see my cats, for one. And they probably forgot what I smell like by now. More importantly, anyone in NY who is looking forward to seeing Bones, Bamboo or Rush again is going to have to wait. Anyone who hangs out at HQ and has been missing Pinky or myself will have to wait another week.
Ultimately, that's no big deal. What is a big deal is that anyone who was looking forward to me being done with Dollywood so I could go back to my normal (frenetic) blogging pace is going to have to wait another week. With the crazy hours we're working I've been updating this thing a few times a week instead of a few times a day. My contests have been in limbo, I'm barely on the forum, the Trick of the Day videos are getting uploaded after 11, I haven't even reviewed the 5.1x series yet, I haven't been on for the Wednesday Night Brawl in ages and there hasn't been a Wednesday Quiz in months.
I'm looking forward to this extra week, but I feel like I owe our loyal readers an apology at the same time. Our new final date is August 14th, but we're hoping to hang out in Tennessee for a few days after so we might not be back in NYC until the 18th or 19th. Expect me to go crazy making up for lost time on this blog.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
How Bad It's Gotten
by Crazy Ivan
Before I got to Tennessee, I had grand plans for this assignment. I'd just do Dollywood for 12+ hours and then come home, film a trick of the day video, hop on the forum, answer our Facebook messages, answer our Twitter mentions, check our You Tube inbox, edit and upload the trick of the day video, write and adjust the schedule, track and order inventory, input all the paperwork for our sales at Dollywood, write a few entries for the Myachi Blog and then eat some dinner.
The plan seemed perfect, but somehow I forgot that I would also need to sleep at some points as well.
Because of that, the blog has suffered unduly. It and the forum have been the most commonly neglected of my responsibilities, and this entry is meant as both a formal apology and a commitment to redouble my efforts. I knew that the blog would suffer a bit, but I never thought it would get as bad as it's gotten.
Before I left for Tennessee, I was averaging about 18 entries a week, but on some weeks I'd go as high as 21 or 22. That meant I was blogging well over twice a day on average and sometimes I was besting 3 a day. And then I came to Tennessee and right away it dropped to 11 blog entries in a week.
Now to be honest, this is kind of what I expected. I didn't really feel that I'd be able to keep up 2 and 3 entries every day, but I suspected that most days I could at least write something in the morning and something in the evening. Some days I'd be too tired and I'd end up ending the week with about 11 updates.
But then things got worse. I went from a week with 11 blog updates to a week with only 6. That's not even one a day! That means that at least once, I completely neglected the Myachi blog and didn't even bother to hop on and link a cool Myachi related or skill related You-Tube video. Nada. Nothing. Zilch.
And then things hit rock bottom. Last week, I only updated the blog 3 times. Three times in one week. I went from 3 entries in a good day to 3 in a whole week. Pathetic. Unacceptable. That means there were more days last week when I didn't blog than there were days when I did. And I owe our loyal readers way more than that.
Heck, I haven't even given an update on all the contests that are being postponed for the moment. I haven't even announced another contest to follow up the Summer Photo Contest, which itself has been postponed, though I haven't bothered to mention it or give anyone a thorough update on what's going on there. I haven't chosen the winner for the first 50 followers prize and I haven't explained why just yet.
Anyway, if you read this blog regularly, I don't have to tell you that things have gotten bad... you already know that. You're probably getting sick and tired of logging in and seeing the same headline you saw the day before.
Well, I'm here to tell you "no more!" No more shall you be deprived of regular and at the very least daily updates on the Myachi Blog. No more shall you suffer the agony of not reading random stuff I write. No more shall you wonder if I even remember that I announced a contest a couple weeks ago. No more shall your trips to the Myachi Blog be stripped of their meaning by insufficient updates.
As exhibit A that I mean what I say, I offer the fact that it's midnight on Tuesday night and I've already posted more entries this week than I did all of last week. But that's only 4 so it's not much to brag about. But still, it's a start.
But I also know that I can't get very far just by saying "I will work harder". I'm already working almost as hard as I can (I did spend an hour watching a George Carlin bit tonight, so there's room to improve). To keep this blog rolling, I'm going to need your help. I need guest bloggers and reader submitted updates. Write about anything you want, as long as it's related to Myachi or it's something you think would interest the Myachi community.
Unfortunately, I have an e-mail issue at my @myachi address, so I'll have to ask you to send it to crazyivanmyachi@gmail.com instead, or pm it to me on the forum. To get us back to two updates a day, I'll probably be looking for 3 or 4 guest posts a week, so if you like to write, keep them coming!
