Pig Roasting
Someone else beside my Dad and Adam’s dad roasts pigs! They seem to appreciate the complexity of the thing.
Apples and Trees and What-not
Adam is totally cracking me up today with this story about his kids. Man, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?!
How Popular is Your Name?
This site is really fun. I keep looking up the names of all the significant people in my life. When and if I do have children, I will definitely take a look at it again and make sure I’m not picking the same name as everyone else. Give it a try. Just try looking up the name "Heather" for shits and giggles!
"Abby" is more popular now than it used to be, but it’s still only 600+ per million.
The name "Mickey" peaked in the 1940s and 1950s (claiming only about 200 per million). My guess is that it was more likely to be used as a nickname for boys than an official first name.
The name "Sharon" also peaked at the beginning of the 1940s with about 7,000 per million.
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Update: WOW! Aaron and I can’t stop playing with this. Statistically speaking, it’s just fascinating. Try looking up "Adolph" and see what you get. Another interesting one is "Malcolm," which seems to be more affected by Spike Lee’s movie than by the ACTUAL Malcolm X!
Update #2: OMG! Total Buffy effect. Look up "Xander" and check out the years!
February Sucks
I’ve always thought February was the worst month. The weather generally sucks. The only celebration that’s going on is Valentine’s Day, which seems to do much more to depress people than to make them happy.
People in relationships feel pressured to have this unforgettable time together, and it’s hard to arrange that, especially since you’re competing with everyone else for the good restuarants! And you’re supposed to have strawberries dipped in chocolate. What?! Strawberries are completely out of season in February. What are people thinking with that?
People NOT in relationships of course feel that their lives are miserable and without meaning because they aren’t in a relationship. It leads to feeling unloved and useless and over the hill, which usually isn’t at all true.
So the weather blows, the main holiday blows. There’s no sunshine. It’s usually rainy or snowy and grey. Then in terms of the school calendar, you’re about as far from a break as is possible. It’s when things tend to go south behavior-wise. I don’t know why exactly, but I see it every year in the kids I work with.
I wondered if others hated this month as much as me. It seems that they absolutely and positively do!!!
