Author: Jonathan Blundell

I'm a husband, father of three, blogger, podcaster, author and media geek who is hoping to live a simple life and follow The Way.

Google Earth updates Jos Nigeria


Screen shot of Jos Nigeria
Originally uploaded by Jonathan D. Blundell.

Just discovered that Google Earth has updated their satellite images of Jos, Nigeria.
Awesome! The streets don’t line up at all but maybe some folks from Jos can build a KML file of some of the SIMS and Evangel Hospital sites in the city…. (hint hint hint)

I built a basic Google Earth (KMZ) file to highlight one or two things I could distinctly see – but its not very extensive or comprehensive by any means. Download the file and then open it in Google Earth to see the new imagery.

Related ::
Google Earth
Google Earth :: Jos Nigeria KMZ file
Photos from my 2006 trip to Jos
Photos of the football/soccer stadium mentioned in the KMZ file :: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
CWF photos from Nigeria 2007
CWF :: Christian Wrestling Federation

Random web stats for the day

I always have fun with web stats. Google Analytics is probably my favorite stats tracker. We have AWstats on our server – but it doesn’t do near as good of a job tracking WordPress posts.

But for those of you who are interested… here’s our the top posts/pages that were viewed from July 6 – July 11 (for the entire casadeblundell.com domain).

Justin Farmer to leave WFAA (written Jan 8, 2008)
Newt Gingrich on InTouch (written July 9, 2008)
Ellis County churches (and beyond) (written March 12, 2006 – updated since)
SSL links

275 of the visits came from the United States with 148 visits coming from Texas and 42 of those coming from Irving and 6 coming from Sulphur Springs.

58% of you use Internet Explorer (booo!) and 33% of you use Firefox (yeah!).

Only 10 of the visits were from dial-up or slower connections (possibly cellphone use).

There were a couple unique keywords used to find our domain through search engines… including cynthia izzzzzaaaaaguuuuuuuiiiiiiireeeeeeeeee and enormous butt (which brought 6 visitors apparently to a picture by brandi).

So there you have it. Random stats for the day. Hope you enjoyed it.
Now I think I’ll go check out the stats for encounter.

re: Simply living simply

Suzanne at Adventures in Daily Living shared some thoughts and ideas on how to live simply. She shares the following list from A Vision Splendid:

1. Living within our means in a small house with no debt
2. No commercial TV
3. Cooking from scratch
4. Finding old ‘sturdy’ items second hand rather than a constant supply of cheap ‘made in china’ items that need replacing every 12 months
5. Spending quality family time together
6. Baking our own bread
7. Brewing our own beer
8. Fixing things ourselves
9. Growing what we can
10. Doing our own renovations
11. Using the town library as a resource
12. Buying local produce
13. Composting our food scraps
14. Minimising plastic packaging on foods
15. Avoiding petrochemicals in products
16. Work on a completely cash budget
17. Changing all lights to CFLs
18. Line dry the washing
19. Menu planning
20. Buying Australian grocery items where local not available
21. Stockpiling
22. Managing my home in a single binder
23. Getting ahead by applying the 6P principle
24. Having a planning day once a week
25. Having a cooking day once a week
26. Work hard at ‘saving’ through the year for an annual holiday
27. Using old fashioned items and remedies – e.g. washup with sunlight soap, put eucalyptus oil on your hankie if you feel a cold coming.
28. Wear an apron to keep your clothes clean
29. Turn the TV off and read out loud to my children
30. Wear hand me downs
31. Avoiding food additives and chemicals

The original list also contains some ideas for a “family eco-challenge.” Are you and your family doing any of these things? Anything you would add to the list?

Related ::
Adventures in Daily Living :: Stay Home Day
A Vision Splendid :: Our Simple Life
SSL :: Simply living simply pt 1
SSL :: Simply living simply pt 2
Shaun Groves :: Simplicity

Update on Laurie

Well Laurie went and saw the neurologist this morning. I probably should have gone with her – I couldn’t focus on work after her initial txt message ;-).
The neurologist said she did fracture her t-spine in 4 places from her fall last week.
When she passed out last Tuesday morning she basically took a nose dive off the examination table and landed on the top of her head.
She then continued her roll and strained her neck and shoulder muscles.
The resulting compression from the fall is what likely fractured her t-spine.
She’s still in a good deal of pain but the neurologist said that because it is her spine and not her neck her rib cage works as a natural protection so no C-Collar is necessary and she can return to work tomorrow – but must avoid any heavy lifting.
The doctor expects her to heal naturally on her own and X-Rays from this morning seem to show that has already started.
Please continue to pray for her healing – specifically a continued reduction in her pain.
The mornings seem to be the worse and if she returns to work tomorrow she won’t be able to take any pain meds early in the morning to help reduce the pain.
Thanks again for all your prayers, txt messages, emails and such – and a special thanks to those of you who helped out by providing several meals for us!
We do have some great friends and family!

Related ::
Info on the T-spine
Vertigo :: Laurie’s recap of the fall
SSL :: Meeting the girl of my dreams
SSL :: Red Oak water supply and other updates