And remember, I might not use all the entries. Think about it like a creative writing assignment in school. Before I publish something, I have to check it for misspellings, grammatical errors and bits that don't make sense. If I have to spend as much time correcting an entry as I would writing a blog, it doesn't do me much good.
But as long as it meets the high quality standards of the Myachi Blog and is of general interest to the Myachi community, I'd love to publish your work...
...Oh, and I promise to give everyone the full updates on those contest tomorrow.
Before I got to Tennessee, I had grand plans for this assignment. I'd just do Dollywood for 12+ hours and then come home, film a trick of the day video, hop on the forum, answer our Facebook messages, answer our Twitter mentions, check our You Tube inbox, edit and upload the trick of the day video, write and adjust the schedule, track and order inventory, input all the paperwork for our sales at Dollywood, write a few entries for the Myachi Blog and then eat some dinner.
The plan seemed perfect, but somehow I forgot that I would also need to sleep at some points as well.
Because of that, the blog has suffered unduly. It and the forum have been the most commonly neglected of my responsibilities, and this entry is meant as both a formal apology and a commitment to redouble my efforts. I knew that the blog would suffer a bit, but I never thought it would get as bad as it's gotten.
Before I left for Tennessee, I was averaging about 18 entries a week, but on some weeks I'd go as high as 21 or 22. That meant I was blogging well over twice a day on average and sometimes I was besting 3 a day. And then I came to Tennessee and right away it dropped to 11 blog entries in a week.
Now to be honest, this is kind of what I expected. I didn't really feel that I'd be able to keep up 2 and 3 entries every day, but I suspected that most days I could at least write something in the morning and something in the evening. Some days I'd be too tired and I'd end up ending the week with about 11 updates.
But then things got worse. I went from a week with 11 blog updates to a week with only 6. That's not even one a day! That means that at least once, I completely neglected the Myachi blog and didn't even bother to hop on and link a cool Myachi related or skill related You-Tube video. Nada. Nothing. Zilch.
And then things hit rock bottom. Last week, I only updated the blog 3 times. Three times in one week. I went from 3 entries in a good day to 3 in a whole week. Pathetic. Unacceptable. That means there were more days last week when I didn't blog than there were days when I did. And I owe our loyal readers way more than that.
Heck, I haven't even given an update on all the contests that are being postponed for the moment. I haven't even announced another contest to follow up the Summer Photo Contest, which itself has been postponed, though I haven't bothered to mention it or give anyone a thorough update on what's going on there. I haven't chosen the winner for the first 50 followers prize and I haven't explained why just yet.
Anyway, if you read this blog regularly, I don't have to tell you that things have gotten bad... you already know that. You're probably getting sick and tired of logging in and seeing the same headline you saw the day before.
Well, I'm here to tell you "no more!" No more shall you be deprived of regular and at the very least daily updates on the Myachi Blog. No more shall you suffer the agony of not reading random stuff I write. No more shall you wonder if I even remember that I announced a contest a couple weeks ago. No more shall your trips to the Myachi Blog be stripped of their meaning by insufficient updates.
As exhibit A that I mean what I say, I offer the fact that it's midnight on Tuesday night and I've already posted more entries this week than I did all of last week. But that's only 4 so it's not much to brag about. But still, it's a start.
But I also know that I can't get very far just by saying "I will work harder". I'm already working almost as hard as I can (I did spend an hour watching a George Carlin bit tonight, so there's room to improve). To keep this blog rolling, I'm going to need your help. I need guest bloggers and reader submitted updates. Write about anything you want, as long as it's related to Myachi or it's something you think would interest the Myachi community.
Unfortunately, I have an e-mail issue at my @myachi address, so I'll have to ask you to send it to crazyivanmyachi@gmail.com instead, or pm it to me on the forum. To get us back to two updates a day, I'll probably be looking for 3 or 4 guest posts a week, so if you like to write, keep them coming!
And remember, I might not use all the entries. Think about it like a creative writing assignment in school. Before I publish something, I have to check it for misspellings, grammatical errors and bits that don't make sense. If I have to spend as much time correcting an entry as I would writing a blog, it doesn't do me much good.
But as long as it meets the high quality standards of the Myachi Blog and is of general interest to the Myachi community, I'd love to publish your work...
...Oh, and I promise to give everyone the full updates on those contest tomorrow.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Why I Haven't Blogged
by Crazy Ivan
Alright, so I'm sure somebody noticed that it's been almost two days since the last blog post went up on this site and I felt that I owed everyone an explanation. Now, I'm not going to come on here and just tell you that I'm tired after 13 hours at Dollywood and another hour or so of work on the computer every night. I'm not going to say that the blog got pushed to the back burner last night in favor of things like lounging in the hot tub and sleeping. That's true, but I'm not going to tell you that.
