What's In A Name?

This is inspired by the name of a man I recently heard who's name was Winter. Parents, please don't name your sons after a season of the year. This should be reserved for girls names only. Wanna know why? Your sons won't be taken seriously and the only job they will get is either in a band or waiting tables. Both of which can earn a livable wage if they turn out to good at either one of them. But what if they want a office job sitting at a desk all day? Or what if they want a blue collar job building houses or working on cars. Unless they go into business for themselves, they aren't likely to be taken seriously enough to even get those jobs because they'll be perceived as girly and it will be your fault, not theirs. Remember this next time you decide to have a child and be all "hippyish" when naming them.

So I was inspired to going on the social security administration's website to look at the most popular names for 2007. This is because 2008 isn't finished yet. The longest list you can get is for the 1000 most popular names. So I'm going to run through some of the names that popped out and me as bad for naming your kid and why.

The next problem I have for boys names after seasons of the year is the "creative spelling" of a popular name in an effort to make your son "unique." Take for example the name Jackson. It's a good strong name for a boy to grow into a man. But how's he supposed to do that if you spell it Jaxon or Jaxson? That's probably not the worst example but you get where I'm going. Jackson is the 33rd most popular boys' name. If the other two in the list had just spelled it right, it would only move it up a few spots. Or let me guess you plan on calling him Jax right? Because what's more soap opera than Jax? I'm sure we'll get to some. Perhaps a better example with the creative spelling is with the name Cameron. I really like this name for a boy or a girl. But leave the K's and the Y's and the I's and what ever other unique way to spell it to the girls. Because in the future if someone sees the name Kamryn, Kamren, Kameryn, or Cameryn on a resume, they are going to be expecting a girl to show up to the interview and when they seek a guy, it's going to screw with their head, and it will be difficult for them to see what value they bring to the table because they will be stuck wondering whether or not this is a "girly-man" who will cry if their feelings get hurt. So there's my peace on the creative spellings. When it comes to your sons, Just Say No!!!

Name them after your sports heroes.
Colt and Jamarcus come to mind since they both popped up on the 2007 list. Colt being the quarter back for Texas Longhorns and Jamarcus the recently went pro quarter back for the LSU Tigers who went 1st in the draft when he went pro. This is sensitive ground because everyone is going to think you named your kid after them even if you deny it until your blue in the face, especially if you happen to be a fan of the team. What happens if they fail you in some big way such as being a huge failure, or breaking the law in a big way and becoming a huge disappointment to you. Well now your son is stuck with this name you gave them that you associate with a fallen hero. How's he supposed to live with that pressure?

Cale or Kale or Sage - Why would you name your son after a vegetable or spice?
Kane or Cane - Do you want him to be called Candy Cane for the rest of his life?
Kolby or Colby - It's cheese. Proceed at your own risk.
Elvis - Really? Shouldn't that name be retired like sports teams retire numbers?
King - What are you Michael Jackson? Why didn't you just name him blanket?
Finnegan or Finley - Not unless you plan on bringing them up with a British accent.
Krish - What kind of a name is this?
Lyric - How is your son not going to turn out girly with a name like Lyric?
Addison - Has this not been established as a girl's name?
Atticus - I know I'm probably in the minority here but this isn't Ancient Rome!!
Seamus - It was on the list I swear. Do I really have to say anything about it?
Maxim - What? your plan is to have a lot of hot naked girls on your son? Why not just name him Playboy?
Stone or Slade - Just because you give your son a soap opera name, doesn't guarantee him a soap opera job in the future. They have to have good genes too.

I'm sure there were more on the list that I could have jumped on like the many many many different ways to spell Jayden. And I'm sure there are some better names that aren't on the 1000 most popular names list. Thankfully so. And while I love creativity, I think there is less creative license when it comes to naming your son then when it comes to naming your daughter. Although I'm sure I will go over that list one of these days and scrutinize it as well. I just think you ought to think about the potential abuse your kid could face as a result of the name you intend to give them. Think this stuff through before putting it in writing. Feel free to ask perfect strangers about it to get objective feed back. But let me advise you to take a random sampling and don't just stop after getting one or two answers you like. And make sure to ask a man how he'd feel about having that name.

