{"id":7835,"date":"2011-04-19T17:36:59","date_gmt":"2011-04-19T22:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=7835"},"modified":"2022-02-14T07:36:37","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T12:36:37","slug":"running-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/","title":{"rendered":"Running the Table"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Running the table occurs in billiards when a player takes the break shot, pockets every required ball, and wins the game outright before his opponent ever has a chance to take a single shot. The entire sequence happens flawlessly, a perfect balance of skill and luck with awesome and impressive results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve been trying to &#8220;run the table&#8221; figuratively speaking for more than three years on Twelve Mile Circle. I defined it as receiving at least one visitor from each of the fifty United States plus the District of Columbia all on on the same day. Yesterday it finally happened. Please forgive me in advance for this incredibly self-indulgent post as I reflect upon this momentous occasion. It doesn\u2019t take much to please me, truly. I&#8217;m doing the Happy Dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/every-state.jpg\" alt=\"I Got a Visitor from Every State -- Google Analytics screen shot.\"\/><figcaption>A visitor from every state!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Doesn\u2019t that map look magnificent? Every space is filled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"google-analytics-obsession\">Google Analytics Obsession<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You already know that I have a thing for maps because everything on the 12MC relates to that topic in some manner or form. If you\u2019ve been reading my blog for any length of time you also know how I salivate over my Google Analytics figures, especially the mapping functions. I\u2019ve celebrated the arrival of visitors from <a href=\"\/blog\/?p=2345\">remote corners of the world<\/a>. I\u2019ve highlighted <a href=\"\/blog\/?p=4411\">anomalies appearing<\/a> on my Analytics maps. Sometimes I\u2019ve even resorted to <a href=\"\/blog\/?p=103\">begging and pleading<\/a> to fill in the blank spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One thing eluded me. I\u2019d never run my personal version of the table. I&#8217;ve checked every evening with a hopeful heart, thinking &#8220;today might be the day.&#8221; Days, months, then years passed and many times I came oh-so-close. I fell one state short on multiple occasions, usually a Dakota or Montana, but sometimes Rhode Island or Maine. Kansas used to be a problem until one of my loyal readers thoughtfully <a href=\"\/blog\/?p=6946\">locked it down for me<\/a>. I\u2019d been getting closer the last couple of months with increasingly frequent near-misses, and I had a feeling this day was coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The universe of people who appreciate geo-oddities is rather small. This website doesn\u2019t generate outrageous traffic volumes and I\u2019m fine with that. Otherwise I\u2019d write SEO-friendly celebrity gossip or something. I\u2019d rather focus on our obscure niche and enjoy the give-and-take of our conversations as we move along on our strange little journey. Nonetheless my conscious decision to limit my audience appeal complicated my competing priorities such as running the table. I\u2019d been blocked for the longest time &#8212; but now the table has been run!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"good-enough\">Good Enough<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I ran it with conviction, too. Virginia and California both delivered 50+ visitors. The District of Columbia hit 32. Twenty locations fell into the double-digits. Only Maine, South Dakota and New Hampshire referred only a single viewer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I bet you\u2019re wondering about Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands which all have their own top-level domains. I did capture Puerto Rico yesterday but not any of the others. In that instance, I guess some observers might quibble that I didn\u2019t actually run the table. Well, perhaps in the strictest sense that\u2019s true, but it also provides me with another goal. The Northern Mariana Islands will be the toughest one though. I\u2019ve only gotten four visitors from those remote island in the entire history of the blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My current accomplishment has already started feeling a little anticlimactic after that initial Adrenalin rush. On to bigger and better things!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Running the table occurs in billiards when a player takes the break shot, pockets every required ball, and wins the game outright before his opponent ever has a chance to take a single shot. The entire sequence happens flawlessly, a perfect balance of skill and luck with awesome and impressive results. I\u2019ve been trying to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2350,501,21],"tags":[7401,204],"class_list":["post-7835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-event","category-states","tag-billiards","tag-google-analytics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Running the Table - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle managed to get a visitor from each of the fifty United States plus DC and PR on a single day.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Running the Table - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle managed to get a visitor from each of the fifty United States plus DC and PR on a single day.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-19T22:36:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-14T12:36:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/every-state.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@TheReal12MC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Twelve Mile Circle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"headline\":\"Running the Table\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-19T22:36:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-14T12:36:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":592,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/blog\\\/every-state.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Billiards\",\"Google Analytics\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Announcements\",\"Event\",\"U.S. States\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/\",\"name\":\"Running the Table - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/blog\\\/every-state.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-19T22:36:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-14T12:36:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"Twelve Mile Circle managed to get a visitor from each of the fifty United States plus DC and PR on a single day.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/blog\\\/every-state.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/graphics\\\/blog\\\/every-state.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/running-the-table\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Running the Table\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places\",\"description\":\"(scroll down if article doesn&#039;t appear)\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e\",\"name\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Twelve Mile Circle\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/12\\\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.twelvemilecircle.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/TheReal12MC\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.howderfamily.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/tom\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Running the Table - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","description":"Twelve Mile Circle managed to get a visitor from each of the fifty United States plus DC and PR on a single day.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Running the Table - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","og_description":"Twelve Mile Circle managed to get a visitor from each of the fifty United States plus DC and PR on a single day.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/","og_site_name":"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","article_published_time":"2011-04-19T22:36:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-14T12:36:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/every-state.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Twelve Mile Circle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TheReal12MC","twitter_site":"@TheReal12MC","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Twelve Mile Circle","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/"},"author":{"name":"Twelve Mile Circle","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"headline":"Running the Table","datePublished":"2011-04-19T22:36:59+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-14T12:36:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/"},"wordCount":592,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/every-state.jpg","keywords":["Billiards","Google Analytics"],"articleSection":["Announcements","Event","U.S. States"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/","name":"Running the Table - Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/every-state.jpg","datePublished":"2011-04-19T22:36:59+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-14T12:36:37+00:00","description":"Twelve Mile Circle managed to get a visitor from each of the fifty United States plus DC and PR on a single day.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/every-state.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/graphics\/blog\/every-state.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/running-the-table\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Running the Table"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/","name":"Twelve Mile Circle - An Appreciation of Unusual Places","description":"(scroll down if article doesn&#039;t appear)","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d80a5a18ef467b299e8ca0ed890ba1e","name":"Twelve Mile Circle","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Twelve Mile Circle"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/cropped-1862map_for_blog_header-1.jpg"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.twelvemilecircle.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/TheReal12MC"],"url":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/author\/tom\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7835"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28774,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7835\/revisions\/28774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}