Instead, I'm going to concoct a nonsensical excuse that is far grander in scale:
Wednesday morning I was abducted by aliens. A nearly perfect cyborg replacement was left in my stead so that my absence would go unnoticed and while it had plenty of Myachi skills to pull off being Crazy Ivan, a critical programming error left it unable to blog. Something in the spontaneous creativity drive, I'm sure.
While this robotic replacement (which I affectionately refer to as "robo-me") was hanging out at Dollywood and giving me a much needed break, I was whisked away to a dying world in another dimension where time passes very differently. I was there for years by the standards of the aliens that lived there, but when I returned to earth, only a day had passed.
I arrived understandably disoriented and was immediately put before their king. The creatures, which called themselves "Gandalgoids", were squat, green and nearly perfectly rounded with a caterpillar like row of legs which they used for locomotion. They also had three upper appendages which I can only describe as clawed tentacles, though that hardly does their utility justice.
The Gandalgoids were a dying race. Their home world of Zerblaxia was being invaded my a malicious force of interdimensional property developers and the Gandalgoids had become lazy through generations of dependance on technology. Their's was an almost sedentary lifestyle and with robots to tackle every menial task and necessary function of existence, they had all but entertained themselves to death. This had served them well for centuries, but it left them too slothful to fight off the invading army.
After an exhaustive search of the various inhabited worlds in the multiverse, they happened upon Myachi and saw it as their only chance at salvation. For a little over three years I trained them in the ways of Myachi Fu and slowly came to understand their language and customs. By the time their army was ready to fight, the real-estate developers had taken over more than three quarters of their world, including all the beach front property.
When the time came for them to do battle, I was sent back to my homeworld. It pains me not to know how my students fared, but given the difference in time between our dimensions, by now the war is long over and I can only hope that they successfully defended their planet. I will never know for certain, of course, so all I can do is trust in the powers of Myachi.
Long Live Zerblaxia!
And in case and Gandalgoids are somehow able to read this in their dimension, Urpa gadthal cor gadas, zeblo calleen demsacto!
Alright, so I'm sure somebody noticed that it's been almost two days since the last blog post went up on this site and I felt that I owed everyone an explanation. Now, I'm not going to come on here and just tell you that I'm tired after 13 hours at Dollywood and another hour or so of work on the computer every night. I'm not going to say that the blog got pushed to the back burner last night in favor of things like lounging in the hot tub and sleeping. That's true, but I'm not going to tell you that.
Instead, I'm going to concoct a nonsensical excuse that is far grander in scale:
Wednesday morning I was abducted by aliens. A nearly perfect cyborg replacement was left in my stead so that my absence would go unnoticed and while it had plenty of Myachi skills to pull off being Crazy Ivan, a critical programming error left it unable to blog. Something in the spontaneous creativity drive, I'm sure.
While this robotic replacement (which I affectionately refer to as "robo-me") was hanging out at Dollywood and giving me a much needed break, I was whisked away to a dying world in another dimension where time passes very differently. I was there for years by the standards of the aliens that lived there, but when I returned to earth, only a day had passed.
I arrived understandably disoriented and was immediately put before their king. The creatures, which called themselves "Gandalgoids", were squat, green and nearly perfectly rounded with a caterpillar like row of legs which they used for locomotion. They also had three upper appendages which I can only describe as clawed tentacles, though that hardly does their utility justice.
The Gandalgoids were a dying race. Their home world of Zerblaxia was being invaded my a malicious force of interdimensional property developers and the Gandalgoids had become lazy through generations of dependance on technology. Their's was an almost sedentary lifestyle and with robots to tackle every menial task and necessary function of existence, they had all but entertained themselves to death. This had served them well for centuries, but it left them too slothful to fight off the invading army.
After an exhaustive search of the various inhabited worlds in the multiverse, they happened upon Myachi and saw it as their only chance at salvation. For a little over three years I trained them in the ways of Myachi Fu and slowly came to understand their language and customs. By the time their army was ready to fight, the real-estate developers had taken over more than three quarters of their world, including all the beach front property.
When the time came for them to do battle, I was sent back to my homeworld. It pains me not to know how my students fared, but given the difference in time between our dimensions, by now the war is long over and I can only hope that they successfully defended their planet. I will never know for certain, of course, so all I can do is trust in the powers of Myachi.