Give your son a chance to grow into a man. Don't stunt him by giving him a weak or girly name.

Flashback

Since I'm technologically challenged I haven't figured out how the more technologically advanced put you tube videos on their blog. Feel free to tell me how I can do this for future reference.

Take the 3 minutes or so to listen to/watch this. You won't regret it. You might find it difficult to resist getting off your butt and dancing. This will take you back to 1994 according to wikipedia. High school for me. It's well worth your time if you like to take a trip down memory lane. Even though this particular song doesn't have any memories associated with it for me. Just dancing around in my room like fool when it came on the radio.

Lola's Corner - A Day Early

Hello everyone and welcome back to my corner. Today I'm going to rant about the stupid woman at the dog park. She was a big kill-joy. She took all the fun out of my day. Not really. I had a blast there in spite of her. And she showed up at the end after I was all wore out, but that doesn't excuse her kill-joy behavior.

I was playing with her dog (not pictured here), and we were wrastling just playing around like we dogs do. Well we were both up on our hind legs hugging each other, because this is what we boxers do with dogs that oblige our method of play. Anyways Kill-Joy makes an exasperated statement "who's boxer is this?" My mommy spoke up with pride and Kill-Joy rudely says to her "get your dog off my dog." To which mommy defended both of us by saying "they are just playing." To which Kill-Joy says "I know but that's how my dog can get aggressive."

Well why did you bring your dog to the dog park lady!?!?!? And let me just point out, Kill-Joy, that I am a wee bit bigger than your dog and I can handle myself. Maybe you ought to just let your dog have a little fun once in awhile and it wouldn't get "aggressive" as you say. Or maybe it just gets "aggressive" because you over react and intervene any time he/she plays rough with another dog. We're dogs, that's what we do!!!! We play rough with each other, but we know our limits. Way to go Kill-Joy. I hope you're happy with yourself. I wonder how many other dogs you ran off because your dog just wanted to play with them. Is that how you are or were with your kids? Oh no!!! Can't let them play. They might have fun....We'd hate for fun to suddenly start happening....

Kaui Part Deux

Or Koo-eye as Matthew McConaughey says it

Even the chickens like to golf on Kaui

Technology Arrogance

Disclaimer....the following opinion doesn't apply to everyone...so don't bother telling me you're the exception to my opinion...I know you are...you and everyone else...

I'm of the opinion that technology has led to decrease in productivity by many people who use it improperly rather than to increase their efficiency. There's no doubt in my mind that computers have increased productivity and efficiency and made our jobs better. However with the era of the blackberry (aka crackberry), iPhone, and other cellphone devices that allow you to check email, the Internet, and whatever else you want while on the go, I believe most people using these are actually experiencing a decrease in efficiency.

We've all been in meetings where one or two people don't bother to pay attention to what's being said and are constantly emailing, texting, or they must answer their phone either in the meeting or excuse themselves. And while I agree that most meetings are pointless if they last longer than 20 or 30 minutes, that doesn't give you a pass to be rude to the other attendees and prolong the meeting further while they wait for you to return.

And perhaps you've been to the office of someone that must answer the phone every time it rings or work will cease if they don't. Well what about work ceasing if you do?

So my simple theory is that technology has given those that abuse it the false sense of arrogance that business can't go on without them at that moment. Everyone NEEDS them. Granted everyone needs them to do their jobs, but when they are so scattered that they can't complete anything in a timely matter because they aren't paying attention to meetings, constantly answering the phone, allowing themselves to get distracted from what they are doing at the moment, then what good are they?

