🎉 Google Says People Are Clicking on Me! Should I Be Worried? 😂
Well, look at that! Google sent me a little congratulations message. Apparently, NielFlamm.com received 70 clicks from Google Search in the past 28 days! 🎉
Seventy! That's practically a standing-room-only event online. 😂
Now I'm wondering... what exactly are people searching for?
Did someone Google my name out of curiosity? 🤔
Did someone hear about my website and think, "Who is this guy, and why does he have a website?"
Did somebody search for a movie review, stumble across my blog, and suddenly find themselves reading about dialysis, life as an amputee, dating adventures, or my ongoing saga with Nextdoor?
Or did someone accidentally click the link and immediately think, "Well, I'm here now. Let's see what this guy is talking about!" 🤣
I'll probably never know, and that's part of the fun.
But here's what really matters to me.
When I started tracking these numbers, I was getting barely 50 clicks a month on the website. The numbers have grown steadily, and 70 clicks in the past 28 days is another small milestone worth celebrating.
I'm not competing with major publications or trying to become the next internet celebrity. I'm simply sharing my experiences, opinions, movie reviews, and stories from this crazy thing we call life.
And to those of you who have been visiting since the early days, THANK YOU! ❤️
You know who you are.
Whether you come to read a blog post, watch a video, check out a movie review, follow one of my adventures, or see what nonsense I've gotten myself into this week, I appreciate you.
It doesn't matter why you visit. You took the time to click, read, watch, or share your thoughts, and that means something to me.
Every click represents an opportunity for someone to discover something new, laugh a little, relate to an experience, or maybe see something from a different perspective.
So, to my early supporters and everyone who's joined along the way, thank you for helping NielFlamm.com grow.
And to the person who Googled me, clicked the link, and is now reading this very paragraph...
Welcome! There's a lot of internet garbage to explore. Grab a virtual cup of coffee and make yourself at home. ☕😂
Here's to the next milestone!
NielFlamm.com Keeps Going Global: 19 Million Characters and Counting
A few days ago, I shared the translation activity for NielFlamm.com. The numbers impressed me then—and apparently the translation engine decided it was just getting warmed up.
Here is how the latest 30-day statistics compare:
Translated characters: 18 million to 19 million
Translated words: Holding steady at 3 million
Input bandwidth: 1.2 GB to 1.24 GB
Translation requests: 4,000 to 5,000
That means another one million characters were translated, while requests increased by 25%. Not bad for a website operated by one bald guy in South Carolina.
The language rankings also shifted.
Italian remains firmly in first place, although its share decreased from 75.8% to 71.5% as other languages gained ground. Russian moved into second place at 4.4%, followed by Chinese at 4.0% and Spanish at 3.3%. Dutch and Vietnamese were tied at 3.1%, with French close behind at 3.0%.
Previously, Italian was followed by Spanish and Vietnamese. Seeing Russian and Chinese climb the rankings shows that the audience is becoming more geographically diverse—which was the entire reason for adding translation options.
What I really want to know is: Which posts are all these readers translating?
Are they reading my movie reviews, health updates, travel stories, scam warnings, Nextdoor adventures, or dating-app experiments? Perhaps somewhere in Italy, someone is translating one of my posts and wondering, “What exactly is going on with this bald American?”
If you use the translation feature, please let me know which posts brought you to the website and which language you selected.
I recently added Thai and Czech. They have not cracked the top rankings yet, but I’ll give them time. Rome wasn’t translated in a day.
Thank you to everyone reading, watching, and exploring NielFlamm.com in whichever language feels most comfortable. These may be numbers on a dashboard, but each request shows that the content is reaching beyond its original language.
I appreciate every one of you.
Meditation, a Whopper, and Four Words of Wisdom: Make Good Choices
Tonight, I went to a meditation meeting.
It’s a new meeting, and this was my first time attending. I’d heard awesome things about it; I knew the person guiding the group, and after the last few months—and especially the last week—I figured, why not?
I could probably use a little more conscious contact with the Spirit in the Fourth Dimension to help me be of maximum use to all humanity.
Apparently, immediately afterward, humanity was waiting for me at Burger King.
The meeting ended at 8:00 p.m., which was already way past dinner for me. I hadn’t eaten lunch either.
Correction.
I had half of a King Size Kit Kat bar for lunch.
So, nutritionally speaking, I was thriving.
I was going to make my usual Harris Teeter stop, but then I saw Burger King.
The King was calling.
I safely crossed two lanes of traffic to make the left because, at that particular moment, I wanted to have it my way.
I ordered a Whopper Jr., fries, and—of course—a Coke Zero. I also ordered a Rodeo Burger because I love the onion rings and BBQ sauce combo.
I was sitting there waiting for my food when I heard someone yelling.
I looked ahead, and this dude was waving his hands, obviously trying to get my attention.
I don’t remember everything he said before this, but I definitely heard:
“I just got out of the pen, and I’m hungry.”
I assumed by “the pen,” he meant prison.
Well.
Welcome back to society. Apparently, I was his Burger King ambassador.
The timing was also interesting.
I had recently talked with Sam Taylor (https://www.facebook.com/sam.peralta.18041), someone I previously led on a Learning & Development team, about my dating adventures—including the woman who wanted help paying her rent and then, after one date, her phone bill.