Long Live Zerblaxia!
And in case and Gandalgoids are somehow able to read this in their dimension, Urpa gadthal cor gadas, zeblo calleen demsacto!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
This Is Not a Blog Post
by Crazy Ivan
This is not a blog post. I know that it has many of the features of a blog post. It contains words and punctuation marks and those words and those punctuation marks are organized into coherent sentences, which are further divided into paragraphs. That, when combined with the fact that it is posted on a blog, would lead the untrained eye to whole-heartedly accept that this was, in fact, a blog post.
The reason that I know that it's not a blog post is that I know for a fact that I'm too tired to write a blog post. Every muscle in my body is aching and there are muscles that I was unaware of altogether that have chosen to make their existence known to me for the first time. My ischiocrurale and my flexor retinaculum are sore. Who even knew such muscles existed? And what's more, how could a person with a sore flexor reinaculum possibly type out a blog post?
So despite the illusory blog post like nature of this collection of letters, I can say with certainty that in my expert opinion, this is not a blog post. This does, of course, leave an open question as to what, exactly, this is.
There are a few likely candidates. It could be an exercise in automatic writing. It could be the free exchange of information through some heretofore undiscovered medium. It could be that a spontaneous moment of insanity left you in a trance like state in which you hallucinated the existence of a blog post where none actually existed.
It's also possible, I suppose, that this is something entirely new to the universe. It is something that is not a blog post despite appearing in so many ways to be a blog post. Perhaps there is not yet a term in any language for what this is, as it is a phenomena unique to the world, a contrivance too rare and fleeting to deserve an appellation.
To be sure, I fully expect a blog post to appear in the near future. It will have a point and everything. And I'll restrict my vocabulary a bit and probably write about Myachi. And if I don't write about Myachi, I'll at least talk about something. Between now and then, I sleep.
This is not a blog post. I know that it has many of the features of a blog post. It contains words and punctuation marks and those words and those punctuation marks are organized into coherent sentences, which are further divided into paragraphs. That, when combined with the fact that it is posted on a blog, would lead the untrained eye to whole-heartedly accept that this was, in fact, a blog post.
The reason that I know that it's not a blog post is that I know for a fact that I'm too tired to write a blog post. Every muscle in my body is aching and there are muscles that I was unaware of altogether that have chosen to make their existence known to me for the first time. My ischiocrurale and my flexor retinaculum are sore. Who even knew such muscles existed? And what's more, how could a person with a sore flexor reinaculum possibly type out a blog post?
So despite the illusory blog post like nature of this collection of letters, I can say with certainty that in my expert opinion, this is not a blog post. This does, of course, leave an open question as to what, exactly, this is.
There are a few likely candidates. It could be an exercise in automatic writing. It could be the free exchange of information through some heretofore undiscovered medium. It could be that a spontaneous moment of insanity left you in a trance like state in which you hallucinated the existence of a blog post where none actually existed.
It's also possible, I suppose, that this is something entirely new to the universe. It is something that is not a blog post despite appearing in so many ways to be a blog post. Perhaps there is not yet a term in any language for what this is, as it is a phenomena unique to the world, a contrivance too rare and fleeting to deserve an appellation.
To be sure, I fully expect a blog post to appear in the near future. It will have a point and everything. And I'll restrict my vocabulary a bit and probably write about Myachi. And if I don't write about Myachi, I'll at least talk about something. Between now and then, I sleep.
Friday, May 13, 2011
The Blog's Back Up
by Crazy Ivan
It's about time!!!
Blogger has been having all kinds of trouble over the last couple of days so many of the recent entries seem to be popping in and out of existence. I'll work on getting all the missing material recovered (it does, after all, include DGH's incredible contest entry), but the important thing is that the site is back up and running.
No time to write much now (big party at the HQ starting in about 20 minutes) but I wanted to let everyone know that things were going to be back to normal shortly. I have a lot of stuff I've been meaning to blog about over the last day and a half so once the party is over I should be able to get back on schedule in no time.
It's about time!!!
Blogger has been having all kinds of trouble over the last couple of days so many of the recent entries seem to be popping in and out of existence. I'll work on getting all the missing material recovered (it does, after all, include DGH's incredible contest entry), but the important thing is that the site is back up and running.
No time to write much now (big party at the HQ starting in about 20 minutes) but I wanted to let everyone know that things were going to be back to normal shortly. I have a lot of stuff I've been meaning to blog about over the last day and a half so once the party is over I should be able to get back on schedule in no time.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Using the Search Feature on the Blog
by Crazy Ivan
Now that this blog has swelled to contain over 250 entries, it's gotten tough for me to dig up old articles when I need to link them. Because of that, I've been using the search feature a lot more often and it occurs to me that many of you might not even know it's there.
