November 18, 2005

Any suggestions on how to mark the occasion?

The Site Meter is getting awfully close to 3 million right now.

20 comments:

Ron said...

How about a poll for 'Favorite Althouse thread'?

Finn Alexander Kristiansen said...

In the same way corporations will give away a free thousand or ten to the upteenth customer, you should, upon hitting 3 million, give all your most loyal readers either homebaked cupcakes, a weeks blog ad, or a link on your roll. Run some kind of contest or something.

Pete said...

Mmmm. Cupcakes.

Whatever way you choose to celebrate, please please please don't let it have anything to do with bodily fluids.

Harkonnendog said...

All Althoustians shall do a rum jello shot in honor of the 3,000,000 post. Recipe here:

http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink586.html

Hunter McDaniel said...

Chocolate is always appropriate for an occasion like this.

Palladian said...

Champagne for everyone! Might I suggest Krug 1988?

bill said...

A healthy serving of Wisconsin Beer Cheese soup with polish sausage.

reader_iam said...

Hmmm. Off the top of my head (in addition to way seconding the champagne suggestion):

1) Buy yourself a new microphone for your podcasts? (I don't have a problem with what you're doing now, but you've mentioned not being sure it's the best thing.)

2) Contact that star registry place and naming a star after your blog?

3) Be especially generous to your sworn enemies for a day and sponsor an open house for your neighborhood squirrels and bats?

4) Reveal the identify of the perfect Althouse man?

Or you could just set a new goal and keep on keepin' on ...

Congrats, Ann--should we all just keep going away and coming back over and over and over and over and over and over to push you over the top?

I'm Full of Soup said...

How about a "cheezy" prize (they have them in Wisconsin?) for that 3 millionth visitor who innocently rambles over to Che Althouse?

Ann Althouse said...

Iam: I do want to get a new microphone for my podcasts, but I don't know what to get. Can someone just tell me?

Rick Lee said...

I recently offered to send a prize (a print of a photo or a print of one of my pastel paintings) to the 50,000th visitor as marked by sitemeter. The person was from South Windham, Maine and I said "if that's you, email me for your prize". I thought it was a huge stroke of luck that it was a small town. If it had been some big city, there'd be no way to tell who it was. I can see that that person has been back several times but he/she has elected not to come forward. [shrug]

Palladian said...

Ann,

Assuming you want something easy that you can just plug into a USB port and go, I recommend the Samson C01U which you can buy here. It's the only (I believe) USB condenser mic on the market, it works well with GarageBand and has a smooth, flat frequency response. You'll also need a stand and the shockmount for this mic, to eliminate microphone sounds.

I think this will be adequate for you, and is a good choice if you don't want to fuss with preamps and phantom power and such that come with the next step up in the mic range. Since you do long-form podcasts, I think this will be a wise investment, as it will improve your sound quality and give a much nicer presentation of your unique voice than the ViaVoice mic you've been using.

reader_iam said...

Ann--dear musician/electrical engineer/technology architect husband is just off to a gig.

But he suggested that if you wanted a mic that would be easy to use and was a good compromise between the Samson CO1u (which is fine) and a true studio mike (which would require a special audio interface), you might want to check out the Blue Microphones Snowball Microphone available through The Apple Store.

I would just give you the link but the URL is custom for my account. However, here's a snippet from their blurb (note reference to podcasts):

Blue Microphones Snowball Microphone

The world's first professional USB mic, Snowball is not only easy to use, but sounds as good on your desktop as it does in a professional recording studio.
Price: $149.00

Estimated Ship:
10-15 business day
Free Shipping

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Whether you're recording a guitar at your kitchen table or a complete band in the studio, the Snowball can capture it with detail unheard of before in a USB mic.

The Snowball is a direct plug and play mic that connects to either a Mac or PC--no additional software is needed. With its dual capsule design and unique three-pattern switch (cardioid, cardioid with -10dB pad, and omni), the Snowball can handle everything from soft vocals to the loudest garage band--and it's ideal for podcasting. Check it out and you'll see why it's the coolest mic in town.

sonicfrog said...

Free cup cakes for all!!!

vbspurs said...

Drat! I was going to mention that in an aside in my last comment last night -- 3,000,000 coming soon.

Well, seeing as how my last suggestion, for a Christmas sketch by your fair little hands, was meant with Queen Victoria-like disdain, I'd like to go along with Ron.

"Favourite Althouse Thread" sounds a treat.

Cheers,
Victoria

Robert said...

You should throw a wild blogger party/con in Madison. It's relatively central.

And you should pay my way for thinking of it. I'll even do a keynote speech for you, your choice of topics.

XWL said...

A party at home for a special occaison isn't enough, howabout a weekend in Vegas (plus cheap airfares and hotels from anywhere).

(nothing says party like ersatz pyramids, eiffel towers, statue of liberties or venetian canals, oh, and gambling, plus there's Heidi's Stud Farm (pending approval of her license))

amba said...

Choose and fly to an appealing city of 3 million. Or if you can't fly there, post pictures of it on the blog and brag, "I've had as many visits as there are people in ______________."

James Wigderson said...

Put up golden arches over the banner.

vbspurs said...

Put up golden arches over the banner.

Super-Size me!

Cheers,
Victoria