Sam and I talked about something we both tend to do: we don’t typically hand people money, but we’re willing to buy something they need.
That has generally been one of my boundaries.
I’ve also had a roommate who frequently said:
“I’m one paycheck from being homeless.”
I’ve never forgotten that.
I get it.
Part of my recovery is trying to be useful to other people while still maintaining boundaries.
So I told the guy I’d buy him something to eat.
I got my meal and tried to get the attention of the Burger King drive-thru dudes, who, by the way, were really nice.
I asked if I could order another meal.
Nope.
Apparently, once I reached the window, the sacred Burger King ordering process couldn't be disturbed.
I had to drive around again.
That seemed ridiculous.
But okay.
I asked the guy what he wanted to drink.
“Sprite.”
I told him:
“Don’t move. I have to drive around again.”
He started thanking me and told me he had a gift for me.
I immediately said:
“It’s all good, sir. No gift.”
Meanwhile, inside my head, several possibilities were being considered as to exactly what kind of “gift” a guy who had just gotten out of the pen might be planning to give me.
I decided I was good.
No gift necessary.
I drove around Burger King again, ordered him a Whopper meal with a Sprite, paid, got the food, and pulled forward to hand it to him.
He thanked me and told me he would “pay me back on the back end.”
I’m pretty sure I’m never going to see this guy again.
And that’s okay.
I didn’t buy him dinner because I expected him to pay me back.
Before I drove away, I left him with four words:
“Make good choices.”
He looked at me and said:
“Those are some words of wisdom. Make good choices.”
I wished him luck and drove away.
Then I ate my fries.
For me, that was the unexpected lesson at the end of tonight’s meditation.
I didn’t solve someone’s life. I didn’t give away everything I had. I didn’t abandon my boundaries.
I just bought a hungry stranger a Whopper and a Sprite.
I don’t know if he’ll remember the meal or those four words. I don’t know what happens next in his life.
I only know that tonight, he wasn’t hungry.
And tonight, I received another reminder that being of service doesn’t always happen where I expect it.
Sometimes I find the Spirit in the Fourth Dimension through meditation.
And sometimes...
I find it in the Burger King drive-thru.
I had it my way.
And hopefully, both of us will make good choices.
Lost in Translation—in the Best Possible Way
After uploading my vlog about Resident Evil 2026—which you should definitely check out—I decided to peek at the translation metrics for my website.
Honestly, I hadn’t checked the translation API in quite some time. Apparently, while I wasn’t paying attention, the internet was busy translating.
The numbers impressed me:
18 million characters translated
3 million words translated
4,000 translation requests
Italian generated the most page views by language, followed by Spanish and Vietnamese. Chinese came in last, which surprised me because China has previously been one of the top sources of traffic to my website.
Today, I added two more languages: Thai and Czech.
I added Thai because I hope to spend part of my remaining years living in Thailand. If I’m going to enjoy the beaches, food, culture, and hopefully a beachfront view, it seems only fair that Thai readers can enjoy my adventures—and occasional misadventures—in their own language.
Czech was also added because the more people who can read and watch my content, the better. My website is slowly becoming more multilingual than I am. I’m still working on English some days.
To everyone who has visited, read a blog post, watched a video, or translated my content: thank you.
These numbers may not break the internet, but they mean a great deal to me. I truly enjoy bringing this content to you and sharing the strange, funny, serious, and unexpected moments of my life.
Thank you for reading, watching, and joining me on the journey—wherever in the world you may be.
From 400 to 1,500: Thank You for Being Here
About two weeks ago, I looked at my website numbers and wondered, “What happened?”
Viewership was at one of its lowest points since launching the webpage. I was seeing numbers around 400, and I couldn’t figure out what had changed.
I still don’t know.
But as of yesterday, my hits and unique views had climbed to more than 1,500, with total page views topping 1,900.
All I can say is… thank you.
It is amazing to see how far this little corner of the internet is reaching. The largest share of views is coming from China, and the statistics show visits from Iran, Pakistan, Ireland, the Philippines, Canada, the United States, Venezuela, Turkey, and many more countries.
Looking at that list, it feels like nearly the whole world is represented. I sit down to share something from my life, and somehow it travels to places I have never been, reaching people I may never have the opportunity to meet.
That is pretty incredible.
Creating this blog is a joy. It gives me a place to be creative, share my experiences, and put some of what is going on in my head into words. It is also cathartic. Sometimes writing helps me work through things that are hard to sort out any other way.
Knowing that people are stopping by makes it even more meaningful.
Whether you came here for my experiences as an amputee, my health journey, my faith, a cruise story, or simply to see what questionable joke I might tell next, I appreciate you being here.
I hope to keep bringing you content that is interesting, honest, and worth your time. There is plenty of life left to write about, and apparently, I now have an international audience for my search for a future ex-wife.
Surely that improves the odds a little.
I would love to hear from you. Where are you reading from? What brought you to the page? What stories have connected with you? Share as much or as little as you feel comfortable sharing.
Thank you for reading, coming back, and sharing this space with me. Whether this is your first visit or you have been following along from the beginning, I’m grateful.
With gratitude,
Niel