The search box is buried along the right side of the page there. It's below the Links, below the Labels, below the Pages, the Followers and the Subscribe Fields. It's even below the archives. There, right above the "About Me" box is a google search bar that will scour the Myachi Blog to find whatever you need.
Obviously this becomes increasingly useful as we put more and more information into the blog. Suppose you want to know about MYACH. You can type MYACH into the search bar and you'll get a handy-dandy list. Of course, you'll also get every article where I mention Kid Myach so in that particular example it might be easier to just go to the "Labels" section and click on posts actually labeled with "MYACH".
But if you want to know about something pretty specific, for example, our trip to Wisdom Lane Middle School, rather than searching through every article labeled STWAKOJ, you could simply search "Wisdom Lane" and get any and all blogs that refer to it.
Now, I know that a Google search bar isn't exactly unfamiliar technology. Most of you are probably well aware that such a feature exists and may just not have found a use for it yet. But I do receive emails pretty regularly where people ask me to send them the link to this blog post or that. The search feature can save you some time and effort there.
It's also a fun way to explore the parts of the blog you may have missed before. If you're new to the blog or if you just missed a bunch of updates (we update a lot), just try a few keywords here and there. You might be surprised by what you find.
Now that this blog has swelled to contain over 250 entries, it's gotten tough for me to dig up old articles when I need to link them. Because of that, I've been using the search feature a lot more often and it occurs to me that many of you might not even know it's there.
The search box is buried along the right side of the page there. It's below the Links, below the Labels, below the Pages, the Followers and the Subscribe Fields. It's even below the archives. There, right above the "About Me" box is a google search bar that will scour the Myachi Blog to find whatever you need.
Obviously this becomes increasingly useful as we put more and more information into the blog. Suppose you want to know about MYACH. You can type MYACH into the search bar and you'll get a handy-dandy list. Of course, you'll also get every article where I mention Kid Myach so in that particular example it might be easier to just go to the "Labels" section and click on posts actually labeled with "MYACH".
But if you want to know about something pretty specific, for example, our trip to Wisdom Lane Middle School, rather than searching through every article labeled STWAKOJ, you could simply search "Wisdom Lane" and get any and all blogs that refer to it.
Now, I know that a Google search bar isn't exactly unfamiliar technology. Most of you are probably well aware that such a feature exists and may just not have found a use for it yet. But I do receive emails pretty regularly where people ask me to send them the link to this blog post or that. The search feature can save you some time and effort there.
It's also a fun way to explore the parts of the blog you may have missed before. If you're new to the blog or if you just missed a bunch of updates (we update a lot), just try a few keywords here and there. You might be surprised by what you find.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Our 10,000th View
by Crazy Ivan
Woke up this morning to a pleasant surprise... okay, so maybe it wasn't a surprise. I suppose I was expecting it.
Overnight last night the Myachi Blog got its 10,000th view (we were at 10,002 when I checked at 9 am). I know, of course, that 10,000 is just an arbitrary number and it's no more significant than 9,416 or 12,209 but for some reason we do love zeroes in this world.
So it seemed like an appropriate time to share some basic stats from the blog with you, the loyal reader who made these stats happen:
And if these statistics bore you, sorry. The good news is that I won't do another post like this until we reach 100,000 views so you've got a while.
Update: Even in the few hours since I wrote this Australia overtook China as our 4th most popular country. Go Kangaroos!
Woke up this morning to a pleasant surprise... okay, so maybe it wasn't a surprise. I suppose I was expecting it.
Overnight last night the Myachi Blog got its 10,000th view (we were at 10,002 when I checked at 9 am). I know, of course, that 10,000 is just an arbitrary number and it's no more significant than 9,416 or 12,209 but for some reason we do love zeroes in this world.
So it seemed like an appropriate time to share some basic stats from the blog with you, the loyal reader who made these stats happen:
- The Myachi Blog premiered 66 days ago, which means that we get an average of about 151 and a half visits per day.
- The Myachi Blog has been viewed in 49 countries, but to be honest, most of those are probably accidental hits of people looking for Arsenal star Ryo Miyachi.
- No surprise, about 90% of our views come from the USA. The top non-US countries reading this blog are: #2) The Dominican Republic, #3) The United Kingdom, #4) China and #5) Australia.