For these people technology has led to their inefficiency. Yet because they have been given these devices, they are suddenly irreplaceable. What happened to the old saying that "No One is Irreplaceable?" Let the phone go to voicemail once in awhile. You aren't expected to be at your desk at all times. You aren't too important for the meeting you are at, otherwise you shouldn't have bothered to come and sent someone in your place, so pay attention.

Must Read

This isn't meant to overshadow my previous genius thought. But you must read this story of a woman in India who defended herself from a psycho. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27234386/ Good for her!!

LUCKNOW, India - A woman chopped off the head of a man who allegedly tried to attack her and then paraded it through a market in northern India, police said Friday.

Police arrested the woman late Thursday after receiving calls from frightened witnesses who reported a blood-soaked woman holding a severed head while walking through the village, said police officer Ram Bharose.

The woman, 35, told police she had gone to a nearby forest to cut grass for fodder for her cattle when a man attacked her from behind.

No regrets
"In a bid to save her dignity she beheaded him with a sickle," Bharose said, adding that the woman had bite marks on her neck and cheek.

The woman also told police that the man had been harassing and stalking her for three months and she had no regrets about killing him, Bharose said, adding that she would probably be charged with culpable homicide.

The incident took place in Makkapurva village, some 125 miles southeast of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

Deep Thought or Too Much Time on My Hands

Sometimes wish I could DVR my dreams so that I could catch up on the ones I missed. Or re watch the ones that were so crazy so I could confirm that I did indeed dream that. Am I alone in that?

Deep Thought, or Just Plain Judgemental?

If everyone put as much effort into paying off debt and saving as the put into decorating for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines (yes I've seen Valentines decorations), and Easter, would this country still be in such financial trouble?

Hawaii - Volcano

These are pictures from Volcanoes National Park. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed being there. It was kind of a cloudy day up top, hence the foggyesque pictures.

These are steam vents

Crater we hiked down into and out of

Lava Tube

Where the Lava flows into the Ocean.

Lola's Corner - Help Bring a Dog Home From Iraq

Welcome to an early edition of my corner.
You may or may not have heard of this news today on CNN both TV and website. The link below is to the web article and pictures.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/14/iraq.puppy.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Basically there is a soldier that saved a puppy in Iraq (see the story for details) and she basically adopted it while there. Apparently her tour is up soon and she wants to bring the pup back with her but the military is making it difficult. I don't know the details and I'm not convinced there isn't some kind of slant to either article making the military sound evil. Operation Bagdad Pups is the organization shown in the below petition link has brought 50 cats and dogs to the U.S. from Iraq in the last 8 months, so we know exceptions have been made.

If you'd like to sign the petition or write to this soldiers senators and congressman, to urge them to help her, the information you need is in the following link.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/clemency-for-ratchet

Tony, It's Time to Dump Jessica

I can't keep my mouth shut, so for those of you that would rather not hear my hot sports opinion, bear with me or scroll down to another favorite post.

I know that die hard and casual Cowboys fans like to blame Jessica when Tony screws up a game. And while he wasn't the only one who screwed up yesterday, his mistakes single handedly cost them the game. This isn't Jessica's fault. As far as I can tell she quit showing up to the game or at least jumping around in front of the cameras for all to see. She is who she is and in order to stay relevant, she needs to have all the photo ops she can. She is a professional celebrity unless she can prove a success in country music. Personally whoever taught her to do that stupid thing with her voice (you know what I'm talking about if you've ever listened to her) that took away from her actual singing ability is to blame for her struggling music career rather than a successful one.

But I digress..

