Blowing my own horn

The blog you've grown to hate reached an important milestone last Thursday when no one was looking: 500,000 page views. (1)

Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting, for sending me emails, and also for protecting my back when the blog-battles got ugly.

Thanks, too, to the core chevra (2) the gang of fantatsic commenters who are equal partners in the marginal and heavily-exagerated success of this blog.

I wanted to thank each member of the CC individually, until I realized that would require time + effort; worse, if I tried to do that, I would definately forget someone and catch (deserved) hell for it. Anyway, the members of the CC know who they are, and I hope they also know my appreciation is sincere, not to mention well-deserved: By my informal count, the CC is responsible for, like, 80 percent of the hits, and... I don't know... maybe 90 percent of the posts. The truly awful ones, I admit, were written by me, but edited and greenlighted by GH. In retrospect, I should not have been so trusting. Ah, well. Live and learn.

Anyway, Toot! Toot! (3) and thanks for everything. Really.

Unnecessary verbiage

(1) I count page views, not unique visitors, because that's the minhag hamakom. When Jewish blogs say hits, they mean page views. I have had, as of this moment, 238,548 unique visitors,

* I started counting in October 2004

*The counter that passed 500,000 last Thursday (on the bottom of the screen) blocks and does not register hits from any of the computers I use. It counts each visit from Ezzie's computer three times which may explain a few things.

(2) In all, I suppose the blog has had three core chevras: (1) The chesed neurayich group which supported me in the begining; (2) the Summer of Love group, a group of true misfits and lunatics who made writing the blog a breeze. When they were around, all I needed to do was put a funny picture, or make a wry observation and they took it from there; and (3) the current crew. I don't have a name for you yet and, unlike the summer of love crew, you make me work for a living, but, honestly, if it weren't for the sad fact that many of you guys are unrepentant, retrograde Republicans I would love you all the same. Thanks for being here.

(3) Yes, Alex, I know many people have been a part of all three groups.

* Is it just me or do you also think its kind of creepy how Gil celebrates each of his blog's milestones by saying, "Thank You Sir, May I Have Another Hundred Thousand?" (Only my respect for Gil keeps me from making the obvious joke. Perhaps someone will do it for me on the thread.)