Garbanzo Toons

Lost Comments

I left comments on my blog and on other blogs a week or so ago. (Who can keep track of time any more?) They disappeared. Or they never showed up, I'm not sure. And they were really good lengthy comments. Really. Probably my best ever. And they're gone. If I had any time, I'd go back and try to recreate them. Instead I will go back and leave something that's probably lame, and make sure that the comments get posted. Because, let's face it, it's probably some idiot mistake I made (repeatedly) that caused the comments to not post in the first place. If I was getting the amount of sleep I probably, I doubt I would have made those mistakes.

Labels: blogs

posted by Harry @ 7:18 PM 4 comments

Update

Yes, blog posts have been extremely sparse here on Garbanzo Toons. And I've not spent much time visiting other blogs either. But somehow, no matter how busy I get, and how much I neglect my miniscule portion of the blogosphere, I always have time to leap into arguments with ignorant, deluded Israel bashers. For my latest, go to the comment section of this post at Conservative Outrage, where once again, I battle Elizabeth.

Labels: blogs, Israel, Israel advocacy

posted by Harry @ 12:34 PM 3 comments

Busy Times

I really thought I'd have lots of free time this summer so I could do a lot of blog posts. But my advertising blitz paid off big time, and I'm spending most of my days tutoring.

That is not a complaint, merely an explanation. After all I get paid for tutoring, not as much as some tutors, but it's still a few extra dollars. It's nice when after my wife pays the bills, I don't hear, "Try not to spend any money. We've only got $----.-- left in checking and it's got to last for the next two weeks."

I'm currently working on two blog posts, because I still need to rant occasionally, so they will be up at some point. And remind me to tell you about our trip to Heidelberg Street.

Labels: blogs, tutoring

posted by Harry @ 10:30 PM 4 comments

Why I Love the Blogosphere aka Why My Local Newpaper has Become Irrelevent

In the blogosphere (fast becoming, for me at least, synonymous with the Internet) I can read news and commentary by; Michelle Malkin, Victor Hanson, Orson Scott Card, Mark Steyn, Ann Coulter, James Lileks, Thomas Sowell, Melanie Phillips, Walter Williams, Mona Charen, Jeff Jacoby, Jonah Goldberg, Charles Krauthammer, Daniel Pipes, Oriana Fallaci, Martin Kramer, Dennis Prager, Jonathan Tobin, and others. Contributers to one site offer leads to intriguing reading at other sites. I can bounce from blog to blog, from website to website until my wife and kids are begging me to get off because they have business and schoolwork to do on the computer. I can laugh along with the jokers at IMAO and Iowahawk, not to mention the rich archives of jokes and cartoons scattered around the Internet.

In my local newspaper, I can read articles extoling the peacemaking skills of Abbas, while ignoring the continued Palestinian terrorist attacks and constant incitement to violence in the Palestinian mosques and schools. These same articles question Sharon's dedication to peaceful coexistance, because, as a Jew, he dares defend his country against terror. I can read the same tired canard of Bush/Cheney/Rove/Rumsfeld deceit that has gotten us into an "Iraqi quagmire" without an "exit strategy". Even the comics page has lost some of its luster. Too many "cartoonists" can't draw or write.

Yes, there is the most foul, disgusting, racist crap on the internet also. I can avoid it though, or I can go to the racist, anti-semitic, pro-jihad sites to see what they're really saying. My local newspaper won't tell me, so I have to find out on my own.

Good bye local newspaper.

Labels: blogs, MSM

posted by Harry @ 9:39 AM 0 comments

What, Me Blogging?

Crazy, busy week, this past week, with the usual working, tutoring, shlepping the kids places. That's OK, I thought, I'll be able to do some posting this weekend; this bright sunny weekend that turned out to be a perfect weekend for gardening.

So after spending Friday night driving my son to an event he commited to an hour's drive away, I got up Saturday so my wife and I could go to the gardening store.

Actually there was some free time before we went. I hit a garage sale and picked up an ancient Science Fiction Book Club copy of Inter Ice Age 4 by Kobe Abe.

My wife and I spent most of the day though, completing our flagstone patio and planing some new flora around it. My daughter tended her garden (but I did most of the weeding, sometimes weeds have bugs you know), and my son was off at his far away event. In the evening, my wife and I went to a gala at our synagogue in honor of some long-time members.

More gardening today, even though it rained; household chores, correcting papers, and now I get to sit and wonder: How do the big time bloggers spend all those hours in front of their computers? Do they have jobs? families? periods of sleep?

When I'm done here, I'm going to prepare my weekly note to parents, letting them know about all of the fascinating things we are doing in class. As a special bonus, each and every parent letter is individualized with a progress report letting every parent know how many assignments their little genius has turned in and how many they are missing. Parents love that. Kids hate it.

Maybe I'll have more time to post this week.

Labels: blogs, gardening

posted by Harry @ 4:16 PM 0 comments

Blogger Fantasy

I've been reading other people's blogs for the past year or so, sometimes even posting comments. In fact, I've been spending too much time reading other folks' blogs, mostly political blogs, but some humorous types. It's been taking time away from reading books, something I used to do a lot more of before I began spending so much time staring at this screen. So why start my own blog?

First, I'm in charge of the topic. I post about what I want, when I want . . . if I have time. I do have a job. Second, I have this fantasy. I'm a big time blogger, with lots of readers, paid ads, links to other big-time bloggers, spending hours sifting through important events of the day, offering clever, bare-knuckle commentary, being viciously attacked by foolish detractors, etc.

I decide to take a break. I head over to a fancy martini bar, the kind that attracts an upper middle class clientle, people who have much more disposable income than I have, and who can order imported beers, aged scotch, absurdly expensive cognacs, fancy, candy-flavored martinis, and still leave a generous tip for the bartender.

I take my place at the bar inbetween groups of young professionals unwinding after a busy day, trying to add some fun to their otherwise boring existence, avoiding the fact that all they have to go home to is a 40" plasma TV with a surround sound home theater system.

Because of my big-time blogger demeanor, I fit right in. They almost take me for one of their own, but they can see that there is something more to me. I can't help the fact that the women in the group become attracted to me. They begin to ignore the other males in the crowd even when those suited males boast about their new BMWs, exotic vacations, time share condos on golf courses around the world, rolex watches, stock options, early mint condition issues of Spiderman, and all kinds of other fancy treasures.

I focus on one of these lovely prosperous women to hold a spellbinding conversation with.

"I like your pajamas", she tells me, "I especially like the Bugs Bunny design."

"Thanks," I respond, "I'm a big fan of that wascally wabbit."

"Do you always wear them when you go out?"

"Most of the time. I never know when I may have to get back to the computer in a hurry for an emergency post. I don't always have the time to change into my work-jammies. We big-time bloggers are on call 24/7. We're like doctors or plumbers in that respect."

"I didn't know that. Your pajamas have feet."

"Baby, it's cold outside, and I hate wearing slippers."

We have a few more drinks, a spot of dinner (she buys), and then we head back to my place. It would be vulgar to describe any more than that, so you're on your own now.

Remember: you can make this fantasy come true.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to Garbanzo Toons.

Labels: blogs, dreams

posted by Harry @ 2:50 PM 0 comments