Tony's problem, as I see it (and I'm sure I'm not the first to think it), is that he has come to enjoy "being a celebrity" that he's forgotten how to "be a football player." He needs to put anything in his life that's a distraction to "being a football player" so he can focus on doing his job. That is if he likes doing his job. Because remember Tony, it was doing your job that made you a celebrity. And you've changed your focus from doing you job to being a celebrity. Let me make something real clear to you. YOU CAN MAKE MORE MONEY BEING A FOOTBALL PLAYER THAN A CELEBRITY!!!! So let it go. There are plenty of other football players that keep a low profile and show up every week and do their job. That's all we're asking of you. So if that means you don't date for the next 10 years fine. Or if you can handle dating, fine. Just don't date anyone that calls the paparazzi every time you go out. In fact don't go out. You make enough money to stay in. Just a thought....And don't date someone that blabbering about how much you all are in love when there are rumors flying about you're talking to her nemesis/your ex fling or whatever that was...We don't want to hear about you in the tabloids, gossip, or anything else not related to football.

So shape up or ship out Romo...

Deep Thought or Technical Question

If I wanted to "kick someone off the Internet" could I do that? How would I go about doing that? or vice versa, what steps would one have to take to indeed "kick me off the Internet?" hmmm

If You're Not Watching the Office, You Should Be

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen tonight's episode and don't want me to spoil one of the funny lines for you, then stop reading and scroll down to a previous post.

So Michael is having a discussion with the new HR rep Holly about a disagreement they are having over whether or not an employee's actions warrant firing. Michael says to her, "I don't want my employees to worry that their performance affects their jobs." I might not have an exact quote there but the sentiment is there. As soon as he said that I thought, he should get a job with the government, then he wouldn't have to worry about their jobs being affected by their performance. Because they don't care.

Anyways very funny and if you still haven't started watching the show you should. It's in reruns on TBS (I think) on Tuesday nights. It's well worth watching. Give up one of your crappy shows if need be.

Random Thought

As I was walking the future president of these United States this evening, I noticed all the halloween decorations that people have put out in their yards. You know all the plastic skeletons, some hanging from trees and some in parts in the yard. I thought to myself, what if they aren't plastic at all? What if they were real human bones? Would anyone notice?

Then I just thought about candy. Because I like it.

These are pictures of Kaui. Or as we learned Matthew McConaughey's pronunciation "kooo-eye"...it's really fun to say. Anyways we weren't there this year but were lucky enough to get to go a few years back and really enjoyed it. If you get the chance to go and are looking for a relaxing good time Kooo-eye a really nice place to go.

Why I Love and Hate the Biggest Loser

I'm a big fan of the Biggest Loser and love to watch the amazing transformations people go through as they learn to take care of themselves and take responsibility for their lives and their health. I think it's doing a great service, and I hope inspiring people to get healthy.

The only thing I hate about it, is that they send someone home after the first week of working with a trainer. It takes longer than a week to form a habit and change your behaviors. Add onto that, many of them have very low self-esteems and just get angry and defensive when they get voted off and many times they have gained the weight back.

I think they need hold off on the sending people home until they have had a month with the trainer to learn and then form good habits to live a healthy live and teach their families what they have learned. I think they would have a higher success rate and I wouldn't feel so sad yet worried for the first 4-5 people that get sent home.

Lola's Corner - Meet Balboa And Jack

Hello and welcome back to my corner. It's been awhile. No one has sent me pictures until now. I made some new friends at the dog park. They are lots of fun. And contrary to how some of them look Jack is not hurting us. At least not that either of us complained to our parents. We just hang out and have a good time. Their my friends.

First I'd like to introduce you to Balboa. He's my other boyfriend. You know the one that hangs around. Showing up is half the battle for being my boyfriend. The other half is being cute and playing with me in equal proportion. Isn't he cute. He's older. By about a month. But I'm taller and longer. But he's beefier. He's so sweet to me.

This is our other friend Jack. Here's Jack and Balboa playing. Jack is about a year old. He can be snippy but he's actually very nice when you give him a chance and get to know him.

I promise, we're just playing. It's how we play.

I hope you enjoyed meeting Balboa and Jack as much as I have enjoyed becoming friends with them.

Send me pics of your pets domestic or wild to lolafrog@gmail.com.

Love,
Lola