- That being said, Australia is skyrocketing through the ranks right now (thanks Animal, Mav and Kid!) so it will probably move into 2nd or 3rd in the next week or two.
- About 8% of our views come from mobile devices.
- 9 out of 10 of our most popular posts have been about contests.
- The most viewed page is the Tricktionary with 190 unique views.
- Our biggest day yet was the announcement of the Photo Contest winners. On that day the Myachi Blog had about 326 unique views.
- This is the 185th post on the blog, so each post earns an average of 54 views.
- We've given away 15 Myachis in our contest so far, which means we're giving away about one Myachi every four and a half days.
- If we kept getting views at the same rate, we'd get our millionth view about March 28th of 2029.
And if these statistics bore you, sorry. The good news is that I won't do another post like this until we reach 100,000 views so you've got a while.
Update: Even in the few hours since I wrote this Australia overtook China as our 4th most popular country. Go Kangaroos!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Getting the Most Out of the Myachi Blog
by Crazy Ivan
I was talking with a good friend (and big fan of Myachi) earlier this evening about this blog. He's a far more informed computer-ite than myself so I was listening to an impressive collection of ideas and advice he had for how I can make the most out of this site and how I can help all of our readers get the most out of it as well.
There were some really cool suggestions and many of them will be implemented over the next week or so, but one of the really important things we kept coming back to was that many or most of the people who read this blog are probably not really regular blog readers. People show up here because of their love for Myachi, not so much because of their love for reading blogs.
So it occurred to us that many of the people who are reading this might not know how to use (or might not have noticed) a few of the features that the Myachi Blog has. This entry is meant to be a quick primer about all the various functions that we have here and all the various ways that you can interact and get in on the action.
#1) Follow Us
Last count we had 22 followers which means that the next 38 people who sign up to follow us are still in on our Pakisack giveaway. When you follow the Myachi Blog you can get email updates every time there's an update so you never miss a thing.
#2) Leave Comments
Below each entry is a link that invites you to "leave a comment". Remember, unlike a book, a blog is a two way street. If you have questions that the entries don't answer, if you have additional advice that might help a reader or if you just want to let us know what you do and don't like about entries, by all means, leave a comment.
#3) Share Us With Your Facebook Friends
Next to the "leave a comment" link is a series of boxes that allow you to easily share any quiz, pic, video or blog entry that you see on this site. This helps us because it brings more traffic to the Myachi Blog, but it also helps you because... well... because it brings more traffic to the Myachi Blog and you like making us smile.
#4) What Did You Think?
Alright, so I know that you want to leave a comment, but you're a happening individual with places to go and people to see. Maybe you want to let us know what you think but you don't have the time to write out whole words and assemble them together with punctuation and what-not. That's okay because we've got you covered as well.
Beneath each entry are 3 boxes marked "informative", "funny" and "cool". If you thought the blog entry was informative, funny or cool, you can let us know by just clicking on that box. Your vote will be tabulated and you will be helping us steer the content of this blog in the direction you like the most.
#5) Check the Pages
In addition to the daily posts, we also have a few pages linked on the right side of the page (over there -->). It's right below the headline that reads "Pages". There's some basic info there about the blog and the game but there's also some other cool stuff in there. If you haven't checked out the Tricktionary yet go right ahead. Seriously. Do it now... midread. I'm willing to wait.
The Tricktionary will be ever expanding with new tricks and video links added every week so be sure to check in early and often. We will also be adding new pages as resources for jammers and collectors the world over so always glance over there when you check in and see if anything's new.
#6) Shoot Us an Email
Send your emails to crazyivan@myachi.com or to aaron@myachi.com... I get both of them. If there is a question that you want to ask, a topic you'd like to see covered on the blog, an error that you've noticed or if you just want to let us know that you're enjoying the material, send an email and remind us why we're doing this thing.
And look for some cool new stuff coming in the margins of the blog in the next few days...
I was talking with a good friend (and big fan of Myachi) earlier this evening about this blog. He's a far more informed computer-ite than myself so I was listening to an impressive collection of ideas and advice he had for how I can make the most out of this site and how I can help all of our readers get the most out of it as well.
There were some really cool suggestions and many of them will be implemented over the next week or so, but one of the really important things we kept coming back to was that many or most of the people who read this blog are probably not really regular blog readers. People show up here because of their love for Myachi, not so much because of their love for reading blogs.
So it occurred to us that many of the people who are reading this might not know how to use (or might not have noticed) a few of the features that the Myachi Blog has. This entry is meant to be a quick primer about all the various functions that we have here and all the various ways that you can interact and get in on the action.
