Benp/add total event count

@rocha @brianhw @mulby 

I think it makes sense to get started on review. For now, could you ignore (or at most, skim) the test files? 

The prod code is worth a closer look at this point, and I welcome any feedback.
Sorry, the previous comment should have been on the test_no_time_element() test below.  Not sure what this is really testing.