#1) Follow Us
Last count we had 22 followers which means that the next 38 people who sign up to follow us are still in on our Pakisack giveaway. When you follow the Myachi Blog you can get email updates every time there's an update so you never miss a thing.
#2) Leave Comments
Below each entry is a link that invites you to "leave a comment". Remember, unlike a book, a blog is a two way street. If you have questions that the entries don't answer, if you have additional advice that might help a reader or if you just want to let us know what you do and don't like about entries, by all means, leave a comment.
#3) Share Us With Your Facebook Friends
Next to the "leave a comment" link is a series of boxes that allow you to easily share any quiz, pic, video or blog entry that you see on this site. This helps us because it brings more traffic to the Myachi Blog, but it also helps you because... well... because it brings more traffic to the Myachi Blog and you like making us smile.
#4) What Did You Think?
Alright, so I know that you want to leave a comment, but you're a happening individual with places to go and people to see. Maybe you want to let us know what you think but you don't have the time to write out whole words and assemble them together with punctuation and what-not. That's okay because we've got you covered as well.
Beneath each entry are 3 boxes marked "informative", "funny" and "cool". If you thought the blog entry was informative, funny or cool, you can let us know by just clicking on that box. Your vote will be tabulated and you will be helping us steer the content of this blog in the direction you like the most.
#5) Check the Pages
In addition to the daily posts, we also have a few pages linked on the right side of the page (over there -->). It's right below the headline that reads "Pages". There's some basic info there about the blog and the game but there's also some other cool stuff in there. If you haven't checked out the Tricktionary yet go right ahead. Seriously. Do it now... midread. I'm willing to wait.
The Tricktionary will be ever expanding with new tricks and video links added every week so be sure to check in early and often. We will also be adding new pages as resources for jammers and collectors the world over so always glance over there when you check in and see if anything's new.
#6) Shoot Us an Email
Send your emails to crazyivan@myachi.com or to aaron@myachi.com... I get both of them. If there is a question that you want to ask, a topic you'd like to see covered on the blog, an error that you've noticed or if you just want to let us know that you're enjoying the material, send an email and remind us why we're doing this thing.
And look for some cool new stuff coming in the margins of the blog in the next few days...
Monday, February 7, 2011
First Myachi Giveaway!
by Crazy Ivan
So we officially debuted the Myachi Blog to the inner circle of Myachi Mania yesterday at half-time, but today is the first day we're going public to the masses, so welcome, masses. In addition to keeping you up to the second with all the goings on within the Myachi movement and providing a resource for help with tricks, trades and techniques, the new Myachi Blog is also going to serve another important (and awesome purpose):
Giving away Myachis!
"You can't be serious!" you would yell if you totally didn't know how computers worked. Rest assured, this is not a drill and it is not a dry run for April Fool's Day. We will be giving away more than one Myachi a month and occasionally more than two a month. We might just go crazy here and there and give away more than three on some months.
To keep things fun and exciting, we've been brain storming at HQ and the House of Skills for the past week and we've come up with dozens of different contests and sweepstakes we can do ranging from video contests to Skype tournaments to essay submissions to Myachi digital scavenger hunts (which is every bit as cool as it sounds). But the first contest is probably going to be the easiest one to win.
How to Win a Limited Edition Pakisack:
Just sign up to follow the Myachi Blog. It's that simple. The first 50 people who sign up as followers will be automatically entered into the sweepstakes to win their choice of 1 of 3 different limited edition (less than 200 made) special event sacks.
If you don't already have a google account, you might have to jump through a few hoops to sign up as a follower but you'll know you're signed up for the giveaway when you see your name listed on the right side of the blog under "followers".
We'll do the drawing as soon as the 50th follower signs up (or the morning immediately after) and announce the winner with much confetti and fanfare. Remember, if you talk other friends into signing up you hasten the drawing so lets get to 50 as fast as we can!
Also, look for new contest related announcements every Monday.
So we officially debuted the Myachi Blog to the inner circle of Myachi Mania yesterday at half-time, but today is the first day we're going public to the masses, so welcome, masses. In addition to keeping you up to the second with all the goings on within the Myachi movement and providing a resource for help with tricks, trades and techniques, the new Myachi Blog is also going to serve another important (and awesome purpose):
Giving away Myachis!
"You can't be serious!" you would yell if you totally didn't know how computers worked. Rest assured, this is not a drill and it is not a dry run for April Fool's Day. We will be giving away more than one Myachi a month and occasionally more than two a month. We might just go crazy here and there and give away more than three on some months.
To keep things fun and exciting, we've been brain storming at HQ and the House of Skills for the past week and we've come up with dozens of different contests and sweepstakes we can do ranging from video contests to Skype tournaments to essay submissions to Myachi digital scavenger hunts (which is every bit as cool as it sounds). But the first contest is probably going to be the easiest one to win.
How to Win a Limited Edition Pakisack:
Just sign up to follow the Myachi Blog. It's that simple. The first 50 people who sign up as followers will be automatically entered into the sweepstakes to win their choice of 1 of 3 different limited edition (less than 200 made) special event sacks.
If you don't already have a google account, you might have to jump through a few hoops to sign up as a follower but you'll know you're signed up for the giveaway when you see your name listed on the right side of the blog under "followers".
We'll do the drawing as soon as the 50th follower signs up (or the morning immediately after) and announce the winner with much confetti and fanfare. Remember, if you talk other friends into signing up you hasten the drawing so lets get to 50 as fast as we can!
Also, look for new contest related announcements every Monday.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Welcome to the Myachi Blog
by Crazy Ivan
So here I am at the office on Sunday afternoon with Unknown and Kid Myachi. We just finished up an epic birthday party for Simon (SMaster) and now that things have slowed down a bit, I figured it would be an ideal time to write the inaugural entry for this new blog.
The Myachi Blog is intended as a insiders pipeline to everything new in the Myachi universe. I will be blogging at least 5 days a week keeping our readers up to date on all the groovy goings-on from the corporate end of the Myachi world. In addition, Monk, Pinky, Kid, Bones, Animal, Mav and the other Myachi Masters will be chiming in to keep us up to speed on everything happening on the front lines.
The online community has been one of the main pillars upon which the fortress of Myachi is built. Ever since our first forum opened in 2003 we have gone out of our way to stay in touch with the disparate enclaves of Myachi mania that have sprung up all over the world. Whether it's a lone maniac in Cleveland, a group of friends in North Dallas or a school in Beijing we've always tried to keep the community connected.
The Myachi Blog is the next logical step in this effort. We hope that this will provide yet another resource for Myachi fanatics to stay plugged in to the community and to share their thoughts, stories and questions. We want as many contributors as possible, so we encourage everyone to chime in on the comments section below or to send questions, suggested blog topics or your own stories/artwork/poetry/myachi-related awesomeness to me at aaron@myachi.com and perhaps we can include it in a future update.
Looks like we chose a perfect week to start the blog. We have a big week coming up with the immanent filming of the new Myachi commercial so there should be plenty to talk about. There's also a new series in the pipeline along with some really cool new online concepts coming soon. Check in with the blog regularly to stay up to date with all the latest and greatest.
Gotta hop. Looks like Unknown needs a few Ping Pong lessons. Until next time,
Spread the Word and Keep on Jamming.
So here I am at the office on Sunday afternoon with Unknown and Kid Myachi. We just finished up an epic birthday party for Simon (SMaster) and now that things have slowed down a bit, I figured it would be an ideal time to write the inaugural entry for this new blog.
The Myachi Blog is intended as a insiders pipeline to everything new in the Myachi universe. I will be blogging at least 5 days a week keeping our readers up to date on all the groovy goings-on from the corporate end of the Myachi world. In addition, Monk, Pinky, Kid, Bones, Animal, Mav and the other Myachi Masters will be chiming in to keep us up to speed on everything happening on the front lines.
The online community has been one of the main pillars upon which the fortress of Myachi is built. Ever since our first forum opened in 2003 we have gone out of our way to stay in touch with the disparate enclaves of Myachi mania that have sprung up all over the world. Whether it's a lone maniac in Cleveland, a group of friends in North Dallas or a school in Beijing we've always tried to keep the community connected.
The Myachi Blog is the next logical step in this effort. We hope that this will provide yet another resource for Myachi fanatics to stay plugged in to the community and to share their thoughts, stories and questions. We want as many contributors as possible, so we encourage everyone to chime in on the comments section below or to send questions, suggested blog topics or your own stories/artwork/poetry/myachi-related awesomeness to me at aaron@myachi.com and perhaps we can include it in a future update.
Looks like we chose a perfect week to start the blog. We have a big week coming up with the immanent filming of the new Myachi commercial so there should be plenty to talk about. There's also a new series in the pipeline along with some really cool new online concepts coming soon. Check in with the blog regularly to stay up to date with all the latest and greatest.
Gotta hop. Looks like Unknown needs a few Ping Pong lessons. Until next time,
Spread the Word and Keep on Jamming.
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